Tunisian - In Rows!

OK I think I have the hang of Tunisian simple stitch in rows. I was going to make this a scarf, but I think I'm going to keep going and make it a blanket.

I started my pattern as shown in this video:

Update: Entrelac Afghan

All right...here's what this looks like now...

Getting bigger! I'll eventually get this done...

Scrapghan Madness!

This is a crazy scrapghan I'm working on. Just random bits of leftover yarns from other projects. I'm also gutting projects I started but didn't like and using those yarns as well. I'm doing this one in the corner to corner pattern, and I'd like to do one in crossed double crochet. I'll get to it soon enough. 

Fun With Tunisian

OK so I'm working on Tunisian stitch and color changes AND carrying yarn as I do so. I don't always like to cut yarn and have a million ends to sew in at the end of a project.

Here is the right side of a test swatch I did:

Here is the reverse:

I don't like the "floaters" going up the left side of the work; that's the result of carrying the yarn instead of cutting it with each color change. I'm not sure if there's a way to hide that or do it some other way that it's not seen. Hmmmmmmm....

Tunisian Honeycomb Stitch

I just remembered - I was supposed to post some photos of a Tunisian honeycomb stitch scarf I'm working on. So here are the photos...one shows a closeup of the material, so the pattern is more clearly visible...

 

It's really a very easy stitch to do. What I'm doing is putting a stitch marker in the rows that begin with TSS (Tunisian simple stitch) and just go from there!

 

Tunisian Drop Stitch

I learned a new stitch – the Tunisian Drop Stitch

 

 

Stitches & Patterns

Chances are, I will get tossed out of a certain Facebook crochet group (the admins of which are known to be ridiculously loose with the ban-hammer) for this, BUT this is why I have a BLOG wherein I can write anything I want, post it on my own social media pages like my own FB, G+, Twitter and Ello accounts, and people can STILL read what I have to say here. 

 

And it's very simple: there's a difference between a "stitch" and a "pattern."

 

 

Purple Ruffle Purse

Naztazia made a tutorial video (click the link) that I found for a ruffle purse, so I had to go get some yarns to make this. I like the way it's turning out so far.

What I want to do is attach clear acrylic circle handles to the purse; I'm not sure how to do that. Hmmm....

EDIT - Here is the finished bag:

Tropical Stripes C2C

JAYSUS, I had no idea this blanket was such an EYE BURNER until I took this picture in the sunlight today! WOW!

Well, I'm going to keep on with it. Many people have said they love this one.

St Pat's Day

I made some earrings for St Patrick's Day!

3 New Scarves

I completed two new scarves this week. One was for a Chicago Bears fan. Here is a photo of it before I put the last row of blue yarn on:

This one was done in rows of crossed double crochet. I finished off at the end of each row and left long tails which became fringe.

And I did a Joseph's Coat scarf in some very wintry colors:

And of course, my diabetes awareness scarf:

Funny that I make many scarves but I live in Florida and can't wear them very often. Well, it's just what I do.

Now, I also have this:

...and I'm considering making a scarf out of a bunch of them. Hmmm. It's pretty involved, but imagine what it'd look like in the end.

My Road Trip Scarf

OK I just completed this road trip scarf. It is named that because the woman who designed it did so while on a road trip with her husband.

I gotta say this: given the yarn I used (Red Heart Super Saver) and the fact that I did not change hooks as I was supposed to do (oops), it does fit me sort of funny. It's like a big old bib. What I think I'm going to do with the next one I make of this pattern is a big shawl, not a scarf. In fact, I've already started it and I'm using this yarn:

This is Red Heart Super Saver in Mexicana colorway. It's BRIGHT!!! We'll see how this goes!

Scrappy Steps Afghan

I'm stealing an idea from Beth in TX again and making a Scrappy Steps afghan. I got the pattern from her site. Here's pics of my afghan so far:

I hope it washes up soft. Some of the yarn I'm using is a bit scratchy so we'll see how that goes. Otherwise, how interesting and odd this will look! Like an explosion in a yarn factory!

CLICK HERE for the pattern.

HAPPY Afghan

OK this is my first attempt at a corner to corner (c2c) afghan. I'm loving these colors and it's making me sing that Happy song in my head as I stitch. I know I'm going to have to get more pink and red yarn for this, but that's ok. It's part of my effort to burn up stash and only buy yarns for projects I've already started, rather than buying random yarn and not knowing what to do with it when I get it home because I had no project in mind for it when I bought it. LOL! I do that entirely too often.

So it's my HAPPY afghan!

Water Bottle Bracelet

HERE is something I can incorporate crochet into! I can crochet a bunch of chain in interesting colors - say, black and yellow - and then wrap it around the plastic and decorate it up! WOOO!

Oh man, so many crafts and so little time....

Skinny Scarf

OK over on FiberFlux I found THIS pattern for a skinny scarf. I really liked it, thought "oh that looks easy so I'll make it," and I grabbed some yarn and began stitching.

Here's what I have so far:

The problem I seem to have with my scarf is how it tilts uphill to the right. I'm not sure why it's doing that. Her scarf stitches look perfectly straight and I'm not sure what I've done to make mine tilted.

