Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Convertible Mittens

What started off as fingerless gloves has ended as convertible mittens. I finished them just in time for 50 degree weather. :P







Hook Size: G

Yarn: Purple and gray leftovers from my stash, no labels (was also used for the Best Bunny pattern)

Pattern: Modified version of Basic Mittens (not that I actually wrote down the modifications or anything)

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Still Going...

I've got photos...

I've got a finished project...

I've got projects in the works...


But I pulled an all nighter on Sunday night to finish a draft of my graduate paper. The general lack of sleep and motivation means the photos and more substantial posts will have to wait.

I leave you with an appropriate comic from PhD Comics (though my paper is only a capstone - not a thesis).



Cheers!

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Happy Hooker in Austin

While looking at the Hill Country Weavers site to get directions, I looked under "What's New" and "Events" ...

Guess who's in town today!!

Yep - Debbie Stoller, author of "The Happy Hooker" will be at the store tonight.

I won't be able to go tonight because of work, but I'm still hoping to check out the store. I guess the store is officially crochet-friendly!

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Hey Y'all!

I'm down in Austin, Texas this week for work. I'm hoping to find time to check out Hill Country Weavers (thanks to Crochetville peeps for the recommendation). The shop's site is quite posh so I'm excited to see what the store looks like and what types of yarn they have. Wish me luck that my directionally-challenged self can locate it. Good news is that my wonderful husband is joining me tomorrow, so I'm sure he'll be able to find the store and direct me to it. He'll also have to check out where the Bluebonnet Yarn Shoppe is and whether we can get there without a car.

The fingerless gloves convertible mittens are done and I absolutely love them! I'll try to post photos after I get home.

Have a great week, y'all! (<--proof that I'm in Texas)

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Fingerless Gloves

Wow - even I'm impressed with the speed of this project. I made most of these yesterday during my commute. The only thing I started at home on Thursday was one of the ribbed cuffs. I also worked on them while watching "Most Haunted" last night. I guess it helps that I have a massive paper due on Monday and I tend to do anything that helps me procrastinate. (Look what I'm doing now - posting on my blog instead of working on my paper!) Oh well - I've been like this since high school so there's no changing me now.

So here are the fingerless gloves in progress:



Hook Size: G

Yarn: Purple and gray leftovers from my stash, no labels (was also used for the Best Bunny pattern)

Pattern: Basic Mittens


But Sam! You said you were never going to use that pattern again! Why did you lie?? Can we ever trust you again???

Settle down, kids. I didn't lie to you. I used the basic mittens pattern as a template of techniques but I didn't follow it stitch for stitch. I just needed a refresher on how to make the cuff and the thumb whole. What I didn't do and should have done was join each row instead of working in a spiral fashion. When I changed colors, look what happened:



Now - this doesn't really bother me because these gloves are for my own use and I positioned the thumb holes so that the smooth stripe is on the top. I don't know if the photos show this well, but I did stitch the gray stripe a bit differently. I single crocheted the gray in the back loop which gave it some distinction from the purple.

Here's yours truly modeling them. (Please pay no attention to my pasty Welsh and Irish hands which are in desperate need of a manicure.)





Compared with my first mittens, these are already much better. I'm not sure how I'm going to finish off the top. If I can, I'm going to try to create individual finger holes so that they are actual fingerless gloves. If that doesn't work, I'll just leave the top open and they will be more like fingerless mittens...wait..all mittens are fingerless. I guess they would be called convertible mittens?

Update: Dax's Baby Blanket

Dax's baby blanket has become too large for me to carry along on my weekday commute with all the other stuff I've been bringing back and forth to work. While I've taken it with me on weekend road trips when my husband is driving, the progress has stalled a bit. Happy to report that the border is all that remains.



I'm not sure what kind of border I'm going to do. Probably just a half double crochet all around to begin with - but then what? Scalloped? Or just a larger stitch? Or something funky? Any advice or suggestions would be much appreciated.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Stay Warm!

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Oh, how I hope the weather is bad tomorrow so they cancel work and I can stay home and start my fingerless gloves work on my paper.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

The Secret Revealed!

