eat your heart out, anthropologie

These. Look. Awesome.

I nearly did not see this project through. I made a couple of pieces this spring and thought it was just too much work with the thin yarn and tiny hooks. Mom offered to pitch in and do a few, which gave me some extra oomph to get over the doldrums. We also found a few great artificial (non-yarn artificial...) succulents to add to the mix. I like that they both are bulky and take up space and add a different texture so the whole thing is not just fuzzy. They're also in shapes that I think would have been just ok with yarn but really look super in the plastic. 

I had some dense foam from something, making an ottoman top I think, that I used to fill in the bottom of the fixtures and the succulents are just kind of poked in (store-bought have stems) or perched and squished into place. It worked out surprisingly well and I think they turned out looking even better than I had imagined. They're a matched set in the stairwell and they make me smile every trip up and down the steps. 

defying gravity, finished

It is FINISHED! I am so very pleased with how this turned out, and I would absolutely make this pattern again. It was a very fun knit and the finished piece is really unique. It did grow quite a bit in blocking! I suppose that is due to the silk in the yarn, more slippy maybe? I think it's ok and the oversized look is very much what I was going for but I'll keep that in mind for the next time in case I want to try out a different size.

There was just a little bit of pooling with my second skein of yarn - the consequence of not alternating skeins - but I don't really mind it at all. This green color is just *chef's kiss* perfect, and I am tickled at the combination with the pinks I had in my stash. The cutest part, that is not obvious to anyone but me, is the little yellow brick road piles in the middle of the granny squares. That small pop of gold sparkles up there and makes the piece more interesting than if I had just chosen to use the light pink again in the center and is a fun nod to the story that inspired this color combination. 

 

I've worn it to work already, and it was happily comfy and not at all itchy all day. Because it grew, I will say the neckline is a bit more open than I felt comfortable wearing with out a tank top underneath. I am considering taking out the bind off and expanding the ribbing to give myself a little more coverage in that department. It's fine for now, but definitely something I may pick up and adjust on an evening when I want to be frustrated. ;) 

new books

Look what arrived this week! I have been feeling in a shoppy mood lately, and I found myself wanting some fun non-wearable projects to contemplate. Mom told me about the animal book a while back, and I can't remember where I first saw the blanket one. These will be fun, for sure. 

I am quite enamored with the bright colors and geometric patterns in the blanket book. Also, it's a library of 100 patterns for strips - endless possibilities! It is a bit overwhelming to consider "the" design I want to do, so I may make a few strips here and there in colors that I like and see what happens in terms of turning them into a finished blanket or two. Some of the strips in the blanket below are appealing - that pink and white one especially. And the pom poms!

Pretty much the first thing that caught my eye in the mythical creature menagerie was this unicorn. I mean... c'mon. It looks fiddly but fun, just like the rest of the book. Not sure if I'll start there or if I need to do a dragon first. There are a lot of super cute options - I may need to pace myself. 

Speaking of which, I do still have a few yarn projects going that I want to finish before starting any of these. Granted, this is crochet, but I also have a couple small crochet projects started, too. Maybe if I finish one of those, I can start one of these. Either way, I am very excited that both of these books have now nestled into my library. 

couldn’t wait

I couldn’t wait - I have several projects going right now that are really quite fun, but I kept thinking about this sweater. I just got done playing around in the yarn stash finding appropriate colors to combine with the green I recently bought. Lo and behold, I sense a movie theme! This should be fun. The dark pink even has some gold sparkles on it. Perfection. 

pods, people

I think I’m going to call these plant pods. It seems like a satisfying moniker given that this photo makes it look like aliens have landed on my couch, hatched, and run amok.

In fact, these are a new addiction of mine. All it takes is an L hook and one ball of cotton yarn. This was based on a free pattern from Bernat using one of their chunkier yarns, but I found that holding the Lily’s cotton yarn double worked just as well. I’ve also got some small ones I made before these using just one strand. They’re pretty cute, too. 

