South Bay Shawl reveal!

This summer has been crazy so far, what with home improvements to be done and high school reunions to attend.  But things seem to be slowing back down again.  So let's all hope that I actually start blogging more often again.

Here's the finished project that I teased you all with in the last post:

It turned out to be a shawl that I made especially to wear to my high school reunion, but never actually got to wear it because it was never cold enough inside the ballroom.  Just as well probably, because the shawl might have been a little too busy to go with the dress I chose, but I was working with stash yarn, and I didn't have enough to make it elegantly all one color. (This shawl was quite the yarn-eater, especially considering that it's a lace pattern.)

Pattern is called the South Bay Shawlette, and it's a free pattern from Lion Brand (but you have to sign up to their websight to see it if you're not already a member.  But it's free to do so and as far as I can tell they don't send too much spam.)  You can see how gorgeous the pattern is in the above close-up, and it's suprisingly easy to do, especially if you just follow the diagram. This was the first pattern where I virtually ignored the written pattern and went strictly off the diagram, but I'm pretty sure if I'd only had the written pattern to go from it would have been a much more frustrating pattern.  As it was, it almost crocheted itself.  Very easy and very nice results.  I plan to make another one eventually, maybe in all one color, or maybe in an ombre of a different color pattern because even though at first I only changed colors because I realized I didn't have enough yarn to finish, once I saw the ombre effect I really liked it.

I used two different kinds of yarn, both cotton.  The two darker colors were Omega Sinfonia and the lighter blue was Nashua Creative Focus cotton dk.  Now I love me some Sinfonia because I love mercerized cotton and I love not having to pay a fortune for it, but that Nashua yarn was so much more luxurious than the Sinfonia.  It's egyptian cotton and it really is significantly soften than the regular ole cotton that I'm used to.  The only down side to working with it was that it was so splitty, so I had to go super slow on that last section, but after blocking that light blue yarn was even softer that before!

Here's a couple of (really terrible) pictures of me wearing the shawl:

Please everyone, just concentrate on the shawl.  See how pretty that shawl is?
Too bad I didn't get any pictures of me looking fabulous at the reunion in the dress with the shawl, but such is life.

Here's a couple of pictures of the finished floor for those who wanted to see that:

We LOVE our new floors! 

Why did this take so long?

So a friend of mine sent me an invitation to her little girl's 1st birthday party one day. It was sent a good 3 weeks before the actual party which should give me plenty of time, even with a rather rambunctious 2 year old on my hands, to make a simple baby sweater. Right? Suuuuure.....

Well let me just tell you right now, that's not how it happened. And the thing is, I still can't really explain why. I was so sure this would be a quick and easy project. So Sure. I read up about it on Ravelry, and almost universally the word on the street was that this baby could be worked up in a matter of days. Certainly 3 weeks should be plenty of time.

And how long did it actually take me? Well, I lost count, but I'd say it was a little over a month. Now there were some factors contributing to this.
1. Out of town husband for 2 weeks which means no one to relieve me and give me some knitting time.
2. Never really have knitted a baby sweater before. But how hard can it be? It's just a small sweater for God's sake.
3. Had to start over once because it was turning out way bigger than I expected according to what I thought was a "good enough" gauge estimation.

Still this was supposed to be easy, and it was NOT.

The pattern is from the book Last Minute Knitted Gifts, (yet another reason why I thought it wouldn't take too long), but it's also available for free on-line. Maybe someone else will have better luck with it. Though I should say that it did turn out just as cute as it was supposed to turn out, it was just way more trouble than I wanted it to be.

I used Lion Brand Cotton Ease, which is a good substitute yarn, but it's a bit thicker than the recommended yarn. It's also a little harder to work with than wool would have been. The sleeves, which were done in the round, then attached to the body ended up being a bit of a stretch, also there were huge gaps to be sewn up under the arms aside from the kitchener attachment method in the pattern (which by the way, I totally ignored and did a three needle bind off instead). In retrospect, if I ever attempt this pattern again, I think I'll just go ahead and do the sleeves back and forth and seam them up the inside of the arm. Which will be just as much trouble as all the kitchener and sewing up gaps nonsense ended up being when I followed the pattern as written.

