Scarfapalooza

If you are on my Christmas list this year, chances are good you are getting a scarf...unless you're a child, then a scarf is considered a choking hazard and you're not getting one, so there you go....you surprise isn't ruined....but also, you're not reading this blog....alrighty, now that's out of the way. Don't worry, I'm making a ton of these, and I'm not telling who's getting what, so you'll still be surprised...or hoping you get the good one. I can't believe you're thinking that....they're all good ones!

These 3 scarves are all from free patterns. I will provide the links.

This first scarf is a free pattern from Lion Brand (link in side bar). The pattern is called Classic Cabled Scarf http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/80755AD.html. The yarn used is Patons Classic Wool in Dark Grey Mix. I have only used this yarn for 2 of the scarves here, and I love it! It's nice to work with and it makes a nice fabric. My husband, who tested this scarf out thought it felt itchy, but when I tried it I did not - so I guess that's up to personal taste - however a scarf is usually outside the winter clothes, so I don't imagine that will be a problem, but I will only use this yarn for other people for this kind of project, just in case. This was my first try with cables. It was actually pretty easy and the scarf looks pretty good - it is hard to tell from the pictures though - the colour doesn't photograph very well.




This is what happens when you're taking pictures and they're not of your 3 year old!



This scarf is for Bernat Alpaca yarn and the pattern is called: Lacy Leaves Scarf. The link to Bernat Yarns is in the sidebar, but I'm not going to bother linking the pattern, because you have to be a member of the site to see it. However, they have many nice patterns - it's worth it to sign up (for free) to have access to so many free patterns. I found this pattern because I bought the yarn and then searched through their site for scarves that are specifically intended for this yarn. The yarn I used is called Bernat Aplaca Natural Blends - it's 70% acrylic and 30% alpaca. The yarn and the fabric it creates is soft and fuzzy. This was my first try with lace. I think it turned out pretty well - the edge of the scarf turning in annoyed me the whole time I was knitting, but it actually looks pretty nice when the scarf is on, so I'm not going to try to block it flat.

This scarf from Knitty.com. The pattern is called Wavy, and can be found here: http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter04/PATTwavy.html. I think this pattern is great! It's not complicated - it's basically ribbing that meanders back and forth. Ribbing, for those that don't know is something like Knit 2 purl 2 knit 2 purl 2. In this case it is knit 3 purl 3, but the pattern moves 1 step in either direction each row. Sounds a bit complicated, but if you can knit, purl and count to 3 you can do this! Now, I did screw up, and didn't know how to fix it, so there the mistake stays, but now I do know how to fix such a thing and would fix it. This scarf was my first try back at knitting after a very long absence during which I pretty much exclusively crocheted. Right now all the small and fast things I'm working on are knit and the large and slow ones are crocheted. This is another scarf made with Patons Classic Wool. I don't have the ball band any longer, as this scarf was finished in January, so I can't recall the exact colour. I will be making another one of these scarves in purple in the coming months.

What's on the hook, what's on the needle?

So today I'm going to talk a bit about my current projects and my organization system.

Currently I have a few projects on the go:
1) a cabled scarf
2) a knitted blanket - that was to be a wedding present for my sister, but did not get finished and will now be a gift for her and her husband on a different occasion....
3) self striping fish pillow - I am not a fan of this pattern though. I only have 2 balls of this yarn - yellow/white striped colourway, so I'm going to save the yarn for the perfect pattern - the yarn may turn into a striped crochet caterpillar, not sure about that.
4) a baby blanket - with self patterning jacquard yarns....really cool and pretty - have enough yarn to make 2 blankets, but only 1 is started.

Hey, wow, I have fewer projects actually underway than I thought I did....go me!

Now, let's talk about store bought kits (comes with all the necessities for a pattern) or self made kits (yarn I have purchased for specific projects)
1) Purple yarn for a scarf for my mother-in-law for Christmas (I have a scarf in mind - very cool one - I have already made a scarf from this pattern, will be blogged about some day soon)
2) White yarn to make a slouchy cabled hat (enough yarn for 2 hats)
3) 2 extra balls of yarn from cabled scarf noted above - will become another scarf, different pattern.
4) Yarn kit to make a Sugar Plum fairy doll
5) Yarn kit to make another doll
6) Yarn kit to make a felted poinsettia wreath
7) Yarn kit to make a crocheted snowman blanket
8) Yarn kit to make 3 large Christmas Mittens (decoration, not wearable)
9) Yarn to make many Christmas ornaments
10) Yarn to make reusable bags
11) Yarn to make Allyson and her cousin Hailey matching pink fuzzy sweaters

Hmm....that's all I can think of right now. Sadly, that is also less than I thought it would be....go me again!

Then I have tons and tons of other yarn that is leftovers from other projects, or stuff that I loved at the time and bought lots of without a project in mind.

