Belated Christmas

I started working on this ornament the end of November, finished the main pieces in the beginning of December, then stalled. I didn't have any large beads for the finishing touches so it never made it to our Christmas tree! While sorting through my current projects last week I found it, added the buttons and recently acquired beads, and stuffed it! I'm hoping to make a few more of these over the next few months to have a nice batch for this coming Christmas! The pattern can be found over at Attic24. Super easy!

Local Yarn Shop Tour 2010

This past Thursday through Sunday was the yarn shop hop in Western Washington. I participated last year, making it to 13 stores. This year, Baby Luce wasn't as excited about visiting yarn shops as I was, even though I promised to find things to make for him/her. I managed to make it to 4 on Thursday, and Tom drove me to 3 more before church on Sunday. There were a few more I would like have made it to, but they were all a significant drive. Making it to my favorite local ones ended up working well! The patterns the shops gave out this year (each shop creates a free one skein project and discounts the yarn they use) were not as impressive as last year. However, I did end up with a super cute crocheted scarf pattern to try.

I found a few projects to start working on in the near future. I'll post again as I finish them, but for now here are the ideas.

This yarn is for a little baby hat. If Baby Luce is a boy, then this hat will have to be a gift for someone else.

I've also recently started following the Spud & Chloë blog and keeping an eye out for their cute patterns and yarn. Hilltop Yarns East in Bellevue happened to have them! The yarn was even their project discounted variety. I picked out this cute polar bear pattern and some blue yarn to make the middle sized teddy out of.

Main Street Yarn in Mill Creek had quite a few samples of baby sweaters knit and displayed around their shop. One of my favorites is found in Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitter's Almanac, which I bought for a good deal.

Lastly I found this un-spun wool at Acorn Street Yarn in Seattle. I've been looking for some for a while to use with Wool Pets, a book my sister got me for Christmas!

String of Hearts

I started working on this string of hearts about 2 weeks ago. I got the idea when I saw one similarly made with crochet snowflakes before Christmas. I made the snowflakes, but didn't have time to get them strung so they're tucked away for next year! I found this crochet heart tutorial, printed it out, and started working away. I used a variety of hook sizes and yarns. Once I had the pattern down, I could make a heart in about 20 minutes!

Crochet Baby Blanket

About 6 months ago my best friend told me she was pregnant. I knew I wanted to make something special for her, but didn't know how long a crocheted blanket would take, what colors to use (boy or girl?), or even if I could follow a pattern all the way through successfully. I found a pattern I loved in the Spring 2009 issue of Interweave Crochet and some super soft recycled cotton yarn at Ben Franklin that looked perfect. I figured I could start the project with sage green, brown, and cream colored yarns, then add either a blue or pink border later.

As I started the project I made several trips to the local yarn store in Bellevue. They helped me learn how to form Tunisian stitches and showed me what a Tunisian needle is. The stitches ended up being easier than I had expected, almost like knitting with just one needle.

About two weeks ago I had all six star sections completed and began reading about stitching the chunks together and learning how to block. I didn't really think that blocking would help my pieces all fit together, but I was so wrong! Due to stretching while I was making them, the pieces were all slightly different lengths. Once I had them all flat on the table, I squirted the edges with water so they would stretch or shrink a little as I needed, then I pinned them all in place to dry.

I finished the blanket the night before the baby shower, perfect timing!

The Icarus Scarf

I've finally finished this crocheted scarf! It turned out to be an easy project that I could carry with me to work on whenever I had a minute or just wanted to enjoy the sun.

The Icarus Scarf pattern came from The Purl Bee. I didn't use the silk yarn she did, but I managed to find some decent (and 75% less expensive) yarn at Hilltop Yarns in Bellevue. I used a size G, 4.00mm hook and it came out great!

Of course my kitties had to involve themselves somehow, so they managed to keep the yarn on the swift for me as I converted it into balls. However, the fast spinning motion made them all squinty.

Yarn Shop Hop

Today I visited 9 Seattle area yarn shops as part of the 2009 Local Yarn Shop Hop! I started out close to home in Lake Forest Park, wandered through Seattle, and then back to the Eastside for Bellevue and Issaquah. In the process I explored Phinney Ridge, Wallingford Center, and the Madison Park area; all places I'd never been! It was a challenge to read directions and try to drive at the same time, but it ended well. 

