Holy crap, two posts in one day? *is ded*

Lest my blog become solely a book review blog–not that there’s anything wrong with that, but once upon a time [before Twitter], I actually blogged several times a week!–here are a couple things I’ve knit and crocheted recently I’m sooo bad about taking pics and updating Flickr, but I’m trying to get better about that!

Genie the Ghost [Chicken] @ Ravelry
ok, Halloween is over, but I made this before Halloween–I wanted to make something cute, and I saw this Lion Brand pattern called Genie the Ghost, and thought it would be perfect. But after I crocheted and stuffed it, it ended up looking like this.

That’s supposed to be a ghost, not a chicken! I seriously think it looks like a chicken…I think it’s the arms, which maybe I overstuffed, so that they look more like wings, in my opinion. Also, the pointy head looks very chicken-like to me. I don’t know, but I still think it’s kind of cute, so I don’t want to frog him. I am, however, referring to him as Genie the Ghost / Ghost Chicken / Michelin Man, because he’s so awesome that he can’t be confined to just one name. That, and my amigurumi stuffing skills are questionable.

Also, it’s probably just me, but embroidering the eyes was a pain in the butt. I didn’t have any safety eyes, so I had to embroider them with yarn, and it took me way longer than it should have. I have since bought some safety eyes from Etsy, so future amigurumi should look better. Their eyes will, anyway.

Amanda Hat @ Ravelry
Here come the hats! I really love making them because they’re so small and provide instant gratification…they’re not long-term projects [that never get finished, ha] like lace shawls. This is the Amanda Hat, which I had made previously in Manos del Uruguay wool. However, my gauge was way off and the hat turned out huge, which is a rarity for me because I have a really, really large head. I still haven’t frogged the first attempt, but I figured I’d give the pattern another try, this time in Malabrigo Worsted. Success! It fits and it’s so soft and cozy. I went down a needle size (the pattern calls for US 9, I believe) in order to compensate for my gauge issues with this stitch pattern. I really like how this turned out.

Flyflap Cap @ Ravelry
This is the first earflap hat I’ve made for myself. It’s crochet, and therefore works up quickly–I think I made this is less than a day. My search for a pattern was prompted by M, who was watching Project Runway with me one day and saw one of the male designers (I can’t remember who) wearing a camouflage earflap hat. He asked if I could make him one, which I did (but still need to get a pic of). Then I made this for myself. I looked in my stash, and decided to use Plymouth Boku. It striped up nicely and has a rustic look and feel. The only modification I had to make was on the earflaps–originally, they were too close to the back of my head, so I eliminated one set of decreases and that fixed it. I have one ball left in stash, so I might make some matching mitts or something.

Pretty Puffs Slouchy Hat @ Ravelry
Another crochet item, I made one of these for kc’s birthday in September. I also made this one for me. It’s meant to be worn high on the head, but I think I might pull mine down and wear it as a normal hat. Either way, it’s a very cute pattern.

I actually used the same yarn called for in the pattern, Lion Brand Cashmere Blend. I’d had that yarn in my stash for years (since New Mexico), and I still have two balls left, so I’ll probably make a matching cowl or mitts. I really love this yarn–it’s so soft and smooth to work with. I wouldn’t mind making this again–I used a different yarn for kc’s (Berroco Pure Merino), and the pattern looks great in both yarns.

Lucy in the Sky Cardigan @ Ravelry
meh…this cardigan. I went into detail on my Ravelry page, but if a project is a hit or a miss, I think this one is a hit on looks but a miss on design and comfort. It fits me–and looks pretty nice–but it’s not very comfortable after I’ve worn it for a while. The yoke just sits weird on my shoulders, like it’s about to fall off. I like the sleeves, but I wish I had made the body longer. And I really hated that it was knit from the bottom up. I like top-down raglans way better after having knit this. What really frustrated me, though, was the way the pattern was written. At one point toward the end when I was on the yoke, the instructions made no sense to me and I had to search for threads on Ravelry for clarification. I found what I needed, but I think the pattern should have been easier to understand. I’m not a master knitter, but I’m not a beginner either, and the pattern had me so frustrated, I wanted to kick it. Anyway, I won’t be knitting this again and I don’t really enjoy wearing it, sadly. When I do wear it, it’s really warm, so that’s something nice about it, at least.

I’ve got more projects on the needles/hooks at the moment, as well as a few more FOs that I haven’t taken pics of yet. I’ll post those soon!

Inga’s Haekelbeutel (Inga’s Crocheted Bag)
@ Ravelry

So I made a granny square bag. It was very fun during the actual crocheting process of 16 very easy granny squares. I finished them in two evenings. I used Patons Classic Wool, which I’d never worked with before. It has a great feel–probably comparable to Knit Picks Wool of the Andes, which I also like–and was readily available (found it at my local Michaels craft store). Not a bad price, either!

