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Thursday, October 27, 2011

Winter Scarf

So there was left over yarn from the mile o minute that wasn't project and I thought I'd put it to use on a holiday scarf. One holiday...no no no. The piece is made up of Granny squares made with a K hook. Only 3 rounds. and joined together with a loop stitch doubling as trim. On either end there is a square with a pattern sc n chained across the top. originally it was a web for the spider but it doesn't jump out with the other appliques are put on.
The accents are made with button holes and each end square has a button sewn on. The black spider with silver eyes and the white and silver Autumn leaves look nice. The 3 circle snow man and the snowflake are still in the planning stages. The appliques were all found online but the scarf Ideal is mine alone.







Baby Winter Gown

This is my own creation. It was a gift that never made it's appearance. I remember when my youngest was an infant I had all these gowns. They looked like long dresses with a drawstring at the bottom. I was told they were Not dresses. They were made like that to keep the baby warm. OK so this is my Winter Gown. it was originally for a little boy but I was told not to give him a dress so it sits in my finished but homeless projects pile. I thought it would be nice for car seats and the like that had that between the leg strap, being open at the bottom you could maneuver this around  unlike some of the buntings I saw. I could have made a ghetto looking baby hoodie but his legs would get cold but what do I know. if your having a baby at 16 you probably do care more about what his clothes look like then if he is warm. End rant. (even if it could double as a christening gown if they didnt have anything....ok I'm done now)
I'll be posting pattern in an edit as soon as I get it off my other hd 

Plush Baby Throw

This project was started when I found out our neighbor was pregnant, really pregnant. So I figure this would throw together easily in time to make her a nice gift basket or something with the other neighbors. But no one was interested. Ha. Then my son went over their house for their older little girls birthday party. When I finally got him out of the house he was crying and upset. The kid had painted, not just his nails, but his toes and most of his fingers in dark burgundy nail polish. She is a bit of a bully but I thought my son would speak up or something if it upset him this much. It took all the remover I had and a soak in a warm bath before he was good again. So... I don't tell my son to be nice anymore when he snaps at her, nor do I wonder why none of the other kids will play with her. My son was the only one who even went to her party. And the neighbor probably isn't getting the blanket unless I'm having a weak moment when she brings her next spawn home.

Materials
1 6oz skein of Red hearts baby clouds super bulky yarn in pink
1 6ok skein  "                                   "                           in  light blue
small amount of same in brighter blue
1/2 skein of same in white
you will need a large eyed craft needle ( I used my steal craft needle but threading was a pain)

plastic N hook

Square:
ch 12
row1: sc in second ch from hook, sc across, ch 1, turn (9)
row2-11: sc across, ch 1 turn
row12: 2 sc in first st,sc across to last st, 2 sc in st, pivot work to continue down side of rows, sc in end of each row, pivot at bottom edge to work across back of starting ch, 2 sc in first sc of starting ch, sc across to last st, 2 sc in last st, pivot to work along row edge, sc in each row up, sl st in first sc of row 10, fasten off

This makes 13x13 squares

Make:
5 light pink
4 light blue

Lay out your blocks, pink on each corner and in the middle , blue to fill in 4 sides. You could reverse that if you wanter more blue then pink, I used the brighter blue to help even out the colors so you may want to switch that as well, or you could do the blanket in light and dark blue if you knew it was for a boy. I used white to whip stitch the blocks together. After joining pick a spot to start your edging, everything is in sc, with 3 sc in the corners. This blanket has rounds in this order:

2 white
1 pink
2 brighter blue
1 white

The blanket measures about 2 1/2' x 2 1/2 ' (Square) It's smaller then an afghan but it's big enough to wrap around baby or over a car seat/stroller or to lay baby down for a nap on. It is decadently soft. This material washes well on delicate and dries flat or equally supported over rails/lines

 This blanket works up super fast. I finished the entire project in a day. This yarn used to be available at WalMart but thier selection keeps getting smaller. A craft store would have more color selection. I've even seen this type in dark burguny, green and gold as well as the other typical "baby" colors; green, yellow, and purple. It's the same yarn I use to top off my chirstmas stockings

