Coming unraveled

I finished!

2006-02-25T20:25:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it...I finished with time to spare! Not much time, but some. That last sock seemed to take forever, but it actually went a lot faster than the first one, since I had done the pattern once already. There was only about 16 inches of yarn left from two balls when I finished...that's cutting it a little close! I put them on and took a couple of pictures of them, and here they are!

I had my left foot cocked up and my right foot cocked down trying to see which would show off the diamond pattern best. Neither one does apparently. The socks are busy right now being blocked but I will post more pics later when they're done with their spa treatment.

Right now I'm happy, exhausted, sore, hungry, tired, and need a shower but can't have one for two more weeks....peeyew! I can take sponge baths though. :) So....I am off to let hubby give me one. ;)

Watch where you step

2006-02-24T14:28:00.000-07:00

This knitting and crochet Olympics is gonna kill me! On Wednesday I was going to the city to buy more yarn for the baby layette for the crochet Olympics. I was also supposed to buy a new tire for the van to replace the one that I ran flat a couple of months ago (yes, I have been running without a spare tire). I was in the van ready to go when I remembered my crocheting and ran back into the house to get it. On my way out, I slipped on the icy step and fell onto the bottom step. Oh. Wow. The pain. My shoulder felt as if it had been torn apart. I managed to get back in the van and headed to the city, but this time to go to the clinic to get my shoulder checked. Yep, it's broke. I fractured the scapula (shoulderblade). I have to wear a brace that keeps my left arm down by my side. Life lesson learned? Watch where you step and don't be in such a ding-danged hurry!

I did discover that if I free my left hand from its restraining strap, I can still knit. It's been slow going but I've been picking away at my socks over the last couple of days. One tip....knitting with tiny sock yarn from a chart while on Vicoden do not go together! I'm sure there are more little mistakes than I've been able to see but I'm stubborn that way and am determined not to let a little sock beat me (okay, two socks, but one almost done). We'll see if I get done on time.

I finished the layette for the crochet Olympics. Woot!

Yeah, the blanket and the sweater, booties and hat are made out of different yarns. I had to use what I had on hand. Remember, I never made it to the yarn store. I had already bought the yarn for the blanket, Jiffy yarn in a pastel print (can you tell I lost the label?). The blanket is edged with a short-furred Yarn Bee baby yarn. The sweater was crocheted from some worsted weight baby colored yarn that also has the label missing. I had looked at about a million sweater patterns but not one of them was done the way I wanted, so I just started crocheting until a sweater came out of the hook. It looks to be a little on the small size, but I didn't have a baby hanging around to measure. I just hope Amanda's baby isn't a 12-pounder! :) The cap and booties were crocheted from a baby weight Red Heart yarn. Done, Done, Done, and DONE!

As for the socks, one is just about to the heel, but I'm working on the gusset of the other one, so there is still hope there. This picture was taken during the creation of the heel, so you see no gusset yet. I think there should be a ceremony for when a person gets a heel turned without strangling their family for talking to them and making them loose count. There should be a medal too. And a cash prize...a large cash prize! :)

Everything is going as well as can be expected from a hurting, Vicoden-stoned, running-out-of-sock-yarn Hookermama. More progress reports later.

Slow Progress & Crochet Olympics

2006-02-21T08:43:00.000-07:00

My Almost Argyle socks for the knitting Olympics are coming along, but very slowly. I think I picked a project that's way over my little pointy knitting head. I'll keep plugging away on them though.

So. Since there are only five days left in the knitting Olympics and there are not enough hours in the day to get my socks done, I have gone and joined the Crochet Olympics. Makes perfect sense, huh? Crochet is something I can do a lot faster than knit, so I've joined up and will be making a baby sweater, afghan, and booties. I may throw a hat in there too to complete the layette...or not, since I haven't totally lost it yet. (Have I?) :)

I couldn't finish the Yarn Bee baby sweater for the simple reason that I somehow lost the sleeves. Don't ask....I still don't know what happened to them. It was kind of a mess of a project anyway, being part knitting and part crochet. Maybe I should just go ahead and make it a sleeveless sweater...with a hood, yah. Oh boy. Why am I so all over the place with knitting and crocheting lately? I need to find one project and stick to it until it is finished. Oh, right....I just did that with the crochet olympics. Guess I'd better get started then! :)

Progress

2006-02-15T09:10:00.000-07:00

The Olympics have been going for what...five days now? I'm making slow progress on the socks. This is a harder pattern than it looked when I first started (aren't they all?) and I have to be really careful, because this yarn shows up every mistake. I've had to frog a few rounds because I goofed up and it didn't show for a couple of rounds, until it got out from under the needles.
Here is what I've gotten done so far.

