Another Scarf

I finished this scarf yesterday.

I decided the yarn was just the thing for another go at the ruffles design I made here. The yarn is a mohair blend which turned out to be too soft for its original purpose. There's no such thing as too soft for one of these scarves and the crochet structure adds strength. Now it's in a box on its way to my friend D along with her blanket and other bits and pieces which have been waiting to make the trip north. Whether she's out in the elements or curled up on the couch my friend can have a bit of woolly goodness to keep her warm. 

Granny to the Max

Installation of the yarn-storming of Coburg Mall for Coburg Carnivale is next weekend. Sussex Neighbourhood House is participating and I've had a small part in preparations. Yesterday I took my contribution up a notch. Sorting through my yarns I came across some bright blue which I knew I couldn't use for its intended purpose. That's because one of the yarns I'd twisted in--with the otherwise lovely silk--is quite harsh. It looks delighfully fluffy, but it's not soft and luscious to the touch. I decided it could go to the yarn-storming. I wound several thicknesses together to make a thicker yarn and got stuck into it with a 5 mm hook. Here's how it looks now.

Since I hadn't planned on making this, it doesn't have a spot allocated to it. I'm guessing it'll come in handy somewhere though. I'll just keep stitching at it until I've run out of yarn and then throw it into the mix. There's the ball I'm currently working on plus one more skein. And it's worked up remarkably quickly. My friend W dropped in for a cuppa this morning and I got several rows done while we chatted away. Most of my other current project require a bit of concentration so this is a welcome change: quick, easy and bright.  

Hot Hat

After the success of the black bunny wristies with blue trim. I decided to try for a matching hat.

I used the bunny yarn alone for the top, by which time--you guessed it--I was tired of plain black already. I added a strand of my hand-dyed lace-weight alpaca for the rest of the crown of the hat. I was pleasantly surprised at how much that little bit of blue lifted the whole thing. The other benefit was that it made for a denser, firmer fabric. Just right for a real hat structure. Then for the brim I dropped out the bunny yarn and used four strands of the alpaca to add the extra "pop" of blue. The whole thing is done in single crochet stitch (or double crochet depending which language you speak). I like the way it's holding its shape and I'm looking forward to how warm it will be now that the colder weather is here. What's more I have enough of both yarns to make a scarf to complete the outfit. More on that anon.

Better Already

I've added a few rows of crochet to one of the black bunny wristies. And I'm definitely happier with it. Not only does it add the bit of colour I wanted, it also controls the rolling edge that is inevitable with stocking stitch and adds a bit of length to boot.

It didn't take much. Now to do the other-- and stitch in the loose ends that are hiding away from the camera.

Brighten My Day

I'm stitching away at this hand-dyed bamboo fibre.

It's smooth in my fingers and bright to look at--and an easy pattern. All perfect for a quiet Sunday afternoon.

It's a little birthday project, so no more details at this stage.

Proportion

I realised after I posted this crochet Christmas star ornament the other day that I hadn't included anything in the picture to give an indication of size. I've made four of them now. The other thing I've realised is that it's going to take an awful lot of little stars before I use up my 100 gram ball of fine mercerised cotton. I originally dyed it thinking of a weaving project.

Four stars have used up about 10 grams. Unless I get a sudden burst of starry enthusiasm, there will be enough for years to come! 

Colour Interest

When I started to tidy up my living room the other day I came across several skeins like this.

It's an 8-ply alpaca yarn which I bought a couple of years ago. I've still got quite a bit in grey and beige. Obviously this skein is neither of those. I've done a bit of over-dyeing for a new blanket project. Next I need to wind off some balls of yarn and pull out my crochet hook. 

Spontaneous

After planning and measuring for textured scarves on Saturday, I probably should have continued in that vein yesterday. Instead I took one of the yarns and made this:

What to call it? It's a little woolly neckpiece--more necklace than collar really. There's a thread of magenta silk through the main yarn that doesn't show up well in the picture. Please add that visual spark in your imagination. One of the things I really like about crochet is that it builds one stitch at a time--that's great for free-form work because I can take it in any direction I like.

After that spontaneous outburst, I'll try to get back to the scarves in the next day or so. 

