March 6, 2011 · 2:32 pm

Yarn Harvesting – Red Sparkle

Ok, so here is my first yarn harvesting!  This is from a red knit turtle neck with a metallic thread that runs with the yarn.  The metallic adds a nice sparkle, though I was worried that it would cause problems in winding, or a lot of breakage.  Fortunately this was not the case.


This is the sweater used as I was taking the seams apart.

           And now I have four skeins of red sparkle yarn.  What to do with it… hmm…  I’ve been thinking about crocheting a red tree skirt for the tree at Christmas.  I’ve got a good amount here, but I’m not sure if it is enough or not.  I’ll have to think about that.  But this much yarn would have cost me probably around $30 at my LYS (local yarn shop.)  I got the sweater for $4.

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March 6, 2011 · 8:25 am

Pocketed Scarf

This, ladies and gentlemen, is my Mom!   I had made several scarves before Christmas thinking I would give them as Christmas presents.  But then I had another idea for presents.  So I “scrapped” the scarf idea and put the ones I had already made aside for the time being.

My Mom then recently mentioned that scarves were so “in” this year, and I asked her if she wanted one.  So I took the three I had made over to her and let her pick the one she wanted.

I have an MP (mass-produced) scarf that has pockets in it and I just love it.  I can put my hat and gloves in the pockets when not in use and they don’t get lost!  So I decided to make some of my own.  The pockets are very easy to do.  They’re just slip stitch joined with the right-sides facing at both ends and then turned right-side out.

I also decided to do cable stitches to make it even more interesting.  This is a very simple four-stitch cable where the cables wrap around each other in pairs.  If anyone would like the pattern let me know and I’ll be glad to post it.

Sorry for the slight blur of the detail pic.  I thought I’d gotten a clear shot.

Thanks to Mom for agreeing to appear on the site.  Hope you enjoy!

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March 5, 2011 · 1:19 pm

Idea – Spiderman Afghan

Awhile back I saw a picture of a Spiderman Afghan while I was surfing the net.  I immediately thought that I needed to make one for each of my nephews!  The site I found it on had no pattern but that wasn’t a big deal.  The ripple baby afghan that I’ve made probably a dozen times (I actually haven’t posted about that yet) would work perfectly just by modifying the colors and adding the rounds of black.

When I went searching for the picture again to include on this post I found a LOT of them.  (Go ahead.  Google images for “Spiderman Afghan” and see how many you get.) And one of them even linked to (drumroll please) a pattern!  Click on the image for the link to the website with this pattern.  After looking through the pattern I’m not actually sure if I will use it or not.  I already had some ideas for how to modify my ripple baby afghan so I might just do that.  But this gives me an option anyway.

I’m feeling Christmas presents for the nephews this year!

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March 5, 2011 · 10:27 am

Idea – Flower Cards

My next idea comes from a fellow blogger’s post on making crocheted flowers.  (Click on the photo so see the original post.)   Now I’ve seen this before, and I’ve done this before too.  But this time I was struck with the idea to make some flowers that my Sister-in-Law can use to put on the cards she makes.  You can see her Etsy store Here!

I’ve seen cards with crocheted embellishments attached and they’re really cute, but I’m not really into card making myself.  But maybe LuAnn can get some use out of them!

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March 5, 2011 · 9:37 am

Idea – Vintage Placemats

I have been having a really good time using the Word Press Tag Surfer lately.  I get to see a lot of different posts from other people with the same tags as those in my posts.  The problem is, seeing everyone’s wonderful projects gives me all sorts of really good ideas!  So today I thought I would actually start keeping track of those ideas for future projects in a new Category.  That way I don’t forget them!  Now knowing myself, I’m likely to build up lots and lots of ideas and never have time to get to them.  But at least I’ll have the option!

My first idea comes from a fellow bloggers post about a gift she received from her mother of some vintage placemats.   (Click on the photo to see her original post.)  They are just beautiful (and the lovely daffodils really piqued my yearning for spring.)

My idea is to get some vintage material from a thrift store and use it as the center of a doily/table-cloth/table runner or of course another placemat. 

I could use material from clothes or a dress, or whatever, and crochet the edging and make some really neat pieces out of them.

Don’t tell her, but I think my Mom might like a table runner like this.

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March 3, 2011 · 10:07 am

Super-Duper Yarn Ball Winder

I am so excited.  I finally broke down and bought something that I have been wanting to add to my collection of crocheting tools for quite some time.  It’s the U-nitt Professional Yarn Ball Winder.  And it really is super-duper! 

There are, as with just about anything, lots of different models of yarn winders.  And since I was going to spend the money on it, I splurged for a really GOOD one.  This baby is a JUMBO winder and can wind up to 9-10 oz skeins.  It’s also “high-speed,” which doesn’t mean that you can turn the crank really fast (you don’t need to.)  It just means that with every single turn of the handle, the yarn is wound 13 times!   Woah!

It’s a good sturdy, heavy-duty metal winder instead of cheaper plastic one too.  It has a clamp on the bottom so I can attach it to just about any table top.

So, how much did I spend for this super-duper tool?  Well, I Ebayed it and spent $35.  I thought it was a reasonable price.  And this little beauty will save me hours of winding balls by hand, not to mention tired muscles.

