back on granny square train

After a good long year and change, I pulled out this project this week and finished the last 3 squares. I am connecting them up and considering how much of a border the blanket needs to pull it all together. 

WIP: 23/36 done

the baby has already beat me to the finish line!  d'oh!

i did get a bunch more squares done on my trip this weekend, where it occurred to me that this baby will have a blanket created in my office, at my home, late at night, at knitlunch, and while in the backseat of a rental car while traveling cross country. i even did one square in the dark, checking my stitches by holding up the square to the light of oncoming cars!

he may have beat me, but i'm still determined to come in a close second!

WIP: a quick dotdotdot blanket update

 

 13 of 36 squares finished so far.

i only get 3 squares from each little ball of white

so i ordered 10 more balls--just in case.

weedle wants me to change the colours to orange/black/white...and add rolly eyes.

WIP: final square design x 4

i redesigned my square pattern a little bit:  the circle is now about 3.5 inches in diameter and the the finished square is 5 inches. i deleted the large holes in the corner,  added diagonal ridges like the ridges in the circle. they are coming out more reliably now.

WIP: yarn arrives!

i am using knitpicks shine (60% cotton and 40% modal fiber) in dandelion, robot and white to coordinate with the baby's room. so soft! i tried it out and decided to use a j hook instead of the little g hook i started with.  less definition in the pattern that way, but it will be a much softer blanket in the end.


weedle was convinced it is a box of kittens and that each ball must be gently carried to safety. i had to pack the whole box up and take it in to work to keep her from bothering those sleeping balls!

WIP: baby blanket - sample square #4

this is the fourth square sample i've crocheted working out a baby blanket pattern.  the yarn has not arrived yet, so keep in mind, these are not the final colours.

after i sewed two of these together as just to see what they would look like, i decided this large dot would be overwhelming on a baby blanket. in the final piece, i will keep the circle down to 4 inches and add another row on the outside border to keep the square the same size.

another concern i had was for the holes in the corners.  i'll be eliminating those in the finish. i don't want baby fingers or toes getting stuck!

yarnin' time!

it's autumn and autumn is yarnin' time!

i have a project mapped out, a deadline and yarns being shipped to me from knitpicks.  i even spent the evening working up a sample square. the piece is a baby shower gift, but, unfortunately, the shower is tomorrow afternoon. i hope to get it done before the baby arrives! 

i whipped a few fleece projects this summer. here is one of a pair of long fingerless gloves in dark orange. i built my own pattern by measuring my hand and arm.  they are wonderfully snug and toasty.

earlier, i tried my hand at quilting to design this minecraft-inspired pillow.  one side is a "creeper" and the other is a "slime".

i'll get a picture of that sample square up as soon as i can.  it's good to be back on the needles...or hook, in this case!

FO: final shots of the teensy sweaters

i've been taking a break from yarning to work on ideas for an upcoming crochet project, but in the meantime, i thought i would post my own photos of the last projects on violet's doll. the folk in the back are long time members of my office knitting group. we've been meeting every wednesday for about 6 years and most of us learned to knit from one of our coworkers. not everyone works on a project every week, but we meet regardless to catch up and chat!
 

note: the doll's dress was sewn by violet's unstoppably craftastic mom, robyn!

FO: teensy sweater #1!

this sweater came out great and it fits the american doll for which it was intended! i actually finished it quite a while ago, but i held out on finishing it until teensy sweater #2 was finished.  it is so soft and sweet, i wish it fit ME!

WIP: teensy sweater #1 - further along

haven't updated in a while, so I thought i would show you how the dolls sweater is going.  i am close to finishing the bottom of the body.  the last bits will be joining the sleeves closed and adding a placket finish with buttons.

a fairly easy pattern--once i figured it how it was supposed to look in the end.  i think i crochet like i drive; i need to see the city in my head and then proceed.  i cannot just rely on GPS to guide me step by step!  having the the finished object in my head helps me sort out poorly written patterns and catch mistakes.  (there were a few things in this pattern that i caught and was able to work around.)  so, for a visual person like me, detail photos in a pattern help tremendously.

it also helped to have some experience behind me.  this pattern has shells and back and front post double crochet.  it actually has a lot in common with the amazing hat i did earlier, although that one was worked in a circle.

back later with the finish!

FO: Teenyweeny Top Hat

i created this teenyweeny slytheriny top hat for the deathly hallows 2 midnight opening and wore it at a jaunty angle along with my witches robes and wand!

i created the pattern myself, reinforcing the crown with cardboard and the brim with a wire crocheted around the edge so it could keep its curl properly.  it features three kinds of feathers, including ostrich, a yard of black tulle bound with grosgrain to add a touch of "mourning" and a snakey pin my dear husband gave me.  a proper send off to our slytherin hero, severus snape.  

*sigh*

FO: Mini-Witch Hat!

I created this tiny witch hat for my friend, Addreamy to wear at the premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathy Hallows, Pt. 2  I was very pleased that it came out as nice as it did. And yep, I made up the pattern myself but nope, I never bothered to write it down. Still I feel it is...