When I remembered yesterday that my niece's baby is due in only a week, I had to abandon the socks for a few days and get busy on the baby stuff. I'm working on a baby hoodie now. I crocheted the body but when I started the sleeves I noticed that this stitch pattern is probably too open for sleeves. I could just imagine little baby fingers getting caught on the way into the sleeves. So I decided to knit the sleeves. I'm not sure if that was a good idea or if I should frog the body and knit the whole thing. I wish I had some readers so I could get another opinion!
Here is the hoodie in progress.

And one of the sleeves.

We also have a new baby at our house.

We've had him for a week and can't come up with a name that we can all agree on. So I decided that since I bought him, I would just go ahead and name him too. I would if I could only think of a name! :) Any ideas?

Back to the knitting/crocheting! :)

Knitting Olympics

2006-02-11T15:48:00.000-07:00

Oh my...I may have to change my Blogger name. Yes, it finally happened--I have gone over to the dark side....knitting. Don't gasp and hide your eyes, missy! Our knitting sisters are not the ogres we have made them out to be. They are instead kind, helpful, and loving earth mothers. Well, they let me into their midst, so that should answer any questions you've got about knitters!
The Yarn Harlot

I've joined the knitting Olympics that started yesterday with the lighting of the Olympic fire in Torino. I will knit a pair of socks from a very difficult pattern called "Almost Argyle" that I got at Knit Picks. When I say difficult, I mean relative difficulty for me, as the pattern calls for a twisted Latvian edge and knitting from a chart, both of which I've never done before. Both socks are now on the needles with about an inch done on each one. I've tried to knit socks with the two circular needles method but just ended up with a tangled mess. I did get one pair of socks knit but almost quit after the first sock was finished, so that is the reason for doing both at once.

Oh, my first pair of socks? Here's one of them.

And the socks I'm knitting now. I got the Latvian twisted edge on the first try!
Please excuse the fuzzy picture. I just got a new digital camera (Anniversary gift from hubby!) and haven't figured it all out yet.

Well, it's a beginning anyway. Plus I've still got 15 days to go until the deadline, but I have a feeling I'm going to need every one of them!

Woolgatherers

2006-01-12T09:10:00.000-07:00

I finally got fed up with not being able to find any crochet patterns written for felting/fulling, so I created a Yahoo group for people to exchange information, original patterns, links and other knowledge about the craft. If you would like to join, just click below. (I don't know why the link came out screwy...the html looks right.)

alt="Click here to join woolgatherers_crochet">
Click to join woolgatherers_crochet

Little project

2006-01-03T12:19:00.000-07:00

My gosh, didn't December fly by? It seems like the older we get the faster time flies, especially when you have a ton of things to get done before Christmas.

I crocheted on Christmas gifts right up until a couple of hours before we left for hubby's parents house on Christmas eve. I think MIL really liked her gift, which was an afghan and matching pillow crocheted from Homespun and Thick & Quick Chenille yarns, both from Lion Brand. I also got the pattern off the Lionbrand website. Crochet striped throw and pillow

You know what my favorite project is out of all the items I've crocheted in the last two months? It's not the matching afghans for Diana and her new hubby.

It's not the fancy purse for my niece that I labored over for days.

It's not even the hoody that I knit from TLC Amore yarn for Shelly, which took four months to make (with cooling-off breaks).

No, it was a little project that was completed just last night. It was inspired by this:

A small gift bag that I've been using to keep my present project in (as long as it isn't too big). I like that it's fairly small (8 x 10 x 4-1/2") but deep enough to fit everything I need inside. If I want to take my current project with me somewhere, I just grab it and go. But the bag was getting worn and torn in a couple of places and I didn't want to risk losing anything, so I crocheted and felted this:
from wool yarn I had dyed and didn't really like how the colors had turned out.
I had been having problems keeping the openings of bags from flaring out when I felted them, but one of my Christmas gifts from Diana helped.

