This had another title..

This post had another title. It had another subject. It had three paragraphs filled with great links and witty sentences. Squarespace lost it. (I use Squarespace as my web host) wow. Yay. not impressed. I clicked 'spellcheck' and wooosh. GONE. It is very hard to compose blog posts with barking dogs and children climbing over me. Then to loose it all is just soooo frustrating. I shared the blogs that I start my day off with, a photo of my one finished sock and how I am scared about sharing too much with you, like images of my children.

I did finish one of my crocheted socks... the pattern was written wrong, so once I did what made sense, instead of what it told me, it worked out great.

  I was so excited! Now.. pop. fizz. pllllttzzz.

To take this photo I laid, upside down, on our couch, feet stuck up in the air, and used the white ceiling as my backdrop. An awkward position but I really like the effect. I'm off to take a shower and wipe the bad taste from Squarespace and my stupidity (for not saving as I went) out of my mouth.

Have a lovely day! I'll try again tomorrow to share my favorite blogs with you... I just don't have it in me to do all that work over right now....

xoxo~

Abbie 

A kick in the crafty rear...

 I am hankering for spring.. bright colors, green grass, the flowers, birds and even, yeah, the black flies. Anything that means that winter is over! We are stuck in between seasons here in NH. It's has been like that almost all winter. Not much snow, but not much warmth. Lots of grey, brown and dirty snow.

 

I have been trying to find something, anything to keep my mind and hands busy. Unfortunately nothing seems to interest me right now. I don't want to cook, sew, crochet, knit, clean, craft.. blah. I pulled out some of my favorite yarns the other day to see if perhaps I could start a blanket, hat, anything... blerg.. didn't work.

Above is a shot of half a sock I have crocheted. It is sitting inside my bench in the living room waiting for me. I had started to knit a pair of socks with this same yarn here. I couldn't keep my head in that project either and pulled it out after a few rows. I thought perhaps that crocheting socks (I really wanted to use the yarn) might work better as I am much more adept at crochet. The pattern is fabulous, but because I have little feet, I had to make adjustments. I did great until I hit the heel. Now I am stuck again and completely uninspired to keep going.

 Ah well.. someday my creativity will return. For now am patiently waiting for it. Sitting around, twiddling my thumbs, blowing my bangs out of eyes, and desperately needing warm weather, sunshine, and a good swift kick in the crafty rear.

xoxo~

Abbie

The other sock on my foot was a gift from my dear friend (and super knitter extraordinaire) Amber over at Pixies Stix. (she actually gave me an entire pair! Thank you Am, I love them!)   ;)

Pattern for Silk Shell Scarf

I had several emails about the scarf so I thought I'd share what I know. Really there is no complex pattern, as I like to just work and not keep having to refer to a book or sheet of paper all the time.

I used Fiddlesticks Knitting Silk Sensationyarn in Sprout. It is 100% silk and has a wonderful matte finish to it. (50g = 115 meters approx. ) The finished project used just over one and half skeins of yarn.  My crochet hook was #5 or F. How much yarn you use depends on how long you want your scarf.

I worked in a basic shell pattern for the entire piece. Shell patterns are worked in multiples of 6 + 2. So if you wanted yours either thinner or wider you would adjust by removing or adding 6 chains. I started my scarf by chaining 18 + 2.

I followed the instructions for the shell stitch from The Happy Hooker. An absolutely priceless book for the basics of crochet. You can find a great tutorial for the Shell Pattern Scarf by Teresa <--there. It is exactly what I did, but I only chained 18 to start and I didn't follow her pattern. (as I just found it while searching around the fabulous internet)

Teresa's blog, The Art of Crochet and her video tutorials are fabulous! Simple and easy to follow she slows things down and is very nice to listen to.

Hope that helps!

xoxo~

Abbie

Silk Crocheted Scarf and Wristwarmers: Done!

    


 

I finally finished my wristwarmers and scarf.  I very rarely make finish something for myself. It feels good! The scarf is 100% raw silk and crocheted in a simple shell pattern. It used almost two skeins and at $11 a skein that is an expensive project for me! For the wristwarmers I used a wool tweed blend that is very soft.  I crocheted simple rectangles, and rotated them 90 degrees to Alicia's and Lucy's. I felt like the vertical lines made my hands look slimmer and since I used the same yarn throughout, it worked great. I tapered the wrists as well. They are finished off with the silk yarn in the same shell pattern as the scarf around the palm and the thumb hole.

I can see women years ago wearing these in the home, as they tended to the mending, sewing, etc.. in the chilly evenings. I wore one finished wristwarmer as I worked on the second one. It was very.. well.. warming!

Sorry about the camera in the photos.. I wasn't sure how to get both my hands and the scarf in the photo with no helper and no tripod.

Keep creating!

xoxo~

Abbie

Wristwarmers

Sometimes you never know what is going to strike your fancy and what Bloglandia find is going to translate into a 'done' project'. Most of the absolutely delightful things I stumble upon are greeted with 'Oooo.. that's just wonderful! I can do that!'  and that is as far as gets. But these were a 'must try'.

Following the trail from the lovely Alicia Paulson, I found myself at Attic24 , trying out Lucy's idea for wrist warmers.  I crocheted these using the same basic idea as Lucy just reduced to a single crochet.  I was initially making them for myself, but they were a tad on the tight side. So, I passed them to my absolutely thrilled 4 year old and will make some for myself from a thinner yarn, all one color scheme. (these were a tad too chunky for me as is.)

But they were a simple and quick (only a few hours) project. Now I have to get back to work as I have two other children who now want a pair. Although my son would prefer black and yellow.

xoxo~

Abbie

Aaahhhhh.....

You can find me here.. relaxing.

I have been reading Weekend Knitting and am quite enjoying it. I am trying to find a simple project to muddle through.

Above is a crocheted scarf that I just finished. It was made from a gorgeous cotton bamboo blend yarn.

Do you have any ides for easy knitting projects or sites that offer any?

xoxo~

Abbie