Some New Patterns

It appears that I may be on a blogging roll all of a sudden. Or, perhaps I am just making up for a long absence. What ever the case, I have a few new projects to share today.

The first is this pair of scarves. My friends Chris and Lisa were gracious enough to model them for me last night (it was a bizarre coincidence that I had the scarves and my camera when I ran into them).

These scarves will be available as a kit through the Pisgah website soon. They are both made with new colours from the Peaches & Creme Premium line.

These were designed to be easy projects for newbie crocheters. I have a few online friends like Melanie, and Aly that have been trying to learn crochet. I figured it would be great to have a pattern that would be easy for them, and others that are learning, that actually produces a nice wearable project.

It's a bit late in the year for new scarves. However, it snowed here yesterday. So, a new scarf didn't seem totally outrageous. The colours may show up a bit better in this photo, since it was still day time when I took it. The scarf on the left is made in OD Spice, and is a single crochet pattern worked from end to end. The scarf on the right is made in Dark Purple Ombre, uses a similar pattern in half double crochet, but is worked from side to side.

I also have this new dishcloth design almost ready to go.

I call it the Quick & Lacey Round. This is made with the Cotton Cabled, and will be a free pattern. I actually made this months ago, but I sent it along to a pattern tester along with a pile of other stuff, and it got lost in the shuffle. I'm glad it has surfaced, because I really like it. I can make at least two or three of these in an hour. It is on the small side ( about 7" across) but, I figure it will come in handy for last minute gift additions.

The last thing I have today is this little amagarumi style crochet hook holder. I had been looking for small cylindrical containers to keep a few tools handy, but didn't find anything I liked. So, over the weekend a simple gauge swatch turned into this.

This little cylinder uses only half an ounce of yarn, but will easily hold a dozen or more hooks. I plan on making a few more to keep in various places, so I will always have a hook handy.

I will also write up a pattern for this (although it's so easy I almost feel silly doing it), and offer it for free if anyone is interested.

Hello Again.

It's been so long since I have blogged that I almost forgot I have a blog. There were a few reasons for this. February was really busy; so busy I can't believe it has already come and gone. I did almost no knitting or crocheting for the entire month. I was also with out a camera, and if I had done anything I would not have been able to document it here.

Well, now it's March, and I seem to be finding a little time to spend with my fibers, and I have a brand new camera.

Even so, I don't have a lot to show you today.

Last week I bought Jan Eaton's 100 Crochet Blocks for Afghans, Blankets, and Throws. It's a great book, and I have been having a lot of fun playing with the squares patterns in different colour combinations. I have yet to get an actual project underway with the squares, but I will show you a couple of my favorites.

The first one is called Willow. I made it in Peaches & Creme in burgundy, sage, and camel.

The next one is called Fudge. Jan's pattern calls for 5 colours, but I cut it down to 4. This one had many more ends to weave in than I would usually care to deal with, but I really like the look of it. Not sure if I could handle an entire afghan's worth of these, though.

I've also managed to get a little spinning in this week. It had been months since I had used my wheel. I missed it terribly, but I finally spent an entire evening spinning.

I did a few mini-skeins blending odds and ends of singles left over for other projects, with a few fun results. None with yardage enough for even a small project, though.

Then, when I had a few empty bobbins I spun up two bobbins of a sky blue merino/silk blend that has been sitting in my stash since April, and a partial bobbin of hand painted silk hankies. I made two hanks of yarn, one two-ply blue merino silk, and the other a three ply, adding in the hand painted silk.

There is a total of about 300 yards of sport weight yarn. My plan is to use it for socks, with the 3-ply being used for the toes and heels. I promised Deb I would work on a simple pattern with an after-thought heel, so maybe I will use it for that.

I hope to get to work on some new projects vey soon. So, I hope to have more exciting blog entries in the not so distant future.