Posted in Crochet, tagged blanket, Crochet, crochetville, granny, pattern, round on November 28, 2007| 7 Comments »
I have a new pattern being tested at Crochetville. Thanks to dogswife, mom4x, MyissaG, tamugrad02, crochetfool, guatemalamom, and requin for testing this for me!
The granny blanket is worked in the round and my favorite part is the border. For more details and a free pattern stay tuned.
Posted in Crochet, Free Patterns, That's Cool, tagged bernat, blanket, bobble, bobbles, CAL, Crochet, cupcake, grammar, granny, gray, gray's anatomy, grey, grey's anatomy, half moon shawl, jiffy, Lion Brand, merriam, red heart, RHSS, romance, shawl, star, starghan, webster, yarn on November 26, 2007| 6 Comments »
Good guess Christina, but nope, my mystery project isn’t felted. This is the Crochet Half Moon Shawl from Lion Brand in Jiffy. The color is Pearl Grey*. I wanted to make it in a darker color but (surprise, surprise) JoAnn only had six color choices and only two in the amount I needed.
I saw this pattern first in the Spring/Summer Lion Brand catalogand put it on the back burners as a project I would like to complete. (I’m sure there’s a snazzy acronym for this but it’s lost on me.) Anyway, then I saw the Half Moon Shawl CAL on Crochetville a few weeks ago, and suddenly I had to try it out. It’s amazing the motivation you can acquire from a CAL by the way. So somehow I thought that it only required three balls and now I am stuck. I need to buy another ball of Jiffy or frog it. I’ll probably keep it and pick up another ball when I get off island again, whenever that is.
There are a million different versions of this shawl now. The one I really wanted to make used Lion Brand Romance. I liked the lime color in the picture and the mohair-ish look, but Jiffy was on sale and Romance wasn’t carried at that store.
Also there is a version that uses a new yarn called Cupcake. I’m partial to bright colors so I’m excited to lay eyes on the actual yarn. It looks like a slightly sturdier version of Bernat Baby Coordinates Sweet Stripes, the yarn I used for the Chromium Star Blanket. They are both four ply and, from what I can tell, have the same spinning technique. I had trouble with the Sweet Stripes yarn splitting, but to be fair this was probably exacerbated by the fact that I frogged the blanket lots before settling on the structure. Say what you want about RHSS, but you can frog that acrylic a million times and still look fine incorporated in a FO.
In all, I liked this project. It’s an easy project, but not sc-square boring. I hear there are some corrections to the pattern, but I wasn’t looking and didn’t see any. Plus, it’s warm, kinda soft and pretty. I can’t complain.
*Was anyone else ever taught that gray is the correct spelling for the color? I noticed that Lion Brand spells it with an “E”. I even looked it up on Merriam-Webster. Although they don’t make and distinctions definition wise, they list grey as a variant and the definition is under gray. This whole gray/grey topic reminds me that the television show Grey’s Anatomy changed the “A” to an “E” from the book Gray’s Anatomy. (I didn’t notice this by the way. A Grey’s Anatomy enthusiast pointed it out.) I guess that it’s sort of like through and thru: same meaning, different spelling. Is it wrong to prefer gray over grey? Hmm.
*That’s cool* a random fact
The Chinese see a “toad in the moon” as opposed to the “man in the moon”. When there is an eclipse, folklore says that the toad is trying to swallow the moon.
Posted in Crochet, That's Cool, Totally Unrelated, tagged Big Adventure, bird, birdbath, bobbles, Crochet, dog, fortune tellers, glass, gray, Pee Wee, Photography, reflection, sun, tree, trees, water, Wizard of Oz on November 24, 2007| 2 Comments »
There’s this birdbath that is perched on the porch rails. It’s got a little hole for a twig and broken pieces of colored glass pressed into the edges. It also weighs a ton.
Today, in the late afternoon sun the water was like a mirror. It reminded me of fortune tellers who clear the steam rising from the water and when the ripples settle you see an image of the future. In my future I see trees.
