Zaage Scarf 3

This was a bit of a disaster.  I had rose and blue yarn I'd gotten from the Dollar Tree and didn't know what I was going to do with it, so the obvious answer was to make another scarf for my Vampire: The Masquerade character, Zaage.  Only I used all the yarn.  And there was quite a bit more than I thought there was.

It was a brand called Rhapsody in a dusty blue and a dusty rose.  I did a bunch of different patterns I don't recall at this point that ended up sagging a lot more than expected, which only added to my problem.  By time I was done, the scarf was about 4 inches wide and 25-30 feet long.  The ends were rose, the middle was blue.  It had to be wrapped several times around.  It was really a bad plan.

This thing was so terrible it almost doesn't deserve a post (especially this long after making it).  I did wear it for a good while, though, until I finally got fed up with having to wrap around and around.

And since then, it's sat in the closet with the other multitudes of scarves I've used for the character.  I really need to stop actually making scarves each time something happens in-character to the one I'm wearing.  It's really the only time I wear scarves to begin with...

Pictures eventually.

White Day

For Valentine's Day, I received (quite by surprise) a duct tape rose.  I've never liked giving or receiving flowers (unless they're potted or can otherwise be planted and even then I'm still not excited about the idea) because it's a waste of money and it's rather depressing to watch something so beautiful die.  Plus, is that really the message you want to send to someone you love or care about, or who's in the hospital recovering?

Anyway, I was absolutely tickled that I didn't have to give this flower schpeal of mine and wanted to return the gesture.  So I searched for a pattern for a relatively realistic long-stemmed rose, as I really had no idea how to go about such an endeavor.  While there was a super-detailed, super-delicate one available via Etsy, I went with this one, as it was simpler and free-er.

For the flower, I used an E-4/3.50mm hook and white Sugar 'n Cream yarn.  I didn't have a yarn needle to secure the bottom after rolling it up, but I made do with my C-2/2.75mm hook and stitched a little more to keep the outside edge of the spiral from coming up.

For the calyx, I used the same E-4/3.50mm hook and a green medley Sugar 'n Cream.

Being a college student, and one without a car, I had to make due without a pipe cleaner or other wire.  I substituted a chopstick as the stem.  I had to work it slowly into the flower and through the calyx then remove the blossom and push the calyx down the stick so it was out of the way.  I then poured a little super glue into the hole in the blossom, dribbled a bit around the end of the chopstick and inserted the stick into the flower, checking to make sure it couldn't be seen through the petals.  I dribbled a bit more glue around the chopstick and pushed the calyx up so it met with the blossom.

When that dried, I tied the green yarn onto the bottom of the calyx and wrapped the rest of the chopstick, securing the yarn by dribbling superglue around the bottom of the stick and on the yarn.

It was a real quick project, very adaptable, very easy.  I sprayed the flower with a little floral body mist and sent it off for White Day.  In Japan, Valentine's Day is basically broken into two days.  February 14 is for girls to give the men in their life handmade gifts.  March 14 is for guys to return the favor with gifts that are typically white.  I like that it divides the responsibility and doesn't focus on love or significant others necessarily.

Mardi Gras

When I was out pattern-searching, this was one I found.  When I went home for winter, I had to hide my yarn stash (facilities was checking dorms for disallowed items due to bed bugs) and realized it completely filled my large suitcase.  Which means that I need to start using it up before the end of the semester when I head home.

I had three skeins each of WonderArt Wintuk Knitting Yarn in Gold, Montgomery Ward Mothproof Sayelle in Kelly Green and Woolworth Woolco 100% Virgin Wool in Amethyst.  I didn't have a size Q-19/15.00mm hook, so I used my largest one, an N-15/10.00mm) and kept the yarn very loose.  I followed the pattern until I ran out of green, which ended after 38 rows, then did a border of the amethyst 3 sc deep.

Yes, I have a lot of old yarns.

It didn't take 5 1/2 hours like the title of the pattern may have suggested.  It took a great deal longer.  Not sure entirely how much time I spent on it, but it was at least double.  It was outrageously simple, though, and really did produce a lovely product.  Even though I used simple worsted weight yarns made from acrylic and wool, the blanket is super soft.

It's the perfect size to accent the foot of a bed, or to be a lap blanket for warmer weather when fleeces or the like won't work.  It could also easily be altered to be a beach coverup or an overlay for a simple dress.

Kosi: Coral & Turquoise

One of my crafty friends back home was going on about how she was going to knit a coffee cozy so she didn't have to keep making use and consequently discarding the one-time-use cardboard ones available in coffee shops.  I figured it would be easy enough to crochet one, so I did.

I pulled two balls from my scraps, a thicker turquoise and a thinner coral and went to work with an H-8/5.00mm hook.  Ch 40 with the coral, sl st into the first ch.  Switched to the turquoise and went around with hdc... where I realized it was going to be too big.  Switched to coral and sc around, reducing 4 times for a total of 36 st.  Continued the color pattern until there were 5 layers of coral and 4 layers of turquoise and then finished.

