Boring !

I have always had a short attention span -- my whole life.  In my craft world this will manifest itself in getting bored with repetition - doing the same stitch over and over again.  This is the reason that I avoid a crocheted or knitted project that has motifs.  Making the same square again and again puts me to sleep quickly.  That being said, I have made a few things with motifs, and in the middle of each one I make a promise to myself: Never again!  Until the next time, that is :)

I'm currently in the middle of two projects.  One is a crocheted version of a Double Wedding Ring quilt.  Teal, light purple and white, cotton-blend sport weight yarn. Interlocking circles, and connecting inserts....again and again.

The other is a crochet tablecloth, off-white crochet cotton.
Rounds and rounds of increasing lengths, repeating two different 8 or 9 rows of patten.

Well, actually, they are sitting on the shelf right now...my sister has a birthday in a few weeks and I wanted to finish a gift for her.  I made a shawl for her using an eyelash weight yarn I've had for years.  I tried a few different techniques using this yarn and nothing worked.  The method that finally worked for me was hairpin lace.

 I had never made anything using hairpin lace, but it was simple and worked up quickly.  I don't like the finished result. Hahaha.  It just didn't have anything special about it, just a rectangle. In the middle of working on it, I emailed a photo to the sister.  She said she liked it, so I finished it.  When she gets it, I hope she likes, 'cause I sure don't!


PS.  Yes, the hairpin lace loom is homemade from a pair of yellow flip flops and knitting needles.  The second flip flop was used to make a Kumihimo loom (one round, one square).  That is my next area to explore -  braiding, weaving, and finger-loops, and in there somewhere jewelry making is breaking in, too. 

Until the next post.....

Ecru Tablecloth

This is a tablecloth that I made for my sister, the one that likes antiques.  I usually work in white or off-white, but I found a great deal on-line (on sale, plus President's Day discount, free shipping, they took PAYPAL!!) but the online store only had two off-whites left), so I bought a few ecru, thinking I could swap 'em for white somewhere, somehow.  So, used up the white on various projects and decided I wanted to crochet a tablecloth.  I had never made a large crochet cotton project, but I was up for the challenge.  An issue I had was I hate making motifs....I get so bored, and was afraid I would abandon the project in the middle (my knitted Falling Leaves afghan motifs are still in a plastic bag, waiting to be dyed).   During a 'net surf session I came across this pattern, Norway Spruce in Magic Crochet, and thought that an insert tablecloth would be a good first foray into a project this size.   Plus, NO MOTIFS!! I found a great deal on a huge tablecloth at a thrift store, and the color match was great.

First problem I had was 'What size should it be?' My sister lives 1700 miles away and I didn't want to call her and ruin the surprise...  "So....how big is your dining room table, anyway?".  So, I text'd her teenage son and hoped he would get the right dimensions and/or respond.  The kid came through like the champ he is, but the dimensions seemed so little.  In my mind the table was bigger. Oh well, full speed ahead, if it was too small, so be it, I would call it a large runner.

Problem two: finishing the edges of the cut material. An overcast seam would be great, but I don't have a surger, and a rolled hem felt like it would be too bulky.  I finally came up with making a faux overcast edge.  I did a really tight zigzag stitch and cut the material after zigzag'ing.  That worked great.

Now just a matter of doing, and that went surprisingly quicky and easily - the pattern was mostly single crochets, double crochets and chains. Now just a matter of waiting for the family reunion this summer.

My sister loved it, it was the right size for the table, and works great with her decor.

Details: pattern name is Norway Spruce.  I think its in an old issue of Crochet Magic but don't know which one.  The finished tablecloth is 4' x 5'.  I used Lydia's crochet cotton, size 10 with a size 7 hook.

Sister's table runner

I made this runner for my sister last spring and was able to give it to her early this

summer.  I don't get to see her very frequently.  She lives in Florida and I live in Las Vegas.  I did this slightly sneaky thing to insure that the size was correct. I sent a "survey" to all my sisters to mask what I really wanted to know.  In addition to type and size of dining tables, I asked favorite colors, and other things to create confusion.  The pattern is an Ondori  (sorry, but dont know pattern name or what book it came out of) that I adjusted the length to make it appropriate for her dining table.  I used Aunt Lydia's crochet cotten, size 10 crochet hook.