Bag of Many Colors

I was interested in crocheting something similar to a stained glass design. I never found an afghan I was interested enough in to pursue a pattern. Then I was watching you tube videos and ran across a vid from Bethintx1. Her Stain Glass throw slide show shows her progression on a blanket that caught my attention. She purchased this pattern in a book, 50 Sensational Crochet Afghans & Throws edited by Bobbie Matela, published in 2007 by The Needlecraft Shop. ( Last seen on amazon for $6) The book was rather expensive when I looked it up and being made of many small pieces I didnt think I'd ever finish it. So what's a crafter to do. Recreate a panal as an experiment and see how it goes. The bold thick lines crochet across the tops I replaced with yarn sewn embrodery style with a craft needle and I made it up as I went along. I think it was the bright colors cantrasting against the black that drew me to this project. Once I completed a panel (yeah not enough attention span to make this into a throw) I did decide a bag would be perfect and my stained glass panal would be the front. The same colors in stripes across the back and diamond motif on the sides. The bag still needs it's long handles attached and I want to also line it. It turned out bigger then I intended which is ok because it wasnt really a hand bag. More like a bag to carry library books to and fro....or maybe carry about my next project. I'll have to remember to make side pockets for hooks and scissors. I have a graph and the pattern recorded...somewhere.

front "StainGlass" panel


back panel, stripes


Side and front
 Hmmm... perhaps taking pics of a black bag against a black chair wasnt a great ideal. I may decide to go over those sewn lines with a thicker crochet line. I was worried about keeping it straight but the sewn line will act as a great guide and base for stitches.
I'll decide before I line it definitly.

Bethintx1 did have another video on something like stained glass granny squares. They are worked in 4 small squares joined to make larger ones. Definitly would be one of those long range projects for me. But the effect is awsome. Stained Glass Window Square

Jumbo Cathrine Wheel Stitch lap Blanket

While I'm thinking about Mikey and his wonderful videos I might as well include a work in progress. My lap blanket made with the Jumbo Pinwheel (Cathrine Wheel) stitch. Inspired by the rainbow blanket I dug out a bunch of scraps intending to test out the pattern. I now have samples of the scrap yarn I used in a zip lock in my purse so I can try to match some of the colors next time I yarn shop so I can enlarge the blanket.

It was originally supposed to be enough to cover my legs at the computer. I should have enough to complete a 3rd run of color pattern, but beyond that I'm not sure. So If I find yarn I might make it full size. It's wide enough because I wanted it to wrap around my legs. Maybe I'll get as far as I can and whip st shut the bottom and some of the back and it will be like sliding part way into a sleeping bag.

Granny Ripple Stitch Baby Blanket


 I first saw the Granny Ripple Stitch on a you tube response video. After tracking the original tutorial video down I couldn't wait to try the pattern. The printed version is here, A Trunk-Full O' Fun  , and the video tutorial is on Bethintx1's Video Channel. Beth has many  nice videos. They are well worth watching, sometimes they are a little slow for the seasoned crochet person but you wont miss a stitch and she is pleasant enough to watch throw the slow points.
This blanket was made with yarn I had on hand. Bernat in the variegated and green and Jamie(older yarn) in fisherman which was an off white which next to the variegated could be pale yellow. (Smile...yeah I know but it's what I had) The Bernat was beautiful yarn in Easter Basket, I got it on sale so I'm sure its seasonal, and Mint. The green colors really appealed to me and I was trying to highlight that with the mint.

Intent on making a set I started on booties. I dislike most of the booties I saw online. They just seemed to have very little shape and I wasn't really looking for a girly show. I wanted this to be for a boy or girl. So the booties I manage to construct from a pattern I had once seen online for men's slipper socks. i will be attempting to find that pattern to give some credit but as of yet I can't find anything like it. It was different in that you started with the ribbing at the top, then added a tongue, then added rows around the T shape to construct the sides and bottom of the shoe, then its sewn up the back seem. So do I consider this an original pattern inspired by something else or is it a shrunken version of existing pattern , even though I cant find original I remember seeing to copy it?
I'll add the pattern for the booties in an edit because all I have are a page of scribbled notes at the moment. The babies hat however was another video tutorial of one of my favorite online people Mikey. From his Crochet Crowd Channel this is his complete vid for Vintage Preemie Hat. As with the booties this was a find in that it wasn't too frilly and would suit a boy or a girl.

 Next I wanted a bib and I was looking at first for something to match st of blanket. I had to make something but I wasn't quite happy with it.
So I thought something a little more vintage looking like the hat and booties would be better. I had a pattern in mind but yet again I couldn't find it. This was an old Annie's Attic design. I played with what I remembered until I got the center part of the bib right. The Edging I remembered was bordering on the too frilly side so I added my own.
The pattern for this is just a jumble of notes right now too, so if it's something you want to see ask and I'll make these priority to get edited with the actual pattern.

