Chunky V. - a crocheted scarf

This is a scarf I made quite a while ago. I want to try my hand at publishing patterns, so I wrote this up and am sharing it. The crochet is beginner level, and it's a quick one skein project to highlight a soft bulky yarn.




Chunky V.
by DeuceMom

A subtle pattern for a simple, cozy scarf to crochet.

Yarn: 1 skein Cascade Baby Alpaca Chunky 100 grams/108 yards, or substitute a bulky weight yarn

Hook: US K-10.5/6.5 mm

Gauge: approximately 11 sts, 4 rows DC = 4”x4”. Gauge is not very important for this project.

Finished size: At gauge stated above, finished product measures 5”x 50”

Instructions:
Chain 15. Last 2 chain sts are turning chain.
Row 1: DC in 3rd chain from hook. DC across, 13 sts.
Row 2: DC 6, chain 1, skip 1, DC6, turn
Row 3: DC 5, chain 1, skip 1, DC 1, chain 1, skip 1, DC 5, turn
Row 4: DC 4, chain 1, skip 1, DC 3, chain 1, skip 1, DC 4, turn
Row 5: DC 3, chain 1, skip 1, DC 5, chain 1, skip 1, DC 3, turn
Row 6: DC 2, chain 1, skip 1, DC 7, chain 1, skip 1, DC 2, turn
Row 7: DC 1, chain 1, skip 1, DC 4, chain 1, skip 1, DC 4, chain 1, skip 1, DC 1, turn

Repeat rows 3-7 10 more times

To end the scarf, DC across, turn, SC across. Break yarn and weave in ends.

X is for the "X" through knitted Chrismas gifts that are not finished

I know a bad idea when I say one. "I will make my dad socks and finish my mom's sweater for Christmas." I hadn't even completed those thoughts before I know it wouldn't happen.


I tried to order the rest of the yarn for "Amused," but when I found out that the yarn was backordered until January... well, what's a knitter to do?


I consulted Ann Budd's "Getting Started Knitting Socks" to see what would be required to make men's size 12 socks. I immediately bought something else for my dad.



I don't always enjoy knitting (knotted yarn? tinking back?), but I don't like to get done with something and know I half-assed it.


Take for example, the world's worst felted item: my crochet hook case

I didn't do a gauge swatch, and didn't read any instructions on felting, and eventually this ended up in the garbage.

"Fast is fine, but accuracy is everything." - Xenophon


So I bought Christmas gifts and will make the knitted items in good time. And hopefully I'll have some fun doing it.

U is for UFOs

UFOs - Unfinished Objects!

I just have a crazy number of partially done projects in every corner of the house, and my yarn projects are no exception. This is "the afghan" that I started for my Grandma Anne's 90th birthday 2 years ago. I bought a pattern book, about 15 skeins of Red Heart Super Saver, because this thing is a yarn eater and that was the only way I was going to be able to afford to make it, and got to work. I worked feverishly evening after evening until I sat back and realized that I only had 12 inches done... I would never get this thing done for her February birthday. So I abandoned ship and crocheted something quick - which she totally loves!

Why am I hanging on to this UFO I don't intend to finish? No good reason. Maybe it's time to toss it.

Q is for Quantity

My stash contains vast quantities of kitchen cotton, including, but not limited to, this huge skeins of Sugar 'n Cream!
I mean, I like knitted dishcloths, but this is ridiculous.

P is for Photos

I love looking at Ravelry user's FO photos, but I'm not great at posting photos of my own projects. I really like an action shot, and I guess I just rarely remember to do it. So after finishing the Econo-Shopper bag about 2 years ago, I finally snapped a pic of it!

It came out with very long handles, that stretched slightly after putting items in the bag. Initially I planned to make another one with shorter handles, but that just never came to be. I did try machine washing and drying it (it's 100% cotton), which cleaned it up nicely but didn't really shrink the handles.

But then I found that the design is good for something after all - hooking over the stroller handle! Word to the wise - don't put a watermelon and a winter squash in there with it on the stroller. Turns out you can tip your stroller, even with your solidly built 2 year old in it. Darn physics. I was right there though, so no 2 year olds were harmed.

Anyhow, this is just a cell phone picture, but it's a picture, and definitely something I need to work on doing more of!

M is for My other hobbies

I crochet (or knit, now) almost every day, late at night when we're unwinding in front of the TV. But fiber stuff isn't my first or only hobby.

My first hobby is baking. This is Deuce's birthday cake. It's two layers of chocolate cake with white frosting and decorated with mini, plain and peanut butter M&Ms. I got the idea from Parents magazine. It took just as much time to decorate as it did to bake and frost!

