elsie marley

I finished the hexagon bathmat that I started a while back. Thanks in part to Alice from futuregirl. She saw the photo I put up of it and emailed to say I might be following the chart incorrectly–I wasn’t joining the hexagons as I went a long and there was a little dot in the chart that said I should be. Not only did she explain how to connect the hexagons (or whatever motif) as you go, but she downloaded the pattern I was working with so she could better explain it to me. Thank you Alice! And thank you to everyone for reading and supporting me and all the crafty bloggers out there. Even if we are only making silly bathmats, I think all this creativity is doing the world some good. And speaking of helping, if there is anyone out there who knows of a good “how to read this freakin complicated japanese crochet pattern” website could you shoot it my way? because my next project isn’t going so well.

Oh, one more thing about the bathmat. It might look a little off because it should have another row of 6 hexagons. I ran out of white yarn and just could not be bothered to go get more. Also these yarn leftover are killing me. I found a few scrapy (is there a yarn equivilant for scraps?) projects but it’s not as easy as using up leftover fabric. I now understand the allure of pompom making.

There have been a few crochet projects recently that I have just had to rip out–that cute and jumpy word “frogged” is just not going to cut it here, because I spent precious time working on them, they looked liked hell and then I had to start the fuck over. Here is one example:

This is what happens when you try and crochet over a paper lantern. I wanted a new light fixture for our bedroom because staring at a cheap paper lantern hanging from a bare bulb starts to looks extra crappy in the wee hours of the morning (when you are nursing and staring at the ceiling, wrecked from nursing all night long) but didn’t have any extra cash to get one, or really even make one. I thought lantern would look nice and cozy with a crocheted cover. I had some extra chunky white yarn from this project, so I quickly got to work. I’ve never really made up a pattern from scratch before and it was a little more frustrating than I thought it would be and it took a lot longer. And then because I was running out of yarn and stretching it just a little too tight literally with the very last stitch I broke the shade. Shit. Yeah yeah, maybe it a good thing, now when I make it again I might be able to write a pattern, but still, shit.

I am working on another crochet project (my sewing machine is gathering dust!) and it has not failed yet.

Hexagons for a bathmat. It’s a japanese pattern and my first project worked from a crochet chart (I found it on ravelry here and here is the original site). I’m warming up because I bought this book and I want to make every single project in it. Speaking of ravelry, it looks like there is a sewing equivalent getting going call The Woven! There are a lot of sewing forums out there that are great (craftster, cut out and keep) but this looks more like ravelry and it’s nicely thought out. It would be a welcome addition I think.

I know christmas is long gone, but I never got to show you all that I made, so just deal with it. It was indeed a very crochet christmas this year. I made earrings for all my crafty bitches (sorry, it’s just too tempting) I mean my friends from craft night. The first earring I made turned out waaaay too big, so I turned it into a necklace instead and liked it so much I made another. The other earrings worked up super quick and I think they are very pretty (and so did they, thankfully).  While I was in the jewelry making mood I crocheted a bow tie choker with some leftover alpaca I had. I thought it’d be a sassy accessory for new year’s eve, but they weren’t buying it, so I think some little boy has a new sunday tie. The alpaca was from another christmas gift I crocheted–that slouchy hat up there–for my brother in law. I think I did every single stitch wrong in the hat, but they are all wrong in the same way so it turned out. The used chunky alpaca for the black cowl (the pattern is called the the black hole cowl) and it’s so awesomely soft. If you don’t knit or crochet you should learn just because of alpaca. The last two scarves up there were for my mother-in-law and father-in-law–I’m sure you can tell which is which. The fancy one is made with the broomstick stitch, which is a super cool stitch that you actually use a broomstick for, or in my case a wrapping paper tube, and it’s made out of 100 percent cashmere (on sale) so it’s crazy soft. The one I’m peeking out from is just a quick, easy, man scarf, one I’m sure I will make again.  All the specs for all these project are on my ravelry page (you need an account to see them) and hey while you are there be my friend! I’m lonely over there on ravelry all by myself. There were two more crocheted presents and I can’t believe I didn’t get a picture of either: I made 2 moustache hats for my brother in law and his girlfriend. The moustaches were a little droopy, but otherwise they were well recieved–and worn!  So yeah, I crocheted a lot for christmas. How about you? what did you make?

