Saturday, July 15, 2017

Brown Bottom Bag


Project info
Brown Bottom Bag
Malibu Fling by Kim Guzman
Crochet
Hooks & yarn
5.5 mm (I)
Gauge is not important
Yellow-orange
Wal-Mart
June 1, 2017
Brown
 Notes
Another stash buster (aren’t they all, really?) This time I’m using up some worsted, topaz and black. I should have enough of both to do a nice size bag. I hate making a lovely bag only to find it’s not big enough for much of anything, don’t you?
Well, I’m stuck now with nothing to top my brown bottom bag with. Everything I have is either the wrong weight or the wrong colors (Mom nixed the brown and pickle juice bag idea). I’ll hold it for a while and see what presents itself. The DK Gloss is beautiful and the pattern transformed into a bag very nicely.
The photo shows the stitching well, but the DK Gloss is quite a bit richer red than the photo indicates.

Diamond Windowpanes Shawl


Project info
Diamond Windowpanes Shawl
Diamond Windowpanes Shawl by Kathleen Van Horn
Crochet
Mom
Hooks & yarn
4.0 mm (G)
gauge is not important
 Notes
A bit of a rough start on this one. Some days my mind just doesn’t “snap” and for some reason row 2 just didn’t look right to me. I sat it aside for the day and worked another project. The next morning, this shawl pattern didn’t look much clearer, but I’m biting the bullet anyway, realizing the pattern staggers each row to make the criss-cross pattern in the photo. We’ll see. The yarn is very fiddly, and combined with the fiddly nature of the scarf, I’m thinking this will be a slow one, but it’s not very big, so I ain’t skeerd. No, not much!

12-01-2016

Hum. Seven rows in, I can say that it’s not bad once you get the hang of the pattern. I find it easier to not reference the written pattern too much. It’s a well-written pattern, but I think I’ve done so much “free-styling” that the pattern is superfluous as far as my brain is concerned. Just one among the perils of Pauline lately. Oh, well. It’s quite pretty and would be much faster to work if it weren’t for the yarn. It’s so soft I have difficulty holding it; also I’m taking care to not have to frog too many errors as the yarn doesn’t rip well. Still the color, sheen and softness are just what this kind of pattern is written for. It’s gonna be epic. Or, at least, very pretty.

12-06-2016

Well, did the 100 rows, but I think it needs to be longer, so, I’m continuing on a bit more. After a quick blocking it is narrower than the 26” stated for the pattern, (19” more or less) but Mom and I are short, so that is fine. I’ve used almost 2.5 skeins for this project.

12-07-2016

All done! Mom loves it, says it’s just the right size, so all is good. I’m happy and would not hesitate to make the shawl again. Frankly, I’ve got it memorized now.

Eyelet Chevron Afghan


I found this wonderful pattern on YouTube via Joannesweb.com. I’m just wondering why, oh why I bought 8 skeins of Red Heart Melonberry. I’m not even certain I like it. It looked quite different on the web images. It’s an… interesting color. I’ve never seen anything made with it. I like the kind of dusky tone but the colors are just, I dunno, “off” for me. I’m going with it, though. Gotta do something with 8 skeins, after all. Might add a row or two of some leftover purple and/or yellow just for giggles. Onward.

01-11-2017

I’m working the pattern in rows of front loops or back loops only to add a little textural interest. I must admit the color is growing on me. Mom loves it. Nuff said.

01-11-2017

Noting down the pattern in case I lose it. 
Ch 205 (multiple of 17 +1) 
Row 1: dc in 4th ch from hook, 
7 dc, (dc, ch 2, dc), 7 dc, sk 2. Repeat across. 
ch 3, turn. 
Row 2: dec over 2 twice, 6 dc, ch 2, 8 dc, sk 2, 8 dc. Repeat across until last group, dec over 2 twice, 6dc, ch 3, turn. 
Repeat row 2 until size desired.

01-15-2017

Funny how I was ambivalent about the color and now I really like it. The subtle “pop” of the bright yellow ties in well with the more muted, dusky colors of the melonberry. It’s 140 inches across but not nearly as heavy as I would have anticipated. Winning!