I read in the book that if you are felting something that has an opening, like a purse or tote bag, to baste the opening closed before felting. This helps it keep the shape you originally crocheted without stretching it out. It worked beautifully! And the crocheted bag even had the exact same measurements as the paper bag it was modeled after....a first for me! :)

So that's my favorite Christmas (or near Christmas) project for this year.

Happy New Year everyone!!

Yarn you love to hate....

2005-12-05T22:15:00.000-07:00

Is there a yarn that you bought and hated after you brought it home? Maybe the texture was too rough or the color wasn't exactly as it looked in the store. What yarn have you had a love/hate relationship with? :)

Mine was three huge skeins of hot pink (and I mean NEON hot pink!) Red Heart yarn. I don't even know why I bought them except for the fact that they were ON SALE! I took this yarn home and then had to put it away because it was so bright it nearly blinded me. I didn't have anything special in mind when I bought it, just another spur-of-the-moment yarn purchase, and oh yeah, it was ON SALE!

This fall our church started a cap and mitten drive, so I started crocheting for that. I was lining up my colors when I came across the hot pink neon yarn. It said "kids, kids!"---really loud. Yet I didn't want to blind any moms and dads, because how in the world could they look after their little darlin's if they were without sight? Then I thought, "At least they would never lose their kids in the store. These hats would be the equivalent of those neon antenna-like plastic sticks that kids all had sticking up on the back of their bikes in the 70s and 80s"

I made a few hats out of the yarn, with mittens to match. Then I made a few cone hats and used the pink in the striping. There were still two skeins left when the church drive was over. It was a good thing it was over, because the neon pink had almost burned out my eyeballs by then. So I put it away once more.

A couple of weeks ago my 14-year-old niece, Ashley, came to spend the weekend with us. I keep the yarn that I'm going to use soon in a large trunk in the living room. The rest of it is upstairs in the storeroom in a couple of plastic totes. Well, a few totes.....okay, a whole lot of totes. If you go back a couple of entries, there is a picture of the trunk.

I hadn't yet taken the hot pink yarn back upstairs but had tried instead to hide it under a bunch of my other yarn. When my niece saw the trunk and opened it, you'd have thought she'd found the lost Incan gold. And then she saw it....that cursed yarn....and squealed like a....well, like a very excited 14-year-old girl. She clutched those two skeins to her chest and turned to me and asked, "Can you please make me something with this yarn? Hot pink is my favorite color!"

Halleluya! I can't spell halleluya very well but I know when I've found the deal of the year. We picked out a pattern from my pattern folder....well, one of my pattern folders....okay, I've got about as many pattern folders as I do yarn totes...I can;t help myself when it comes to yarns and patterns....it's an addiction, I tell ya!

Anyway, she picked out a shawl for me to crochet with her lovely pink yarn. I started it that day and finished it just before she had to go home. That beautiful, bright, wonderful neon hot pink yarn looked fabulous when done up in a shawl and draped on the shoulders of my favorite (at least she is now) gorgeous niece. My only regret is that I failed to take any pictures of Ashley in her finery. But I did hear that her dad tipped over backwards in his rocking chair when she came in the door wearing it.

I still have one huge (they're really humungus) (see, I still can't spell) skein of the hot pink yarn. I'm not sure what I should do with it, but I've got an idea. I'm involved with a crochet round robin that is going around through the mail and it hasn't gotten to me yet. I wonder how big the box is....

:)

http://Q.webring.com/wrman?ring=any&id=any&mgmt_ShowHtml&showhtml

Fishin' (Crocheting) in the Dark

2005-11-25T15:18:00.000-07:00

Eek, I cant believe it's been so long since I posted! I guess sometimes other things get in the way and we don't post as often as we'd like to.

Anyhoo, I have been crocheting squares for my exchange group, caps and mittens for kids for Christmas, and more caps and mittens for our church's holiday drive. :) I even crocheted on the way to MIL's house Wednesday evening, even though it was pitch dark. I was trying to make a hat but didn't think it would actually look like anything. I knew I was dropping stitches in the dark but tried to feel my way around and pick them up on the next row. When we got there, I looked in my crochet bag to see what I had made. I didn't even know what color it was until I looked in the light. Here it is:
It's a little wavy but not too bad for the way it was created. Some day it might even grow up to be a cap. :)

I'm still experimenting with felting crocheted items. This is a hat made from Lion Wool that I crocheted for Izzy for Christmas (yeah, I finally made peace with the Lion Wool yarn). This is before felting.
The photo doesn't show how big the thing is, but believe me, it was quite large.
And after felting.
It shrunk down a lot but still looks kind of high to me. I'll have to try further felting it before Christmas. Either that or just stuff the top part and tell her I made her a Cat-in-the-Hat hat.

