Year of Projects: Week 31

Project Percentage Complete: 80%

Overall Percentage Complete: 82%

Number of Project Items: 20
Number of Added Items: 149

Total Items: 169


Happy Birthday to the man that tolerates my passion for yarn :)

First tidbit is that I removed the pattern on the bag on my project list (the original list). I started the filet bag and realized I had no real use for a holey bag – so decided to remove it. I finished a dishcloth during iYarny’s first dishcloth Friday meetup. That was good. I did go through my numbers again and I’m a lot more confident in these percentages being close to accurate, if not actually accurate. go me. *laughs*

The big news of the week was my finishing my first ever sock. I had never knitted a sock before and after a great challenge, the first sock is done. I have already cast on the second sock and am making my way quite nicely through it. Granted, I didn’t write down any information about the first sock I made (big mistake) so making the 2nd to match is going to be a challenge in itself.

My family has already asked me to make them socks too. I am pretty happy with the finished sock although I can see all the little boo-boos. But I figure they were a great learning experience and from that, I will learn and my socks will only continue to get better.

Personally, I can’t wait to do socks for the kids simply because they are smaller!

I don’t have much else to report other than today is the man’s birthday. Yup, another year older. I really love this guy – he helps keep me in check and tolerates my little yarn addiction. I am glad he is with me – I really appreciate all that he does for me, the kids, and the household.

This is a picture of him and I last year (or the year before… hmmmm) on a hayride at a local church. I was thinner… he was younger – it all balances out in the end *laughs*

Project List Items (not complete)

– Lacet Table Runner […started…]
– Throw for living room sofa [state fair project]
– Round Afghan/Throw
– Angel Tree Topper

Project List Items (done)
– 14 pair of Paperclip Ice Skates Ornaments
– Easy Cabled Scarf
– Poncho (early Christmas present)

Added Items (not complete)
– Wristlet Bag (adjusting pattern) […65%…]
– 2 Kitchen Chair Wall Protector
– knit socks [1 sock done]
– 1 knit scarf [started]
– Girls Trellis Poncho [started – my own pattern that will be posted free]

Added Items (done)
– Wristlet Bag (making my own pattern)
– Ear Bud “purse”

– 2 Crochet Bags (Mystery CAL Beach Bag, EnviroTote #4)
– 5 Knit Washcloth
– 32 Crochet Wash/Dishcloth
– 1 crochet face scrub finger mitt (Christmas present)
– 1 dust mitt

– 2 Kitchen Chair Wall Protector
– 4 crocheted towel toppers

– WW Yarn Runner for  ledge
– 10 crochet scarves
– 1 knit scarf
– 2 crochet cowls
– 5 Hybrid Hat (pattern coming soon)
– 1 knit hat
– 13 crochet hats
– 2 crochet character hats (sock monkey, puppy)
– 10 crochet hat clips
– 10 crochet headbands (some are Sherry’s Headband)
– 10  Candy Stocking Ornaments
– 2 Crochet Lid Topper
– 2 wreath pins
– Spiderweb Doily
– 1 small decorative Christmas tree (didn’t like, threw away)
– 6 mug cozies

– 4 crochet Faux Boob (pattern)
– 13 SIBOL Square

———————
This post is part of the Ravelry Group “Come Blog-A-Long” #yearofprojects Project. If you are interested in joining along or finding other posts similar to this one, visit the group on Ravelry.

 

Knitting Milestone

Well, dear readers, while I know this blog is primarily crochet, everyone is aware that I post other stuff here sporadically – and today is one of those days. I’m not casually posting this – I’m so proud of my accomplishment I wanted to share it with you.

Today – I cast off my first sock. My first EVER knitted sock!

I rushed to put it on. And once it was on, I realized all in one moment why people knit their own socks.

It wasn’t just a sock – it was an experience!

I know it may seem a little dramatic, but  truly – the sock is so light and soft and it is made to fit my foot. Having it on feels absolutely wonderful. Here are ten fantastic facts about my new sock:

FACT #1
I started my sock in October 2011. I first mentioned it on my blog on October 23rd – I started them a few days prior on a trip to see my mother and the blog was written after I got home.

FACT #2
I have never done a sock before and I don’t know why I decided to do a toe-up sock first. It was a challenge but I really like it and believe I’ll do all my socks as toe up from here on out (at least until I fall in love with another method)

FACT #3
I finished the foot portion of a first sock and didn’t know how to turn the heel, so instead of stopping all progress, I started a second sock while on a visit with my mother. I did not have a 2nd set of dpn’s so I went to Hobby Lobby and bought some – and I bought the wrong size!

FACT #4
By the time I figured out I had bought the wrong dpn’s (read fact 3 again if you missed it), I already had most of the foot of the 2nd sock done. I decided that I would try to turn a heel on the 2nd sock since I was going to have to remake it anyway. An that, my friends, was an epic fail.