I modified the pattern to be a little bit deeper in order to accommodate the pots I used to transplant some jade cuttings I had been rooting in water to give to our neighbors as holiday gifts. Of course, once I started I couldn’t stop! All the yarn had to turn into plant pods. So, I had a few extra made up so we can keep one, Mom gets one, and I gave one to my friend Andrea since she’s a fellow plant enthusiast. 

They are meant to hang on the wall. I think a hip hook would make this jade plant look rather nice, no? I really enjoyed working these up. Not only were they fast, but they are a great excuse to buy the pretty balls of cotton at the store when you don’t need anymore washcloths in the kitchen. And they satisfyingly used up most of the ball of yarn. I made some more reusable cotton rounds with the (small amount of) leftovers. They’ll end up in Mom’s stocking. Now I’ll just hope the jade cuttings establish themselves well enough before Christmas week so these can get delivered to doorsteps in fine form. 

Pattern: Hanging Planter Pods (my Ravelry page)

Yarn: various Lily Sugar ‘n Cream cotton balls 

Hook: L (8.0 mm)

week eleven

We are still in (some form of) quarantine, but the world still turns and birthdays still happen. After finishing the fabric basket before my friend's birthday I worked on other things until last night when I realized I would be up in the area of her place today and could stop by to drop off her gift. But what to put in the basket? Brainstorming time!

Here's what I ended up with. Those two kitty cat squares were recent cuts from the great scrap jar clean out and have ended up as lavender sachets. I still had lavender from a trip to Aix forever ago, and it still smells quite strong! Amazing. It took literally ten minutes to sew, fill, close, and attach little buttons on each of those. It was tempting to make all the sachets to fill the basket, but it's pretty big! Plus I happened upon some cotton yarn that I've been planning to make dishcloths out of. (In fact I'd already broken into the skeins during week one of this whole quarantine thing.) I've made her some before, but a refresh every now and then isn't a bad thing is it? That took a little bit longer, but Dave and I watched some woodworking YouTube on the couch together as I crocheted. The ends were taken care of this morning. 

The unicorn I also made a few weeks ago in preparation for this particular birthday. She is made of the leftover pieces from holiday ornament making with my nieces and my mom. All it took was a few dollops of hot glue and some marker and she was all set. My friend is super into unicorns right now, so this was received well. It was all packed up in the fabric basket and popped right into a nice gift bag for some socially distant gift giving and an air hug!

week one

Week one of quarantine is officially over. Mom had sent me a pattern via Pinterest for a crocheted square that looks like it has little tulips in it. I wanted a quick non-knitted thing to do today between loads of laundry, so here it is.

I do agree it looks like tulips. The coral and turquoise colors reminded me of the trip we took to Arizona a few springs ago. How I miss those desert colors!

aidin, finished

After setting this down for vacation, it took me a few weeks to pick it back up again when we got back. Of course, in the meantime my nephew was born giving me the ‘ooh better get this done’ moment I needed. All I had left were the long side borders and it didn’t take me long once I got hookin’! This was a free pattern on Ravelry, and I have to say I’m thankful to the designer who put all the work into this and then shared it. It makes such a nice piece.

It ended up being a good size, about 36 x 44 and quite a hefty weight, which I am really pleased with. Crochet fabrics are denser compared to knitting as it is, and the mosaic crochet adds more density per square inch making for a nice thick and sturdy fabric. That said, this cotton yarn from Scheepjes is not as stiff as the usual balls I get from other brands and that makes for more drape in the finished project. It was a little splitty to work with, but what cotton isn’t? I definitely appreciated the wide range of colors I had to choose from, and I love this combination, which is a slant rhyme to nautical colors and hopefully will stand up to wear and tear. At least being cotton it will be easy to throw in the wash. 

I’m hoping the high contrast in the zig zag section will be good for the little munchkin’s eyes and give him something interesting to stare at as he explores the world around him. Rather than doing the last round in the teal as the pattern called for, I used the gold since I was running low on teal and had the most gold left. I squeaked by using up the last of gold and just a few yards of the English tea. I only have about 20 yards each of the teal and tea leftover, so I’d say I made a good choice!

I’m very happy with this finish and am looking forward to seeing my nephew bundled up in this as he grows up.

