Dishcloth Update (11)

Since I'm planning to get up to at least 50, and more if the yarn lasts, you'll see quite a few more updates like this one...

Dishcloth Thirty-One

I purchased a set of four "reversible" dishcloth patterns from KnitPicks.com, and this is my first attempt at one of those.  I used "the Big X" pattern and knit it in just a few hours.  I'm pretty happy with it over all.

Ravelry Project
Ravelry Patterns

Dishcloth Thirty-Two

This is another crochet flower, and it ended up much smaller than I anticipated.  I suppose that's okay, though, because I'm starting to worry about running out of yarn.  I do like the result.

Ravelry Project
Ravelry Pattern

Dishcloth Thirty-Three

Knit with a crochet border, I actually recently purchased a book of crochet borders (there's that birthday money again!) which I love, and I decided to change the border from the pattern to use one of those.  Unfortunately, I realized the border I chose was way to big, so I only got through two rows, and I decided to just leave it.

Ravelry Project
Ravelry Pattern


Here's a picture of the book I got.  It's a nice little size, and it has over 150 borders in it, with wonderful detailed directions.  I highly recommend it!

Crochet Borders Book

Dishcloth Update (10)

Another Dishcloth Update...

Dishcloth Twenty-Eight

This cloth used the "Ebb and Flow" pattern from KnitPicks, a crochet cloth that features twisted double-crochets.  I love the way it turned out, even though I had to adapt the pattern to be a bit smaller than the original.

Ravelry Project
Ravelry Pattern





Dishcloth Twenty-Nine

I got back on the knitting train with this double-sided entirely reversible pattern, also by KnitPicks, but not as part of their "52 Weeks of Dishcloths."  Again, I adapted the pattern to be slightly smaller, and I love the outcome.

Ravelry Project
Ravelry Pattern

Dishcloth Thirty

With my birthday came a few personal checks, and with those came an Amazon.com order of some knitting books, one of which was Entrelac by Rosemary Drysdale.  Eager to get started on any of the patterns in the book, I knit up an elongated version of the "example" Entrelac piece into a nice dishcloth.

Ravelry Project
Entrelac Book Link

Dishcloth Update (9)

Yet another...I'm on a roll here...

Dishcloth Twenty-Five

Another knitted cloth, this is one of the easiest I've knit so far.  It's done with one simple seam, and an easy pattern to do while watching TV.  I like the result quite a bit.

Ravelry Project
Ravelry Pattern







Dishcloth Twenty-Six

This is another of the KnitPicks patterns, and though I love it, it just doesn't look as good in my pale colors.  I've noticing that's a theme, but alas, that's what I have.  I like it, though.

Ravelry Project
Ravelry Pattern




Dishcloth Twenty-Seven

This pattern looks very different in the example, partially because of the hook size and yarn fiber used, but I managed to adapt it with the Persimmon border, and salvage the thing.

Ravelry Project
Ravelry Pattern

Dishcloth Update (8)

And another one...

Dishcloth Twenty-Two

During this last dishcloth phase, I discovered KnitPicks.com's 52 Weeks of Dishcloths, where every week for the full year, a new, high quality dishcloth pattern is published.  They're mostly on Ravelry, and I immediately jumped on this quick crochet mock-granny square.  I love the result and it was easy to do!

Ravelry Project
Ravelry Pattern



Dishcloth Twenty-Three

A knit, this cloth ended up being much wider than I thought, so I ended the starfish motif two triangles early.  I might go back and do it again with slightly smaller needles, but I'm working on saving yarn because I'm not even halfway done yet and I'm running out!  I like the pattern, though, and there's a nice rhythm to it.

Ravelry Project
Ravelry Pattern





Dishcloth Twenty-Four

Another KnitPicks pattern, this one looked better in the rainbow scheme of the example, but I still love the way it looks.  Quick and easy to crochet, with a nice thick fabric as the result.

