Possessed to Knit

Pillow with Crochet Trim

This pillow is a beautiful gift from my friends Lawrence & John.  Lawrence received this gorgeous Turkish hand-crocheted trim from one of his students and amazed me by hand-sewing it to the incredible spinning pillow he created for me.  The thread is so fine, probably size 70 or 80 with a size 14 steel crochet hook.  Each rose is 3 layers and then there are leaves beneath the roses.  I can't even imagine how much work a few of these roses and leaves would be let alone a whole strand of them.  I also could not imagine hand-stitching this lovely edging to a large pillow.  Thank you to Lawrence and John for this wonderful gift!  I will think of you each time I use my new pillow to support me as I spin.     

Felted Bowl for John

Here is a bowl I crocheted and then felted for my friend John's upcoming birthday.  I had some of my Art Club Batts that I had spun into 2-ply yarns.  I decided to give the Lace Basket from Kyuuto Japanese Crafts: Lacy Crochet a try.  I used a size F crochet hook and started crocheting.  The basket turned out nicely and I thought felting it would turn it into a sturdier bowl, and it did.  I felted it in my washing machine with a pillow case to help things along.  It took a little while and I almost thought maybe it was superwash (which will not felt), but it eventually felted.  I dried it over a plastic bowl and here we have a felted and crocheted bowl.

Justin's Blanket Completed

I have finished crocheting Justin's blanket.  I was inspired to work beyond my one stripe per day quota as I neared the end of this project.  It has turned out a little smaller than the original I attempted to match.  It is 29" wide by 49" long.  The original was 31" wide by 54" long.  I used a 4.25 mm size G crochet hook.  Size G can also be 4.0 mm and I thought using the larger G would work for me as I tend to need a larger needle size to meet gauge.  If for some reason this blanket does not work and I need to make another, I would go up to a size 4.5 mm needle.  Let's just hope this replicate is close enough to the original for Justin not to notice the difference.  I look forward to hearing his and my sister's opinion of this "imposter" blanket.  I am just glad to be done with it and now I want to focus on completing my Cabin Cove Ikat socks.

Justin's Blanket Update

I have been crocheting away on Justin's blanket.  My goal is to do a stripe a day, not that I always meet that goal.  I have 10 stripes out of 22 stripes done, though I am open to making it longer as it is turning out smaller than I expected.  I meant to do 9 rows for each white stripe and 7 for each green and yellow stripe as the 5 row stripes looked a little small.  I ended up doing a 9 row stripe for the second yellow stripe and it is now a design element.  The middle stripes will be 7 rows each then I will end with a 9 row stripe followed by a 5 row stripe, depending on how much yarn I have.  I started my Oak Leaf and Acorn scarf as a healthy diversion from all this blanket crocheting.  Peggy gently asked me how many projects I have on the needles and I believe it is four.  My second Cabin Cove Ikat sock is now past the toe, my new cotton sock project has not progressed any further, and tonight I will be happily knitting on my merino/angora Oak Leaf and Acorn scarf as I have finished my crochet stripe for today. 

Patrick asked me how Al feels about my multiple projects.  I think he has gotten used to me starting something new before I finish what I am working on.  If he asks, I then share with him my perfectly reasonable explanation for the new project.  What he does not like is when he sees me rip things out and he thinks I am too critical of my work.  He showed me the quote "Better is the enemy of good enough" so I rip things out a little less these days.

Justin's Blanket

When I visited my sister and her family last month, she asked me if I could crochet a ripple afghan for Justin, similar to the one he adores.  She would like to have a back-up blanket, in case something happened to his favorite one.  I went out and bought Red-Heart Baby Sport in yellow, green and white and a size G (4.25 mm) crochet hook.  Opal wrote about the book 200 Ripple Stitch Patterns when she was crocheting her pretty ripple afghans.  Our local library has this book and it was very helpful in getting me started on Justin's blanket.  I chained 194 sts (the pattern repeat is 24 sts plus 2) to meet the approximate size of his blanket.  I did 9 rows of white followed by 5 rows of yellow then 5 rows of green.  I will increase this to 7 rows on future stripes, hopefully he will not notice the difference, as I think it will look better.  This is not my typical project, yet I know my sister and Justin will appreciate having an extra blanket.