FO: Baby sweater done!

It hasn't been a great crochet week... the rest of life kind of got in the way. I did find a matching skein of yarn to finish the baby sweater and since I now had plenty of yarn (!) I made the matching hat as well. Here's the finished sweater with cute little bear buttons and the whole outfit modeled by my dd's doll "Big Baby".








Pattern: Absolutely Precious, by Denise Black in 24-Hour Crochet Projects ed by Rita Weiss.
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft 'Light Country Blue'

WIP Progress; FO - Seraphina

I've actually crocheted a bit last night. Here's what happened.

1. Absolutely Precious Baby Sweater - I ran out of yarn. I can't believe it, with just rows to go on the 2nd sleeve. That's what I get for stashbusting. I was using a slightly used 6oz skein of Caron Simply Soft Light Country Blue. The pattern calls for 6 oz for the small sweater AND the hat. I figured I had enough yarn for just the sweater. WRONG! When I first ran out last night I was thinking that I could probably pull out the sweater edging and use that for the sleeve and then redo the edging in some coordinating color. But now as I look at it I realize I have done only 7 of the 18 rows on the sleeve. The edging is a round of sc and a round of (sl st, ch1). I would hate to frog the edging and then discover I don't have enough yarn. Besides, what is an appropriate contrasting color for this? I think I had better hope the "no dye lot" yarn gods are on my side and go try to find a "matching" skein. Only thing is, I bought this yarn over 18 months ago.

2. Seraphina Shawl - I finished it last night! Woo hoo for me!! I decided to give this shawl to a person who is significantly shorter than I am. Hence, the shawl was basically done and I just needed to crochet a few more rows to finish the color striping pattern in the darkest blue. Then I edged it, weaved in all the ends, took photos, labeled, wrapped and gifted it to my ds's Kindergarten teacher this morning (in honor of Teacher Appreciation week - last week). So here it is.. done in Joann's Sensation Rainbow Boucle 'Dark Blues', with a 7.0mm Boye K hook.

3. Sideways Shell Baby Afghan - I started this last night instead of returning to the Drops Top as my dh had informed me over the weekend that a co-worker had just brought home their newly adopted baby. I went stashdiving and came up with a pound of this yarn - an acrylic, baby/sport weight, pastel variegated mill end. I thought this pattern would be quick & easy and so far I think it's working up nicely. Are the colors too feminine for a baby boy?

So... tomorrow I go on a yarn hunt. Today I'll try to whip up a baby blanket and then get back to the Drops Top.... Unfortunately, over 5 loads of unfolded laundry are calling my name first...

Latest yarn acquisition

See I'm not a yarn snob... I found some gorgeous soft acrylic the other day at AC Moore. This was the day that honest I only went in for birthday party supplies. I couldn't help myself this stuff is beautiful and on sale. The yarn is James C. Brett Marble, in colorway MT5, Granite (it has grey white, pink & purple). It's a DK weight yarn with 240yds/100g. I bought 10 skeins, hopefully enough for a sweater for me. What I didn't realize when I bought it was that it was a self striping yarn. I learned that after searching for more info and finding this. Mind you, that nice wide striping is showing up on a DOLL's sweater. Well I know from sock yarns that striping works best with a simple one stitch pattern (alternate rows of sc and esc does weird things to a stripe pattern!) So instead of finishing my baby sweater I spent too much of last night pattern hunting for this yarn. Why, when I have so many other things I need to finish first? Because I felt compelled! Maybe this sweater (modeled by the designer at CGOA Fashion show) from Susan Huxley's Today's Crochet.

I made another AC Moore yarn purchase that same day. Making the baby sweater and the Jiffy Jacket in Caron Simply Soft (and wearing the latter) has reminded me how much I love the feel of this yarn. And you can't argue that when it comes to kids - washable acrylic has its benefits! Anyway, I couldn't resist the Simply Soft navy (2 lbs) and dark grey (1 lb) mill ends that I found. I want to make my ds some pullover sweater vests. He loves them. Now I need to pattern hunt again! I have the Jenny King booklet of patterns For the Boyz but it calls for sportweight yarn for every pattern. I can probably adjust it for Simply Soft. Anyone seen any boys pullover vest patterns? Or V-neck sweaters that I can just leave off the sleeves?

