Both were made using the quilted patchwork bib tutorial from Sew She Sews. One is quilted and the other is done with iron-on vinyl. I had no idea that iron-on vinyl stuff even existed — it’s fantastic.

I’m really only barely competent with the sewing machine at this point and these have a multitude of issues, but my sister thought they were awesome, so good enough. I’m going to make a few more, which should be good practice. I have most of a second quilted one done already, but the sewing machine and I had words with each other and it’s having a little time-out right now. (Also, I think I need to oil it.)

This morning I’m suffering from severe caffeine deprivation. I’m wandering around in a fog over here. After I post this I need to go to the grocery store and buy something that contains caffeine. (I may need an IV drip at this point. I dunno.)

I finished the current pair of socks yesterday. I opted not to obsess over making them match. Well, that’s not precisely true. I started the second sock, got halfway through the cuff, and decided to start over with a different section of yarn because I thought they might match if I tried over. They ended up not really matching, but I like ’em.

The colors aren’t quite what they look like in the photo, or maybe it’s my monitor. The olive stripes seem to look brown in photos.

(They are the same length. I don’t know what’s going on in that photo.)

I’m much happier with the toes now. They don’t match perfectly, but what I ended up with is fine by me. The first time they looked very silly next to each other with one ending in a whitish stripe and the other ending in a brownish stripe.

I love them. It’s almost—but not quite—enough to make me wish the weather were chilly enough to wear them today. I’m really very happy with how they turned out. You can see in the photos there are mistakes, but I learned a lot of things along the way.

What I might do differently next time: Maybe cast on fewer stitches—not many, maybe four. They fit really well on my left foot (which makes sense because that’s the foot I kept checking them on) but as it turns out my right foot is half a size smaller than the left, something which can only dealt with by making very slightly smaller socks or by having a left sock and a right sock. (The second option isn’t reasonable. I have enough trouble remembering the difference between left and right without it being possible to put socks on the wrong feet.) I also plan to try with a set of five dpns instead of four to see if that helps me make the ribbing tighter and less prone to laddering.

The numb finger is pretty much better today. (I have to confess that I finished the socks last night, but I did wait until it felt better before I picked up the knitting again.) I’m blaming the numbness partly on excessive knitting plus forgetting to take my B vitamins a lot lately and partly on the fact that I fell on the deck stairs the other night. All I paid attention to at first was that I had landed on the part of my back that always hurts (ouch) but I also landed on my wrist in such a way that I wrenched my neck and shoulder a bit due to the angle I landed at, and I’m noticing more and more that I have this sort of tingly nerve-pain thing in part of my hand and arm. I think I pinched a nerve/irritated something that is pressing on a nerve/something along those lines. What with it being in my arm too, I figure it’s got to be at least partly something in my neck or shoulder that’s causing it.

With any luck it’ll be back to normal soon. I’m trying to do lots of gentle stretching and stuff like that.

That is all. I could’ve had some really cool photos of the sunlight glittering through ice-coated trees, but it was cold and snowing (yes, snowing while the sun was out) and I chickened out on pulling the truck over to the side of the road since I didn’t want to get stuck.

I think this is the 30″ size, though it might be 32″. I don’t have the pattern with me today, so I’m not for sure which size I made. I know I made it small, though (I have something like a 33″ waist, or did when I measured last spring) because that Katrina is pretty stretchy, and the pattern warns about the corset stretching after it’s been worn anyhow. So I think that’s the 30″ size.

I know I always say this, but this isn’t a great photo. First off, you can see a bit of the boning—I missed that the first time around with the sewing (did lots of reinforcement after, too, just in case), and anyway I want to get a better photo, one that’s not in my living room and where I don’t look so glazed over, and submit it for the StitchDiva gallery, because I gather you get something nifty if she decides to use your photo, and this one isn’t going to cut it. It was well after midnight when I finally finished, and you can kinda tell, can’t you? (Thumbnail is clickable for full-size version.)

I have some thread projects and other things that I keep meaning to finish up, but in the meantime all I seem to want to do is keep people warm.

