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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Solar flare

I made the Grannyesque Headband with random tan wool I had from my stash.  The yarn was bought by my grandmother, so I’m guessing it’s Mill End yarn.  There’s no label to go by, anyway. 

The headband pattern is so easy, with granny shells and triangular ends.  My favorite part were the ties, which are written into the border.  I love patterns that start and end with the same length of yarn!

Here’s a picture from the garden.  I like how the light bends around the petals.  I wonder if there’s a ‘rule’ in photography not to have a strong line end in a corner.  The stem angle looks off to me, now that I look at it.   

Happy Wednesday!

*That’s cool* a random fact

According to the Thai solar calendar, the color associated with Wednesday is green.

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Just slip stitch

 

I have more than enough WIPs and computer upkeep to keep me busy, but I just couldn’t resist a few little projects.  They are entertaining until all those little ends catch up with you! 

Hopefully people are managing with the error in color scheme for the Through Any Window Baby Blanket Tutorial.  The corrected tutorial is slowly coming together. 

This tan Crochet Headband, below, consists of a few easily crocheted flowers.  The pattern calls for four motifs, but I threw in one more as a tiny bit of procrastination.  Since each motif was made individually, all those loose ends were no fun. 

The pattern directs you to leave a ten inch tail when you finish off, which is then used to connect the motifs.  Next time I crochet this headband I would just slip stitch across a ch-5 loop for a quicker, join-as-you-go assembly. 

 

Just like the Elizabeth headband I made last Christmas, the wrong side almost makes this headband reversible.  Each flower petal is a cluster of double crochet stitches which bulge on the bottom side. 

Mandi of On Hooks and Needles made a pretty green cotton version back in May 2007.  Mine is made of some scrap Red Heart Super Saver in Cashmere. 

Andrea’s “Woven” Dishcloth gives the stitch multiple so you can easily customize the dishcloth size.  I used a starting chain of twenty-six with a size F hook.  The actual dishcloth measures 6″x 6″.  I also replaced the double crochet stitches in Row 1 for half double crochet stitches. 

This dishcloth packs a lot of cotton in a little square.  Back and front post stitches are alternated in each row with a tight gauge.  This results in a tough, durable structure and a nice, bumpy texture. 

Andrea has a blog contest running until 2pm CT, March 23rd.  To enter the contest, make up the mystery pattern and e-mail her a description and/or picture.  Even if you can’t participate, check out her blog after the deadline to vote for the best entry! 

Also, check out her review of A Whole Load of Craft along with a short interview about my crafty beginnings.

*That’s cool* a random fact

The Pink and White Lady Slipper (cypriedium reginae), illegal to pick in Minnesota, takes over a decade to produce it’s first flower.

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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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The wrong side

I made a bunch of these headbands for quick Christmas presents.  The purple one is the Elizabeth headband from Nadia’s Crochet free elegant crochet headbands web page.  I used stash yarn for this but I’m pretty sure it is Red Heart Super Saver.  The headband was really quick project with worsted weight yarn.  Weaving in the ends probably took as much time as the actual project.  Plus, the wrong side has a bobble look to it that I like. 

The pink headband was from Family Circle Easy Crochet Spring 2007.  I used left over yarn from my Through Any Window Baby Blanket.  This one took about three times as much crocheting since it calls for a size F crochet hook and DK weight yarn.  However, the shells were a repeating pattern and it was pretty easy to memorize.

Now I’m off to frantically crochet more Christmas gifts.  I am seriously behind!

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