At each participating shop (there are 23!) I received a free crochet and/or knitting pattern for a one skein project. The shops had the yarn they used for their projects on sale, along with daily drawings in each shop. It was fun to see the variety of projects and familiarize myself with some new favorite stores! The free patterns I brought home include, a felted tea cozy (I always thought they were cheesy until I saw this one), several scarves, fingerless mittens, a stuffed octopus, a child's side button sweater, a market bag, and a beret. I think I'm going back to get the yarn for the tea pot cozy tomorrow, and I bought the yarn for the fingerless mittens. 

These bright yarns are for this scarf pattern. 

This is the yarn and tiny #2 sized needles for the fingerless mittens (pattern from Cultured Purls in Issaquah).

I got this yarn to make a baby hat with for an upcoming baby shower.

Here are the shops I visited and my thoughts on them:

1. Village Tea & Yarn, Shoreline - I loved this shop! It was elegant and cheery, plus they serve tea!
2. The Fiber Gallery, Phinney Ridge - This store didn't float my boat. It was a little to homespun and cold for me. 
3. Full Circle Yarn, Ballard - Probably the bottom on my list. Cluttery and old patterns. 
4. Bad Woman Yarn, Wallingford - Loved this one! It was packed full of great yarns and patterns, and the folks running the shop were very helpful and cheery. Lots of crochet patterns.
5. The Weaving Works, U District - Didn't love it or hate it. A large portion of their shop is dedicated to weaving, spinning, and dyeing. 
6. Acorn Street Shop, Ravenna - Didn't love or hate this one either. They have a lot of yarn, and quite a few patterns, but not much for crocheters. 
7. Tricoter Knitting Specialists, Madison Park - This was a nice shop, but very pricey. Most of their yarns were in the $15 - $60 range! Again, not much for someone who crochets.
8. Hilltop Yarn East, Bellevue - I still love this shop! They have a good price range in yarns, and their market bag pattern looks amazing!
9. Cultured Purls, Issaquah - This was also a nice shop, however not many crochet patterns. 

The Scarf is Finished!

I spent most of the day yesterday trying to get this scarf finished! I ended up with a cramped hand, but I'm happy with the outcome. Although the sample picture I was working from showed tassels, I decided to leave them off because I'm not a huge fan of them, plus I know my kitties would have a hay-day if I added them.

Granny Scarf

When I was about 10 my Grandmother taught me how to do the chain crochet stitch. My brother and sister and I spent many hours one summer making yards and yards of chain jump ropes, cat's cradle loops, and doll hair bows. Since then, I hadn't done more crocheting until I found a magazine at Wal-Mart last fall called Interweave Crochet. There are so many cute projects in it! I decided I'd better start with something easy, so I chose an afghan pattern that uses a bunch of circles all stitched together. I had a hard time understanding the directions, but my friend Heather was able to help me out over tea one day. That project it going to take a LOT of circles, so I'm working on it in between other things.  Oh yes, crochet is far easier than knitting! For Christmas, Tom's parents gave me a book called Teach Yourself Visually Crocheting. It is the best how-to guide I've found so far with pictures (the way I best learn things!) and a multitude of stitch patterns and techniques. 

In January, I went to the Lucky Brand outlet store in Marysville and fell in love with this scarf! I used to think that Granny Squares were cheesy looking, but then I realized that didn't have to be the case. It just depends on the colors! This scarf has mini Granny Squares in fun colors, and I thought it would be fun to try to duplicate. I took a phone picture... yes, that's why it's fuzzy. Then my next adventure began. How does one make a Granny Square? I googled around and found a hat pattern that may have worked, and a pattern in a book called The Cool Girls Guide to Crochet that Heather had given me for Christmas. It had a super cute pattern for a Granny Square scarf, but the squares were bigger than I would have liked. I again had trouble understanding the pattern lingo, so Rebecca and I met for a coffee and crochet date at Cafe Ladro, and she helped me struggle through the pattern in the book. I came

 away with a good idea of what I wanted and how to read the stitch abbreviations! I then spent a little more time googling, and found an amazing tutorial at the Purl Bee.  

I have now made about 30 mini Granny Squares using random yarns I've found in bright colors, using rounds 1 and 2. I'm just starting round 3 now, which will be my final round, in a taupe colored cotton yarn. I'll post a picture of the completed project soon hopefully!