experimenting with a new soaker pattern

isn't this precious? The ribbed soaker looks so classy to me! This one's a little wide in the hips relative to its rise and legs, but that's due to me not adjusting for adding the short rows in the back.

Live and learn, and try again soon!

updates...

#1--crochet lessons with Victoria begin Thursday. Her mom is going to buy her a hook and some easy-to-work-with yarn between now and then. We're going to meet during her study hall at school, which is the hour right before her Latin class with me. I'm so excited! I hope she likes it!

#2--I posted a picture of Lucy's Longhorn Longies on the 'pin and I got an order for some from 'pin mom! I have NO intention of getting into the diaper cover crocheting business, but Jenn lives near Stephanie and Nathan and we've emailed a bunch and tried to get together when I'm in the Ft. Worth area, so she's more of a friend than some random internet person. She wants some purple TCU longies for her toddler. Why not? Toddler sized longies sound like a fun challenge to me! She's going to hunt down the perfect purple yarn and then I'll get started.

#3--it's killing me not to post a picture of the super fun project I'm working on for baby Hochart. But since I know Liz reads this blog--all of you will have to wait until she's seen the real thing before I post pics. IT IS SO STINKIN' CUTE!

Hook 'em Horns!

I finished Lucy's "Longhorn Longies"! Made from the Ladybugz Morning Glory pattern in Lion wool (pumpkin and winter white colors).

She can wear them as a diaper cover this winter and they'll double as pants. My favorite feature on this pattern is the little heiny extension so they'll fit over those fluffy cloth diapers.

I'm so pleased with the way they came out! Now, here's hoping they fit with a little room to spare so she can wear them through the winter...

teaching more than Latin

I left about 30 minutes early for my Latin classes today due to a severe line of thunderstorms due in the Houston area during my normal travel time. I figured I could sit up at school and chat for a while before my class if it meant I didn't have to drive in the heavy rain. I took the hat I was working on (see below) for entertainment, too. One of my students, a super cute 4th grader named Victoria, saw me working on the hat and asked if I could teach her. I told her that my mom taught me when I was about her age, so sure, if she wanted to learn, I'd be happy to work with her. I didn't know if she was really serious or not, but when it came time to leave today after class, she cornered me and started talking details. She really wants to learn! I'm so excited! I told her I'd email her mom and we'd set up a time for lessons. How fun would it be to teach one of my kiddos my favorite craft? Yay!

bitty baby hat

I worked this up today for a friend at church who is expecting any minute now. It's out of the same lime green yarn as Lucy's bunny lovey (had leftover from that project). This one was fun and fast...

kitty love!

This project cracks me up. It's for my friend Jessica's baby, Rush (not his/her real name--but an in-the-womb nickname). I started with the intention of doing another bunny lovey like I made for my niece (see post below). The problems started when I got fancy and decided to try a pattern that worked from corner to corner instead of in straight rows for the "blanket" part. That turned out to be a disaster. The first half went great as I increased up to the middle--I had a lovely triangle that was making a perfect 90 degree angle and I was so excited. The 2nd half was the problem. I don't know if it was me or the pattern, but I could never get the decrease right and it quickly became evident that the 2nd half was never going to make a square. Since I'm going to be seeing Jessica this weekend, and wanted to give her the lovey, I didn't have time to start over and make it square. So the winging-it began! I quit crocheting before it turned into a long kite-shape, and decided to make something work with the pentagonal shape I had. An idea from some loveys I've seen in Target and Babies R Us seemed like it might work with my one sharp corner. They make some where the animal has arms and looks like it's holding the corner of the blanket. So I attached the head and created arms to hold the corner. It turned out surprisingly well. In fact, if I'd done the head and ams in a contrasting color (yellow or brown), I think it would be perfect. But a monotone lovey it is. Oh, and it turned into a kitty instead of a bunny because I couldn't picture a bunny having arms to hold a blanket with! And I thought that with the blanket corner coming up and bunny ears hanging down, the critter's face would be totally obstructed. Hope Rush likes some kitty love!