The crystal ball is also a popular fortune telling device, isn’t it? Like in the Wizard of Oz and Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. I wonder where I could find one of those.
Here’s a peek at my next post. (I think I got a little carried away photographing the bobbles.)
*That’s cool* a random fact
Hummingbirds can fly upside down, but their legs are only strong enough to perch, not walk.
Posted in Crochet, General, tagged , Crochet, gold peak, Guitar Hero, hook, meme, ralvery, tag, tea on November 16, 2007| 2 Comments »
Crafty Christina tagged me! (Has anyone noticed that she is a commenting machine lately?)
38 things about me that you may or may not want to know.
1. Name one person who made you laugh last night?
My Jack Russell terrier, Biscuit. She’s eleven years old and couldn’t jump onto the couch so she kept doing this half-hearted hop until I scooped her up. She thanked me by laying all over my crochet blanket wip. She needs one of those Doggie Steps I guess.
2. What were you doing at 0800?
Zzz… I’m a night owl.
3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
Looking for my lost size I crochet hook. All I found were dust bunnies and a ball point pen.
4. What happened to you in 2006?
I played Guitar Hero for the first time in a Best Buy. They had special chairs and a 60 inch widescreen tv. Somehow playing at home isn’t quite the same.
5. What was the last thing you said out loud?
“Where’s my crochet hook?”
6. How many beverages did you have today?
Three: Diet coke, Gold Peak ice tea(the best!) and ice water. I like my drinks cold… brrr!
7. What color is your hairbrush?
Pink, one of those Ouchless Breast Cancer Awareness brushes by Goody.
8. What was the last thing you paid for?
A size I Boyle brand crochet hook from Poppies for $2.25 plus tax.
9. Where were you last night?
The Village Stop.
10. What color is your front door?
Dark wood.
11. Where do you keep your change?
My pink piggy bank.
12. What’s the weather like today?
Mostly cloudy with sprinkles of liquid sunshine.
13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor?
Spumoni, especially when the red part is rum flavor.
14. What excites you?
A few hours at a really big Barnes and Noble in a big leather chair with a gingerbread iced coffee in my hand and stacks of crochet books at my feet. There are no Barnes and Noble chains in the San Juan Islands so this is a very rare occasion.
15. Do you want to cut your hair?
Need or want? I need a trim, but I’d rather not.
16. Are you over the age of 25?
I’m still in the 18-24 bracket. I can buy hard a, but I still can’t rent a car.
17. Do you talk a lot?
Yes, when on the phone. Sorry phone people.
18. Do you watch the O.C.?
One day I might.
19. Do you know anyone named Steven?
Not currently. My deskmate in fourth grade was named Steven. He used to drag a dirty pencil eraser across his eyeball. Otherwise he was very nice.
20. Do you make up your own words?
Rarely. I mostly leave that up to Jim Halpert.
21. Are you a jealous person?
About Ravelry yarn stashes? Then yes.
22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter “A”.
Aimee. I used to forget where the “I” went.
23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’.
Katie, also known as Katiekins and Katydid.
24. Who’s the first person on your received call list?
My 24 yr old cousin Erika who lives in Seattle. She tried to get me to agree to watch the tv series Heroes and I tried to get her to join Second Life so we can go see a movie together, but not together. We both are not budging.
25. What does the last text message you received say?
“@ $1.50 movies- jealous?” The Gateway Mall in Springfield, Oregon has a $1.50 movie theater. A pickle costs $3.00 there. And yes, I was jealous.
26. Do you chew on your straw?
No, but I resist the urge to gnaw on Styrofoam cups. I must have been a hamster in my last life.
27. Do you have curly hair?
Ringlets, but only when it rains.
28. Where’s the next place you’re going to?
Off island. Burlington doesn’t have a Barnes and Noble either.
29. Who’s the rudest person in your life?
My 21 yr old brother. He enjoys demonstrating the finer points of a satisfying burp.
