What I have been up to!!

So while I have been home I have been "finishing" up some projects. None of these are actually to completion but they are close enough for showing!

Hairy Coo! I have to find some fabric to put on the
back to finish off the keychain.
Kit from: http://www.neaniescott.com/ 

Mini-Scarf for Raccoon (a stuffed animal)
It is a smaller version of the boyfriend's scarf.
Yarn: Manos Del Uruguay Serena
Colorways: 7173 Seahorse and 7378 Tezpi

Mini-Scarf for Raccoon (a stuffed animal)
It is a smaller version of the boyfriend's scarf.
Yarn: Manos Del Uruguay Serena
Colorways: 7173 Seahorse and 7378 Tezpi

Mini-Scarf for Raccoon (a stuffed animal)
It is a smaller version of the boyfriend's scarf.
Yarn: Manos Del Uruguay Serena
Colorways: 7173 Seahorse and 7378 Tezpi

Boyfriend's TC and Knit Lacey Scarf
Yarn: Manos Del Uruguay Serena
Colorways: 7173 Seahorse and 7378 Tezpi

Boyfriend's TC and Knit Lacey Scarf
Yarn: Manos Del Uruguay Serena
Colorways: 7173 Seahorse and 7378 Tezpi

Last but not least! My needle felting attempts.
Green Bunny magnet and WIP: Owl Friend
Kit from: http://www.hifiberkits.com/

WIP: Knitting with Tunisian Crochet Scarf

Using the lovely new Manos Del Uruguay Serena yarn I am making a scarf for my boyfriend! I am felting the two colors together so the transitions are seamless! If you listened to my podcast (cough) you would have heard me mention it :D

This is a lacy scarf knitted with sections of tunisian crochet!

Close-up of the transition.

Back of the work. Can you see the ends? No? Because there aren't any! 

Scarf so far.

FINALLY: Want to see what I look like knitting said scarf? No... Well tough. I am doing this for a project on http://thisishandmade.tumblr.com/. It is about doing your craft for 5 minutes and not saying anything at all, it is not a tutorial. Its to show non-craftsers how much work goes into each project.

WIP: Eclipse Hat and Scarf

I am using beautiful yarn from Manos Del Uruguay Silk Blend called "Eclipse" and my own Hand-spun from Silk, Merino, and Yak. I am super excited about these two projects. The first one is the hat from Spin - Dye - Stitch by Jennifer Claydon  and the second is a lengthwise scarf using her technique for dropping stitches while binding or casting off then weaving in hand spun yarn. I really do recommend this book.

I saw this yarn and knew exactly what I would do with it.

My hand-spun actually looks pretty decent.

I love the patches of grey in the hat and the scarf is starting to get to be a nice
width. The hat is not finished I am planning on a flower in a hole that is a bit
big on the join. Should be a nice set!

Done: Mesh Scarf

After I had my professional tester make sure the scarf was comfy....

How our animals know how to pose!

 I finished it off:

I really like the color changes in it. 

It is just a basic double crochet (treble in the UK) mesh scarf.

WIP: Mesh Sea Scarf

I love the colour way of my Manos yarn for this scarf. I am doing a simple dc (tr for those in the UK) scarf.

Doesn't that just remind you of the sea?

PS -- Stroganoff for dinner. Only 10 WW points! Go home cooking!

WIP: Acrylic Scarf

You remember that acrylic yarn I was using to make a scarf? No? Let me remind you.

Priscilla has the exact face I made. She is laying on it as I am knitting.

 Remember now? Ok, so 350ish stitches was WAY too many. The scarf was 10ft long! So I sewed it together. So what to do with the end where it folds? Well any inexperienced person would cry a little and just sew it up. What do I do? I cut it. Yup right down the middle. It started to unravel from there. Quick thinker that I am I put my tunisian crochet hook into a row and prayed the row I created would stop the unraveling. You know what? IT DID!! So I unraveled to the row then tied the string ends together to make sure they created a nice fringe. I will just do a mock version of this on the other side. The scarf is stitched down the middle with a mattress stitch. Since I did not do 5 rows of knit before I casted off this worked out well when I seamed it together!

WIP: Gossamer Lace Scarf

This project is turning out better then I could have expected and goes fairly quickly. I have many things in the air right now because of all the crafts I was doing for Christmas, so hopefully I can finish some off and work on this one on the plane ride back to scotland in January!

Done: Mom's Presents

I have one more not shown here but I will get a photo of it later. It is a small cord for her angel pendant that I made using my french knitting doll (spool knitter).

Here are the ones I have pictures of:
Using the Manos Del Uruguay Maxima, colorway 6411 Valentine

This Bobble Hat, adapted from a pattern.
I figured out how to do a seamless decrease and tailored it to fit her head.

I call this the Bobble-Mesh Scarf

Want the Pattern? Why not, it is Christmas.

This was done with Manos Maxima using a 6.0mm hook

I have UK terms as (UK: )

Puff Stitch: Yarn over (YO), put hook through stitch indicated, YO, pull loop through (3 loops on hook) *YO, put hook through same stitch, YO, pull loop through* x2 (7 stitches now on hook, for a bigger puff do it one more time for a total of 9 stitches on hook), YO, pull loop through all but the last loop (2 loops now on hook), YO, pull through the 2 loops. 

Sounds complicated but it is easy when you do it.