Chic on the Halfshell

That's the name of the purse I just crocheted. No, I didn't make it up. It's the name of the pattern. My version is a little wonky--I'm not sure it could be called "chic" but it's still pretty cute. I talked David into visiting the yarn shop in Katy with me (Sugar Land has none) and this pattern was available there (free!) with a very cute little white example purse. I had some wool/acrylic blend yarn (what the pattern called for) just sitting at home with no real plan so I worked it up. Unfortunately, I had about 5 yards too little and ended up finishing the handles with a khaki color, which coordinated fine. The wooden button helps pull the whole thing together, in my mind. I really enjoyed the rows on this proejct. I've done plenty of crocheting in the round, but nothing where I only made partial rounds. I really had to trust the pattern--sometimes it seemed to be telling me to do something made absolutely no sense at all to me! In the end, though, it was all good.

current project...

I found a taker for that adorable hat I mentioned wanting to make! I'm crocheted it for my friend Katy's toddler, Ellie. Katy sent me a picture of Ellie's winter coat and we chose yarn that we hope coordinates with it. I decided to make a little coordinating scarf as a surprise to go along with the hat. Here it is...

I saw Katy and Ellie this week and delivered the hat and scarf. They fit! They're cute, too. Well, we didn't get to look too long before she ripped that hat right off her head! Katy liked them, though, so that's all that matters...

Oh the fun that can be had...

with a big ole' skein of fisherman's wool! I spent yesterday afternoon dyeing wool yarn with Kool-aid. Kool-aid is supposed to be a permanent dye on all animal fibers, like wool, silk, mohair, etc. We'll see how it holds up, but it sure was FUN! I used these instructions from knitty.com. The article gives three different methods--stovetop, microwave, and "painting" a variegated yarn. I tried one of each. I thought I'd share my process and results with you!

"Black Cherry" on the stovetop

First, I bundled my yarn in "loose hanks" and chose my "flavors", about one package per ounce of yarn. Then I soaked my yarn in warm water with a glug or two of vinegar for 20-30 minutes until it was good and saturated.

Meanwhile, I mixed my Kool-aid with a very little bit of water--just enough to dissolve the powder. Then I put the Kool-aid mixture in a large pot on the stove, added the yarn, and enough water to just cover the yarn. I saw the yarn soaking up the dye almost immediately. I heated the water to nearly boiling (good and steamy) and then put the lid on the pot and let it sit for 30 minutes or so. I did stir it a few times, but I was afraid of felting it, so mostly I just poked the parts that looked like they needed a little encouragement with my spatula! The most amazing part, I thought, was that the yarn really did soak up all of the dye out of the water. Towards the end of its time on the stove, the water in the pot truly was clear and the yarn was red. Unbelievable.

After the wool had cooled down enough for me to handle it, I rinsed it under warm water until the water ran clear (which took seconds--the wool was really well set with the dye) and laid it out to dry. I let it dry overnight and rolled it into a ball today. Ta-da!


"Blastin' Berry Cherry" in the microwave

The microwave method was not my favorite. My wool didn't come out colored as evenly as it did on the stovetop. I started off the same way as the stovetop--soak the wool with a glug of vinegar, mix the Kool-aid with a little bit of water, and put in a microwave safe dish. I spread the wool out as best I could in my dish, but I think I should have chosen a bigger dish. I don't actually know if I own one that's bigger but would still turn well in my microwave, though. Bummer. And again, I filled it up with enough water to just cover the yarn. Then I zapped it for 2 minutes on high, let it rest about 10 minutes, and repeated the process two more times--zap, rest, zap, rest, let cool.