Last week I was seized with an urge to find that gigantor ball of Joann’s rainbow bouclé that I bought for 40% off back in June with the intention of making a throw to keep in the car after freezing my ass off while stranded with a flat tire on a rainy night. (Turned out those shorts that seemed like such a good idea during the daytime were not so appropriate after nightfall and a thunderstorm. Also turned out that camo and black is in general not a good color scheme to be wearing in the dark when you are trying to get the attention of a tow truck driver who knows only that you are located somewhere within about five acres of parking lot.)

Anyway. Rainbow bouclé. 40% off. $5 blanket, woohoo! But I was distracted on the way by finding a few balls of leftover Wool-ease. They sang to me. They told me that they would make a lovely, warm scarf, and didn’t Vicki look like she could use a nice scarf? So I set off on a mission.

I really like the sedge stitch from that Harmony crochet book. It’s sorta bumply, like making half-shells or something. It works up really fast.

Clickable…It’s folded in quarters; all told it’s probably six feet or so.

Close up:

Now I’m working on that throw. Maybe that will satisfy my compulsion to keep people warm so I can finish my unfinished projects…

I have this $25 Knitpicks gift certificate that I won months ago in Lori’s blog contest, and it is seriously burning a hole in my pocket.

But.

I can’t decide what yarn to buy. I’ve been trying to settle on a project and then pick out yarn for it, but this is more complex than previously anticipated.

I want to make a cute little crochet dress, like maybe this or this (pdf files, both of them, just so’s you’re warned), in celebration of the fact that I have lost something like 40 pounds and possibly might could actually look cute in something like that now.

But.

How do I figure out what size to make? I have to wonder if my bust measurement, which is how both of those patterns are sized, is going to tell me to make it a size too big. I’m a 10 in jeans, a medium-to-large in tops depending on how much give they have, 36DD bra size (because I have so far been blessed with losing weight without my boobs disappearing—go me!—but just try finding that size at Walmart). So I dunno. Do I go with what looks like the equivalent of a size large on the grounds that if crochet clothing patterns are anything like sewing patterns, it’s probably designed for a B cup? Or do I make the medium size and try to adjust if it looks like it’ll be too small around the bust? Do I even trust myself to be have enough of a clue to adjust the pattern properly?

Gah.

In other news, the other day I ran across three leftover balls of Woolease worsted in blue mist and they just called out to me. We want to be made into a scarf for Vicki! So that’s what I’m doing right now. I’m using one of the sedge stitch patterns (the first one, I think) from the Harmony 300 Crochet Stitches book and it’s working up pretty quickly. Photo soon, maybe tomorrow even.

Oh, and I overcame my fear of setting the corset on fire and singed the boning (hee!) and have attached one of the two edging channels. One more to go, then sew the boning in place, make the eyelet rows for the lacing, and it’s done. I am not looking forward to the sewing in place of the boning because it involves a needle and thread and a thimble and it sounds tedious and also a bit painful, but I’m sure it’ll be worth it in the end.

And, finally, a project pic, because didn’t I promise to post the photo of What I Did With That Motorhead T-shirt I Stole From My Buddy Jim In 1989? (Note: I have cropped the photo to just the t-shirt because, dude. I look really pudgy in that photo because I forgot to stand up straight, and also I am squinting because the sun was in my eyes in a major way. But if you want to see the whole Deranged Pixie Outfit, it is here.)

Anyway, here ya go:

I’ve been intending to make a scarf out of that very yarn for upwards of two years now, and now I have. Well, I’d started a scarf with it more than once but was never happy and kept frogging it. What I found and frogged most recently was some stitch pattern I couldn’t even remember that seemed to invove a lot of crossed dcs. Interesting, maybe, but I decided plain ol’ hdc would look nicer and be warmer.

I have an unaccountable fondness for absurdly long scarves, so I was happy that two skeins made this long enough to go all the way around my neck and still reach hip-length.

Clickable (eek! I have no neck!):

All hdc with aforementioned chunky cotton yarn (two full skeins) and a size M hook.