Unfortunately, I wasn't thinking which side I was going to want out and used a method of reducing that uses the lower part of the combined stitches, which is invisible from one side but very visible on the other (see second coral layer from the bottom in the photo).  And of course that other, visible side is the one I decided I wanted out.  Such is life.

That's it.  Real quick little piece.  Didn't take more than a half hour.

More pictures to follow.  Friends have already been requesting coffee cozies of their own.  Hooray for reducing waste, even if it's little things like crocheted coffee cozies.

Birthday purple
and red cozy.

Alpaca Kiss

A while back, I was browsing the free patterns available on Michaels.com for ideas on things to make.  This one really struck me and I knew I'd finally found something I wanted to make for myself.  So when I got back up to school for the winter term, I set about making it happen.

The front and back pieces were crafted using an I-9/5.50mm hook and two 374-yard skeins of  Sensations Goldenrod in neutral multi - it's super soft and super warm, and I need something warm here in the not-so-frozen north.  The neck used a H-8/5.00mm hook and about 110 yards of my $23 hank of "Goldie" - an alpaca I met over the summer.  She gave me a kiss.

The front and back pieces took a week together and the neck two weeks on its own.  The pattern was a bit confusing and required several do-overs until I understood what it was I was supposed to be doing.  The neck took so long because the special stitches that allowed for the pattern (I'm not sure I did them right because the instructions were a bit vague) weren't ones the hook could do on its own.  I had to physically pull a loop over in every single stitch.

But it was totally worth it in the end because it fits and it's warm and it's gotten a number of compliments.  I did modify the pattern a bit (as you'll notice with the hook sizes); I reduced the number of triangle stitches at the widest point from 31 to 25 and the piece was still a bit big.  I did not fringe it, as I have cats and that's generally the better way to go, but I might in the future.

I think the best thing that came out of this was the comment that my grandmother would be proud.  She was an avid crocheter - though I have no memories of watching her (I was very young when she died), we have a lot of her works around the house.

Dear John

My father came home with a plan Wednesday after an afternoon watching a soccer match with his pub buddies at the local Britannia Arms.  One of his friends is a tea drinker.  The Brit serves tea in a 4-cup pot that's often cold by the third or fourth cup.  Dad decided to recruit me to make a teapot cozy for the pub.

The whole process was a bit backward.  First we picked up the yarn he wanted and a hook, then we stopped by the pub and borrowed one of their pots and last we looked up a pattern for me to base my work off of.  Needless to say, the yarn wasn't what the pattern wanted, the hook wasn't exactly what the pattern or yarn wanted and the pattern wasn't exactly what I wanted.

I decided to use some of the leftover yarn from the Tweedle twins to give the piece a second (and third, and fourth) color.  The red was done 3dc with a K-10.5/6.5mm hook.  The zebra was done 5dc+1ch with an F-5/3.75mm hook.  The top row of red was done 2dc with the K hook.  The lid piece started with 6dc of the red in a magic circle and ended with 5dc+1ch of the zebra.

The button to keep the back bit under the handle was stolen from the odds and ends button container my mother has and sewn on until the thread I cut ran out.  It's got some sort of coat of arms on it.  My father decided on it because it looked "British."

He was asleep with I put the finished product in his lap.  I think he wrapped it up and will be taking it back to the Brit tomorrow, if he's feeling well enough.

Cthulhu Plush

A while back, one of my minions at my library job wanted help with a pattern she'd found.  I told her sure, since I was fairly confident in my crocheting, or at least my ability to fake it til I make it.  Turns out it was a little Lovecraftian cthulhu plush, with a very useful pattern full of tips and tricks.  She had a date mix-up and ended up being unable to learn that week, and by time we were able to sit down together, I had a good handful of the little buggers done.

I made the first one, a medley of greens.  I made a blue one to try again.  My housemates all wanted one.  So I made a hot pink one.  And a purple one.  Then an orange one.  And a fuzzy pale green one for a holiday gift exchange.  A tiny red one (the yarn was too small for the hook, so I had to downsize).  Finals were upon me but I managed to churn out another green one.  And finally, during my late-night shift at work, the yellow one.

At home before the holidays, I made another fuzzy pale green one and two black, white and grey ones I've deemed the twins.  Kinda want to name them Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.  But that's up to their owners.

Each came out of the mass of yarn I accumulated a month or so ago, when the local McMenamin's had an antique rummage sale and I got a whole mess for $10.  The only "special" one was the orange, as its recipient brought me the orange for the body and the neon green/brown for the wings.  They take no more than 3 hours maximum to make, and the effect on supplies is negligible.

I followed the pattern on all but the yellow, where I started with a magic circle of 12 double crochet rather than 6 single crochet, as they tend to have cone heads.  Used an F5/3.75mm hook on all but the red one, which used a 3 in what I believe are lace hooks.  Yarn, fiber fill and 9mm solid black shank-back eyes from Jo-Ann's.

Adorable little buggers, if I do say so myself.

Happy holidays from the whole cthulhu family.