Pattern: One Step Beyond Blanket (my Ravelry page)
Yarn: Scheepjes Cahlista in ‘ginger gold’, ‘dark teal’, and ‘English tea’
Hook: H (5 mm)
Size: 36”x44”

mosaic momentum

I’m making pretty fast progress on the baby blanket. It’s been traveling around with me to coffee shops and hanging out with me on the couch while I watch all the spring tennis. 

It’s not one of those things I can just zone out and work on, but I’ve hit a good rhythm and am more than 2/3 of the way through the center zigzags. I’m still pleased with the color choices I made and believe I am tracking to have just the right amount of yarn. Onward!

more mosaic

I’ve been enjoying a return to crochet lately. I’ve also enjoyed starting a bunch of new things. And (ahem) acquiring more yarn. This new project ticks off all three of those boxes at once! I have a nephew coming this summer and I decided it was the perfect time to try out a crochet blanket pattern I found recently. It might seem ambitious, but I think it will actually go pretty quickly! 

Picking out colors for a little boy was SO FUN. I ended up with a slant rhyme to nautical yellow and blue. While the teal and mustard are not what I’d call bright, they are still saturated and vibrant. The natural colored background (Scheepjes calls it English Tea) color sets them off well and hopefully will hold up better than white. I wonder, does “English tea” suggest the color of a cup of tea, or that the yarn was dropped in tea and rescued? It makes me chuckle as I work to think of fishing yarn out of a cup of tea. 

The Crossroads Throw I finished was so fun that I went searching for other mosaic crochet projects on Ravelry and came up with this pattern. The center panel will be the teal and tea waves, and there is a border strip with the mustard ‘snake’ all around the edges. It was a little slow getting started and reading the pattern, but now that I’m used to it things are moving along. 

lavender

With all the tiny yarn shawl projects on the needles, sometimes you just have to work on something quick and easy. It seems like every time I stop in Michael’s I find myself over by the cotton yarn bins picking out a couple of balls for crocheting. 

This time I was with a friend who picked out these pretty spring colors. The fun thing was, when I got home and started working on these I realized that the purple ball was scented like lavender! That made working on these especially nice - I will have to keep my eye out for more of the smelly ones. 

I used the scented solid in the border rows and the variegated ball in the center and for the edging which means each of the finished squares look quite different from each other. These four squares used up all of two balls of cotton and filled up an evening with lavender scent and relaxing making.

Crossroads throw

I love these poofs. I attached gold pom poms to the edge of my mosaic throw and it was just what the project needed. The extra pop of color sets off the mosaic nicely and their texture and floppiness give it a whimsical finish. Because it is a crochet fabric it can tend to be a little bit stiff, but the weight of the pom poms on the edges help to get it to drape.

I ended up taking the eight pom poms and splitting them evenly down two sides of my mosaic square.  The diamond pattern gave me a handy guide to help with spacing, and I just tied them on with yarn pulled through the center of each ball. This evening I made some more pom poms in peach and a slightly smaller size (2.5") to consider adding in between the gold ones, but after attaching one side with some temporary knots I decided against it. I really like just the gold, and it was *gasp* just too much pom pom. 

Overall I enjoyed making it and learning this new crochet technique. The finished fabric looks super impressive and this was a perfect use of a self striping Caron cake. I like the slant rhyme to primary colors that I ended up with after adding the gold, and I think the navy was a great choice for a background color to contrast with all the peaches, pinks, and browns in the cake. 

I really like Dave's suggestion to use this as a lap throw. It isn't really a blanket but it covers my legs down to my ankles on the couch which is just enough to keep me cozy. I can't help but think that this would totally look cute thrown over the back of a llama. Maybe it's all the llama prints I've been seeing around lately... no llamas here, so I'll be keeping it for myself. 

Pattern: Southwestern Mosaic Cross Throw, free on Ravelry (my Ravelry page)

Yarn: Caron Cakes in 'Cinnamon Swirl', Loops and Threads Impeccable in 'Navy' and 'Gold'

Hook: US J (6 mm)

Size: about 36" square

pom pom progress

My pom pom makers finally came in the mail, and I spent an evening watching tennis matches and winding many yards of yarn. I thought about other ways of making pom poms like forks or cardboard, but when I went looking for these guys they aren't that expensive and seem like they make it easier. It takes a little bit of thinking to get the first one down given all the movable bits and pieces, but I got the hang of it in no time. I used hand quilting thread to tie them together, I'm hoping that will be strong enough to hold once they are attached. Quilting thread should be strong, right??

