FO: Minicluster Lace Socks

In honor of National Crochet Month, the Yahoo CGOA group held a sock help along using the "Minicluster Lace Socks" pattern by Janet Rehfeldt [Ravel It!] which can be found in the book she co-authored with Mary Jane Wood appropriately entitled "Crocheted Socks!" [Ravel It!]. I finished crocheting the 2nd sock while attending a La Leche League Conference this weekend.

Project details:
Pattern: "Minicluster Lace Socks" pattern by Janet Rehfeldt [Ravel It!]
Yarn: Schoeller + Stahl Fortissima Socka 100 [Ravel It!]
Colorway: blue-red
Hook: Addi Turbo 3.5mm
Pattern Changes: Simply put I increased to create a gussett for my ankles and decreased again - keeping with cluster pattern for my long narrow feet!

• Cuff: Absent mindedly changed the cuff pattern to fpdc-bpdc instead of 3fpdc-bpdc.
• Leg: As written with 26 miniclusters. Began heel leaving 14 unworked.
• Short row heel: I worked 24 sc into 12 miniclusters and followed the pattern for the deacreases. As I read the pattern, when begininng the heel increases, one is to add an extra sc (in the side of the step) on each of the first two increase rows - not taking the first and second rows over 2 steps each as others have interpreted the pattern. I continued then increasing one step at a time so that in the end I did more increase rows and had 4 more sc than I had when I started. This increase solved my need to increase the number of stitches around my ankle.
• Gussett/Foot: Switching back to miniclusters I had 2 extra - now 28 miniclusters. I worked 3 rounds of 28 miniclusters and then worked a decrease across 1.5 miniclusters at the side of the sock on each side so 3 miniclusters became 2 miniclusters.
• Foot: 10 rounds of 26 miniclusters - repeat the decrease on each side - 15 rounds of 24 miniclusters. Completed the toe as written.

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CGOA Chain Link

I love the fact that our National meeting takes place 40 minutes from my home. I can take classes with famous designers, shop at the Market Place, enjoy the company of fellow fiber enthusiasts and still come home and see my family at night! The only sad thing is that I forgot the meeting was moved from the beginning to the end of July so our family vacation is bumping into the front of end of the meeting. I won't be able to attend the Professional Day (wah!) but I will get there by Friday. Online class registration opened on Monday and I was ready at the computer with my finger poised on my mouse at 10am. So here's my class list:

Friday morning: F107C-Half Double Happiness with Karen Klemp
Friday afternoon: F204C-Design Your Own Stitch Pattern with Marty Miller
Saturday all day: S307C-Designing on the Vertical with Dora Ohrenstein
Sunday morning: N102C-Crocheted Tips, Tricks and Hints with Lily Chin

I can't wait!

Felted Memo Bag revisited

This is the Felted memo bag [Ravel It!] I made as a CAL at Yahoo crochetchallenge in October 2006. In this previous post you can see it pre- and post-felting. I used an old belt as a strap, but I never liked the look of the ripple flap on top of the striped bag. For the past 18 months it has been hanging on the door knob of my yarn room. I thought of this bag while felting this past weekend and came up with a solution for the flap. I turned the ripple flap into an inside pocket for the now flapless bag. I like it a lot better now. Here's the old version for comparison,
and a few photos of the new inside pocket.

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FO: Lacy-Flap Felted Bag

I knew this would be a quick project! The Lacy-Flap Felted Bag [Ravel It!] by Lauren Irving [Ravel It!] of Little River Fiber Arts was a CAL at Yahoo CrochetChallenge. I'm decided to leave off the flowers, but the bag itself I love. I showed the pre- and post-felting photos with all the dimensions in a previous post. I did off course make a few pattern changes so here are the details.

Project details:
Pattern: Lacy-Flap Felted Bag [Ravel It!]
Main Yarn: Cascade 220 Wool [Ravel It!]
Colorway: Dark Gray
Flower Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes [Ravel It!]
Colorway: Hush
Hook: Brittany K - actually ~6.75 - 7.0mm
Pattern Changes: Just a few!

• Bag size was a bit different from pattern. My K hook is a bit larger than 6.5mm so my base piece was about 2 inches longer (5" x 17"). The bag itself was not as tall as the pattern - I crocheted until I ran out of yarn (after making the flap and strap).


