I've got blisters on my fingers ...

... but I managed to get these socks made by Christmas. My hands are sore! Now I'm off to the kitchen to fix tourtiere for Christmas Eve and twice baked potatoes to go with our roasted beef tenderloin with red wine sauce for Christmas dinner. mmm

Diddy Bag

My bag is finished and felted. Now it is drying. I've stuffed it with plastic bags to help it keep its shape. I will use it to carry whatever project I'm working on. This was fun and very fast. The yarn felted up really nicely.

Rock n Roll Socks Finished, Diddy Bag begun

I finally finished the red socks for my son. Whoo, that was tedious. His feet are so long, the socks seemed to go on forever. The yarn on one sock exhibits a weird pooling of colors. I used all but about 8 inches of yarn from 2 skeins.

For a respite from socks, I've started a project called a Diddy Bag. It is a single crochet sack, with a crocheted handle, that will be felted. The yarn is Caron's Felt-It and the free pattern came from the Berroco yarns web site.

A Fresh Pair ... of Socks

I am crocheting a pair of socks for my son in size extra long and skinny. After measuring his feet, we started calling him "pencil feet". Anyway, these are the Ribbed Hiker pattern from the Crocheted Socks book. They are pretty slow going because the yarn, though extremely soft and colorful, is also very splitty. The combination of splitty yarn in a dark color and a very small hook means I have to crochet using a magnifying glass. I have a big one that hangs around my neck. But I've got one leg done and another almost done. I'm crocheting both socks at once in order to avoid the dreaded second sock syndrome. I think it's working!

I am a crocheting machine!

I crocheted 3 beanies in 2 evenings as Christmas gifts for my nephews to go along with gift cards I'm sending them. The colors are Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Redwings, and New Jersey Devils. The nephews are ages 10-13.

Never ending scarf

While I wait for more sock yarn to arrive at my door, I've been working on this knitted scarf. Yes, knitted. This one is turning out okay. I never work on it for very long, which may be the key to success. The yarn is the fabulous Debbie Bliss Cashmerino. I made up the pattern; it is s a simple k1 p1 rib knit.

Ta Da!

I finished my first pair of socks! They're not perfect, but they are pretty darn good! I will start more socks as soon as more sock yarn arrives. Meanwhile, it's cookie baking time. I made molasses spice cookies and snickerdoodles this morning. I'm thinking about jam thumbprints for this afternoon.

Sock it to me!

I did it! I completed one sock. It fits my foot! It's a little large at the ankle, I'll have to figure out how to deal with that. I'll wash and block it after I get the mate done. This was much easier than I had feared.

Danger - Sock in Progress

I've always been jealous of people who could knit cute striped socks. Then I discovered that socks could be crocheted! How about that? Well, here's the start of my first attempt. We'll see what happens when I get to the heel; it could be the end of me.

Cute hat

This is the Babka Hat pattern from the Lion Brand Crochet Hats book. I made it from a leftover skein of Lion Brand Wool Ease and some remnants of their Organic Cotton. Fun and cute!

Hippies Use Back Door

So, my son asked me to make him a beanie in his college colors. I whipped up this one out of Red Heart Super Saver. I used the Boy Beanie pattern from Happy Hooker. He tried it on and then decided that what he really wants is a hat that will cover his ears. Oookay. Could have said that to begin with. Good thing the beanie only took about 90 minutes and less than $1 worth of yarn.

Finished baby blanket

After one marathon session with the blanket, I finished it! It looks great. I hope it holds up in the wash.

Work in Progress - Shell stitch baby blanket

This project is about 75% finished and it is turning out nicely. The pattern is Shell Stitch Baby Blanket from lionbrand.com. The yarn is Lion Brand Organic Cotton in vanilla, almond, bark, and cypress. I'm really impressed with the yarn. I thought it would be difficult to work with and be very "splitty". It's not. It's not as smooth as working with wool but it is not difficult at all.

