Yarn: Caron Simply Soft scraps in Lavender Blue, Mint Blue, and Victorian Rose
Needles: US6/4.0mm
Timeframe: March 6 - 13, 2016
Mods: Used a third color of yarn.
Problems: Ran out of yarn, but made that a design feature!
Monday, March 28, 2016
Quick Test Bonnet
I did a quick test baby bonnet for a Ravelry friend. This bonnet worked up very quickly and allowed me to finish off two of my acrylic scraps, the purple and the blue. I had to find something that would work with them, and the I-cord ties kind of looked like earthworms, but the pink was a reasonable addition. I'm apparently running low on scrap acrylic; that's not a bad thing! I also have a coworker with a recent new addition, and I forgot to bring in the newborn hat and booties from my gift stash before the baby's arrival. This bonnet is perfect!
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Crochet Bag Keeper
I saw this .gif on Reddit or something.
I thought it was excellent - we use reusable bags for most of the shopping, but have a pile of plastic bags because some stores give you a bag anyway, or you didn't bring enough bags, or they wrap your meat, or... They're useful and I don't want to just get rid of them. They fit nicely in our automatic litter box. They were however taking up a huge amount of cupboard space. Think of those infomercials where you open the door and everything falls out. Like that.
{Imagine a before picture here of lots of unruly plastic bags}
You try to organize them, put them inside of one bag, but they always seem to get away from you. Or me, at least. I also don't have any tissue boxes of the style needed for the amazing bag-packing shown in the .gif. I do, however, have a bit of acrylic yarn stash I'd like to use up, some crochet hooks, and the amazing pattern search function of Ravelry.
Problem solved. As a bonus, I finished off the green and the orange, though I did make it a round shorter than the pattern called for and had to use some blue scraps to finish off the bottom panel. I added a bottom panel to make it a self-contained box, not just a cover for a nonexistent box. While I did cull a few bags that had holes in them, this little thing fits a lot more bags than you might expect, and they do come out as easily as shown above. I am stupidly happy with this organizational tool!
I thought it was excellent - we use reusable bags for most of the shopping, but have a pile of plastic bags because some stores give you a bag anyway, or you didn't bring enough bags, or they wrap your meat, or... They're useful and I don't want to just get rid of them. They fit nicely in our automatic litter box. They were however taking up a huge amount of cupboard space. Think of those infomercials where you open the door and everything falls out. Like that.
{Imagine a before picture here of lots of unruly plastic bags}
You try to organize them, put them inside of one bag, but they always seem to get away from you. Or me, at least. I also don't have any tissue boxes of the style needed for the amazing bag-packing shown in the .gif. I do, however, have a bit of acrylic yarn stash I'd like to use up, some crochet hooks, and the amazing pattern search function of Ravelry.
Pattern: Granny Panel Tissue Box Cover (Ravelry mine)
Yarn: Red Heart With Love in Mango, Caron One Pound in Leaf Green, Lion Brand Pound of Love in Pastel Blue
Hook: USH/5.0 mm
Timeframe: March 7, 2016
Mods: Added a bottom panel, did one fewer round of sc on the bottom due to running out of green yarn.
Problems: None!
Problem solved. As a bonus, I finished off the green and the orange, though I did make it a round shorter than the pattern called for and had to use some blue scraps to finish off the bottom panel. I added a bottom panel to make it a self-contained box, not just a cover for a nonexistent box. While I did cull a few bags that had holes in them, this little thing fits a lot more bags than you might expect, and they do come out as easily as shown above. I am stupidly happy with this organizational tool!
Monday, March 14, 2016
Sometimes It Doesn't Work
I was working on Fire, the fourth in a set of elemental mystery shawls. I have the first and third partially complete, and love the second. I finally kept up wit the pattern, and well, hated it. My yarn choices just weren't working.
The colors were suggested as a solid and a variegated, but what I didn't realize was the fire-y color should have been the variegated one. Strike one. Secondly, I didn't have any more orange but had asked multiple people on Ravelry to buy theirs. No one responded. Strike two. I had a contrasting color that would work, so it was really only half a strike, but I would have preferred more orange. The purple yarn wasn't really a good choice for cables. Strike three. And the purple yarn was Not Soft. Not even a little bit. I would not wear this in the future, and would not gift it. It had to go. Strike four. It's out.
The colors were suggested as a solid and a variegated, but what I didn't realize was the fire-y color should have been the variegated one. Strike one. Secondly, I didn't have any more orange but had asked multiple people on Ravelry to buy theirs. No one responded. Strike two. I had a contrasting color that would work, so it was really only half a strike, but I would have preferred more orange. The purple yarn wasn't really a good choice for cables. Strike three. And the purple yarn was Not Soft. Not even a little bit. I would not wear this in the future, and would not gift it. It had to go. Strike four. It's out.
Saturday, March 12, 2016
Not My Circus
The saying "Not my circus, not my monkeys" amuses me. It's Polish in origin, as is my family. Therefore, I needed a cross stitch that had Barrel of Monkeys monkeys with the saying in its original Polish:
I'm not thrilled with the colors I used. The yellow is too light, the red too bright, the words too dark in some lighting.
It's also on the larger side of 8x10, so many typical frames cut off the arms of the monkeys on the edges. I had to get one with a thinner frame to hold it.
It may not be perfect, but it's finished!
I'm not thrilled with the colors I used. The yellow is too light, the red too bright, the words too dark in some lighting.
It's also on the larger side of 8x10, so many typical frames cut off the arms of the monkeys on the edges. I had to get one with a thinner frame to hold it.
It may not be perfect, but it's finished!
Thursday, March 10, 2016
Spectacular!
I recently finished a couple of cross stitches. The first took much longer than I thought it would. I realized why it took so long when I went to go grab a 5x7 frame to put it in. It was not a 5x7 piece. It was an 8x10 piece. On 18 ct. And I managed to finish it in a month. Go me!
This pattern is from an Etsy store that no longer sells it. It's much more blue than it seems like it would be. I think blending would really help this piece.
Of course, the back.
And I had a perfectly spectacular frame to go with it. Spectacular!
This pattern is from an Etsy store that no longer sells it. It's much more blue than it seems like it would be. I think blending would really help this piece.
Of course, the back.
And I had a perfectly spectacular frame to go with it. Spectacular!
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
February Stash Count
Not much different:
I got a skein to make a blanket with all my Clapotis leftovers and spun a bunch, but only knitted one Clapotis. Still down, which is good, but not down by much! I'm also frogging a 700 yard shawl that is just not turning out right. Almost 400 yards in, could knit a pair of socks instead!
I got a skein to make a blanket with all my Clapotis leftovers and spun a bunch, but only knitted one Clapotis. Still down, which is good, but not down by much! I'm also frogging a 700 yard shawl that is just not turning out right. Almost 400 yards in, could knit a pair of socks instead!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)