Evergreen

This is the One Skein Scarf from Stitch ‘n Bitch: The Happy Hooker.  The pattern is so easy-peasy, and I liked the chart included in the directions.  The ends curl a bit, but I can see why this scarf pattern is so popular. 

The yarn is from a garage sale, so I have no idea what brand it is.  I’m 99.9% sure it acrylic yarn (but soft).  I really like the teal color, which is actually a combination of blue and green fibers.  If you recognize this yarn brand, please comment! 

Purely for the blog, I took my camera on a short hike to Cascade Falls in Moran State Park.  The flash was actually really useful, since it is very shady under the forest canopy. 

*That’s cool* a random fact

A tree branch is not actually attached to the rest of the tree. It is held in place by a series of interlocking “collars”. Collars overlap and mesh to form a tight woven pattern of tissue.

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And read all over

I made three squares for Lesa‘s daughter Nesa, who has been put on the liver transplant list.  Nesa requested red, black and white Mickey Mouse colors.  All three of the squares have bullion/roll stitches.  Bullion stitches are crocheted by yarning over multiple times and drawing a loop through all of them.  The trick is getting all the loops evenly wrapped around the center,   

Katie’s Bliss square pattern uses the bent bullion stitch, which consists of a bullion followed by a slip stitch.  Once I finished the flower center, the rest of the pattern went quickly.  I like the center white rounds, which are supposed to look like hearts.  (Mine are a little square-ish.)

This square is called Angels Around the World, with four angels standing on the center circle.  Bonnie Pierce did a wonderful job writing the pattern clearly and concisely, but I really had to pay attention to get every part crocheted correctly!  

I’m glad that I have made a few Daisy Flower Crochet Chairty Squares, because the construction was similar.  The angel skirts and bodies are crocheted as joint rows with the background and then the angel wings and heads are added with separate lengths of yarn.   There are about ten ends to tuck in for one six inch square!

 

The Lacy Bullion Heart square was the easiest square out of the bunch.  The center of my heart has a spiraled look, which doesn’t show in the sample picture.  Next time I will chain-one more loosely; that might fix the swirl look. 

I added the ‘2008’ after sewing the heart to the black square.  Even though I pinned and basted the heart on the background, it wasn’t centered very well, so I added the date to balance the square out.

I had to eliminate one or more rows from each of the squares to get exactly six inches across.  Even with a size E crochet hook, I could never get the correct gauge.  Red Heart Super Saver runs a little thicker than other worsted weight yarn and I’m guessing that was part of the sizing issue.   

Also, I had a few problems photographing these squares.  Black and red colors are really difficult to capture in their true tones.  This was true for the Lacy Bullion Square especially.  To get the colors to photograph better I waited until late in the day and lowered the exposure level.  (On my Canon PowerShot A530, I used program mode and pressed the +/- button to adjust the exposure manually.)

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Da fourth

Happy 4th of July!

*That’s cool* a random fact

The official military name of the M-80, an illegal firework that was designed to simulate the sound of gunfire, is “military rifle fire simulator.”

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Bird in flight

The Lacey the not so Lacey Headband turned out to be a much wider headband than I thought.  I used Red Heart in Ranch Red and a size H hook and my headband measures about 4″ wide.  

I’ve been hiking around Moran State Park a lot lately and this headband with a low ponytail is perfect.  I like having my hair out of my face when I’m on a long walk.  I haven’t taken my camera with me on the trails yet, but I really need to.  Late spring and early summer is so beautiful in the park!

Apart from a hiking headband, the reason I wanted to make the Lacey Headband was to sample the bruges lace technique.  From what I understand, you crochet a long strip with chain loops hanging off the side.  When you make the second strip the parallel chain loops are slip stitched together.  This makes an interlocking, lacy fabric.  The center strip looks like the X-stitch to me. 

 

The pattern is a really nice introduction to bruges lace. The written directions are very clear and there’s a chart included.  I’m not a full fledged chart reader, but if you’re a visual person, it can really make the process clearer. 

I’ll leave you with an evening photograph.  The hummingbirds around the house stop by the feeders all day, but at sunset they come out in swarms!

You can see a slide show of the other hummingbird pictures I took on Slide.com. 

*That’s cool* a random fact

Hummingbirds have the fastest wing beats and the largest brains proportionate to body weight, of any other bird.

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Tapioca and beer cozies

I met with my brother for some shopping and we got to try bubble tea.  Apparently Bubble Tea Cafe is a new store in the mall set up after the cookie place went out of business.  There were lots of different flavors to choose from, including honeydew, taro and blueberry, but we settled on grape and mango-peach flavor, respectively. 

