Borders Books Knit and crochet night

For about a month now, I have helped form a crochet and knitting group through Ravelry to meet at our local Borders book shop. It is so much fun. It is nice to finally have some fiber friends in real life. It started out with two of us, then four and in the last two weeks there was a total 10 of us. Our little group has certainly grew in such a little time. We meet once a week on Thursday nights...and it is a great way to almost kick of the weekend. I find myself really looking forward to Thursday nights...a time for some good crochet time, coffee time and surrounded by books and fiber friends. How fun!

I am also excited because I found a new yarn store. Well, the yarn store is not knew...but the location is. It is called The Creative Stitch. There new location is GREAT. It seems much more roomier, the lighting is 100% better, and I like the set up. Of course when visited, I had to buy something. Sometimes I feel I need to purchase something when I enter a yarn store. I dunno know why I feel this way, but I do. So...I bought three skeins of Plymouth Encore DK weight in a grey color. I also bought some Noro sock yarn in a rainbow colorway for a shawl.

I also signed up for a crochet class to make a baby kimono sweater at my LYS. It is two 3 hour sessions. One class was last weekend, and the other class is at the end of the month. There was four of us in this class, and I was the only "crocheter", the other ladies were knitters learning how to crochet. And boy, I learned a lot about gauge...how it is really important to make a gauge swatch and how to correctly measure a swatch. Things I knew...but was actually shown how to do it. I didn't realize, but even if you are off just 1 or 2 stitches, it can really effect the entire size of the finished project. The suggested yarn for this project is Ella Rae baby cotton. I picked a dusty pink color...I think it is so pretty.

The teacher Kim was super. She was patient and explained the directions clearly. We have three weeks to complete the back of the sweater and the two front pieces. In the next class we will learn how to shape the arms, sew a button on and seam it up. I am looking forward to learning these finishing techniques. Eagerly awaiting the next class!

Update...Boteh scarf is coming along...only 5 more motifs and edging and I am done. It needs to be finished and blocked by Friday.

Happy Mother's Day!

For all the wonderful mothers out there...hope you are enjoying your day!

Have been busy on the crochet front lately...even though I am having trouble keeping up on he blog about my projects. Sorry about that....Does it count that I am constantly thinking about posting??? Anyhoo...without further a do...what have I been working on?

I am working on a Boteh scarf from Spring 2007 Interweave Knits in this sock yarn intended for a sock. It is Reggia sock yarn. Now that I am half way through with the scarf, I think I would be happier if I made it in a solid color. But, what can I do...I am stash diving!

Then I decided to make another Child's short and sweet cardigan with the recommended yarn...Lion Brand Baby Soft in Pistachio for my neighbors 18 month old girl. It is coming a long great so far. Pictured below is the completed backside, and I am finishing up the two front panels. All I have to finish is the sleeves and seams. I am also thinking about modifying the sleeves by crocheting them in the round...but we will see, I am not at that point yet.

I am still working on my second Tiramisu blanket and some baby things. I have a baby boy nephew being born in less than a month, and I just had a second cousin baby girl born. I better start finishing up these baby things now!

Short and Sweet Cardigan

I just finished my first child wearable! I am very proud of this piece. I got the pattern on the Lion Brand Website, click here. The directions rated this project easy....but I don't think I agree 100%. Sure, the stitch pattern is super easy...but the seaming took some time. Especially since I did not even know how. And I have never sewed a button on anything. So it was a learning experience for sure.

I was lucky enough to be shown how to seam from a sweet lady from my new knit and crochet group (I will talk about this later)
It is not the best seaming job that I have seen...but not bad for my first time. There are so many babies being born this summer into our family and neighborhood that I decided to start early on the baby gifts. I am also working on another Tiramisu blanket and some other baby outfits.




Hope you all like. I did not use the recommended yarn for this project. I used some of the skeins of Simply Soft in orchid that I had in my stash. I could not believe how much it split. I may use the Baby Soft Lion Brand yarn in pistashio for the next one. Although, my neighbor who liked it...commented on how she loved how soft the yarn was. She has an 18 month old who would look adorable in one. Hmmmm...of course I already bought the Baby Soft yarn. I am sure I will figure out something. See, I told you all in blogger world that I was working on crocheted stuff. YAY!

Looky what I made and what I got!

WARNING: image heavy

I made a few interesting tawashi's for the tawashi swap. I made a scrubby out of Knit Picks Shine that reminded me of a watermelon when it was finished. Wouldn't ya know, my swap partner revealed after the swap that she loves watermelons!!! Perfect. I told her that she may want to use it as a shower scrubby since I made it out of cotton....she agreed.

Then I had some fun making an amigurumi carrot for scrubbing carrots!!!! I think it came out cute...not bad for my first time....

Then I had my hand at making some crocheted flowers....that looks like stars...

Lastly, I gave an extra treat of handmade stitch markers in a crocheted case, of course!.

And look what I got...

Fishy Tawashi and some beautiful stitch markers which I forgot to photograph ;)

Back in the saddle again....