I posted this Classic Elite 'Pink Tweed' yarn the other day and was planning on making a tank top for me, in spite of Abby's protests that all pink yarn is for her. Well, Abby won out. In part because I decided it might be a bit too bright for me, and in part because she's just too cute. She doesn't know it yet, but I'm going to use it to make the NY Yarns Caprice SunDress. I had to go back to my LYS to get some more yarn for this, and being economical I also went to return the extra skein of Svale leftover from the Sweet Pea cardigan. We arrived to a completely re-organized store and a 2nd floor full of sale items (mostly items that were discontinued or that they were not going to carry because the colors or the yarns didn't sell well). Off season yarns were 30% off and cottons were 25% off.


Well I fell in love with this Knit One Crochet Two yarn and, at 25% off, it was a bargain! It's called 2nd Time Cotton, made from recycled cotton, and is 75% cotton, 25% acrylic. It has 180yds/100 g. I like the colors. I bought 6 skeins of 'English Heather' the pink, green, dark & light gray multi and 4 skeins of 'Nantucket, the yellow, green, blue, gray multi. This yarn is for me!

Baby sweater progress

Oops... I knew this baby was coming, but I forgot. So I've dropped all other projects for the moment and hope to finish this later today... I'm flying solo with the kids this weekend though, so no promises! I love the pattern (source shown in this post) and although it's a pretty pattern I think with the Simply Soft Light Country Blue yarn it's definitely 'all-boy'. My dd and I found some cute teddy bear buttons at Joann's. I think they'll look great. So here's where I am so far - an armless sweater! The body is finished, I 'm supposed to start the sleeves next, then edging, then sew on buttons. But I just realized, before I finished off the body, that you reattach the yarn in the SAME spot to start the edging... so I started the edging first! Then sleeves, then buttons... uh oh, can I use white thread for the buttons?

May WIPs, PIGs & WIMs

April showers bring May flowers… and my May challenge list for Yahoo crochetchallenge. I found it really helpful to create the WIP, PIG & WIM list last month and I’d like to make it a regular monthly post (yes I know I’m running late this month!)

Sad to say only one item from the WIP list is being removed as an FO (finished object), but that’s because 1 PIG went from WIP to FO as did a WIM I didn’t even know I had last month when I made this list. (see April Challenge)

WIPs
1. Seraphina Shawl - progress = 85%
2. Drops Design Top - progress = 14%
3. Absolutely Precious Baby sweater - progress = 10%
4. Navy blue cardigan - progress = 15%
5. Toddler cardigan - progress = 50%
6. "High-Stylin' Pillow" (Crochet calendar)- progress = 10%

PIGs
1. Letter pillows "Y" & "X" from Woven-n-Spun
2. "Easy Ripple" Afghan
3. 63 squares Afghan - Aran
4. Spring Crochet Cardigan
5. 'Oxford Style' socks (Crocheted Socks!)- Bob
6. Felted Hook Case
7. Caprice Sundress
8. 'Alpine Meadow' hooded sweater

WIMs
1. Summer tank for me
2. Granny Ripple Baby Afghan
3. Picot Cropped Cardigan
4. Cream Cotton Shrug
5. Bob's sweater Teal/black/gray
6. Alex's sweater - Green
7. Abby's sweater - grape chunky
8. Mittens & Hats
9. Abby's sweater - periwinkle
10. Abby's snow girl cardigan (Crochet! Jan '05)
11. Alex's sweater vest
12. Robyn’s Spider Shrug

Wow! What a list!

OK – for May… I want to complete the first 3 WIPs and the hooks case I finally figured out (but didn’t start) in April. I’d love to jump in to the Sundress for Abby, but realistically…. I think not. The Drops Top we’re doing at Yahoo crochet-a-long is a slow going pattern! Once again, Bob may get his socks started (always need a small travel project), but probably not!.

Time to start hooking!

On my hook already...

I know I haven't done my May list but I had to jump in on 2 projects.

