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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Make three circles

I finally settled on a shawl pattern from the Spring/Summer 1977 edition of Good Housekeeping Needlecraft.  There’s no picture of the magazine on the Internet that I can find, but the cover looks similar to a picture on Flickr.  I’ll get a snapshot of my copy posted later on.

I’m halfway through the first part of the center panel and I really like the way the shawl is coming together.  You make three circles and two oval shapes chained together in four rounds and then a mesh is crocheted around the motif. 

The pattern is called the Doily Shawl and I’d rate the difficulty as advanced for the odd directions and construction.  When I first saw the project photo, it reminded me of the Wild Rose Shawl from the cover of the Winter 2007 Interweave Crochet, minus the flowers. 

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Here comes the sun

The sun is out today!  Seriously a picture perfect autumn day.  I walked the dog around town and spotted a hand-knit grey hat and a crochet scarf.  Yarn projects are finally out and about. 

In other news, my flower motif baby blanket finally saw the light of day.  The motifs are from the Flower Garden Scarf, available in the comprehensive Stitch ‘n Bitch: The Happy Hooker.  To make the blanket, assemble just as the scarf is made.  On the second row, continue assembling as normal except attach the previous strip also.  For this blanket I made a diagonal appearance by starting on the second motif in the scarf series on the second row, the third motif on the third row and so on.    

I made the blanket this summer with yarn from my stash which was perfect since it was light and airy.  (For that reason I suppose that I’ll have to wait until late spring to gift this particular item.)  If I made this blanket again I would only make solid color motifs.  Those little circles doubled my time weaving in ends!

 The yarn is stitched in Lion Brand Baby Soft in white and bubblegum and an unknown navy of the same weight with an f hook.  I have never seen a Baby Soft navy available in stores, but it apparently is out there.  On the Lion Brand site  they list Baby Soft colors I have never laid eyes on, for example the black, pistachio and lemon drop.  Where do I get those colors? 

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The bee’s knees

Yesterday was so… what’s the word… summery. I just couldn’t help but document some of this delicious sunshine before fall takes the northwest by storm and rains. And rains and rains.

Look, my hanging plant is growing (crochet) flowers!

I love the assembly used in this scarf; no sewing and no unnecessary loose ends. For a scarf this number has lots of loose ends, so the fewer the better. There’s just a weird post stitch join in the pattern that looks complicated since it is very wordy but it quite simple and creates a join-as-you-go assembly.

Oh, and for all you pattern hunters out there, this is the Garden Scarf from Stitch ‘n Bitch: The Happy Hooker. I used Lion Brand Pound of Love in pastel pink, Caron Perfect Match in cream and Red Heart Super Saver in white. A smörgåsbord of cheap acrylics I’m afraid. Neutrals appealed to me at the time, but at some point I’d like to make another in a darker cotton blend yarn.

This little worker bee was very curious about all the disturbances. He tolerated a few botched photo shoots, then repeatedly dive bombed me for good measure. Of course I yelped and ran every time he flew towards me like a mini yellow heat seeking missile.

I’ve heard that if you run they get caught in the subsequent wind current. Should I have tested this out? Maybe. But I wasn’t about to test that theory with a bee on a rampage. I’m curious, but respectfully fearful of his stinging behind.

*That’s Cool* a random fact

The pit viper snake can detect temperature changes of one-thousandth of a degree centigrade. This remarkable ability is being studied to refine heat seeking missile technology.

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