One Thing Leads to Another

With apologies to Laura Numeroff...

If you teach a girl to knit, she will probably make some things with it.


When she's knit herself 12 sweaters in a year, she'll want to take a break and work on some smaller things. She'll want to learn to crochet.

As she starts to crochet, she'll probably acquire some crochet thread.

photo credit Twisted Knitter
And when she does, she'll start finding other uses for the thread. She will want to learn to tat, so she'll have to go pick up some new supplies.


At the store, she'll see something else she wants.


She'll want to bring it home and play with it. She'll probably like the little mannequin so much that she'll scrounge around for some things to make it an accessory.


And when she does, it'll remind her of how much she loves knitting, and she'll want to knit some more.


(See additional pictures on Ravelry)

Tuesday Tube: Hyperbolic Crochet

For those of you interested in the intersection of math and needlecraft,

Start of Something Big

Thus far, my crochet projects have been small, but I'm ready for something bigger. I have been wanting to do an afghan for awhile, but I never quite settled on a pattern. Then I saw the Gardening at Night Bag (Rav link) in Debbie Stoller's Stitch Nation booklet, and I knew it was the one. The bag is assembled from hexagons that are outlined in a dark color, which makes the circular flower motif in the middle really pop. There are other hexagon patterns that are very similar, but hers is subtly tweaked in a way that makes it look more flowery to me.

When my LYS had a sale recently, I picked out 4 different colors of Berroco Vintage and Cascade 220 Superwash, along with a dark brown 220 for the edges. I used 3 of the colors so far and here's what I have:


I calculated that I would need about 300 hexagons to make the afghan size I want (4' x 6'). Assuming I want to use 3 different colors per hexagon, with 4 different colors of yarn, I can get 4x3x2=24 different combinations. That's nice, but I thought it would be fun to have each block be unique, so I needed to get more colors. With 8 different colors, I could get 8x7x6=336 combinations. Perfect!

I headed back to my LYS today and pulled together some more colors that I thought would work together. With help, I edited out some that were too bright, too dark, or too close to a color I already had. The field was narrowed down to 7 total colors,


but I was still struggling to find the last one. Luckily for me, Janet happened to come into the shop, even though she was not scheduled to work. And guess what she found for me?


The blue is an inspired choice that adds an unexpected pop, and I love it. I wish I could have gotten the colors to show more true in these photos. The blue has some green in it, and the lighter green is more the color of young leaves, and not the minty color you see there. Thanks, Janet :-)

Looking forward to the next 295 hexagons! (We'll see how long that lasts)

Tuesday Tube: Vasconcelos

If you're following me on Twitter, you saw an amazing grand piano covered in crochet, by artist Joana Vasconcelos. Here's another example of her work



For even more, check out her website.

Serenity Now

Thanks to Sarah, I discovered Margaret Oomen's gorgeous blog and her crochet-covered sea stones. After checking out the tutorial, I knew I had to make one!

I really am still a crochet novice and got confused with the directions; I do better with a chart. I couldn't make step 5 work out, and so I don't think my rounds start out at the right place, but it doesn't matter. I ended up with something that looks kind of like the original picture.


I've already been inspired to make another. I was going for a nautilus design to pair with Margaret's sea-urchin-inspired pattern. It occurred to me to try to get a proper Fibonacci sequence, but I was already up past my bedtime and my brain would not come up with anything that made sense, so I approximated the shape. I'll post a little pattern once I figure out how to write it out.


There are so many things about this project that I like. It's fast and fulfilling. I love the juxtapositioning of contrasts: the warmth of the fiber against the cool of the rock, the light airy texture of thread against the unyielding heft of stone. I especially love how the crochet molds itself around the rock until the two meld together like they were destined to be like that. It's romantic! Looking at them makes me happy and calm.

I wish I could say that I picked up this rock while strolling along the beach, hand-in-hand with my husband, while our barefooted children ran happily alongside us, their ebullient laughter startling the seagulls. [sigh] In truth, I picked up a bag of rocks from Michael's, LOL! But you can bet I'll be looking for more rocks on my travels so that I can bring home a bit of souvenir serenity.

More pictures are on my Ravelry project page.

Computer Assisted Design

Well, I took the plunge and actually tried one of the patterns in that Japanese dog crochet book I bought in Vancouver. This was my first Japanese pattern, and I tell you--I could not have done it without the internet. The book itself had wonderful charts, beautiful photography showing you steps in assembly, and clear illustrations showing you how to do the crochet stitch that corresponded to each chart symbol. But even so, I would have been lost without knowing the Japanese characters for body parts, getting a quick refresher on reading charts in general, and especially having a guide to reading amigurumi patterns in particular. You should have seen me! I was working in my home office and had two windows open on the desktop monitor and another page open on the iPad, not to mention flipping back and forth between the diagrams in the book for my dog and the pictures in the book that had general assembly directions. If everyone else wasn't asleep at the time, I would have asked someone to take a picture, LOL!

Even with that, there were still a lot of things I didn't understand. I don't know what it says about recommended yarn or hook size. I just chose a hook several sizes smaller than what the yarn ball band recommended since I thought it would be better to make the stitches tight so that the stuffing wouldn't come through. The directions for the dog came with charts for 2 different torsos. I think one was meant for the standing dog and the shorter torso was meant for the sitting dog, but I'm not sure. And there was no diagram for legs. I scoured the printed directions, trying to find the character for "leg" but didn't see anything I could use. Finally, I just picked the pattern for some other dog's legs and figured the ami police would not come after me for doing so.

In the end, it was worth it.



