Thursday, April 23, 2009

I can't afford Anthropologie

...so, I made a knock-off.

This photo is pre-blocking (meaning: it will hopefully look better after I wash and pin it out). Love this little thing.


Saturday, April 18, 2009

What have I been up to?

Not finishing projects, that's what!

Here are some things on the needles/hook:

A blanket I knit in January. I'm only now feeling comfortable enough with crocheting to do the edging. Should be doing that some time this week.


Crocheted squares for the Casting off the Cold square competition.


Yes, I am crocheting! Granny squares...I don't know if I will submit my initial ones because they're a bit wonky. Perhaps a good blocking will sort them out.


A basic garter scarf also for Casting off the Cold. This is for when I'm reading/talking/busy and just want something mindless to work on:


I was working on this Anthropologie knock-off scarf but realized I won't have enough yarn because I finished the first ball of yarn I had. I went to Mary Maxim Thursday failing to remember what I needed yarn for and bought this gray yarn instead. Then I came home and remembered I was going to search for a turquoisey colour to add in. This will be on the needles until I find something appropriate:



In all fairness, I have finished one thing. I wasn't going to knit Toast because they seemed like a waste of time, but I really like mine! They're comfortable, soft and keep me the perfect temperature.



Started: March 29, 2009
Finished: April 1, 2009
Needles: US 7 / 4.5mm
Yarn: Half a skein of Tanis Fiber Arts Green Label Aran Weight (purchased at The Purple Purl)
Pattern: Toast
Mods: CO 34sts on 4.5mm needles but it was too big (didn’t swatch). Switched to 4.0mm needles after a few rows. Then I decreased two stitches on each sleeve about 4-5 rounds in. I did them two at a time to make sure they were the same length and so I had instant satisfaction. I love this magic loop business.

Thoughts: This yarn was AMAZING. The colour is rich, the texture is smooth, the stitch definition is amazing but unfortunately, it's too costly for me to make an entire sweater out of it.)

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I'm starting to get tired of looking at that green yarn (thankfully the skein is done) and am getting kind of bored with granny squares in one colour. I went to Mary Maxim the other day hoping to find some yarn for squares but didn't find what I was looking for. Hopefully I'll get some time this week to visit a Wal-mart.

I'm also bored out of my mind doing this garter stitch scarf, but I couldn't really imagine that ragg yarn done with any other pattern--it would be too distracting.

I feel like knitting a sweater of my own design but I'm too busy/tired at the moment to sort that out. I think I'd like to tackle something really complex so I can appreciate basic knitting again. Perhaps fancy socks? Not too sure as yet.. Just want to work on something exciting.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Square Crazy

So Casting off the Cold is having a competition this month to see who can knit the most amount of 6" x 6" blanket squares and who can crochet the most. I figured it would be the perfect time to practice crocheting. In February, Tracy taught me how to crochet but my rectangles kept turning into triangles. I did make a flower but it wasn't that great and took a great deal of concentration and hours before I got to that point. I don't have time right now to ponder flowers so I've begun basic squares.

I crocheted a square completely of single crochet and then did one of half double crochet. Very simple and my squares look like squares! I started doing one of double crochet but a. I ran out of time and b. it's looking very airy. I might rotate between dc and sc.

I'm amazed by how fast the squares went! Two in about an hour and a bit ... and I've only just begun! I'm quite excited by this new skill (that still requires a lot of learning/experimenting). I'm going to try a few more simple squares of things like the popcorn stitch and then try out some granny squares. I'm using a deep green Red Heart yarn. I was searching for Bernat cause it's softer but the Wal-mart didn't have any.

I don't really find the Red Heart that rough, though. My only complaint is that it's really splitty which is not pleasant for the first row.

In any case, I'm basically saying that crocheting is awesome and I'm glad I had someone show me how to do it beforehand because the diagrams make a lot more sense now. Yay!