Throw ... Back

This throw is made with 3 strands of Vanna's Choice (Lion Brand) held together. That's 3 strands too many. The pattern is the Crochet 5 1/2 hour Throw available at lionbrand.com It did work up quickly. But the Vanna's Choice seems to heavy, the throw weighs a ton. The colors are a throwback to 1972! Why oh why did I do this? At least I didn't waste a whole lot of time!

Slippers!

One of the most difficult projects that I've finished, but so worth it. These Moroccan slippers are so cute! And you can't even tell that I missed an entire row of stitches on one of them! The pattern is from the Fabulous and Flirty book. I used the recommended Classic Elite Montera yarn, a chunky wool.

Ski Hat

The pattern for this crocheted "Tahoe Ski Hat" is from Crochet Hats!. I made it with Paton's Shetland Chunky in four shades of blue. Paton's yarns are great. They are moderately priced and always easy to work with.

Addicted to Baby Stuff

My favorite projects are crocheted baby things. They usually work up super fast, giving me that nearly instant gratification that I need! Too bad I don't know very many people having babies. So now I have this little stockpile. The blankets are made with Lion Cotton Ease which is mostly cotton and some acrylic. The pattern is a V-stitch and is available for free from their web site. It is super easy and and very fast. The blue hat is based on the basic crochet hat from the Just Hats book. The other two hats are a more complex pattern from the Crochet Hats book by Candi Jensen. The striped hat is done in a self striping yarn, Nashua Handknits Woolly Stripes. That is a super soft wool yarn and a delight to work with.

Lame Knitted Scarves

These two scarves are my first attempts at knitting something other than a sampler. The rust color scarf was done in garter stitch with 2 balls of Berroco Chinchilla yarn. It is super soft and furry. It does a really good job of hiding all of the mistakes I made. The green scarf is from a kit. The kit looked like a big Chinese take-out box with the yarn as noodles and the needles as chop sticks. Unfortunately, the yarn is super bulky and did not fit the 6mm needles. My hands ACHED after knitting! The pattern is a k2 p2 rib and all of my mistakes are very obvious. The super bulky yarn makes it difficult to even wrap the scar around my neck.

Cute Scarves

Once I got rolling with crochet, I made a ton of scarves. Everyone in my family has at least one. Funny how I never see them wearing them!

These two scarves are made from Paton's Classic Merino Wool which I bought online from JoAnn. I really like this yarn. It is warm, fairly soft, lightweight, and really works up nicely. The strands don't easily split, making it great for a beginner project. It can be used for felting, so be careful how you wash it.

These two scarves were made from Happy Hooker patterns. The purple one is a skinny scarf with a scalloped edge. The other is a series of flowers that are crocheted separately and then stitched together. The colors are purple, cream and "deep olive".

My First Ever Project

I've always wanted to be able to make something creative. I did a pretty good job of creating a few other human beings. But then they became teenagers and all of my creative energies went into trying to figure out how to make them listen to reason.

I decided that maybe I could do something like knitting. I don't know why I picked knitting. I remember my mother trying to teach me how to knit. It was a disaster. So I picked up the Instant Expert Knitting book to remind me how to cast on and knit or purl. After about a dozen frustrating attempts at trying to knit a scarf but ending up with something that looked like a sick amoeba, I gave up. I bought the Happy Hooker crochet book and discovered that crochet is not only fast, but more importantly, insanely easy! Why didn't anyone tell me?

My very first real project was a shawl. Not only did I crochet it myself, I did it without a pattern. I used yarn called Lion Suede (from Lion Brand), a 6mm hook and used a mesh stitch. I just kept crocheting until it seemed like the right size. I couldn't believe I had done it myself.

First timer!

Hello,
I plan on using this blog to keep track of my crochet, knitting, and occasionally crewel needlework projects. If anyone else can find what I do useful or inspirational, then that's great!

I taught myself to crochet about a year ago, using the Debbie Stoller book "Happy Hooker". I can highly recommend the book. The instructions were very easy to understand and the illustrations helpful.

I hope to post some pictures of my projects and will indicate the type of yarn used, where the pattern came from, and what I think of the finished result.

- BC