Turns out if you make big pom poms, you need more yarn! Of course that's true, but I didn't realize just how much yarn these 3 3/8" poms would eat up. From one ball of 277 yards I got 8 very satisfyingly poofy poms with some (not much) leftover yardage for attaching. I was hoping for 14 for 7 on each of two sides, but I'm going to start with these and see how I feel about it. I can always go get more gold yarn, or I have some peach I used in the last row of the mosaic that I could use for more. We shall see!

mosaic musings

I'm not sure why the colors are so difficult to photograph, but my mosaic crochet project is nearly complete. I basically went until I didn't have any of the Caron cake left, which unsurprisingly did not get me through the whole pattern. The original pattern has a border motif, so when I got to the end I just had to figure out how to gracefully finish up the pattern so it looked ok at the edge. I ended up using a little bit of some stash yarns to get the last rounds finished, a peach for the pattern rows and a dark brown for the background. It's noticeable if you're looking for it but overall not a bad solution.

It's too big to be a pillow cover and not big enough to call a blanket at just about 35" square unblocked, but Dave made the point to me that it is actually a nice size for a small lap throw so I'm going with that. The plan is to make some pom poms to accessorize it. I got this pretty gold yarn for that, and I'm just trying to decide on what my pom pom strategy is going to be. Four corners? Two edges? Hilariously huge? Just big enough? Not sure yet, but I think once I make a few and audition some options it will become clear.

pansy

The last of my Caron Cakes is now a finished project. I must say, they are a fun way to do colorful things with a minimum amount of ends... just two!

Mom sent me this chevron cowl pattern when I mentioned I was looking for fun things to make with these yarns. It's a neat combination of modern geometric pattern with traditional granny square stitching. Having made actual granny squares before, it was a really simple pattern to memorize and work in the evenings. In fact I found myself wanting to sit down and pick this up every night once I started it - quite addicting. Progress was fast and the colors are punchy. I love it. 

The color way name is Plum Crisp but I am partial to pansies and I thought of them as I was crocheting so I'm calling it Pansy. The color changes weren't completely perfect so there's a noticeable skinny stripe where I started but that's ok with me. I guess I could have started with the yellow instead but there'd be a yellow-gray-yellow-gray repeat anyway. 

I used the whole skein of yarn and this would comfortably wrap twice around or could be draped long just once. I like the way the border ends up scalloped and the fabric sturdy enough to stand up a little. It didn't need a block at all, it's ready to wear!

Pattern: Granny Golightly, free on Ravelry (my Ravelry page)

Yarn: Caron Cakes in 'Plum Crisp'

Needle: US I (5.5 mm)

Size: 10.5" x 50"

mosaic crochet

I had so much fun with my last project using a Caron cake that I'm starting another one. While it is tempting to take all three skeins I bought and make that fabulous shawl three times, I decided to try something else. I'm not certain how I found this pattern on Ravelry, but mosaic crochet is a technique I've never done before and it looks like self striping yarn with long color changes will do the trick nicely. The resulting fabric is certainly very striking with this color combination and it's pretty easy once you get the hang of it.

I'm finding that it takes a little bit of attention to get the first side done (it is worked in the round), but once I get the idea of that row's pattern I don't have to read the instructions anymore. It's been really good early morning and late evening handwork for the past couple of days. It's starting to grow a little more slowly as the rounds get longer... I'm excited to see the finished square and to decide how to finish it. Right now I'm thinking pillow cover if it is smaller or maybe adding more yarn in this pinky peachy color family if it is almost big enough to be a throw once the colorful cake is done. We'll see!

tatooine

Before we headed out for our week in Kentucky, I did manage to find a project to get started that could come on the trip with me. I have had this pretty variegated yarn in my stash for a while now - pretty sure Dave's mom bought the two skeins for me. I left on day one with this...

