Yarn Along

Once again I'm joining Ginny at small things for her weekly yarn along.

Time has gotten away from me since last Wednesday and I haven't accomplished very much in the way of crocheting or reading. I haven't done anything on the tote project I posted about last Wednesday, but I have been working sporadically on two other crochet projects--an amigurumi snowman and an afghan square. Both of these projects need a lot more work before they look like much.

The snowman is my March project for the Christmas ornament KAL/CAL-2011 on Ravelry. The pattern for this little guy can be found here on the Lion Brand website. It is free, but you must join to have access to their free patterns. He is my third amigurumi project and I am continuing to enjoy making these cute stuffed toys.

The afghan square is my April square for the 2011 Crochet Block-a-Month CAL, also on Ravelry. The pattern, Crown Jewels Square by Melinda Miller, is also a free pattern, and can be found here. It is the fourth square for the afghan I am making for my grandson for Christmas.

I haven't gotten very far in The Dollmaker since last week, but it is well-written and has captured my interest.  I need to finish reading it by April 22 in order to discuss it at my book club meeting.

Looks like I have a lot of crocheting and reading to accomplish in the next week if I want to show more progress than I have this week.

Finally Some FOs!

Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it. ~Greg Anderson

I did experience joy in the making of these finished objects (FOs), but I have gotten even more joy from actually finishing them.

I finished my Scrawl on the Wall Shawl several days ago.  I began this shawl in January as a knit-a-long on Ravelry and first posted about it here. It has been my go to project when I needed to relax because it was an easy knit. I'll have to find another project now to relieve my stress.

 

I also started this little Christmas Gnome in January as part of a monthly Christmas ornament knit/crochet-a-long on Ravelry. The free pdf pattern designed by Else Tennessen can be found here.  He is the very first amigurumi project I've ever attempted.  I enjoyed making him so much that I am now addicted.

 

I finished this Starburst Flower square for my grandson's afghan in just two days.  It is the March square for the 2011 Block-a-Month Crochet-a-long I'm participating in on Ravelry.  The pattern can be found for free here.  The talented designer is Donna Mason-Svara, otherwise known as SmoothFox. It is a very well-written pattern and included some stitches that were new to me, so it was very interesting and educational to make.

Now I have to get busy and finish some more projects.

Showing Some Progress

The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, but in what direction we are moving.~Oliver Wendell Holmes

I am finally moving in the right direction with my Scrawl on the Wall Shawl. I have begun decreasing now after increasing to 120 stitches.  Many of my fellow members of this Ravelry group have finished their shawls--and they are all beautiful! I have been obsessed with making heart themed projects this month and have not devoted as much time to the shawl as I could have, but it is coming along nicely.  What do you think?

February Hearts

Love is not written on paper, for paper can be erased.  Nor is it etched on stone, for stone can be broken.  But it is inscribed on a heart and there it shall remain forever. ~Unknown

Grandma's Heart Square

This is the February block for the 2011 Block-a-Month Crochet-a-long I'm participating in on Ravelry.  It was designed by Carola Wijma and the pattern can be downloaded for free from Ravelry. It is aptly named because it will be used in the making of an afghan for my little grandson, Baby G.  It was a challenge for me, as I needed to read a crochet chart in order to make it, and it incorporated many different stitches.  It was a wonderful learning experience and great fun, too!

Little Heart Bookmarks

 I posted here about these bookmarks I was making for the members of one of my book clubs.  The pattern was designed by Lee at KilliecrankieFarm.  They were quick and satisfying to make and now here are all eight finished and ready for gifting.

I love to make things in heart shapes and I am always attracted to items with hearts on them.  Example the pillow above.  Since Valentine's Day is in February I usually indulge myself with the making of hearts and decorating with them as well.  Don't be surprised if more hearts show up on this blog this month.

Hooray for Crochet!

It's March and that means it is (Inter)National Crochet Month (NatCroMo). Crocheters all over the world are celebrating in many varied ways, but none as exuberantly as my fellow hookers on Ravelry. Every day in March, kaet will inspire those of us participating in the second edition of the NatCroMo Freeform Game with a daily instruction. By March 31st each of us will have completed a freeform creation and no matter what it looks like we will all have had great fun along the way. Today's instruction is very unstructured, as befits freeform. It is: A is for Apple. Here is my interpretation, greatly inspired by my love of Granny Smith apples. The photo is a bit on the fuzzy side so you will have to use your imagination.

