saturday saturday

A bit of fun so that you can at least say your day was interesting:

My cat will not be limited by labels and stereotypes; he is a liberated feline who will drink from the toilet if he so desires!  Who says toilet water is only for dogs, anyway?

G'day!

a first attempt at houndstooth

I'm obsessed with houndstooth plaid and have been for my entire life.  I had some houndstooth shorts when I was in 5th grade.  The motif for my wedding is houndstooth.  I currently don a houndstooth coat on cold days.  I have houndstooth luggage.  Maybe that last one is a little absurd, but I like it.

Of course, it wouldn't be long until I started experimenting with houndstooth in my crochet.  I found instructions for knitting houndstooth, but because I have not yet (I stress yet) I tackled knitting, I have been working on translating that to crochet.  It's really not that hard, but it does look a little different that it would if it were knitted.

This is a picture of my first try:

I doubled the design of the knitting pattern, which made these rather huge checks.  With this try, I have carried one yarn under the opposite color, and unfortunately you can see the lighter color (pale blue) under the black.  I also think this big check looks a little too blocky for my liking. I have been working on another pattern (no pictures yet) and carried the spare color behind the work, which has been better, but it seems to me a little awkward when turning with all those threads on the wrong side of the work.  I think my next attempt will be using bobbins to make a piece that is reversible; perhaps that will alleviate some of the difficulties I'm having.

Spring classes begin in two days.  I'm not too thrilled, but I think this semester should be less stressful than last.  I've started learning Tunisian crochet, so I'm going to try to continue with that this semester.  I recently got five or six crochet books (both instructional and patterns) and I have a subscription to Crochet Today magazine; I think I'll have plenty of projects that I'll want to do.  Now to schedule the time to get to them!

Happy Sunday!

other projects

I forgot to post this picture in my post about my Christmas gifts.  I also made this slouchy earflap hat for my brother (modeled by Jeff):

This blanket was my very first crochet project.  I used a pattern for 6-inch squares, but I used a large yarn and 10.00 mm hook, and the squares are about 15 inches each.  I like the jumbo squares, and it makes up more like a quilt than a blanket.  Jeff and I re-used yarn from an old blanket of his, so I didn't have to buy very much new yarn.  Hurray Recycling!

There's an interesting story behind this picture.  This, as you'll notice, is a seven-sided hexagon.  I'm working on a colorful hexagon blanket from scraps, and I figure I'll just work on it gradually while I'm working on other projects.  I was making this hexagon while watching one of the presidential debates, and I got so flustered by one of the candidates that I didn't realize I had made it with seven sides until I tried to set it with my other hexagons.  Thus, the seven-sided hexagon coaster:

These are the rest of my hexagons.  It's slow-going, but eventually I'll get there:

And some classic granny squares that will also eventually be a blanket:

More to come!

Christmas projects, etc.

Well, as we ring in the new year, I have photos of the gifts I made for Christmas.  I know, try to control your excitement!

First, a picture of me wearing a hat I made for myself.  This wasn't a gift, but I made one like it for a friend:

Next, the cowl I made for my father, the hunter, in camo, of course (modeled by my fiancé, Jeff):

A cute buttoned hat/scarflette for my cousin:

A purse for Jeff's younger sister (this picture is before I added a row of black around the edges).  Unfortunately, you can't really see the buttons in this picture, but they are a white rose, blue/white plaid round, and a gold round button:

The UT scarf I made for Jeff's mother:

A lumberjack hat, pattern from Crochet Today authored by this blogger, for Jeff's brother, Kevin:

And the most time-consuming of my gifts, a giant granny square blanket I made for my mother:

I have several other projects in the works right now.  I will post pictures when they are finished.  Our camera was being fixed for about a month, so updates will be more regular now.

Happy New Year!

-Laura