What Every Cat Needs.

Last night I was once again sucked into the depths of Ravelry, browsing the latest and greatest creations of my fellow crocheters, and I stumbled upon Kitty Couches!

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

Each one is about 12" long, just the right size for a cat-nap.  The miniature afghans and cushions make them all the more realistic. Awwww.   Given that my Duck (who is actually a cat, not a duck) thinks that All The Things made from yarn are for him personally, then this would make the best Christmas present ever!

So I showed my husband.

He said, and I quote, "That's the stupidest thing ever."  And I said, "No way, this is totally awesome!  I'm soooo going to make one for Duck.  But ours will be in colors that match our living room so it'll look like a big-person couch but super tiny!"  He responded with that unique look of his, where one eyebrow is up and the other is down, and I know in his head he is asking himself if it's time to medicate me yet.

Each one is a separate pattern and I don't want to buy all three, so I have to make a decision.  I think #1 the cutest, because I like the separate cushions and the tiny granny square afghan.   But I could still be swayed.

In other news, the cardigan I'm designing is coming right along.  It's going to be longer, and belted, with a large rolled collar, based on the old smoking jackets men used to wear.   But since nobody really smokes anymore I'm calling it the Non-Smoking Jacket.  Plus it's gray.

Front

Back

I finished the sleeves last night, figuring out how to modify the stitch pattern to taper them.  Fits really well! It's very rumply now, but once it's done and washed and blocked, it should look fabulous.

I really, really wanted to write this pattern down in a way that others could understand it and make one for their own, but I've learned in this design process that writing crochet patterns is like writing a book for toddlers.  You have to write each and every step, even the ones that are glaringly obvious to anyone who knows crochet basics.  Oh-my-bob talk about tedious!  My respect for crochet designers who actually write this stuff down has reached epic proportions.

I'm just not that diligent, so I gave up and I'm writing the pattern MY way, graphically. To heck with crochet shorthand.  Plus, since charts are universal, anybody around the world could make this without knowing a lick of English.

Charts rock.

Once the jacket is finished, I'll clean up these charts and post them as pdf files.

Surprise!

I luuurrrrvvveees surprises.  I love them even more when they're actual for-real surprises  not the kind where I have to pretend I don't know anything about it, but in reality I heard all the plans and ideas because my kids sometimes whisper with their Normal voice or forget that I'm in the next room while discussing what to get me for Christmas, or whenever.

Yesterday was a Real Surprise day.

Melissa, you rock.  :-)

My cousin ordered this book for me!  It's delightful.  Full of ideas for upcycling thrift-store finds.  Like mumu's.  And dresses with great fabric but ugly style.  And accessories!  I can't wait to dig through Goodwill racks in search of raw materials.

Earlier in the week I got a surprise from the mail man - a sharp crochet hook!

What a great invention. (sure would've been handy with the flannel blanket edging, eh?) I'll work up a couple new of projects with this and let you know how it goes.  Jessica from Sharp Crochet Hook is also sponsoring a givewaway, so one of you lovely readers just might get one too.  I'll do a special post about all the details when I've got some projects completed.

In project news, I've been working on my cardigan design.  Got a lot done, too. But then today I had a significant amount of drive time and decided I might be going about this all wrong.  Maybe this would be more comfortable without seams, worked from the top down.  So....I'm debating starting all over.

All this work might get unravelled.  Crap.

On the positive side, I used up leftover yarn from my Pink Lattice sweater to make Spirals top for my daughter.  Didn't have enough for long sleeves, but it'll still be cute layered with a t-shirt I think.

Reinventing the Wheel

Hubby thinks I'm cold-blooded like our pet lizard because I'm pretty much shivering for October through May.  Since cranking the heat isn't best option for either the environment or my bank account, the only choice is to layer sweaters instead. 

I stumbled upon this beauty at the end of last season: The Copenhagen Jacket.  It's a free pattern from the the Caron yarn company.   I think what appeals to me most is the texture.  3D is all the rage right now, after all.  But, the stitch pattern has a lot going on.  Almost too much.  So this afternoon I decided to use the same basic construction method used in this jacket, but go with a totally different stitch.

I've spent the last two hours studying my favorite stitch guide and making sample swatches. The Complete Book of Crochet Stitch Designs is my go-to guide.  This thing is ridiculously full of design inspiration.

My photography skills suck.

Criteria:

1. Simple, yet look complicated.
2. Something with a long, vertical layout
3. Textural and dimensional, containing post stitches
4. Will look good both right side up, and upside down, since this will be constructed in 3 long panels.

These stitch patterns met the above criteria  so I quickly worked them up.  Sometimes the picture in the book doesn't look at all the same as the finished product, because I tend to crochet much more loosely than the book author.

I have no idea why we have a Prison Industries ruler at our house.  