Pretty One

I spun up the creamy yarn destined for rose brooches. And I did make one of the knitted brooches as planned. Each brooch only takes a little bit of yarn, so I had some left over, and a bit of time for experimenting. Here's what happened:

I love the way crochet stitches give such a clear definition--especially knowing how incredibly soft this yarn is. I went ahead and made a purple one too, though, being me, the pattern is a little different each time. I've promised another three of the classic rose in different colours, and there's enough yarn to play with, so  I think there will be a few more variations before I get this particular bug out of my system. 

Back to Basics

I bought this yarn on impulse the other day. At 50 cents a ball I figured I couldn't go too far wrong. I thought I'd include it in a blanket I'm planning, but when I opened up the packaging I found I'd made a couple of fundamental mistakes. For starters, the yarn was thicker than I'd expected and therefore the yardage was less than I'd hoped for. Secondly, and more importantly, the fibre was tough and harsh on my fingers. I'd let the bright colours and cheap price wow me into buying without my usual checks.
I decided to go with the strengths of the situation rather than bemoan my hasty purchase. Here we have a bathmat nearly finished. The tough yarn should mean it's hard-wearing on the floor and the bright colours will give the room a lift. The thickness of the yarn means it's working up nice and quickly. A couple of balls to go and I can move on from this little glitch.

Picot Edge

I decided on a crochet edge for this woollen placemat. It's 4-ply cotton which I dyed myself. And the simplest of picot patterns: just two double crochet stitches followed by a single chain to give the hint of a bubble. I've been enjoying the blue-green combo--all the more since it was frowned on in my growing up. Do you remember the saying, "blue and green must never be seen unless there's something in between"? Well here they are, and I do like how they look, so there!

. . . and the inevitable dog hair highlighted by my macro lens, oh well . . .

Fishing

Yesterday I was fishing around for something easy to work on. We've had some warm days, so I wasn't in the mood for the usual woolly scarf or hat, even though I've been tempted to put the heater on the past few mornings with the temperatures coming in at the low-teens. Anyway, a hank of hand-dyed 4-ply cotton caught my eye and I decided to have a go at a Solomon's Knot scarf. I've made these before in wool and they're rather insubstantial. I figured the same thing in cotton would be ok to dress up an outfit on a warm day. I first came across Solomon's Knot stitch in an old crochet book from an Op shop. It was used to make a string bag, but I really liked the stitch pattern and wanted to feature it in something a bit more decorative, so I started using it for scarves. I'm not too sure about the outcome in cotton. I like the colour and the shape of the stitches, but I'm afraid that when it's bunched up it will look a bit too stringy. Anyway, for a quick and easy experiment it was ok and it gave me something to work on yesterday in between what turned out to be a serious of unlooked for complications. I'll try adding a beaded fringe and see if that helps to give it a bit more impact. Meanwhile, I'm back to needing a quick and easy project to carry around with me.

Detail

I'm working on a birthday gift, so I need to be a bit discrete so I don't spoil the surprise, but here's a detail shot:I'm really happy with how the colours are working together . . . and once again I love the distinct structure of the crochet stitches. Now I need to head out and buy just a bit more wool to finish it off.

Time Warp

There's a note on my computer screen warning me that image uploads will be disabled for two hours from 5.00pm PDT Wednesday October 20, due to maintenance. Please excuse my ignorance . . . I can't quite work out when 5.00pm PDT is for me here in Melbourne. I'm guessing it' a US timezone . . . "Pacific Something Time", maybe . . . and I'm guessing there's a website somewhere that will tell me how that translates to Eastern Daylight-saving Time in Australia. But I'd rather get on with my crochet cushion-cover than worry about time zones. Eventually I'll just have a go with an image and see what happens. Either that or eventually the warning will disappear, and I'll know the maintenance window has passed. Meanwhile, I'm here and the yarn is here and it's OK.

I've just done my homework and PDT is 18 hours earlier than my time here, so I could have uploaded an image this morning, oh well, now it's time for bed. I'll try again tomorrow.

Crochet Structure

One of the things I like about crochet is the way it can be used to build a definite structure. I've been stitching away at another cushion cover, using up the incredible multiplying teal yarn. I made a neat little envelope to enclose the cushion insert, but then I wanted an extra flap to secure the opening. Not a problem: I stitched one row into the front loop only to make a fold line, then kept on as normal. As you can see, this one is nearly finished. I believe I'm actually getting through the balls of yarn as well. I'm not sure if I dare to count how many I have left.