The first is the Drops Design Top we're doing at Yahoo crochet-a-long. I'm moderating this CAL, we started on May 1st so I had get going on it in spite of birthday mayhem. I've done 5 rows of flowers so far and am almost finished the first ball of yarn. Here's a close-up of the cursed beautiful bobble flowers. Now that I get them, they're not too bad. There's just a million of them!! We'll get there. I know we can do this!!


Second, my dh left for work this morning after telling me his boss' wife had her baby - a boy. ( I knew she was expecting, but I forgot). So, I went stashdiving and pattern diving and came up with this... 'Absolutely Prescious' from "24 hour Crochet Projects" by Rita Weiss using Caron Simply Soft in Light Country Blue. I started this during dd's speech therapy today. It should work up pretty quickly.

OK seriously this time the next post will be the May list!

April challenge report... 10 days late

My dd turned 4 on Monday and I had 17 kids & 8 Moms here for lunch. So, that's my excuse for not blogging for the past 10 days or so... But, the birthday's over and I need to blog and figure out my WIP status...

So first my challenge list from April over at Yahoo crochet challenge. The list included the Jiffy Jacket, the Seraphina Shawl, the lacy shell poncho for my dd, a felted hook case, and the Spring Crochet cardigan for me which (as I posted back in April) was replaced with the Sweet Pea Cardigan for my dd.

So it's accountability time....(drum roll please!)

The Jiffy Jacket is 100% done, including buttons purchased and sewn on! This was made with Caron Simply Soft 'Dark Sage' and an Brittany 5.5mm I hook. I'll get dh to take a picture with me wearing it and add that to this post tonight. (OK, it took me 3 days to get the photo posted. I forgot to catch my dh to take the photo before he left for a business trip this morning so my 6.5yo ds is behind the camera! He stands on the staircase to get tall enough. I think he's a step too high this time, oh well!)

Abby's lacy shell birthday poncho is 100% done, including the modifications I made yesterday after she tried it on. I added 3 rows of sc to the neckline, decreasing every 12 sc in the 2nd round and every 10 sc in the 3rd round. It was falling off her shoulders and bothering her without this extra neckline (not to mention bringing to mind a style I don't want to see on my 4 year old!). I also made this longer than the pattern shows, 9 rows of shells instead of 6 for my tall girl! This was made with Lilac acrylic mill end and a 6.5mm hook.

Abby's Spring Pea Cardigan is also 100% done. I'm really proud of this one. Of course she smiles and treasures everything I make her, but even I think this one is worth treasuring! It's made with Dale of Norway Svale yarn using my Addi 4.0mm F hook.












Now for confession time, these unfinished WIPs will be bumped to May...
the Seraphina still needs a few more rows. I wouldn't know how many, I have seen it in weeks... Last I saw it, it looked about like this. This is using Joann's Sensation Rainbow Boucle 'Dark Blues' and a 7.0mm K hook.

Finally the felted hook case, well.... I did figure out how big it should be... seriously, planning out the pattern took a little more work than I anticipated. I knew the "pattern" was more of an example than a true pattern, and of course, everyone has different sized & different number of hooks... Anyway, I think I have the schematics worked out. Mine will be made in one piece from side to side, with the width decreasing to the exclude the upper and lower flaps at the fold points. It will have 4 sections, folding in on each side and then again in the middle. It will have 4 top flaps to fold down over the hooks, and 4 bottom flaps that will be sewn in place with hook slots before felting. I've also found the necessary left over wool to use for this project.

So that's April. Next post... thoughts for May.

Drops Top Swatch

I sat down last night after putting the kids to bed planning on weaving in ends on the Sweet Pea cardigan and even trying some of the embroidery. Well, panic struck - I couldn't find my hook case anywhere. I usually crochet in the kids rooms just before they go to sleep for a bit while we're saying prayers, having a little chat and/or singing. I carried my bags from room to room last night for a variety of reason but never actually crocheted. So now they're asleep, my dh is at a business dinner and I want to crochet. Instead I'm crawling around their rooms (with only nightlights to guide me) trying to find my hook case - no luck. I remember opening my hookcase in the library yesterday afternoon and can only hope that it's still there... WAH!

