Woven Pillow

I've finally finished the crochet and woven pillow! One side is a bit crazy with a few colors/types of yarn and different weaving techniques. The other is kinda plain with one color yarn and simple crochet stitches.

Weaving Progress

I've started working on the weaving on the back side of the crochet pillow. Here is my progress so far:

The Crochet is Finished

Over the weekend my crochet circle was finally the size of my pillow, but I was nearly out of yarn so instead of purchasing another skein of the yarn I decided to try to do a circular weaving on the other side of the pillow.

I'm not really sure how I want it to look and I'm considering purchasing some more yarn (which totally defeats the purpose of me switching to weaving) because my stash yarns aren't the colors I think I want. Do you have any weaving tips or suggestions?

crochet progress

It feels like I'm moving along very slowly in my crochet project, but I realized I'm nearly halfway done! The plan is to devote a lot more time to crochet over the next few days to finish this thing! Check back Thursday to see if I have or if there is another photo filler post.

Crochet Project

Sunday I started a crochet project!

This roundish, maybe floral, organic shape is the start of a decorative pillow cover. We will see how it turns out. So far so good. 

Floral Brooch Thing

I went to a yarn spinning demo/class at the library a few weeks ago and made some yarn. The yarn I made was decent enough to crochet something without too much difficulty. This is the yarn I made:

The yarn is made from wool roving and is single ply. A local craft shop, Puffy Mondaes, presented the spinning demo and provided the roving and nifty CD and dowel drop spindles to use. Spinning was a lot of fun and I want a drop spindle so I can make more yarn! Since I didn't have much yarn I decided to crochet a little something from one of my DIY books.

This strange floral brooch thing that I'm not very please with was made following a flower and a leaf crochet chart. I started with only two leaves, but stitched up a few more last night and attached them; I think it still needs something else, maybe another flower in the center. Do you have any ideas?

The patterns are from a Japanese craft book, かわいいニットこもの 帽子・バッグ・あみぐるみ・マフラーｅｔｃ. (translates to: Cute knit accessories - hats Bag Amigurumi muffler etc.), I happened to get as a free gift with purchase.  I don't have much information on the book since there are only a few things written in English; it is from Olympus Thread, no.2733 of a series, ISBN 9784834727333. This is what the cover of the book looks like:

Have you ever followed a Japanese knitting or crochet pattern? I really like following knitting/crochet charts, but I like charts of all kinds. Towards the end of the year, after finishing some gifts, I am planning on knitting up another möbius hat; that one accidentally got tossed in the wash and shrunk (the wool I used is excellent for felting).

Floral Yarn Bomb

Saturday was International Yarn Bombing Day! Obviously I participated; I knit (and crochet) two flowers and put them on a bike rack!

Have you seen any new yarn bombs?

Bicycle Skirt Guards

I finished my crochet lace! I made guards that keep your dress from getting caught in your bike tire and getting dirty!

The crochet pattern is Bicycle Skirt Guard by Lorna Watt and was really simple even though I messed up on my pineapples. The guards are stretched very tight because of the mistake (I didn't read very carefully, the pineapples should be larger) they look fine though. They are attached to the fender with tiny binder clips. I noticed that the inside prong rubs on the tire so I need to take those off; I don't know if it is because my fender is narrow or because it is a little bit bent, probably both.

They are really cute and the weather here has been perfect for dress wearing and bike riding!

Update: I closed comments because I was getting way too much spam!

Crochet Lace

Work in progress of my latest crochet project:

I'm having a hard time telling if my gauge is right. It seems like my single crochets are too small/tight, but I'm not sure.

Crochet Crown and Clover

Over the weekend while inside and not shopping I worked on crochet. The first of my projects was a second crochet crown made with very fine gold crochet yarn (Hipstamatic made it look brown, but trust me, it is gold). This crown is more of a tiara headband with peaks only across the forehead. I made the top row of slip stitches too tight though so it will get a snip in the back and the addition of some elastic so it won't induce headaches.

The second project was this four leaf clover pattern from Tracy C. After finishing the tiara headband I started to crochet a heart with the gold, but switched to a friendlier yarn and had to change patterns because a green four leaf clover is better than a green heart and I knew what to do with the clover (who to give it to).

I have a largish crochet project planned and these smaller projects are definitely making my stitches better and me more confident reading crochet patterns (and charts, I love looking at crochet charts). Have you been working on a new skill too?

Crochet Crown

I made a crochet crown out of the same yarn as the snowflake necklace!

The pattern is Little Crocheted Crown by Maize Hutton. It was a really quick project and I am planning on making another (with different yarn)!

Giant Snowflake

After ripping out the extra giant snowflake necklace I gave The Toft Alpaca Shop's Giant Snowflake Necklace crochet pattern another try and made a reasonably sized giant snowflake necklace.

