orange crush

this is my cheat sheet i am using to check off the motifs i've made and where to join them. i'm focusing more on creating as many separate motifs as possible, or joining into smaller clusters, to avoid working with the entire piece at once. i am almost half way through making motifs for this shawl.


before taking this picture, i just tossed the crochet (right side down) onto the ironing board to tidy it up with a hot steamy iron.

and, i got a new baby today ... and the colors fit in nicely with the trend i've been on the last couple of days.

ps. incase anyone is wondering, the pattern for this shawl/wrap is from a book by vogue knitting, part of their on the go series, titled _crocheted scarves_. this pattern in particular is called the spoke motif shawl and is designed by svetlana avrakh. it's worth its cover price, lots of good projects!

sunnyside up sprinkled with pepper

be sure to move mouse over photo

i couldn't decide which picture to use. the first seems so dull, and the other far more inaccurate, but more fun. anyhoo, i have about 6 inches of egg yoke yellow sock knitted. i did a bit of research of opal sock yarns on the net, and this particular pattern is called prisma. the more i look, the more i want opal.

as i suspected, i was too eager to start knitting. the research to knit a textured stitch pattern with the more solid looking yarn proved futile.

i'll get pictures posted later today of my crochet motifs!

it's raining socks!

i finished these yesterday and am so eager to cast on for another pair of socks. what makes a sock knitter so desperate? ... it's the sock yarns. sock yarns offer so much satisfaction ... they're pretty, inexpensive, and promise hours of knitting!

so, which ones are next?


this baby is opal. i traded some kidsilk spray for this 100 gr ball of yarn that the former owner had picked up on a trip out west. i love how bright it is and the little dots! it's like sunspots.


this is regia, and both these yarns are a wool blend. my previous finished pair is a wool/cotton/polymide blend. i love the subtle shading of this yarn, and it would lend itself well to a textured stitch pattern.

i just can't decide! i have a tendency to follow the path of the least resistance, the least amount of thinking, though, i do want change. i have been knitting lots of socks in plain old stockinette stitch, so sort of want to break that with some patterning.

my sources of choice for inspiration? these two books. but my number one favorite? nancy bush's _folk socks_.

silliness

i actually have a folder under my picture folder titled silliness. it doesn't really have that many pictures in it, but it recently had two more added to the bunch. may i present the first ...



what could, or would, be inside such a box?!



felted bunny slippers!!!!

devil kitty strikes again! ... here's the story. ms. olive landlord had tried her hand at the crocheted bunny slippers from debbie stoller's happy hooker book. it just didn't work out. something was wrong ... and i understand, as i'm the first to abandon a stressful project! run away! so, ms. olive landlord received the knitted felted bunny slippers as a birthday gift from the whimsical devil kitty. they're tooooo cute!

i must admit, i love the bunny slippers, but i think i love the cardboard box even more!? it's all in the presentation ....


ps ... mama cupcake informed me today that she got some black plastic circular handbag handles at miguel's today for her blue & black fat bottomed bag featured in the previous post. yeah mom! send me another picture to post!

secret agent handiwork

when i went home to visit mom a week ago, i was working on this fat bottomed bag for her. it's hard to finish a project and have it remain a secret, so it was finished in her company. the yarn is a wide ribbon called taj mahal that i picked up at the craft store. for a craft store yarn, it was kinda expensive. it reminds me of louisa harding's sari ribbon. it was crocheted with an I hook and is quite sturdy!

she got the bug to crochet herself a bag too, as i had told her about devil kitty's multicolored bag. this one is crocheted with four different shades of blues & black, all in cotton, by sinfonia.

agent aubergine came by for a sit & knit yesterday, and shared a sneak peek at her newest book acquistion, ... _knitting nature_ by norah gaughan. this book is a must have! it's on my amazon list, and will soon be ordered! you can see more pictures of what's inside at knitpicks. agent aubergine had already knitted the scarf in a purplish soysilk. it was soooo pretty!

cleaning house

though the dishes are piling up, and the recycle bin is overflowing, i did some virtual cleaning today ... meaning, i deleted lots of blogs from my computer's bloglandia folder. i finally got tired of clicking on some of the blogs i'd bookmarked, to see that the keeper hadn't updated in a month or more. bye bye! what i should do sometime is figure out how to use bloglines. i suscribed at one point, but don't remember my login or password .... and i don't understand the difference between the feeds .... and i didn't get it to work for emailing me .... and i don't really understand how it works anyways!

in other knitterly news, i'm getting closer to the heel of a certain sock mate and progressing on the sunburst wrap.

topflappen!

i cannot take the credit for crocheting these beauties, it was all the handiwork of a ms. devil kitty. the pattern for these is from the book crocheted gifts in a weekend by nola theiss. and, these are not my potholders, but someone elses ...

nothing sucks worse than losing a ball of yarn. my receipt says 10 balls, but i only have 9. where did it go? was it ever really there? did it come home with me or did the cashier not put it into the bag? this inquiring mind wants to know, so the next time i'm at miguel's, i'm going to speak with a manager ... "um, did someone find a ball of yarn on the store's floor?". as the yarn sniffer would say, rats on a stick!

but, this little mishap is not going to impede me from crocheting on ....



my shawl now has 9 completed motifs (9 out of 66!). i love looking at it and playing with it, and pretending it's really going to be a tablecloth or skirt

fresh bug! made just this morning!

another new project?!

i'm guilty of being unfaithful to my numerous other projects waiting to be finished. but, i just can't help myself. crocheting these motifs is very addictive. each motif is only 6 rounds, and they are attached to one another on the last round. brilliant! so, i am working with paton's grace, and the pattern is from vogue's crocheted scarves. i started this with the recommended E hook, but switched to the F hook to get gauge.