Gold Star Worthy!

spotted: yarn-bomb!

i swear i did not do this, but oh, if i only had!

under all this cheery acrylic yarn is an iron sculpture that has been quietly rusting away on an island capping a local residential street. 

i love this little "face"!

WIP: teenyweeny top hat

this is my latest WIP, a teenweeny burlesque-style top hat done in slytherin colours!  I am winging the pattern, since it is pretty much basic amigurumi. 

it will be stripey and have all sorts of fascinating fascinators on it by the time i am done.  if it works out well, i will try another and felt it.

i must say, it feels good to crochet again.  life has been a bit demanding lately, and i haven't had time to sit with some yarn and poke, poke, poke.  i forgot how instantly calming it is!

---

eta:  after researching premade top hats, i see that there is a cuter shape out there than the straight sided ones i have seen crocheted.  maybe i can force mine into this shape:
 

WIP: noah-keet

the "client" gave me feedback tonight and so far he likes the shape of first one on the left. i personally would like to add stripes, but since i am going for cute-cute, i might just keep it super simple.

i'll just save the back-of-the-head stripes for my own personal 'keet!

_____________________________________________

noah looks like this dilute blue budgie.

Research Friday: Dopamine

ever get to the end of a row and feel that little "kick" of accomplishment and then, go on to do another row--

--EVEN THOUGH IT IS 1:20 AM ON A WORK NIGHT AND YOU ARE SO TIRED YOU CAN HARDLY FOCUS ANYMORE? yeah. me, too.

it occurred to me that just as some folk love video gaming (and by "loving" it, i mean craving it and unable to stop once they start), i am loving stitch-wrangling.

science says:

"Dopamine is commonly associated with the reward system of the brain, providing feelings of enjoyment and reinforcement to motivate a person proactively to perform certain activities." wikipedia

"A number of studies have revealed that game playing triggers dopamine release in the brain, a finding that makes sense, given the instrumental role that dopamine plays in how the brain handles both reward and exploration." discover magazine

"Pain specialist Monica Baird explains that the action of knitting actually changes brain chemistry, decreasing stress hormones and increasing feel-good serotonin and dopamine." press release log

i wonder if i am "under the influence of crochet" when i look at the wiki entries and think how cute a serotonin and dopamine amigurumi would look?

Research Friday: Tapestry Crochet

several years ago, i picked up one of these guatemalan hackysacks at a cool world trade store and it ended up a perennial christmas ornament on my tree. i love the super-bright colours and tight stitches that are typical of guatemalan crochet craft. in some ways, it is like amigurumi since it is essentially spirals of single crochet, but what i found out recently is just how the colour changes are done!

dr. carol ventura is essentially the johnny appleseed of tapestry crochet! she came upon the techniques while serving in the peace corp and has published several books, videos and a website rich with demos, free patterns and examples of tapestry crochet from around the globe. she also teaches where ever she travels, spreading the technique to people who can then use the craft to enhance their incomes. :)

tapestry crochet is essentially a form of crochet colourwork in which several different colours are carried at once until they are needed. unlike fair isle knitting, the thread does not float along the backside of the piece, but is actually crocheted over so it travels along hidden inside the row. both sides of the piece show off the pattern. it works up easily in the round, which is why you see it most often in hackysacks, kippots, bowls and bags.



carol also shows techniques to do flat tapestry crochet that lead to a nice smooth picture. crochet has a slanted quality due to the stitch that force designers to incorporate sharp right angle triangles. carol has some free graphs available for people to work out their designs that will give them a good idea of what they can expect within these limitations.

i would love to what else could be done sculpturally with tapestry crochet that would take it beyond the traditional caps and bags. carol ventura has moved into flat portraiture as has jo hamilton and xenobia bailey makes those awesome urban crowns.

where else could this go?

i think it might be time to pull out my sketchbook! :)

Research Friday: Xenobia Bailey

(click photo to view larger)
xenobia bailey crochets these amazing "urban crowns".

here is a video of her working where you can see that she is using tapestry crochet (more on that soon), but these hats also have shaping techniques you might use while doing amigurumi.

look at all the layers of colour changes and how the stripes flow up and around her shapes almost like topographic maps!

each one is a little jewel!

what's on the needles/hook?

on the needles: i am halfway through the nautilus pattern. the colours requested were black for the shell and acid green for his little head and tentacles. working with black was tough at first, and i do wish i had bought that bag of black fiberfill i saw a year ago. i have about 2 inches to go before i switch out to green.

on the hook: i have some squares that i am sampling from the book the crochet stitch bible by betty barnden.




also: i have spent the last couple of days sifting through prospective patterns for my new yarn and am leaning toward knitting fingerless gloves. of course, i love the crazy-intricate ones, but i think i will try a straightforward yarn-showcasing pattern by verabee.

yeah, THAT VERABEE! d'oh! she's one of my favorite illustrators!

Research Friday: Ruth Asawa

by crocheting with wire on an almost monumental size, ruth asawa created lovely fluid shapes that appear to be floating and swallowing each other. large as they are, they maintain the delicacy of undersea invertebrates.

i have not tried to crochet or knit wire yet. i have seen it done on a small scale as with yoola's fine craft jewelry or small objects, but i love that ruth took her work large and by doing so, gave the pieces their own commanding presence.