My next major project, once the cabled scarf is finished (which I anticipate will be in the next week or so), is to crochet 2 different nativity sets. One will be a shower gift for a lovely cousin of mine (if she happens to read this blog, I already asked her if she would want one, so don't worry, it's not a spoiler), and one set for a very dear friend. Now, I've never blogged about a stuffed animal I have made, but in an upcoming post I will be blogging about Allyson's birthday Care Bear. You will learn that I make, shall we say, 'Charming' stuff animals. Meaning, no matter how I try, limbs, ears, tails etc, are never, ever, ever sewed on evenly. Try as I might my stuffed animals have a very distinct home-made look. So my wonderful sister, who is amazing at sewing, Erin, has agreed to sew the nativity sets together for me. So yay! They will look professional, not 'charming'!

I'm going to sign off this blog with a request...have a look through this photo album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=15217&id=510123273&l=6d44e1711e
and if there are any items in there that you want to know more about, patterns, yarns etc, let me know and I'll be happy to blog about it!

Jackson's Spiderman Blanket

Once upon a time, about 3 years ago, my first nephew was born (ok, I still only have one nephew, but some day I may have more than one). When he was born I gave him a car blanket, similar to the one posted here: http://http//andreainajax.blogspot.com/2010/06/twinsies.html

Anyway, this blanket has been his favourite blanket forever and I thought maybe it was time for him to have a new blanket.

Jackson is obsessed with superheros and Buzz Lightyear. I tried and tried to think of something to make for him that he would love. I don't enjoy doing single crochet afghans where you change colours repeatedly to make a picture, so I didn't want to go that route. But you should totally look up superhero stuff on Ravelry (see link in sidebar), because there is some incredible stuff. Eventually I found a pretty cool and straightforward pattern - a round ripple afghan with colour changes and surface chaining to make it look like a Spiderman spiderweb.

So far it seems to be a pretty big hit!

The pattern is from this website: http://stitchnfrog.blogspot.com/2009/07/superhero-dream-catcher-afghan.html. Though my afghan looks pretty similar I actually did modify the pattern a bit. The number of rows between colour changes in the pattern is not always the same, but I kept mine the same. After the red section it was 5 blue, 1 black, 5 blue, 1 black, 5 red, 1 black etc. I also ended with a black row instead of blue or red cause I thought it looked more finished that way. I used red heart and bernat acrylic worsted weight yarns.

Braydon's Truck Blanket

It probably comes as no shock that because I love crafting, and because I love my kids, I absolutely love crafting for my kids. I have one pattern book in particular, that Braydon loves to look at. There is a crochet truck blanket in this book. He asked me if I would make him one and the rest is history.

For many projects, finishing work takes up almost as much time as actually making the pieces. I have always been one to finish as much as possible as I go along, so there is less at the end. For example, if I'm crocheting squares with different colours, as I crochet with colour 2 I also weave in and crochet over the ends of colour 1, and so on. When my square is finished I will have just one end to sew in. Where possible I use this end to sew together blocks or I sew over it to weave it in as I go. I am all about the multi tasking. So usually when I start to sew a project together I still have 1 end on each block to sew in. With this project there were some square that were 2 colours, with each side being a triangle of colour - this made it almost impossible to use my regular finishing techniques. So for Braydon's blanket I didn't use any of my short cuts. Did I mention that this blanket was made with mini square, and that I had to make more than 400 squares and that several of these squares were 2 colours. I sewed every single end in completely before sewing the blanket together.

Let me tell you, during the never-ending crocheting, sewing in, sewing together, edging, sewing and more edging, I thought man oh man, am I ever an awesome mom! Let me also tell you, a 2 year old will not care how much work you put into it, and it will take you a month to convince the 2 year old (now 3 year old) to use the blanket that you slaved over forever, but I digress.

To make things more complicated for finishing - this blanket had to be sewn together into 6 panels, then each panel was edged separately, then the panels sewn together, then the whole thing was edged again. I found it simpler to sew together in blocks of colour, rather than straight across, so I would first sew all the cars together then add the background colours and so on. Anyway, this blanket was definitely a labour of love, but I think it is fantastic!

Oh my, I almost forgot the pattern details:

The pattern is called 'Big Wheels' from the Leisure Arts Book "Perfect Patches, 5 Afghans to Crochet'. I used 2 different types of satin yarns (obviously in many more colours than that), one by Red Heart and one by Bernat. I also used this type of yarn for my mom's soduku blanket, so I have many scraps for a lovely scrap afghan some day.

How To Find Patterns

My loyal reader (and sister) Erin had asked that I talk about where to find free patterns and that sort of thing.



