Ripple Blanket for Tia

Since I took this picture this afghan has grown much much bigger and actually far darker, since I've leaned much more towards navies, dark greens, and mulberries. I still have a long way to go though--I made it so wide! It was misguided and will cost me a fortune in yarn, but it'll be worth it. Tia loves to snuggle on the couch and will get some good use out of this. Probably next year though!

Clara's Tatting

I don't know how to tat, but Clara has taught herself. She's done shuttle tatting and needle tatting (like this) which she says is much easier. This is going to be a snowflake. 

. . . And Two Totes

Also, two fun totes available.

Crocheting: Jersey Rug

Last week I cracked open the two large boxes of jersey scraps to see what was going on (besides Too Much). Lots of long, skinny scraps of not-cotton: pretty much worthless for sewing. Awkward skinny  shapes and mishmash of fibres.

So, jersey rug time. When I had pulled out everything I wanted to use, I had a pile that was knee-high. Fortunately Clara was on board, so for the last couple of days I've been cutting strips (free-hand, about two inches wide), and she's been crocheting.

This is clearly the right division of labor, since her stitches and rounds are far more beautiful and even than mine have ever been.

A Small Pile of Granny Squares

It's been a while since I did any crocheting, but last week I bought some yarn and I've started making a pile of these granny squares. They're a sort of sunburst pattern that I found a picture of and had Clara reverse-engineer. It's amazing to me how her mind can just take a pattern apart and then spit out clear instructions. 

It's a really dense square, with puff stitches in the inner rings. Too dense to be a blanket, so I'm either working on a throw cushion cover or a tote bag--not sure yet.

Crocheting with Old Sweaters

I'm crocheting this rug from old sweaters. It's amazingly soft and springy and supportive, with all that wool--lots of it cashmere! It's about two feet across, and I'll keep going until I've emptied the Old Holey Sweaters bin. I'm using the easy, no-sew way of joining the strips. 

Please note that I've washed these sweaters several times to get them at least a little felted. They don't seem to want to ravel at all.

Spring Day, with Daffodils

Today is suddenly spring. The daffodils are out in force. Clara and I dug up all the strawberry plants and built a *real* strawberry bed with raised rows covered in black plastic.

 Poor Bella doesn't have spring break for another two weeks, and had to go to class, to work (physical therapy clinic), and work on a paper. But her turn will come!

Daisy went to 4H, one of her favorite things ever. And I started crocheting a rug out of old sweaters.

A River Rock for the Windowsill

Just to scratch that crochet itch one evening . . . tutorial found online somewhere, they're not uncommon. Rock found in the river (not uncommon either).

Shield Your Eyes: A Bright Crocheted Rug

This is what happens when you crochet a rug from leftover bits of orange and red t-shirts. Requires tinted goggles.

And Another Jersey Rug

 . . . in a completely different colorway. You can see that between yesterday's rug and today's I've used pretty much all the colors there are (oh wait, there's a red and orange rug coming for the mango lounge). The jersey scrap gauge is sitting on Empty!

A Jersey Rug for Daisy

Daisy and I are a rug-making TEAM! I cut the strips, she connects them, I crochet, and she tells me what color to do next (from her little paper list). I love having a project we can honestly do together, as so many things are beyond her little eight-year old hands. But this is definitely a good collaboration, and now she has yet another cozy spot to curl up and read in her room.

Rosie Posie Tea Cosy

Still working from Cute and Easy Crochet--this is the Rosie Posie Tea Cosy.  The body is simple straight rows, always the hardest to get right for me. In fact, the two sides don't really match, but who can look at the load of flowers and still care?

Lazie Daizie embroidery, yes?

I love it! And it used up so many scraps. It's all afghan leftovers.

Gung-Ho for Crochet

So I'm very gung-ho for crochet at the moment and determined to improve my skills. Still working out of Cute and Easy Crochet, I made this crochet hook/ knitting needle roll. It's a rectangle of single crochet rows, and then a cream edging.

The linen lining and pocket are constructed on the sewing machine, then hand-stitched in place. I rummaged in my boxes for these velvet ribbon rosebuds made ages ago, and found some bright white twill tape for the ties. Conquered the bright-whiteness with a little dip in hot tea to take the edge off.

It's very pretty and I love having my hooks all in one place (they seem to be all size G, but whatever!). In the interest of full disclosure, however, I should say that they definitely slide out of this thing whenever it's not upright.

