Decorative Crocheted Scarf

  A beginner crochet project that I look back on fondly  was a triangular shawl worked in an inexpensive worsted weight yarn until it wrapped completely around my shoulders.
  I revisited that project in making this scarf for a class at Classic Cottage. I used the same technique of chaining loops and connecting them with single crochets but this time I looped a soft, sport weight alpaca yarn.

  Shiny perle cotton would have created a fine edging but I remembered a small skein of hand-spun, hand-dyed wool that I bought years ago from Karen, who was a seamstress in the Colonial Williamsburg costume department. I still had it in my stash!
  I'm most excited by my invention of a movable button. It works similarly to a cuff link and can be placed anywhere on the scarf to create a variety of wraps.

  Finally, I blocked my little neck-hugger and had my talented husband take a few photos so that I can share it with you.

A Late Finish

It wasn't a race - not really - just another project late to the finish line. Those knitted dishcloths worked from corner to corner with their own integrated border have piqued my interest for years. I wondered if I could design a crocheted version. I started that process several years ago and made a few notes. I had included some pretty and soft sport weight yarn in the project bag.

Days ago, I suddenly had a feeling that I knew the answers to a couple of my construction questions, dug out my baggie from its resting place and completed another square - this one to be a face cloth rather than a dish cloth. And here it is!

I've written out and typed the instructions. If any of you would like to try out the pattern and give me some feedback please leave me a note or email me personally. It looks as though Knit Picks has some nice cotton and blend sport yarn that would be appropriately soft for a face cloth. Or...you could try it as a dish cloth from a good cotton or blended worsted weight yarn. The pattern is versatile!

Fiber Detour

I can usually be found crocheting something whether it's lacy or warm but I've taken another path lately after my daughter's request to make woolly socks for grandchildren, Kate and Liam. There are a couple of good reasons to do this. One reason is that my daughter and son-in-law have opted to burn wood rather than oil and to keep their house at a lower temperature than most of us are used to. A cranky old furnace and the price of oil were catalysts in that decision but using only less expensive, local, renewable fuel is also part of their value system. So woolly socks it is!

There's another reason to knit these socks as opposed to crocheting them. I actually have basic instructions to knit any size or style of sock. That sort of information, including basic patterns, is sadly lacking in crochet literature. I'm capable of designing a child sized pair of socks but if I took the time to do it the children wouldn't get their socks this winter! It's a complaint I've had for a long time. I have seen basic patterns for knitted socks, mittens, hats and sweaters all my life but only rarely that kind of service to use as a taking off point in crochet. Some day maybe I'll do it myself but for now, here's a photo of Liam with one sock on. It was his idea to make the heels and toes green.

Crochet Their Way

Here is one of the reasons I love crochet. A motivated person can jump on their hook, take it for a drive and end up at their destination. Sy and Preston call it "steering."

 When I joined my husband, Richard, in Sy's workshop today, my first impression was definitely that I was in man land. The outside activity was metal forging with a few bricks to contain the fire and a reversed vacuum cleaner for a bellows. Then, inside the shop we stood on a carpet of wood shavings while we examined a couple of  artfully forged knives - an earlier day's work.

 I noticed that Preston's well-fitting hat was crocheted and asked him about it. He enthusiastically told me that he had worked it himself and showed me another in progress.

 It turns out that Sy had recently crocheted a pair of mittens fit for exploring the Yukon and a roomy possibles bag to carry his lunch on a hike.

 That's all you need: yarn, the single crochet stitch and a hook that doesn't need a GPS system to find it's way around. I probably should have asked Richard to take some photos of their metal work but of course my thing is fiber so here are some photos of what I consider some very creative traveling.

Fairytale Mittens

I've been so excited about figuring out how to do colorwork crochet the way a knitter would: working with color, small repetitive patterns and playing with embellishments! As I thought about it over the summer, I decided I wanted to create a visual record for myself of my early experiments. I completed the first of these mittens a couple years ago and needed to make it's mate. Thankfully, I had taken notes as I created the first one. Last week they became a pair.

My objectives were: to design a project that would put crochet on display by incorporating borders, working the largest design element into the fabric, and then embellishing to catch the eye. The technique that really came home to me as I worked the intarsia ogee is that stranding with a double twist of the carried yarn looks superior to carrying inside the stitch. My ogee appears to be solid red with no hint of the carried blue in the fabric. I'm pleased to learn that.

My prototype mittens are imperfect but they provided a great learning experience.

Busy Summer

Greeetings! I took three months off without intending to. Over the summer Richard and I spent a good bit of time working in the yard and trying to improve the garden while keeping up with our grandchildren. We also took time for siesta in the afternoons, napping and reading, hiding from the sun. It was so humid that I didn't want to crochet.

Now at the end of the summer, the children have grown, fall veggies are in, ten blueberry bushes are on their way, and we are hoping to plant three evergreens along with some grapevines to form a natural fence on one side of the back yard.

I laughed at Richard's over-large but sturdy bean trellis. I told him it needed to survive the next hurricane but when it was finished I wondered if the pole beans could rise to such an expectation.

Scrumbling Workshop

   Last Saturday eight members and friends of the Fredericksburg Spinners and Weavers Guild joined me for a workshop on crocheted scrumbling. Many were new to crochet itself and had been practicing in the preceding weeks with Anne guiding them. Lynette lent us her dining room so that we could meet in a homey atmosphere, complete with friendly dogs as greeters.
   After we gathered around the table, I asked everyone to relate what they had seen of scrumbling and why they wanted to learn. Several members had recently seen the "Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef" and the "Smithsonian Community Reef" installations of crocheted coral that were on display in Washington. The traveler's enthusiasm for this crochet installation seemed to have spread through the whole group. Also, several members work in a variety of mediums and wanted to add to their various skills.
   After a short introduction and some hand-outs, we dumped all our yarn into the center of the table and began to explore the possibilities.

A Group Shot 

Beautiful Hands At Work

Wonderful Works In Progress