So with no needle to embroider the sweater, and only the Addi 4.0mm hook I used for the sweater, I decide to try the swatch for the Drops Summer Top. I figure my gauge will be off (the pattern calls for a 3.0mm), but at least I'll figure out the pattern and my yarn, GGH Bali frogs pretty easily. Within a few minutes I'm thinking "What did I get myself (and my CAL gang) into?" It's a little disconcerting until you get a few rows into the pattern. It didn't help that my dh called and then came home in the midst of the first few rows... this pattern needs full attention in the beginning... and I was so grumpy about my potentially lost hooks, I needed to crochet this swatch. Poor dh tried to be sympathetic about the hooks - although he didn't like my suggestion that he go break into the library and retrieve them (good thing, as we found my hook case this morning - it had rolled under ds's bed). He even commented that he could replace all my hooks for my birthday - men, they just don't understand emotional attachment to things - not that new hooks are a bad thing, but when you're mourning a loss, immediate replacement isn't the answer!
Anyway, I eventually worked my way through this swatch. As expected, I'm a bit off gauge, but I can fix that now that I have my hooks. I have to go discuss the bobble and the tc vs dc issues with Hilary at CAL. The bobble directions were missing YOs... but how many? The original directions say "Pull a loop through the sts (see the chart) and make it approx. 1 cm [3/8"] long, pull another loop through the same sts and make it approx. 1 cm [3/8"] long, pull st though all loops on hook."
Hilary, I believe added 2 YO, so it reads: "Pull a loop through the sts (see the chart) and make it approx. 1 cm [3/8"] long, YO, pull another loop through the same sts and make it approx. 1 cm [3/8"] long, YO, pull st though all loops on hook." It works, but leaves the bobble a bit open & tilted, in my hands.
So I tried this: YO, Pull a loop through the sts (see the chart) and make it approx. 1 cm [3/8"] long, YO, pull another loop through the same sts and make it approx. 1 cm [3/8"] long, YO pull st though all but one loop on hook, YO pull through last 2 loops". This sort of tied up the bobble at the top of the stitch.... I don't know... we'll see!
Now on the dc vs tc thing... I agree the symbol given is for tc, even though they label it dc. But on one end you do this dc or tc and ch 2, on the other end you ch 5. In my hands the side with the tc is taller than the side with the ch5... so either I need to do the dc or I need to ch6.

In the end, it's not so bad, just rough going for a bit until you get the pattern down.

Sweet Pea Cardigan

The Sweet Pea cardigan was one of those impromptu projects. I picked up the magazine, fell in love with the pattern while still standing in my LYS and left with the yarn to make it (already moved from WIM to PIG). Of course having an almost 4 yo dd asking if her pretty flower sweater is done yet made this move immediately from PIG to WIP. The trip to NY saw a fair amount of progress on the sweater, and in spite of running out of yarn a few days ago, I have even more progress to report! The top picture is on the 24th, after assembling the sweater. The second picture is on the 25th after adding the neck edging, center front edgings and button hole loops. I guess I had actually just started the lacy botton edge as well.
After the trip to my LYS & Joann's I had the yarn to be able to complete the crocheting on the 26th (I took my kids to 2 playgrounds - they had fun and I was able to do some rare daytime crocheting). This last picture shows the finished sleeve & bottom lacey edging and also includes the flower buttons and the ribbon & thread to embroider the flowers.

In search of ribbons & buttons...

I had the kids with me on a button hunt the other day. I needed buttons for my Jiffy Jacket, little girl flower buttons & ribbons for the embroidered flowers for the Sweet Pea Cardigan. For the latter I thought I'd have more luck at Joann's than at my LYS, so that's where we started (mind you it was 11:45am, I hadn't fed them lunch and Joann's was a mob scene due to some sewing machine demo)...

Luckily, it worked out, eventually. After 1 minute in the store we ran out to head next door to TJMaxx - my ds had to go and my dd shared this fact with everyone by yelling "potty emergency" over and over again!. Back in the store I found ribbon on the sale rack and pretty quickly dd & I agreed upon flower buttons for her sweater. Then began the hunt for my buttons. While the kids began playing a matching game with the 5 spinning towers of buttons (one picks 5 packages and then the other one has to go find matches)I spent entirely too much time searching through the choices until 35 minutes later decided on the ones I saw first! Isn't it always this way? Then I had to put away not only my 10 alternate choices but the "matches" they hadn't been able to return. Actually they did a really good job amusing themselves and putting away their buttons. So here's the Jiffy with the buttons (lying on it - I can't find my green thread!). And a close up of the button as well.