Pattern:

1. Chain even number of stitches until desired LENGTH. Mine was probably 150 stitches for a nice wrap around scarf. (Foundation row)
2. Ch-3, puff stitch in last chain from foundation row (4th ch from hook at this moment), ch-1 *skip 1 ch, puff stitch in next ch, ch 1* repeat until end. TURN.
3. Ch-3, dc (UK: tr) into ch-space (chsp), ch-1 *dc (UK: tr) in next chsp, ch-1* repeat until end, then dc (UK: tr) into the chsp at the end (the space created by the ch-3 instead of the top stitch of the ch-3). TURN.
4. Repeat Step 3 until desired width.
5. Repeat Step 2. Finish off and weave in ends. Fringe is optional but looks nice.

Next is the gift made with Manos Del Uruguay Lace, colorway 8597 Ariel:

This is my ALL THE TECHNIQUES I COULD THINK OF Scarf.

In this one picture is knitting, lace work knitting,
tunisian crochet (the top and bottom of the picture in the scarf),
filet crochet (the heart), and crochet half-basket weave
(the bottom near the fringe) and fringe. Phew... a lot of techniques.

This is a one off. You can see the other filet crochet
that spells "MOM" and that end attached using a mattress
stitch to the knitted scarf.

Do you want the pattern for this? No... I don't blame you. How about the filet crochet? How hard could it be? I will work on that for a later post!

WIP: Gossamer Lace Scarf

I am working with my Belle Epoque Yarn making PlanetJune's Gossamer Lace Wrap. I am only doing one repeat to make it a smaller scarf.

The pattern allows the colors of this yarn to really be displayed.

WIP: Mom's Scarf

This is version 1: The Filet Crochet spells MOM and I was doing the half basket weave for the ribbing.

Here is the final version: The one mentioned in my Injury post.

WIP: Acrylic Scarf

That stash yarn I mentioned earlier has become a sideways knitted scarf... I thought I was doing a pattern in it but apparently it doesn't want to show it. There are 376 stitches in this scarf! The stitch markers show where there should be a slight pattern change, but alas it hates me. The knitting needles are 8mm with an 80cm or 32" cord. I am on row 11 right now and I haven't used up the first skein of this stuff. It is so rough to work with and doesn't flow nicely. Since there are so many stitches I have switched from English (or thrower) style to Continental style knitting. Another reason is that it makes your knitting looser (using up yarn faster). Hope to get this done in the next few days!

 

WIP: Pink Scarf

My friend Jennifer likes soft pinks.... So I figured I would show a bit of the scarf I am working on for her!

So this pattern is K2, *K1, K-B* then end with K2. What is a K-B?? Well you go into the
stitch below and knit. It creates a pattern you can reverse.
When I messed up... I mean... changed the pattern, I switch to the lace-like pattern for a few rows
to hide the dropped stitches. That turned out prettier then expected!!
Then knitted a row and a k2, purl to end then k2 and back to this pattern! Works like a dream!

WIP: Squares Scarf

This is the assembly and squares of the poor new wall hanging scarf.

WIP: Squares Scarf

A bit of sad news... I know when one tries to do things that it is exciting until it all goes wrong!!! My yarn is acrylic (since I threw away the label for it long ago I had forgotten). All dyers out there now have that cringe of pain on their faces as they know what happens... The dye doesn't stick on the yarn and to my dismay they washed away white after 2 hours of soaking... Thankfully I only did that to 1. Always the optimist I just squeezed them out to dry in their less then potent color arrangement... My scarf will now be a wall ornament. Since I am afraid that even after they dry they will still go white when they get wet. Well... They do look really pretty in their current state and strangely enough the crocheted experiments for the fuzzy dyeing did actually take up color.

On a positive note, my hand spun yarn did exactly what it was suppose to, turned a lovely lightish-medium brown. Once dry I will take a picture of it all.

Goes to show sometimes panicking doesn't help and staying level headed can save a project! Good luck all with your designs.

WIP: Squares Scarf

So... This new project was inspired by Do you mind if I knit?'s pattern for her little square scarf. You make simple crocheted squares of all kinds of colors. Well I don't have that much yarn nor that many colors, so I am using the white yarn I used in the Scarf of Doom and Pink Owl. Well a white scarf of 240 squares is quite boring don't you think? Well... it is until you try and dye it!!! So I have made up 75 squares and placed them into different dye baths.

In there, the second square container from the top right, there is a fuzzy dyeing experiment. I fuzzed up one piece and left another alone. Then I will take them out of the dye and let them dry. Then I will fuzz up the unfuzzed piece and see the difference. Since I know that my orange crocheted piece had white lines where the stitches are I am hoping for the tips of the fuzz to be white.... AND in the big square container on the bottom right there is my hand spun skeins!! They are being dyed in three times brewed tea, to get most of the tannic acid out them and the caffeine. 

WIP: Bag and Scarf of Doom

I have now merged the scarf of doom with the bottom of the bag attempt 3 and blocked it so it lays flat.

Merging of the scarf of doom with a strange trim of green

Detail of the join.

WIP: Scarf of Doom

I have decided to shake up my scarf a bit.

This is going be one wide scarf.

Look at this detail... so simple but lovely.

WIP: Scarf of Doom

My "Scarf of Doom" is coming along nicely. I watch TV on my computer while I work on it.

The scarf is coming along nicely and I have an idea on how to make it more interesting.

WIP: Scarf of Doom

This scarf has been worked and reworked since October 2009.  I have made it thinner and wider, with different type of row patterns. As that it is now July 2010, I need to finish it so I have gone with pearl one row, turn knit one row and repeat. I use circular metal needles as you can see. The yarn is from PoundSavers. I wanted to start off on yarn that I wouldn't mind messing up with a few times until I got back into my groove of knitting... Hopefully I will be getting more done soon!