Current Situation

Well, it has been a long time since I've posted. During the winter I made several large pieces (doilies, all Ondori pieces). If you like making doilies, I highly recommend these designs. I even got over my fear of blocking - it's actually easier than I thought it would be. Unfortunatley I dont have photos to post. i gifted a few of the pieces, and I emailed the recipients to see if they will send me a pic of the piece "in use." My living situation changed this spring, and unfortunately it's not conducive to me being creative. I am SLOWLY working on a crocheted tablecloth, but have only worked on it intermediatly over the past few months. I really want to start work on Tumbling Dice blanket, but I'll need to buy a larger circular needle before I can start working on it. I can't make any promises about when I'll post again, but I will try to make it shorter than the time between my last post and this one.

Update of my summer

Well, I've not been too creative over the summer.   I have made several doilies, but have not blocked them.  I frogged the Patricia Kristofferson pieces I did.  I decided that I don't like her work.  To me, and this is my opinion, she creates these convoluted patterns for convulation's sake.   I'm sticking to mostly pineapple doilies and found a few Japanese pieces on-line that are great.  Also, I found some knitted doilies that I'd like to work up.  They uses 00 and 000 needles, and you need both dp and circular, so I have to stock-up.

I am just about to wrap-up a knitted motif afghan, called FALLING LEAVES. The pattern has popped up for several years and I decided its the appropriate design for some Peaches n' Creme cotton yarn that I purchased years ago on clearance at Michael's.  It hit me that the solids and variegated are all fall colors, 'cept the natural color skeins.  I'm dyeing the natural color into golds, browns and scarlets.  Now its just a matter of joining the over 300 motifs together in a random, yet pleasing-to-my-eyes, pattern.  Look for a photo here when its finished.  ( Another pledge that I won't make another motif piece, but of course I will)

I'm waiting for the Las Vegas weather to stop being in the 100 degree bracket to work on my denim quilt.  And of course, I've got a few patterns in my head that I'm gonna crochet or knit.  

Is it Spring Fever ?

Well, the past few weeks have been a period of no productivity - craft-wise -for me.  I finished a few doilies a few weeks ago, and finally got around to buying some rust-proof pins to block them, but haven't felt like working on getting them blocked.  So, they are sitting on a pile of aghans waiting for me.  I found a few great sites for some vintage thread patterns, and some really inspired me ... to save them.  I even found some great deals on-line for crochet cotton that accept PayPal (this way I don't have to spend any money, just use the money I've made from Ebay auctions).   So, everyday, I look on-line at patterns and forums, or through my library of saved patterns, but nothing is compelling me to pick up a hook and get to work.  We'll see how long this attitude continues. When I do get around to creating something, of course I'll post it here. 

  I've been spending some time indexing (data entry'ing) for a few genealogy sites (another of my hobbies is researching my family tree). Census records, birth records, Parish record, tax records.  I really like doing this. 
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Doily Doily Doily

I've been on a doily kick for the past few weeks.  I've made a few Patricia Kristofferson and a few others.  I've not blocked them yet, because I don't have any rustproof pins, and not a chance to head to Joann's.  As soon as I get them blocked, I'll post a few pix.

Cancelled Crafster.com account

I just sent an email to the Moderator's of Craftster.com.  I cancelled my account.

Yesterday I submitted a very limited post on the sub-category for crochet works.  To paraphrase, it said "look at my blog to see my latest work.Tell me what you think."  I chose to post this way due to the multi-step process that a user has to follow to post a photo on this forum.  Well, with in a few minutes, I got an email from a moderator saying that my post was being put on HOLD, saying that I 'appeared' that I was trying to increase the traffic to my blog. My post would remain on HOLD until I addressed this issue.  So, today, I re-posted in the same sub-category, using two photos (the same as posted here) and a very cursory paragraph relating to my Catherine Wheel Variation and a link to my blog (which was the same link that is part of my signature that is at the bottom of every post I submit to Craftster).   Again, with in a few minutes I rec'd another message from a moderator telling me that I should only post a link that directly links to the referenced work. 

