Experimenting

Hi Everyone!

Sorry to have been a bit absent these last weeks. School started. It seems to take about two weeks to get the mojo going again. I expend so much energy with the students getting them motivated and revved up for the new year, that I am exhausted when I get home. Unfortunately, this means I don't trust myself to work on the crochet without messing it up! LOL

I'm out the other side now and have picked the hook back up. I'll likely have a FO by the end of the weekend. Yipee! But, in the mean time I thought I'd share an experiment. Namely this one:

The idea of a two color spiral has fascinated me since the first time I saw it in an magazine. So, I finally decided to play around with it. The concept, once grasped, is fairly simple and it works up almost as quickly as single color work. The only problem? This:

Unless you are looking at the hat from the very crown, it simple looks like a striped hat! No real bang for my buck. If I wanted plain old stripes, I'd have done that. Disappointing. I'm glad to have tried it and it will continue to live in the back of my head waiting for the perfect project!

Since the spiral looked like horizontal stripes I wondered about making vertical ones and got this:

This I think is pretty snazzy. I expect if I start it at the crown it will make a wonderful swirl that resolves into these lovely straight stripes down the even part of the hat. When I have finished a few more of the UFOs, I'll give this one a go.

Playing with technique and pattern can be so much fun! Here's to those Adventures in Crochet! LOL

Beanie Bobble

Another Sunday, another hat. I weighed the left over yarn from hat #1, and found there was enough for a second hat even though I had used a tiny bit of this skein for another purpose. Well, you know how swatches lie? Well, so does my scale! Here's the hat looking oh so cute, just like the first one. But, below is all the yarn that was left to make the second ear flap. Not looking so good!
A bit of reassessment, digging in the stash, frogging, and rework yielded this:Still cute! I got to play around with a bit of embellishment sooner than I thought. Can't you just see a little person bopping along with the braid bouncing around? Now to pick a new color for the next one...

Noro Newbie

Sunday I decided to get my yarn back into the bins in which it belongs. This turned out to be problematic. Even though I've been working from the stash whenever possible, it seems I have more than when I started... Perhaps the yarns are mating?

Anyway, this realization that the stash had grown was just the excuse I needed to dig into my first ever project with Noro. I mean I have to use the yarn in the stash right? (Never you mind that it hasn't even been in there long enough to find itself a nice niche. It's stash yarn.)

What is responsible for my leap into Noro after three years of crochet? Three words: Silk Garden Sock. I'd never seen it before, and fell instantly in love with this colorway of purples, blues, and greens. Yum! I snapped up enough to make a shawl and crossed my fingers that the right pattern to show off the colors would appear. Ravelry to the rescue and I'm now crocheting away. Look how nicely it lays out the colors!When I pulled this from my work bag this morning I heard ooos and aaaahs from the ladies nearby. I love it when that happens! They were as fascinated as I am with the way the colors are moving across the shawl. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens as it gets bigger. Of to crochet. See ya!

A Touch of Cute for Sunday Morning

Tooling around Ravelry looking at FOs has become an addiction. My first line of inquiry is always the activity of my friends. Their projects and the ones they have found never cease to provide entertainment and inspiration. Then I'd randomly search patterns or look at friends of friends. However, recently I discovered the link titled "recently added patterns" on the pattern search page. Oh, boy. Trouble! My queue and favorites lists just keep getting longer.

Well, from all those ideas leapt this precious hat design by CraftyRahRah. (Follow this Ravelry Link for the cutest pictures!) It is the Brrr Baby Beanie she designed for the little toddler of her household. It is offered in both American and UK terms on her blog. I could not resist! Down went the two scarves and two shawls I've been working on and out came a fresh hook. In no time flat there was this! This rather sedate, but still adorable, model is destined for one of the yearly winter hat and scarf drives that pop up everywhere around the holidays. The Moda Dea Washable Wool should be care friendly to whomever gets this precious hat. I know I am going to have to make some more of these and add embellishments like tassels and curly cues.

Sorry, no cute toddler around here to model. You'll just have to use your imagination on this one! Happy Sunday morning everyone. =-)

In the Pink and Silky Goodness

First up the pink. This is my second go round with the "Prayer for Comfort" shawl from Annie's Attic #877531, Quick-to-Stitch Prayer Shawls. The first one was fudged a little as I was using two skeins from my stash and ran out on my way around the final edging. So, I had to give it another go with a bigger hook for better drape and an extra skein just in case. Turns out two skeins was just right this time!

Caron Simply Soft in Soft Pink

Hook US K/6.5mm

Only do 52 pattern rows before starting the border

29 inches x 67 inches

This shawl is quick, easy, and had the added benefit of my not needing to look at my hands. All stitches except those which end the row are worked into the spaces. I love how the top edge can be folded back to make a bit of collar.

Soon, unless there is someone out there in blogland that knows of a person needing a comfort shawl, this pretty will be headed for the Prayer Shawl Ministry at a nearby church. But, please, if you personally know of someone, give me a shout!

Now for the Silky Goodness. Remember that skein of Claudia Hand Painted I drooled over and subsequently purchased when it went on sale? It has been swatched!

Three and a half repeats plus the 4 inch wide border of Celeste! This is one of those times where I didn't dare proceed without a swatch. Why? I mean it is a shawl and I don't usually swatch shawls. Well, I've never worked with 100% silk before and had little idea how it would behave. I was surprised to find that the swatch did not grow vertically at all. Horizontally it didn't grow much either. Just the amount to smooth out flat! I didn't even need to apply pins to get nice points on the edges! I will of course be a little neater with the picots on the final shawl (I must admit to experimenting a bit).

Overall, though I am very excited to have a little peek at the silky goodness to come! I promise a progress picture soon.

Hmmmm, Not Quite

So, I've been thinking for a while now that I'd like to try working with mohair. The yarn goddesses delivered. This wonderful yarn is Artyarns Silk Mohair Glitter which I picked up at 50% off! Yummy. (The close up is a better reflection of the color.)
So, thinking that the silk etc. would make the mohair easier to frog I set off on my plan of making an offset fillet crochet wrap. Hmmm. It is easier to frog. It did work. But, the color looks much darker once worked so the wrap looses the ethereal quality I was looking for...

(NOTE: Nothing I did could get this to look as dark as it actually is!)

So, now I am looking at Lily Chin's Knit and Crochet with Beads which has a wrap with the lighter look I want. The local library does not carry the sucker so I may go to the local book store with yarn in hand to give it a go sans beads... Wish me luck!

Crocus Bud Shawl

BEFORE DURING
AFTER!


It was worth every moment of the month or so it took to complete!

Crocus Bud Shawl by Sharlene Boyce

Sweet Pea Lace 100% Wool colored with Earth friendly dyes by ZYarns aka Zweena Yarns

Started: July 2 and finished August 8, 2008

Approximately 6 feet of lace!