Baby Mickey Blanket

The making of one of my graphed blankets. The first step would be deciding on an image for your blanket. I've done Elmo, Winnie the Pooh, and Tinkerbell among others. So this blanket which was intended for a fellow employee as a baby shower gift. ( She was transferred stores before the shower) Her theme of course was Disney Babies and she was having a boy, hence baby mickey. I also knew the babies room was in white and cream with the Disney decals. So with a few pictures to work off of I sketch the design on white paper. If you cant put together a decent sketch the best thing to do is find a coloring book or coloring pages online of your image (less details and interior textures to deal with). Then use tracing graph paper over it to plot out the image. It isn't easy, in fact making the pattern is much more difficult then actually crocheting it. If you need help with trying to make your own pattern your welcome to message me. After plotting the image I use colored pencils or highlighters to mark out the color areas. The fewer the better. The more color changes the more complicated the crochet will be. Once colored and the boarder established I begin counting. Noting on the pattern how many stitches are in each line saves you time later and can help you keep track of where you are on the pattern. I counted in the colored areas as well as from the image to the boarder. Keeping accurate count while stitching is important your whole picture can be thrown off and you may note actually see it till lines later and then it all has to be ripped out and fixed. Your lines are also numbered. Odd on the right, even rows on the left. (Beginning chain goes left to right , so first row goes right to left, and so on) Now you have your graphed image.
Now you can begin planning the actual blanket. Each box on the graph is a single crochet (sc) as you work from side to side you will change colors but not fasten of until and area is done. For example the first and second rows show a color change to from your background color to white for his gloves. There are two separate areas of white that will overlap rows so therefor you will need to small balls of white yarn. When I say small I'm estimating a ball perhaps 2 in in diameter. Medium would be 3 in and a large ball would be 4 or more. Yarn must be separated into balls according to how many areas of the color you will be working at a time. Back to the example, you would color change to white for your 16th sc, when you change back to your background color you drop the white strand on the wrong side of work and continue with Bg color on the even row back when the color changes back to white you drop the bg color and pick the white back up. In places where there is only 1 or 2 stitches you can sc over the color to carry it past to its color square. So the first few rows would use 2 small white balls, 2 large bg color because these will continue along either side and one very small bg color to work up between arms. Adding other colors as they come into graph. You should scan entire pattern to make sure you have enough balls before hand. There are notes scattered around the outside of my graph as I calculate this information. There is a color list for each different area you must choose a color for. Then there are strike marks next to the colors to mark how many balls of each I will need. left to right my graphed picture is 55 squares I decide to add 4 st on each side to give a sufficient boarder area so 55 +4left+4right+1turn ch= a starting ch of 64. sc across will be 63 stitches by (starting image 43 rows high adding 4 rows at top and bottom for boarder space 43+4+4=52rows (+starting ch) 52 rows. Your ready to actually crochet now!

We chose Off white as our BG color and outlined the panel in the blues from mickeys suit. This outline served another purpose as well. After planning and completing the center panel you must decide how you will add the area to finish off the blanket. You very well could have continued in rounds of color in whatever pattern until it measures an appropriate size. But I've decides I'm going to add blocks to the outside of the blanket and I'm going to join them with a single crochet to create a ridge between the blocks to define them even more. On the back of the graph is more of my planning doodles.

The squares must of course fit around the panel and be of similar size. The extra outlining was to enlarge center panel size so the squares would fit properly. This is difficult and can be a pain so if you get a blanket and squares perfect or have one already planned out for you, enlarge your center panel to fit your exiting pattern. For example you have in front of you a pattern in which the 20 squares specified fit around a 65 st by 76 row panel. If you finished panel was 63 st x 74 rows you could add 2 rounds of either the bg color or a contrasting color to enlarge it to the panel size you know what size to make squares for. Or say your panel when finished was 63x66 You would first add 4 rows to the top and 4 rows to the bottom and then one round to bring it up to size.
In case you cant tell the blocks are 10 @ 20 st by 23 rows of sc and 10 @ 23 st by 23 rows of sc. The 20x23 are the 5 inside blocks on the top and bottom and the 23x23 are the entire left and right side.
Before we get there let's not forget to secure are loose ends. As you finish crocheting a color area  you should detach the yarn leaving about 3 inches to weave in. As you go from side to side your yarn strands will twist and tangle for more complicated designs this can be a real problem. I mange the best I can and when I cant pull a strand anymore because of a tangle I cut it and pull the ball out of the mess and attach it anew. But once your finished the wrong side of your work will look like this. I've become an expert and hiding tails.
Next is planning out the block colors and once made you lay everything out and check once more to make sure it all fits.

