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Finished Products

Winter in the midwest... Oh how I dream of spring...

But now to happier thoughts! Like... my finished projects! Hooray!!! Exclamation Points!!!

First is my wine colored cap. Its long and its warm, but its not what one might call... cute. Its definitely comfortable and on those cold -13 degree days it does the job. Its just not gonna win any fashion prizes. Ever.

I loved working with the yarn though. Its the first time I've worked with bulky Cascade. The yarn is soft, but still has some body to it, which means its nice on the hands, and it doesn't just flop over. I did screw up the decrease, when I dropped a stitch and then picked it up with the wrong DPN, but my mom told me no one will notice so... fingers crossed.

I also finished the cutest damn baby hat ever. Working with teeny tiny metal hooks was really

rough on my fingers. I think my index fingers are bruised on the ends. I also had to give up on my scottish yarn when, while at a very bizarre superbowl party, literally ripped a stitch in half. Disheartened, I ripped the whole thing out, which was stupid but alas.

So instead of I used my sport weight Cascade in turtle and a dusty brown. This yarn was much stronger and just like it's chunky brother, was still very soft. It held up to my super, stitch ripping powers and still looks very cute. I like the color combo too.

And now to make some baby booties to match the hat!

Double the Double Points

I'm sure you heard about this snow storm that just hit Michigan (and like... 30 other states...). It was pretty weak up in Ann Arbor. In Chicago they got like 20 feet (I may be exaggerating), here we got closer to 5 inches.

So while everyone was flipping out, pulling their hair and generally acting like the world was coming to a close, I was spinning yarn and knitting. It was a nice alternative, let me assure you.

First up, my husband's cousin is having a little baby boy in

May which means... baby hats! Baby hats are so much more awesome than adult hats because they take half the time and they are so much cuter.

I'm using a pattern I got on Ravelry from Ulli S. Shibuya, of pure handmade. If you ever want to see an amazing tumblr go there. Its positively gorgeous.

Anyway, this hat is pretty simple and extra lovely and the yarn that I'm using is all the way from Scotland (care of my best friend who resides in said country). Its St. Magnus DK weight (from Orkney Angora). Its 50% angora and 50% wool and from Orkney Scotland so I feel super special using it.

Hopefully the little bugger likes his hat. Luckily it wont really matter if he likes it or not, it only matters that his mom does.

The other hat I am working on currently (cuz you have to have 2 projects at once... its like an unspoken rule) is made from my all time favorite yarn company - Cascade. I'm using the bulky variety in a gorgeous shade of red/burgundy/wine.

I'm using my bamboo needles from Hiya Hiya. How lovely. I like how earthy the wood feels, and these needles slide just enough so you don't have to yank the yarn, but you also don't have to worry about the yarn slipping off. I have put stoppers on the ends though, just to make sure that nothing catastrophic happens and I don't end up crying.

I like the feel of this hat already. It heavy and warm and the yarn is going to be gorgeous knit up like this. Well hopefully. Unless I drop a stitch and then start cursing and throw it at the wall.

Lastly today, I spun a little. A little off subject, but has anyone ever tried looking up a spinning

class and just found a ton of bike classes and gym ads? I always forget that not everyone in the world is looking for yarn related items. Jeeeeez google... don't you know that when I type something into your search engine its more than likely related to yarn...?

Anywho, I just started spinning in November and I haven't been the most dedicated student, but I decided today (after reading my friend Mandy's blog) that I should probably get back to work. My work isn't nearly as gorgeous as hers, and my yarn is a little uneven, but I'm getting the hang of it. Hopefully someday I can spin all my own yarn, on my own farm, in the middle of Idaho/Utah/Montana. That will be awesome.

Til then, I guess I'll keep knitting that baby hat....

Warm and Happy Cable Love

I feel like I need to apologize to Ann Arbor for being too cruel in my last post. Its not so bad here. Though its flat and gray, the lack of winter time activities leaves lots of time for me to crochet which I can't really complain about at length.

I thought I'd update my photos, like I said I would. I also think I should update you on what's on my hook(s).

