Thanksgiving Play

Did you know crochet is a spectator sport? Apparently my kitty thinks it is! LOL She snuck up very quietly between the sofa and chair to watch...The Country Shawl is growing nicely! Almost at the end of the second skein it is now 18.75 inches deep. =-) A cute alternative to a pom pom. I love pom poms, but I don't like how I can pull out the piles no matter how tightly I tie them. Also, I am terrible at shaping them by hand so chaining is a great alternative!

Hope you had fun with family, friends, fiber, and hook/needles/spinning yesterday! I certainly did.

Celebrate!

With family and friends may you be blessed

Good wishes to all for happiness!

Feeling Country

I don't think I can often claim to be feeling country, but in this case it is true! I've been smitten by the Country Cotton Shawl. Now, truth be told, I've seen this shawl on a number of occasions and simply didn't feel any pull to make one. How did that change? I blame Elisa. She and I have similar taste in many things. Not the least of which is shawls. I'm fortunate that she can see the potential in a project where I sometimes miss it. Such was the case with this shawl.

Instead of cotton, Elisa made this with sock yarn. Trekking sock yarn in shades of red. Then she had the audacity to tell me how wonderful it was! Even sent me a special e-mail singing its praises. Yup, I was sunk, and grateful. See?

I wish the picture was clearer, but there will be better soon. I fell in love with this colorway of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool on a trip to Vermont. Could not walk away. In real life it cannot decide if it wants to be blue or purpley blue. Just love it. The silky wool has a body that reminds me of cotton a bit and is behaving beautifully with the pattern. Can you tell I like it? Here's another hint. That picture is what I've accomplished since staring this last night! Pardon me, I must get back to crocheting... =-)

Do Over...Done!

Squea! I love, love, love this scarf! A little lacy, a little texture, a whole lot of length...What's not to love? Specs:

Pattern: Acacia (Ravelry Link)

Yarn - Knit Picks Gloss in Fingering Weight, Color Cosmos

1.5 skeins, approximately 330 yards

74 inches long x 4.5 inches wide

I changed the pattern a little by doing a hdc foundation row and adding stitches until I liked the length. I haven't had a scarf I could really wrap up in for ages! Happiness is...

It Followed Me Home...Really!

It was a dark and mild Halloween night, when suddenly my plans went awry. Partying in a LYS is just too good to pass up. Would you? I figured I would eat, drink, be merry, and crochet the night away. Horror movies and outstanding company, what could be better? I'm saving my yarn budget for a little get away this weekend, but who could resist a yarn named Purple People Eater on Halloween? Especially, when the LYS decides to celebrate the holiday with a discount?

Heather of Sereknity (Etsy Shop) has done it again with a bright purple (sorry the picture doesn't do it justice) with little touches of blue. My colors? OH YEAH! This fiber blend is known as Good Harbor which is 70% superwash merino and 30% seacell. It has such a lovely sheen and soft hand. I see another shawl in my future!

Speaking of...

I have started working on the Pampilles shawl (Ravelry Link) with some yarn that followed me home from a different LYS. They are moving and clearing some inventory...yum!

L to R:

1) J-Knits Superwash Me - Light Sock in Louisiana colorway

2) Classic Elite Yarns Alapca Sox in a dark grey (3 skeins)

3) The Great Adirondack Yarn Company Soxie in the Beach House colorway (2 skeins, but not for me!)

This will shortly be "do over v2.0". See the lead edge? That angle that starts in the middle and drops away. Um, not quite right. It should be straight! I'm working from a diagram only as the original pattern is in French. I need to change the edge and see if it comes out a bit straighter. Wish me luck!

Can I have a "do over"?

This is the Acacia Scarf by Megan Marshall which is a newly added free pattern on Ravelry. For me this pattern was love at first sight. I have been looking for a project to use up two skeins of Cascade 220, and thought this was it. Um, no. The Cascade didn't want to be this scarf, but my Knit Picks Gloss did! Good thing they both have the same yardage! The scarf has a wonderful texture and lovely drape in this yarn. It is also soft on the skin. Seems perfect no? Well, there is just one small problem. Or maybe two. (Are you thinking I'm going adventuring? You would be right!)

I swatched. I did! I wanted the right hook size and drape. I got it. I did, however, neglect one little task. I didn't measure the gauge. It is a scarf. Who needs gauge? Hmmmmm.

The original pattern turns out a 70 inch scarf. Too long for me so I ran some numbers to shorten it. Ha! Want to guess how long my 60 inch-scarf-to-be turned out? Mumble, mumble, 48 inches, mumble, mumble.

I wasn't deterred and decided to see if the shorter length would work. Yeah, not so much. So it is off to the frog pond and I'm going to try something different. Instead of chaining to get the length, I'll do a hdc foundation chain so I'll know exactly how long the scarf will turn out! Hopefully my tension will be consistent with the rest of the scarf...

So, I need a "do over" to get this one right. Fingers are crossed!

Shapely

Feeling shapely? I am today!

I wanted to do some simple motifs as a sort of "break" from big projects. It is also another part of my stash busting efforts. I want to move along most of my acrylic. Motifs like these allow for even small bits to be used.

So, here's my first attempt. I saw this really cool blanket (pattern) on Ravelry (link) and thought it would be fun. Here's the first triangle...

I really like the look. Making it, however, is not my idea of relaxing and fun. I'm not a huge fan of post stitches and did not realize at first that the entire thing is post stitches! Oops.

So I moved on by pulling out this book.

Let me stop for a moment and tell you of my love for this book. The motifs are clever and attractive. The projects help the reader see the possibilities created by linking motifs together. The instructions are clear and the pictures enticing. I love this book. I recommend it to anyone who wants to break out of the motif "box" and into other shapes!

I was hoping for a cute double crochet triangle without those post stitches. No luck. There was a great one in single crochet, but I'm not that patient. I want quick and gratifying! I did try to make one on my own. Nope. So, I thought, let's try a different shape. Page 96 yielded this beauty:In a mere five rounds (plus a single crochet edge to make joining easier) there sat a beautiful six inches of hexagon. And, bonus, the center looks like a flower. Yup, this one is a keeper!

Look out Caron Simply Soft stash yarn. Your days in the skein are numbered!