Such Sweet Hands

(I started this entry sometime in March or early April)

I started this granny project about a year ago, but it went into certain hibernation for many months. One reason for the hibernation? The cubby box that holds all the yarn for the grannies became the favorite cute and cuddly curl up spot for Tiger Lily. What can I say? The girl has great taste. I’m sure if I ever finish the granny project she’ll want to sleep on the blanket, but probably enjoys the fluff of so many skeins and balls of yarn piled on top of each other even more. When I finally reclaimed the box from her I found skeins shaped like trapezoids. All the yarn had just been flattened and squooshed… at least I know they were squooshed with the loving attention of a sweet cat making her bed. Of course I did cover the yarn stash, I placed a couple of layers of towels on top of the cubby so her “nest” didn’t become a nest of fur in my yarn! Yeah, if I wasn’t such a weirdo, if I was practical, I wouldn’t have let her sleep there anyway. I would have moved the cubby box and kept her away from it. I did try to make her a bed with another cubby box, but no amount of folded towels could create the same cat approved nap spot as a pile of Blue Sky Cotton and Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille.

So I rescued the yarn and grannies from the cubby, replaced it with yarn I’m less interested in, and put some towels on top in case Tiger Lily decides the cubby is still worthy of her naps.

I was in a real funk at the time. Unsure whether I wanted to continue to contribute to the craft world as a designer and often overheard as saying I just wanted to send all the yarn away and turn my “office” back into a dining room. So, while I was feeling totally uninterested in making any designs that had to be pitched, written up, edited, and such, I found myself laying on the couch and staring at this small collection of grannies spread out on the rug in front of me.

Shuffling the squares around like puzzle pieces or building blocks led to catching up on weaving in their ends. A few days later the squares still lounged on the rug while I started sorting out all those squooshed balls of yarn. The balls of yarn got thrown into the mix on the rug and finally I couldn’t resist grabbing a hook and playing with all those great colors to make some more squares.

So the whole time I was babbling about getting a job out in the real world and saying I had no crochet mojo left I was cuddled up to all these granny squares…

Good Morning, even though it’s past noon…

Today, I have a little tip for ya! I could go on and on about cork bulletin boards. I have several and I put them to all sorts of “non-bulletin board” uses. Cover them with fabric to make them soft and pretty and you have a great portable, pin-able surface to place your work on.

I love my swift and winder, but I don’t really have any furniture that I can attach them too. Most open surfaces in my place are too thick for the adjustable clamp thingies. Then there’s the table that’s too nice and I don’t want to scar it. There’s also the problem of clutter. When I’ve had the swift and winder set up in a more permanent way I’ve found the set up gets in the way of other things or piles of said things get in the way of my actually using the swift and winder. So, most of the time the winder and swift live in a shelf cubby. When I need them, I attach them to one of my fabric covered cork bulletin boards and Voila! I have a portable winding set up to use as I please. I like to place the board on top of a stack of sturdy floor pillows so I can sit on the floor and watch teevee while I’m on a winding spree.

Look what landed in my mailbox today!

The July/August Issue of Crochet Today includes my pattern for a sweet, quick, and fun to work up stole/capelet, the “Rolling Waves Stole”. For all ya’ll recently entranced by ripple patterns, it’s a fun stitch pattern that flies off the hook once you get the hang.

There was a slight difference of vision in this case, the powers that be at the magazine added some length and a border. That’s how the cookie crumbles and I’m not displeased with the outcome of combining my whim with their needs. Because we don’t get to keep the samples, I still need to finish up my own to wear to a beach side wedding in a few weeks. The one (or two I might whip an extra up in a different color) I make for my own use will be a tad different. I promise to share pictures and input on taking a pattern and changing it up to make it your own.