I am working on another Alpine Cables hat from Special Techniques in Crochet. I absolutely adore this pattern. Its complex and complicated and so much fun to make.

I think you can probably gather from my writings that I am obsessed with cables. I have learned to knit cables, and while they are incredibly easy, there is something so fascinating (and might I add, warm) about crocheting a cable. I like that I can actually see my cables getting moved around. Its like a puzzle, fitting together.

Plus, if you're using Cascade 220 in Turtle green, its so easy to get intoxicated by the whole process. Cables are like magic to me. Warm, yarny magic.

Ze Bag is Done

So after a solid week of crocheting away, I finished the bag I started last week. And it is all kinds of awesome.

I loved working with this pattern. I get bored super easily with single crochets over and over again. But this pattern was constantly moving, so I never got tired of it.

The one drawback to this pattern is how much yarn it takes to complete. The ravelry page says it takes 900 - 1000 yards of yarn. Ugh... But if you don't mind it, you can totally make it a scrap bag. I just went into the yarn cabinet and grabbed all the yarns I had that kinda went together (except that blue/yellow on the bottom, don't know where that came from....) and went to town with it.

The other great part about the bag is the strap. Its thick and continues the bobble pattern so it doesn't hurt your shoulder and it goes with the bag seemlessly.

Now I am off to bake all afternoon. Wish me luck with my Grandma Kolberg's wicked hard gingerbread recipe!

Bobblin' along

I've needed a new bag for awhile (I'm still using the purse that was my very first pattern). So I took to Ravelry to hunt for a good pattern.

I found this one: The Bobbling Along Aran Tote. Its super super cute and just complicated enough to keep my interest.

The pattern starts off really really hard to understand, and you will curse at it. In fact, after yelling at it and starting it 6 times, Pete told me I wasn't allowed to do it anymore, but I gave it one last shot and finally got it. Once you get into the groove with it, it goes by really fast and its a very easy pattern. As with all crochet patterns, this is a total yarn eater. I'm using scraps of yarn from my cabinet to make this guy, so it'll be a little mixed up but thats the way I like 'em.

In other news, I bought a sweet candle at Cost Plus today and now my house smells like a wicked awesome Christmas tree farm.

Walkin' the Dog Cowl

So while I was walking Cody this morning in the howling MI wind, I was thinking about how nice it would be to have a cowl around my face. So when I got home, and I finished my morning chores, I sat to work on a new project.

A cowl is essentially a scarf, but its also kind of like a hood and its

quite nice for winter mornings with the dog. Now last year, my mom sent me a care package full of yarn and inside was Lion Brand's Thick and Quick super bulky. I've been sitting on this yarn for awhile, and this seemed like the perfect project for it.

I used The Crimson Owl's Convertible Cowl pattern. This blog is adorable by the way. She's not strictly about yarn, she's more about craft in general, and she always has something cool on there.

The pattern is a little wonky on the join. In fact, I got half way through the pattern and realized that I went from 55 stitches to 44 because of the join on every round. I like the way the cowl feels though and its thick and warm and just the right weight. I used 1 1/2 skeins of the thick and quick yarn, and it wasn't quite enough, but I don't know that it matters. In fact, this pattern is so loose that small things like amount of stitches and amount of yarn doesn't really matter. As long as its tube like in the end, you're golden.

I couldn't get my husband to take a good picture of me in the end product to save his life, so I don't have a photo of me. But if you're bored and you're cold you should give this pattern a try. Plus, your neck will thank you on your next walk with the dog.

Knittin' Time

So I know I'm all hook happy and just a little stuck up about knitting... And I know I frequently rant about knitting, knitters, and everything needle-ish.

But I'm also tired of looking at awful, awful crochet patterns, and wondering "What the hell...?" And waiting for Interweave Crochet to come out, only to have the 'Carmen's Jazz Scarf' on the cover. What is wrong with the crochet world that this scarf is on the cover of our fanciest magazine? WHY?!

Look I'm all for motifs and funny colors, but no one in their god damn mind is going to wear this scarf. Unless you're 80. And if you're 80, then go ahead and stitch this, but, there is a whole new generation of fiber lovers out there and if crochet mags keep putting this crap on the cover, we'll never grow.