Honestly, though, I don’t know how all you folks manage to take photos of afghans that don’t suck. I know it can be done, because I’ve seen it done by other people, but I can never find a place to lay it out flat where I can get a decent photo. So it’s all folded up here. The border I did instead of the one in the pattern? It looks weird in the photo, but okay in reality. I’ve never been entirely happy with any afghan border but I like this one a lot better than what was in the pattern.

Anyhow I don’t have time to get a good photo; it needs wrapped up now. So just take my word for it that it does not look as odd in person as it does in the photo, okay? (clickable)

I think I’m getting a little better at blocking, though maybe not so much this whole photography thing. Clickable:

I made it really big on purpose so it’d be warm and snuggly and all that. It’s about 36″ long and 72″ wide, and it took about 2½ or so skeins of RH Symphony (juniper).

It feels like it’s been forever since I posted a finished item. Probably because it has. I got most of my mom’s doily finished at the doctor’s office yesterday, so I’m hoping to get it blocked and photographed and mailed within a few days (give or take, since I’m working a couple of twelve-hour shifts over the next few days so I supposed I need to cut myself a little slack).

Fortunately everyone in my family knows what a procrastinator I am, so nobody is likely to be surprised to be getting Christmas gifts halfway through January!

I kinda guessed on hook size since either the pattern doesn’t specify one or I didn’t read it all that closely. There’s probably a 50% chance it was me; lately I’ve been suffering from the dread If Only You Had Read The Damn Pattern, You Would Not Be Having This Problem Syndrome. You wouldn’t believe what I did to a doily I’m working on the other night, resulting in my having to frog about three rounds, including one consisting of a jillion popcorns, and all because I did not actually read the directions, though at the time I was sure I had. Anyway, I just used an I hook because the yarn label called for a G, and I usually have to go up two hook sizes because I crochet tightly.

(Clickable for full-size. )

They’re better-looking in person than the photo, really. When I tried to arrange them on top of each other all fancy-like to take the picture they decided they wanted to curl up and look funky, but if I just set one down on a table it’ll lay flat.

The final seam on the pack has An Issue; I need to re-sew it. It’s not leaking seeds or anything (do not believe that picture! Those seeds are ones that fell out while I was sewing and didn’t work their way out until I was about to take the picture!) but there’s about a quarter inch of fabric where I only caught one layer of the fabric, and about an inch or so before and after that spot where things are wonky and uneven. You can tell from looking at the photo. I plan to take another photo after I re-seam it and replace the one here because it looks awful.

What happened was that I didn’t pin that seam. Not sure what I was thinking, since I usually pin everything within an inch of its life while sewing, except that Don was fixing dinner and right when I finished filling the pack the biscuits came out of the oven and I became all addled with hunger and did a half-assed job. So that seam needs to be redone.

Anyway, photos. The pattern is Donna’s Comfort Pack, altered to make it longer and narrower, and the yarn is Sugar ’n’ Cream in cornflower blue.

See where I screwed up the seam? But really, it is not leaking seeds. Those seeds just kinda landed outside the seam while I was sewing. Addled from biscuits, remember? Also I don’t sew all that well. So I had a bit of a spill and was cleaning up stray seeds for the rest of the night it seemed like.

Anyway, will post a new photo of the pack after I get a chance to fix it.

The part of the fringe that came from the end of the last ball was a little kinked up at first, but I’ve been coaxing it to be straight and it’s relaxed a bunch. I know I saw a thread about that on Crochetville a while back; I should dig it up and see what it said in there.

I love how this shawl turned out. It’s sooo comfy, and I didn’t finish it a moment too soon either because it’s chilly (54°, which is 30° colder than the day before yesterday) and drizzly outside today, and I am all wrapped up in my nice warm shawl. Happy happy happy.

I got Don to take pictures for me (clickable for full-size versions & details):

Am I overly critical of myself, or do I always look like a dork in photos? No, wait, I don’t think I want to hear the answer to that… :D

Anyway, photo. Clickable for full-size picture and details:

I used almost exactly two balls of Microspun that I had in the stash. I’ve been seriously dedicated to using up the stash lately seeing as we’re not well-off to begin with and the price of gas is making yarn buying expeditions an impossibility. But I have a decent stash that’ll keep me going for a while. It’s definitely not huge, but it’s enough to keep me busy for a while.

