Crochet Along Fun

I'm really inspired by the amazing hookin' on a few virtual crochet alongs : a ripple one and a granny one. So I'm going to play too.

Here what I've got so far for my ripple just a swatch:


I'm using a pattern from Donna Kooler's Encyclopedia of Crochet, ww yarn and an I/5.5mm hook. I plan to use my stash and get out of my color comfort zone too.

My first motif for the Granny Along:



I'm making my traditional grannies out of #10 thread from my stash. I'm working on a stained glass motif. I still don't know what I will make with them yet it could be a shawl, a bag or even a table cloth.

a quote or two

Dear blog reader(s) I really am alive and well just busy an distracted and not very wordy these days.

I came across a quote that has got me thinking:

Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.
- Greta Randolph, character from the Traveling Pants series - Yes, I am reading them, so there.

Well...that's just deep!

Another quote from the book:

Fill what is empty, empty what is full, and scratch where it itches
-Tallulah Bankhead

that could be just as deep or possibly frivolous if you are thinking what I'm thinking that my glass needs more beer. It is empty.

I'll be back, really, after I finish this beer.

Sculpting Fun

sculpting
Originally uploaded by Fiber Star.

The kids found some clay I picked up for them and had some fun creating. Corbin made the flying pig and Jade's working on the elephant. I'm pretty impressed, their creations does a crafting mom proud.

Ugh!

Sigh, I think I'll go crochet instead.

Stashbusting Hat, Scarf and Mittens

I've been busy crocheting, hunting for bento boxes, and playing pokemon with the kids so I haven't had much time for blogging.

My stash busting has been my biggest crafting distraction over the last few days. Yesterday, I finished weaving in the last of the ends. Oh my, there were a lot of ends to weave in! I love the looks of it not to mention I used up over 8 skeins of Knit Picks Merino style wool at the same time. Colorwise this was a big stretch for me, but I think it turned out well.



I posted pics of the project on crochetville and someone asked for some tips to make their own.

Mittens:

I adapted a pattern from Hip to Crochet



These turned out a bit bigger than I'd like so I need to reduce the number of stitches or use a smaller hook if I make these again. I think they will serve me well for the most part.

Scarf:



I started with a foundation chain of 26 and ended with 24 stitches across. Really you could start with any number of stitches. Then I varied the patterns looking through Encyclopedia of Crochet, 63 Crocheted Blocks for ideas, and just my own memory. I chose not to use fpdc stitches because I wanted it to lay flat and not have an obvious wrong side or right side. I didn't worry if the patterns didn't work out balanced. If needed 2 dcs on one end and one dc on the other that was fine with me. I did do some frogging to make the patterns work out nicely or if I missed stitches. So a skinnier scarf would make that more painless.



After weaving in ALL the ends I added fringe. If I had more yarn left I wold have added curlies instead.


Hat:


I crocheted the hat vertically. The base row of hat had 16 sts across. I started with dc stitches on the right moving to hdcs then sc at the end. On the return row I would do all sc or scs moving to hdcs, this gave the hat some shaping so when I sewed the hat together and finished the top it was less gathered the top. On the hat I really played with cable stitches. I would wrap it around my head when I thought is was large enough, if not I added a few more rows. When it was long enough I fastened off leaving a long tail to sew the sides together with the right sides together.

To close up the top of the hat I first sc around on the right side, then did sc decreases around in a spiral until the top of the hats was finished then fastened off and wove in the end. I'm not completely satisfied with the look of the top of the hat. If I make this kind of hat again I might sc across before sewing then sides together and gather the top together. Alternatively I could crochet a circle and sew that to the top.



I made a rolled brim for the hat. I started with sc around on the wrong side of the hat, then did at least 2 row of hdcs, you might want to do more so the wrong side of the had doesn't show. Then I did a few rows of fpdc changing colors and finished it off with a shell stitch. I haven't done it yet but the hat could do with gentle steam blocking to make a sharper crease where the rolled brim begins. You could also end with finishing row of sc or hdcs on the right side of the hat.

Good luck making you own own colorful stash busting set.

6 weird things about me

I've seen this meme hanging out on several blogs I read and got tagged by Tracy and sort of by Heymom. I've been toying with doing it no matter what because it seemed kind of fun. I have an intellectual opposition to it which is the first weird thing about me.

Weird #1
I can have inner debates about anything where I am known to say out loud "Oh, I don't know." So my inner debate with the 6 weird things meme is why do we even want to call things weird? My weird isn't your weird or your weird is my cool.

So I ask myself, "Why???"

I say out loud, "Oh, I don't know."

Weird #2
I twirl my hair when I read.

Weird #3
I like to dip my french fries in my chocolate shake yum!

Weird#4
I love purple to a distraction. Recently, I realized that my entire wardrobe is in shades of purple, burgundies and greens. I will not fight this, I plan to embrace it.

Weird#5
When I was a kid, I not only chewed my fingernails but my toe nails as well. How's that for weird!

Weird #6
While writing this the power went out...oh..I guess that's about weird happenings not what's weird about me....thinking, thinking...My husband suggests that marrying him was weird. He is kind of weird but I like that about him. So that must make me weird. My daughter says my fiber obsession is weird. I also like to take really hot, scorching hot showers or baths, Is that weird? Finally, I like being weird so that makes weird #6.

Enough already.


Oh yeah, consider yourself tagged if you read my blog and want to do it.

Sunday Book Review: Life in Soho

Life in Soho is not the name of the book but the title for the post so I can introduce you to a series of books by Pip Granger:

Not all Tarts are Apples
The Widow Granger
Trouble in Paradise
No Peace for the Wicked

Granger writes about life in Soho near London through families and friends who are all interconnect. It's a fascinating peak at city life in another country, in another time. It's about love, acceptance, hard times and helping each other out.

The first book Not all Tarts are Apples is told through the eyes of Rosie an 8 year old girl(I think she was 8 , it's been a while since read this book) who lives above a bustling cafe in Soho. This is where you meet the colorful characters who inhabit this series. I can't recommend this this series enough. I think I want to give it a re-read and I generally don't re-read books.