I got my love of baking from my dear Grandma Anne. She has "got it." She times cookies by when they smell done. She measures with a scoop. Like, not a measuring cup. She just knows how to bake, and though I'm not as skilled as her, I do love it.

My favorite hobby is scrapbooking. I started scrapbooking before I was married, just to spend time with friends and because I thought it was fun. Now that Deuce is on the scene, I do a LOT of scrapbooking.

This is his second year, what I was able to finish before his party:

(that's an American Crafts D-ring binder, which I love for any project that isn't ever really "done")

Scrapbooking is the way I record my feelings and emotions, express my love for my family, create something I can share, exercise my mind... and let's face it, it's how I spend a lot of money. DeuceDad actually doesn't mind though because I've had this hobby for about 5 years now, longer than I've ever held down a single job, so it's not a waste.

I am so fortunate for all the nap-time I spend on these hobbies. So when I'm not blogging, you know what I'm doing!

G is for Gift Knitting

Today's G is courtesy of Carly.

I looove handmade things, and for my birthday Carly made me a Faberge Cowl. It's Malabrigo Worsted in Polygala, and it's so soft on my neck I wore it all winter without the slightest itch.




Gift knitting is kind of a landmine. I have gifted only five things that I can think of. Three baby blankets, a pair of mittens, and an afghan. Of those, I only know for sure that one is in regular use. And that's the afghan I gave my Grandma, and if I have her a used Kleenex she would display it proudly as one of my greatest accomplishments.

The next few things in my queue are all gifts though. The thing is that I only need just so many crocheted/knitted items for myself, but I love to crochet. I get a lot of pleasure out of just making something. So I guess if it's destined to collect dust, so be it.

F is for Fast

Today's F is brought to you by Jake, Carly's husband (eee so excited for them).

F is for fast - fast like my swift! Jake made this for me for Christmas this year, along with a nostepinne. He turned parts on the lathe, and used some kind of special bearing for speed. He even repurposed a pool cue - it's really one of a kind.

Here are the glamour shots:

The whole outfit with some Misti Alpaca worsted

The nostepinne, with a very handy groove in the handle for holding the tail. Apparently this design change was suggested by Carly.


And one of the very cool (don't know the name of the part) thingies (?) made from a pool cue.

So back to the word at hand - fast. Obviously a swift is faster than using two chairs or your feet or something to hold a hank of yarn while it is wound. But this swift is FAST. It has this flat bearing that just glides like a dream... it's a precision instrument. Leave it to a mechanical engineer.

Thanks again, Jake, for my awesome gift.

E is for Everyday

With some exceptions here and there, I crochet (or now knit) every day. One of my many guilty pleasures is TV, but I can't just sit and watch it. I used to scrapbook in front of TV, back in a world before helping hands and hungry dogs, but now I can't leave anything out on the coffee table, and I'm way too disorganized to bring everything out and put it all away.

The funny thing is that for the number of hours I spend with yarn on my lap, I don't have too awful much to show for it. My numbers of FOs are low. Or maybe it's the size of the projects. I do make a lot of blankets. But I wonder if you counted the stitches in a blanket vs a sock on US 00's how much difference there is.

And besides, it's not all crocheting. I mean, I do actually watch some of the shows. And eat dessert. All work and no play, right?

Here's a peek at my latest project. It's going to be a racetrack rug. It's an oval of green with rounds of this loopy stitch for grass, then a black "track" then more "grass" and a felt backing sewn on the back. It's for Deuce's birthday. I'm slowly changing his room over to transportation theme.

''m halfway through the track now. I hope to have the crocheting done this week. I'm getting bored of SC round and round and round, and am excited for the loop stitch again and the background. Little by little...

D is for Double Crochet

Wow, back to ABC-Along (thanks Carly for reminding me that we're way behind!)

My D is for double crochet - my worst stitch. It's actually my fastest stitch, but it just comes out so loose. I have to go down 2 hooks sizes from what's recommended for the yarn to get gauge. I'm glad I have it figured out now because it's used in so many blanket patterns.

I made two blankets while I was pregnant, and before I realized the importance of gauge. I love this blanket because Deuce and I spend many happy hours wrapped in it nursing. It is also full of holes. Like, holes between stitches. Not my best work, but it's sentimental now.

This one is a basketweave pattern of FPDC and BPDC, and this one I realy should have swatched. The pattern squares aren't squares, plus there's a halfer at one end. Really bad work. The only thing I like is that it has a round of reverse single crochet that makes a nice edge.
More recently, I've made two Seija Sets, and on these I used the hat as a gauge swatch (apparently that's an Elizabeth Zimmerman trick. Who knew?) These I'm much more pleased with because they don't look so sloppy. Actually, the blanket in the photo could do with a machine washing and a stiff tug at the corners, but that will come soon enough. It's a baby set after all.