Then we headed off to my LYS (don't worry I fed the kids first) to get 2 more skeins of yarn to finish the Sweet Pea Cardigan. I had assumed at first glance that I was doing one of the middle sizes that called for 6 skeins, I bought 7 knowing that Svale had a little less yardage than the recommended yarn. Well, it turns out that I needed to do the largest size and I needed to make some adjustments to make the arms even larger... so 2 more skeins should do it. Luckily the yarn gods were with me and even though my LYS was in the middle of totally reorganizing their yarn bins, the first 2 skeins I pulled out were the right dye lot. Photos & more on this sweater in the next post!)

Well, I had to browse around the store (my LYS has a little toy bin and my kids were happily playing and weren't ready to leave) and I just couldn't leave without this yarn. Isn't it pretty? It's Classic Elite Yarn ~ Flash in 'Pink Tweed' (100% mercerized cotton). I got 6 skeins and I'm hoping it might be enough for a tank top for me (although dd thinks it must be for her, as it's pink)... so now I'm on the hunt for tank top patterns for me....

April challenge - a week to go

Wow, I just checked by challenge list for April - it's over at Yahoo crochet challenge. I have 7 days to go... must get hooking. I had the Spring Crochet cardigan for myself on my list that I was going to do with my crochet-a-long group. The person who started it first has reported that there are a lot of sizing problems. She made the size large (she swears she made it to gauge) and it doesn't fit her (a size 10) and barely fits her size 6 teenage daughter....... so, it's not my fault.... I edited my list - removed that sweater and added the Sweet Pea Cardigan I'm making for my dd.

So where does my April list stand, I need to...

• finish the Seraphina shawl (I'd guess about 6-10 more rows),
• find buttons for my Jiffy Jacket (and sew them on),
• finish the Sweet Pea Cardigan (on 2nd sleeve - need to assemble, add neck & button sc edging and bottom & sleeve lace edging)
• make a felted hook case (haven't started this!!)

At least Abby's birthday poncho is 100% finished! I guess I had best get to work!

Crochet progress on Easter trip

I never had a chance to post before we left. We went to visit family and give the kids a New York City mini-adventure. Thankfully we went on the Skyfari at the Bronx Zoo and nixed any plans to go on the Roosevelt Island tram...

On the crochet front... before I left I was struggling with the decision of how many WIPs & PIGs to bring with me. I figured I would have a couple of hours each of 4 evenings, and the 4-5 hour trip down & back to crochet...so what to take. I did finish the assembly of my Jiffy sweater the night before we left so I wanted to bring that to do the edging... I thought I could work on the Seraphina shawl, or start to make Abby's poncho for her bday - and I want to bring the my Spring Sweater and Abby's new Spring cardigan... In then end I decided, there's room in the car, I'll bring it all!!

1. Jiffy Jacket - I started & finished the edging on the trip to NY on Saturday. I did 4 rounds of sc (instead 0f 3 - just thought it needed an extra round before the button holes). Speaking of button holes, I did 7. Now I need to find buttons - didn't hit any LYS in NY - only buttons I saw were miniature statue of liberty replicas... I think NOT!

2. Lacy Shell Poncho - with my dd reasonably distracted by the DVD player in the back, during the last hour of the trip south I started crocheting her birthday poncho. I finished it Easter morning after church while waiting for other cousins to arrive. I used about 5 oz of an acrylic mill end in lavendar/lilac/light purple - I think it's Caron Perfect Match. I still have over 1.5 lb of it left...

3. Seraphina Shawl - I added a few rows to this Saturday night while putting the kids to sleep (I couldn't work on the poncho in front of my dd). I tried again Sunday morning after finishing the poncho - I got a few stitches done, but at this point it's too large for a small apartment with kids underfoot. I put it away.

4. Sweet Pea Cardigan - Abby knows I'm making this for her, so I figured I'd start this next. I also figured its small size would make it a good travel project for the car. I started on Sunday afternoon at the park with the kids (perfect weather for wearing the Jiffy Jacket) , and worked a bit on it en route to the zoo on Monday, over the next few evenings and en route home on Wednesday.