Here are a couple of winter caps and a pair of baby mittens for the church drive.
There are more, but the seem to be buried under the yarn in the trunk in the living room. I should go take a picture of that and show you how shamelfully addicted to amassing great quantities of yarn I am.

BRB.

I'm back...here's my yarn trunk.
Sheesh, you almost can't see the trunk any more. I know what you're thinking..."Get yourself into a 12-step program, girl!" Hanging on the lid of the trunk are some of the skeins I've dyed and some waiting to be dyed. In the lower right corner is my traveling crochet bag.
This is a granny square hat that I forgot I made!

Coming back from the inlaws yesterday it was light enough to actually see what I was crocheting and I made this funky hat complete with dreads. LOL...the hat isn't really that misshapen, but a teddy bear was all I could find on short notice to make it stand up!

Oh, I almost forgot...I wrote out another one of my patterns this morning. This is the one I'm sending for the Christmas exchange for one of the groups I'm in.

This is the same square about 2/3 done, with the yarn I used.
I posted the pattern below.

Gotta run and stir the stew! Hope everyone is having a great day/evening! :)

Lynn’s Poinsettia in the Snow Holiday Square
Both 6” and 7” versions.

This square is so pretty and sparkly for Christmas! It can be used in an afghan, table runner, etc.

Difficulty: Easy.
Materials:
Red Heart Holiday yarn (light worsted weight yarn with silver thread running through it for sparkle) or any other Christmas yarn.
One skein each: White/silver, Red/silver, and Green/silver (One skein of each will make about 14-15 squares).
Crochet hook size G

Pattern notes:
Cluster stitch: Yo, insert hook in st, yo, draw up a loop, yo, draw thru 2 loops on hook, *yo, insert hook in same st, yo, draw up a loop, yo, draw thru 2 loops on hook* 2 times. Yo, draw thru all loops on hook.

Beginning corner:
Ch3, 2 dc in same space, ch2, 3dc in same space.

Corner:
3 dc, ch2, 3dc in same space.

Instructions:
With red, ch 4. Sl st into first chain to form a circle.

Round 1: Ch 4, *dc, ch1* into circle 11 times (12dc and 12 ch1 spaces). Sl st to ch4.

Round 2: Sl st in next ch1 space. Ch3, insert hook in same ch1 space, yo, draw up a loop, yo, draw through 2 loops on hook, yo, insert hook in same st, yo, draw up a loop, yo, draw through all loops on hook, ch2. *Work cluster stitch, ch2* in each ch1 space around. Sl st to ch3. Finish off red.

Round 3: Attach green. Sl st to next ch2 space. Work beginning corner. *Ch1, three dc in next ch2 sp* twice. Ch1, work corner. *ch1, 3dc in next ch 2 space* twice. Ch1, work corner. *ch1, 3dc in next ch 2 space* twice. Ch1, work corner. *ch1, 3dc in next ch 2 space* twice. Ch1, sl st to beg ch3

Round 4: Work as for round three, working 3 dc in each ch1 space and working corners. Finish off green.

Round 5: Attach white. Work as for rounds 3 & 4, adding 3 dc in each ch1 space and working corners. Stop here if you want a 6” square.

Round 6: (For 7 “ square only) Sl st to corner, Ch2, 2 hdc in same space, ch2, 3 hdc in same sp, ch1, *3 hdc in each ch1 space to corner, 3 hdc in corner sp, ch2, 3 hdc in same space, ch1* 3 times. Sl st to beg ch2.

Finish off white, weave in and trim all ends.

For a 7” square, if you crochet tightly, you may need to do a dc round for Rd 6. If you crochet loosely (like I do), you will need to work the last round in hdc.

Yarn Dying

2005-11-05T16:11:00.000-07:00

I just finished my first yarn dying adventure with Kool-Aid. It took awhile but was also a lot of fun and a chance to get creative with colors. I started out with this yarn:

Then I did this to it:

The yarn I used is Bernat Lana 100% merino wool in 3.5 oz skeins. I used three skeins. Be sure to tie a piece of yarn around the skeins in about four places to keep it all together.