So there's a tour through some DC, I stitch I think I've mastered.

Tuesday Napday

Tuesday seems to be nap day for me, but I think I can break with tradition just this once. What could possibly be worth it? My house is at that point where it could easily be kept fairly neat, or slide into disaster. Seriously, just 30 minutes of picking up and I'll be happy.

New recipe last night was a bust. Just didn't bring much to the table. I even used a little of my creativity by adding more garlic and toasting the almonds (I didn't have roasted). Then I went to Jazzercise and shook it for an hour.

Then home to work on another Seija Set. That didn't last long, as I immediately dropped my second H hook down the couch (yes, both of them are down there now) and wasn't in the mood to turn the chaise over to get it out.

So I went back to the hat for DeuceDad. I'm starting to be able to rock a little on 2x2 rib. I'm still trying to knit Continental style, and I'm not 100% sure I'm doing it right. I don't "pick" the yarn without the help of another one of my fingers, but this video shows using a finger for help. It just seems a little strange.

I'm going to come out of my knitting shell and go to some groups this week. Tonight is church knitting group. Maybe someone there can answer my Continental question, plus they're going to be my outlet for tons of practice knitting on stashed acrylic. Then Thursday I'm either going to hit a yarn store sit-n-knit, or, if I feel super outgoing, Chicks with Sticks. CWS seems like a younger crowd who knits in bars and coffee houses. A much better opportunity to meet potential dudes, but certainly outside my fibercrafting comfort zone (which until now has been limited to my couches).

Oookay - breakfast, coffee, playgroup, then all this crafty business! Here I go!!

C is for Corner

C is for my corner. My crochet corner. I have a lamp so I can see my stitches, a table for piles of books and other goodies...


Bags and bags and bags of UFOs and yarn...



All reachable from the chaise!

It's a happy place to be!

Hello Goodbye

Hello to my new hobby - knitting! That is a partially finished 8" charity lapghan square in Red Heart Super Saver on a 9" #8 straight bamboo needle. I have lots (LOTS!) of Red Heart that I just cannot throw away. I know this makes real yarn lovers question my sanity, but I can't throw things away. It's a sickness. Someone from my church who runs the knitting group has offered to help me learn, and I offered to make lots of squares for her afghans in return. I think I'm getting better at garter stitch. There are some holes and uneven-ness, but it's getting there.

I also make a ribbed hat for Deuce, but it came out tiny and I can't get him to leave it on long enough to take a picture.

I haven't given up on crochet. I just need a change of scenery after months of single-crochet on the SU blanket. I made myself a Diamond Ridges hat for a challenge. The pattern is modeled after Koolhaas, and it's very cool. (Sorry for the funky pic, too impatient to wait for a photographer)

And goodbye is to our houseguest Abbey. What a sweet little girl...

B is for Blanket

The SU blanket is done!! I am very happy with how it came out. It's very heavy fabric (all sc) and manly (no picot edge or other typical crochet embellishments). And it's long enough to cover DeuceDad from tip to toe!!


Deuce can't resist an opportunity to ham for the camera:

Doesn't love the camera:

Snuggled:

I'm so happy with how the project turned out!

Strangers. Waitin'. Up and down the boulevard.

My BFF knows all of my vices, and Journey's greatest hits is certainly one. She lent me her CD (I only had the tape and that's long gone) for my listening pleasure. I took the opportunity to sing super loud when I was in the car by myself going to Jazz and back.

Hidin'. Somewhere in the NIGHT!

It ain't pretty.

My quest to learn knitting continues. I started in on Seaside Diagonale, which is labeled Knit - Intermediate. I can see that there are some areas that need improvement, namely the edges. They don't look neat and tidy like knit edges should. To that end, I checked SnB out of the library since Happy Hooker really improved by crochet understanding. I really love Debbie Stoller and as soon as I'm gainfully employed again, I'm going to add SnB to the library.

My quest to crochet continues (as soon as I have jammies on) because I think I only have about 30 rows left on DeuceDad's SU blanket!! I have to seam the pieces together and choose an edge (maybe just sc since it's supposed to be manly), but I'm so happy to be almost done with hundreds of rows of sc!

A is for Amigurumi

ABC-Along 2009 is off and running. In 2008 I used a "Deuce" theme, but since this is a Ravelry thing, I'm trying to be crocheting themed this year.

Amigurumi is a Japanese term for small knit and crocheted figures of all kinds - animals, food, people. This book is a popular one on the subject, and the patterns are all over the place. It's cute and very kitsch. I love to look at the stuff, but rarely make any.

