abbycrochet

this is felicia the cat!


for the sake of my sanity so i dont have to post it all over again, please follow her daily routine as posted in the community crochetcrochet!

the link:

http://community.livejournal.com/crochetcrochet/628874.html



good night! :)

first side,


second side.

i had been really wanting to learn tapestry crochet for a long time now, and i got the idea to use the skullholder's pattern from the happy hooker book to sew together and make a pillow. i did it all day yesterday, it was so much fun.

oh, and i dont know if you can spy him, but i've also created a new robot friend.


closeup.

i absolutely love the little corner of my bed i am building up. with my owl, the robot, the pillow, and my granny square blanket to boot, its just so comforting to cuddle up at night. its so nice to be near the things i have made.

im currently working on a penguin.


and gosh, i need to take actual pictures not done with my webcam! but the webcam is so quick and easy...

so excited! i've been dying to learn how to do tapestry crochet for quite some time, and over the weekend i decided that i want to make the skullholders from the happy hooker. except instead of potholders, i'd make two and sew them into a pillow.  so to practice it (and see if i could actually do it), i did the heart graph as taught in the happy hooker. im very excited about it, it was wayyy easier than i thought and really fun to do.

except now what to do with my swatch...

this is my sun hat! or aka, "amigurumi sun hat". im calling it that because the yarn was supposed to go towards making 'mr. funky' from the book 'super crochet wonderful'.  i made his head out of the pink yarn that edges the hat, and it came out looking like a football. so i got discouraged. so i made this hat, which i finished this morning.
i didnt use a pattern, i made it up as i went. i started writing the pattern down, but when i got to the brim it was unknown territory whether i could do it or not, (because i'd never done that sort of thing before), so i stopped writing it down because my increases didnt really make sense.
however, im probably going to try out this hat again, and really keep track of the increases and what i did. i have a general idea of what i did, and i could probably write down the pattern for this hat, but im sure anyone trying to follow it would be like, 'what the hell is this talking about'.



side view!

so i attempted to make a hacky sack (foot bag, bean bag, however you decide to call it) out of crochet thread and an E hook. i've never worked with crochet thread or a hook size that small, and needless to say, it was impossible.



i mean seriously, look how thin that is!


its so thin, it could double as floss. here is me attempting to do so.

LAST NIGHTS INSTANT GRATIFICATION SOMETHING:


i made a really simple scrunchie out of sugar and cream lily worsted weight cotton yarn. the variegated colors look really cool, actually. i bought this yarn to make mary jane slippers out of it, and i started them, but i cannot follow the pattern it makes no sense.

SUPER FREAKING EASY SCRUNCHIE PATTERN:

materials: one elastic hairband
a small amount of worsted weight cotton yarn. i used cotton because its washable, and it wont be weird against your hair, it wont get gross.

Row 1- attatch yarn to elastic. ch 1, and sc around the elastic. do as many as you feel to make it fit. in order so that it wouldnt be too sparse when the elastic was stretched, i continually scrunched the sc's together, basically making it so i could fit as many stitches around the elastic as possible.
join with sl st, ch 2.

row 2- 2 dc in next st. 1 dc next st. repeat around.

easy shmeezy.

Here's the pattern to a slouchy hat i improvised last night.

TEXTURED SLOUCH HAT
worsted weight yarn- about 250 yards
I hook
yarn needle

This hat is worked in rounds, alternating double crochet and half double crochet, for a nice textured look that makes the stitches really pop out. the decreasing is all done in half double crochet.
note about hook choice: i have no gauge for this pattern, but something to think about is that i crochet somewhat tightly.  i usually have to go up a hook size for most patterns to meet the gauge (sometimes 2), so if you crochet loosely you may want to go down one, but it doesn't really matter.

remember to continually try on your hat as you make it, to make sure it's coming out to fit you.  If you have a large head, increase a row or 2 more, a smaller head, dec a row or 2 more at the end. this hat is extremely modifiable, and its easy to make it slouchier or to know how many decrease rows you need.
EDIT: i really stress trying on the hat as you go. everyone has different size heads and different preferences of slouchyness, etc.  hats are just a formula, and its really easy to modify it the way you want.  this hat was to fit my head- not necessarily to fit yours.