This is a good time for me to mention my attendance January 21st and 22nd at a series of Freeform Knit and Crochet Classes at SouthWest Trading Company, Inc. in Tempe, Arizona. Prudence Mapstone, a talented fiber artist and gifted teacher, was the instructor. Prudence's work, as well as inspirational guidance on freeforming, can be found here.

I basked in the camaraderie of my fellow attendees during the two sessions I participated in and learned so much about freeforming through the hands-on approach we followed each day. I was not prolific, but am very happy with what I was able to accomplish.

This freeform leaf will eventually be part of a shawl for me:

This scrumble looked so much like a fish when I was finished that I decided to make a tote bag with it for my daughter-in-law who loves all things nautical:

A scrumble, by the way, is a freeform patch made with an assortment of yarns which can combine both knitting and crocheting. The scrumbles are then joined to form a larger item such as a handbag or a shawl.

I reported last March that I was making some scrumbles to send to Prudence Mapstone for The Pink Project, an activity to support breast cancer research. Well, Prudence has taken all the scrumbles sent to her from all over the world and combined them to make beautiful and unusual items. They are now up for auction and can be viewed and bid on via this website. I encourage you to view them and bid if you feel so inclined. It is for a very good cause.

Progress on the Hobbit Shawl

It has been very hot here for about a week--upper 90s to 100s. Even though we have air-conditioning and the house is usually comfortably cool, I just haven't felt like working on larger projects. However, yesterday and today I made myself crochet for a while on my Hobbit Shawl for the One Shawl to Rule Them All KAL/CAL on Ravelry. My motivation came from finishing my reading of The Fellowship of the Ring and then re-watching the film. It follows the spirit of the story well, and I wanted to hear some of the more difficult names from the book pronounced aloud. I like the film very much, but the book is wonderful! There is such a difference between the two mediums. I understand why Peter Jackson condensed some of the action and changed some of the story to fit the screen better, but I missed the poetry and the songs from the book. I think they are some of my favorite parts of the book.

I continue to enjoy this shawl pattern and I like the yarn too. It has a crisp rather than a soft hand, but very comfortable to work with. I think it will be very comfortable to wear as well. I wish the yarn was not discontinued. I found some for trade or sell on Ravelry, but I am trying to stay committed to stash burning, so have resisted the temptation. Being cotton, I don't know how it will block, but I am pretty well satisfied with it the way it is now. If it doesn't open up much, I will not be disappointed.

One Shawl To Rule Them All

Back in April, I found a new group that had just started on Ravelry called intriguingly, One Shawl To Rule Them All. According to the administrators of the group, it was "started as a joke, but erupted into an exciting queue of must knit (or crochet) shawls. We’re doing a KAL/CAL for shawls voted on by the group that were inspired by the races of Middle Earth."

I promptly joined the group because of my interest in The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien. I had seen all of the movies, but had never read the books. I don't remember now what I was doing when all my friends were reading about hobbits, and elves, and Gondor, and Mordor, and Gandalf, and Sauron, but I missed out on the whole thing until the movies came along.

Now, I am reading all about the Third Age of Middle-Earth as I begin working my way through the four shawls I've chosen to crochet and knit for this group. Thus far, I've finished reading The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring and have started The Two Towers. In addition, I've started my first shawl for the KAL/CAL. It is from a pattern by milobo that she calls Eva's Shawl. I'm calling it my Hobbit Shawl. The pattern and lovely pictures can be found here.

I am using a yarn I've had in my stash for almost two years: Elann Endless Summer Connemara in the colorway #112. It is much more a light golden brown than my photo above shows. The yarn is a worsted weight mercerized cotton which is unfortunately discontinued. I really like the way it is working up and the fiber should be good here in the desert. This is a crochet pattern and I am using a size J (6mm) hook. The yarn is heavier than the designer used and in consequence so is the hook, but I am very pleased with the look of it. I have made quite a few shawls, but never one for myself until now. I'm looking forward to wearing it on cool evenings.

Roving, Roving, Who's Got the Roving?