I have been working on some crochet lately. Is it finishing the boboletta sweater??? NO.....Is it completing a promised Christmas present??? NO. I have been crocheting Tawashi. What are TAWASHIS you may ask...?

This excerpt is taken from a Ravelry.

Tawashi: Japanese Scrubbers to Knit and Crochet
by OkinawaOtter

"What’s a tawashi for? Ta-wash-i the dishes, of course!
I can hear you groaning, but my feelings are not hurt, because I know that you probably just learned a new word, and you won’t forget it anytime soon!
Tawashi is Japanese for “scrubber” or “brush”. In the stores here (Okinawa, Japan), there is usually a larger tawashi section than a dish detergent section, because part of the idea behind tawashi is that they are environmentally friendly. When made of acrylic yarn, they are quite effective even without detergent, thus reducing groundwater pollution.
Tawashi are sometimes made in the shape of the items to be cleaned: for example, a paw print or fish shape to clean the pet dishes or homes, and food shapes for use in the kitchen. Various holiday or seasonal themes are very popular as well. Some are simple squares or motifs, while others are knitted or crocheted pieces with clever assemblies, like three strips woven into a ball. There are even tawashi made that incorporate other cleaning supplies. An example of this is one of my favorites – it is a crocheted strawberry that is then attached to the bristle part of a toothbrush. Now your tawashi has a handle AND the added bonus of double scrubbing action, not to mention an increased “kawaii” factor!

A lot of Japanese tawashi books contain both knit and crochet projects, because more often than not, Japanese crafters learn both crafts, rather than one or the other. There are even weaving, crochet-on-the-double, and “no skills required” tawashi, so anyone can make at least one! There are some resources online for free tawashi patterns.

Don’t read Japanese? Never fear, the charts are pretty easy to figure out, and the photography is excellent, so you can use the pictures as a reference.
Cruise around on this site for a while, and you will find LOTS of useful information, like needle conversion charts and translation of Japanese crafting phrases.

You don’t have to search around on the Japanese sites to make your own tawashi – make a free form scrubby, or get inspiration from other projects! For example, knit a mitred square or crochet a flower, add a hanging loop, and you’re done! Hang it by the sink and pat yourself on the back for your resourcefulness!

Most crafters are already familiar with the Japanese dolls known as “amigurumi”, and now they can add “tawashi” to their repertoire as well. This is another way to have “instant gratification” on a project – AND a way to use up some of those acrylic yarn scraps!"

I joined the Tawashi Ravelry group...and just completed in a premiere swap. I will post pictures soon of what I made...and what I received. Tawashi are great projects for me in many ways....they are instant gratification, portable, stashbuster and most of all fun!

I have been TAGGED!!

My crochet friend, Ghost has tagged me....



Here are the rules:

1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So, here ya go!



Seven random things about me:

1. I married my high school sweetheart.

2. I became a mini-van mom at 25 years old.

3. I am obsessed with Buffy the Vampire Slayer series and I am finally on the last season.

4. I used to scrapbook, but have since gotten hooked on crochet.

5. I use text messaging way to much on my cell phone, like a teenager.

6. My guilty pleasure is having a gourmet iced coffee, Almond Joy from Mary Lous News

7. My favorite gemstone is a tanzanite.



OK, now whom to tag back?

1. Needles

2. Ginny

3. Li

4. Donna

5. Tracie

6. Michelle

7. Candy

Spring is in the air???

We had a touch of Spring this past week as the temperature reached 60 degrees F. It was short lived as it reached a low of 28 degrees F that same night. This week coming it is supposed to be quite chilly, tomorrow at the bus stop it will be a balmy 17 degrees. The reason I bring up this crazy New England weather is because finally, I got around crocheting my boboletta last night. I am determined to finish it before the official start of spring, so I can at least wear my sweater once before the warmer weather. I started this sweater on January 12th...but have not consistently worked on this for weeks. My only excuse is that I started watching Buffy The Vampire Slayer series on dvd. It is such a jam packed hour, that I can not crochet or surf the net while watching...or I will seriously miss an important detail. And, I guess there would be time to fit in crochet as well during the evening if I stopped at just one episode a night, but this is not the case. I end up watching 3 or 4 episodes a night. It is so addicting. A friend of mine got me hooked...as I never was into the series when it hit the airwaves in 1997. Just to good.

I have not forgotten about crochet completely. I have been busy organizing my new craft room. We finished remodeling our basement, so the boys have a new playroom downstairs. So, the playroom upstairs became available for me to take over! I started to organize my yarns. That is no easy feat. I have a lot of cottons and acrylics. I have been really disciplined since the first of the year and have not bought any new yarns. Obviously, I have really not started any new projects...but that is besides the point ;) I am trying to make my craft room an oasis. I have some pretty scented candles...planning on perhaps getting a big comfy chair and possibly an area rug. I have taken all my crochet books and magazines and neatly placed them on a shelf. It is getting there.

Have not forgotten about you...but i would hate to bore you with non crochet stories. especially since there are no new crochet stories. But alas, I really need to finish some projects and move on to new ones.