Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Yarning Along...

...with the yarn along.

The Yarn Along is new to me, but what fun! Yarn and reading, two of my favorite things—which I can't do at the same time, total bummer. Books on tape put me to sleep, which is not conducive to craftiness.


Crochet: Sólás Coamh by Jodi Euchner, Interweave Crochet Spring 2009
Yarn: Knit Picks Comfy in Honeydew (not because the mag showed a similar color, but because it matches a certain nursery)
Book: NW by Zadie Smith (halfway through)

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Friday, January 18, 2013

When my back is out...

it's a great time for a new crochet project! Since all I can do is sit around anyway—crochet time without any guilt about the house being a mess and errands not being run.

Vapor scarf, wrapped
I grabbed my latest issue of Interweave crochet, looking for something quick to do that I already had suitable yarn for. The Vapor Scarf was the winner.

I used Bertagna Filati Soffice, which is very close to the Knit Picks Aloft called for in the directions.

It took lots of motrin, rest, and 5 days for my back to be at—well, not 100%, lets say 90%. And I have a new scarf. And I have a new crochet project, because my order from Knit Picks came yesterday. No guilt with this next project, it's a baby gift.
It's like jellyfish tendrils!
Linked to: Sew Darn Crafty

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Cozy Shrug

I have been looking at Lion Brand's Simple Shrug pattern for some time. I like that it looks comfy and loose-but-not-too-loose. Though in my experience, "one size fits all" means "it will fall off your shoulders".

So after a perusal of all the (500+!) versions of this shrug on Ravelry, I decided that making the full-size shrug was not for me. Knowing me, I would probably get tangled up in it, or catch it on a doorknob (see yesterday's post). I also don't like the extra looseness that hangs along the lower back of many.

This was to be a stash yarn project. The original pattern calls for Homespun (yuck! it tears my fingers up), I ad to find something bulky. I don't have alot of bulky. I decided on Patons Mosaic, and ended up using 4 (or maybe 5) skeins.

Front of shrug

Back of shrug
You can see a little bit of the bagginess in the back, but how pronounced it is definitely has to do with your position and how loose it is in front.

It's warm, it's cozy, but not warm and cozy enough for our weather this week!

Linked to: Sew Darn Crafty

Saturday, January 12, 2013

From old comes new

This is an old apron my mother-in-law made for me several years ago. I love the style of it (with a front and back and no ties), my grandmother always wore this style of apron. So I associate it with garlic-studded roasts, roasted potatoes, and ravioli.

Poor ripped apron
So, I wore this apron a lot. Enough for the white pocket edge to get very stained, and for the left side to also get very stained—you can kind of see it in the picture, but this print hides stains quite nicely.

So, I wore it a lot. But it was a little big for me, and I finally caught one of the elastic sides on a doorknob, and...well, you can see the rip.

I washed the apron and put it into my scrap bag, because an apron doesn't really work for cooking with a big hole. And, I have made and received a few aprons since, but none have pockets. Before we got chickens, I didn't care too much about pockets on aprons. But now I have eggs to collect, and sometimes there are 6, which don't fit into jacket pockets or my hands. And isn't this chicken print perfect for an egg apron?

Enter the pattern Granny's Clothespin Apron fro the book One-Yard Wonders. I did not have an actual full yard from the old apron, but I can make this work, right?

Well, kind of. As usual, I managed to pick the one pattern from the book that actually has tons of errata–a link to which I found on Flickr after fighting through the pattern. Howeverm if I had known about the errata I would have been sure I didn't have enough fabric, so perhaps it worked out for the best.

Finished!
It's not clear from the picture, but the apron has one large pocket across the front, with curved sides—they can faintly be seen in the photo above. I ended up cutting only 2 ties pieces (vs 4), and using those elastic sides because my ties were not as long as called for.  I muddles through the side binding (very poorly written)—and the errata involve those side bindings, the waistband, and the ties. Of course. In the end, my ties wrap around and tie in the front, even though they are still short per the pattern. And I only needed the 2 tie pieces because the waistband as written was half size—so I actually made it work perfectly. Accidentally.

But it fits just fine and can easily hold 6 eggs. It could probably hold 36 eggs!

It fits!

 The length of this apron is about equal to the width of the old one. I managed to get the large piece out of the back, and the large front pocket out of the front of the old apron (working around the hole, after ripping off the pocket (which resulted in one small hole to avoid). The ties came from the pocket and a leftover piece of the back, and the bias cut facings came from the back and front. And I even have a few scraps of chicken print left.

I will probably also use this apron while gardening—I have already used it when cleaning the coop, because I always get covered in wood shavings. This helped a lot.

Linked to:  Sew Darn Crafty
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