We both thought it was delicious and I personally liked the tapioca peals: they taste sweet and chewy and you suck them up through a huge half-inch wide straw.  These drinks are expensive at $4.25 (only one size available), but it’s a nice treat and those tapioca pearls are really filling!

I crocheted the Beer Bracelets while waiting/riding the San Juan ferry in the morning, about a two hour stretch.   They’re a little too small for the bubble tea containers, but I imagine they would fit just fine on a beer bottle or paper coffee cup. 

I was thinking I’d get an action photograph somewhere along in the day with some coffee cups, but the bubble tea models were an unexpected surprise.  Add the flower pot from the entrance of the mall and some odd stares from fellow shoppers and poof, crochet FO pictures! 

I went a little crazy sewing on the buttons.  I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to sew just two parallel lines.  It just speaks to my sewing skills I guess.  Speaking of yarn, I used TLC Essentials in Jungle and a random ball of yarn rescued from the local thrift store.  If anyone could identify this purple and pink variegated yarn I would be very happy!

The Beer Bracelets use the linked treble stitch, which creates tall, connected stitches.  If you’ve seen my adjacent double crochet stitch tutorial, you know I’m a fan of patching up unwanted crochet holes.  The picture above shoes the horizontal bars which you loop around, like in tunisian crochet.   Every linked TR row is followed by a row of single crochet and the whole cozy is bordered in slip stitches. 

Here you can see the wrong size of the cozy with the linked TR stitches separated by single crochet stitches. 

And for good measure, this is what the car deck of the ferry looked like just before docking back on Orcas Island.  You can see a slide show of all the ferry pictures I took that day on Slide.com.

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Double trouble

I’ve been in a crochet funk for the past couple of days.  Instead of actually crocheting, I found myself going around in circles about what pattern to start and which yarn to use.  So I -gasp- took a break from yarn.  It’s been an interesting change of pace, but now I’m back with a fresh mind and a new dishcloth! 

This is the Double Trouble Dishcloth, made with Sugar ‘n Cream in Hot Purple.  With four different rows, the pattern stitch was entertaining enough without being difficult.  I added a couple single crochet rounds to the border to square off the dishcloth.  In hindsight, a simple shell border or even a picot stitch would have been a better option. 

The whole FO is on the large side.  If I crocheted this pattern again I would use a smaller hook size to get a firmer fabric.  The shells feel a little loose, but since no gauge is given I can’t say for sure if the designer intended for the dishcloth to be more compact. 

The Origami Hot Pad is a fast crochet pattern that makes a sturdy and practical hot pad.  This is the type of pattern that makes a great mindless project, since it is made completely of single crochet.  I used Sugar ‘n Cream in Hot Green and Key Lime Pie.

The hot pad is started with a chain of thirty-five and made by crocheting continuously in rounds.  By folding the resulting pouch, the ends meet and you get a double thickness hot pad.  I’ve seen other versions that have a little loop added to hang.  I’d love to make more of these with lots of coordinating stripes. 

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Big huge labs

 

Today I fiddled with the Framer function on Big Huge Labs.  There were a lot of tempting options, but I settled on the ‘brushed edge’ for this photo. 

The pink butterfly is from the corner of the rain cloud picture I posted on Easter.  What looks like a flower is actually a tiny pink butterfly sitting on a blade of grass. 

Whenever you see a photo mosaic here on A Whole Load of Craft, you can bet it’s a product of Big Huge Labs.  There’s so many options I could never fully explore each one, but I’m a fan of the mosaic functions.  You can cram a lot of photos into one cohesive picture. 

The Big Book of Dishcloths by Leisure Arts is something I’ve wanted to buy after seeing Mellissa’s pretty dishcloths on her blog The Adventures of Wondermommy.  Wouldn’t you know, I was off-island yesterday and found it on a rack at Goodwill for $2?  It was a nice little surprise on a busy, errand-filled day.

Some may not like the black and white photos inside the actual booklet, but I found myself admiring several different patterns.  Not only are there some interesting dishcloth patterns, this book doubles as a stitch library of sorts.  There are a number of interesting and unique stitch patterns.  This booklet is a great resource for crocheters and relatively cheap, even at the regular price of $7.95.

Stay tuned for actual finished objects in the near future, including some toddler-sized slippers!

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From january

I took a walk around Mountain Lake with my brother today.  We wanted to scout out the best campsite since registration is opening up at Moran State Park for the summer season. Quite possibly the best car camping in San Juan Island, WA is located in campsites #126 though #136.  They all are on an elevated loop looking out onto Mountain Lake.  There’s a boat launch, tiny stretch of rocky beach and a hiking entrance within 500 feet of the loop.  Also, the area is far from the main road so you don’t get the car traffic like you do in the Southend sites. 