I also omitted putting buttons or beads on because I didn't feel like doing button holes by the time I got to that section and I didn't have any beads that would fit through the seed stitch without being too small or too big.

All I can say is... thank God, it's over.

Just in time for the warm weather.

Emergency Hats!

So lately my knitting has been all about hats, because if you haven't heard, it is cold. I mean like, seriously cold here in Houston these days. Well, actually today it's kind of nice. It's around 41 according to Yahoo weather anyway, but even the fact that I am calling 41 "kind of nice" should tell you just how cold it has been. Because usually 41 means that I stay inside and don't go out unless I have to. But after three (or was it four) staight days of highs of 35 or so and that was for about 2 hours during the warmest part of the day just before the sun sets, 41 at 9a.m. sounds pretty durn good. Now I know, I know, for those of you living in Antarctica or Fargo or Germany or hell, even Kansas, you're thinking, "Hell! That's not cold! Yesterday we had a high of -25 now that's cold!" But here in Houston, it just never really gets that cold. It hardly even freezes. Our green stuff stays green pretty much all year round , true it's kind of a sad brownish green in the winter, but it's green, and if it dips down below 32 we all get a little excited and start sanding down overpasses and covering pipes and whatnot. You want to call us weenies and make fun of us for it, well, all right. But come talk to me next time you have one of your sweltering heat waves of 90 degrees, cause 90 is a cool summer day in Houston.

I guess the point I'm making is that it's all pretty relative. And the other point I'm making is that I did not have one decent hat to see me through. I've said before that I don't have such good luck with the hats. I just have a hard time making one that fits my tiny pinhead and looks good and doesn't itch my forehead like the dickens. And after a few misguided and ridiculous attempts in my early knitting career, I finally pretty much gave up on hats altogether. I did manage to make one, just one, that I actually like and wear somewhat regularly, but it's cotton and it's only good for regular Houston winters. I've blogged about it here. But mostly, I just go without because hell, we live in Houston. I mean no one ever really needs a hat in Houston, right? Wrong.
I needed a hat.
The boy needed a hat.
A warm hat.

Voila! A warm hat!

The pattern is Simple Pleasures by Purlsoho and it is aptly named. It was an extremely simple and pleasurable knit, well, except for the 6 inches of ribbing. I'm not particularly fond of ribbing, but let me tell you, it is worth it because once you fold that double strand of ribbed knitted wool and it covers your ears, it is wonderfully, blissfully warm! I used Koigu instead of whatever the pattern calls for because that's what I had already in my stash. For the fuzzy part I used Anny Blatt's Fine Kid instead of Kidsilk Haze because, once again, that is what I had in my stash. Both yarns worked beautifully as substitutes. And the Kid mixed with the Koigu makes a beautiful and also very warm material. I would love to have an entire sweater out of that stuff.

Maybe someday.

The coolest thing about the pattern, in my opinion, is that it can be knit entirely on one size 6, 16" circular needle. Yes, my friends, one needle, no double points! Yes, the last couple of rows are a little tight, but as the pattern says, it can be done and I did it! Technically speaking, I was supposed to change to a bigger needle once I finished the ribbing, but I didn't because I didn't have a bigger 16" circular needle and I was not going to brave the frigid cold to go buy one. Nevertheless, it all worked out wonderfully in the end. I used a size 6 instead of the size 8 and 9 that the pattern calls for because, as I said, that's what I had, but also I have a strangely small head and I hate a too big hat. That sucker needs to be snug to keep out all the cold and wind. And the 2 by 2 rib has plenty of stretch.

The end result is pretty cute, too! If I do say so myself.

The boy also got an emergency hat:
Simple Hat by Debbie Bliss. The pattern can be found in her book, Baby Knits for Beginners. (From which I long ago checked out of the library and photocopied the patterns I liked.) This is the second one of these hats I've made for the boy. The first one fit him from the time he was tiny and actually still fits, but only stretched to it's limits and the yarn I used wasn't that warm. So I made him the next one using some stashed Lion Brand Wool Ease that I happened to have and I upped the needle size from a 4 to a 6 which made it perfect for his toddler head. I also left off the little nubby end this time. He's a toddler now. He should have the dignity of a nubless hat.