Got any ideas? Or should I just go with it and incorporate that into my scarf?

That said, if I can get this figured out, I had a GREAT idea with this. Stitch up a whole boatload of these in various colors - say I do some in this sangria color, and some in red, and some in violet, etc - and then find a way to sew them or crochet them together to make an afghan! Sort of like a granny square afghan or mile-a-minute afghans. I may try that with some scrap yarn and do a couple of sample or test strips. I think I'll do that this weekend...

Woven Lapghan

OK so I'm working on the white mesh part of this lapghan. When this is done, I'm going to use another yarn to weave into the mesh. I haven't yet decided which one to use. 

In this photo I did the top row with Lion Brand Fettucini, a t shirt yarn that may not be the best choice, because I can't guarantee I can buy enough of it to use for the whole blanket. It's made with scrap t shirt material, so finding more than 2 matching rolls is challenging. The Fettucini yarn is the one with shades of blue, in the top center of the picture.

The second row is woven with Starbella ruffle yarn in Toucan colorway. I think I like this color best, but this yarn can be expensive. At about $5 a roll, I may have to drop about $100 on that yarn by itself to get the whole project complete. Not sure. That's a bit costly. The Starbella yarn is the brilliant rainbow yarn top left in the picture.

The third row is a chain of Lion Brand Homespun in the Barrington colorway. This yarn is very soft and rather bulky, and that would make for a very warm lapghan. Hiding the ends in when I complete the weaving would be very easy too. It's a bit more affordable than the other yarns, and I get more of it for my dollar. Hmmm.

What I originally had planned was to chain some orange and some green and weave the chain into the mesh, and it would look like the Irish tricolor:

But then I thought "oh come on, get CREATIVE woman!" And I came up with the idea of weaving a more novelty type of yarn into the mesh. 

I do need to stash-bust, so I might use my Lion Brand Homespun, doubled, with some lavender sport weight yarn included, which I have. That might be my best bet. I know it doesn't show too well in this photo - the texture of the yarn is lost in my picture, but this is a closeup of the Homespun:

This shows the ripple in the yarn and the beautiful colors in it too. I find it's not easy to just crochet with, but there's plenty of other ways to use this yarn if you think outside the standard knit/crochet boxes. 

Given some of the other shades in this yarn, I bet if I made another mesh in seafoam green and wove this Barrington color yarn in, it would look stunning. Or do a soft rose mesh. 

Food for thought. 

Yarns

Here's a stash buster project I've started on - partially to burn up some cheap yarn I have, and to practice the chevron stitch I've just learned:

The thing is, the red yarn and the variegated yarn here are Craft Smart yarns, bought at Michaels craft stores. I gotta say - this yarn feels like SANDPAPER. It's SO scratchy and rough! There is nothing soft about it!

I'm hoping that I can wash this with some fabric softener and it will feel a lot better; I know I had some good luck on that front with Red Heart Super Saver yarn, which also feels very rough. I made a mesh market bag with some of their deep red Claret color yarn, and with Red Heart, their dark colors are often very scratchy. Black is the worst. Well, I tossed that bag in the wash with some fabric softener, and the difference was amazing.

The pink yarn in this project is Red Heart Super Saver, and it's not too bad as far as roughness is concerned. I made a scarf with some of this, as well as some black RHSS. I've used the scarf all winter long and it's held up well, it's not too scratchy, and it has some nice drape to it (but I did make the scarf in a mesh pattern, with a slightly larger hook than is normally used with this yarn, and this gives the work some nice drape). I'm not sure if I want to continue using this pink yarn with the Craft Smart for this; perhaps I could use the pink RHSS for something else?

Well, RHSS is cheap enough yarn; if I need more hot pink I can get some.

I did find a new favorite yarn: Bernat Super Value yarn. I'm doing this with a couple of colors I found:

It's sooooooo soft and buttery. I love this yarn. This may be my go-to yarn from now on.

In The Works....

I worked on this blanket today...I have a LOT of rows to go...

And I do mean A LOT. But methinks the colors look nice. :)

I have noticed that a lot of people think that this stitch is Navajo crochet, saying "oh we used to do a lot of this in the 1070s" - but it's not the same thing, from what I can tell. Navajo seems to involve doing rows of single crochet, cutting the yarn and finishing off at the end of every row, and adding a new row of yarn each row, instead of doing a turning chain and continuing with the next row.

That's not what I'm doing here. I'm doing 4 chain stitches, and on the 5th stitch I connect to the previous row with a single crochet. So my scarves and anything else I make with this stitch are mostly chain stitches, not sc.

So no, what I'm doing is not Navajo. It's Joseph's Coat, after Joseph's Coat of Many Colors.

EDIT May 20

This past weekend, I did more rows on this. Now it's this far along:

Still plugging. It is really getting some weight to it now, and is more blanket-like. I do have to admit that I wish I'd made the original chain longer, like about 350 stitches or more. Maybe the next one I do, I'll make it longer.

3 Joseph's Coat Scarves

I really like doing this simple, simple stitch. I made these three scarves, but the neon one on the right I might continue to add rows to, and make it a shawl or even an afghan.