Can you believe this is the view from campsite #130?

 

Read more about why my trees look black on naturephotographers.net.  I’m still learning how to get a blue sky with a point and shoot and not end up with silhouetted trees.  Suggestions are appreciated!

I took more pictures of the campsite loop but, for some reason, they didn’t register on the memory card.  I think it was because I changed the batteries and the memory card was jarred in the process. 

I did get the memory card to save pictures of my Quick Winter Headband.  This free pattern gets an ‘A’ for adaptability.  Not only does any yarn weight work, you can insert any crochet stitch you like for the body of the headband as long as it starts with a base of thirteen stitches.

The headband pattern isn’t beginner friendly though, as the stitch directions for the body are not written with the pattern.  Instead, the reader is directed to the Vanilla Grit Stitch Washcloth.   

I had to frog the first row a couple times before I realized that the stitch pattern should start with row 2.  Since row 2 refers to stitches from the foundation row, it took a little extra work to figure out exactly how many single crochet stitches to skip to account for the unworked foundation.  For this reason I wouldn’t recommend this pattern to crocheters just learning to read a pattern.    

Once I had the first row figured out, the grit stitch went quick.  It’s an easy stitch, but interesting.  Also, the headband is worked entirely in one piece so there’s only two ends to weave.

The pattern calls for worsted, but I used Babysoft in Cream. The headband still came out pretty wide, about three inches. With worsted weight yarn in gauge, I think the final product would end up similar to Christina‘s St. Maurus Headwarmer.

I finally photographed my St Maurus Headwarmers from January with the buttons sewed on. I was really dreading the needle and thread until Christina suggested using buttons with large holes and a tapestry needle.  Worked like a charm!

This striped one looks a little fuzzy since I’ve been wearing it a lot in the past month. It’s great in windy weather since my ears can be easily covered with my hair pulled back.  

I like the style of this headwarmer.  I’d like to try knitting the Calorimetry for the fall.

Also, remember the Jacob’s ladder stitch baby blanket I talked about? I found out the Rainbow Bright pattern is available for free on the Coats and Clark website.

*That’s cool* a random fact

Mosquitos are twice as attracted to blue than any other color.

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March of the penguin

Zarah sent me some beautiful crochet gifts for my ‘All About Hearts’ themed Swap Swap Gals package.  This cute little penguin has got a lot of character to him.  Must be the eyes. 

From foot to hat he stands about ten inches tall.   I like his heart-shaped tummy; that is so creative!  Plus, the scarf he’s wearing is really pretty.  Anyone know what yarn it is?   

These heart coasters are really pretty.  They are serving as a center piece on the table right now.

On top of all the crochet goodies, I got a bunch of gummies.  Yum.

Thanks, Zarah, for the fantastic Swap Swap Gals package!

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A sheep, a duck and a rooster

My Canon PowerShot A530 took a turn for the worst. While attempting to replace the batteries, I dropped my camera (again) and it broke. I was actually surprised, since this point-and-shoot model is really sturdy and has survived some pretty traumatic falls. This time the height of the plunge wasn’t astronomical, but the retractable lens took the brunt of the impact. Apparently, lenses are really integral to camera functions, so I’m dumb out of luck. A new camera is in the mail but, for now, I’m stuck sifting through my Flickr account for old project photos like this baby hat.

There’s no pattern for the newborn beanie since I just made it up as I went along. I used a partly filled party balloon and Bev’s sizing list to determine the number of increases. The hat is half double crocheted with a size G hook and a row cluster stitches. I used some scraps from my Grandma’s old wool stash so I don’t know the yarn brand. Most likely it’s virgin wool from the Mill End store, though.

This Boy Beanie v2.0 was made for my brother. Shh, I haven’t tucked in all the ends! The hat is a revised edition of the Boy Beanie published in Stitch ‘n Bitch: The Happy Hooker. I wasn’t impressed with how the pattern was written. For one, I was never sure which rows were meant to be made in the back loops only. Plus, there’s an odd ch 2 maneuver that I didn’t like since it made the seam stiff and shorter than the rest of the hat.

I do like the color changes and overall style of the hat, though. There’s not a lot of yarn required and with all the double crochet it takes very little time. And free is a very good price for a pattern.

My brother has requested a ‘less holey’ version that fits his head. He does have a big noggin so I can’t blame the pattern for the size issue. One of these days I’ll get around to making him a custom, single crochet version.

Another pattern pattern designed with guys in mind is The Husband Hat, available for free at Crafty Christina with a folded brim and minimal single color trim.

*That’s cool* a random fact

The first passengers to ride a hot air balloon were a sheep, a duck and a rooster in 1783 as a royal demonstration for the court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

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