The next step was to wash the yarn gently with a little bit of mild soap and rinse. Don’t use hot water or your yarn will felt. Squeeze most of the water out (gently!) or the yarn won’t soak up the dye as well.

Looks like spaghetti, no?

Here are the colors of Kool-Aid I used, all mixed up and ready to go. You don’t need to use any vinegar because Kool-Aid is pretty acidic. Some people use paper or plastic cups for the dye but I didn’t have any, so I used all glass containers. Glass doesn’t stain. If I do it again, I’m going to use at least three packs of Kool-Aid per glass because my colors weren’t as bright as I’d like, plus I was running out of dye before I ran out of yarn. 

Then lay the yarn out on a garbage bag and start painting. Use a turkey baster or large syringe to apply the colors to the yarn. This is with just the blue painted on.

Wear plastic gloves or your hands will stain. Squish each color into the yarn gently to saturate every strand….like when you color your hair.
Add your other colors one at a time. This is where you have the chance to get creative!

You may have to turn the skein over to get the dye through to the other side if your skein is thick. Watch for white areas, especially under the ties and in the middle.

When you’ve got the colors applied and are happy with your arrangement, carefully lift the yarn and place it into a large, microwave-safe bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and poke a couple of holes in the plastic to let the steam escape. Microwave on high for three minutes. Let the yarn sit in the microwave for a few minutes and then check it. Be careful of the hot bowl and the steam when you take off the plastic wrap. If the water is clear or just a little milky—in other words, not colored with dye, then the yarn is done. If there is still color in the water, then microwave for another three minutes.

When the yarn is done cooking, carefully slide it out of the bowl into another container or an empty sink to cool. Don’t add any water yet or you could shock the yarn into felting and that would not be a good thing after all your hard work.

When cool, again rinse the yarn in water that is the same temperature as the yarn. When you have it rinsed, pick it up and again gently squeeze most of the water out. Place yarn on a towel, roll it up, and squeeze gently to remove more of the water. I love citrus colors, so I used orange, yellow, and green on half of my yarn. With the other half I was trying to duplicate this yarn. but my dye colors just weren’t vivid enough. Remember, buy plenty of Kool-Aid because you will use a lot!

The only thing left to do is hang the skeins up to dry. I’m not very patient though…I want it to be ready now! 

I’m not sure what I’ll make out of the first yarn. I want to use the citrus-colored yarn to crochet a big ole tote bag and felt it. I just wish it would hurry up and dry! It was a lot of fun and I plan to do it again.

Yarn addiction

2005-11-04T13:20:00.000-07:00

I really must stay away from the yarn section of eBay....there's so much beautiful yarn and I want to buy it all! I've already got way too much, but when I see all the lovely colors and soft textures, sometimes you just gotta go for it and buy the yarn. It wasn't bad before, when I was mostly using the cheap but good Red Heart acrylic yarns, but now I've got the wool bug, and man, that stuff is expensive. To justify myself I will add that I quit smoking one month ago and, although I may have spent as much money on yarn as I would have on cigarettes in the last 4+ weeks, I'm much healthier for it. So in a way, you could say that yarn saved my life! :)

I'm thinking of bidding on some wool yarn to Kool-Aide dye on Ebay but I'm confused by all the different terms they give for yardage and yarn weight. What does 800ypp mean?

This is another one I'm thinking of bidding on. http://tinyurl.com/aq3ao Not sure if the price is too high though when considering the shipping.

You know, I think if a person was to buy cheap ivory wool yarn and hand dye it (like the skein above), offer it on Ebay and figure in the shipping in the price of the yarn and then advertise free shipping, they would probably sell a lot of yarn.

What's up with all the hemp and wool yarn? I didn't know they could even make yarn out of hemp. Wonder if it's soft or prickly....when I think hemp, I think prickly rope. :)

If anyone else has any thoughts on yarn, yardage, or selling on eBay, I would love to hear about it.

Bag of candy

2005-11-04T00:25:00.000-07:00

I picked up the mail today and look what came!