• The shaping was a bit more dramatic, because it started wider and I feared running out of yarn, I started making the decreases every row instead of every other row.


• Strap was made with hdc instead of sc.


• I felted the bag and strap more severely than the flap. I wanted to maintain the lacy look of the flap and wanted the bag to be smaller and to lose stitch definition.

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CAL - WIP: Lacy-Flap Felted Bag

Startitis continues here at Yarning with a Hook. Unlike the others, this one will get to completion sooner as it is a CAL I agreed to do in March. For this CAL at Yahoo CrochetChallenge we're doing the Lacy-Flap Felted Bag [Ravel It!] by Lauren Irving [Ravel It!] of Little River Fiber Arts. I'm still not sure about the flowers, but the bag itself I like. I'm using Cascade 220 Wool in dark gray and my new Brittany (6.5mm) K hook (closer to 6.75mm). Crocheting went very fast and here are the final pieces...
Before felting.
Dimensions: Bag Base - 5" x 16"; Top opening - 5" x 12" ;
Bag folded flat - Top - 17", Bottom - 21". Height 12.5"
Flap - 14" x 6" ; Strap - 30" x 1"

and after felting...
Dimensions: Bag Base - 3" x 10"; Top opening - 3" x 7";
Bag folded flat - Top - 13"; Bottom - 10"; Height 8.5"
Flap - 11" x 5" ; Strap - 20" x 0.75"

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WIP:Short & Sweet

This post will be short & sweet (i can't believe i just wrote that). I noticed while posting the photo of the Short and Sweet [Ravel It!] bolero for my Startitis post that in my haste to finish the first skein of yarn, I had inadvertantly left no neck hole! So I frogged, and crocheted again to the end of the first skein of Knit One Crochet Too 2nd Time Cotton in Borealis , this time sticking to just one side! So here is the current state of this piece. Now I have to go finish my CAL projects and a few other things (including taxes!) before I will allow myself to continue any of the startitis projects (I know, I'm weird).

Startitis in honor of..

National Crochet Month. I have a pretty bad case of Startitis this time around. I hope I can follow through with a good case of Finishitis! It all began when I started thinking about what I will wear at CGOA's Chain Link Conference this summer. I started perusing patterns on Ravelry and the next thing I new my Ravelry queue had grown considerably and I had begun 3 new projects...

1. Sweet Pea Shawl [Ravel It!] - This gorgeous shawl was designed by Amie Hirtes (NexStitch) [Ravel It!] and published in "Stitch'n'Bitch: Happy Hooker". [Ravel It!]. I made one a year ago for my son's 1st grade teacher. I think this one is for me. (I still have to figure out something for my son's 2nd grade teacher and my daughter's kindergarten teacher... another day.. another post). This time I'm using Classic Elite Imagine in this vibrant colorway of blue pink and purple. This is as far as one skein took me...

2. Borealis Short and Sweet [Ravel It!] - This bolero was designed by Angela Best (La Vonne's Knot Just Knits) [Ravel It!] and published in "Stitch'n'Bitch: Happy Hooker". [Ravel It!]. I think thousands of crocheters have made this in the past year so I decided to join in the fun. I'm using a cotton yarn without sheen or sparle, so I envision this as a more with jeans over a tank or T. The yarn is Knit One Crochet Too 2nd Time Cotton in this cool colorway, Borealis. One skein completed the back top and part of the front... which I think I need to frog. I was only supposed to work one side of the front top...oops.

3. Drops 89-15 Cardigan [Ravel It!] - If you read this blog, you know I love the many crochet patterns put out by GarnStudio Drops Designs. [Ravel It!] This one has been on my to do list for a bit and I finally decided to start it. I'm not sure if I will make the collar. But I love the alternating "Structure" and "Lace" pattern repeats on the cardigan, so I need to show a close up photo. I bought this yarn specifically with this pattern in mind at the 2006 JCA sale. It's Reynolds Madrigal - a "soft speckled cotton". This is as far as one skein took me...
Let's hope in the next month I finish these 3 projects, sew the sleeve on Purple Haze and do my taxes!

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WIP: Minicluster Lace Sock - one done!

