Close to my Heart

Going Green

A few weeks ago, I decided that I needed to reduce the number of plastic grocery bags we use.  I have a couple nice commercially produced bags and I've been leaving them in the car to take into the store.  Rather than buy more of these bags, I thought that I might as well use some of my stash yarn to make my own bags.  Here's a few that I've come up with:

Bag 1, 3 and 4 are all crocheted with the same pattern (Ravelry link here).  The pink bag is actually knit, using this pattern.  Of course the knitted bag took substantially longer to make, so I am now sticking to crocheting these market bags.  They work up quickly, and I think would make great gifts.   Of course I've moved on from just using stash yarn and am now purchasing more Bernat Handicrafter Cotton to make more bags.  I think they would make fabulous gifts as well, and actually started one to give to my MIL as part of her Mother's Day gift:

Spinning is continuing as well, and I'm fairly happy with my progress.  My next post will probably be a spinning update.  For now though, I think I want to go work on my Adamas shawl before embarking on last day off chores and errands.

Another day, another bag

Well I did manage to finish Oh so cute bag #2 in time for the deadline over at the Summer KAL CAL.  This bag actually took only four hours or so to crochet, from start to finish.  I don't think I'll ever knit a felted bag again!  And Patons SWS yarn is wonderful, why oh why didn't I buy more when I was down at Michael's last week and found it on sale?  It's an hour and a half away, and although I'm down again next week for work, the sale will likely have ended by then!

The bag is more pink than the red it appears in the picture.  Crappy long weekend weather so I haven't been able to go outside to get a decent picture.  In the background you can see the first Christmas cards I've created this year.  I've been working hard on product for my neglected Etsy store.   The cards will probably be up later today.  I've already added more Knitter's Gift tags, as well as this cute Knitabella Card.  When this stamp first came out, I knew that it must be mine.  I picked it up at my LSS earlier this week, and couldn't wait to create with it.

Off now to do some mundane household chores so that I can get crafting again!

Oh so cute

Well this turned out to be a quick and fun project, the oh so cute bag:

Crochet pattern for this bag can be found here.  Yarn is Patons SWS in the Natural Earth colourway, and took 3 balls.  The only slight change I made to the pattern was adding four extra rows to the straight section.  I'm really pleased with how it turned out and am seriously contemplating another bag, if only I could decide on a colourway.  It would make a great item to add to the gift stash, after all, Christmas is less than four months away now (gasp!).

Notice in the background Joe's latest WIP, his fish pond.  The waterfall in the top left corner of the picture is the latest addition.  He has to finish the fence (a project that has actually taken much longer than the actual fish pond) and then will do some landscaping to cover the black rubber that is the insert.  Joe has wanted a fish pond forever, and I think we are really going to enjoy this.  We will have a patio on one end, which will be great to sit on and relax with the fiber or book, and enjoy the tranquil setting. The pond can also be viewed from our living room window.

Happy Mother's Day

Now that my Mother has opened her gift, I can show you what I was working on last month without ever showing it to you here.  Remember my purple crochet shell?  I decided to make one for my Mom, in her favourite colour:

I delivered the gift last time I was in Nanaimo, so didn't see my mother today.  I did however call to wish her a Happy Mother's Day.  Not real sure how much she liked this sweater, although she did seem to appreciate the effort.  I also gave her this co-ordinating pendant from Ling Glass Etsy Shop.  Great seller and nice person who I will definitely be buying from again.

Of course the cards for both my own mother and my mother-in-law were handmade, and you can see them here.

My wrist has been bothering me a bit lately, so I've been spending a lot more time papercrafting than knitting.  I did however get a good start on the pinwheel sweater, and am enjoying it a lot.  Unfortunately, my wrist is not enjoying it quite as much so I have to be careful not to overdo it.  I think tonight I'll work on the Monkey socks instead.

Papercrafting has been taking a lot more of my time lately.  I will be posting over at Island Crafts much more regularly in the week ahead than I will be here, so please subscribe if you are interested.  There is a Bloglines Subscribe Button there for you.  It's lonely talking to myself and my three subscribers!