 Once you have everything laid out and perfect I recommend you pick the blocks up in reverse order your planning on working them so the next block is always right on top. Then join all your blocks. I'd start from once side and join all blocks to panel going around rectangle then go back and join each block side. I joined my blocks with white. And here is the finished blanket. I'll have to try to remember to measure it and add the final dimensions here.


Star Wars Blanket

This is the finished center panel of an unfinished blanket. It  is approx. 2ft x 3 ft. it is an original design that was intended as a Christmas present for my oldest son's older half brother. I made his sister  a blanket of mauve and sea green with applique roses and tea pot  and cups. Tea In the Rose Garden. The tea pot and cups were held on by buttons and they came off so you could lay the blanket down and pretend to have tea among the roses. I was offered more hours and better pay at the job I was working and never had time to finish the second blanket. I've had this panel for about 16 years now!
But the pattern is long gone. Can homemade craft items be considered memorabilia? Perhaps the next time Star Wars is released I'll have someone to complete it for although I've thought of just framing it as a wall hanging


Odds and Ends

This is one of my stashes of yarn and incomplete or homeless projects. And that's one of the big tucker tubs jack. I have a few smaller ones to go  with it.
That is a small child hiding under one of my first ever completed afghans. I believe its called the larksfoot stitch (for some reason I wanna call it broomstick stitch) That blanket is still with us somewhere. I think its in the truck of the car and was used for the drive in we used to frequent. ( Yay Bengie's) Along the right side in the middle you can just see my son's Finding Nemo pillow I made him peaking out from under the daybed. Small sc panel with back sewn over old bed pillow folded in half.
Sadly that pillow was lost the last time we moved. I still have the pattern but since my son has moved on so have I.


 Assorted Christmas Stockings. The original pattern was in a book by Vanna White. But the same pattern can also be found for free on Lion Brands site, although I believe you have to sign in. Guess since she has a yarn line with them it all works out. Holiday stocking
I've made various combinations of designs with this patten. I like it because it looks like a stocking and not like some of the toed tubes I've seen. This pattern also calls for a bit of sewing up the back seem with a craft needle. The stocking itself has 5 distinct areas that can be made of different colors to vary your stockings. The leg, heel, foot, toe, and topping trim. Lion Brand has variations with applique's you can sew onto stocking. Xmas trees, snowman, etc. I have blocked designs into the leg of the stocking itself, including snowflakes and a Cowboy's football emblem for a fan of the team. You can also change the type of yarn for the trim fun fur or I prefer something made by red heart called baby clouds its super bulky to make that stocking feel like its really fur lined. I have also altered the pattern to make a half size stocking which I used to give business associates baked goods in. Its a nice treat and thoughtful enough for those you don't know well but want to include in your holiday gift giving. ( Or have to include as I considered it rude not to get my employees something when I worked retail) You could also slid in a gift card if you were at a real loss on someone (One lean year the employees got subway gift cards and cookies, hey it was more then they got me). I will likely make a future post with a new half size stocking and the altered pattern for anyone who is interested.


Original Pattern born of necessity
This is a soap pouch. Just slide your favorite soap inside and pull the draw strings closed. The popcorn st should give you some texture to scrub with,but not harsh like luffa. I made this because I share a bathroom with a house full of people and would rather not share soap when I don't like wash clothes. I just hang my soap pouch on a suction cup hook in the shower.

Here are 4 panels from a cross stitch booklet I transferred to a crochet pattern. There were 2 more panels I think definitely missing Daffy here at least. Sylvester had a run in with some duct tape and the cotton was pulled and is a bit fuzzy. I had planned on tryng to use a sweater shaver on it to see if it would help and it never got beyond that point. perhaps I could make Loony throw pillows with them



 A sweet yellow baby dress stalled at the repetative skirt










A Baby Granny Ripple afghan. I think I have a yellow fetish. I got this yarn after my local walMart did a reset and clearanced alot of it. It came in a HUGE egg it seems like a cross between baby yarn and textured carpet yarn (got 2 eggs for $1 each, who could resist)






White girls winter hat

Mile o minute pattern that wasn't

The Book

This is my pattern book. Its graph paper in a spiral notebook with several 2 sides folders as dividers. It's practically packed as you can see. There are project designs, graphed patterns, notes on ideals for future projects as well as helpful hints for reproducing past success. It's where I finally located the Wrist Warmer pattern and i'd thought I'd share my less then organized system up till now.