I was going to unveil the secret projects once I had them shipped off to their respective receipients, but I don't know when I'm going to have time to go to the post office. I'm just too impatient to wait to blog this so....


The secret projects are....



BUNNIES!!!




Hook Size: G (The pattern calls for an H hook, but I can't find my H hook)

Yarn: Leftovers in my stash, no labels

Pattern: Best Bunny


Backsides:


This grey and purple bunny is a dustbunny...and yes, t'is a present for the Queen. Queenie - you can pick up this dustbunny when you come down for MS&W unless I get my rear and gear and go to the post office to send it.





This yellow and blue bunny is for a baby on the way. I guess that blogging about this reveals another big secret... The momma-to-be was one of my bridesmaids - and given that 3 out of 4 of my bridesmaids read this blog, I'll let you girls guess who is prego. :)





And thus, as I finish the current baby blanket, there will be another one to finish by July. I can't start it until I know whether it will be a boy or girl, but I do have a pattern picked out if it's a girl. I'm waiting to get this pattern from Krochet Krystal and before I start the baby blanket, I'll send her a couple of squares for her charity blankets. A great idea for sharing patterns!

Thursday, February 8, 2007

Finished! Easy Triangle Shawl in Green

I was off by about a week from when I thought I'd complete this project, but nonetheless, it's done. I can't stress enough how quick and simple this pattern is!



Hook Size: N

Pattern: Easy Triangle Shawl

Modifications:
You'll notice that the original pattern has tons of fringe on the shawl. Instead I edged the two sides of the triangle with triplets of double crochet in every other row going down to the point. I also edged the long diagonal of the shawl with single crochet across. I think it gave it a cleaner edge but my real motivation was to use as much of the yarn as I could.

Yarn: 2 skeins of Lion Brand Homespun in
  • Florida Keys Green

I'll be giving this to her Mom tomorrow. I hope she likes it and it keeps her warm!

Sunday, February 4, 2007

Kid's Scarf

Another completed project from 2006, this was a simple, quick scarf I made as a Christmas gift for my new cousin. (She's 10 years old but new to me thanks to my marriage in October.)



Hook Size: J

Yarn: Patons Twister in
  • Fruit Loops

    Here's a close up of the label:


Pattern: No real pattern - just a scarf. About 8-9 double crochet across (not too wide for a kid) and 2 skeins worth in length.

It was a super easy and quick project (about a day of commuting) and an affordable one, given the yarn was 2 for $4 on sale. My cousin did like it - the colors were fun and bright and the yarn was pretty soft.

Though my trip to MS&W last year made me more of a fiber snob, I do keep my eyes open for good sales at the craft stores. When novelty yarns are 2 for $5 or 2 for $4, I try to pick up a few skeins for fun projects, like kid scarves and hats or blanket edgings. I once bought 8 skeins of Moda Dea Eden yarn in Flame because it was $1. (The price tag said it originally cost $6.99!! Ridiculous!)

The color is a bright orange and the way the yarn is (hairy with bumps is how I'd describe it), it was not easy to crochet. I did make a fun scarf for one of my best friends who is a grad student at Syracuse University (Go Orange!). She loves the color and wears it to basketball games. I still have about 4 skeins left in my stash. No ideas yet on what I'll do with it but I'm sure I'll think of something...eventually.

And I'm sure I'll find projects for all the random yarns in my stash...eventually. :)

Part Deux

(Again - please indulge me by reading the following with your worst French accent.)

Part deux iz so close to being fini! Such a quick little project, and she iz so cute! so cute! I believe that during ze big game today, I will finish ze project.

Ah, mais oui!* You must wait for ze final unveiling to find out what ze secret project iz. It will not be too long now - be patient, mes amis!


*pronounced 'may wee' and translated is 'But yes!

Friday, February 2, 2007

C'est Fini!

(Please read the following in your worst French accent)

The progress of my fabulous projects are shown on ze side bar...

Voila! Ze secret project, she iz done!

What iz ze secret project, you ask?

Oh, you must wait, mes amis, until part deux iz complete! Part deux iz a gift and she must be completed and sent before any photos can be shared.

Au revoir, for now.