Anyway. I was talking about the scarf, right? When I started getting toward the end of the second ball, I dithered a bit about whether to leave enough to edge it or just make the scarf as long as possible. I decided the edges were neat enough for my liking (could be better, but reasonably neat) and went with having a longer scarf. It’s really cuddly and nice, almost makes me wish for chilly weather. Almost, but not quite, because I just can’t bring myself to wish away these nice 75-80° days we’re having here…

So. Photo. I still don’t have all the sensation back in my finger, though it’s been a little better every day, so I’ve been scrounging around the stash and my patterns for things I can make with a J hook or bigger. (Even for a J hook, which is what I did this with, I’m having to put a pencil cushion around it to keep it off that finger.) And I found most of a ball of Lion Brand Incredible (color is autumn leaves) and made this scarf/belt pattern with it.

(Clickable. I’ve trying to remember to post thumbnails instead of full-size photos, with mixed results.)

I am so completely in doily withdrawal, but I figure don’t dare do anything with thread until I have all the feeling back in that finger or it’ll likely just go all numb again.

Eventually I decided to make a basket. I’ve had this basket pattern printed out for eons but have never gotten around to trying it. And I had four balls of this hemp/wool blend yarn that’s a little weird to work with. It tends to vary from thick to thin and back again so I’ve had a hard time finding a use for it, but it was $1 per 4-oz ball, and how can you turn down yarn that only costs a dollar? So I decided it would probably do fine for a basket. I used four strands instead of the six the pattern called for and a size P hook instead of a Q but otherwise mostly followed the pattern for the small basket. When I make another one I’ll probably use an N hook; it’s tight enough to stand up on its own but could stand to be a touch tighter.

I finally finished the thread version of Jess’s Winged Hair Kerchief that I’ve been working on for a while. Photos:

And from the front, not that you can see much of it due to the angle:

It’s me, standing in front of a block wall! Kinda like a mug shot, only with a cute hair accessory! (I’m at work, hence the block wall background.)

I just kept on going with the pattern until it was big enough. The only thing I changed was the last bit of edging around the front, which I changed to hdc because I decided it would look better since everything was so tiny to begin with. I chained about 99 for the ties. Started to slip stitch back up the chain to make it more substantial but decided not to. I probably should have, since the ties are pretty thin and a little hard to get hold of. I might attach more thread on and slip stitch down the chains after all to make them thicker.

Tip for making bullion stitches: I got lots of practice with these since there were so many more than in the first one I did in ww yarn. My major trouble with them was getting the hook through, and I found a trick to it. (Aside from wrapping the yarn loosely enough, which is of course crucial to the process.) If the hook gets stuck partway through, try twirling it a bit. I started doing that and they went so much easier after that. A bit of twirling and the hook would free up and slide right through.

The other main thing I’ve been working on lately is Marvie’s Purse with No Name. I’ve been through the desert with a purse with no name… Er. Sorry. That made that song run through my head. (Or does the purse have a name now and I haven’t caught on?) I’m very nearly done, but I got stuck on the handles and needed to put it down for a bit, so I spent a few days playing with tatting and finishing up the kerchief.

Right now I can’t feel the tip of my left ring finger. By “tip” I mean most of the entire end of the finger from the last joint on. While I was finishing the kerchief last night, toward the end I noticed that fingertip getting a little bit tingly, but I ignored it because I really wanted to finish. Then when I was done I realized it all numb. I’m left-handed and hold the hook knife-style, and picking up a hook to check, the numbest part is right where the hook rests against that finger. It’s got to be from the pressure or something; doing that last bit of edging took some work since I was working into tight bits.

At the time I figured it’d be better by morning. It wasn’t—it’s just as numb today. I am slightly freaked out by this. I figure I’ve just pinched a nerve or something and it’ll get better over a few days, but it’s still a bit disturbing. And strangely enough it’s practically all I can notice. You’d think that with it being numb I wouldn’t notice it, but I keep noticing it because it feels wrong.