Vintage Blue Baby Bib

This pattern was from an old Annie's Attic periodical my mother used to receive in the mail. After searching online this is the only mention I've found of the exact pattern. Patterns from the Past. Now how you can sell a page or a copy of a single pattern from a published magazine I don't know, but perhaps it will help you in your search. And If you desperately need the pattern drop me a note. I might find occasion to pull out the chest with several years worth of crochet mags in it if someone is actually interested.

As with most of the crochet things I have just laying around, this was meant as a gift and either wasn't finished on time, for some reason it just never got sent, wrapped, taken, or the person pissed me off thereby forfeiting all rights to something handmade by me.

Abandoned Round Ripple Afghans

I found 2 afghans that I started in this pattern. The baby afghan probably wouldn't take much to complete and was a filler project while I was bored. The other was something I started when a neighbor gave me a bag full of yarn. It was close to Easter and I thought those bright colors reminded me of dyed eggs. I have a feeling that one will get torn apart for other projects
Baby Round Ripple Afghan


Sport weight Easter Egg Round Ripple with N hook

Seth's Spiderman Blanket

*** Edit: Links for the pattern seem to have problems. Try Ravelry link for Star Blanket. The pattern I used was 12 points
My youngest son, Seth is a bit of a Spiderman fan. That means he has Spiderman cup n plate sets, bed sheets, wall decals, assorted pj's, t-shirts, and costumes complete with accessories and cartoons and movies. You still haven't begun to understand how much Spiderman junk we have. So for his birthday I was looking to make something for him spider related. I had a pattern  for a round ripple baby afghan I'd begun using extra yarn from 2 other projects, it's still "in progress". But it always struck me I could make a Halloween throw, like spider on a web that would look great from this pattern. But as I searched "crochet" and "spiderman" on the Internet the pics page from google showed a sort of web blanket in blue and red. There where allot of pics out there of completed projects of the spiderman blanket. All a bit different. If you want to make this project I suggest you search and take a look at every one's work. The blankets varied by color width difference mostly but some made dramatic differences and this was what I thought looked right. The original pattern was Round Ripple Baby Afghan of Lyn's Designs at Angelcrafts.(confusing link) Angelcrafts is a great source of patterns if you want to crochet for a cause and donate to your local hospital. After checking the link, there is posted a Spiderman Variation by Gail E (aka the 'Stitch 'n Frog') (dead link) using the original pattern. The pattern itself seems to have been moved but it is there in variations of 6 and 7 point star blankets and The spiderman blanket is written as the original pattern. I guess there was no sense in having it there twice just because the picture was different. Gail's color changes and my own are extremely close I will list mine and hers are written into the pattern. ( By the way this pattern was made for my own use. I'm just trying to give credit where its deserved. don't sue me, there is nothing to take)

Color pattern for rounds:  
First 5 rounds red
1 round black
4 rounds blue
1 round black
4 rounds blue
1 round black
3 rounds red
1 round black
4 rounds red
1 round black
5 rounds red
1 round black
4 rounds blue
1 round black
4 rounds blue

Very close huh. Well like I said it all depends on what you prefer. Her blanket lists 41 rows and mine 40, but the difference in yarn isn't enough to through the materials list off. And I used an H hook as well. I notice she added a last row of rev sc. I cant see the pic clearly enough to say if makes a difference to me. I will say it might make a cleaner edging even if it was a row of sc. The black lines blend well with sl st and only define the points a bit better. In my opinion that last round is totally up to the maker. The blanket worked up very quickly. I only stalled when it came to adding the black lines from edge to center. it was a bit tricky manipulating the blanket. I found it went fastest if I laid the blanket out on a table and worked over top of it. moving from outer edge to center. While the blanket itself was done way ahead of time I found myself hurrying the last day I to finish the lines. But it was well worth it. The blanket was a big success and is close by the sofa for all movie watching. And of course flung over my son's shoulders as he jumps from one piece of furniture to the next, in costume, wearing a web slinger on his arm.









Thought I'd show you Seth's Spiderman hat as well. This was a homemade gift from his Aunt Becca. She has had her blog for awhile and although she dabbles in all crafts her favortes seem to be knitting and sewing. You can find her at Knitfink on Live Journel where she shows her projects and has an online store where she sells her designs.