FACT #5
I now know why people knit their own socks.

FACT #6
I did not write anything down and I didn’t work from a pattern. I am having trouble remembering how many I cast on, how many I increased too, how many for the foot, heel, and ribbed leg piece. I may be in trouble.

FACT #7
It will most likely bug me that the stripes do not line up with the next sock made…. but I’m still gonna wear ’em!

FACT #8
I went to YouTube to find a video on how to do a nice stretchy bind off for a toe up sock. I found a great video by kyarns. It was easy to understand and I watched it twice before tackling my sock. I didn’t even practice on a swatch!

FACT #9

Within seconds of finishing the sock, I had it on my foot.

FACT #10
Within seconds of my saying how wonderful my sock was. My children had already tried it on too. *laughs*

…..

With all that said – I will most likely be casting on my second sock this weekend and will hope to have a pair within the next couple of weeks.

Happy Hookin’ (or Knitting, as the case may be!)

 

iYarny Annoucement

Good morning, blog readers!

I have a couple exciting announcements of all those interested in joining the iYarny virtual yarn group (linked above).

First – we have a new moderator! Peggy, or Little Lambs Crochet, has taken on the responsibility of being a moderator in the iYarny chat group and Ravelry group. She is looking at her schedule now and will be posting a meet-up time soon to expand the times we already have for iYarny….

and speaking of times…..

The current Thursday meeting has changed from a general meet-up to a charitable giving gathering. In addition to this, two more times have been added. Friday night is now Dishcloth Friday and we have a meet-up Tuesday mornings which is hosted by Kathryn of Crochet Concupiscence. The exact times are days are shown in the right column of this blog.

I would like to encourage all of you interested to also head over to Ravelry and join the conversations there. The Ravelry group will be a talking place for when we can’t all get together in the chat module. There is no need for us to keep missing eachother because of timezone differences and our schedules.

I look forward to meeting and seeing you all!

http://crochet-with-cris.blogspot.com/p/iyarny-group.html

 

Year of Projects: Week 30

Project Percentage Complete: 76%

Overall Percentage Complete: 93%

Number of Project Items: 21
Number of Added Items: 148

Total Items: 169

Ok – so my numbers got a little wonky the last couple weeks and honestly, I’m not sure I have them right yet. UGH! I can only count them so many times before my eyes begin to cross. *whew* Who thought counting would be so difficult *laughs*

Oh well, I’m sure I’ll go back and recount and get another number and yet another number after that. I think as long as I’m staying relatively close, then I’m doing pretty darn good. I can say that my project list items is failing miserably as the number is just kinda “stuck” – I have been working on so many added items that its almost insane to think about my original project list. I don’t see all of it actually getting done – unless I completely make a driven effort to only work on those items.

I know I can do the Filet Market Bag relatively easily. I have yarn for it. I have the time as I don’t think it’ll take more than a few hours to put together. The living room throw is in progress, although I don’t have one square done (and there will be 30 total – doh!). The table runner has been started too…… oh boy has that been started – back in November of 2011 and I’m not sure that it’ll ever get done. That lil project is INSANE. So in the end, if I really push on those three, that will leave me a round afghan and an angel tree topper not finished for the year… and neither of those would technically take a lot of time either. *laughs*

So if I could put some focus into the original list, there is no reason why it couldn’t get done – excluding the table runner. That was one of those “what in the world was I thinking” items. Who knows.

I’ll just keep telling myself “its doable.”

Seems my pooch, Andrew, is the topic of many of my off-topic photos used as photo-filler to my blog posts. This is a picture of Andrew staring out the front door waiting for the kids to come back inside. Whenever they go out he leaves whatever he is doing and goes and watches to make sure they are safe. As soon as they come back in, he returns to whatever he was doing – which is normally sleeping.

Now… off to count again. I know these can’t be right!

Project List Items (not complete)

– Filet Market Bag
– Lacet Table Runner […started…]
– Throw for living room sofa [state fair project]
– Round Afghan/Throw
– Angel Tree Topper

Project List Items (done)
– 14 pair of Paperclip Ice Skates Ornaments
– Easy Cabled Scarf
– Poncho (early Christmas present)

Added Items (not complete)
– Wristlet Bag (adjusting pattern) […65%…]
– 2 Kitchen Chair Wall Protector
– knit socks [started]
– 1 knit scarf [started]
– Girls Trellis Poncho [started – my own pattern that will be posted free]

Added Items (done)
– Wristlet Bag (making my own pattern)
– Ear Bud “purse”

– 2 Crochet Bags (Mystery CAL Beach Bag, EnviroTote #4)
– 5 Knit Washcloth
– 31 Crochet Wash/Dishcloth
– 1 crochet face scrub finger mitt (Christmas present)
– 1 dust mitt