It's called the felter's bag of candy from Mielke Farms, and it really does look like a bag full of different colors of cotton candy. It's actually 40 colors of dyed wool roving that I'm going to use to teach myself how to do needle felting. At least that's the plan. I know the basic concept, but have yet to put it into action. In other words, I'm chicken to start! I want to put some felt decorations on the kids' mittens I'm making for Christmas but I have a confession to make....I'm no artist! Guess I'll just have to start with something simple and practice on one of my gauge swatches. Will post pics when/if I get anything done!

I think I've crocheted enough long hats for now, don't you? :)
They look kind of like the three bears!

This is a ski mask and matching mittens that I'm making for Nick for Christmas.
I made up the pattern for the ski mask but have yet to write it down. I hope I can remember it and also remember how to finish the mask. I tend to get too many projects going at once. The mittens are felted wool and should be nice and warm. They certainly are soft.

I picked up some of the Yarn Bee Frosting yarn at Hobby Lobby today. It was on sale for $2.46 a skein. I'm trying to make a top for Isabella but might have to frog it and start over because it looks a little small for her as is. This yarn is so furry that the sweater is going to be really thick and that may pose a problem later on when I'm trying to sew it together. I'm afraid the armholes won't be big enough.

The pattern is a real easy one that I found online. The top is crocheted all in one piece. Here's the diagram from the pattern so you can see what I'm talking about.

Other than that, I just have two afghans, three pairs of mittens and hats, and a pair of slippers to get done before Christmas. That is, if I don't see some yarn in the store that just calls out to me and says, "Scarf, scarf" or "sweater, sweater"! :)

Mittens and funny hat

2005-10-31T23:30:00.000-07:00

I got the pink and blue mittens from the last entry done and felted. I think they came out really nice. I like how they're all warm and fuzzy. Now to see if they're the right size for Megan.
Closeup of mitten. The thumb looks huge here, but it must be the camera angle, 'cause it's not that big.

I've put the ski mask aside for the time being. I was getting way too frustrated with it. I'll pick it up again in the next couple of days and the whole thing will probably come together much easier.

I also crocheted a silly cap for one of the girls tonight (don't know for sure which one is going to get it). Doesn't this doll just look positively evil? She makes a good model for kidswear though because she's so big.

Here is my mitten pattern:

Lynn’s Feltable Mittens

One mitten finished, one with just the cuff done. Both mittens after felting. Felting instructions are at the end of the pattern.

2 - 50g balls of 4 ply knitting worsted.

I used Lion wool. If you plan to felt the mittens, you will need to buy 100% wool yarn. Check the label to make sure it isn’t superwash wool, as this type won’t felt. Crocheting this pattern as printed will yield mittens the right size for an 8-12 year-old child. Adjust as instructed for larger or smaller sizes.
Hook – G if you crochet loose, H if you crochet tight.
My notes, such as where to make adjustments for other sizes, are in blue.

NOTE: This pattern is designed so the mitten will fit both left and right hands.

CUFF - All stitches on the cuff
are through the back loop of stitch only.

Ch. 14 to begin.

ROW 1 - 1 sc in 3rd ch from hook, 1 sc in next 11 chains, ch 1, turn. (12 sc)

ROW 2 - 1 sc in next 12 sc (remember, through the back loops of stitches only), ch 1, turn. (12 sc) (If you are making larger mittens, add a couple more rows here - for smaller mittens, subtract a couple rows.)

ROWS 3 to 26 - Same as Row 2.

ROW 27 - Joining row, ss to corresponding chs in Row 1, turn inside out (this is the right side).

CONTINUE AS FOLLOWS FOR THE REST OF THE MITTEN (all sts through both loops):

ROW 1 - With right side of work towards you, ch 1, 1 sc in the end of each row of ribbing. Join with ch 1. (27 sc, - this st count will be different on all rows if you are making smaller or larger mittens, example: if you added 2 more rows on the cuff for larger mittens, you will have more sc here - less if you are making smaller mittens.)

ROW 2 - *Sc around (mark beginning of rows with a safety pin, do not turn. The rest of the mitten is worked in a spiral). (30 sc)

ROW 3-8 - Sc around, ss to join.

ROW 9 - 1 sc in next st, ch 5, skip next 5 sts (this is for the thumb opening), 1 sc in the next 24 sts, ss to join. (make a smaller thumb opening for smaller mittens, larger thumb opening for larger mittens. For mittens that are going to be felted, I used 7 sts for the thumb for an 8-10 year old girl)

ROW 10-20 - Repeat Row 2 (work the 5 chains for thumb opening as if they were regular sts. Add a few more rows for larger mittens, subtract rows for smaller mittens.)