Next up, my fingerless gloves with a lacy edge!

Ornamental Cabbage Afghan, Finished

Well, I really loved crocheting this mighty big blanket. It ended up six feet square and then it just felt too big to keep dragging around in my lap, even though I had a few skeins of yarn left I could have used.

I have plans for those--I'm practicing my pattern-reading skills on them. In the meantime I'm enjoying this massive granny square here and there--the bed, the couch, the chair by the fire.

I did a simple granny square with the exception that every fourth row was made from two rows of single crochet. I felt like it stabilized things and kept them from wiggling quite so much. It made surprisingly interesting patterns out of my randomly-chosen stripes.

Crocheted Beanie Hat

I am bound and determined to learn to read crochet patterns. I don't know why it's so hard for me--I get the individual stitches, but trying to put it all together from the page never seems to work out.

To that end, I am going to work several projects from my crochet books this year. Here's a one-day project (well, I started it four times the evening before but ripped them all out). This is the Beanie Hat from Cute and Easy Crochet by Nicki Trench.

It says gauge isn't important, but you see that my hat ended up on Daisy's little head. And those eyelets laced so charmingly with green velvet ribbon? They aren't in the picture. But for some reason my clusters just aren't very close together.

And that flower? Covers my awkward joining of the first several rows. Okay, now you know all. It's a process! Onward and upward, in crochet and everything else.

Eighteen Feet of Bunting

I've been living without a sewing machine for over a week now (cue the sad violins), but there's an upside: time to rummage around the various bins and boxes in the sewing room.

Apparently there's a lot I'd forgotten about.

Like, eighteen feet (eighteen feet?) of hand-crocheted bunting in perfect condition wadded into one of my boxes of trims. Have I ever seen this thing before? Not to my knowledge.

This one will go in the shop, for one of those people who live in a pristine white house layered with textiles. Or who is decorating for Christmas, or is getting married. Dreamy.

The Granny Square Groweth

I'm calling this one "Ornamental Cabbage." See those dark greens, cream, and purple?

It's all one big granny square, but every fourth row is done in half-double stitches, just to keep things a little firmer.

When you're in the mood to crochet a blanket, nothing else will do!

Cotton Washcloths

Clara's been using up her leftover cotton yarn by crocheting a set of washcloths.


She chose three different stitch patterns and made simple squares. I love the contrasting textures . . .


and of course the fact that she's feeling the using-up-the-scraps love.

Crocheting a Jersey Rug

I am always enthusiastic about ways to *make* a rug myself because why? Because rugs are expensive and never come in the color or size I have in mind.

I've been crocheting one this week with great satisfaction for a completely different reason though--it's using up my cotton jersey scraps. The long, oddly-shaped, useless ones.


What do you need to do this? A rotary cutter (make sure it's sharp, not like in all those other tutorials that encourage you to use a dull blade, right?), cutting mat, and big fat crochet hook. Not even scissors, and there's no sewing. And no threads, best of all!

First, cut those strips. About an inch wide, and they can be across the grain, along the grain, or ignoring the grain. Sometimes mine aren't even straight, they curve around a big wide corner. Crazy, I know. Do not use a cutting ruler, just eyeball it. As you finish each strip, take the rotary cutter and press down on the strip about an inch from the end, so you get a little slit cut just like you see here.


They look like buttonholes. You are going to join your strips with these. Match up the two ends you want to join, and lay New Strip over the end of Old Strip. Match up those buttonholes and poke them open with your fingertip.


With your other hand, take the free end of New Strip and bring it up from the bottom through both holes. Pull gently till the little foldy join is snug and secure.


Attach all five thousand other strips. Just be sure that you loop them together like this right onto your "live" strip. In other words, don't put together a whole long chain offstage and think you'll join them to your crocheting. Because you'll have to pull the Whole Chain through that little buttonhole. Or sew or tie it on. And if you do it my way, there's no sewing *or* tying!


And crochet it!

Raspberry Ripple Blanket, Finished

For Daisy's delectation. We're trying it out by the fire here in a minute.


I think it can be hard to incorporate white or cream stripes into your design. I like a very small range of values, myself, everything about the same darkness or lightness. This was different.


I had to get used to it, whichI did by repeatedly telling myself "Ice cream." It worked.