1) ch 4, sl st into 1st st. ch 2, dc 9 into ring, join with sl st to top of ch. (10)

2) ch 1,1  hdc in same spot as ch, 2 hdc in each st around, sl st to top of ch. (20)

3) ch 2,  2 dc in next stitch *1 dc second st, 2 dc third* rep from * around, sl st to top of ch. (30)

4) ch 1, 1 hdc next st, *2 hdc  in  2nd st, 1 hdc next 2* rep from * around, sl st to top of ch (40)

5) ch 2, dc next 2 sts *2 dc next st, 1 dc next 3 sts* rep from * around, sl st to top of ch (50)

6) ch 1, 1 hdc next 3 sts, *2 hdc in next st, 1 hdc next 4* rep * around, sl st to top of ch (60)

7) ch 2, 1 dc next 4 st, *2 dc next st, 1 dc next 5* rep from * around, sl st to top of ch. (70)

at this point (or after 6th round, depending on size of your head, you can stop increasing and alternate hdc and dc each around till long enough for a beanie.
general rule for beanie hats: stop increasing when circle is about the size of your hand.

8) ch 1, 1 hdc next 5 st  *2 hdc, next st, 1 hdc next 6 st* rep from * around, sl st to top of ch. (80)

9) ch 2, 1 dc next 6 sts *2 dc next st, 1 dc next 7 sts* rep from * around, sl st to top of ch. (90)

stop increasing at this point.

10) ch 1, 1 hdc in each st around, sl st to top of ch. (90)

11) ch 2, 1 dc in each st around, sl st to top of ch. (90)
 
rep rows 10 and 11 3 more times. 

18) ch 1, hdc in each st around, sl st to top of ch. (90)

19) ch 1, hdc next 6 sts, *hdc dec over next 2 st, 1 hdc next 7* rep from * around, sl st to top of ch. (80)

20), ch 1, hdc next 5 sts, *hdc dec over next 2 st, 1 hdc next 6* rep from * around, sl st to top of ch. (70)

21) ch 1, hdc next 4 sts, *hdc dec over next 2 sts, 1 hdc next 5* rep from * around, sl st to top of ch. (60)

22) ch 1, hdc next 3 sts, *hdc dec over next 2 sts, 1 hdc next 4* rep from * around, sl st to top of ch. (50)

23) rep row 22 if not tight enough for your head yet. 


fasten off, sew in ends.


ABBREVIATIONS: 
ch- chain
sl st- slip stitch
st- stitch
dc- double crochet
hdc- half double crochet
dec- decrease
rep- repeat

So lets start this whole crochet and craft journal off with a pattern. i'll admit, the original form of this pattern i got from a book. but i think i've modified it enough (erm...) for me to post my version of it.



lion brand jiffy on the left (purple), bernat worsted on the right.

WRIST WARMERS

Yarn:  Worsted or heavy worsted weight yarn.  I've made a pair out of bernat cashmere, but right now i'm working on a pair  using lion brand jiffy yarn and i lurrrve them.
Hook: anywhere between a size H and J. depends on the yarn and your tension. the length of the wrist warmer should be between 6 and 7 inches, but dont worry about it too much. in fact, you may want to modify it to be longer, so add more chains for that. you could even make it elbow length, but keep in mind your arm gets wider towards the elbow and you might want to add some increases on that end.
I've been using an I hook.

Gauge is not important for this pattern.

Pattern: Make Two

foundation chain:  ch 32

row 1: work 1 hdc in 3rd ch from hook, and continue all the way across.  ch 1, turn
row 2: hdc under both lps for first 2 sts.  hdc blo (back loops only) across until last 2 sts.  Hdc under both lps last two. ch 1, turn.

Repeat row 2 until the fabric, length wise, will fit around your wrist.  (i make mine around 7 and a half inches long).  fasten off, leaving about a foot and a half long length.

Fold in half, whip stitch with large eyed blunt needle using the yarn from fastening off until around three inches from the top.  You want a two inch opening for the thumb, and around an inch beyond that sewn.  Fasten off, weave in ends.  Join yarn on other end, and whip stitch for an inch.  You might want to try on the glove at this point, and whip stitch downwards until you feel is a comfortable thumb hole. (around 1 inch).

sew in ends.

OPTIONAL:  After everything is sewn, single crochet around both ends of the glove, with same or contrasting color.  I did it on my bernat worsted weight pair, i think it looks cool.

ABBREVIATIONS:
ch= chain
st= stitch
lp= loop
hdc= half double crochet
blo= back loops only