--End Rant--

Anywho... I started knitting because I want to make the cute patterns that I see on Ravelry all the time. I started by using wooden straight needles and just started knitting a scarf-y thing. After doing this for a week, I got the hang out of it, and I started to be able to read the stitches so I thought "Hat time!" Enter the "Regular Guy Beanie" from Yarnman Knits.

This hat is meant for double point needles and I used circular, but in the end, it came out really cute and with very little cursing. I used Vanna's Choice yarn (and by the way, knitting takes waaaay less yarn), so I could see the stitches well. If you're an avid crocheter and you're going needle-y, its important to learn to read your stitches before you throw yourself into a pattern and using a yarn you can see well is absolutely necessary.

And now I'm working on knit hat #2. I'm using Malabrigo yarn (drrrrroooooool). I'll keep you updated!

photo: Interweave Crochet

Hello again!

Alright, I know its been a long time since I've updated; but to be fair, I moved across the country...

I am now officially an Ann Arborite. Which is a pretty significant change from the Rocky Mountain Wonderland that is Salt Lake City, UT. There are no mountains here and while there is a blizzard raging against the Wasatch Front, its sunny and brisk here in the Great Lakes region.

Two months after we moved to Ann Arbor, my lovely man friend and I went to California and got ourselves hitched, and that was pretty life changing too. It was a very successful marriage and the weather was beautiful.

All this life changing stuff made it really hard to update the ol' blog. But don't think that I wasn't hooking and knitting and spinning. That's right... I was knitting too. Because I have no friends in Ann Arbor, I decided that my new best friend would be fiber.

First and foremost, I ventured into the land of home decorations and made a curtain for our kitchen. Living in an apartment complex is really f-ing depressing, and Pete and I didn't even have furniture until October, so anyway, I decided that yarn would make my kitchen feel better and it did.

I got it out of Special Techniques and Stitches and it worked up really really fast (I

actually crocheted it during my lunch breaks at work). It was a pretty easy pattern, but it did eat up a lot of yarn.

When I was done in the kitchen, I decided the try my luck at a new hat. Its pattern that's always evaded my understanding and patience, but I was feeling stubborn...

Its the Lattice Hat, by Sarah Arnold. Its a really unique pattern, and the hat you end up with is thick and oh so warm. But you have to really read the pattern. It gets a bit tricky when you first start to lattice, but once you pick up the pattern its easy and very quick. This is a yarn eater too, so make sure you have a lot before you start in on it.

The pattern also calls for an H hook for the body and a G for the ridge, but I went one hook bigger because 1) I have a huge head and 2) I crochet on the tight side. If you're a little looser, then by all means go with an H, but I would gauge this one out if you don't know your hooks terribly well.

Finally I went into Christmas land right around Turkey day and made Pete and I

Lauren Osborne's Stuffable Stockings to spruce up the fireplace. I got the Pattern from Crochet Today, and while their patterns tend to walk down the cliche road, this one is cute and not stab your eyes out with a blunt object annoying.

I used scraps from my yarn shed and they came out very nicely. When I did the first one it took me a solid five minutes to figure out why my sewing was being so annoying. I then realized I am left handed. And being left handed means sometimes (always) your patterns come out backward. So if you're crocheting on the left side of life, don't get disgruntled, and take a deep breath before you start to sew.

Anyway, I think that's all the space I have right now. But don't fret my friends, I will be updating regularly again! Being alone in the midwest makes fiber arts 1000x more important.

Keep on hookin'!

Wallets!

So I'm feeling a bit under the weather but I wanted you to see my newest creations. They're wallets! The blue and the multicolored ones use a basket weave stitch which is a really easy stitch but it makes amazing patches. The brown is just a back stitch crochet but I still like it.

Sorry this won't be longer but I'm afraid I'm allergic to SLC... Ugh...

Little Red Riding Bag

So I've been experimenting with fabric and yarn recently so I made a bag for fun. Its just a test bag but it turned out good enough that now I know what I'm doing so I can make a "final copy."

Its a cute little 8in by 8in bag with a checkered cable pattern. I thought the red would be cuter than it actually turned out to be. But it makes a good hand bag if nothing else.