Though I don't use Wool Ease anymore because it pills too badly and starts looking like something your grandmother might drag out of the attic to show you how cute and tiny you once were after about 2 washes, I really like the way this hat turned out. The variegated navy/forest mixed with the solid blue looks much better than I thought it would. Though honestly I didn't really care. I just wanted to use up some stashed yarn and have a warm hat for the boy.

He actually likes and wears his hat which is more than I hoped for!

Reminiscing...

So I'm trying to be a "good" knitter. I have a fair amount of almost finished projects and even though, with the new crisp, fall weather we've been having (which, by the way, is somewhat rare in these parts) I'm itching to start something new, I'm forcing myself to finish at least some of what I've started. I will not start so much as a pair of socks or fingerless mitts until I've finished at least 2 projects that have been sitting around for severeal months now. One of them actually has been sitting around for about a year. Part of the problem is that I'm fairly sure that once these projects are done I won't even really like them anymore. I've just gone too far to rip them and start over and I can't stand seeing them lie around the house anymore. (Yes, I keep them out in the hopes that having to see them every day will somehow inspire me to finish them. Does that actually work for anyone?)

So anyway, until I finish these projects, there's just not much goin' on in my life to blog about here at Chez Eden. Even the Halloween hubbub has died down somewhat. I lost my steam somewhere in there so some of the other super cool paper crafts I had planned for Halloween will have to wait till next year. At least I managed to get some raven and owl silhouettes up in the window before I completely lost all motivation.

So anyway, I was rummaging around in my closet yesterday when I came across my first ever knitted sweater. Man, is it ugly.

Here it is, in all it's glory. All garter stitch, in Lion Brand Wool Ease, which I thought was just the best yarn ever at the time and I couldn't understand why anyone would ever want to use anything else. I crocheted the bright pink trim on later using crab stitch, thinking that all that rusty orange just needed a little something to make it just a little bit more something. Now I do like these colors together, but I now understand that this doesn't necessarily mean I should be wearing them. Out in public on a hopelessly pilled and very obviously handknitted sweater. Ah well, you live and learn.

In the close-up, you can see just how awful Wool Ease looks after a few trips through the washer and dryer, which is why I don't use it anymore. And this photo is after I cut all the little pills off of it, though I don't know why I even bothered.

Still, I must say that at least this is a very well-made sweater. The fit is perfect, which is amazing for me because even now I rarely manage to get something to fit just the way it should. Must have been beginners luck. The seams are pretty good too. It's warm and comfortable and wearable. I just don't wear it anywhere but inside the house.

You've come a long way, baby.

Now I know that Wool Ease kind of sucks despite the fact that it's cheap and can be run through a dryer. Now I know that garter stitch is better left to blankets, babies, or edging. Now I know that many things need to be considered before choosing what color or colors will work for a pullover. Also that pullover sweaters are usually too warm for Houston.

Now I know.

BTW- The pattern I used is called Earn Your Stripes from this book. (I did it all in one color because at the time I was intimidated by the notion of carrying my colors up the side. teehee)

10 Cool things about CROCHETED SOCKS

1. Crocheted socks are easy!
Seriously. They are. Back in the day, when I was a new crocheter, I picked up this book from the library, thinking that I would maybe make me some socks. I read through a couple of patterns until my eyes crossed and returned the book thinking to myself, "Well, that's not gonna happen..." The patterns in the book are actually easy, but they weren't easy enough for me at that time. (I like easy things, in general.) If only I had known that:
2. You don't even really need a pattern.
I'm not sure what made me start thinking about crocheted socks again. I guess I was getting tired of trying to think of summery things to knit or crochet. (I'm SO ready for Fall to be here.) So I was browsing around ravelry and I came across this pattern, and I thought, "Well, I can do that..." It's really more of a simple, general explanation than a pattern, but somehow, it was just what I needed to give me courage to try to make me some socks. And low and behold...

