a distraction..!!

Ok... I was happily working on the entrelac baby blanket and decided I needed a little black shrug to wear over some pretty tank tops. This could only take a day or 2 to crochet. It's so little. So I bought some of what is becoming my favorite thread to crochet with , this time in black. The body of the shrug worked up really fast just as I thought it would. I use the One skein wonder formula from Stefanie Japels' one skein wonder shrug, except I'm crocheting instead of knitting. Basically it's an upside down raglan in crochet. Now all I have to do is decide on an edging to work around all the edges to finish it off... how long could that take.. well I am now 5 days into this shrug and still trying to decide what stitch should I use to finish it off.. I tried a double crochet and didn't like that or the single crochet. Now I'm checking out some knitted rib stitches and think I might like to use knitting to finish it off. Hopefully some time today I will make up my mind. To crochet the body of the shrug I used a size G hook so I'm thinking about a size 4 knitting needle for the edging. For this I will have to make a little swatch to make sure the cotton thread doesn't look to loose. Well here I go.. (^_^)

new projects..

Last week I was pretty sick. It took 4 days of antibiotics before I started to feel better and now I almost feel like myself again. Today I have a day off from work and I plan to do as much resting as possible in between some light house cleaning and some laundry. While I was sick I started this entrelac baby blanket. They yarn is Bernat soy blend. The yarn is very slippery and soft and I'm not sure it's the best choice for this blanket. I probably should have gone down a needle size. The blanket is for my daughter and I let her decide if I should start over with different yarn because I didn't think it was knitting up pretty, but she likes the yarn and said if I used something else it wouldn't be as soft. So even though I don't like how the yarn is working up on these needles and in this pattern I'm going to finish it. A few years back I has taught my daughter how to crochet because she wanted to make a scarf. She picked it up pretty fast. She never did finish the scarf but one of her friends got pregnant and she wanted to crochet some booties. She struggled through but finished the booties and her friend loved them. Now she is expecting baby #2 and wanted to crochet a blanket for her baby. She picked a ripple pattern and is using left over yarn from many other projects. I just happens to all be Vanna's choice. I think she is doing a beautiful job on her first baby blanket. I will be posting both projects as we work on them. (^_^)

not quite right....

I have been under the weather for the last 3 days and had a fever. I finally got to see a doctor yesterday and have been taking antibiotics since yesterday and feel a whole lot better. The thing is.. I was resting, watching movies and crocheting baby stuff while not feeling well..and for some reason I miss a whole lot of rows for the top part of this little night cap.. so the top is unfortunately short. So you ask when did I notice this? Well yesterday and the hat had been finished since the day before so this is how it will stay. My daughter says it's ok.. but she looked at it a little funny. Well the little diaper covers came out perfect so that's a good thing. Today I start on the baby blanket. (^_^)

The finished market bag. I added a row of single crochet around the entire top and handles. It's on the small side but will still stretch to hold quite a bit. We forgot all our shopping bags when we took our weekly trip to whole foods but I was just finishing the handles and had this with me.. so I already used it. Most of the dry goods fit into the bag plus some chocolate..(^_^)




I saw these little diaper covers on etsy in Adrienneengar's shop and thought they were too cute. Of course I had to buy the combo pattern and am attempting the little hat too. When I was working at Michael's craft store I stocked up on the Bernat natural soy yarn when it was discounted so I have a nice selection of baby colors. My daughter likes the light green rather than blue. There just happens to be alot of off white and green so I'll use those colors for the hat and a little sweater and another diaper cover.






There was a little dying going on today. My camera didn't pick up the aqua color very well. The true color has more green in it. I think I will blend this roving with some silk or tencel and card a few batts on the drum carder or I may just spin it as is or I could do both!!

to market to market..

Another market bag is in the works. This is knitting up pretty fast. I knit most of this late afternoon though the evening. The pattern is, It's not easy being green. (ravelry link) The yarn is Lily sugar'n cream stripes and solid white. The pattern is all knitted but I changed the top and handles to crochet by following the knit directions and just doing the same amount of stitches in single crochet and then picking up one stitch in each sc and slipping it on my knitting needle for the body of the bag. I think the crochet handles are little more substantial than the thin knit handles. I also went up a needle size after a few rows. Right now I'm up to the decreases at the bottom.. the home stretch.. I want to finish this asap because tonight is FFxiv beta. I was a lucky one to get an invite to be a beta tester for new Final Fantasy 14 and I actually don't have to work tonight. (^_^)

To the market

Every Friday we make our trip to Whole Foods Market. This one is pretty new and very nice. In the same shopping center there is also a new Michaels Craft store so conveniently located. Speaking of markets.. last night after work I finished my market bag and was very happy with the pattern and finished product. It measures 15"x13".. good size for groceries or clothing or a big knitting project. Little by little I hope to make more maybe different patterns for variety. (^_^)

Pretty green market bag

The Provence Summer string bag. I started this 2 days ago and hope to finish it today. The pattern can be found here. This bag is so pretty. I want to use it as my every day shopping bag. The yarn I'm using is pretty old and from my stash. Years and years ago I worked in a knit/craft store in NY and we sold some very nice yarns for the times. This is some that I have stashed away for many years. It's Phildar coton d'egypte 4 1/2. 100% cotton. I have used this for some tops and other items in the past. It's very soft and silky and doesn't pill. Hopefully my bag will last a long time. I used the 4 balls of green for the body and would like to make 2 more rows in the pattern but I don't think there will be enough green for the treble row. That means if I want to add more rows I'll have to use the natural color for a couple of pattern rows and then use the rest of the green for the handle. Yes I think that will work..!!
Today is Friday and we usually go to Whole Foods to shop and eat some of their delicious food from the salad bar. This Whole Foods has a large cold and a hot food bar and of course I have to get a Reed's Ginger Brew. Yummm.

Sugar..brown sugar..

Sugar is finished. I finished it on the 4th of July after work. I finally got to tuck the ends in and wash it yesterday. I really like how it turned out and I think it is perfect for our Florida weather. I probably will use towards the end of the summer when it gets cool at night. As I mentioned in a previous post the Pattern is in spanish. My spanish is very limited so I copied the web page to the google translator and translated it from Spanish to English. Not all the words were correct and I ended up just counting the stitches on the pictures.
The pattern : Brown sugar
The yarn: Royale fashion crochet thread 6 balls
Hook size: G

wow.. it's July!!

Well it is now July and I haven't posted in over a week. I have been working on this crochet cardi wrap which I am now a few rows away from completing the body portion. Next will be the sleeves and then the edging. Even with the translating the pattern is pretty straight forward. I feel like I kind of made a mess of it. I didn't have my glasses with me when I purchased the yarn and the 2 numbers I saw on the label matched. After I had quite a bit of this done I realized that they were 2 different dye lots. The whole back is lighter than the fronts. ;_; I could have also skipped one more double crochet for the armholes. They fit but just and could have been a little bigger. I'm not sure of the yarn weight used in the pattern and used what is about a sport weight. I think a little heavier would have been better. Now I know for the next time. This will grow once I block it so I think the size should be fine. I'm on the hunt for a nice wood shawl pin to add the finishing touch and hope to find one before this is finished.
Other projects I'm working on : I'm still spinning the roving I purchased in New Mexico and have been cleaning out closets and stuff in the house which has been eating up a lot of my time. But it sure does feel good !!