Ravelry Project
Ravelry Pattern




If you're interested in this, you might like:

• Aunt Vi's Yarn
• knit Dishcloth Update
• knit Dishcloth Update (2)
• knit Lopsided Dishcloth
• knit Zig-Zag Dishcloth
• knit and crochet Dishcloth Update (3)
• knit and crochet Dishcloth Update (4)
• knit and crochet Dishcloth Update (5)
• crochet Dishcloth Update (6)
• knit and crochet Dishcloth Update (7)

Dishcloth Update (7)

Here comes another one!

Dishcloth Nineteen

This dishcloth was crocheted after I completed the Ocean City block for the travel blanket.  I decided to copy the pattern again and make a mint cloth with a baby blue streak.  I like it, and it was pretty simple to whip up.

Ravelry Project
Ravelry Pattern



Dishcloth Twenty

This leaf-like crochet pattern happened to pop up on my Ravelry feed, and I immediately knew I would make it as a dishcloth.  In fact, I had just finished most of the knitting for my sweater, and I wanted to work on a quick fix, so I whipped it up and started another string of dishcloths.  I made a few extra rows on the leaf, making it bigger than the pattern, and adapting the tendrils accordingly, but I like it, even though it's a little differently shaped than the others.

Ravelry Project
Ravelry Pattern

Dishcloth Twenty-One

Having crocheted the past few, I was in the mood for a little knitting, and whipped up this symmetrical beauty.  It went quickly, and I've always loved the diagonal ones, so this was a breeze.

Ravelry Project
Ravelry Pattern








If you liked this, you might like:

• Aunt Vi's Yarn
• knit Dishcloth Update
• knit Dishcloth Update (2)
• knit Lopsided Dishcloth
• knit Zig-Zag Dishcloth
• knit and crochet Dishcloth Update (3)
• knit and crochet Dishcloth Update (4)
• knit and crochet Dishcloth Update (5)
• crochet Dishcloth Update (6)

Travel Blanket: Rodanthe-Prius Block

Continuing in the theme of the Family-Life-Travel-Map Blanket (you can see the last post here), I present to you the Rodanthe-Prius block.

This trip was a whirlwind.  We took a red-eye out to Boston, rented a car, and drove out to my grandparents on the Cape for 24-hours.  The next morning, we drove ourselves on up to Albany, NY, where we were picked up in my hubby's parents' gold Prius and whisked into the Adirondacks, where his family owns a house and we connected with his Grandmother and cousins.

Rodanthe-Prius Block

And that night it rained.

The following day, we got into that same Prius, squeezed in the back seat with Hubby's brother, and drove for seven hours.  We stopped.  We stayed in a hotel.  We got up.  We drove 9 more hours.  In the rain.

And we arrived at a giant, 12-bedroom house in Rodanthe, NC, several hours into the Outer Banks, and crammed in there with Hubby's 31 cousins for a week.  We were on the Bay Beach, and less than a five minute walk from the Ocean Beach.

And it rained the first two days.  And drizzled on and off.

We were splashed with rain, splashed with sea spray, and splashed with sun.

And then we packed up, squeezed back into that Prius, and drove up to Pittsburg, where we flew back home, and the other three continued on their way.

While in Rodanthe, I purchased a skein of yarn at Knitting Addiction to commemorate the drizzle.  I adapted the pattern from a few others and used the following strategy to make the raindrops.

Bobble: y/o, insert hook into next stitch, and pull loop through.  y/o and pull through 2 loops.  *Y/o, insert hook into the same stitch, and pull loop through.  y/o and pull through 2 loops.  Repeat from * 3x.  There should be 5 loops on your hook.  Y/o and pull through all 5 loops. 

Row 1: Foundation Single Crochet to desired length
Row 2: 1sc, (sc, hdc, bobble) to last stitch, 1sc
Row 3: sc all the way across
Row 4: 1sc (hdc, bobble, sc) to last stitch, 1sc
Row 5: sc all the way across
Row 6: 1sc (bobble, sc, hdc) to last stitch, 1sc

Blanket at Current Stage

Row 7: sc all the way across 

Repeat Rows 2-7 until desired size.