All in all, a good crochet vacation! I carried ALL the yarn for the Spring crochet cardigan but didn't start it.. I will, soon, very soon!

Recent yarn acquisitions

I couldn't help myself yesterday. I went into my LYS, innocently, just to pick up the new copy of Interweave Crochet. Well I fell in love with the "Sweet Pea cardigan" and had to get some cool summer yarn to make this for my dd. First, we ruled out everything that wasn't machine washable - dd is just about 4. In the end, I bought Dale of Norway 'Svale' (50% cotton, 40% viscose, 10% silk) in this gorgeous shade of light green. Of course this wasn't even a WIM and now it's a PIG!! Now at my LYS, purchases must be in multiple of $20 for punches on your frequent shopping card (actually they call it a frequent-knitter card - but I don't, we'll just leave it at that, since I like this shop and shop owner!), so I rounded up my purchases with a new Addi 'A' hook and Brittany 'G' and 'H' hooks.

A few weeks ago I was drawn into the same store in search of yarn for the Drops Design top we'll be doing at Yahoo! crochet-a-long in a few weeks. I found GGH 'Bali' (50% cotton, 50% acrylic) in a beautiful lilac color. I can't wait to make this top!

And while we're confessing yarn purchases... I finally straightened out the Wool-Ease mess for the 'Alpine Meadow' Hoodie from "More Crocheted Aran Sweaters". After exchanging various combinations of different dye lots, I am now in possession of 12 'same dye lot' skeins of Blue Mist, and 2 each of Forest Green Heather, Rose Heather and Oxford Grey. The pattern calls for light gray heather, but until I find that I have Oxford Gray. This is a project for late Summer - early Fall. I hope to wear it this fall. All in all, a good yarn week or two!

One-armed Jiffy...

I guess I'm making some progress of the Jiffy Jacket, somehow it just seems so slow to me - probably because I'm not staying up to the wee hours (and I'm not shoving life to the back burner) like I did with my Olympic sweater. Anyway, the back, front & one arm of the Jiffy are finished. I'm using Caron Simply Soft - which in my hand crochets more like a light worsted weight so I have to pay attention to gauge. I went up a hook size to get gauge and switched to an inline hook to deal with splitting, ending up with my Brittany 5.5mm I hook. Even still my row gauge was a little off, so I added a few rows in the main body of the sweater. (I'm doing medium which calls for 40 rows before the arm hole shaping. I did 44. I did the armhole shaping and top as written, and I match Kim's measurements). I'm a little concerned that the tapering on the sleeve might be too tight - I compared it to my Drops Design sweater tonight... if I'd done that earlier, I would have increased the number of rows between the decreases from 8 to 9, but alas hindsight is always 20-20 as they say... I almost frogged it back to around the elbow to spread out the decreases, but I decided it would be OK. The Drops sweater has very little give since it's cotton - the Jiffy in acrylic should be a little more forgiving and we're only talking about 1/4 inch difference. I did change the sleeve at the end. Before the last decrease I did 12 rows instead of 8, then did the last decrease and another 8 rows. So I end up with 79 rows instead of the 72 called for in a medium (adding a row for every 10 rows like in the sweater front). My hindsight solution would be better, but I'm not frogging! Even taking into account adding rows for the Simply Soft, after everyone's comments noting how long the Jacket is and how long the sleeves are I'm starting to feel like a tall, long-armed Amazon woman!!

The birthday quiz..

No, it's nowhere near my birthday, but I kind of liked the results of this quiz and thought I'd share it with you all. I stumbled on it as I was browsing through crochetblog web ring this morning (yes I should be doing laundry etc, but hey, it's my life!)