I'm making progress on the socks I'm making with the Yahoo CGOA group in honor of National Crochet Month. Here's the first sock done - except for weaving in ends and stitching the toe closed. The pattern we are using is "Minicluster Lace Socks" by Janet Rehfeldt (Ravel It!) which can be found in the book she co-authored with Mary Jane Wood appropriately entitled "Crocheted Socks!" (Ravel It!). I will detail all me pattern changes in the FO blogpost for this project. (I can never leave a pattern alone...) For now lets just say that I increased for a gussett for my ankles and decreased again - keeping with cluster pattern for my long narrow feet! By the way, I'm using Schoeller + Stahl Fortissima Socka 100 in a cool blue-red colorway.

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Fishnet Crocheters

I've been meaning to blog about why I abandoned my husband on the afternoon of his birthday. (or put in a most positive way... how I gifted my husband with an afternoon alone with his lovely children on his birthday). Back on Feb 24th, I finally attended my first CGOA Chapter meeting with the Fishnet Crocheters. I hope to be able to attend more. The group is geographically spread out with members hailing from Central & Eastern Massachusetts, RI and Southern NH. Their meetings are held in different locations, and with my family's varied activities, I had not yet been able to join them. In spite of the date, this meeting location was just too close to pass up. We met in Gardner, Mass - some photos (including a rather stunning, not, one of yours truly) are posted at the Fish Tales area of their website. They meet twice a month and I'm hoping to be able to rearrange a conflicting Thursday meeting so I can join them while my children are at school. When you add in the travel time to more distant locations, the Sunday meeting would take to much time away from my family.

WIP: Minicluster Socks

Did you know that March is National Crochet Month? Well, in honor of this, the Yahoo CGOA group is conducting a CAL of sorts. There is no designated leader, so it is officially a Sock Help-along as all members will "help each other along". The sock pattern we are using is "Minicluster Lace Socks" by Janet Rehfeldt (Ravel It!)which can be found in the book she co-authored with Mary Jane Wood appropriatedly entitled "Crocheted Socks!" (Ravel It!)

I am known for never leaving a pattern alone, so right off the bat I changed the cuff pattern. Actually this was done unintentionally. It has a fpdc/bpdc pattern, but not in the 1-1 style I have made many times before. By the time I realized this pattern was different, I had finished the cuff and was beginning the leg. I'm not frogging it!

By the way, I'm using Schoeller + Stahl Fortissima Socka 100 in a cool blue-red colorway. I have 460m so as long as I don't make the leg too long I should be able to get 2 socks out of this skein. I'll probably stop before the toe and begin the other sock, just in case (I can always make toes in a contrasting color).

FO: Drops 97-1 Hooded Cardigan

I finished my "Something for Me" sweater, aka Drops 97-1. This was part of the "Something for Me" CAL at Yahoo CrochetChallenge. All in all I think it turned out well. I like the final outcome although I was a bit skeptical along the way! I wasn't sure how I was going to edge this jacket, but after stashdiving, I ended up using some gray KnitPicks Wool of the Andes, double stranded.
The major issue involved the waist shaping. I need to remember to trust my judgment about shaping in crochet. Until someone shows me otherwise, I should follow my gut which says not to make increases or decreases that change the width by an inch or more in one row. Let's just say it makes for interesting seaming. Another way this sweater achieves interesting seaming (memories of Purple Haze....yes, it is almost done) is that its front and back shaping are not aligned. This was particularly tough to smooth out with bulky yarn and a crocheted seam. Finally I didn't like the dark brown wooden toggle buttons that I had chosen before I settled on the gray edging. Now I'm hunting again (yes, more PH memories) for some sort of pewter button. But this time I want to make linked button closures so the edging will show on both front panels. For now I'm wearing it open.

Project details:

Pattern: Drops 97-1 or Ravel It
Main Yarn: Reynolds Lopi or Ravel It
Colorway: Red/White #002
Edging Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes
Colorway: Fog
Hook: Boye "N" - actually ~7.75mm
Pattern Changes: Just a few!

• Assembly - In light of the quirky side seam shaping, I felt the crocheted seaming recommended was too bulky and "bulgy" at the increase points. I actually crocheted an entire side & sleeve seam and decided to frog it in favor of an invisible weave seam.
• Sleeve Edging - I have long arms so I did 3 rounds of sc in the main color before joining the contrasting color for 2 rounds of edging in sc.
• Body/Hood Edging - I added a row of main color edging in sc followed by 2 rows of contrasting color edging in sc (not the dc-group)