I have limited my amigurumi-making to "useful" items (cat toys). Claude loves anything he can kill for fun. I was setting up a living room photo shoot to illustrate that crocheted cat toys must be sturdy to withstand active play, when along came Claude to provide a demonstration.

Didn't have time to fix the shutter speed on that one.

Anyhow - so there it is, my first ABC-Along for 2009 (and on time I'd like to add). Amigurumi.

Baby "Shower"

Today I have the chance to talk about three of my favorite things; crochet, papercrafting and party planning!

My best friend from our old hometown is having her second baby. I haven't been around during the pregnancy like she was for me, so I wanted to do something special for her. I started off by making the Seija Set from Stitch and Bitch: The Happy Hooker. This came out really well and I would definitely make it again in any color combo for boy or girl babies. I love the braid accent just to make a simple thing a little special.

When I had Deuce, she and another friend threw us a really great shower - a couple's shower, which I had never heard of before - and I wanted to do something for her too. Showers for second babies are kind of a faux pas, plus she's having her second girl, so she doesn't need anything. She cloth diapers, so she doesn't even need diapers.

So for something special I booked a party at a place called Make and Take Gourmet. It's a meal prep place, plus they have a nice little sitting area where we can have some snacks and cake. The idea is the guests prepare meals and give some to the guest of honor and take some home for themselves. This is the ultimate party to throw - I'm bringing the snacks and cake, that's it. I invite people and Make and Take handles the RSVP's preparation and clean-up. Plus it's something she will use and will make her life easier after the baby comes. I'm so happy about this idea!

You'll notice I said a magic word - invitations! They're a tri-fold with all the info printed on the inside and embellishments on the front. Not too shabby for using what I have on hand. I'm being serious, I didn't buy anything for this. The only thing that went wrong with them is that I set up the words inside to print in 3 columns - but I didn't fix the margins to really center the columns on a tri-fold page. But I already printed everything so it's going to have to be okay.

I've had that elephant stamp and the special delivery stamp for years. It's Elephant And Baby from A Muse Art Stamps. I love every single thing A Muse sells and would shop myself silly there if I didn't have such amazing personal restrain. (ha ha ha ha ha!!)

And to top things off, I happened to find cute paper plates and napkins half price at Target last night. This thing is really coming together!

Noro

I'm probably the last fiber-crafter on earth to try Noro yarn, but the day came on Friday when I reached into my (small) stash of revered yarn and pulled out the Noro Kureyon, printed the instructions for the Rook hat and scarf, (Ravelry links) and unearthed my hallowed but seldom used carved rosewood K hook. This was going to be good.

And it was. The colorway I bought (deep blue/olive 233) doesn't have as much variegation (word?) as some, but I do like all the colors (no muddy brown blobs). So color after color was pleasing. Definitely some detritus - sticks and such on my lap after completing the crown of the hat. One knot. Thick and thin spots. Good fun after the 100s of rows of solid-color sc I'm doing for DeuceDad's SU afghan.

But I don't love the pattern - there's this spike stitch that I can't quite master that you're supposed to do when the color has completely changed to really show off the colors. Maybe it's my dye-lot, but the colors are changing gradually and I don't see the drastic change.

My gauge was also WAY off - soooo tight which is odd for me, I typically go down 2 hook sizes from what's suggested in the pattern. I mean, a K hook for worsted weight yard is a huge hook in my world. So I modified the number of increases to get a big enough crown (I guess that means I've made a few hats that I could do that without getting up for reference material). I also had to rip back a few times because I misjudged a color run and had to move my spike stitch. Oh, and this stuff HATES frogging. I actually broke the yard twice.

So I'm going to finish the hat because I don't want to risk destroying a whole skein by frogging the thing. I'm going to rethink the scarf though... we'll see.

Happy Present Day!

Guess what came in the mail? My first issue of Interweave Crochet!! Thank you Carly!

I'm so excited to start some of the great looking projects in there. I think this is in my future...

And now for something completely different

(Bonus points to anyone who knows what I'm talking about)

I had a whole post typed about how we're on this rollercoaster right now, but it sounded whiny.

So instead, I'd like to talk about why crocheting gets a bad rap. In The Happy Hooker, Debbie Stoller discusses the awful patterns published for crochet. I was at the library and grabbed some books our of curiousity, to see if what she said was true. I offer for you enjoyment some kick-butt crochet projects:

from "Crocheting For The Home" (1977) I offer you the crocheted birdcage

and from "McCall's Crochet Treasury" (also 1977) , which offered almost too many to choose from, please enjoy the Flower-Color Gown

I was able to find one usable pattern from each book. That's just sad.