I experimented with blocking on this one. Lori mentioned after I posted about using some 300 or so pins on the last one that she hardly uses any, just around the edges, and then not long after that I saw a post of Julie’s at Crochetville where she talked about starting out pinning in the middle and taking out the middle pins after moving to the outer parts.

When I read that, light dawned on marble head and I realized that I don’t necessarily have to leave all those pins in the middle once I’ve got the outside done. Also this one didn’t ruffle as much as the Prairie Star did, so I think even doing it my old way I probably would’ve only used about a hundred or so LOL. Anyway, I tried taking out the middle ones after I’d gotten things stretched out further toward the edge, and in the end I just had a circle of pins around the outside edge. I think it came out okay though I can totally see some places where it isn’t quite round (hence the need for the blocking pattern).

So maybe I won’t need a million billion pins when I get around to blocking the Pineapple Squares Thing.

Anyway. Completed Pinwheel Treat doily:

(Clickable for full size and pattern info.)

I kept wondering why sometimes my photos come out with a reddish cast like this one did (it’s white, actually), and I finally realized that all the ones that came out that way were taken under compact fluorescent lighting. Regular fluorescents don’t seem to do it, and neither do incandescents. This camera is soooo picky.

The thread hair kerchief (the one that looked like split pea soup in the photo I posted last week because I took it under the light with the compact fluorescents in it) is coming along nicely. I think it needs about four or so more rows, then the edging. I really like the one I made out of worsted weight cotton, so I’ll be really happy to have this one done, too.

I’m growing out my bangs, so I’ve been trying to come up with creative ways not to have my hair hanging in my face. So I’ve got the headbands I made a while back, and now these kerchiefs for some variety. I checked yesterday after I got out of the shower, and my bangs are now down to somewhere around my mouth. That’s when it’s wet, though; it’s probably somewhere around the middle of my nose once it dries and curls up. It’s looking like I’ve got another six months or so to go before I have the option of not wearing something to hold it back all the time.

(Pics are clickable for full-size.)

Thought I’d put up a photo of the doily in its home in a corner of my bedroom, too. Don did the flowers a while back…

That’s all for now. One of my cats, Kittycat, is sick and at the animal hospital, and I’m leaving soon to go visit him. He should be coming home tomorrow. The vet says he’s pretty much better now, but since he had a urinary blockage and his bladder got all huge, he wants to keep Cat there with the catheter in for an extra day to make sure his bladder gets back to normal, or something like that.

I’ve seen this in a few people’s blogs and decided I needed to make one because it’s just too cute. (And while visiting the blog whose author wrote the pattern, I found someone else to add to my bloglines list!)

Photo (someday I will learn not to photograph dark items against a dark background, but apparently today is not that day):

It’s done in Bernat Handicrafter, warm brown, used up most of one ball. The pattern is here: Winged Hair Kerchief, and I think you really ought to make yourself one because it’s super cute. I’m thinking I may make one out of thread; I figure I’d be able to use the same pattern but just keep going until it’s the right size. I have most of a ball of green thread that I think would look pretty done in this pattern.

Is it just me, or does hearing the word kerchief make you automatically want to reply “Bless you”?

I may make a flowerdy thing and attach it on; I like what she did with the one in photo with the pattern. If I ever quite get the hang of tatting, I think a group of little tatted flowers would look good on there. (If, that is. I’m close to having the hang of tatting, but just when I’m moving right along and think I’ve really got it this time, I start screwing up again. But I’m still working at it…)

This was the first time I’d ever attempted bullion stitches, and you should’ve heard the cussing until I got the hang of it! I think I was wrapping the yarn too tightly the first bazillion or so times I tried it because the hook would go partway through and then get stuck, and at that point I’d have to give up and try over because once it got stuck, even if I eventually got it through there’d be a big mess. (Whew. Longest sentence ever.) Anyway, I caught on eventually, and by the end of the part with the bullion stitches, I was only screwing it up about once out of every three times. Are they supposed to be that hard, or am I just a doofus?

I’m also still working on the Prairie Star doily. It’s coming along, but I haven’t been working as steadily at it as I was. Just needed a bit of a break from it after all that frustration and frogging, though I’m back on track now and am probably within two or three rounds of the end. (Woohoo!)