Purple Crochet

The little purple crochet sweater was indeed completed in just over a week's stitching:
It was quite gratifying to work up something so quickly.  I don't think it is the nicest or the most flattering item I've ever made, but I'm still happy with it.  It's blocked, and all that remains is sewing on the button and flower.  I wasn't sure if I'd want the flower at first, but placed on the sweater, I like how it looks and will indeed fasten it to the sweater.  Here's a clickable close-up of the flower:

Eventually I'll get a modelled shot to show you.  For now, it's far too cold to wear this item, plus I need to get some sort of tank or tee to wear underneath.

In the meantime, I've already started a second one of these sweaters that will be given as a gift.  The back is about 15 minutes away from completion.  Tension, sizing, and hook size worked out with the first, it's going quite quickly.

The next few days are very busy for me both work wise and personally.  I'll be back on the other side of the weekend.

Crochet Roots

In my crafting life, crochet was the first medium that I ever tried.  I think I was about 7 or 8 when I first learned to crochet, taught by an elementary school teacher.  That was the Seventies, and I remember making such things as granny square vests and purses.  I had to laugh when I recently noticed how the Ripple Afghan was making such a comeback as if it was something fabulous and new, that too was one of my very early crochet projects.

I have however been neglecting my crochet roots since the knitting bug hit me a few years ago.  The little sweater I'm currently hooking is the first crochet project I've done in almost a year.  I'm thrilled to see this year that there are more and more wonderful wearable crochet patterns available.  Other things I like about crochet are that it is quicker than knitting (the back of the sweater was created in relatively little knitting time, only slowed down by frogging to account for gauge issues), and the fronts will go even quicker.  All going well, I'll have a new garment in about a week after starting.  Additionally, frogging is much more painless than it is in knitting.

I don't understand the competition between knitting and crocheting.  A lot of knitters look upon crochet with scorn. Avid crocheter Vera has talked about this quite a bit on her blog over the last couple years (who can forget her "Let's Get Along" Socks), and I always really enjoyed those posts.  I'm glad that crochet is becoming more popular.  And I'm happy that I'm finally returning to my crochet roots.  Look for much more crochet here in the coming weeks and months.

Baby Gift

I had a fairly productive weekend.  The Christmas cards that needed to be mailed are gone.  I made more cards to give to some co-workers I'll be seeing tomorrow.  And then I took a break from Christmas preparation to make up a quick baby gift.  This is for someone I don't know well enough to go to the effort of a blanket or sweater, but did want to acknowledge the birth of their new son.  I apologize for the crappy pictures; it's a dark ugly day here but the items needed to be photographed today so that they can be delivered.  Here's what I ended up with:

Cute hat and sock set knit with Shelley's pattern here, and the Bravo Baby yarn I purchased at Fun Knits last week.  Love this yarn, it's nice and soft and I'd definitely recommend it for a sweater or other larger baby project.

A little pair of socks using leftover sock yarn.  I was hoping there'd be enough yarn for a hat, but no such luck.  Again using Shelley's pattern.

And finally, I pulled out my dusty crochet hook and made this little bib from Bernat Cot'n Soft:

Some of you crocheters out there might remember Priscilla's Crochet.   A few years back, she had some of the best crochet patterns on the web, then seemed to disappear. Her website is still up though (just hasn't been updated for several years), and the listing of her patterns is here.  This is the bib pattern I used.

I'm coming off vacation for a day, tomorrow.  I had to work one day this month, and tomorrow is it.  I'll be attending an out of town meeting, then spending a couple days at my parents.  I'll hopefully finish my Christmas shopping as well.

See you sometime towards the end of the week.  Hopefully I'll be feeling much more prepared for Christmas (which is approaching far too quickly as far as I'm concerned) and will also have Joe's finished Christmas gift socks to show you.  Oh, and the Widdershins pattern?  Brilliant!