ROW 21 - 1 sc in first st, decrease over the next 4 sts by crocheting 2 sc tog twice, 1 sc in next 11 sts, dec over next 4 sts by crocheting 2 sc tog twice, 1 sc in next 10 sts, ss to join. (26 sc)

ROW 22 – Sc around.

ROW 23 - 1 sc in the first st, dec over next 4 sts by crocheting 2 sc tog twice, 1 sc in next 9 sts, dec over next 4 sts by crocheting 2 sc tog twice, 1 sc in next 8 sts, ss to join. (22 sc)

ROW 24 – Sc around, ss to join.

ROW 25 - 1 sc in first st, dec over next 4 sts by crocheting 2 sc tog twice, 1 sc in next 7 sts, dec over next 4 sts by crocheting 2 sc tog twice, 1 sc in next 6 sts, ss to join. (18 sc)

ROW 26 – Sc around, ss to join.

ROW 27 - 1 sc in first st, dec over next 4 sts by crocheting 2 sc tog twice, 1 sc in next 5 sts, dec over next 4 sts by crocheting 2 sc tog twice, 1 sc in next 4 sts, ss to join. (14 sc)

ROW 28 - 2 sc, * 2 sc tog, 1 sc in next st *, Repeat from * to * 3 more times, ss to join.

Cut yarn leaving about an 8 to 10 inch tail, pull yarn through the last ch1. Using a darning needle, weave yarn through the 14 sts of last Row, pull tight to close up the end of the mitten, weave in yarn to secure closing and fasten off.

THUMB
ROW 1 - Join yarn, ch 1 and 1 sc in the first st of thumb opening, 1 sc in the next 4 sts, pick up 7 sts around the remaining thumb opening, ss to join to first sc. (12 sc - more or less if you are making smaller or larger mittens.)

ROW 2-6 – Sc around, ss to join. (Add a few more rows for larger thumb, subtract rows for smaller thumb.)

ROW 7 - 1 sc in next 4 sc, 2 sc tog, 1 sc in next 4 sc, 2 sc tog, ss to join. (10 sc)

ROW 8 – Sc around, ss to join.

Cut yarn leaving about an 8 to 10 inch tail, pull yarn through the last ch1. Using a darning needle, weave yarn through the 10 sts of the last row, pull tight to close up the end of the thumb, weave in yarn to secure closing and fasten off. Weave in the tail end at the beginning of the cuff.

Felting Instructions

Set washer at lowest water level on hot wash, cold rinse cycle. Add small amount of laundry soap, place mittens in washer along with a couple of T-shirts or pairs of jeans to aid in agitation. Don’t use towels, as they shed lint and your mittens will end up looking old and dull. Run washer through cycle, checking mittens after five minutes. Continue to check them every five minutes until they are the size you want. Stop wash cycle if it hasn’t come to the end to avoid further shrinkage. Run through rinse and spin. Remove mittens from washer, gently reshape and let dry on
a folded towel. These mittens will be the warmest you will ever wear!

Abbreviations used in this pattern

sc = single crochet st = stitch ss = slip stitch

sc tog = single crochet together ch = chain

dec = decrease by crocheting two stitches together

Lazy Sunday

2005-10-30T22:26:00.000-07:00

Rod and I have both just been laying around today. He's fine...I'm having a heck of a lot of back and leg pain. Guess I shouldn't have tried lifting so much when we moved the sectional yesterday. I have rheumatoid arthritis and when I overdo it one day, it can take a few days to get over it. I should know by now to pace myself. I have to work tomorrow and can't afford to take a day off.

I finished the mittens today and got them felted up. They look like they will fit Megan or Izzy just fine. They're still drying so we'll see what size they end up being in the morning. I'm in the middle of creating my very first pattern ever! I wanted to crochet ski masks for the boys and found one pattern that sounded good but worked up very dorky-looking. So I made my own pattern. I'll post it here when I get it finished.

Time for bed to rest my weary bones. Nite!

My aching back...

