Tag: crochet

Categories
Blogs

Hooks and Books

crop woman crocheting soft pink scarf
Photo by Anete Lusina on Pexels.com

First up, a sale!
If you’re a subscriber to Knitting Daily, then you’re already aware that Interweave Press is having a “hurt book” sale, selling off damaged books at deeply discounted sales.  I was verra excited about this, as I’ve been barely holding back purchasing 200 Crochet Blocks and I figured this would be the perfect incentive.  Until, that is, I went to the website.

Now, I’m at work, which means I’m on a pretty fast connection–usually.  The Hurt Books website, however, is agonizingly slow.  Like, having a car park right on your foot and the driver can’t hear you so he leaves it there for awhile, slow. Agonizing.  But I stuck it out, ’cause I wanted that book.  Took about 20 minutes, but I finally got the main page, then the “shopping” page, then the specific book page to open.  (Three pages, 20 minutes. Why don’t they just stick a pen in my eye and get it over with?)  I added it to my cart. (Another five minutes.)  Then it was time to check out! Except….there was no link to my cart.  No “view cart”, no “checkout” button, no nuthin’ to indicate it was even a shopping site.  WTF?! I had to go back to the homepage (……………..load already!…….) to find a “View Cart” link in the left nav, and when I clicked on it?  A 404.

I gave up.  A half hour to buy a book at 50% off, and no way to checkout?  I’d rather pay Amazon’s price.

Now granted, it’s entirely possible, even probable, that the site’s problems are due to a higher than usual traffic rate, but in the end, it just wasn’t worth it to me. But if you want to try it out, I wish you luck, speed, and much patience. 🙂

In Crochet News
Last week I was doing my usual blog sweep, and found the coolest bag on L.A. Is My Beat. It’s called “Larger Than Life,” the pattern for which was included in the spring issue of Interweave Crochet. It was so beautiful, with so many vibrant colors, I just had to have one! I hit Borders on Independence Day and picked up a copy of the magazine, and I got started on my first square this past Sunday.

Wow, it’s harder than it looks!  Also, it’s my first square, so I’m still learning the basics, but this square is definitely teaching me lots!  It’s not finished–one more round to go–and I have no pictures yet, but this first one is yellow in the center, green in the middle layer, and purple on the outside–perfect Mardi Gras colors, actually.  I’m verra proud of it so far, and can’t wait to make more, but it requires concentration, which makes it difficult to work on when there are distractions, like conversations and dvds and inquisitive cats.  I’ll try to remember to take a picture tonight.

Also this weekend, I crochet my first flower, from a pattern in The Ultimate Sourcebook of Knitting and Crochet Stitches.  It was easy–boring, really.  I made two, one in yellow, one in purple.  I’ll take pictures of those tonight, too.

And finally, today I brought Grace’s blanket with me to work.  I’ll be weaving in ends and adding a lime-green sc border during lunch, as it’s about time I got both hers and Noah’s blankets finished, washed and delivered to their rightful homes.

And that’s what’s up with me in the world of yarn.  I haven’t picked up the knitting needles in what seems like ages–crochet is just so much easier and quicker.  Maybe once these projects are complete, I’ll try to knit some booties from a little booklet I got at the grocery store checkout line.

Until then, always remember, you’re only young once, but you can be immature forever! 😀

Best/Aiko Hybrid Amigurumi Bunny

Amigurumi BunnyThe bunny is nearly finished. I gave up on the body from katcrochet.com (tell me that doesn’t look like a vase!) and instead used the body from LionBrand’s Best Bunny (pattern #60480A), which worked much better. I was going to use the legs from the Best Bunny, but they were too stout, so those became the arms, and I went back to the Aiko pattern for the legs. So to sum, head, ears and legs are from Aiko, and the body and arms are from Best Bunny.

As this is my first toy, this is also my first time assembling a toy, and gah, did it suck! As you can see, the arms are not even–one is higher than the other.  Blech.  And in my attempt to not make the same mistake with the legs, I made them too close together.  Blech again.  On the bright side, the ears are perfect, IMHO.  On the not bright side, my decreases are too wide and hole-y, so you can see the stuffing around his midsection, which won’t work if I decide to make another in a brighter color.

He’s not finished yet, because, obviously, he’s lacking a face.  I’m askeared of the face, as it requires embroidery, which is so not my strong suit.  Right now, he’s a freak without a face (bonus points if you recognized that reference).  I do have the embroidery thread, so he may have a face soon, if I can figure out how to do it.  I wonder if wikipedia has anything on how to embroider a bunny face?

Ok, so now that I’ve finished the critiquing of my own work, can I just say, “Squeeeeeeeeeeeee! Isn’t he the cutest thing ever?!!”  Hee!

Aiko the Amigurumi Bunny

As I sat here all freakin’ day waiting for an overnighted delivery (4:30, they showed up–4:30!), I worked on my first amigurumi animal, Aiko the bunny.  It’s been a little frustrating, as the pattern has a couple of mistakes, and the body appears to be half the size of the head, and shaped like a vase, and looks nothing like the picture.  Maybe it’ll all become clear once I’ve stuffed the pieces (no polyfill in the house), but at the moment, I’m looking at it all and wondering if I’ve wasted my day on something that can never work as written.  Poop.

Adventures in Crocheting

I finished a hat!  Didja see the hat?  I spent the weekend staring at its perfect stitches and bright colors, and wishing it was just a smidgen bigger.  Well, ok, maybe not the whole weekend.  Riding high on the success of my first crocheted hat, I wanted to try something new, something different, and I wanted it right then.  So I grabbed more yarn–Lion’s Jiffy, this time–and flipped through The Happy Hooker for a different pattern, and settled on something with a granny square (can’t remember exactly what it was now).

I made it through one round…and gave up.  Poop.

For one thing, the Jiffy was totally the wrong choice–it was too thick, I couldn’t get the requisite number of stitches into the ring, and it was so tight I couldn’t tell one stitch from another.  Also, I didn’t understand “corner space”.  Now that I’ve googled it, I understand a little more what it is (and I realize now that using something as thick as the Jiffy was probably a bad idea), but I’m still not sure what to do with it.  Do you work stitches in the space like when you’re doing a ring, or into one of the chain stitches?  I don’t believe this was covered in The Happy Hooker.  And finally, “slip stitch to the (whatever) stitch”?  If I’m understanding that correctly, wouldn’t that thicken some of the stitches more than others?  Seriously?

So yes, I gave up.  I’m not permanently in the given up state, though; I prefer to blame my failure on the heat of the weekend, and now that I’m googling techniques (and easier patterns), I’ll try again.  But it sure did deflate the beanie-high a bit on Saturday.  (Not completely, though, ’cause–BEANIE!)

Goober cap!

First crocheted hat!I may be the lamest single gal ever for spending a Friday night practicing my crochet, but regardless, I sit here at my computer wearing my first ever crocheted beanie!  Woot!  Like my first ever knitted beanie, it’s a bit on the snug side, but who cares, it only took me two and a half hours to make!  (Very unlike my knitted hat.)  Oh, and note the ugly–purple with red and white stripes (stash yarn that’s been taking up space).  It’ll probably go to charity at some point, probably one that clothes 10-year-old heads, but for now, it’s My First Ever Crocheted Beanie.  😀