Closing the Door on Sweater Season

Another downside to this early Spring weather (or should we just call it like it is and admit it's Summer in March?) is that the multitude of sweaters I had in the queue have to be sidelined till fall.  Ugh.  That's so disappointing because there is nothing more rewarding than crafting a hand-crocheted sweater.

I finished up these three and put all future plans on hold.  Hopefully when the weather turns cold again they won't have been replaced by a new sweater-making frenzy, since to look through my closet one would think I have some sort of sweater ADD disorder.  Either that or I'm attempting to crochet winter wear for a small army.

First up is Eve's Rib Tunic.  What a joy this one was to create!  The design is by Doris Chan, from her Everyday Crochet book.

This sweater wins an award in two categories because 1) I actually followed the pattern AS WRITTEN, which is a first I think, and 2) it was my first foray into self-striping yarns.  What a challenge that was.  It seems that yarn labeled as "striping" may in fact only stripe successfully when knitting it.  Crochet uses such tall stitches, that many yarns didn't stripe but instead made horrible gobs of color chunks.  It was bad.  All kinds of bad.

So, after trying many brands and many colors and many thicknesses, this plum-colored stuff worked out beautifully.  The key was really long color runs, and a limited color palette overall so any color clumps that do occur kind of blend in.  Thanks to Lion Brand for creating the Tweed Stripes line.  Looking forward to using it again sometime.

When experimenting with the striping yarns, I found Yarn Bee Rainbow Wool (Hobby Lobby's house brand).   I am not a fan of wool yarn, but the colors appealed to me.  The striping seemed perfectly spaced.  I spent some time researching user feedback online, and those who had tried this yarn swore up and down that it was completely washable and would not shrink.  Not a bit!  Even though it's 86.4% wool and 5% mohair,  the added 8.6% acrylic would keep it from shrinking even a fraction.

You can see where I'm going with this right?

Liar, liar pants on fire...it DOES TOO shrink.  My daughter now has an Eve Rib Tunic sweater dress for next winter.

 
I really love how the striping turned out in that dress.  It looks intentional, but it's mostly a guessing game with a bit of hope thrown in that it'll turn out all right.

Now check this out:

This sweater also wins an award: Favorite Obscure Pattern.   What you're glimpsing above is the Sophisticated Swirls Pullover, designed by Doris Chan and published in 2004.  It was published in one magazine issue that is no longer available and the company refused to re-issue the pattern or make it available digitally, no matter how much I begged.  I coveted the photo I'd seen, stalked the internet crochet forums and eBay, and finally, after months and months, located one lost issue of the magazine.

In the meantime, Doris Chan, feeling the pain of all those who desperately wanted a spiral sweater, designed a new one very similar to the original and self-published it.  Isn't she wonderful?  It's called DJC Spirals.

Sophisticated Swirls is based on old fashioned doilies, with that delightful spiraling pattern.  I made this swirly bit of delight into a longer tunic to wear with leggings and boots.  I'm not good at taking my own picture, but you can kinda see the boots there.

This yarn is cheap acrylic, because I wanted easy care, machine wash and dry, lounge around in it kind of comfy thing.  And it's definitely all that.  Caron Simply Soft yarn in their new Lights version.  It's ridiculously soft and airy.   Good thing I bought 4 more skeins in pink, because I want to use it again for sure.

Perhaps the warmer weather will encourage me to get back to Realta?  It hasn't been completely neglected...only 18 more octagons to go.  Plus 24 filler squares.  Plus sewing them all together.  And then edging it.  Yikes.

Is It Spring Yet?

I dunno about your neck of the woods, but around here, Winter never really showed up.

It's like when you have a party and send out invitations and ask everyone to RSVP, but only a third of the guests actually DO respond (which could be another post completely).  It's like we invited Winter to come on over and stay awhile, only Winter didn't RSVP (but that wasn't surprising since 66% of the population thinks RSVP'ing went out of style with corded telephones, apparently), so with no other option we were left to ASSUME Winter would show up as scheduled.

Only she didn't.

And tomorrow's forecast is 70 degrees.  On  March 6th.  In Iowa.

This is Not Normal.  And quite a bit concerning, actually.  Although the weatherman assures me this has happened before (and is, therefore, not a sign of the apocalypse), I remain un-assured, because last time this happened it was the season before the the big drought of the mid-1980's, which was quite a dramatic event of my childhood since I grew up on a farm and rain was Important.