Before I knew it I had one sock finished. Which leads me to cool thing number
3. Crocheted socks are fast!
I took me maybe a day and a half to finish this one sock, and that's while running around after a very busy 19 month old. Which leads me to
4. You only really need some yarn, a hook, and 2 stitch markers.
Also maybe a needle to weave in the ends and sew the afterthought heel closed. (Though if you want you can also slip stitch it closed. Which I tried on the first sock and it worked, but wasn't as pretty as sewing it closed.) Now, let's just take a moment to fully appreciate the magnitude of #4 here. You only basically need one hook and some yarn. That's one hook compared to 4 or 5 double pointed needles or two circular needles or one super long circular needle. I don't know about anyone else, but for me that is a big deal. For one thing, my little one loves to sneak up to me and pull whatever I'm working on out of my hands. Let's just imagine for a moment how devastating that would be if I were trying to juggle 4 or 5 needles and he ran up and grabbed one... Not a pretty picture. But when he grabs my hook, I can just giggle at him, chase him down, and finagle the hook out of his hand, then get right back to work, redoing the two or three stitches that got pulled out by his mischief. "No problem, sweetie... aren't you cute..." So maybe #4 should be, "Crocheted socks make you a better Mommy."
5. You get to use sock yarn.
I, for one, have always gazed longingly at the sock yarn. Especially now that you can even get it at any old craft store that also sells Red Heart Super Saver. But I never really bought any because I never made socks. Sure you can make other things with sock yarn, but I never did. But now I plan to happily browse through the sock yarns, just dreaming and scheming about all the cool socks I'm going to make. Yippee!
6. If you use an afterthought heel you can replace the heel part when (not if) it gets worn out. Now there are other heel methods that can be used when crocheting socks. There's the short row heel and the gussetted heel. Both of which are sort of copies of the heels of knitted socks. But I can't really see any great benefits to either of those types of heels. Looking on ravelry I saw a lot of complaints and confusions related to both these heel types. Even so, some crocheters seem to see them as superior in some way to the afterthought heel, maybe because they're harder, or maybe because they copy the knitted sock heel. But personally, I think the afterthought heel is the greatest thing since sliced bread. For one thing it is spectacularly, extraordinarily easy to do. For another thing, I think it's a whole lot prettier than the other ones, mainly because with the afterthought heel I can keep the lovely spiraling stitch pattern that I started out with, and that you can only get by spiraling, instead of interrupting it to suddenly start working back and forth in rows. It gives the finished sock a sort of continuity that looks really beautiful so that you can't necessarily see where the sock ends and begins. I love that.
7. You can custom make them to fit your foot exactly.
In fact that's why you don't really need a pattern. Because you try them on as you're making them to see when to do the next thing.
8. If you make a mistake, it ain't no big thang.
Since this is crochet, not knit, making a mistake means just pulling out the hook ripping to exactly where you need to, then putting the hook back into one live stitch and moving on with your life. It also means you can play around a little. You can try new things, be creative, try a ripple or a ribbed cuff or a fan-stitch, or lace, or filet crochet, tapestry crochet... the possibilities are almost endless.
9. Crocheted socks are very comfy, very warm, and Yes, you can wear them with shoes.
I don't know who started the nasty rumor that crocheted socks can't be worn with shoes, but I'm guessing that same person probably can't sleep with a pea under her mattress either. The fact is, if you use a small enough hook and thin enough yarn (I used an 3.5mm E hook with Red Heart and Sole yarn) they can be easily worn with shoes. They are a little thicker than the thin socks that you can buy in packs of 6, but they aren't like slippers. The stitch pattern that single crochet makes is a little different than stockinette stitch, but I got used to it pretty quickly and I'm fairly sensitive skinned. If you're skeptical, go ahead and give it a try. It's a quick enough project and if you don't like them you can always give them away to someone as a gift because
10. Crocheted socks make great gifts and people are impressed by handmade socks, knitted or crocheted.
As soon as my mom saw them she tried them on then "ordered" 2 pair. Though some knitters may turn their noses up at crocheted socks, non yarn worshipping people generally don't even know the real difference between knit and crochet. All they know is, "Hey, someone made me a pair of socks with their own two little hands! How cool is that!" Personally, I love the fact that because crochet can't be duplicated with a machine, crocheted socks can't be bought, only made. So there!



Update:  The pattern I used to make this is no longer available apparently.  The link isn't working anymore.  Too bad because it was sort of perfect.  But I found another one that is similar, though it starts at the cuff and works down to the toe instead of toe-up like I did for this one.  (Toe up is easier, I think.) Soon, I'll have to write out the sock recipe that I used to make these.