Yarnification

I have an account with MyPoints, which is one of those deals where you get points for clicking on email ads and redeem them for stuff. (You can get a ton of points for shopping with their advertisers, too, but I never do that. I just click on the ads and collect my 5 points at a time, and if I’m going to by something at Barnes & Noble’s web site or some other place that they work with, I’ll go through them to get points for it.) Anyway, about every year or so I end up with enough points (2750) to redeem them for a $25 Barnes & Noble gift card. That point came a few weeks ago, and when my card came in the mail I rushed right over there to buy Hip to Crochet and Donna Kooler’s Encyclopedia of Crochet, since I’d had them both out of the library in December and loved them both. Between the gift card, the free shipping deal they had going on at the time and the discounts on the books, I only ended up paying six dollars and change more than the gift card, pretty good deal if you ask me. And now I don’t have to feel guilty about hogging the books out of the library.

Anyway, I spent some of my gift money on yarn yesterday, and I’ve started making the really adorable summer cloche from Hip to Crochet. Mine probably won’t be very summery since I’m using this hemp/wool blend yarn that I found for $1.97 a ball in the discontinued bin at Crafts 2000, which is just as well since I only wear hats in the winter. This yarn claims to be worsted weight, and the pattern calls for DK weight, but I think it’ll be okay because it looks really, really skinny for worsted, more like a heavy sport weight. I’ve never actually seen any DK yarn in person, but I’ve read it’s a little heavier than sport weight, so I’m hoping it’ll work out. If not, I’ll find something else to do with it.

I also got some Red Heart super saver for another throw rug—I’m planning on making one from the Leisure Arts booklet I got a while ago. I finally settled on colors: dark sage, warm brown, buff, buff fleck, aspen print, medium thyme (which is actually TLC Essentials because I couldn’t find enough greens I liked in Super Saver), and eggnog (which is somewhere between off-white and yellow). The buff and buff fleck are the last of a few skeins from my stash; I think I have about 8 oz between the two, so I’m using them in place of the one color that called for 8 oz. I don’t think it’ll make the rug look strange since the pattern calls for three strands (mostly of all different colors) held together, and I think they’ll meld together nicely.

I need a P hook, though, I think. The pattern calls for an N, but when I did a swatch it came out small. Tried with my Crystallites M hook since that’s actually bigger than my N, and that was closer but still a bit small. My Q made it too huge, so I’m going to pick up a P and see how it goes. If that’s too big, I’ll just go with the M and live with it coming out a couple of inches smaller than what’s listed in the pattern.

And I made a sock! And it fits! I’m not going to post a picture until I’ve made the second one. Once I had the first one done, I started procrastinating about starting the other one, so I don’t want to post a picture and give myself more reason to feel finished with them before I’ve actually made an entire pair…