I used the same yarn and hook as before, but made my stitches tighter. The extra giant version of this necklace was my first real crochet project (I made a deformed granny square before and lots of crochet chains) so I didn't realize my gauge was really off. When I knit I tend to make my stitches very tight and I often go up a needle size and I constantly have to remind myself to loosen up so I kept my crochet stitches loose too. Now I know I need to pull my crochet stitches tight to keep from having oversized, floppy projects.

Next week I have another crochet project to share! I'm getting pretty good and am planning a larger crochet project soon!


Update: I closed comments because I was getting way too much spam!

My DIY Books

Now that it is nearly a month into the year I am getting serious about my third crafting intention for the year: a project from each craft book I own! By serious, I mean I have gathered all my DIY type books (I think this is all of them, but I'm not totally sure because there were some on every bookshelf I own and I may have overlooked one) and compiled a list that I can mark off throughout the year.

Bookshelf styling should be another resolution, but they all fit very snugly in one cube of the bookcase in my craft room! Here is the list of my DIY books separated by general type:

Knitting & Crochet

• Cast On, Bind Off by Cap Sease - Use this one fairly often.
• Hokkori Komono by Nihon Vogue - I've used it to make this möbius hat.
• A Japanese book from Olympus Thread that I got as a free gift with purchase and have no idea what the title says other than no.2733. I also can't find it on Ravelry.
• The Secret Lives of Letters by Dani Church
• Knitting Mochimochi by Anna Hrachovec
• Naughty Needles by Nikol Lohr
• Knits Extraordinaire by Lena Maikon - I started making the Sassy Spring Skirt, but haven't gotten very far and stopped working on it to make other things.
• Amigurumi Knits by Hansi Singh - The Jackalope is almost finished! Thursday!
• UPDATE: I forgot Knitter's Almanac by Elizabeth Zimmerman!

Sewing & Fabric

• One-Yard Wonders by Rebecca Yaker and Patricia Hoskins - I've made the Mailbag Pocket Duo, Wine Lovers' Special Wine Bottle Holder, and Obi Inspired Hot & Cold Pack.
• Patterns for Costume Accessories - My sailor collar and peter pan collar are from this book.
• Costume Craftwork on a Budget by Tan Huaixiang
• Generation T by Megan Nicolay
• Tie-Dye by Shabd Simon-Alexander

Miscellaneous

• The Marlinspike Sailor by Hervey Garrett Smith - I've made this knit knot headband and this knit Turk's head knot coffee cozy.
• How to do Just About Anything from Reader's Digest
• Back to Basics from Reader's Digest
• 101 Things to Do in Wartime 1940 by Lillie B. and Arthur C. Horth
• 101 Things for the Housewife to Do 1949 by Lillie B. and Arthur C. Horth
• Drawing Lab for Mixed-Media Artists by Carla Sonheim

That is 19 books, but I've used five of them to make things and am in the process of making items from two others so once I finish my two in progress knitting projects I'll have 12 other projects to make. I'm retroactively counting projects for the make-something-from-every-book intention, but may do a second project from a book. Also, I wasn't quite sure on including the Reader's Digest or 101 Things books, but they have many different types of DIY projects and I should easily be able to cross them off the list!

If I buy any other craft type books I'll add them to the list, but I'm going to try not to buy any more for the rest of the year.

Extra Giant Snowflake Necklace

One of my crafting intentions is to learn to crochet. I found this lovely snowflake necklace pattern by The Toft Alpaca Shop on Ravelry and completed my first crochet project, this ridiculously oversized snowflake necklace.

If you happened to click on the pattern link you are sure to notice that my necklace is way way way bigger than the intended size and because of this it is very awkward to wear. Needless to say, I need more crochet practice so I am ripping this out and will try again with much tighter stitches.

HELLO 2014!

I actually completed all of my 2013 crafting intentions! Craft Book Club, check! 52 Double Exposures, check! (The final roundup of the double exposures will be next week!) Yarn Bombs, check!

Winslow wanted to wish you a happy New Year! He couldn't resist playing with the sparkly pompoms!

Here are my crafting intentions for this year:

• Crochet! I'm not sure if this one really counts because I completed my first crochet project on Christmas (I had a live instructor), but I decided weeks ago that learning to crochet would be one of my resolutions. My crochet skills were very limited, I could do a chain stitch and that is it! Turning was out of the question; every time I tried to crochet it looked like a strange blob. I still need practice, so expect a few crochet posts this year!
• Cables & Colorwork! I need to level up with my knitting! The idea of both cables and colorwork freak me out a little bit, they seem sort of difficult, but I am going to learn. If you follow me on Ravelry you may have noticed a few patterns/projects popping up in my favorites that use one or both of these skills. I can't wait!
• Project From Each Craft Book I Own! This one is going to be the tough one! My bookshelf has several craft type books that just sit there collecting dust. I haven't made any projects from most of these books, but I bought them and need to actually use them so I will be making one project from each book. Right now I don't have a list of books, I'm not even sure how many there are (hopefully 12 or less, it shouldn't be too many, but my obsessive consumption may surprise me)!

What are your 2014 making plans?


Update: I closed comments because I was getting way too much spam!