After looking at the post, I noticed that a moderator had edited my post, editing the link so that it would go directly to my Catherine Wheel variation afghan.

I then noticed that the latest (at the time) comment  had four links in the user's signature.  The four links were to the user's patterns site, the user's Etsy account, the user's Revelry account, and a link to the user's web page.  Two of these link are sites that the user SELL their work

I felt that this was hypocritical of the forum to allow these types of links and yet be so concerned that my link, to my blog, was seen as an attempt to get traffic to my blog.  I feel that there are too many alternatives on the internet to have to deal with this.  So, most of my comments will be on Crochetville.com and here on my blog.

Catherine Wheel and Spokes

I first saw the Catherine Wheel pattern on mikeyssmail site on YouTube a few years ago.  This guy has some great instructional videos posted, even if some of the crochet terms he uses drives me nuts !  Mikey has instructional videos posted for two variations of the Catherine Wheel: the first is made of double crochets, and the second is made of treble crochets (Mikey calls this a Jumbo Catherine Wheel).

My version is the Jumbo Catherine Wheel, but I usually put a twist on almost every pattern I make. This version has two variations.  Only 1/3 of the rows follow the pattern.  The other 2/3 of the rows are "airy" versions, what I call "spokes".  I was concerned that the finished piece would be very dense, so the 'airy' wheels were created to combat that.

The other variation is that each row takes a 90 degree turn about half way through.  I came up with the turns to break up the monotony of row after row after row of the wheels.  With this technique the variations are literally endless.

I used four colors of Red Heart Super Saver that I frogged from afghans I made a few years ago.  I used a G/6 aluminum needle.  The finished piece is about 4' x 6', but I'm considering putting a border of single crochets to "frame" it.

G's Star

This is my G's Xmas present.  He's seen it, he picked the pattern, he picked the colors.  This pattern was interesting to work with; some parts were written very strange-ly.  I had to rewrited a few parts.  The other strange part of this was the gauge.  I purchased the worsted weight as called for in the pattern and used the hook that was called for in the pattern...but, it turned out 15" smaller than the pattern said it would be...and it used less than half the amount of yarn called for.  Good thing I saved the receipt for the yarn !

I used Caron's Simply soft yarn.  First time I've used this yarn.  It was slippery and tended to split;  the shiny aspect of the  yarn was one reason I had avoided this yarn in the past, but I wanted something soft for the finished piece.

Lizard Ridge DONE !

Wow...finally finished this !  I had some apathy towards it in about the middle, and didn't work on if as much as I should have some days.  I actually doubled the size of the piece about a third way into it.  White turned into a main color instead of a contrast color.  I see crayons when I look at it (the black outlining the colors...).  I've come to the realization that I don't like making small throws...bigger is better.  I listed this on Etsy; it's the first time I've tried to sell anything I've made.  I have a suspicion that its overpriced, but I'm testing the waters.  On to the next project ! (I'm in the middle of a denim quilt already )

Riding on the back of a Lizard...Ridge

Now this is more like it.  After two previous attempts with this yarn, I've got a pattern that I like.  It is called the Lizard Ridge Pattern, published in Knitty, fall 2006.  I've had the pattern on my fave list for a few years but my last attempt with a short row pattern was unsuccessful, so it sat on the list un-attempted for quite a while.  I finally attempted it after the two previous disasters.   It is a pattern that you have to concentrate on while working on, and the short rows did cause a headache for the first few rows.  I didn't like the way the pattern was written and even after watching a video on YouTube, I was still confused.  SO.....being the self-reliant type of guy I am, I found a much better way to work short rows.  I don't seem to get much done each day, but it is coming along.   I also noticed that this looks like a knitted version of the Wavey Afghan I started first.  This is a good thing, because I liked that pattern.  So, I'm plugging along and will post a pic when I finish  (My brain is already  planning the next three or four projects ....)

feed the fish-ees

I thought this was cute...


