Sew I See!

About the beginning of July, I decided to try to make something from some of the novelty yarn I’d bought (on clearance) before I really knew how to crochet.  Using the knitting loom, eyelash yarns could sometimes take a little extra patience, but it wasn't that bad.  However, it turns out that fluffy novelty yarn is kind of a nightmare to crochet with. (g) It was nearly impossible for me to see for sure where to insert the hook, so I just did my best. (I could feel where to put the hook more than I could see it.) On the plus side, the yarn is so fluffy that you can’t really see if you make minor mistakes. It’s pretty forgiving. I made really simple granny squares-- just three rounds per square, counting the starting chain loop. When I had enough, I crocheted them together along the back. Because this is going to be a cushion cover, I didn’t even bother weaving in all my loose ends. I figure I can just keep them pushed to the back. (Yeah, I’m a little lazy. (g)) All I ha...

This is the bookmark I mentioned the last time I wrote here (which was, um, way too long ago-- sorry!)... ...And here's a bit of a close-up: I also made a second version without the flower "tassel", which I think looked just as good (if not better). I've written before that I didn't like variegated yarn/thread as much as plain-colored thread and yarn. For that most part, that still holds true, but in the meantime I've learned that there are some patterns that look nice with variegation.  This Queen Anne's Lace-style stitching, for instance.  It was fun to watch the colors change while I crocheted-- and of course (because I didn't start at the same place in the color sequence in the thread), the two bookmarks ended up looking slightly different.  (This was also fun!) So don't count me out on variegation altogether.  ;o)

I've been a bad blogger again. Let's see... What have I been doing (craftwise), since last time... ? I tried knitting. The casting-on part (long-tail cast-on) was ok, once I knew exactly what I was supposed to do, but the first row after that was awful. Trying to get the needles to do what I wanted-- ugh, it filled me with disgust, even though I tried to remember that when I first started crocheting, the crochet hook didn't immediately bend to my will, either. I think part of the problem may have been the yarn I was using. It was a partial skein I had only because it was bundled with some other yarn I wanted to buy at a thrift store. It was nasty, nasty stuff (and I use almost only acrylics when I crochet, so if I say it's nasty, you may believe me that it was). Scratchy, catchy, yuck. Next time-- assuming there is a next time-- I'll use something a little nicer, even if whatever I make is likely to turn out ugly because I'm a rank amateur. I suppos...

I'm in a funny mood tonight.  I can't seem to settle to anything, so why not blog a little instead? Craft-wise, I've remained focused on the Flower Garden Hexagon Afghan, adding to it one hexagon at a time.  I'm not sure how many I have at this point.  (Donald could probably guess closer to the total than I could, because he tends to count the motifs every day or two, when he happens to see the afghan all spread out.)  I think I'm making decent progress, though, and I'll try to post new photos soon.  It's not destined to be a big blanket.  I think I'd rather have something smaller, and I think that by the time I get a decent-sized small blanket, I'll probably be about ready to move on to something different.  I'm aiming toward something between a lapghan and twin-bed-size.  Something large enough to cover up with on the couch in the winter, without your toes poking out at the bottom, but not so big and heavy that it's awkward.  Every no...

I saw this video on Sarah London's blog this morning and thought it was worth saving here on my own blog. As a post-knitting-boom crocheter who doesn't know how to knit (and probably won't try to learn for quite some time, simply because I'd rather use the time crocheting at an intermediate level than starting from scratch with a new craft), I must admit that I have at times felt that there has been. . . not quite a stigma against crochet. . . but definitely that it's not nearly as widespread or (sometimes) as deeply appreciated as knitting.  It's the old story of the apologetic "I only crochet".  (Of course, that's not always been the case.  A nice lady in a thrift shop, as she helped ring up my purchase of yarn, asked if I was going to knit with it.  When I responded that I crochet, she said that she'd always wanted to know how to crochet, but that she could "only" knit.)  Anyway, this video gave me a laugh, and whether you ...

It's a little bit of late notice, but you still have about a day to enter a fun "giveaway extravaganza" over at Scotty's Place .  The blogger-- Pammy Sue-- is celebrating her fourth blogiversary with five bundles of craft books (mostly crochet, but also a couple of sewing books, if that's more your interest).  Five bundles means five different winners!  Hop over to this post to read all the details on how to enter. Blog giveaways always seem like so much fun.  I ought to do one of my own, someday. . . (Maybe on my polymer clay blog , though, assuming I ever actually start blogging there again. . .) ETA:  Seems I was mistaken about the lateness of this post! You actually have until midnight today to enter the giveaway.

Even though the first time I blogged about this afghan (in detail) was earlier this morning (thanks to that accidental "save" instead of "publish" click), I'm back with an update.  (Maybe I should do all my blogging this way.  Makes me look a lot faster than I actually am.) I've been working on the hexagon afghan (which I'm called the Flower Garden Hexagon Afghan, because all those colorful hexagons remind me of, well, a flower garden) for a week or two, now, since starting it over again.  I'm not making lightning-speed progress, but it's growing a little at a time-- usually by at least two or three hexagons every day or two. Here's my progress so far, looking a little blurry because there wasn't quite enough light (and I didn't want to use the flash): And another couple views, for good measure. . . And then just one more in direct light from a window (thus the shadowy bars across it). . . Just don't look on the bac...

While doing some blog housekeeping, I just came across this old entry that (apparently) I never got around to publishing.  I could've sworn I'd clicked "publish", but nope.  There it was, marked "draft". Oops!  I'll just publish it now, even though it's from 'way before I started the Procrastination Afghan... It wasn't so long ago that the thought of crocheting an afghan would have elicited a "But why would you ever want to do that ?" type of response from me.  The investment of time such a project requires was the most obvious deterrent, then there's the fact that you can buy a finished blanket more cheaply than the amount of yarn it takes to crochet your own.  Where was the appeal? This, of course, was before I'd been bitten by the crochet bug.  Now it makes perfect sense.  It's about the process of making the afghan as much as (if not more than) the blanket itself.  You get the fun of choosing the colors and memor...

I've been quiet (here, at least) for over a month, but that doesn't mean I haven't been crafting!  Most crafty pursuits have been put (temporarily) on the back burner to make room for my more recent obsession-- crochet. Let's see. . . What exactly have I done since last time?  I made six more sprial scrubbies.  I used up the remnants of some variegated yarn I had left over from the Procrastination Afghan, and I've already given them all away (along with some of the square pot scrubbers I made some time ago). Here they are, all bundled up. . . Nothing fancy, but definitely useful. I enjoy the actual crocheting of them, too, though the process of transforming the scrubbers from parallelograms into spirals is somewhat less pure enjoyment.  - - - - - - What else has happened (craft-wise) since the last time I posted. . . ?  Oh yes, I've taken the plunge into the wild ;o) world of doilies!  I did it, and my doilies are recognizable as such! It's a...

I never realized until this morning how cool-- how "down" we crocheters truly are.  As I browsed patterns online, my husband came up behind me, glanced at the screen, and noticed all the "YO"s (abbreviation for "yarn over") scattered across the page. He's right.   There's an awful lot of yo-ing going on in crochet patterns.  Yo!  We crocheters be down wit dat.   ;o)