Me! That's who. I posted a wish list in the Random Acts of Kindness group on Ravelry and asked for a small amount of roving to practice spinning with my drop spindle. Two phenomenally generous Ravelers sent me all this:

Big thank yous to franspun and songdeva. People like them are a large part of what makes Ravelry a true community. Now I have no excuse for not getting started on making some yarn with my drop spindle.

Promises Kept and a Lovely Surprise

It's getting very close to the end of this week and I did promise myself I'd post three times each week for at least a month. Luckily for me, I have kept some other promises this week so I have something to post.

Sometime in 2006 (very vague, I know, but it's been so long I forget exactly when) I bought some Lion Brand Fishermen's Wool to make a pillow for my daughter. What with getting ready to move and then actually moving, I'm afraid this little project was sadly neglected. I did manage to work on it some while visiting in Virginia this April and now have completely finished it. This was my first cable project, but I enjoyed it so much I know it won't be my last. The pattern was from a booklet of one skein projects and that is all it took. The pattern is called Twists 'n' Turns Pillow and the needle size is 9 (5.5 mm).


I purchased some recycled sari silk yarn not long ago from a sock knitting buddy because I’ve always wanted to work with it, and decided it was just the yarn to use to make a scarf for my daughter. She just recently graduated from a seven month long course in massage therapy and I wanted to make her something special to celebrate the occasion. I spent the better part of a day trying out different patterns and needle sizes. Finally, I modified a Lion Brand Pattern for a Drop Stitch Scarf . I used a size 11 (8mm) needle instead of a 19 (15mm) and cast on 16 stitches rather than 8. To add a bit of pizzazz I added a fringe with beads. She knows about the pillow, but the scarf is a surprise--hope she likes it!

And speaking of surprises, I received a wonderful package in the mail the other day from a lovely lady in one of the groups I belong to on Ravelry--the Random Acts of Kindness group. She had messaged me that she had an owl thingy she was sending me for my collection, but when the box arrived it also contained some roving for my new interest in spinning and some teas. Such generosity!

Doing My Part for Project Linus

I started a crochet project yesterday because I needed to get back to crocheting and wanted to do something easy and comforting. I usually have at least one crochet project in the works along with my knitting projects, but haven't done any for a while. I will donate the afghan to Project Linus when it is completed.



The pattern is Sideways Shell Baby Afghan by Donna Laing. I'm using a yarn I purchased some time ago to make an afghan for my husband. It is Caron One Pound in the Soft Sage colorway. I donated most of my acrylic yarn to others earlier this week for charity knitting, but kept this for sentimental reasons. I thought I was finished with charity knitting for the foreseeable future, but kept feeling the pull all week. I am very happy with the way it is progressing and it is giving me a warm, fuzzy feeling that I needed also. I'm using an H hook rather than the recommended I hook because I tend to be a loose crocheter.

Project Linus is a charitable organization whose mission is to provide love, security, and comfort to children in need through blankets and afghans provided by volunteers, and to provide an opportunity for service to children to interested individuals and groups. As of December, 2007, they have donated 2, 293, 340 blankets from a total of 406 chapters. I became interested in this organization through a group I belong to on Ravelry.

Yarn Snob or Realist?

I protest, like the blogger Cabledguy , that I am not a yarn snob. However, I have been agonizing for some time, as I try to destash, if I should donate/give away most of my acrylic and novelty yarns. I just don't have the desire to knit or crochet projects with them at this time and they have really been taking up precious space in my craft room (also computer/guest room) closet. So, I bit the bullet and looked on Ravelry at the Random Acts of Kindness group to see if anyone was looking for what I had to give away. Success! I shipped two boxes in the last two days, totaling about 11,000 yards of yarn, to two different Ravelers. They are going to use it for charity knitting, so I feel really good about that. I definitely could have knit or crocheted items with all that yarn and had purchased it originally with specific projects in mind. In fact, it meant abandoning two projects already in the works for some time (Barbara G. Walker's Learn-to-Knit Afghan


And the Cuddly Kittens Afghan from Weekend Afghans).


My interests have changed, however, and I'm not sure when I would ever have gotten around to making/finishing those projects. It was very painful closing that chapter of my life, but I have lifted an enormous load of guilt from my shoulders. In future, I will be a much more mindful yarn purchaser and intend to knit and crochet only what I love with yarn that I love.