Blue and Green*

This picture was taken about an hour ago. 

Much nicer than last week's overcast Saturday Sky.  The weather is however looking somewhat iffy since the photo was taken.  I'm contemplating a trip over to Fun Knits this afternoon, but we'll see how the weather looks in the next hour or so.  Visiting my LYS involves a short ferry trip and an approximately 10 minute walk to the store.

I finished the crochet baby blanket last night:

If you'd like to see a close-up of the stitch pattern click here.  I used the Teardrop pattern, which   I've made many times over the years.  I did not however enjoy making this blanket at all.  I used Bernat Baby Boucle, which I absolutely hated.  It does not glide well over the crochet hook, and it was hard on my hands as well.  Never again!  I'm just relieved that this thing is done, and I can concentrate on more enjoyable proejcts.

*Grasping at straws for a post title.  The Blue of course refers to the sky and the blue and the blanket.  The Green is the trees framing the sky picture, and the green in the blanket.  I think that coming up with a title is the hardest part of the whole post!

One Day Late

June was such a busy month for me that both knitting and blogging were very mininmal, and so my Project Spectrum blue knitting post is a day late.

I've been trying to knit a pair of socks each month in the PS colour.  The June socks were knitted out of a new yarn so kindly gifted to me by Shelley at Fun Knits, my awesome LYS that I haven't visited in too long.  The yarn is Gedifra Fashion Trend Sportivo, and I used colourway number 5763.  The yarn seems thicker on first examination, but knits up like any sock weight yarn.  There is a bit of elastic to it, and as a result, I think these will be very comfortable socks.  There is a strand of blue throughout the yarn, and some subtle change in the other colour.  Here they are, first on my feet:

And another picture on the grass, so you can better see the pretty colours:

To see other colours of this yarn and to purchase your own, you can visit the Fun Knits Web Store here.

Another June Blue project was something you haven't seen on this blog for a LONG time, crochet.  A co-worker had a baby boy a few weeks ago, and I always make the new baby a blanket. 

I'm using Bernat Baby Boucle, and the Teardrop pattern.  Not really enjoying the yarn at all (its hard on my hands), so am taking my time.  No shower scheduled yet, so I'm not in any rush.  It's just over one-quarter done, so it shouldn't be difficult to finish once the shower date is announced.

Phew, now I finally feel caught up.  July should be a lot quieter for me (I hope) so hopefully more regular posting will resume.  And it's PURPLE month, my favourite colour, and I'm really looking forward to some new PURPLE projects.

In the meantime:

Hope all my fellow Canadians are having a great Canada Day!

First FO of the New Year

Not much knitting or crocheting happening here this weekend.  I've wasted lots of time trying to figure out my new cell phone.  My contacts are all added, now if I could only figure out how to get a picture from the phone to the computer I'd be happy.  I've followed all the instructions with no luck, so I guess I'll have to go back to the store for assistance. 

After years of all our photos being digital rather than in an album, last year I decided to have my favourite images printed in order to keep an album again.  I still need to write the captions, and am motivated to do that soon.  The other day, I decided that I should also make an album of (most) of my knitting and crocheting projects in the time I've been blogging.  I took advantage of a 2 for 1 print sale, and the said prints are now in a pretty pink album.  They need labelling too.

In between loads of laundry today, I did manage to pull out Eris and picked up the stitches around the collar, and knit a couple rows.  I'm a little confused about the raglan shaping, and need to have a closer look on the pattern.  Last night though, I decided I needed an instant gratification project.  I pulled out some Patons Divine that had been in my stash for a couple of years, and the last issue of Interweave Knits Crochet.  I crocheted the Ruffle Scarf on the cover, and between last night and today, it only took 3 or 4 hours.  I decreased the number of stitches in the pattern by 20, but it's still quite huge.  It will keep my neck warm if our mild rainy weather ever ends and the less depressing clear sunny days return.

Busy week ahead, and not sure if I'll have a chance to post much.  Hope you have a wonderful week!