Sew I See!

I bought a bag of (mostly acrylic) yarn at a thrift store, last week.  There were a few older-looking labels in the mix.  It's always interesting to see those, I think, so I snapped some photos to share. Mary Maxim is still around, of course, and it looks like Mellowspun is, too, but this particular skein looks a little old, so I'm counting it as "vintage". ;o) Also, the fact that it is listed as "100% Orlon" instead of just "100% acrylic" indicates it's not new, I believe. I love how these old acrylics boast that they are:  Mothproof!  Colorfast!  Non-allergenic! FIESTA! I love the font and bright colors in this label. It looks very 80s to me...  And look, it's a Special Value.  Only 58 cents a skein! It's funny that after indicating that it's machine washable and dryable, the label points out that you can also handwash it, if you choose.  ...Yeah, I'd say that handwashing would always be an option, but than

I'm one of those people who don't have a smart phone.  My cell phone is a no-frills, mostly-for-emergencies affair-- but I still think this is such a really neat and fun idea. Someone on Ravelry posted a photo of a knitted QR code (one of those weird-looking, pixelated squares of black and white dots that you can scan with a smart phone).  Better yet, it works .  (As in, you can scan it with a smart phone and get sent to the intended URL.) A quick pattern search reveals that this isn't the first time someone thought of doing that, but it's the first I'd heard/seen of it. If I knew a self-confessed computer nerd someone who'd be sure to appreciate the humor, I'd be tempted to make them a pillow or something with a code pointing to his/her favorite website... The only person who comes to mind (not necessarily a computer nerd , but someone who might think it was funny) doesn't have a fancy phone, either, though... Still, a neat idea, and I just c

I'm making progress on the Citric Acid afghan! First, I had to make enough of the citric-shaded triangles... Then I joined them together in strips. That went pretty much just as I'd mentally pictured it-- except that it did take more than I'd expected of the triangles to achieve the desired length. No problem! Just whip up a few more. After they were joined into three strips, I had to figure out what to do about the ends of each strip.  I wanted them "even" on both sides, but obviously a triangle doesn't quite work that way.  I tried a few different things and finally settled that the best I could do was to try to figure out a "half-triangle".  That took a few tries, too, but I finally got something close enough to half of the triangle motif I'd selected for this project (Motif 78 from Beyond the Square ), so I crocheted six of those and evened out the strips. Now for the fun part!  Free-style crochet!  (Or as close to it as I'

One evening a week or two ago, apropos of nothing, it suddenly occurred to me that, hey, it's been nearly two years (according to my notes on Ravelry, and there's no reason to believe they're lying) since I started that Moorish Mosaic Afghan-- or the Sunny Seaside Mosaic Afghan, as I called mine. How's about I finally weave in the last loose ends?  Now, I'd woven in the bulk of the ends long ago, before joining the motifs, but I made a bit of a mess of extra loose ends during the joining.  I guess I wanted the joining yarn to match at least one of the adjacent motifs...(?)  If I ever make a similar afghan (something not made up of easy squares or join-as-you-go motifs), I will not be so picky.  Using the main color throughout would've been fine, but I didn't know as much about joining, back then.  So I had an evening of weaving tails before the TV (and left a few more to weave the next day)-- and it was done!  Why didn't I just go ahead and do it l

We're expecting houseguests in early September, and I've been meaning to use their upcoming visit as a metaphorical kick in the behind to get me started on a major house-cleaning mission.  There's a multi-page list of To-Do's, and I've barely scratched the surface... What better time to start another large-scale project?!  (Well, one can't be cleaning constantly , right?) It started innocently enough as a plan for a cushion cover-- just an excuse to try out one of the triangle motifs in Beyond the Square -- but somehow, it's morphed into a plan for a whole afghan.  I'm using Motif #78 as the basis, but I think I'll jazz it up a little and make it something other than just a bazillion triangle motifs.  I'll show you once I've gotten far enough along to see if it works.  To start with, though, I'll need a bunch of triangles... (Those photos are a bit blurry. Sorry!) The color scheme is "Citric Acid"... aka just pl

Not much time to write at the moment, but here (in no particular order) are photos of the rest of my squares (to date) for the Crochet Favorites Sampler (part 2) CAL: I'm sure they'll look more "even" when they're all crocheted together, but I'm happy with them just as they are. I've been having so much fun with this project! (Still not sure, but when all the rest of the squares are completed, I may make a few more squares to go with them and take the blanket up to a larger size.)

I'm nearly caught up on the Crochet Sampler Favorites (part 2) CAL.  I'm working on the "On the Huh" square now, and the next square was supposed to have been announced yesterday, so once I finish this one, I'll head over and see what's next.  And then I'll be waiting for the next square, I guess.  There's only one square announced every two weeks (I think), and at that rate, the last square won't be announced until the end of September.  I'm beginning to think I'll have a hard time waiting! I don't have any photos of the rest of the squares (yet-- maybe I'll take some this afternoon), but I've really been enjoying the CAL!  My pinks and purples (mostly chosen to use them up out of my stash) have actually really grown on me, and I'm finding it a lot of fun to make just one of each pattern.  I still feel a bit apprehensive about joining them together (because I suspect most of my stitch counts won't match), but I'll