Making this dog was a *lot* of fun. Well, mostly fun. Making the legs was not fun--at all--and I shouldn't have done them last. But I really enjoyed the rest of it. She looks lonely, though, and if I can figure out where to buy some more eyes and noses, I'll make another one. A few more details are on Rav (the page is made public, so you can still see it even if you don't have a Ravelry account).

If You're Hoppy And You Know It

I realize I've been hopping around all over the place with my projects. I am accumulating soooo many UFO's that I decided I'd better start finishing some of them. Most are really close to being done--they just need that final little push. So here's the first of what will hopefully be a little batch of FO's.

This is a little Flower Choker from Crocheted Gifts.



Now I admit I've already been bad. Last night, as I was waiting for the green piece to block, I started another project. But in my defense, it was a little enough project that I managed to finish it too. These are the Doily Earrings from Crochet Adorned, which has become a go-to book for me.



Hopefully, more to come soon. The project pages for the choker and earrings are on Ravelry if you want details about thread and hooks.

Something Fishy

I really liked the idea of the Cloudfish Skirt at Anthropologie. It's more Bohemian than what I usually wear, but I'm just charmed by the crocheted fish appliques for some reason. When I tried it on in the store, though, I decided not to buy it. The size runs really small and even in a larger size, it sat really high on my waist and was not comfortable. Also, the gray color in person looks a bit dingy.

So with some guidance from more experienced crocheters on Ravelry, I made my own little fish.


Now I have to find a swing skirt to put it on. I'll have some time later this week to go to Old Navy, and I think the blue version of this skirt would work. Otherwise, I might have to dust off the sewing machine.

No Two Alike

I have been checking out a lot of different crochet books from the library so that I can preview them to see which ones I want to buy for my own shelves. In the process, I've run across some lovely motifs, and I thought it would be fun to crochet some of them into ornaments for Christmas. I particularly like the ones that would make pretty snowflakes, and since there are so many designs, I thought I'd make only one of each.

This particular snowflake is from Super Stiches Crochet. I like it, but it turned out a little more unique than I had intended.


Can you spot my mistake?

I wasn't paying close attention (I was catching up on some Mad Men), and I ended up with a 5-pointed star instead of a 6-pointed snowflake.


Ahhh...that's better.

ETA I'm going to be adding any further snowflakes to the same Rav project page.

Serendipity

As you may know, I *love* shopping at Anthropologie. Even when I don't find something I want to buy, I can usually find something that inspires me. Take, for example, the Winding Indus tank. The use of crochet motifs makes a bold, fun statement, but racer back tanks don't look good on me. Plus, my long hair would cover up most of the fun detail.

So then, I came across the Pretty Petals Tank in Crochet Adorned. Perfect! I knew the hard part would be finding just the right tank and the yarn to go along with it. It would have been much simpler to pick a color like black or white, but I took a chance on 2 tank tops I found at Target, each a different shade of orange. I really liked the colors, and I figured I had nothing to lose.

Off I headed to my LYS. I poked around for awhile without much luck trying to match either tank. But then Gayle (Rav link) came to my rescue with her keen eye. Look what she found for me


Is that not amazing? I mean, I could not have done better if I had dyed it myself! The gauge is a bit off, but I can work with that. We'll see if the stars remain aligned while I try to make this thing or if I've jinxed myself.

Little Things

I see so many really cute, small, knitted things. But knitting small things feels fiddly, and I don't do it very often. I'm learning that crochet has a really different feel, though, and it seems ideally suited for making small things. I used leftover yarn and whipped out 3 of these guys in no time at all yesterday.




Aren't they fun? These are the bird brooches from Crochet Adorned. They can be used in so many different ways! I can even see myself making a tree full of these as ornaments.

Details are on Ravelry. I have more crochet in the works, so stay tuned.

Stuck

I've been on a crochet kick! I managed to finish one project and I'll give you a sneak peek of it...



I'm very excited because I was able to navigate the pattern by myself. Armed with new-found confidence, I started swatching for this little top. But I got completely and utterly stuck. The swatch doesn't look anything like what it's supposed to. I know my limits, and I know when I need professional help. I've signed up for another lesson next week. Until then...

Hooked

I have officially become a hooker. (My real-life, non-yarnie friends reading this need not be alarmed--it's not what you think.) Up to this point, I had been struggling every time a pattern called for a bit of crochet. I learned little tricks like picking up stitches and binding off on the very next row, rather than finishing off a neckline or armhole with crochet. To me, all a hook was good for was for making repairs after I dropped stitches. I kept telling myself that I needed to be more adept at crochet, but put off doing anything about it.

Finally this week, I took a private class with Ann (Rav link) at my LYS. Since my arms had been bothering me, I went on a self-imposed knitting hiatus the week before the class so that I wouldn't risk not being able to do it. It was worth the wait because Ann was a great teacher! In the first hour, I learned the basics. My ah-ha! moment (actually, it was more of a duh! moment) came when I realized that you are supposed to hold the base of your work with your left thumb and middle finger. No wonder why I always thought it was so difficult and unmanageable! Everything would flop around and be so hard to manipulate. I *cannot* believe I didn't realize such a simple and seemingly intuitive thing, but I just didn't. Well, once that clicked, I was off and running.


In the second hour, I showed Ann the pattern I aspired to eventually make...the Anne scarf (Rav link). I credit Janet with the inspiration and the nudge and Ann for making it happen for me.




Ta da! My very first crochet project. Yes, I am happy. And yes, I have been trolling Rav for inspiration to make other crochet projects. I am hooked.

Details are on Ravelry. BTW, now that Rav project pages can be made public, I am going to stop updating the Gallery. I'll decide later what I want to do with it.