2005-10-30T02:15:00.000-07:00

Today Rod found an ad in the newspaper for a sectional sofa for sale. We have been looking for new living room furniture forever it seems, but we just can't afford to buy new at this point. So we have been watching the classifieds and today finally found a sectional that we wanted. We went and looked at it, bought it, and then proceeded to try and fit the whole thing in the back of the pickup. It's a monster sectional! Right now it's 1:30 a.m. and I just went to the living room and took a picture of the sofa. Of course there are two boys on it who pleaded to be allowed to sleep on it the first night. You know how it is...anything new is heaven to a kid! So here are my boys zonked out on the sectional.

It's really big, isn't it? And heavy! After carrying it from the lady's house and loading it in the pickup and then carrying it in our house and setting it up, we were all walking around like chimps.

Son Tim is getting to be quite the entrepreneur. He was feeling quite broke, so today he began listing all his outgrown toys and Yugioh cards on Ebay. Once I showed him what to do the first time, he went ahead and did the rest all by himself. He's 11 years old. Here is one of the things he's selling, night vision lighted goggles.
And his Bow Lingual. That's our dog, Riley modeling the part that the dog wears. The idea behind Bow Lingual is you put the transmitter on the dog and hold the wireless monitor. It picks up your dog's barks and translates them. It can tell you if your dog is happy, sad, lonely, angry, etc. It never worked very well for Tim, mostly because Riley very seldom barks.

I had some hand-painted wool yarn that a friend had sent me, so I decided to crochet some things out of it. I made a hat and tried to felt it but it wouldn't felt. So I made a drawstring bag and felted that in the washing machine and it woked great. Here is a picture of the bag before felting.
and here is the finished bag after felting. The soda can was used for scale.

I'm back to working on mittens for the kids for Christmas. As I wrote before, these are the 100% merino wool mittens. I am felting them in the washer and this yarn felts beautifully. The yarn is Lion Wool Prints in flower garden. Here's what I've gotten done so far.
I've got one mitten and the cuff for the other one done. The mitten is rather large and also oddly shaped. That is because the item shrinks when felted but it doesn't shrink all ways the same. This yarn shrinks width-wise much more than it does height-wise. So it is made just a little bit longer than normal but more wider than normal, with a wider thumb because the thumb, as I discovered on a trial pair, also shrinks in width. So hopefully it will come out just the right size for a 10-year-old girl.

Nitey-nite! :)

Felting Soap

2005-10-27T23:06:00.000-07:00

Today was not very productive in the crochet/crafting department. I had bought some Lion Wool yarn yesterday with the intention of crocheting more mittens and felting them. I just love watching them shrink down and get all thick, fuzzy, and warm. Anyway, this yarn is really hard to work with. It kinks, knots, and splits. I might as well have used the cheap Bernat wool. The Bernat at least worked up easily and felted nicely. Live and learn, I guess.

I also ordered a felting needle and block plus some wool roving for felting. I stumbled across a website that sells all that good stuff, plus had instructions for felting over a bar of soap. Yeah, I went "huh?" too. You basically take a bar of soap and wrap it in wool roving, wet it, rub it with your hands and/or a net bag until the wool shrinks down into a tight felt covering over the soap. People sell these for $5 to $10 a bar. I ordered the wool to give it a try. I can alway sell them on Ebay, especially when it gets closer to Christmas. I ordered a pound of wool, so that should make a lot of soap covers! The soap stays in its cover and you use it like a washcloth. The felt shrinks down as the soap gets smaller too. I'm finding felting totally fascinating and have added some books about the craft to my Christmas wish list. I sure hope Santa appreciates his nice warm wool FELT suit this year and brings me some books! :)

It's all good, baby!

2005-10-25T14:15:00.000-07:00

Wow, my first entry! I'm so excited about this crochet blog. I'm hoping to find other crocheters out there who share the same interests. Hello....anybody out there? :)

I've been crocheting for years and can always find something new to try. It's never boring and always challenging. I used to knit when I was younger and knit all my Barbie Doll clothes. But now I find I just don't have the patience for knitting. It goes so slow and makes me want to throw it on the floor and stomp on it.

As I write this, there is a pair of adult wool mittens in the washer getting felted. I hope this pair shrinks some more, as I checked them after one run through the washer and they were still too long. They seem to shrink more width-wise than they do lengthwise. Here are before and after pics.

Quite a difference in size, isn't there? I've only made one other pair of mittens and they were in a childs small to medium size but they turned out pretty good. Next thing I'm going to learn is needle felting so I can add different colors and shapes to the finished mittens. It's so much fun experimenting!