Sewing together cabled squared is a little trickier than I originally planned it would be but its a good little floppy bag. What I really needed was just a base to be able to sew fabric into.

A few weeks ago, while going through our dressed Pete became incredulous when he saw just how many pj pants I actually own. He told me that I needed to find a new place for them because we weren't moving 18 pairs of pants to Michigan in August. So I took a pair of checked red ones my brother bought me when I was 20 pounds lighter and cut them up.

I then measured them to the size of my bag (before I stitched it all up) and sewed the fabric into the yarn. It worked surprisingly well too!

Now my stuff won't fall through the cracks of my stitches and I have a very cute, very washable bag.

Now to make a much cleaner, much neater final version!

Cheese Heads

So this past weekend I picked up some Queensland Collection - Kathmandu Aran yarn. I purposely picked out green and yellow so I could make myself a Cheese Head Beer Sweater.

I knew the minute I picked up the Queensland yarn that I was going to love it. Its soft but sturdy and its thick enough to do what I need it to do without having to double it up.

Plus, I feel so damn fancy when I get to crochet with silk and cashmere. I mean really.

In other news. When I was in CA the last time I picked a bunch of lavender in my mom's garden. I then put all that lavender I cut in my carry on luggage and brought it home with me to SLC. I'll admit, I smelled really weird and I'm sure the security guards thought I was insane, but whatever.

But now I have a ton of lavender and not much to do with it.

I was thinking I could do a sachet with it, and make little bags with my really thin white yarn, but I'm still not sure how to do that.

But as of right now, my room smells like my mom's garden which is pretty awesome.

Lastly, in very exciting news, Pete and I bought a freakin' iMac last night. Its ENORMOUS! (27 in. screen). I have never bought something so expensive or so fancy in my whole life. The Dell that I'm working on right now is like half the size and not nearly as nice. I'm still a little sick over spending that much money in one fell swoop.

But still... its super exciting.

That's all the news I have for today. Keep on hookin!

Beer Bottle Sweater

So I thought I'd share my newest creation:

The Beer Sweater.

So I bought that cool self patterning yarn a couple days ago but just didn't know what to do with it. Should it be a purse? A hat? A baby hat? And then Pete texted me while I was in the airport on the way to CA to see my mom with this AMAZING idea. Its a beer sweater! Complete with little arms and a sweet collar.

It took me awhile to figure out the collar, and the arms are a little off, but its still really cute and it sits perfectly on a Sierra Nevada.

In other news. Pete bought me a present right before I left Salt Lake for San Diego. Its a very good book called the "Handmade Marketplace" by Kari Chapin. Its chalk full of useful hints, good ideas, and just makes you feel good about crafting. Its definitely worth a look!

That's it for now you hookers! Hope all your projects are going well! Keep on stitchin'

Book photo taken from Craftster.org

Baby pig!

I made a baby piggy to go on my etsy. He's pretty much adorable. I like to put him in bed with Pete. Right next to his face. And then he turns around, he's face to face to this little piglet. I would love to wake up to this little guy all the time.

Plus he's tennis ball size. Which is hilarious.

Anyway, I thought I'd share him with you.

In other news, I bought this crazy yarn today. I got it from Hobby Lobby and it is known as Yarn Bee - Snowflake Wool Blend.

Its a pretty cool looking yarn. Its a 50-50 wool/polyester blend. Its soft but I think it'll be durable. I got "Fawn" which is delightfully retro. Actually, I should say Pete made me choose fawn (Pete always chooses my yarn colors, and they always work...). I think its a self patterning yarn which is generally useless to me as a crocheter but will work none the less.

Finally. I signed up for wool spinning class... which is SOOO exciting!!!

photo of yarn from: Hobby Lobby.

Baby Animals

Oh how I love to stitch stuffed animals. Nothing makes me more excited than when I'm coming up with a new little creature to annoy Pete with. That poor boy has to sit through me squealing over numerous animals, asking his advice and then poking him with the finished product.