...and came back a week later with a mostly finished project. It took just a couple more days to finish the last few rows. It doesn't really need a blocking, but I might do it just to see if that helps the top edge stop curling under. 

When I was looking around for projects to pair with this yarn, another person on Ravelry had made this shawl with this exact yarn. It looked so nice from her photos that I decided it was the thing to make. I'm sure this would have knitted up nicely too, but the yarn suits the crochet stitches so well. I think it must be the silk in the blend as well as the lovely muted colors that makes it look the way it does. The word I keep thinking of is "creamy". 

The original pattern does not call for the shell edging but I liked the way it looked on the inspiration project, so shells we have. They finish off the whole thing really nicely and I think will help the way it drapes by giving more weight to the edge. I originally thought this was just a gray and beige mix, which made me think of the sandy planet Tatooine in Star Wars (it also helped that the original crocheter called hers Clone Wars - word association anyone?), but looking closely the grays also include some blue-ish and purple-ish hues as well. Is it really a muted rainbow and not a sandy planet? Still, Aunt Beru's drink she served at breakfast was kind of a blue-ish/purple-ish color from what I can remember, and the twin moons were certainly that pretty dusty orange, so Tatooine it is. 

Pattern: Wrap Me in Ice Cream Shawl (my Ravelry page)
Hook: US H (5 mm)
Yarn: Knitting Fever Indulgence 6 ply w/ Silk in '10'

harvest

This latest finish is a satisfying stash buster that took me just a couple of days to work up. I'd been browsing around my Ravelry favorites for new smaller projects to work on post mittens and cotton rounds, and after the process of reorganizing my stash last weekend I found a good set of worsted weight yarns that wanted to be worked up together. (Apparently my brain doesn't want to start that last border on the Shetland shawl just yet!) 

I chose a cool crochet pattern I'd had saved and modified it a bit. First, I made it significantly shorter. Rather than starting out with over 200 stitches per round I did just 81. My first row of foundation hdc gave me enough of an idea of circumference to know that number would be a snug fit rather than one that needed to be wrapped multiple times. Then I decided to play yarn chicken. The pattern calls for only one color and only three repeats of the star stitch stripe. I chose three colors and kept going until I thought I would run out of them. I ended up with five star stitch stripes and managed to use up all of the yellow and most of the other two colors (just a few yards left to accent another project). What a lucky thing! 

The result is a sturdy cowl that will stand up around the neck on its own. It's a little bit Gryffindor with the maroon and yellow stripes, but the coral stars bring it back to looking like autumn to me so I'm calling it Harvest. I'd totally make this again, multi colored or solid. The rows just fly by and I really like the star stitch!

Pattern: Pumpkin Infinity Scarf, free on Ravelry (my Ravelry page)

Hook: H (5 mm)

Yarn: misc worsted weight acrylic leftovers

even quicker

While my recent cowl and mittens finishes were pretty quick, I sat down today to watch the US Open with something even quicker!

Most patterns call these things "face scrubbies" but I'll just call them cotton rounds. I had some bits and pieces of leftover cotton that have been hanging around forever and I thought I'd try making myself some of these rounds to replace the disposable ones I've been using for my face toner. I'm not totally convinced I will never turn back, but I do love using all the dishcloths Mom has made me in the kitchen, so why not give it a go? 

These little guys were super fun to make, and quite addicting! I managed to work through ALL of my leftover cotton. I even enjoyed weaving in the ends. What is wrong with me?! 

These rounds were made with two SC rounds and one DC round. I like that they are simple and sturdy. Hopefully they'll hold shape well through washes and dry out well between (i.e. not get stinky before laundry day). 

These last three were made using two rounds of puff stitches and one round of SC. I don't think these will dry out quite as well as the others but the puff was too fun not to try. My Ravelry page has a few more details as well as links to the two patterns that I used as guides, and there are a bunch of patterns out there for various sizes and textures. 

All in all these were a really relaxing and satisfying use of time today! True potato chip project -- almost literally -- they aren't much bigger than a chip themselves and I could make a whole bag. It was also fun to get back together with my crochet hooks. Sewing is also making a comeback! More on a quilt top soon.