Your Birthdate: July 5

You have many talents, and you are great at sharing those talents with others. Most people would be jealous of your clever intellect, but you're just too likeable to elicit jealousy. Progressive and original, you're usually thinking up cutting edge ideas. Quick witted and fast thinking, you have difficulty finding new challenges. Your strength: Your superhuman brainpower Your weakness: Your susceptibility to boredom Your power color: Tangerine Your power symbol: Ace Your power month: May

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

WIPS, PIGs, WIMs & April challenge

So it's time to figure out what I'm going to work on or rather going to complete during April with my friends at Yahoo crochetchallenge. Although I'm pretty sure what the end result will be, I'd like to take the time to actually make a WIPs, PIGs & WIMs list just to make sure nothing of importance is falling through the cracks (or rather off my hooks!).

(After several questions - I decided to edit this to include definitions...)

WIPs - works in progress - for me that means I've started it and I at least occasionally work on it.
PIGs - projects in grocery sacks - this means the yarn is purchased and the pattern chosen and they are theoretically all sitting together in a bag awaiting their turn on a hook.
WIMs - works in mind - that list in your mind (or down on paper) that you want to do... for my list I have either pattern awaiting yarn or yarn awaiting specific pattern.

So we'll start with current WIPs with links to patterns & any blog progress reports.

WIPs
1. Jiffy Jacket - progress = 40%
2. Seraphina Shawl - progress = 50%
3. Navy blue cardigan - progress = 15%
4. Toddler cardigan - progress = 50%
5. "High-Stylin' Pillow" (Crochet calendar)- progress = 10%

PIGs
1. Letter pillows "Y" & "X" from Woven-n-Spun
2. "Easy Ripple" Afghan
3. 63 squares Afghan - Aran
4. Lacy Shell Poncho - Abby
5. Spring Crochet Cardigan
6. Drops Design Top
7. 'Oxford Style' socks (Crocheted Socks!)- Bob
8. Felted Hook Case

WIMs
1. 'Alpine Meadow' hooded sweater
2. Granny Ripple Baby Afghan
3. Picot Cropped Cardigan
4. Cream Cotton Shrug
5. Bob's sweater Teal/black/gray
6. Alex's sweater - Green
7. Abby's sweater - grape chunky
8. Mittens & Hats
9. Abby's sweater - periwinkle
10. Abby's snow girl cardigan (Crochet! Jan '05)
11. Alex's sweater vest

Wow! What a list! As I expected the winners are... the first two WIPs - the Jiffy Jacket & the Seraphina shawl, and PIGs #4 + #5 - the poncho for Abby's birthday and the cardigan for me as a CAL at Yahoo crochet-a-long. Bob may get his socks started (always need a small travel project) as well. Well this process actually made me feel a lot better. Now I just have to start hooking!

4/23/06 - ETA - Felted Hook case PIG

March challenge - down to the wire

I actually did it!! After suffering from 2nd sock syndrome all month - and sidetracking on to other projects - I crocheted 2 different socks in the past week to complete all 3 sock pairs. Ta Daa! Here is my PAIR of "In your shoes ankle socks" using Patons Kroy Socks 'Vista Sea'. This was part of a sock-a-long with my crochetedsocks Yahoo group. I also crocheted a "Classic Ribbed Cable" sock mate (pattern in Crocheted Socks by Janet Rehfeldt and Mary Jane Wood) using Swizzle sock yarn. This had been on hold since before the crochet olympics!! Completing these socks and the crochet-along socks and doing the well traveled bag were my goal for March at Yahoo crochetchallenge. I also completed the cable purse.

In addition, with my CAL gang I've been working on the Jiffy Jacket and have the back panel completed - using Caron Simply Soft 'Dark Sage'. I also started another crochet-a-long with these crazy gals and have made significant progress Seraphina Shawl using Joann's Sensation Rainbow Boucle......ain't sidetracking fun?