I also have no idea how to flip these photos right side up.

After wasting 15 minutes trying to flip the photos so they're all the same way, I'm giving up.  It's something between the way I held my iPhone when I took the picture, combined with the way it downloaded to my computer.  Blogger doesn't have a "rotate picture" option that I can find.  Whatever.  But hey!  This way I can see how the stitch pattern looks upside-down, which is criteria #4.  So it's all good.

Whaddya think?

I keep studying these, and I seem to like the evenly spaced ones best.  So #443 and #431.  But, I also really like #439, perhaps with a modification so the raised stitches occur in groups of three like they are now, and add a single line in between each group.  That should be easy enough to create. 

Hmmm.....such difficult decisions I'm tasked with making.   :-)

Arctic

Isn't is odd how 55 degrees in October feels very different from 55 degrees in March?

If it were March, we'd be shedding clothes right and left, and parading around in t-shirts and flip-flops, proclaiming the virtues of such a wonderful spring day!

But it's October and the sky is dreary and dull.  The leaves are almost past their colorful beauty, and I'm cold.  Oh so cold.  I swear the older I get the harder it is to keep warm.  Last week (before caving to the chill and turning on the furnace) I wore mittens and socks to bed.  Husband thinks I'm nuts.

And there's nothing like a good cold wind to make a person crochet faster.  After holding your frigid fingers under hot water so they have feeling again, that is.  Must. Make. Sweaters.

I finished up this sweater a couple of days ago, and while I wasn't sure about it at first, it's grown on me.  Originally I had planned to make this into a lighter, airier layering piece.  But the gray yarn wouldn't have it, and it demanded to become a thick and cozy sweater, sweatshirt style.

The pattern is not mine.  It's called No Sweat by Doris Chan, and it's from her Everyday Crochet book.   Her designs are fast too.  This one took about five days, working just a few hours each evening.

The yarn does that subtle stripy stuff all by itself (open bag, let out cat) making this look much more difficult than it really is.  Unfortunately, the yarn was discontinued a few years ago.  I was lucky and won 8 skeins of it on ebay.  That's the only place to find it these days and it doesn't come up very often.  If you want to start stalking the auctions, it's called Caron Simply Soft Shadows, and they made it in lots of different colors.  Just don't bid against me. :-)

The Great Stashdown

I have 20 different yarns in my stash right now.

I know, some of you are reacting with "Bah!  That's nothing!  I have 247 yarns with plans to acquire more!"  Really.  Some of the stashes from Ravelry members are insane.

However, my compulsive need to Actually Have a Plan for each item in my stash is resulting in some anxiety, I'm fondly referring to as The Great Stashdown.  I want to use up a bunch of this stuff before buying more.  So, I sorted the yarn by quantity, and the ones that have enough for a sweater got pulled out into a special display.  It's like my own teeny tiny yarn store.  :-)

Here's my tiny yarn display tucked into the corner of my sewing/crafting area.

I've got enough for 8 adult size sweaters, and 1 smaller one for my daughter.

All those blue tags are my sons doing.  Looks like a yarn store, feels like a yarn store, so it should be priced like a yarn store.  Makes perfect sense when you're 7.

Interestingly, the one yarn I dislike the most is the one he priced highest.
Good!  I don't want to "buy" that one again anyway!

The FREE black yarn is a delicious bamboo blend.
Clearly his pricing system is skewed.

So I asked my son, "Do I have to pay you money to use my own yarn stash?"  He said, "Of course!  But you don't have to give me Real Money.  Or I'll just give it back to you later."

That's my boy.

It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's a retro tablecloth refashioned into purse!

Browsing through Goodwill last week, I found this lovely, lovely 1960's era tablecloth in a golden yellow.

Best $1.69 I've spent in a long time.  It's got a wonderful thick texture to it, and it just begged to be something more than a tablecloth.

So it was up-cycled into a vintage-inspired bag designed by the lovely Long Ladies at Marie-Madeline Studio.  If you're not familiar with their designs, check them out.  They create patterns for wonderful skirts, dresses and accessories, and they use delicious color combinations.  Very inspiring stuff indeed.  This particular bag is called the Laraine.  

I followed the pattern exactly with the exception of one small additional zippered pocket tucked into the back lining.  Without it the band-aids and Tylenol and chapstick roll around everywhere and nobody wants that.  :-)  Oh, and I divided the other pocket panel into 3 pockets, instead of the 2 the pattern called for.  It fit my iPhone and sunglasses better that way.  

Show and tell time.

Roomy interior

3 open pockets on one side; small zipper pocket on the other.

My Mother made one too.  Hers is out of airplane seat fabric she found at an aircraft supply store.
It's practically indestructible. 

It holds an amazing amount of crap, despite it's deceptively small size.

Which reminds me of something...