Click to "FEED THE FISH"

Creating Frustration

So yesterday, I was working on my latest project, a wavey afghan, when I realized that I had under-calculated how much yarn was going to be needed to finish. I was using yarn from my stash, yarn that I had purchased at my fave store, Saver's, a few years ago for a couple of bucks. Since the yarn was old, I figured I wouldn't be able to find anymore. I was surprised when I found it was available at JOANN'S and was on sale. It appeared that the colors were not available but there were others that were close. Off we went today on errands, and stopped at JOANN'S. No yarn...only available online. :( No other brands even close to what I needed. Needed to go to plan B. Gen'o advised me to let it set for a few days, maybe a solution would present itself. I was all ready to frog the whole thing. So, I'm letting it sit....I have found a new pattern, very similar, and will prolly frog and make the original yarn more of a contrast color in the new pattern.

Couch Cover / Loveseat Cover

I made these two several years ago for my Mother-In-Law. They are knitted corner to corner in garter stitch. The couch cover is about nine feet x 6 feet. ( The loveseat is identical, only smaller.) About a year after I finished the couch cover, my Mother-in-law asked for one for her loveseat. Since she moved back to the Philippines in the spring, she gave them back to me. They are currently sitting in the storage unit, since they don't match my decor. I am thinking of frogging them, as they each have repaired spots on them, and I'm not allowed to buy any new yarn until I use up my stash.



They are made from Red Heart yarn. I think I used a 9mm circular needle.
(the close-up makes the lightest red look orange.)

Rainbow Afghan

I found this design while searching the Internet. Its made up of strips, and I modified the way the strips joined together. I literally had less than a foot of yarn left after making this afghan. In fact I had to modify the fringe due to limited amount of the color yarn. My Mother choose this one, from a group of five that I made for my sisters and her. I told her, "No, it doesn't come with a membership to PFLAG!"

Here is the original pattern that I modified : (they called it a Medallion Strip Afghan)

http://www.allcrafts.net/fjs.htm?url=www.patchworkcrochet.com/strips.htm

I don't know the yarn this was made of, since the yarn came from a throw that I frogged . It felt like an acrylic/cotton blend. I used a G Boye hook.

Tunisian Crochet Afghan

This was my first attempt at tunisian crochet. I found the method one day while surfing the internet. I marked it as a favorite and several weeks later I began work on it. It is a very simple stitch to learn. I used a tradional crochet hook, not an afghan hook. Each individual square is only about two inch square, so the smaller size of a traditional hook was not an issue. The finished piece is heavier than a traditional afghan made from the same yarn (considering that the stitch will create two layers, if you will). The simple color design and color combination presents a very impressive finished piece. The only thing that I don't like about it is the sides of the squares look jigsaw-puzzle-piece-ish, but I can live with it. This was one of a batch that I made in the fall/winter of 2009 for my Mother and sisters. The sister that I had in mind while making it, choose it.

Its made from Red Heart yarn and number H Boye needle.

Granny Squares

This is a modern take on a Granny Square Afghan. I had been wanting to make a granny square afghan for quite awhile (ROSEANNE, anyone?) Thing is, I like to modify or create my own designs; so I did some extensive research on-line for some different squares. After doing some tests squares, and searching my stash, I came up with a combination of color and design that I found pleasing. As I was making it, it grew larger and larger. This is one of five afghans I made in the fall and winter of 2009. I sent them to my Mother and let her and my sisters choose from them. I had an idea in my head who would choose what, and somehow, they choose the one I thought they would.

This is made from Red Heart and a size G Boye needle.

Ripple Knit

This is a ripple knit throw that I ended up giving to my sister. I wanted to make a ripple afghan, but wasn't looking to make the traditional crochet version. The waves are larger than the traditional ripple. I put markers on the needles where I wanted the increases and decreases to be. About halfway throught the process, I noticed holes in the finished piece where the stitch holders were.




This was made from Peaches and Creme cotton yarn and number 7 circular needle.

Pairie Star Quilt Afghan

I made this quilt afghan about a year ago. I gave it to my sister who loves antiques, old items and has decorated her whole home in that style. I finally got to see the afghan in its home this spring during a visit. I found the design on an internet search. I liked the idea of an afghan looking like a quilt (combining two of my interests). The assembly can be kind of tricky but BethinTx on YouTube has posted detailed videos of the whole creation and assembly.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWjt33r_gBA

It's made from Red Heart yarn