30. What was the last thing you ate?
Carbonnara, spinach salad, garlic bread, and butter pecan ice cream.
31. Will you get married in the future?
My magic eight ball says “ask again later”.
32. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks?
28 Weeks Later. It’s just a tad gory.
33. Is there anyone you like right now?
Like-like, or just like?
34. When was the last time you did the dishes?
Um, I recycled my Gold Peak iced tea bottle today. Does that count?
35. Are you currently depressed?
Nope.
36. Did you cry today?
Not a crier.
37. Why did you answer and post this?
I was compelled by blog karma.
38. Tag 5 people who would do this survey.
Posted in Crochet, Free Patterns, tagged adc, adjacent double crochet, blanket, chromium star blanket, Crochet, red, star, star blanket, starghan, stitch, tutorial on November 12, 2007| 5 Comments »
This is another version of the Chromium Star Blanket made with Red Heart Super Saver in Ranch Red, Pumpkin and Dark Orchid. Here you can see the adjacent double crochet stitch (adc) in action. The point is to add height without chains or large holes in the stitch below. I’ve added a new tutorial for the first three rounds of the Chromium Star Blanket in the tutorials section.
Posted in Crochet, tagged 10, car, cars, chromium star blanket, Crochet, dog, dog hair, driving, freeway, highway, mph, orange, purple, radio, red, red heart, red heart super saver, road, skate ramp, skatepark, skating ramp, star, star blanket, starghan, stitch, stop lights, teenager on November 9, 2007| 1 Comment »
I took this picture randomly after a brief session trying to photograph a starghan. My camera was just sitting this way and I figured, why not? Of course I do this, by my estimation, a lot, and they don’t come out quite as coherent. You can see a tiny white wisp on the bottom right hand corner, compliments of my doggie, Biscuit.
The whole picture reminds me of a skating ramp like the ones in the Scott Stamnes Memorial Skatepark I drive by on my way to the Island Market.
I love driving on Orcas Island. There are no stop lights and very few turns. You just drive and drive 30 mph (or less) to your destination surrounded by ocean views and hills covered by evergreen trees. While it is a great place to learn to drive, when I was a teenager I couldn’t stand it. I wanted to get where I was going and fast. I think I’ve mellowed since then and now I like my quiet drives with the sometimes crackly radio humming in the background and a little white dog with her nose out the back window. There is very little thinking involved since there are so few turns and you are driving so slow and your mind can wander. But this is also true for sitting in traffic on the freeway.
Speaking of freeways, there is a driving lag when you enter the ‘real’ roads after driving on Orcas Island. All of the sudden people tailgate you for going only 5 mph over the limit and cut you off for a parking space when you were cautiously approaching at a reasonable 10 mph. And there are stoplights and street signs everywhere you have to pay attention to.
I think it is very similar to that feeling you get after driving on a long trip on the freeways at 75 mph and you drive off the ramp. With your freeway frame of reference 55 mph just doesn’t seem very fast and they want you to take the ramp turn at 30 mph. I’m just saying.
Posted in Dollhouses, tagged broom, chimney, dollhouse, halloween, hat, Photography, sweet, trick or treat, witch on November 1, 2007| 1 Comment »
The power went out for a while and then the internet was down all Halloween. Now that I have wasted much of my life checking and rechecking the little internet window I can blog this sweet little dollhouse picture I was saving for a Halloween day post. It’s the chimney of my mom’s haunted dollhouse. This little chimney witch is my favorite part of the whole project with her little broom and hat. You don’t notice her at first since she’s way up on the roof so it’s like an extra, unexpected surprise. Isn’t she a doll?
Well, hope everyone had a little fun. (Maybe even polished off the night with ‘fun sized’ candy and spiked cider?)
 | Milla Millaca on The spiral effect |
| 12 Modèles d'ép… on Tawashi rosebud | |
 | Yolanda on Pay it forward |
 | Helen on Dishcloth-o-rama |
| Rainbow Star Blanket… on Bullseye |
A Whole Load of Craft 