isn't that a pretty sock? i knitted this in about 2 1/2 days, and haven't cast on for the mate yet. i think i should make that a goal for today ... casting on. i have a ton of sock yarn to knit up.

and finally, here's my finished chickami. it was super simple to knit. i slightly ran over the 500 yds. the pattern called for, but i think i knitted a few extra rounds in the body. i would definitely make this again.



ps i still have to weave the ends in ....

sock mania

elann.com offered up schachenmayr nomotta regia 4 fadig sock yarn today at 50% off. the first shade is color 1054 brown, then color 5572 cedar grove, then color 53 grey-blue tweed, and the last color is 5375 multi effekt chestnut. and i don't know how i got my pictures to line up this way, but i'll take it ... it's better than the long column of blocks stacked upon one another.

i felt somewhat entitled to fresh sock yarn because i finished knitting the pinky stripes ....



and as soon as i finished those, i cast on for these!



the above yarn is also by regia, and is from a previous elann order. it's the cotton tip & top, color 4079 roma. i love it!

ps i also finished my chickami and another fat bottomed bag. pictures soon!

round and round i go ....

please forgive the small picture, as i'm at my mom's and her computer doesn't have the same programs i like to use for my pictures. aside from that, hey, that looks like the beginnings of a crochet rug! my 10mm hook looks larger than my 9" rug. i bought several 5/8 yd pieces of this handdyed batik cotton from indonesia. i had stopped in at mary jo's in gastonia on my way here. i don't know how far i will get with this, as i'd like to make a decent sized rug, but i don't want to spend too much money on this project, and crochet eats up the strips rather quickly.


i also made some quicky stitch markers yesterday. it doesn't get any more basic that this, with purchased toggles and charms, connected with a jumpring. i also made some earrings, but these were a bit more complex.
i'm also making great progress with my chikcami ... it's almost finished! and sock #2 of the pinky stripes is nearing the toe :)

as i near finishing my chickami, i am ever more distracted by other projects. i mean, who makes a fancy silk ribbon necklace for their mini kacha?! the froggy green kacha was purchased 50% off at the hobby lobby, the same time i got the sparkle crochet hooks. i was feeling extra crafty and tried my hand at making some stitch markers too!

i'm making some good progress on my chic knit's chickami. a friend told me it look liked i was knitting a bunch of bugs ... cool! i'm on ball #3 of my yarn, and according to the pattern, i should be able to knit the cami with just 4 balls. that got me thinking ... i could knit another one with just two balls of bamboo.

and for the non-knitty ...


i have some sewing projects on the horizon ... a shoulderbag (pictured) and a denim wrap skirt. i buy most of my fabrics at mary jo's in gastonia, n.c. if you've never been there, it is worth the drive. it's huge and the prices are low. mary jo (yes, she's a real person) buys in such bulk that she can pass a significant savings to her customers. i have seen wonderful cottons for $5/yd that are sold for $9+ in most quilt shops.

cookies & cream

i swatched this yarn the other day, and sort of fell in love. i was amazed at the yardage ... 125 yds! this is nashua's sassafras, a 50/50 blend of cotton and acrylique. it's a tape yarn with thread wrapped around it. i love it. i searched my pattern collection to find just the right tanktop, and i found this by bonne marie. i'm knitting the version with shaping and skinny straps, in the smallest size, which only calls for 500 yds. it is quick mindless knitting, an almost instant gratification project.

haphazard hooker

i like to call this little lady "big mama". she is a size Q hook. she is big and fat! she is patiently waiting to be used ....
actually, she may be used sometime soon. i have this urge to crochet a rug! a nice circular single crochet rug. i got the idea from a friend, and lots of crochet books i've been paging through. and last week, at mary jo's, i spotted some hanks of fabric/yarn. these were batik fabrics cut on the bias into 1/2" strips about 40 yds. long. i can do this! i have a quilting book that shows how to take a piece of fabric and sew and cut it into bias strips. i used those same instructions when i made the bias binding of my quilt. so, i'm thinking, on my next trip down to mary jo's, i'm going to purchase fabrics for my rug.


now, these sparkley hooks came from the hobby lobby. i was on my way home to visit with mom, and stopped at the hobby lobby in concord. all knitting thingers were 50% off ... including the glitter crochet hooks! these are labeled by yarn bee. i didn't have much luck finding them online though. it's almost like they don't exist. i'm a sucker for glitter in my hooks. these hooks range in sizes K through P. i don't usually use such large sizes, but for $3.50 who cares?


this is just to prove that i still knit! i ripped out my sock mate because it had an unsightly blip of gold at the top of the ribbing. i had lots of free time between my class sessions yesterday, and made some good progress on my pinky stripes sock. i figured that when i finish the heel and resume knitting in the round, i will break the yarn to keep the instep in pattern. i've never done this before, and never really cared enough before, but this time i want to make sure that my stipes are of equal width.

butterfly had a nice day out in the cool sunny day, flittering around running errands. i think she's a keeper

butterfly makes her debut!

probably not the debut photo anyone would expect, but a great inside shot! after many days of waiting, butterfly finally dried. i tried her on. the sleeves had grown a bit. she was whisked away to thursday knit night for the final verdict... "leave the sleeves alone!" was the unanimous cry. today, she's going for a test drive, out on errands. it's actually cold enough for a wooly sweater today. when i realized how cool it was going to be today, i got busy on weaving in ends that would show (meaning, the underarm ends are still nice and long, hanging/hiding inside). then i sewed on the grosgrain ribbon for the hook & eye. the pattern's instructions say nothing about this, but i thought it would give the fabric more support w/o any unsightly pulling. this was some quick and dirty sewing as i need to get going!