I also still need to block the Pineapple Squares Thing. Don brought in the giant slab o’ cardboard from the garage, and it is now taking up a big chunk of real estate in the mud room. I need to cover it with waxed paper before I can use it, and it’s so big that I’m thinking I may just wait to do any blocking until the Prairie Star is done and block them both at once.

I do not know where I’m going to store this cardboard behemoth when I’m not using it (right now it’s blocking off the countertop island thing in the mud room and all the little cupboards underneath it), but it’s definitely nice and big! Unless I lose my mind and decide to make a bedspread out of thread or something like that, I can’t think of anything I wouldn’t be able to block on it.

First, more recent news. A very kind Crochetville Fairy Godmother suprised me the other day! Don came home from the post office with a box. A box from Herrschners, with my name on it! At first I was confused because I hadn’t ordered anything from them, but while I was opening it up it dawned on me that it was an RAOK package. Lookie what was inside:

(click for full-size images)

Inside there was a gorgeous pattern and all sorts of yarn: Red Heart Holiday in blue, rose, and red/green; Caron Sayelle in white and off-white; and Bernat Handicrafter Cotton in ecru, pumpkin, warm brown, citrus fruits print, and seashore. I am a very happy camper!

Thank you, fairy godmother! You totally made my day!

I also have some thread FOs that I finished up probably last week but haven’t posted yet. The first one is Angela’s Cornflower Bookmark, though mine is definitely not a cornflower what with it being yellow and all. (Again, click for full-size; I’m trying to get in the habit of using thumbnails for bigger pics…Pattern info should be there on the gallery page at the link, too.)

And here’s one I’ve been working on for ages. I kept getting away from it to finish the afghan and other projects I had going on, but then recently I buckled down and got it finished. This is the first doily I’ve made, and it’s the most complicated thing I’ve ever tried to block. I do think I messed up the blocking some and made it look weird in places (now, I did make a couple of mistakes along the way, but they were pretty minor things; mostly the reason it looks odd in places is that I didn’t do a great job of blocking).

So I plan to wash out the starch and have another go at blocking it. I could use the practice at that, anyhow!

Right now the major thing I’m working on is the Prairie Star doily from freepatterns.com. I’m at the end of round 24 of 27, but when I got to the end of the round, I found that I’d made a mistake somewhere. The whole round was v-stitch in chain space from the previous round, 5 dc in next chain space, lather, rinse, repeat, but when I got to the end I ended on a v-stitch instead of 5 dc like I should have, so I ended up with an extra chain space in the previous round somehow, and who knows how many rounds I’m going to have to frog to get it right. I’m going to need to take a good long look at it to try to figure out where the problem is and then start frogging. Ack.

In other news, tonight I’ve been trying to teach myself to tat while I’m minding the cash register. I’m using a homemade shuttle that I made by printing out a printable tatting shuttle that I found on BellaOnline since I have not actually gotten around to buying a shuttle yet. (Bad me—I had 50% off coupons for Joann’s that were only good on Friday and Saturday but didn’t make it over there…)

So I’m using this shuttle made of cardstock and instructions I found here (this one has been more helpful because it has left-handed illustrations, too) and here.

And, erm, it’s not going so well at the moment. I mean, I know it’s going to look awful at first, but there’s awful and then there’s awful. I think I’m doing something wrong. Not sure what, though. I have two books at home that explain it though, the Reader’s Digest Complete Guide to Needlework and the Good Housekeeping New Complete Book of Needlecraft, so between the two of them I should be able to figure it out. I may just need to stare at some different illustrations before it clicks. A real shuttle probably wouldn’t hurt, either, since the cardstock one is a little floppy and tends to get a bit tangled in the thread (probably because I don’t fully know what I’m doing!)

It can’t be too hard, though, right? Just need to practice until I get it right. I’m trying it out with #10 thread, figuring that would be a whole lot easier to learn on than the #80 thread I found at the flea market. Once I get the hang of things I want to make some itty bitty flowers.

Or maybe I’ll get impatient and crochet them :->

It is so nice not to have my bangs hanging in my eyes!