– 2 Kitchen Chair Wall Protector
– 4 crocheted towel toppers

– WW Yarn Runner for  ledge
– 10 crochet scarves
– 1 knit scarf
– 2 crochet cowls
– 5 Hybrid Hat (pattern coming soon)
– 1 knit hat
– 13 crochet hats
– 2 crochet character hats (sock monkey, puppy)
– 10 crochet hat clips
– 10 crochet headbands (some are Sherry’s Headband)
– 10  Candy Stocking Ornaments
– 2 Crochet Lid Topper
– 2 wreath pins
– Spiderweb Doily
– 1 small decorative Christmas tree (didn’t like, threw away)
– 6 mug cozies

– 4 crochet Faux Boob (pattern)
– 13 SIBOL Square

———————
This post is part of the Ravelry Group “Come Blog-A-Long” #yearofprojects Project. If you are interested in joining along or finding other posts similar to this one, visit the group on Ravelry.

 

Charitable Crochet: 12 for 12 Post #2

Today is my scheduled post in the 12 for 12 Project set up by Kathryn over at Crochet Concupiscence. Click on the link if you are interested in reading more about the project.

The premise of the project is to make 12 separate donations, one to each of 12 different charitable organizations of your choice.

And this …..*queue Law and Order music* ….. is my update.

Alright – pretty good week as far as the 12 for 12 project goes for me. Below is an update (where available) for my progress on each of the charitable causes selected.

1. Knitted Knockers
Website Link
My Pattern
I have not made anymore knockers to date. I want a couple of things to happen before I continue to make more.

1) I need to get my arse to Walmart with my bag-o-boobs so I can see how they look in the bra for the cup size made. I need to make sure my pattern is somewhat accurate and considering I do not have 4 different bra sizes myself, I need to use some else’s bra – and Walmart seems like a good choice.

2) I want to have a sit down with some local organizations that may want the faux boobs. I have sent an email to a local hospital and a local women’s health center. Both are known for treating cancer so I’m sure they have women who have had their breast (or breasts) removed. I want to sit down with them, show them what I have made, and figure out if it is something they are interested in. If it is, great! We can figure out a donation method (make and drop off, wait for an order, etc). If they are not interested, then I will ship what I have made off to the knitted knockers project since I know they have places they can give them.

So that’s my update. I don’t think I’ll be getting to a donation this month, but we shall see.

Made 4 / Donated 0

2. Special Olympics Scarf Project
Website Link
My intentions to get to work on scarves for this project have been twarted (yea, I found use of the word YAY) multiple times over the last couple weeks. I am not giving up hope though! I have one scarf about halfway done and bought yarn for 2 more.

Made 0 / Donated 0

3. Sunshine International Blankets of Love (SIBOL)
Website Link
OK – plugging right along on my SIBOL squares. I do have a little bit of an update though. I originally thought I was going to do the 25 joined squares and make the blanket. But now I’m seeing other squares being donated and am wondering if a blanket made of all the same squares is really what they are looking for – I’m thinking no.

So what I planning on doing now is making a bunch of the square I am making (cabled heart pattern) in all sorts of colors. I’m going to box them up, not joined together, and send them off. I’m sure I’ll be sending off way more squares then what is needed for 1 blanket. Then I’ll drop a note in to say she can join them to make a single blanket or use them as filler squares for the other blankets she has. Either way – I’m sure she’ll get use out of them.

So far so good!

Squares Made 13 / Squares Donated 0

4. Hooked on a Cause
Website Link
I’ve made another decision in who I will be donating to this year. This is a new project brought to me by a fellow YouTuber named bamagirl1582. She felt a conviction to start a charitable giving program for children being treated at the Children’s hospital in her local area. While I tend to try and keep my charitable projects local first, I understand the importance of the hospital in her area. According to the blog, this hospital is the 10th busiest children’s hospital in the United States. It is Alabama’s only level one children’s pediatric trauma hospital and is the largest pediatric burn center for children in the Southeastern United States. The number of children this hospital treats has to be high.

So I will be making some squares and some hats to donate. I really look forward to seeing this new project grow.

Hats Made 0 / Hats Donated 0
Squares Made 0 /  Squares Donated 0

5. [to be determined]

6. [to be determined]

7. [to be determined]

8. [to be determined]

9. [to be determined]

10. [to be determined]

Project Introduction

<< Read Previous Post —– Read Next Post >>

 

iYarny: New Moderator and Host

I would like to take a quick moment to welcome Kathryn of Crochet Concupiscence as moderator to the iYarny group (Ravelry group included). Kathryn is very excited to be able to host an iYarny meet-up on Tuesdays. Be sure to stop into iYarny during unscheduled times as you never know who you will find!

Thank you, Kathryn, for taking on the responsibilities associated to iYarny. I appreciate all you do for the crochet community.