Of course,  I ran out of yarn.  Surprise!  I decided to compliment by using a nice, golden yarn from the Beverly's near us (where I get a nice teacher discount!) to compliment, and to remind us of all that driving time!

I think the square came out alright.  It's not blocked quite correctly, and so I'll probably re-do parts of it, but it goes well in the general blanket.

Ravelry Project: Block
Ravelry Project: Blanket

Travel Blanket: San Francisco Bay Area Block

As many of you know, just after our wedding and honeymoon, I moved out to the San Francisco area to be with my new hubby, who had been living out here since he scored a job in Silicon Valley about 8 months prior.  Well, it seemed more appropriate to put the block to represent that move after the honeymoon, because that's when the stuff came out, and that's when we moved into an apartment together, and that's when this place started to be more than just a place we slept and ate.

Almost.  It still doesn't feel quite like home.

It's been long enough, though, that we can distinguish this area and this part of our lives, and therefore add a block to our blanket (details).  The block I chose to make was based off a pattern on Ravelry called San Francisco, which featured a silhouette of the Golden Gate Bridge (which honestly we never go on, we just use the work-horse Bay-Bridge), against a rainbow setting sun.

We'd never seen a rainbow.  We'd never seen the setting sun.  We'd seen fog.

And so I adapted the pattern for a better size, changed the background to be of a single, marbled silk yarn in seed stitch, that almost gave the look of fog rolling in, and stitched it up.  I'm pretty satisfied with the result.

Ravelry Project

I also wanted to make a general public service announcement.  Firstly, I just realized that many of my ravelry links are probably inaccessible if you don't have a ravelry account.  Please let me know if you have issues with the project links, as I can certainly fix those!

Secondly, the school year started up a few weeks ago, and to those who don't know, I'm a teacher, and so I've gone back to work and am busier than ever.  From here on out, the blog will probably only be posting about once a week, simply because I'm not sure that I can craft much more than that!

Let me know what you think of the block, or if you have any suggestions for the blanket!  I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out, but you never know!

Travel Blanket: Wedding Block

I've recently finished all of the blocks for my Travel Blanket that I've needed to date (you can see my last post about it here).

Firstly, I finished the block that represents our wedding (not strictly a place or trip, but important enough to add)!

The pattern, Royal Romance, was easy to crochet, and fit well into the general form of the blanket, although this is by far the stretchiest and thinnest block we have.  I used a hook size larger than what it asked for, and the block was almost too big!

The yarn was some chocolate sock yarn I had left over from Dad's Double Helix Socks and a cream and gold weave I got at the local yarn store.  The combination was absolutely perfect!  The colors were creams, tans, and browns, (with gold accents) and all of the decorations had candles, which shimmered jut like this block does!

Tune in next time to see more about the other blocks I've done!

Ravelry Project: Wedding Block
Ravelry Project: Family Travel Blanket

Baby Buddy!

Two couples in my church are expecting babies in the fall, and we recently had a mini-baby-shower for the two couples combined.

I didn't know what exactly to do, but I knew they had both expressed appreciation for handmade items, so when I saw this as an example "one-skein-project" for a particular yarn in a bitty shop, I couldn't say no!

Here are the two buddies!  What do you think?

Ravelry Pattern
Ravelry Project: Purple
Ravelry Project: Yellow

Carry-On Bag Liner: Instructions

Before I left for my fantastic family reunion, I whipped up a quick Day-Bag to take with me as my carry on, based on the DayTripper Bag I found on Pinterest.  However, I knew that my bag needs were left desperately unsatisfied by the liner provided in the bad tutorial, so I designed a new one.

Here is the pattern, as promised, for the new bag.  In this tutorial, I will be re-making a half-size version of the bag as I go using paper.

All seam allowances are 1/2" unless otherwise stated.