I think it’s pretty easy to go crochet crazy. I had a great aunt who crocheted anything and everything: toilet paper cozies, sombreros for the tabasco sauce, ear cozies–not ear muffs, just two circles that fit around your ears! And now I see how you can go down that road. It’s just so easy to make up shapes as you go with crochet, increasing and decreasing wherever you choose and if you need to rip it out, it’s no big deal because it comes together so fast anyway. Which is why after only a few weeks after learning, I can crochet on the fly. This super ridiculous santa hat is a mash up of two other crocheted hats: the pointy hat I made for my daughter and the mustache hat on instructables. I can write up a pattern if there is enough interest, but really, if you can crochet you can probably just wing it.  Ho! Ho! Ho!

Still truckin along with crochet. These little scrubbers work up super quick and they work! I have a problem with sponges and their nastiness (but obviously I have no problem with my sink being nasty and dirty. The anal retentive midwestern in me need to break out the old toothbrush and scrub scrub scrub). I found the pattern in the vast ravelry sea, I think. It’s not worked in a circle, which is good for me because circular crochet still eludes me. You can find the pattern here. I think they will make great stocking stuffers, if not the most exciting ones. The japanese have of course made a cute artform out of the lowly scrubbie–the tawashi–and now that I’ve made one I want to make them all!

I’m still learning to crochet with the awesome Kid’s Crochet book, which is long overdue at the library. My son picked out the gold yarn at the yarn store to match his coat and I picked out the blue, so it wouldn’t be so matchy matchy. The pattern called for three colors and I think that would have been better, because my scarves turned out kind of school colors-y (or hogwarts-y, hogwarstian?).  But I’m happy with them anyway and the kids love them. The blue and gold one was done with single crochet into the front loop and the purple and blue one done into the back loop, just so I could practice them both.  I haven’t blocked the purple one yet and I don’t know when that is going to happen. I think blocking is to crocheting (or knitting) as hemming is to sewing: that last pain in the ass thing that never gets done, but has to and should because it makes everything look finished.

I’ve tried to knit many times, but I get so tense while I’m knitting (is this right?? is it working?) that my stitches get so ridiculously tight I can’t shove  the   damn    needle    under   the      yarn.  And even if I do loosen up, it takes me forever and I just don’t have the patience. I’ve always wanted to learn to crochet because I know it is faster than knitting and I want to be part of the yarn kids click too.  I’m just so nervous when it comes to working with yarn–you can’t really half ass it, like you can with sewing. So I checked out Kids Crochet by Kelli Ronci and Lena Corwin because I figured if they can teach kids they can teach me.

It’s a beautiful book and the projects are awesome, but I still didn’t really get how to crochet.  You tube to the rescue! I watched a 3 minute video on single crochet and a few hours later I had a scarf.  It helped immensely that the yarn was super bulky and the hook super bulky too (a size P).  I was originally going to make the shorter neck wrap on the cover for my daughter, but I enjoyed the actual crocheting so much I just kept going until I used up the whole ball (skein? I know no yarn lingo) and now the scarf is mine. I have plans to make more projects from the book (like all of them) but I need to learn more than just single crochet for that.

Oh, I don’t know why I didn’t mentioned this sooner (October is flying by!) but I was asked by the lovely ladies of Habit to be a contributor for the month. Habit is a photographic collection of the little bits of life from both Emily and Molly and the women they ask to participate. It’s been extremely enjoyable and a good excuse to try to take more–and possibly better–pictures. So go check it out.