I also want to note that I really enjoyed working with Moda Dea Fashionista to make this piece. It’s a nice acrylic yarn with an almost chenille sort of texture. Well, chenille-like in the richness of the colors and the look of the texture. Without the worming and chenille weirdness! It works up nice and soft and light with just the right amount of cozy warmth for a light wrap. I bet worked in a tighter gauge it could make a great granny motif bag…

A Simple Ikea Hack:

Lion Brand was very generous, they sent us a ton of yarn to use in our booth. How were we going to organize the yarn in an attractive way that still kept the plentiful supply at the fingertips of our eager crocheters and knitters? Shannon was at Ikea and I was standing in the booth space surrounded by boxes of yarn, so we shopped together via cell phone. She’d announce something she’d found and we’d brainstorm ways to use it, then discuss if it would really work in this booth space. She found the Ikea trash bag holders and suggested we use them attached to the back wall of the booth, but there wasn’t enough space on the booth wall. I convinced her they’d work laying on their backs and begged her to buy a lot of them…

The idea blossomed the next morning when we stuffed the containers with a variety of yarns with the center pull tails strung through the holes. It worked! The set up survived two days and a ton of people using the yarn to knit and crochet.

We also had a lot of fun brainstorming even more ways to use these awesome containers. One suggestion: close the open end and trap a cat toy inside to provide your bored kitty with a challenge. I brought several of them home with me, more later on what I come up with them. I just hope the one I’ve used for 2 years as a boring old trash bag holder doesn’t get jealous!

I have found the secret, how to transform a simple crocheted sphere ( what will it be or be a part of in the end? will it be part of an amigurumi creature? will one of the cats steal it? there’s just no knowing!) into something as sweet to the fingers as a bonbon of the finest decadent kind is to the mouth? Oh, it simple…

Here sits a humble sphere composed of single crochet stitches, stuffed with ends and stray bits of leftover Koigu from the Larger Than Life Bag. Some yarns are simply too nice and I can’t discard even the shortest strands that are too short to use. Until now I never thought to use these little leftover delicasies as stuffing. I suppose the strands of yarn make for a heavier stuffing. The weight combines with the squish of the plush yarn to make for a little crocheted ball with a bit more substance. I’m not tossing out the bag of fiber-fill in the closet, but now I want to play with other treasured fancy things as stuffing. . . .

Koigu’s Kersti Merino Crepe is the perfect weight for some sweet little amigurumi making. If I’m going to be working simple single crochet in the round over and over, I want yummy yarn in my fingers. Making amigurumi parts with this yarn is like baking cookies, you know it’s going to turn out sweet. On the other hand, I selfishly want to hold onto this yarn and never let it go. This colorway is gorgeous, spatters and speckles of color that season each stitch. Although single crochet can become monotous and it would be easy to speed through, I’m having fun watching the spatters of color move into each stitch.

Relishing in Koigu Amigurumi making has been my comfort project today. I’ve hit a wall on something that needs to be finished asap and am sort of hiding from it. So, time to get back to solving that crochet conundrum I’ve tiptoed around all day.

I’ve been so very lazy about blogging lately. My blog has become like any other messy room in my apt, I often just wish to avoid it and spend all my time in whatever clean, organized place that remains. Instead of waiting until I’ve given little blog all the tlc and prettying up it deserves, I’m making a push to get going with entries again. To get back into the swing and celebrate my new camera, I’ll post a photo a day all month. Starting a day late with March 1, a photo taken yesterday…

I greet you on this Tuesday with a brief post and a swatch photo!

I must say, swatching with Koigu Kersti Merino Crepe is so yummy. It’s a great yarn for showing stitch definition. I spent several evenings on the couch playing at finding various fun and simple stitch combos that build on each other to make simple strips of crocheted fabric. Exactly how to use these strips? I’ve got some schemes, but nothing certain beyond skinny scarves and draping them in my office for decoration. I will keep you posted though because there’s something to be said for these sorts of projects, they’re fun and fly from your fingers…

Look what arrived today! A little ray of spring sunshine in what had simply been a dull day in which I just couldn’t get myself motivated to do housework or errands or creative work.

This is Blue Sky Alpaca Melange, a luvvy heathery 100% Alpaca…

Gotta go! I’ve got swatching to do!