Knitting Angel

spring crafting fever

I have gone on a "learn new crafts tear" these last few weeks.

I am working on mastering tunisian crochet. I love it and my bobble scarf from my crochetville class is coming along quite well.

I am hoping to finish it up soon so I can return to working only on the baby blanket.

But the big news around here- well that  is that I have branched out into weaving.

I have purchased three looms- one is based on the old Weave-its from the 1940s and 1950s and basically works on the same principle. The other two are continuous thread looms and you can use them to weave pieces that can be pieced together like a quilt.

All three are made by Hazel Rose looms. The big square and triangle looms are the "quilt weavers set." 

Frankly I bought these on a whim. I have always been fascinated by the whole small loom thing, and I just had a moment of weakness last week.  So yesterday I got the looms and the instructions, sat down and began to fiddle. I initially had trouble, but when I tried again this morning things went smoother.

So here is the larger square loom in action. At first I had trouble with the tension (probably wasn't helped by the fact that I used cotton yarn that I just had on hand for my first swatch) but I began to get the hang of it as I went on.

So there is the square completed on the loom. It is a bit fiddly at first, I must admit. But once I got the hang of things it became rather meditative. Probably because the weaving was so simple and repetitive.

When I took the square off it looked like this

The weave tightened up once it came off the loom. My guess is that wool yarn would spring back better and do well on these looms.

I have yet to try the multi-loom, but I saw a little pattern for some coasters made from that, so I am going to try that out.  But the looms are fun. I am not sure exactly what I am going to make with them, but they sure are fun

double-ended crochet love

First of all, thank you Judith for identifying my neighbor's pretty little yellow flowers. I have noticed that the Aconites are coming out all over the place (while walking Chloe the other day, I noticed that one person had them scattered all over their lawn). Today it was unusually warm, which was a relief because I was able to air out the house a bit.

Milo enjoyed the open windows and sat in them basking in the cool air and the sun. He's also been loving watching all the birds come back to his feeder. He sits in the window andhis tail swishes as he watches them come and eat.

Meanwhile thanks for all the compliments on the lace crochet scarf. Some members of my knitting group loved it too-- it is a very simple pattern and satisfying. Meanwhile, I seem to have been bitten hard by the crochet bug.

My crochetville class on double-ended two color tunisian crochet started this week and I have really enjoyed it. It is an online class-- what happens is that you pay a small fee and then the teacher posts out a series of instructions on the online message board to get you going. Depending on the class, some of them go one several weeks, introducing new techniques. With your classmates you post on the board and can ask the teacher all kind of questions and so forth. I think it works well if you are the kind of crocheter who can follow written directions well (I work well in this format). Anyway, I am mastering the double-ended crochet technique- complete with bobbles. I did a practice piece last night, and then this morning started the practice scarf.

As you can see I am crocheting it lengthwise with a double-ended hook- stripes with bobble. What's great about the class is that the teacher also showed us how to work a piece that is extra long without needing a hook with a cable (to hold all the stitches- tunsian crochet is like knitting in that the hook is long and the stitches are live for a time.) This makes it easier to do things like afghans with this technique.

Since one tunisian challenge was not enough this week, I had to try out my new technique on another project. I have started a tunisian two-color baby blanket. This pattern unlike the scarf is reversible.

The colors remind me of a creamsicle. I have to say, this double-ended hook, two color technique is a lot of fun. I am really glad to have learned it. The only problem now is that I have one knitting, one regular crochet and two tunisian crochet projects going at once! Startitis has struck again....

Spring flowers

The crochet bug has bitten hard. For some reason I just want to crochet. So I dug out some Madil Ked Seta that I bought last year and decided that I needed an electric green, lace-weight scarf.

The pattern is from Interweave Crochet winter 2008, and it is called the Alpine Frost scarf. Really super easy. So easy, and fast. Addictive. Like potato chips. That and the green color makes me smile.

Outside, it is raining again. But yesterday I got a few pictures of the signs of spring, down by my neighbor's house.

I don't know what these little yellow flowers are, but they make me smile. I think because yellow is my favorite color, and they are like little rays of sunshine amongst all the detritus of winter. Don't they make you want to smile?

On the other side of the house I found some snowdrops poking out of the soil.

Again, it was cheering to see these among all the gloom, rain and sticky, muddy, driveways.

So I have about five babies coming into the world (not mine- my friends are busy reproducing.) I would like to make blankets for about three of them, but I think I should crochet them rather than knit because I crochet much faster. So does anyone have any pattern suggestions for fast, cute, kiddie crochet blankets?

March showers

I think March is the hardest month for those of us who live in northern areas. It is alternately cold and warmish, with wildly swinging weather patterns. In the south, with March comes a full-blown spring. Not so, here in Northern Ohio. I hate rainy days. I know lots of people love them--they curl up with a book or movie and just relax. Rainy days make me grumpy and depressed. I need the sun. Lots of sun. I blame it on my California childhood. So today I am grouchy. I think it is the rain. I have the shawl about half finished. It is such an easy knit. At the moment it looks like nothing but a mish-mash of yarn, but I am pleased. The Manos wool-silk feels so soft to my hands and it smells yummy.

Meanwhile, I have been trying to learn a new technique. A few months ago a woman in my knitting group gave me a mess of tunisian crochet hooks. I don't remember how she came by them, but she gave them to me because she does not crochet. Anyway, lately I have been inundated with the news of a baby boom among friends and colleagues (5 babies), so I thought I would crochet a few of them cute little blankies and the like, since I crochet faster than I knit.

And I decided to try out this whole tunisian crochet thing.

Now, tunisian crochet is like a cross between knitting and crochet. You crochet using a super long hook that holds all the stitches, which you gradually work off the hook as your complete the row. In an attempt to be ambitious, I decided to try a two-color hounds tooth baby blanket with a twisted tunisian stitch (I can never do anything simple, right. Well, except for socks.) So I sat on Friday evening and sorted it out. By following the diagrams, and finding videos on the web, I was able to muddle through.

By the second row, I had gotten it, and it was quite easy except for one problem....

My right hand was hurting.

Not just a little hurting- it was hurting a whole lot. Each time I got all 145 stitches on the hook it felt heavy and my hand cramped. And my elbow, and I realized that this was going to be a problem because as the blanket grew, it was going to get heavier.

So I was a bit disappointed. I liked the technique- I liked the results, but my hand was killing me. After a bit of searching around on the Internet, I discovered Tunisian hooks that have a flexible, long cable to hold the stitches (instead of a super-long hook) so I ordered one from Joann.com. I hope the cable will alleviate the hand pain-- so I frogged the blanket for now, and will wait for the new hook to show up.

I have also signed up for an on-line crochet class at Crochetville to learn how to use a double-ended crochet hook with Tunisian techniques. This is my first on-line class, so I am interested to see how it goes. I will let you all know what I think of the class after I take it next week.