October 28, 2008

Tiny. Happy.

Gray baby hat


Another easy one from Happy Hooker. It's the hat from the Sejia set in that book. Super simple, super fast. Gosh, I love that. The fact that it's baby stuff is a bonus.

In fact, I made two hats. In two days. I just could not stop myself.

Two hats in two days.

And now, a small warning: winter is coming, daylight is scarse and pictures on this blog are going to more or less suck for the next 5 months. There, I said it. I'll try not to mention it again and start loving the top of my washing machine.

October 27, 2008

Baby steps, big baby steps

I thought baby steps were small and took a long time... I never imagined that in under two weeks after picking up a hook properly for the first time I would have two very nice finished objects. Seems like when I start hooking* something I just keep going until I'm done. That's why I have two big(ish) finished objects in just over a week.

First there was a blanket:

Crochet blanket

The last time I blogged that thing was just a small strip under all the other squares. It is now a very hairy and well loved tv-watching-on-saturday-mornings blanket for M.

Then I immidiately started a hat.

Crochet beanie

It's the Anarchy Irony hat from Happy Hooker. Also very well received by M.

Petter must have tried it on in secret, because he told me last night it fit him perfectly and he wants one too. "Hopefully in another yarn and colour" was my only response. Off course I'll make him a hat if he asks me to! After all he stayed home and washed all the windows while M and I were out snapping pictures of the beanie and enjoyed ourselves.

I've heard last night that two of my cousins are expecting in April and May. Already; one crochet baby hat in the making.

OMG, I cant stop!

(*somehow the c-word and I don't mix well. I don't like pronouncing it and typin it always comes out as crotch first)

October 20, 2008

Hooked

I have not touched my knitting in a week! I've been paying very close attention to other stuff instead... The happy hooker Debbie Stoller.

First foray into crochet

That's how much skill I've managed to aquire in a weeks time. Single crochet (white square), half double and double crocet (green boring looking square), bobble stitch (red square) granny squares (small and green) and shell stitches (edge on white square and that very fuzzy thing at the bottom).

I think I'm in love with shell stitches. I've already used up one and a half very big ball of mohair yarn in shell stitch. I'm making a doll/daughter blanket/lapghan thingy out of four balls of self striping Lithuanian mohair yarn. I really like how it's turning out. The colours turn out random in a whole different way than it would in knitting. I'm not really fond of knitting with mohair, but I can crochet with it for hours on end. Nor do I like knitting with cotton much, but I do see it has it's uses in crochet. My hands don't hurt one bit. Not as it usually does when I've been working with cotton.

I'm seing "non-knittable" yarns disappearing from my stash and into a higher form of being this way. I'm a happy hooker too;)

October 14, 2008

I'm getting sucked in

I can feel it....

Fantastic crochet

I've had this very strong urge to master the art of Granny Squares for months. Yesterday I sat myself down and tackled single crochet. Just that simple step led me to correct a number of mistakes I have been making on those seldom occations with hook in hand. Today I'll tackle double crochet I hope.

October 01, 2008

Curiosity killed the ca... yarn?

This summer I got a Knit Picks Sock Blank in a swap on Ravelry. Monday I got this sudden urge to dye it right now!

I soaked the blank in water for about 10 minutes while I dug through my yarn chest for my KoolAid. I added Cherry KA to one small pot and Blue Berries KA to another. Then I gently squeezed water from the blank, folded it twice and tied it all off on the middle with some string. All this happened quick and with a minimum of thinking behind it. I just wanted to see the pretty colours on my yarn. I dunked and swished one half of the Blanks-bundle in the blue KA while gently heating the water close to boiling temperature, then when the water was clear I turned the yarn over and repeated with the red (holding the hot blue part in a plastic bag and barbecue mitten, not easy.) Then I hung the whole thing to dry. Today when I got home from work it was finally dry.

Red'n'blue Red'n'blue
Red'n'blue Red'n'blue
(click to see big)

Conclusion? I need to plan these things better and make myself take more time. It's not half bad though, considering the KoolAid did not penetrate the yarn completely in a lot of places. At least I did not get a lot of red penetrating the blue and making "ick" on my yarn. (You'd think it would make purple. It doesn't.)

I'll have to knit this up soon. I'm very courious about what kind of socks this will make too... I will not be able to decide if I love or hate it until I see it knit up I think.