Crochet Projects

Playing Around With Red Heart Magical

July 16, 2015 — Leave a Comment

I can finally cross Red Heart Magical off my wishlist! I’ve been wanting to try this yarn for so long but didn’t really know what I’d make with it and at $11, it was too pricey to impulse buy. I found it on clearance at Michael’s for $3.50 but still didn’t buy any because I try really hard to not buy yarn when I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do with it (gotta keep my stash under control!). I ended up looking it up on Raverly to see what other people were making with it and decided that I loved the way it looked knit! So I ran back to Michael’s and picked up Abracadabra, the only color that there were still two skeins of! I want to make leg warmers with it.

I started knitting on straight needles because my knitting skills are weak and I avoid working in the round when I can. I knit up about 1/3 of the skein and loved the way it looked except it was too big so I had to frog. I also want to learn a new stitch to use during that brown part because it could be a little more exciting to match the rest of the yarn.

Since I had to start over, I decided to give it a shot on double pointed needles. I worked through the ribbing and loved the way it was coming out! But when I got to where I wanted to just knit, I remembered why I don’t like knitting in the round.

I don’t understand what happens to my stitches when working in the round. They seem super tight. Even when I intentionally try to make my stitches loose, it still looks wrong. The V part of the stitch is really tight but then there is a huge gap between them. I should probably take a photo to explain better. Maybe I just need to use larger needles. If anyone has any ideas, I would love to hear. I don’t knit very often so I don’t really understand what’s happening. I’ve always had this problem with I knit in the round.

Work In Progress: Crochet Shawl With Cascade Tangier

June 12, 2015 — Leave a Comment

Here’s something I’ve been working on just for fun lately! I bought a skein of Cascade Tangier a while back and took forever deciding on what to make with it! Originally I was just going to make a hat. That’s kinda my go-to project when I don’t know what to make. But I opted to buy two more skeins and make a shawl instead. I don’t wear shawls though so I plan on wearing it as a triangle scarf instead!

Can we just take a moment to appreciate how pretty Tangier is? This color is called Galaxy and I also bought some of the Seascape color. I seriously want to collect all of them though!

This stuff is kinda pricey. $16ish, I believe. But I found that whenever Craftsy has a yarn sale, it’s usually $9, which is much more affordable! Especially for projects like this where you need more than one skein. They don’t have all of the colors though, unfortunately.

Anyway, back to the shawl! I was browsing Ravelry, trying to find the perfect pattern when I came across the Sweet Pea Shawl. I immediately loved it and when I realized that it was in Stitch n Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker, a book that I already own, I figured it was meant to be! You can also buy the pattern on Ravelry though if you’d like to make one. ;)

This pattern is so easy to memorize! It’s great if you want something to work on while watching TV, which is exactly what I’ve been doing!

I guess this design probably isn’t the best suited for the way Tangier stripes but I still like it! The only thing I’m bothered by is how the starting chain along the top is bright pink and then the shells under it are green. I thought about undoing it and starting with a different color but it would still end up with two different colors so I didn’t bother.

I’m really excited to finish this but keep putting it aside to work on the patterns I’m designing. Hopefully I’ll be able to show more photos soon! :)

Sneak Peek At My First Pattern For Design Wars

June 9, 2015 — Leave a Comment

I joined Design Wars a while back and am super stoked to be a part of it! Today I want to share a sneak peek at my very first design! My challenge is coming up on the 22nd and I can’t wait for you to see the pattern I designed for it!

I’m using Red Heart Creme de la Creme, which is a very soft worsted weight cotton. The colors I’m showing here are Linen, Aqua and Aqua Jade. I also ordered a pretty multi-color called Jadetones. Designing this was so crazy for me! I knew exactly what I wanted to make and I originally had the idea that Jadetones would be the main color so I got 8 balls of it. The others were going to be accent colors.

But I really did not like the way Jadetones ended up striping with the stitch I wanted to use so I ditched my original idea and decided to use the other three colors instead for an entirely different design! Idea after idea did not work out and I can’t even tell you how many times I frogged!

Eventually I came up with the design you see below and everything finally worked out. Although it was going to be an entirely different item until I got to the third color and decided it would work better as what it is now. Sorry I have to be so vague. I don’t want to ruin the surprise! ;)

It’s crazy to think of how many different ideas I went through. I sketched out a couple though because I really want to make them happen in the future!

I definitely love/hate having deadlines. There have been times in the past where I’ve made something I wasn’t 100% stoked on because I had to do something before a deadline. But that’s not the case this time, I’m really happy with this design! I think deadlines are generally good for me because I like to walk away from things when they aren’t working out how I had in mind, work on something else and come back to them later. But when you have a deadline, you’re forced to work through it. If I had a deadline for everything, I’d have way fewer unfinished projects! hehe! And even though this is pretty far from what I originally had in mind, I love what it became!

Anyway, stay tuned! Be sure to follow Design Wars if you haven’t yet. My challenge is in two weeks and I hope you’ll give it a vote! :)

Now I just have to figure out what to do with 8 balls of Jadetones! Any ideas?

Crochet Driftwood Sailboat

April 27, 2015 — Leave a Comment

A while back I found some crochet sailboats made with driftwood on Pinterest, and of course loved them! I love crafting with things I find at the beach and anywhere else in nature. I already had some driftwood that I’d collected so I thought it would be fun to make my own boat. It was really fun and easy to make! I used sport weight yarn for this one but will use sock yarn or thread for my next one, I think it’ll look nicer.

I thought it would be fun to photograph it back at the beach, where I originally collected the driftwood, but this wasn’t exactly what I had envisioned. It was a weird day. There was a crazy amount of seaweed on the beach so I couldn’t really get a photo without it.

Is it just me or is seaweed kinda gross? I hate when I’m in the water and it wraps around my legs! Even if I see it coming towards me, it still freaks me out when it touches me.

I found tons of pretty nasturtiums growing though! :)

Work In Progress: Rip Tide Tote Bag

April 17, 2015 — 2 Comments

Last year I released the Rip Tide Fringe Bag crochet pattern and ever since, I’ve wanted to do a tote version of it as well! I designed it to have a rectangular bottom so it’ll be a few inches wide and sit flat. It’s pretty big too so if you’re like me and tend to carry way too much stuff all the time, you’ll love it! ;)

This pattern should be ready within the next couple weeks! The black & gray one below was the first one I made. Now I’m making the one above so I can double check the pattern and also take some progress photos to make it a super user friendly pattern!

How awesome is that seafoam green color?! It’s Lily Sugar n Cream in Beach Glass (which I cannot find online, but they had it at Michael’s). I’ve never seen it before but immediately started piling them into my shopping basket as soon as I saw them! I generally hate pastels but something about seafoam green just makes me so happy! :D

I’m really wanting to put leather handles on these or maybe metal rings like I used on the Rip Tide Fringe Bag. But I’m not sure what I’ll end up doing. I’ll for sure include a simple crochet handle in the pattern though.

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