Meanwhile my creative task for this morning is to make a chocolate cake for a not-so-little girl who is 8 today. Her uncle R vowed and declared that my friend L's chocolate cake is the only one worth having. Would you believe I have all the ingredients, except chocolate! Off to the shops, and then I'd better get to work. I'm told this cake takes an hour or so to cook, then it needs to cool before I can add the icing. I wonder whether I can find myself a little more get up and go while I'm out. . . hmmm, did some-one say, "chocolate"?

Multiplication Problem

I started this blanket a few weeks ago.I was at the beginning of my big clear out and wanted something cosy to sit with in the armchair while contemplating the changes in my life. I also wanted to use up a couple of boxes of yarn I had in the sewing room. Of course I had to buy a few other yarns to mix up the colours and add some variety. Now I can see a problem emerging: the blanket is probably about half done. I'm thinking of it as a generous lap blanket for one person. But I'm nowhere near halfway through my yarns. I don't seem to be making a dent in either the original yarns I planned to use up, nor the extras I bought to vary the mix. I know I've thrown away a few ball bands, so I must have worked through at least a few balls, but I can't see the hole in the pile where they came from. I'm casting my eyes around the living room, looking for things to transform with crochet. There are a couple of large cushions currently covered in a simple cream fabric. They will have to be the first candidates. Then I have friends who might like a spring scarf in some of these colours . . . Meanwhile I'll keep stitching away in my moments of contemplation and see if the pile gets any smaller.

Phew!!

Ah ha! I found the motivational key to my mending dilemma. The combination of public accountability and human interest did the trick. Here's the repair, done:Once I started, it was a case of tackling the problem step by step. First weave in the broken ends. Then thread the needle with the repair thread and join it into the work near the holes. I've copied the treble stitches by making a double strand of yarn and working a couple of half hitches over each one. Then I've woven in the repair thread. That's the technical detail. The human detail is that I picked up the phone and chatted with my friend D while I did the job. That gave me an instant reinforcement on why I was being so crazy as to try to fix such a fiddly thing!

Repair Operation

Here's the pair of fingerless mittens which arrived in the mail this week. I made them for my friend D a year or few ago. The challenge is to mend the small area where the moths have eaten away some of the fibre. You can just see it on the left--slap bang in the centre of the back where a repair will be most obvious. Darn!The fabric isn't all gone, but there's a weak area about the size of a ten cent piece and a few loose threads sticking out. This is going to be a case of creative reconstruction. I can't think of a way to actually replicate the crochet stitches. Thankfully there is a bit more of the exact same yarn available for me to work with, so colour matching isn't a problem. I'm not looking forward to this task, but it's not going to get any easier by delaying it, so I'm about to sign off here and just have a go.

Sea Foam

I'm still fighting the battle against black on black. I made myself another cowl. This one is a bamboo-wool blend and not as warm as the last one. Bamboo already has lots of drape and I knitted this on large needles, so it really flows. I was a little bored with the dark colouring, though. so I added a cute little ruffle in a variegated blue-green crochet cotton. Now it makes me smile. As I was crocheting around--I ended up with some crazy number of stitches to make the ruffled edge, 900 on the last row!--I was thinking of the colours of the sea and the frothy tips of the waves, so this one is my "Sea Foam" cowl. Given the weather around here and the winds that come off the antarctic ice, it will probably be the only sea I experience for quite a while.

Postscript

Last year's Feather and Fan Scarf story ended with the completion of the knitting and grafting two halves of the scarf together. But I had a little bit of the yarn left over. Since it was such a special yarn--Finn Cashmere, drop spindle spun and dip dyed with love--I didn't want it to just disappear into the odds and ends box. On the other hand, there really wasn't enough there to make anything much. I decided to just play with it and see what came up.

I've been thinking a fair bit about the boundary between jewellery and textile accessories lately. I'm about to teach a couple of sessions of jewellery making. Add to that the light and airy Northern Hemisphere patterns coming out for their summer season and I have lots of food for thought. I decided to crochet a little neck band with the yarn I had and then see what inspiration comes to embellish and add to it.

This is where I'm up to so far:

• a few rows of crochet, long enough to drape around the neck;
• a tab with a button hole--on the right;
• a reinforced strip to hold a button or bead-- on the left.
• loose ends which haven't been woven in, dangling in case they're needed to attach something or other.

Now I have no more of that yarn. I'm going to improvise with other materials until I come up with something I like. But first, I'd better do a little more of the spinning for my folio and take my morning walk before it starts raining again.