I was nearly bouncing when I got home from work last night and the package had arrived.  It had about a million miles of bubble wrap around it and when I finally got that removed I took it to the kitchen table and attached the yarn guide with a wrench.  Then I was off.  I was having silly fun winding yarn, and Husband was all but rolling his eyes at me.

I got so many left-over skeins of yarn wound last night it was insane!    This tool will also be incredibly useful in my recycled yarn project.

Stitched in Love,

Tatha

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February 27, 2011 · 9:31 pm

Recycled Yarn

I got the most wonderful idea today when reading over a fellow wordpresser’s blog.  In her post Unraveling, this fellow crafter talked about buying a sweater at a thrift store, unraveling the stitches, and using the yarn to make a hat.  I was completely inspired by this idea!

I love shopping at thrift stores.  I must admit when it comes to clothing I am very cheap.  I am usually very unwilling to pay $35 for a blouse, $50 for a pair of pants, or $75 for a suit or dress.  But I do like having cute clothes.  So I defer to thrift store shopping.  Most of my cutest outfits have come from thrift stores. 

You have to be patient when thrift shopping though.  There are a lot of very ugly pieces among the racks of second-hand clothes and you have to be in the mood to spend time sifting through the clutter to find anything good.  Sometimes you come away without having found anything.  Sometimes you hit the jackpot and come home with what would normally be $100 worth of clothes for $25.  Often you find things that still have the original price tag on them, having never been worn.

So I’m going to combine these two pleasures.  I’m going to the thrift store after I get off work tomorrow night, find the ugliest sweater I can, rip it out and see if I can make some great new crocheted project from it.  (This little exercise also has the potential to reduce my yarn budget too.)  I can’t wait to get started and see what happens!

Stitched in Love,

Tatha

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February 21, 2011 · 3:49 pm

Fisherman’s Crochet Pullover

I made this sweater for my Husband’s birthday this month.  It turned out great!   The pattern comes from the Craft Yarn Council’s website here.    Instead of white yarn, I used Fishermen’s Wool from Lion Brand in “Oak Tweed.”

I’ve made this sweater three times now and it is still the most difficult pattern I have ever used.  The cable stitches in the Celtic Knot are challenging themselves and are created by using front-post double crochets, skipping stitches and working in front of or behind previous stitches to pick up the skipped stitch.  But it is difficult to follow the pattern itself as well as some of the raglan shaping is not very clear.  I need to just rewrite this pattern for myself. 

In addition, the pattern for the Celtic Knot itself is actually not accurate.  The knot is supposed to weave “over-under-over” or “under-over-under” for each cable.  However the given pattern does not do this.  Some of them go “over-over-under” and vice-versa, and even “over-over-over.”  They have actually updated this pattern since the first time I found it on the site and it now includes a diagram of  how the cables are woven for the knot.  It appears, according to this diagram, that the given pattern is intentional – not a mistake.  Fortunately, I have another pattern book with cable patterns which includes this same Celtic Knot – woven correctly.  So I worked from both patterns as I made this sweater.  I actually did not even realize that the pattern for the knot was incorrect until this time around.  I must have made the previous two “incorrectly.”

But regardless, my Husband has a new sweater – challenging or not.  And I have to say that it looks great on him!  Happy Birthday Baby!

(Most Definitely) Stitched in Love,

Tatha

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February 6, 2011 · 8:27 pm

Athena’s Doggie Rib Warmer

This is our Cocker Spaniel Athena.  Doesn’t she look adorable in this doggie sweater I made for her?   I purchased a crochet desk calendar this year that has patterns on each day.  I’d been wanting to make Athena a sweater and I found the perfect pattern in this calendar. 

It’s made with alternating rows of treble crochets and single crochets.  Alternating front and back post stitches are used across the chest to make a more comfortable, stretchy fit.  The “turtle neck” is made with ribbing, crocheting in the back loop of each row – an effect that I am particularly fond of as it gives a piece a very nice finish.

Athena’s had her own store-bought sweater up till now, however it’s been so cold this winter that she’s really worn it out.  She ought to stay warm now!

Stitched in Love,

Tatha

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January 2, 2011 · 7:28 pm

Lacy Afghan

This is the Christmas present that I gave to my Mother-in-Law this year.  I just love this pattern, it’s so pretty.  I’ve done three of these now, one for my Aunt Becky, one for my Sister for her wedding, and now one for Mom.  The thing that makes this afghan is totally the edging.  The first time I made this I had never done picots before.  I initially found those pretty challenging, but now I’ve also made them with thread.  I hate making them with thread, but I find making them with yarn to be much easier.

The pattern didn’t call for it, however I used cones of cotton yarn instead of worsted weight yarn.  It gives this afghan a really great weight and looks very nice with the picots.

I’ve been trying to think of something really amazing that I could work up to enter in the CGOA contest at the conference in July.  Looking at this I think it would be really neat to create similar pattern for a wrap or a shawl.  I’ll keep you posted on that front.

Stitched in Love,

Tatha

UPDATE: I had someone ask where they could get this pattern.  It’s from a Leisure Arts pattern book: “Best of Terry Kimbrough Afghans.”  The pattern name is “Timeless Lace.”  I did not find the book on Amazon, but you can get it on the Leisure Art’s website for $12.50.  There are 26 afghan patterns in this book and I have made several of them.   Click on the picture for the link to the book on the Leisure Arts website.

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