The pattern is quite easy, but I made it hard for myself because I am obsessive sometimes, and wanted the color placement to be exact. (See pic: purple-green-multi-multi-multi-green-purple-multi.) Due to the construction of the bag (this awkward “four strips” thing), I had to deviate from the pattern and connect them my own way. I basically just laid the squares out on both sides to look like the picture, then single crocheted the edges together. In doing this, though, I narrowed the bottom of the bag and only ended up using 13 out of 16 squares. (I saved the extras and plan to use them as coasters.)

I think it would have been easier to follow the pattern, but my brain SO does not think in geometric patterns, so the construction just was not making sense. I’m sure someone more clever and spatially-oriented could have found a way to use the strips method and still get the colors in the right places, but I just couldn’t sort it out. I don’t plan on lining the bag, and I decided to use only one strap as opposed to two, so its contents will have to be limited to lighter-weight items.

Despite all my gripes about the construction, the finished bag turned out the way I wanted and I really like the way it looks! I just don’t know if I would make this a second time.

In other crochet news:

Crochet Noro Scarf @ Ravelry

I can’t complain about this pattern, since I didn’t use a pattern! I had two balls of Noro Silk Garden Lite, so I crocheted a lengthwise scarf. My foundation chain was either 175 or 200 stitches–I can’t remember for sure which–and I just did double crochet until I ran out of yarn. I *love* the blues in this yarn, but the brown bits were yucky, so I cut those sections out. I’ve worked with Noro in the past, and as much as I love the colorways, I don’t think I’ll work with it again anytime soon; the twigginess and weird stretches of color got on my nerves. In fact, after working with this, I went searching for some possible Noro alternatives, which led to purchases of yarns such as Plymouth Boku and Universal Classic Shades. While these other yarns don’t have the same feel/fiber content of Noro, they do mimic the color transitions, which is the main thing I’m looking for.

I’ve definitely been on a crochet kick, as you can see–so now I’m off to look in my Ravelry queue for something new to cast on and knit.

@ Ravelry

I crocheted these amigurumi owls for kc, who has received them, so now I can post this photo!

These were so fun to make! Although I learned to crochet for granny squares, amigurumi are probably the second reason I learned crochet. I had a bit of a false start due to not knowing how to crochet in the round without creating a seam–so the mama owl here is actually my second attempt and looks way better than the first.

I had trouble finding safety eyes (as recommended in the book) locally, and at the time I didn’t think of getting them online (where I’ve since learned they are plentiful), so I used shiny black buttons for the eyes. I was definitely having Coraline flashbacks while sewing them on, though. (”Black is traditional!”)

The pattern is Baby Owl and Her Mommy from Amigurumi World: Seriously Cute Crochet. I used Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice in Beige (body), Chocolate (head), Honey (eyes), and Rust (beak). I do like the color selection of this yarn line (all jokes about Wheel of Fortune aside, hehe), and the yarn is quite soft. However, I found it splitty for crochet. But it could just be the way I crochet, as my tension seems somewhat loose. I used a US G/6 (4mm) hook, polyester fiberfill for stuffing, and the buttons came from a random bag o’ buttons that I got from Michaels craft store.

These were so very fun, and I definitely plan to make more in the future.

I realized that the majority of my posts have been about reading, so here’s a knitting and crochet update. I recently finished Bella’s Mittens:

@ Ravelry

Of course I didn’t plan my timing of this project very well, and spring quickly arrived not long after I finished these. But at least I got to wear them a couple times when it was still cold out. Yarn is Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Bulky in Pewter, knit on size US 8 dpns.

I only used about 1.5 skeins of yarn, so after I finished these, I made a Bella’s Hat to match:

@ Ravelry

It fits pretty snugly–not too tight but tighter than I normally make my hats. The cables pull in quite a bit. Also I have a rather large head. These are pretty cool because I now have a matching hat/gloves set.

I also started crocheting again after kc sent me a link to Attic24, which has some really fantastic crochet/granny square/hexagon tutorials. I started a granny square blanket using the Summer Garden Granny Square pattern:

I’m using Plymouth Encore worsted in red, green, blue, and light purple. I also have a skein of black, which I might use at the end as a border around the whole thing.

As if the 52 in 52 challenge wasn’t enough…now I’ve set out to be super crafty in 2009.

Happy new year!

Easy Ripple Afghan – my Ravelry project page

I finished my first crochet project! I’m so proud. This is a Christmas gift for M’s mom, who I think will love it and get a lot of use out of it. Now I want to make one for myself!

I am so stoked over the fact that I can now crochet, yay! hehe

Yarn is Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick in Fig (4 balls) & Cilantro (5 balls). Hook used is Size P (11.5 mm). Finished size is approx. 45″ W x 60″ L.

Now that I seem to have figured out the basics of crochet, I started the Easy Ripple Afghan for M’s mom. I’m hoping to have it finished before the holidays. I’ve done about a foot and a half so far.

I really like crochet…it works up so quickly, and is easy now that I know what I’m doing

Yarn is Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick in Fig (purple) and Cilantro (green) on a size P (11.5 mm) hook.