Stashbusting is one of my favorite things to do. But, sometimes there's not a lot you can do with little bits and bobs of yarn. In my case, I had a lot of yarn lying around from a brand I no longer buy. Not because it's necessarily a bad brand, but the cotton yarn splits so easily, and it drives me mad. So, instead of making myself crazy, trying to do something that had to be perfect I decided on using up the last bits, sometimes they were whole skeins and sometimes I just had a couple of meters here and another few meters there. Well, making this duckweed dishcloth (there will be more patterns coming out with this stitch and this name in the near future) was easy, quick, and it used up a lot of the yarn I had lying around. Now I have a stack of dishcloths just waiting for new homes, or for me to use a dishcloth more often... Perhaps both!
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Earlier this spring I was asked to make a hat for a baby shower for a friend of my cousin's and the mother of one of her son's friends. I made the hat, and sat here staring at the rest of the skein of yarn and thought "This child will be number 8 or 9. This child will probably not have something made just for them, and will most likely be another boy even if the mother just wants a girl." And it made me so sad. The rest of the skein turned into a very simple C2C blanket, not too large either but I hope it makes this baby feel warm and loved, boy or girl. Last spring I started making little pouches, or pencil cases, or whatever you want to call them. I made so many, I got a little tired of the pattern I was using. After browsing around among my saved "textures" on Ravelry, I ended up making this. This texture is the same as the Vitalba slouchy and I just love how it worked up. Because of the holes in the texture, it aboslutely needs a lining, but I'm going to save how to do that for another day and let's get to the pattern right away! You know that moment, when you find a yarn that makes you think of someone? That wonderful moment of inspiration and feeling "I'm going to make something for them!" only... then you don't find a pattern you like? That's what happened prior to the making of this shawl. I found this amazing gradient yarn from CEWEC that made me think of my dad's baby sister, and no matter where I looked or how I tried to make it work, it just didn't feel right with any patterns I founds. So, eventually, I caved and tried my hand, very tenatively, at a shawl. Now, it didn't turn out half bad, I of course forgot to count my stitches and chains for the most part, but it worked up just the way I'd imagined. Because I didn't remember exactly how I did the turns, I worked the shawl again in a thicker yarn, and while it's lovely as well, it's not quite the home run for me that the shawl in the picture above is. But that's just me personally, and I'm a little weird ;) Last spring I started making lots of pouches or whatever you want to call them. I made so many, I got a little tired of the pattern I was using. After browsing around among my saved "textures" on Ravelry, I ended up making a smaller version of this pattern - Arboreus Mini Pouch. This texture is the same as that, but the base and bag is bigger. I just love how it worked up. It aboslutely needs a lining, but I'm going to save how to do that for another day and let's get to the pattern! This one little hat was done and out the door before I even had time to get more than the one picture of it - which is nice, but I haven't really had the time to work it again, which means this lonely little photograph is all I have of it. Still, I'm attached. The cable stitch is one of my favorite things, and I know it might not be what people think of when they hear 'cable stitch' - like me, they probably think of the kind that requires front and back post double/treble crochet and makes a relief against the flat fabric. But this is a lot more fun! And a lot easier to keep track of.
This scarf is the second half of the present that I made for my uncle last year for Christmas. The hat, The Fisherman's Hat, can be found here, and here's the very simple and stylish scarf that was inspired by the hat once that was made. The one I made for him wasn't a very, very long scarf, but enough that it served the purpose it was made for: to fit comfortable inside a jacket. Once I'd finished a shawl for my aunt Britt for Christmas (it's called the Fall Shawl, and I'm working on the second one since I can't remember how I did my turns in the mini bean stitch xD) I got a hold of this lovely yarn by CEWEC. It doesn't really have a name, just a number, but it reminded me of the circus that was in town at the time I started the pattern. I've let it lie for a while, and I'm currently in the process of making a second one of these. But this is the original, the simple and colorful shawl I wanted, that still draws the eye and makes you feel a little happier - just like a circus tent! Last year, for Christmas, we decided that my dad's siblings and their significant others would all get handmade things just for them. Which made my life a lot of fun, and I've been toying with patterns for most part of the summer - among other things, I finally got to try a few patterns by Johanna Lindahl, better known as Mija Crochet. This hat is The Fisherman's Hat - for my uncle Inge. He's been a fisherman at least for as long as I can remember, and it just seemed appropriate to make a pattern that reminds me of traditional fishermen's hats and a new stitch I just learned called the Bamboo Stitch. For me this was a tricky one. I'd already used the glover stitch in the Ophrys Chunky Hat and I had every intention of using something different for this baby-adult combo, but nothing else spoke to me. The pattern in itself does have some similiarities with the Ophrys, though it makes for a tighter fitting hat, not to mention there's sizing options with this one, which the Ophrys did not come with. Due to the feel and color of these hats, and the way I reworked and actually calculated this pattern, I feel comfortable posting it as a different hat, even if it kind of it the Ophrys 3.0 - with a mini version! |
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