If you've read through all my blog posts, then you know about my ever so slight addiction to purchasing patterns and yarn. However, lately I've gotten into quite a quick of deciding what I want to make and finding a free pattern for it. When I am looking for something specific this is what I do:

1) Check http://www.bernat.com/ and http://www.patonsyarns.com/. You must be a member to view their free patterns, but it is free to sign up, and they have a place to bookmark all of their free and not free patterns that you like. So say I want to make a scarf, I'll just plug scarf into their search engines and see what comes up.

2) Check http://www.lionbrand.com/. This is the same sort of website as above, but I've listed it separately because you don't have to be a member to sign up.

3) Check http://www.knitty.com/. This is a free online knitting magazine. They have tons and tons of gorgeous patterns and useful articles and tips. They also have a handy rating for patterns, so you can easily narrow down to projects that are within your technical abilities.



So after I've checked these four sites and I've picked what I want to make, then I check out http://www.ravelry.com/. This site is the mecca for knitters and crocheters. You can find anything and I mean ANYTHING here. So when I'm checking Ravelry at this stage of the game I am trying to decide what yarn to use by seeing what yarns others have used for the same project. I can also see what modifications others have made, how much yarn they used and the usefulness goes on and on. If you like knitting check out ravelry - you won't be sorry.

Wedding Afghan

This has been a crazy, crazy productive crafting year for me. This is the afghan that started it all in 2010. My highschool best friend got married in January on a cruise, and they held a lovely reception back home a few weeks later. Knowing that the beautiful bride is a huge fan of purple, I set out to see what I could do.

This beautiful afghan is the result:

The details:

This pattern is from a book called "Old Fashioned Quilt Afghans" by Annie's Attic. The pattern is called 'Diamond Puff'.

The yarn is 2 shades of purple and 1 shade of beige - I can't recall the exact brand of yarn. The squares were pretty quick to make and it moved along nicely. Hope the happy couple can enjoy it for years to come.

Some more pictures:

The Tartan that never ends

I found an amazing book called 'A Few More Tartans' by Jenny King. I saw it online somewhere I can't recall and purchased it immediately. The reason I was so very excited to find this book is because one of the Tartan rugs was in the clan tartan of my husbands family - Clark.

I decided that this would make a great Christmas present for my father-in-law sometime in 2007 if I recall correctly. And so the multi-year saga began. I started this, and then Braydon was born, and there was no time for gigantic, fiddly projects, and then it got shoved in a closet somewhere and forgotten. Some time in 2009 I found the afghan again and since I already had all the materials, decided to finish it.

This pattern turns out looking fantastic, but it is a mega undertaking. The first step is to crochet a giant mesh fabric, following the colour changes as provided. Once the mesh is complete you have to make many, many long crochet chains....like 300 stitch long chains. For my afghan 238 chains in total were required. Once the chains and the mesh are complete - they unite! Each chain is woven through the mesh, again, following the colour pattern provided. Oh, then there's the fringe....to add that certain something:) This project took more actual work hours than anything else I have created to date. I don't think I have the fortitude to make one again anytime soon, but look out husband and brother-in-law, someday you may have your own tartan afghans headed your way!

Twinsies

Two good friends found out that they were having twins...and not only that - 1 boy and 1 girl! Amazing! Those beautiful babies are now 6 months old, but the blankets below were my gift to them.

The Deets:
Patterns are from a book called baby baby by Bernat
The yarn is Bernat Baby Coordinates. I didn't use the exact colours the pattern calls for - I used what I had on hand.

Fun Fact:
This is not the first time that I have made the car blanket. My first nephew Jack received the same blanket when he was born (almost 3 years ago) and he has loved it and carried it around with him everywhere since. I think the fact that a blankie I made has withstood the test of time with a toddler, shows that my construction is solid.

Anyway, since I made these two versions about 8 months ago I don't have too much to say about them, except that it's a fabulous pattern and turns out very adorable blankets!

Ummm.....not working and crafting and 1 toddler and 1 preschooler, Oh My!

So in the 11 months or so since I last updated the blog, not much has changed, except that I am now on a leave without pay from my job until little Miss Allyson starts school. But my 1 reader (Hi Erin!) already knows it.

I am hoping to continue this blog as a sort of life diary, which pretty much consists of my kids and my crafts.

Braydon: is now 3 years old. He's a pretty awesome little guy. He talks up a storm, but could use some work on the skill of listening (what's that noise, oh that's just my mother laughing hysterically, thinking back on the day she was told by the doctor I have no hearing problems, I just don't listen). We're working diligently on potty training. He's a pretty typical 3 year old I think.

Allyson: is now 1 year old. She's adorable and charming, and she does not talk at all. Braydon had a lot more words at this age and it sometimes concerns me, but I'll be asking the doctor at her check-up next week.

Anyway, for the next little while my blog will mostly involve crafts and not so much of the kids....should be fun!