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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Cream and sugar

Mellissa of The Adventures of Wondermommy asked me to test her new Ice Cream Cone pattern about a month ago.  Since I didn’t have a photo to work from, I was surprised to find that the cone is shaped like a waffle cone! 

The overall pattern is really simple to piece together and you only need to know how to increase in the round and crochet shells.  Both the cone and the ice cream start with the smallest number of single crochet stitches and increase to their widest part.  Then the pieces are sewn together and the shell border is added.  The whole thing works up relatively fast, especially since you can hide the ends with the stuffing! 

My Ice Cream Cone measures 3.5″ x 7″.  I used some stash worsted weight wool that was a bit thinner than Red Heart Super Saver and a size E crochet hook.  I’d like to try this pattern again in a lighter weight yarn.  Also, I’m interested to see what the cone would look like with the wrong side showing. 

Visit the pattern page to see Mellissa’s sherbert version, which is so cute!

Thank you for asking me to test the pattern, Mellissa!  (And thanks for the pattern books and crochet hook!)

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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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Just over one

This Washboard Dishcloth used just over one skein of Lily’s Sugar and Cream in Soft Teal.  The color is washed out a little because it’s very dark and overcast in the San Juan Islands today and I waited until just before sunset to get the camera out for photographs. 

With a few more foundation stitches and added rows this pattern could double for a placemat.  The picture below makes the dishcloth look placemat size, but in reality it measures 11 x 13 inches – not quite big enough for a full size plate and utensils.   

 

Linuxwitch‘s square-shaped version on Ravelry uses only 18 rows for the body of the dishcloth.  (Thanks for the link Adrienne!)  If I made this again I would follow the 18-row formula because the back-loops-only half double crochet gets a little boring.  Plus, cutting back on the rows would put this pattern back in the single-skein category. 

The border is my favorite part of the pattern.  I like how the shells curve around the corners. 

Also, I finished the Through Any Window Blanket Tutorial.  I took plenty of pictures with lots of detailed shots.  For beginning crocheters, the first two rounds are written without abbreviations and there’s left-handed directions too. 

Hopefully, in the next few days, I can blog about my Swap Swap Gals package for Katrina!

*That’s cool* a random fact

The largest soft-shell clam, the geoduck, can weigh up to three pounds.

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Crafts ‘n things

There’s a magazine out there called Crafts ‘n Things. Could you believe that they’ve got a collection of crochet patterns tucked between craft sections? This mosaic is just a sampling of the crochet projects included in the February 2008 issue.

The amigurumi doll is titled “Princess Peony”.  What a cute name for a doll!  As far as I’ve read the arms don’t have wires so they’re probably not poseable as the picture suggests.  Even without poseable arms she’s a promising project and comes out at 16″, which is a sizable little crochet creation.

The baby blanket with the delicate shell border would look nice all in one color.  The two tone is pretty too, though.  As for the quilt, the pattern calls for a vintage doily for each square.  I like the idea, but I don’t know if I would tack handmade doilies to a quilt.

The applique bird has nothing to do with crochet, but I liked project with the rick-a-rack edging.  Looks like a fairly simple way to spruce up the kitchen towels. 

There are tons of projects crammed into the Crafts ‘n Things magazine.  Along with eleven crochet patterns and one knitting pattern, (can you believe those odds?) there is a mish mash of Martha Stewart-ish crafts.  The sections read like this: heartfelt gifts, hooked on crochet, the jewelry box, crafting green, cards*stamps*style, simply quilts, product showcase. 

You get cross stitch, wall hangings, photo album bindings, gift basket ideas and much, much more so, even if you aren’t a rubber stamp person, there are plenty of other crafts covered.  It was actually nice to see a selection of popular crafts all in one magazine.  One downfall of the magazine is there are so many different craft projects there aren’t many articles focused on technique.  However, if you’re looking to expand your crafty mind and score a few crochet patterns in the process it’s worth the $5.99 U.S./ $6.99 CAN INT’L, or at least a proper skim in line at the grocery store. 

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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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Out on a limb

I’m always caught off guard when the days get shorter. Today I thought I had enough sunlight for a color photo, but no.  I’ll post the details about this flower motif blanket when I can muster up enough natural light.

*That’s cool* a random fact

Trees are the longest living organisms on earth.

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