Materials:

• 1 yard of the main fabric (brown fabric/ printed paper)
• 1 yard of the lining fabric (yellow fabric/ plain paper)
• 1.25 yards of stiff, iron-on interfacing, such as the kind that comes on a bolt
• .5 yards of thin, iron-on interfacing, such as the kind that comes in a folded package in notions
• two buttons
• thread

Directions: Bag Outside

Figure 1

• Cut your fabrics into 15" x 22" pieces.  You will need (1) piece in your lining color and (3) pieces of your main color.

• Iron the thick interfacing onto (1) of your main color pieces and (1) of your lining color pieces.  Iron your thinner interfacing onto (2) of your main color pieces; these two will become your "front-pocket" pieces.  Set all un-interfaced pieces aside.

• (Figure 1)

  

  Figure 2

  
  Place your two front-pocket pieces right sides together and fold them in half to measure 15" x 11".  Measure 3" down the folded side and mark; then, draw a curved line from that mark back up to the corner, and seam along that line.  Cut the excess off, trim the curve, turn the pieces right-side out and press.  Top-stitch at 5/8" and 1/8".  This will become the front pocket.

• (Figures 2 and 3)

  

  Figure 3

  
  Place the lining piece with interfacing on the table with the right side facing up, and place the front pocket on top of it.  Then, place the main piece with the interfacing on the pile with the right side facing down.  Line up the pieces as precisely as possible and pin them together.  Then, measure, mark, and cut two three inch squares out of the bottom corners of the pile.

• (Figure 4)

  

  Figure 4

  
  Seam across the sides and bottom of the pile, and then square the corners.  Turn the piece right side out.  The inside will have the interfacing showing.  You have now completed the outside of the bag.

Directions: Bag Lining

• Cut your lining fabric into the following pieces:
• (2) 18 inches x 15 inches
• (2) 10 inches x 15 inches
• (2) 7 inches x 7.5 inches
• (2) 11 inches x 5 inches
• (2) 8 inches x 7 inches

• Take both 8x7 pieces and seam them, right sides together, almost all the way around with a half-inch seam allowance.  Then, turn this piece inside out, and seam it all the way around at 5/8" and 1/8" from the edge.  Repeat this with both the 11x5 inch pieces and the 7x7.5 inch pieces.

• (Figure 5)
  Place the larger lining pieces right side up, and lay these pieces on top of the corresponding pieces, as seen in Figure 5-a, b, and c, and then sew over the pre-existing 1/8" seam, as seen in Figure 5-d, so that these smaller pieces become pockets.  If you prefer to divide the pockets, particularly the larger one, for phones, pencils, or whatnot, then simply add an extra line where you want the division to be.  Be aware, though, that the more you separate them, the less the top will open, so, particularly for pencil-sized pockets, you might want to ruffle the bottom a bit so you get more room.
• Note: if you prefer to have the pocket for the "smaller" section on the outer edge, you can complete the next step first for the 10x15 pieces, and then return to attatching the pocket over the seam.

Figure 5

• Place the two 18x15 lining pieces, right sides together, and square the edges, as with the outside sections.  Repeat with the 10x15 pieces.  Sew the seams open at 5/8" and 1/8" on ONE side seam of each pocket.

• You now have two pockets that will fit exactly in the outer shell.  Press the top edges over half an inch.  Line the two pieces up, un-sewn-seam to un-sewn-seam, and sew at 1/8" and 5/8" to join the pockets.  Place your finished lining in your outer shell, and whip-stitch by hand across the top layers, keeping the ends tucked in.  Seam the top edge again at 5/8" and 1/8".

• As a finishing touch, measure how long you want your straps to be, including 4-5 inches extra to attach them to the bag (mine measure 29-30 inches).  Cut two pieces of main fabric 4 inches x length measurement, and fold them each in half lengthwise, with right sides together.  Sew along the edge, with a half-inch seam allowance, almost all the way around, and then turn them inside out, so that you have two strip-tubes that are 1.5 inches x length-1inch.  Press them flat and sew a seam at 1/4" from each edge.  Measure and mark where you will attach them to the bag, and then do so, sewing 4-5 horizontal lines, about 1/4" apart, on each strap-end.

Congrats on your finished bag!