I Am Not So Much a Knitter

I am a crocheter, but many years ago I finally learned to knit because I saw an article on continental knitting and I was able to do that without it hurting my hands too much. Once I got used to the movements, it didn't hurt at all. Mostly what I knit are dishcloths and most of those are for Christmas presents and for a long time I only knit the classic, ubiquitous, garter stitch on the diagonal dishcloth.
Somewhere along the line I found a very similar pattern, but with only 3 stitches cast on and the yarn over increase done after just the first stitch in each row. It seemed to be a little more symmetrical for me and so I stuck with that.
Then just this last year I decided all on my own to just do a single decrease at the beginning of each row instead on the usual decrease, yarn over, decrease that I had been doing all along. It meant I didn't get that little eyelet edging on the second half, but for me it was worth it to avoid the distortion I would always get on the second, decreasing half of the dishcloth.
Well, didn't that just open a whole world of crazy, because this year I am knitting seed stitch dishcloths. Okay, it's not real-knitter-crazy, but for me this is a big step.



The two at the bottom are from a pattern by Chris Williamson, but I can't find a way to get to it on her website. I originally got it from a yahoo group I'm in called holidaymysterygifts, but the patterns there are only available for a short period of time. New ones every month, though.

Anyway, I was looking for the pattern and came across Devin's Dishcloth which is the one on the needles above. I really like the garter stitch banding around the seed stitch center, especially in the solid color I am using here. I did change the pattern a tiny bit by casting on an odd number of stitches and beginning and ending each row of the center seed stitch section with a purl stitch. I tried it as the pattern is written but ended up with the border being one stitch wider on one side.

I know this is probably the knitting equivalent of crossing the street by yourself, but to me it a big step forward.

Randomness

Every year I like to take all the letters and pictures that came with Christmas cards and put them in a special album just for that purpose. Well, if you can believe it, the people who send me pictures do not get together and coordinate their pictures so that they fit beautifully on the pages and I am left with blank spots to fill in with whatever. Luckily for them, that is one of my favorite parts.

The last few years I have tried to use what they actually sent (stickers on the envelopes, stamps,
parts of the cards) to fill in any blank spots. This is my favorite from this year -- well, last year, but I did it this year.
The image of the angels is from a return address label, and the background is from the back of a card. I thought it was a nice way to use something that might have been thrown away -- the address label -- and something that would have ended up in a pile of things I might use for something eventually -- the back of the card.





Then we have a picture of Rover guarding the vegetable patch or what is left of it after he ate most of the lettuces. He looks so serious, making sure the camera doesn't think it is going to get any of these vegetables.

Off to his right there are actually a lot of broccoli plants. My son loves broccoli, and we hope that it grows well. The leaves have gotten quite large and healthy looking, but we have not seen anything that looks like broccoli growing on them yet. This is our first year trying to grow it, so it is a learning experience for all of us. Except for our daughter who doesn't much care for vegetables and would probably prefer us to grow some nice meaty livestock.

Take the Quiz here!

+89/+11.625

Paisley Brooches and Picture Frames

These are some of the things I made for February's felt themed contribution to the beat-the-Christmas-rush year long project. First there are a couple of paisley shaped felt brooches.

I didn't really like paisley when I was a girl, but as I am seeing it more and more of it this time around I do see some that I like very much and others that have design elements that I like even if I don't like the piece as a whole. It was so enjoyable to do the embroidery and to pick out the colors and beads and buttons for these. I would definitely do this again.

I also made some frames for wallet sized photos.

These are intended to be hung on a Christmas tree. They were so easy to do and I have some ideas for some more, so these shouldn't be the last of them. The lighter blue one reminds me of those flowers Mary Engelbreit does. So cheerful.
The funny thing was that I was trying to think of something a on the masculine side that I would not totally mess up with my girl-brain way of thinking I see clearly what a thing looks like while totally missing the most important part. (Sheesh, mom.) Anyway, my son saw these and said they looked nice. I asked him which one he liked best and he looked very sad and asked if picking one meant they wouldn't both have his picture in them. So I guess it'll be okay if I don't get any "boy" ones done.

I Don't have to Go to Work For 15 Minutes

A few days ago, I found myself ready to go to work about fifteen minutes before I needed to leave. The night before, just as I was getting ready for bed, I had this urge to crochet something, but I am trying to be good so I made myself go to bed anyway.
That unscratched itch and a little free time produced this:
This is only about one and a quarter inches across. I wore it to work and when I came home I had to make these, too:

They are about twice as big as the first one.
At the beginning on the year I was toying with the idea of working on one type of project for each month of the year so that by the time Christmas comes around I will have a stash of already made items to choose from instead of a bunch of craft supplies, but I hadn't really come up with a plan. Well, it turns out that this is flower month. I now have fifteen flowers made and plan to make sixteen more -- one for each day of the month. They are not all this same pattern and they may not all end up being brooches, but they will be there for me to use when the time comes.

Last Minute Christmas Gift

This year several sites mentioned surprise balls. They are balls of crepe paper that the recipient unwinds to find small gifts hidden inside. I decided to try them with my family.
Shortly after I made my mom's, I found the item I had meant to put in the middle. So, I unwrapped hers to start over and even though it wasn't for me it was so fun to see the goodies fall out. The next day I was telling one of the women I work with about it when it occurred to me that I should make some for my co-workers. We weren't having a gift exchange this year, but I wanted to do something.
The plan was to just put small candies in it since this was now very last minute, but I ended up making a bracelet (sorry, no picture) for one person and some small felt pins for some others.

One co-worker had already asked me for a snowman pin and another loves ladybugs, so those were easy to come up with. These were so fun and easy to do that I know I will be making more.
Not everyone got a pin but they all got a surprise ball and they were all delighted as they began unwrapping them and saw the little treats falling out.
The hardest part of this is finding the little things that work, but as you wind the ball you see where to add the next thing and it all comes out pretty round at the end.

Crocheted Christmas Ornaments

Crocheted Christmas Ornaments
Originally uploaded by joanieponytail57

These are from a pattern by Roxycraft. If you compare the bottom of the one on the far left with the next two, you will see that the middle ones have a pointer bottom. So does the one on the far right, but it is hard to see in the picture. To do that I made this change:
Round 1: ch 2; sc in 2nd chain from hook, 3 times; join with slst in first sc.
Round 2: ch 1; 2sc in each ch around; joing with slst in first sc.
Pick up pattern at its Round 2.
The three larger ornaments are for swap-bot, and are in colors from my partners' profiles. The small one is for me and is made with self-striping yarn, so no yarn changes.