Hooks & yarn
5.0 mm (H)
Melonberry
Pink
Walmart
Yellow

Moss Stitch Dog Bedding


Project info
Moss Stitch Dog Bedding
Crochet
vets office
Pet → Bedding
Hooks & yarn
5.0 mm (H)
gauge is not important
Melonberry
Pink
Walmart

Thistle Arcade Market Bag

Project info

Thistle Arcade Market Bag

Crochet

Bag → Market bag (slouchy)
Hooks & yarn

4.0 mm (G)

Gauge is not important

 Notes
Placement for a project using a few stitches from Betty Barnden’s The Crochet Bible.
I chose the 4mm rather than the usual 5mm because I wanted tighter stitching and I like the way the Mighty Stitch yarn kind of rolls up like a little tube as it is worked with the 4mm. It’s more prone to splitting with a 4mm, though, so I’m watching for that and reworking stitches as needed.
For some reason, I started working this as a round bottom bag, although I was actually thinking about an oval bag the entire time. Not one of my better days yesterday. Frogged it all out this morning and started again with an oval. Gotta love stress…
Pattern-wise, I just made this up as I went along. Basically, made a flat oval for the bottom, aiming for a multiple of 7 (the multiple advised for the Thistle Stitch). I worked the oval in hdc.
I’m working the body now. The bottom of the body is three rows of very simple dc in each stitch of the oval. Then I’m working rows of the Thistle Stitch. I’ll post the number of rows once I’m happy with them.

05-26-2017

OK. So, the body is three rows of dc, followed by 12 rows of thistle stitch. Top the thistle stitch section with a row of 1 dc in each st except for the top two stitches of the shell formation; use 1 hdc in each of those two stitches. This makes an even, straight edge. Top this row with a row of dc, reducing the stitches to a multiple of 6. Then do 6 rows of arcade stitches.
Will update as I progress…

05-27-2017

The arcade stitch lends itself nicely to mirroring itself into a nice handle simply by working all the way around the foundation chain, 4 rows on each side. It also makes a nice buttonhole row.

Den Curtain


Project info

Den Curtain

Diamond Stitch Baby Blanket by Olga Poltava

Crochet

Hooks & yarn

3.5 mm (E)
4.0 mm (G)


White


June 12, 2017
 Notes

06-18-2017

A new AC necessitates a new curtain. Mom really loves her diamond pattern projects so she’s ordered another! Sounds good to me. This will be a good take-along project for all the doctor visits we have scheduled lately.

06-23-2017

The first skein covers 16 1/2 rows, just for reference. The color has yet to grow on me, but I think it’s perfect for the room. I’m working the project slowly, with the Reddit bedspread taking priority, which is why a fairly simple and often-worked pattern seems to be taking forever.

06-25-2017

I’m finally thinking I didn’t flub it on the color choice. The yarn splits frequently but heals well; I put the splitting down to the hook size. If I’d gone with a 4mm rather than a 3.5, there’d be less splitting. I had to frog 4 rows last night because I flubbed one edge and had kept adding stitches. Sigh. But I still enjoy the pattern and it’s a nice companion piece to the bedspread, both lighter in color and weight, so that I look forward to getting to work on it, so all is well. Onward.

06-28-2017

Working skein 3.

06-30-2017

Skein 4.

07-03-2017

Skein 5 and about 9” remaining to the top of the curtain rod.

07-05-2017

Skein 6. Almost done!

07-06-2017

Finished! It took about 5 1/3 skeins. The part across the rod would look better if I had started from the top, maybe, but even that looks fine. I used double treble crochet (US terms) with a 4mm hook for the stitches needed to go around the rod.

Drop in the Pond Table Runner




Drop in the Pond Table Runner
Drop in the Pond Lap Blanket by Elizabeth Ham
Crochet
Decorative → Doily
Hooks & yarn
4.0 mm (G)
Gauge is not important
March 21, 2017
 Notes
Found this (gorgeous) photo on Pinterest but could find no attribution or pattern, so I’m going to try it by looking at the photo. Waiting on my yarn to arrive and other projects to achieve completion.

07-07-2017

Meanwhile I found this pattern had a name and an actual pattern. Well, that should make it easier! However, this being me, I found I couldn’t follow it too well, so I’m back to going off the photo again. It’s going quickly, so far, just a glorified granny! I don’t intend to include the flowers.