One of the reasons I wasn't too fond of the this method was that the dye didn't seem to heat-set in the microwave as well as it did on the stove. The water in the dish never was clear and when it was time to rinse this one, it took *forever* for the water to run clear. It finally did, though, and here's my result:


and the Grand Finale.... a variegated yarn using "Lemonade", "Lemon-lime",
and "Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade"

This was the most fun! Again, I soaked my yarn well with some vinegar while I mixed my three flavors. This time I put my flavors in three measuring cups, with about a cup of water each. I laid my yarn out flat on the floor with some trash bags underneath.

Then I poured a bit of one color and then another, one at a time, and patted it to make sure the dye saturated all of the yarn layers. I tried to use colors that wouldn't look tacky if they bled into each other, which is good, because they certainly did!

This is what the yarn looked like before I heat-set it in the microwave.

I put it in a caserole dish and zapped it twice for 2 minutes with a rest in between. There was no more colored water in the bottom of the dish after that, so I figured it was done.

This one rinsed clear almost immediately like the first one, and went on the drying rack with the others.

Here is the outcome of my variegated labors:


And one more...just to show off...

Now, don't you want to try???

a bit of Thursday night sewing

Flannel/terry wipes with a cute purple paisley print. I love this flannel. I made a few for Lucy out of it, too.

Double-sided flannel wipes, in coordinting prints. I love these flannels. So cute, yet so gender neutral!

And finally, some more flannel/terry wipes.

Happy Birthday to ME!

My sewing machine was my birthday gift from my sweet husband (although I got to pick it out!). I've only had it a week and a half, so I haven't used it much, but I'm so excited! The only thing I've done so far is make some wipes for my niece, Lucy. They turned out great, so I'm encouraged. The possibilities are endless! I can make aprons, more aprons, curtains, baby room stuff when we get pregnant, and of course, more aprons!

organization

My yarn and sewing supplies were taking over my guest bedroom, so here's my new "craft cart". It's actually an old, sad cart that I had in my classroom, but I'm glad I can give it a new job. It works well, but it's already FULL! And that's my new sewing machine on top (in it's case). I'll showcase her in a later post...

yarn projects to come...

I started working on this but encountered some pattern reading problems. I need to try again and persevere this time!

I bought some wool yarn (my first!) at my mom's Joann's last weekend--they were moving locations and everything was on sale! I want to try kool-aid dyeing my gigantic skein of fishermen's wool. I'll definitely post pictures of that project when I decide to tackle it. I'll do it on a weekend since David said he was interested in the chemistry of the process. (He's a cute chemical engineer husband, isn't he?)

And I'm dying to try this hat that a 'pin mama made for her baby. I can't think of a good recipient, though. It's a little silly. Eliana?

Enough about yarn projects! Sewing will the topic of the next post...

crocheting for others

my two most recent crochet projects have been baby gifts.

first, a ladybug hat for a 'pin friend's little one who was nicknamed "ladybug" in utero
and 2nd, a bunny lovey for my precious new niece Lucy

creamsicle capris

I made some modifications on the lime green soaker for this pair of capris, and I made them specifically for Stella, my dolly. I wanted to make them for a specific "person" so that I could practice with customizing waist, rise, and inseam lengths. Admittedly, this is an ugly yarn, but hey, I'm still practicing so cheap acrylic is a good thing!

the soaker that started it all...

after several months of reading on the 'pin about cloth diapers (and getting excited about using them on our not-yet-conceived baby), I decided to dust off my crochet hooks and try crocheting a soaker (diaper cover). This was the result:


I was really happy with my first crochet project in years. This wasn't the best soaker pattern but it was free, so it was a good way to practice. It turned out so tiny that I ended up giving it to a woman with a little girl to use with her dolls. My improved version in a post to come...

so it tuns out...

that I'm crafty!

I have to laugh at this since my friend K-Lo has long since described me as "not crafty" just because I didn't take to her magnet-making project with as much gusto as she expected. But in the last few weeks I have discovered that I find a lot of joy in creating things. My current crafts of choice are crocheting and sewing. I'm a fairly experienced crocheter, and a completely novice seamstress, but am thoroughly loving both. Pictures of projects to come...