Alas, there isn't much I can do about it, so I'm going to focus on things I can control.  Like fashion.

Since Spring is pretty much here already (at least it will be on March 6th in Iowa) I decided to dig an old pattern out that I've had in the stash for months, but never got around to making.

The Blossom Bag, designed by Amy Butler.  Perfect for spring.

And I got to use one of my new labels on it!   Squeee!

I won't lie.  This was a complex bag.  Not hard to do; just a lot of steps.  The pattern was well thought out, except for the top flap.  The pattern says to make it separately and then sew it on, but I really didn't like that.  It just felt like an afterthought, with extra exposed edges and top stitching that is really tough to get just perfect.  So I modified the assembly instructions a bit and tucked that top flap in between the outside and the inner lining, so there is no visible stitch line at all from the outside.  Much better. :-)  If you've ever made a bag before and had to leave an opening that gets tucked into the bottom of the lining, you know what I'm talking about.  Do it that way instead of as written.

I'm so excited to move in to this new Spring bag!

Edited to add: The Blossom Bag used to be a free download from Amy Butler's website, but it's not there any more.  Maybe it's still available elsewhere; try Google.  Otherwise, the pattern is in her Style Stitches book.

Labels!

I've had these for a couple of months now but I kept forgetting to share with you all.  For Christmas I ordered myself some custom labels to stitch into completed projects.  They're actually yellow but my iphone took a rotten picture.  It's nice to finish a project and have a label to give it that finished look.

In addition to being just plain cute, they also help my kids figure out which side is the back on their pajama pants.  :-)

Yesterday Craftsy loaded the March Quilt Block-of-the-Month patterns.  I'll update with pics once those are done.  I'd love to work on them today, but first I need to catch up on Real Life.  Groceries, errands, never-ending laundry mountain, overdue library books, blah blah blah.  I need a house elf.

If we ever get some sunshine around here, I'll take pictures of the new sweaters I finished recently.   Gloomy winter skies abound.

Oh Baby - Receiving Blanket Tutorial

Finished up an experimental project and I'm thrilled with the results.  Flannel baby blankets with crocheted edging have been around forever and I finally tried making one myself.  A co-worker is having a baby girl next month and this flannel is just the right weight for a spring baby.  The scalloped shells turned out so pretty and dainty and girly - love it!

 I didn't take pictures of the whole process, but here's the basic tutorial.

Materials list:
1 yard flannel fabric
1 ball size 10 crochet thread (I used Aunt Lydia's 100% Bamboo)
#7 (1.5 mm) crochet hook

Step 1 - Prep the Fabric
Trim the flannel into an exact square.  Trace something round to curve all four corners (a soup bowl works great).  Cut corners and serge around the whole thing.  If you don't have a serger, run a close zig zag stitch right along the edge.

Step 2 - Add the Edging 
note: work the crochet stitches over the serged edge, completely encasing it so the threads don't show.  There is no need to pre-make holes; the crochet hook is small enough to pierce the flannel.

Round 1 - sc around edge, spacing stitches 1/8" apart.  Sl st into first sc.

Round 2 - ch 1, sc in same st.  *sk 2 sc, 5 dc in next sc, sk 2 sc, sc in next sc*  rpt from * around edge.  Join with sl st in first sc.  Fasten off.  Weave in ends.

Aarrrrrr Matey!

Q - What do you do when the plastic eyeball pops off your 6-year-old son's most beloved winter wolf hat, and he is a sobbing inconsolable mess on the floor?

A - Drop everything and whip up an eye patch!  After all, every kid knows that pirate wolves arrrrrrr (sorry, couldn't resist) way cooler and meaner than regular wolves.  :-)

before

after

February Block of the Month

The February block tutorials are posted now in Craftsy's Quilt Block of the Month!  It's not too late if you haven't signed up.  Just click the big button over there at the right.

Here are my February blocks.  I particularly like how the stripe fabric in the second block changes to mitered squares when you cut it into triangles and lay it out just so.

Extreme Makeover - Crafting Nook Edition

You might want to go refill your coffee and make a sandwich, because this is going to be One Huge Post.  Today's Show N Tell is the kind you'd get in trouble for in Kindergarten, because hogging the spotlight isn't fair to others.

But...today is my BIRTHDAY so I am gonna take up the entire 20 minutes anyway.