Splitting yarn makes Boye girl go inline

not to a Bates, mind you, but inline nonetheless. I've been pulling my hair out with the Jiffy Jacket. Not because of the pattern, it's easy, straight forward, and makes a very pretty stitch. Rather, because of the yarn. The Caron Simply Soft has been driving me crazy. I was splitting the yarn with every single sc (and this pattern is sc, ch2, sc - repeat) using my Boye H hook. My tension was getting tighter as well because I had to hold the yarn tight to try to minimize splitting. I was about 20 or so rows into the back tonight and I decided to measure. It was 21.5 inches across instead of 24 (it was about 23 when I began and I was OK with that) but I was just approaching 5 inches at 21 rows instead of 16 rows.... agh!! I really didn't want to frog the whole thing... but, I was really beginning to hate this project. Because I was crocheting so, so slowly I was getting nowhere. Then I remembered the discussion on CP about inline hooks being easier with yarns that tend to split. Now I'm a Boye girl - I hate to crochet with Bates hooks. I would only use Boye hooks. I've recently become a fan of the Addi hooks for the smaller yarn hooks since I've become a sock crocheter. I now own B,C,D,E & F Addi hooks... not Boye but Boye-like in design... definitely not inline. My wonderful dh did buy me a Brittany wooden I hook for Christmas (a lovely gift!!) I thought I would hate it becuase it is inline, but it's different from Bates hooks and I do love it, so light and it just glides through yarn. So what to do with this Jiffy Jacket. I grabbed the Brittany I hook and tried a few shells. Wow, no splitting strands...every stitch was smooth as could be I was flying... but hold on I can't jus jump in at row 21 with an I hook... I have to frog it. So painful as it was, I did it. I frogged it all the way back to the starting chain. I left that be as I make my starting chains so loose I knew it wouldn't be a problem. So here I go again. I'm starting the Jiffy Jacket again. This time using a Brittany I hook with my Dark Sage Simply Soft. Now the tension & yarn splitting problems are both solved. Actually this solves a third problem. (I can't believe I'm admitting this) There was something aesthetically bothersome about the way the green color of the Boye H hook clashed with the green yarn. OK, I've said it. Now you know I'm weird. But the birch Brittany looks great with this yarn... doesn't it? By the way, the cake of yarn there is everything i had to frog!

FO: Cable purse

Well it's finished!! I had at least 3 offers to buy it and my felted bag today while I was still weaving in the ends of the Cable bag. Too funny! I kind of like the way this bag turned out. I made it narrower than Donna's pattern because it just seemed too wide when I first started it. I dropped it from 6 cable repeats to 4... probably should have just gone to 5...but I still like it. I do think I will need to line it though. The cables have a little hole behind them. Donna's pattern is also posted on Crochetville and I was reading through the posts last night. Several people used double stranded ww yarn to make the purse bulkier and stronger. The added stiffness meant they didn't need to line it. Oh well, live & learn. Maybe I'll make another double stranded!

Meanwhile I am working on the Jiffy Jacket... See... really I am.

Sidetracked: From stash-diving to stash-busting

"It's not my fault" Let me tell you how many times a day I hear that from my kids... No this is not a rant about my lovely children... instead this time I'm saying it, "It's not my fault". I was minding my own business, crocheting my sweater and occasionally reading some posts at CP, crochet-a-long and crochetchallenge, when I somehow became sidetracked off the Jiffy cardigan project. It all began when I went stash-diving to replace the beautiful, but not-enough-yardage, 'mulled wine' wool. Good job, you're thinking, using the stash is good. I started my sweater in the Caron Simply Soft Dark Sage that I found.... but I kept thinking about the stash. You see, while stash-diving I was reminded of all the pretty colors of yarn I had - many in single skeins left over from other projects. I've been at a loss as to what to do with the stash bits...until (this is where we learn where the fault lies).... Kathy at crochet-a-long started posting possible stash-busting projects (but scrap afghans just aren't really my thing). Cheri suggested dishclothes (maybe...) and Kris suggested bags (now that had my attention). After the well traveled bag I was thinking about some small felted accessories, and I knew I had enough wool to do another larger felted bag. Sara from crochetchallenge showed this knitted cable bag on her blog and I remembered somewhere I had seen a crocheted cable bag...but where? I followed my hunch and went to Erica's Bound by my Hook and from there to Donna's Hooked on Crochet where I found it... Camille's purse. That was it. The Dark Sage and H hook were dropped. I grabbed my Brittany I hook, this pretty RH Country Blue yarn (similar color to Sara's bag ~ see how I'm being influenced) and I was off hooking cables. A few days later, after a stop at Joann's for handles and I'm almost done... I'll go finish now, I just HAD to explain why I haven't made progress on the sweater. I've been working on this cool bag. Kathy, Cheri, Kris, Sara, Erica & Donna made me do it. Honest Mom!