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.

Bad, Bad Blogger

I know, I know...I have been such a slacker blogger lately...and for that I apologize. Nothing is really going on in my crochet world except Warm Up America squares and my Boboletta (which is coming along nicely I might add). Just wanted to wish you a Happy Valentine's day!

On a cute note...I was crocheting while my son was at a birthday party. It was one of those arcade/jungle gym places. I got hit on by a man who was at least 80 years old. He asked me if I was making him a sweater. The party was about 2 hours, and by the end the gentleman was leaving said, "You are going to meet me here next week because you are just not fast enough with my sweater!" So cute!

A crocheter who loves books.....

The Vogue Knitting Stitchionary 4 is one of the books I got over Christmas. Now, I have a few stitch dictionary books already...but it is always nice to add another one to the collection, right? "Crochet is the hottest trend in crafting today. This inspiring fourth volume from the best selling stitchionary series includes chapters on many different crochet techniques: basics, geometrics, color, lace, edgings, and embellishments." What I really like about this book, is all of the stitches have beautiful photos taken of them that are crisp and clear. Each stitch has written and charted directions. The charts are drawn in color similar to the swatch example on the given stitch. It is also a great source for some crochet inspiration if needed.

This reference is coming in handy for me right now. I am currently working one one of my crochet resolutions for 2008. Making something for charity.

Crochetville is having a CAL for Warm up America. Caron is sponsoring a contest for making 7" x 9" crochet or knit sections (rectangles) for Warm Up America. It's called the Soften the World Simply Soft Sweepstakes. There are two categories, individuals and groups. Individuals can submit a single rectangle to win $25 in Simply Soft yarn (20 winners chosen randomly). In the group category, the group that submits the most rectangles wins a check for $300 for their group. All rectangles must be made with Simply Soft yarn and will be donated to Warm Up America. So, I have been using my stitchionary as a guide for my rectangles. So far, Crochetville has collected 235 squares. And so far, I have crocheted ONE! I am getting there. If you are interested more about the contest or would like to participate, click here.