Tag Archives: Crochet

WIP: Four-Hour Fall Sweater

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I started this Four-Hour Sweater in the fall.  I have always wanted to make clothes.  So far the closest I’ve come is a poncho that I made about 15 years ago.  I was also looking to make an over sized sweater to go with my leg warmers that I made a while ago.  I thought they’d be cute with a pair of jeggins.

4 Hour Sweater

Well, I haven’t finished the sweater yet.  I did buy a sweater on Amazon to wear with my jeggins and leg warmers, so I didn’t feel as rushed to complete this.  Also, new projects popped up and interrupted the completion of this project, so it is now in the WIP pile and may never get completed.  In fact, if I do want to complete it, I may need to frog it and start over from scratch.  And that kind of sucks.

So far here are my observations:

  1. This sweater is taking me way more that 4 hours.  I think I’ve probably spent about 12 hours at least so far to complete one panel.
  2. I hate the Q sized hook.  It is awkward and uncomfortable to use.  In fact my hand would go numb as I was crocheting.
  3. This Q hook is annoying because the yarn does not slide on it.  The yarn keeps getting friction on the plastic hook and is slowing me down a lot.  I’ve tried finding other Q sized hooks but they are not that common, there is not a lot of variety out there to purchase.

I really want to start doing clothes and this looked like a quick and easy pattern to learn on, but perhaps I should switch to her other pattern, Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy Pullover.  This might be a bit easier to learn with.  So I’ll add that to my to-do list, but I have a while till I could probably get to it.

4 Hour Sweater 2

My claw grip and the over-sized Q hook

Christmas of Crochet

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I’m falling behind on my posts. I blame my husband. For Christmas this year he bought me the Lego Ghostbusters Firehouse Headquarters. I’ve been working on it since last week, and I’m still not done! But I love it. I love Legos and this is probably the largest set I’ve ever gotten.

But that’s not all I got for Christmas. I also got lots of Crochet related things, most of which were on my Amazon wish list.

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2018 Resolutions

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My resolution last year, in a way, was to start a crochet blog.  It wasn’t really a resolution, but it was something I had wanted to do for a while.  I finally went through with making it a reality, and I still have a backlog of post ideas to keep me going outside of any current projects I’m working on.

Preview

So it’s time to come up with a crochet related resolution for 2018.  Next year I will complete my big project that I have been planning in my head for about a year now, possibly longer.  The project is a big one, and I know it will probably take me 3 months or so to complete, but I want to make this a reality.  This will be a project that I will design and make myself.  Once I’m done I hope to have my first real pattern available for distribution.

I’m not spilling the beans on what my project is yet.  I’ve purchased all the yarn and I have sketches and rough designs ready to start it.  All I have to do is finish this one hat I am working on for myself, and then I will start it.  No more excuses.

Crickets Infinity Scarf

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After I made a scarf for one of my co-workers for Christmas, I felt a little guilty that I didn’t make a scarf for one of my other co-workers, so I decided to work one up real quick.  I found this free pattern for the Crickets Infinity Scarf by Crochet Cricket.

Crickets Infinity Scarf

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Shark Blankets

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Last year I made these cute little shark blankets for my nephews (one and seven).  These blankets are kind of like those mermaid tail blankets for girls, but they are sharks, so they even cooler than mermaid tails.  For the yarn I used Plymouth Select Worsted Merino Superwash, colorway Charcoal (67), that I picked up at Kid Ewe Knot.

 

Shark Blanket

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Baby Shower Gifts

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My co-worker was expecting earlier this year. So I decided to make her a baby blanket. I didn’t want to make my typical baby blanket that I normally make. I found Zig Zag Puff Stitch Baby Blanket pattern on Pinterest. I decided to use my Maxima yarn by Manos del Uruguay that I bought during Yarnapolooza.

Baby Shower Gifts

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Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival

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I have not been to the Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival yet, but I am definitely going to go next year.  Next year’s event will take place April 6, 7, and 8, 2018 at the David L Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, PA.

Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival

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Little Hats, Big Hearts

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I found out about the Little Hats, Big Hearts campaign by the American Heart Association in connection with The Children’s Heart Foundation.  It is a campaign for babies born in February during American Heart Month to raise awareness about heart health as well as congenital heart defects.  They are asking for knitters and crocheters to make red hats for preemies and newborns to be provided to participating hospitals in February.

Little Hats Big Hearts

They are asking for hat donations or, for those that do not crochet or knit, monetary donations.  Again, all the information is located at their page.

So I bought a skein of red yarn and I’ve made my first hat for the campaign.  I plan to make as many of them as I can out of the skein I bought.  The page I linked to provides some sample patterns, but I preferred this one that I found on Pinterest called the Apple Crisp Newborn Hat from Salty Pearl Crochet.  It’s a quick and easy pattern and I liked the simplicity of it.

I hope everyone that can, participates.  It sounds like a worthwhile project, and I figured I could donate a skein of yarn and some time to the cause.  Hopefully, you can as well, or if not, maybe some money.

 

Croshame is a yarn artist

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I came across this crochet artist from her brilliant version of Krampus, which is no longer for sale at her Etsy shop. I’ve often thought about buying this Krampus for my husband, thankfully the temptation is now gone. But if you spend some time at her Etsy shop, she has lots of unique and interesting crochet that you probably won’t find anywhere else including a severed arm with a Slayer tattoo, an Exorcist playset, a beheaded Lambchop, and a Sid and Nancy set. Photo of Krampus from Croshame.com.

Unfortunately, she doesn’t sell her patterns, only her finished projects, which is fine because I’m not sure if anyone else could do her crochet any justice. I absolutely love it and I would love to have the imagination and talent that she does. I feel if we ever met we’d be fast friends, or I’d be scared to death of her. Hard to tell. But I do admire her talent.

She also has her own blog, which I just became aware of as well. It doesn’t look like she posts often, but I have some catching up to do on whatever she has posted so far.

If you are like me, and you enjoy things that are a bit unusual and out of the norm, you may end up loving Croshame as much as I do. If not, you may be disgusted and terrified. But I hope at least you can appreciate the uniqueness of Croshame.

Teaching Connie to Crochet

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My mom taught me to crochet when I was a little girl, maybe 10, or so? Then in my 20s I picked up one of those learn to crochet kits to refresh my memory. I’ve been crocheting off and on through the years, currently on a two year stint after being inspired by Lucy Ravenscar’s Star Wars Crochet.

My friend Connie wanted to learn how to knit and she wanted to take a class together. I thought, sure sounds like fun. (My mom also taught me how to knit, but it never stuck. She even tried to teach me again last Thanksgiving, but it just doesn’t feel natural after years of crochet.) Anyway, Connie and I are also fans of Harry Potter, so I told her I could teach her how to make this Slytherin Scarf.

She came over and I started to teach her how to chain and how to single crochet (sc). I also taught her how to turn rows. Her grasp was really tight, so I told her to try to keep it loose. I was making my own Ravenclaw Scarf as well while she made her Slytherin Scarf. After a couple of hours I thought she was doing pretty good and we could pick up on changing colors.

Next day, she says she went on YouTube and found a way to hold the yarn that felt better to her. I guess my hold on my hook (claw) and my hold on my yarn (also claw, I guess) is different than what is used out there on YouTube. So she showed me what she learned and it really did help her a lot. She also learned how to change colors. I’m so glad that I was so good at teaching, that my student learned more on YouTube.

Connie ended up making this cute little scarf for her cat, Squeaky Bob. He is the chillest cat ever. He loves his little scarf. She also made a full sized scarf for herself.

Squeaky Bob and his Slytherin Scarf

She recently took a knitting class and has been knitting now. So, to summarize, my first crochet student learned more from YouTube videos and switched to knitting at the first opportunity. And my hook and yarn hold is all off. That is how great I am at being a crochet teacher. Lol

My Ravenclaw Scarf