What projects are on my needles/hooks right now? I am not currently crocheting anything, but have several projects begging to be started. However, I do have two new projects on the needles:

First, Magic Stripes Socks from Ann Budd's book, Getting Started Knitting Socks. The yarn is a discontinued Lion Brand yarn, Magic Stripes. This is the second pattern I have followed in this book and I continue to learn from her clear instructions and good illustrations. I highly recommend this book to other novice sock knitters like myself.



Second, Drop Stitch Sari Silk Scarf, adapted slightly from a Lion Brand pattern. I modified the pattern by using size 11 needles instead of size 19 and cast-on 16 stitches, rather than 8. This is my first time knitting with recycled sari silk. I love the color variations, but the small pieces of fiber that it sheds on my clothing and everything else around are somewhat annoying.

Spring Has Sprung!

There is no doubt about it--spring has arrived in southeast Arizona. And it has brought me another surprise. I didn't realize that bulbs planted in the fall would actually bloom here. Well, as you can see from these photos, they do indeed:

Daffodils are "my" flower, since I was a March baby, and my favorite color is yellow. I couldn't be happier or more energized.

And what have I been doing with all that energy and happiness? Taking my yarn for a walk by making scrumbles, of course! What's a scrumble, you ask? As defined by Sylvia Cosh and James Walters here: "'Basic' scrumbling means making freeform random patchwork pieces to be joined into a continuous, textured fabric."

On a trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico this past autumn, I wandered into a boutique downtown and was completely blown away by the coats, vests, and scarves they had displayed. I didn't know how they were made, but I loved them. Since that time and after a lot of research I've found out that they were constructed using scrumbles from freeform knitting and crochet. Check out the International Free Form Crochet Guild site for freeform examples and links.

I'm currently involved in making scrumbles to donate to two groups on Ravelry that will use them to make items for fundraising to support breast cancer research. I'm a real beginner and at first was very anxious about my scrumbles. Were they good enough to donate? What would others think of them? I checked out the work of others on their project pages to see how mine compared and then decided the whole idea was to do "my" thing. Last night I even got brave and made one without following the guidelines I had been using contained in Jenny Dowde's wonderful book, " FreeForm Knitting and Crochet." I'm happy with what I've done so far, but you can judge for yourself. . .

When I'm working on scrumbles I feel like my whole body is humming with energy. It is very liberating to work without a pattern.

Everything's New in the New Year

Yesterday I mentioned that I needed some extra yarn and needles (besides those for the socks I'm currently knitting) to take to Sock Knitting Club so I could learn something new. Well, the new things I learned were the magic cast-on for toe-up socks and knitting socks on 2 circular needles. It was just a beginning and I was all thumbs at first, but I think I'm going to like this method of knitting socks. Thus far, on my first pair I've been using 4 dpns and try as I might I keep getting ladders when I change from one needle to the next.

The ladders are difficult to see in this view, but, believe me, they are there!

I was inspired by my introduction to these new techniques to do some reading when I got home, so I got out a book I've had on my shelves for some time--Cat Bordhi's Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles. Her encouraging attitude and clear instructions made me feel like this is something I can do. I never had the confidence to actually try knitting socks before, let alone on 2 circs, but I am challenging myself to try new things in knitting and crocheting, and in life. My second pair of socks will definitely use the magic cast-on and will be done on 2 circular needles. I am so grateful to my fellow Sock Knitting Club members for their assistance and support in my quest to become a more adventurous knitter.

Speaking of new things, I have joined Ravelry and am profitting from it in so many ways. One of the groups I've joined is called READ KNIT COOK. Its description is: A book-of-the-month of sorts. Every month there's a new knitting or crochet themed book chosen to read, a knit- or crochet-along, and new recipe ideas to try! For the cooking portion this month we were offered 3 different recipes. I chose Buzzard's Breath BBQ Sauce and made it last night for dinner. Instead of processing it in a blender and canning it as the recipe calls for, I used it as is after the simmering and combined it with some cooked Anasazi Beans and left-over pork tenderloin. Cooked for about an hour in the oven at 400 degrees--delicious! My Texas-born husband loved the bite of the habanero pepper in the sauce and yet it wasn't too hot for me.