Well here's my latest design. Mini animals! Weeee. These little guys fit in the palm of my hand and they are AWESOME! I don't like to toot my own horn (well, actually I do, this is why I have a blog) but I am way impressed with myself with these little critters.

I made a chick, a baby bird, a frog, a cow, and a piggy (the frog was my first attempt which is why he looks a little off...). Hehehe I can't stop giggling.

The Secret Method

So Chloe Nightingale on Ravelry and Crochet Me has made, quite possibly, the easiest hat ever. And the best hat to use as a template to make a myriad of different hats from one simple pattern.

She calls the hat The Secret Method Hat and if you haven't tried this hat, you have to!

Since I have to make a ton of hats for SLCitizen and now for Whole Planet (more on that in a sec) Chloe's hat pattern is ideal. Its super quick and the hats turn out warm and perfect.

Now, if you're not down for an entire hat made of single chains (it can get REALLY tiresome) that you should tweak this pattern into something a little more varied, but if you can hold out for a single chain hat, yours will look like mine above. A really tight, very simple hat but absolutely worth it.

Now. Whole Planet. I was approached a couple weeks ago by my bosses to see if I would be interested in donating my time and projects to our Whole Planet Foundation at work. How could I really say no to micro-credit loans to women in developing nations. I dare you to try. You won't succeed... So I said yes, and sold 2 hat and a pair of booties with all 40 dollars going to the foundation (sweet!). Now I'm back to my hooks to make some more stuff and see what I can't sell. Ah giving. How good it it feels.

Hope your weekend is swell and your hands are hookin!

Baby Booties

So in my last post I made a reference to these super cute baby booties Well here are a pair of the ones that I've done.

I thought they needed a little something on the toe to break up the green so I made a button out of some baby weight white yarn. (Really simple, sc 10 in a magic loop, then 2 sc in each sc, sl st together and you've got a button!).

I also lopped off the top of the boots because 1. I hate putting baby feet in anything taller than a sock and 2. It wasn't working and it looked weird so I just made them super simple, basic little slippers.

There were some problems with the pattern, I'm not going to lie and its a really rough one to try and read because she wrote it kind of funny but once you get it right these work up fairly quickly and obviously they're adorable. If you've got some fingering weight yarn and a D hook, this is your kind of pattern.

Now, my nose needs to get back to the grindstone.

Keep on hookin!

Photos Galore!

So as promised, here are the photos of the projects I finished out of the new book I bought.

Here's the Alpine Hat:

I used Cascade 220 so its washable but still has the warmth and heaviness of wool. Its also a good kelly green. Perfect for St. Patty's Day. I got the skein at Blazing Needles (my favorite yarn shop in Salt Lake City). The picture makes it look a bit washed out here but I promise its a much deeper shade.

I love how the small cables wind around themselves in this pattern, as opposed the fatter cables usually associated with cable crochet.

Here's the Aran Pillow (which I might just make into a purse...). This is the easiest pattern in the world but it looks so complicated which is awesome cuz you look like a pro without breaking a sweat. I hate sweating while I hook. Plus you can brag about your skills and no one will be the wiser! I made the other side out of a denim blue, both are Bernat Alpaca which is REALLY soft and feels a lot more expensive than it is.

Moorish Mosaic Pillow

So, way back in October I said that I was going to work on the Moorish Mosaic Afghan from Interweave Crochet.

Well, true to my word, I got bored. And I stopped working on the blanket. But I did have a lot of motifs and I really didn't know what to do with them. Well then I took a look around my living room and I saw my ugly, red, Ikea pillows and then BAM! I knew what to do.

Thus: The Moorish Mosaic Pillow! I ADORE this pillow. Its pleasantly hippie but not overwhelming and its so nice to put my head on.

When I was a little girl, my mom had these amazing pillows that one of her relatives

before my time. I can't remember if it was my great aunt or my grandma but either way, the woman who made these pillows had skills. They were grannie squares, surrounded by black and then sewn together with a buttery soft black fabric on the back. I spent hours running my hands over these squares and fell asleep with my head resting on the work of my fore-mothers.

I want this pillow and the 2nd one that I intend on finishing, to pass down through my (future) girls and their daughters and beyond.

And that why I love yarn and doing what I do.