Thursday 29 September 2011

Summer at last!



England is currently having a lovely little spell of gorgeous weather.  I don't know why we couldn't have had more weather like this when it was actually summertime, but I'll take what I can get.  We went to a BBQ on Tuesday (so much for all that crocheting I was going to do) which kept me from doing housework, which in turn, kept me from crocheting yesterday because I was busy cleaning house.  Whew!

Today I have (so far) added four rows to the baby gift I'm working on and I'm planning to add more later when the little one goes to bed.  I now have until Tuesday to get it, and another small project done.  I can totally do this, right?

Sure I can.

Tuesday 27 September 2011

None a Day

Today should be my One a Day post but I don't have anything to show.  You see, I signed up for the One a Day group on Ravelry about a month ago thinking that I could be a part of something bigger...a whole bunch of people working on one square or one stripe a day!  Unfortunately, with birthdays on the way and the arrival of babies, I've been busy with other projects that need a lot more work than one a day.  Oh.  And I don't have the yarn for a big project.  I'm still a little scared of buying yarn.  I don't know how much I'm going to need and I have a hard time picking colors...AND buying so much yarn can get expensive.  It's a big commitment!

So instead of showing my One a Day progress (which is none), I'll provide a little link to what I want to make when I finally get around to taking the plunge and buying some yarn:  Ta-Da!!  I really like the idea of using grey, black and white as the main colors in a granny square blanket.  The only change I'd make is using more colors for the middle of the squares.

Anyway, I've finished another project but I can't really share what it is yet (It's for my mom's birthday).  Here's a little teaser:
 Yep.  This is all you get.

After I finished it I quickly switched to another WIP for a new baby girl who I hope to meet soon.  Again, I can't divulge too much but I'll give you this:

Very pink!

Fingers crossed that I can crochet 10 or mabye 20 a day!



Sunday 25 September 2011

Cascade


A few weeks ago I finished my very first scarf.  I found this super easy pattern for a lovey cascade scarf and knew I had to make it.  After staring at yarn online for half a day, I finally chose the color 'magic' from King Cole Riot and I wasn't disappointed.  I'm not a huge fan of purple but I forgive this yarn for being so purpley because it's so nice to work with and I love all the other colors (especially the blue!).

Oooooo

Aaaaaaahh

Ooohhh

One of my favorite things about this scarf is the large, loose stitches.  I'm completely mesmerized by them (yes, I am that easily entertained).  I was originally planning on making a bunch of these for Christmas presents but I think my plans have changed.  Although I loved making this and I really like the result, I don't want to get stuck in a rut (oh, did I mention that I also made one in black?).

Anyway, time for some technical stuff
Yarn:  King Cole Riot (Magic)  30% wool, 70% acrylic
Hook:  7mm
Changes to the pattern:  I only chained 160 (instead of 170) so I wouldn't run out of yarn. 

Saturday 24 September 2011

Hooked!

Hello, my name is Bria, and I'm a crochetaholic.  I love it!  I stare at crochet blogs and get lost looking at pictures on Ravelry...all I want to do is make beautiful, fun, funky things with some yarn and a hook.  Unfortunately, I'm just a beginner without much of a stash of gorgeous wool (or cotton, or acrylic) to make stuff from so I'm stuck with small projects at the moment.  So, how did staring at photos of yarn take over my life?  I'll tell you!  Lucky you.

In early July, I came across this tutorial on how to make a knotted headband.  It looked so easy,  doable even.  I had tried (and failed at) crochet before so I knew I could (at the very least) make a long chain and use a hot glue gun.  We live nowhere near a craft store and we don't drive so actually getting the materials was going to be tricky but when we went on vacation to Lerwick, Shetland, I knew I'd be able to get some good yarn there.  Of course, that's just what I did.  I bought some lovely black wool with silver sparkles and set to work making chains.  It felt so....crafty.  I was actually MAKING something for the first time since I'd moved to England (unless you count making a baby...yeah...probably doesn't count).  Here is the finished product:


Pretty cute, huh?  Well, I felt silly for being so proud of myself because all I had done was make a chain.  How hard is that?  So I looked up some basic crochet tutorials on YouTube and set to work learning how to really crochet.  These are some of my early creations:


All of this while I was still on vacation.  I'm pretty sure my mother-in-law (and husband, for that matter) thought I was a bit nuts for spending so much time crocheting, but the seed had been planted.  I couldn't stop.  Of course, making little flowers and granny squares can be very fun but I needed something more.  Something bigger.  So I found this hat tutorial on ThreadBanger.  Maybe it was too much too soon because this is the sad hat I made (while on a ferry in the North Sea):

 Mushroom?  UFO?  Who knows!

Poor sad hat.  I should really frog the whole thing and reuse the yarn...perhaps I could make another hat.  A hat that I would actually wear!

Since making the sad hat I've actually completed some things I like (more on those later).  The problem with finding a new hobby is that I want to do EVERYTHING...right NOW!!  It's hard to step back and thoughtfully choose one project to work on and finish before moving on to the next one.  I think I need to make a list...and I need a fairy yarnmother to shower with me gorgeous skeins of lovely yarn.

And that's it.  My very (VERY) short crochet history.

UPDATE:  I took photos of the sad hat while my son was napping but left it on the coffee table when I was finished.  Well...apparently the sad hat has a fan.  Once he got up, my two year old discovered the sad hat, shouted, "HAT!" and then ran around wearing it for quite awhile.  Maybe I won't frog it after all.

Tuesday 20 September 2011

A rebirth of sorts

Well...this is most certainly not my first attempt at blogging.  I've had two blogs before this one that have fallen by the wayside.  I just lost interest in the first and the second was so boring that I didn't even want to read it (actually, there were probably BOTH boring).

So here we go again.  I'm hoping this will be a place for me to share some of the things I make as well as some of the stuff that goes on around me.  I'm not an excellent writer so I may make mistakes and I won't always be witty or clever.  Perhaps I just need to find my voice.  Fingers crossed...