Recycled Yarn Afghan, Part 2

Here's a picture of all of the recycled yarn I worked on this weekend. After washing it, I hang it on coat hooks and doorknobs all around my house to dry. It smells a little like wet dog. My friends think that This. Is. Not. Normal.

But look at the finished product. (Still looks a little noodly. Oh well.)


I'll post more pics of the afghan as I add more colors.

Recycled Yarn Afghan (-in-progress), Part 1

My current Thursday night crochet project (that's the night I watch television: Grey's Anatomy; and The Office if I start at 8pm; and Men In Trees if I finish at 11pm) is an afghan that I'm making predominantly out of recycled yarn. This is a long process because as I run out of yarn, I have to make more.


In trying to keep color aesthetics in mind, I've kept the pattern simple: fans and double-crochets on alternating rows, colors blocked by black. The black is yarn I purchased, the blue is 2/3 recycled yarn and 1/3 purchased yarn (recycled cotton thicked with a strand of baby yarn in blue).


The next color will be a dark red, a combination of yarns from two different recycled sweaters. Then back to blue again. In between each color, as you can see, is one row of black fans. I'm hoping that 75% of this afghan (at minimum) will be recycled yarn. It's very warm, and funky looking.

Handwarmers, Part 2

I've finished a pair of handwarmers. I made them out of mercerized cotton. Don't ask me why. They're not really "warm." Because they're made of mercerized cotton. Plus, when I tried them on for this guy I don't know very well, he said, "Um, okay. You look like you're going to go have tea with the Queen." I need to sew a button on the upper wrist to go with my button hole, I'm thinking an ivory color. So pardon the lack of button. Here's a photo:

I'm going to make another pair, this time out of merino wool. When I have the merino pair finished, I'll have a better pattern to share, written for wool instead of cotton.

The basic idea I, ahem, borrowed from the brimmed caps I made: two front post double crochets, then two/three/four back post double crochets, working in the round, to form a ribbed pattern. Here's a close-up of the hand area:

If you really really want the pattern right now and think you can figure it out without my modifications, I'll be glad to send it to you as-is. I have it in a .pdf file that I can email to you. Just post to this blog your email address or send me an email directly.

Handwarmers, part 1

This morning I said to MAP before he left for work: "We need to come to an understanding about me warming my cold hands on you. I agree to make you yummy stuff on the stove, and you agree to let me put my cold hands under your shirt." Like many people I suffer from freezing-cold-hand-itis (and its partner, ice-cube-feet-itis). MAP sometimes runs away when I try to warm my hands. My arguments are to no avail. (e.g., I'm so cold, can you imagine how hard it must be to be this cold?)

His response to my suggestion was that I crochet myself some handwarmers to use when I type my dissertation and my novel -- late-night typing seems to create serious hand-coldness. He said if I made the handwarmers in good faith, and wore them, and my hands were still cold, I could warm them on him all I want. (At least that's what I heard.)

So, instead of working on said dissertation and novel I'm crocheting and writing a pattern today for some ribbed handwarmers. I'm using a mercerized cotton that I had on hand. There's lots of patterns out there I know, but none that I like. I'll post the pattern and instructions when I get farther along. As usual with 2-part projects (socks, gloves, etc.), the first tends to be the experiment and the pattern drafting; the second I use to test the pattern. I'll take pictures along the way as well.

Finished Project: City Girl Cap

I've been going a little nuts with this pattern I found in the 2007 Crochet Pattern-a-Day calendar at Barnes and Noble (Annie Modesitt & Friends). The pattern is called the "City Girl Cap," and (dated for January 2, 3, and 4) by Celeste Young.


Basically, it's entirely made of front and back post double crochets. The nifty ribbing is little pairs of front-posts running around the crown. These each took me about 2 hours total, each using a little less than a skein. The blue is Lion Brand Wool-Ease Worsted; the green is Paton's worsted Merino (220 yards per skein) and the multi-colored one is made of left-overs of the green and blue plus some left-overs of Cascade 220 in pink from a different project. These are all the same weight and the stripes look great. Here's a close-up:


Here's me wearing the blue one. The striped one is a gift for my cool roommate T.H., but she doesn't know it yet.

Fan-Edged Scarf: Today's Finished Project

Today I finished a scarf. The pattern comes from BUST Magazine editor-in-chief Debbie Stoller's book The Happy Hooker. The pattern is called the One-Skein Scarf, by Denise Cozzitorto, page 101. I made mine of two different yarns worked together, Cascade Sierra (80% Cotton, 20% Wool) in a beige, and Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece (same blend) in a cream. I used a 6.50mm hook, chaining 200 stitches in length.


The double thickness of the yarns seems to help the fan stitches on the border hold their shape. I made this same scarf with the Sierra by itself and it was really floppy so I just took it apart and remade it like this. Much better.

Swift on a Chair

My awesome significant-other-person MAP gave me a beautiful maple wood swift for xmas (purchased at Yarns Etc. in Carrboro). We named it Jonathan. I purchased a darling little winder to go with it (previously mentioned, named Harry). So now I have Jonathan and Harry and I want to wind all of my yarn while watching Arrested Development. The problem is, I don't have a table of the right shape to clamp these great tools upon.

Voila. Harry and Jonathan, happy together.