First, today's post is dedicated to my wonderful husband of 13 years.  He is all sorts of awesome.  Mostly because he does 90% of the cooking around here and doesn't complain about my crafting mess or mild OCD traits.   He's also an amazingly creative man, and for my birthday, he built me a new sewing/crafting area.  Really, he did.    And I looveee it!

He installed this a couple of weeks ago, and I've been just bursting at the seams to share it with you all.  I've been using all my spare time to sort, organize, and move in to the new space.   I have not finished going through the sewing books and magazines, but there is a shelf all ready for them in the right side cabinet there.

I get all giddy just looking at it!  It's so refreshing to have everything organized.  I've been sewing some things for the new space, too.  Now that my sewing machine and serger get to sit out all the time, I thought they might want some covers.  (It also keeps the cat from chewing the threads which he loves to do.)

See it?  Look close.

I made quilt block letters, stitched them together and quilted it, then quilted panels for the backs and sides.  The whole thing is easily assembled with a little precise measuring and bias binding.  I forgot to take a picture of the backsides!  They've got some crazy fabric goin' on.  But the fronts are the best.

A co-worker (Hi Carole!) gave me an old cork board she no longer needed.  A boring old brown board just wouldn't suit, so I painted the frame a pretty blue, then attached a piece of fabric to it with the old-fashioned style flat thumb tacks.    Now I have a place to hang those little inspirational bits that get torn out of magazines, or design ideas that get scribbled on restaurant napkins.

The kids liked this idea so much, that we did the same to the cork boards in their bedrooms.  My daughter now has a lovely geometric flowered design on hers, and my son is sporting Batman comics on his.  Its a very easy, no-sew project.

Oh, remember the Blooming Flower Cushion I took apart last week?  Well, it had a crocheted backside, which was re-purposed into a topper for the little stool I sit on when sewing.  Look how bright and cheerful a boring black folding stool can be!

Ok, moving on then.  You might be asking yourself where all this crafting paraphernalia was housed before the grand makeover here?  Believe it or not, I was working out of a dresser (with a topper, so it wasn't all that bad)  Here's the old space:

That front panel is hinged and comes down. That's where the sewing machine used to sit, and that's where I'd make all the things.

This dresser has been painted about 45 times.  Ok, that may be a slight exaggeration, but this dresser does have a long history.  My mother bought it years ago from a garage sale, and painted it in 1970's colors for my brother's bedroom when he was a baby.  Later it was painted again and used in another room in the house.  Eventually it was repainted white and used in HER crafting/sewing nook.  Some time after that it was painted taupe (ack!) and hauled around to craft shows as a display piece.  When I grew up and moved out, it came with me and I used it as a dresser in the spare room.  When my daughter was born, I painted it purple to match her nursery.  Three years after that it was painted to the colors you see here and used in my son's nursery, then later as MY crafting/sewing nook.  And now, it has undergone yet another transformation, and is now my daughter's desk.

She loves to play school, and this is the perfect piece for that.  All her "teacher things" are organized and she folds everything up at the end of the day.

Some families hand down antiques.  We hand down garage-sale dressers.  I wonder what form this dresser will take in the coming years?  Maybe it'll go off to college with one of my children someday.  Maybe it will be in a grand-baby's nursery.  Maybe it'll even end up in another garage sale looking for a new home.  Who knows.

In other news, my son was with me in Jo Ann Fabrics over the weekend, and he saw this world map fabric panel.  He really enjoys geography and reading about the world in his National Geographic Junior Atlas, so I caved and bought the fabric.  Plus, I had a 50% off coupon.  ;-)

My daughter was equally delighted when she saw it, and she declared that we must quilt it!  The printed latitude and longitude lines really do make for logical quilting.  I agreed.  Lucky for us,  a co-worker friend had given me a substantial amount of yellow fabric that she no longer needed (Hello again, Carole!) and the yellow matched perfectly with the United States and other assorted countries.  I finished the edges with a bit of quilt binding leftover from another project, and voila...Map Quilt.

The whole thing took about three hours, so this would make a quick and easy gift idea for a child.  Pair it with a geography book and it would be a big hit, at least with kids like mine.  The panel is exactly the right size for a twin bed topper.

Ok, Show N Tell time is up no doubt.  Next post I hope to be finished with the tunic sweater I'm working on.  It's coming along just beautifully!   Tonight we're going out for my birthday dinner, and I've requested Mexican food.  Specifically, chicken enchiladas with a giant margarita.  Oh yeah.