 

Crochet Jobs: A Request by Crochet Concupiscence

Hello, Crochet Lovers!

I hope you are all having a fantastic Friday morning. While it is windy and cold here, I am thankful I did not have to drive to work in the snow and that myself and my family have our health.

But this post isn’t about anything personal, oh no – it is about crochet. More specifically – Crochet jobs!

For those of you who aren’t aware, Kathryn over at Crochet Concupiscence has various blog post series that she maintains on either a daily or a weekly schedule. One of the daily series is called “Job Leads” – and its just that, a listing of various crochet related jobs. She goes out each day and scours the internet so we don’t have to!

If you are interested in a crochet related job, be it pattern testing, writing a pattern, designing, tech editing, and a host of other possibilities related to crochet, then I suggest you head over to her blog and subscribe so you can get the listings each day.

BUT – what Kathryn is having issues with is finding those jobs. There are only so many out there she can find and she knows that many of us need or have knowledge of a crochet job. If you do or would like more information, Kathryn put up a rather comprehensive post about what she is needing from those who have crochet related jobs or are aware of crochet related jobs. (click for post)

There is a lot of information in that post about what she is needing to keep the series full of great information for us crocheters. And even if you don’t want a crochet related job, pass the word along just in case someone else could benefit from the listings.

 

[FOTH] January 17, 2012

My Fresh off The Hook video. If you aren’t familiar with what FOTH is, just ask!

 

Crochet Mathematics: The Mobius Strip

(c) Paul Bourke Website

I am starting a new series, linked as a page tab at the top of this page, called “Crocheting Concepts” – as stated on the page, this is not about concepts related to crochet. The series is a discussion, and exploration if you will, of how crochet is used to visual various mathematical and scientific concepts.

The first in the series started with hyperbolic crochet, which almost seems like a gimme considering it was brought to the forefront of crochet news with the Community Coral Reef Project. But I will leave you to read that here, if you are interested.

While hyperbolic crochet may seemed like a natural start, I think the mathematical model of the Mobius Strip is a fantastic second topic.

The Concept
August Ferdinand Mobius was a mathematician and astronomer, working as a pioneer in the field of topology. He developed the concept of the mobius strip, also called the twisted cylinder, in 1858 although he did not publish his idea. While named after August, a German mathematician named Johann Benedict Listing also came up with the same concept earlier in 1858. Why August got namesake to the concept, we may never know. By all rights, it should be called the Listing Strip.

The Mobius Strip is considered one of the simplest geometric shapes because it only has one surface and one edge. It is seamless topography, which is probably what Mobius himself was looking for. There isn’t a whole lot more to say for the strip other than to talk about how you can make one AND how it has been used since discovery.

The following is a video I created demonstrating how to create a mobius strip out of paper. If you want some extra good fun, I challenge you to cut your mobius in half (down the center line). You may be surprised at what you end up with.

Unlike many mathematical concepts, the mobius strip has actually been used in art and for functionality. For example, conveyor belts are often made as a mobius strip because then each “side” gets an equal amount of wear, meaning the lifetime of the belt is extended more than if it was a standard loop. Other uses have been in creating continuous loop recording tapes and versatile electronic resistors. Artists like M.C. Escher also use the mobius strip as inspiration for their work.

Crocheting the Concept

(c) Marilyn Wallace (pattern)

The non-mathematical crocheter can easily identify the “infinity scarf” or the “twisted loop scarf” as something they enjoy looking at or have even made. They may or may not realize that these items are nothing more than a crocheted mobius strip.

A crocheted mobius can be created in one of two ways:
 1. Crochet a rectangle and create the twist when complete, having a seam where the two ends are joined after twisting, or

 2. Twist and join your foundation chain and then crochet in the round, creating the mobius before you finish the piece – as you crochet you just make your strip wider and wider.

If you have not crocheted an item using the concept of a mobius strip, then I highly encourage you to do so. Not only is your creation founded in mathematical roots, you will find that it has a great flow and makes for a wonderfully aesthetic piece.

Sites Referenced:
Paul Bourke Website: http://paulbourke.net/geometry/mobius/

Belleview College: http://scidiv.bellevuecollege.edu/math/mobius.html

MathWorld: http://mathworld.wolfram.com/MoebiusStrip.html

PhysLink: http://www.physlink.com/education/askexperts/ae401.cfm

Meson.org: http://web.meson.org/topology/mobius.php

 

Recycled Into Yarn: CAL/KAL to begin

The newly developed recycled yarn blog has announced they are to be hosting a knit/crochet-a-long using recycled materials. The first post on this topic has been made here.

If this is something that you are interested in participating, hop over to the post (using the link provided above) to put your vote in. Right now all interested participants are getting to choose if it is a CAL or a KAL and what material will be used.

I put my vote in – will you?