March 2015 Projects

March's theme in the ravelry group Disney Adventures was Dumbo, so I just had to make something inspired by the Pink Elephants song from the movie.  Here is the pink elephant dishcloth that I made for my mom.  I don't know what cotton yarn I used, except that it was worsted weight.  I got it in the sales bin at my LYS a while ago.  I do know that I used size 8 needles though.  Here is the free pattern for it.

Here are the 17 elephant head magnets that I made during March.  The center elephant only has one ear, because I was to busy talking in class to notice that only one ear had been made before I made the trunk and cut the yarn.  I'm keeping him and giving him to my husband.  He'll fit in nicely with my husband's crochet "reject" collection.  The elephants were made with two colors of Cascade Pacific worsted weight yarn, an H hook, Halloween goggle eyes (green, orange, and purple eyes - sold around Halloween), and magnets on the back (glued on with tacky glue).   I made 17 elephants to represent the 16 Dumbos that you can sit in on the Dumbo ride (at the different Disney parks) and the extra Dumbo that you can sit in for a photo.

One of the challenges was to use novelty yarn.  The challenge was inspired by Dumbo's magic feather that gave him the confidence to fly.  So I made this simple garter stitch scarf using Euro Yarns Fashion Fur yarn and a size 11 needle.  I cast on 15 stitches, and I just knitted every row until I ran out of yarn.

My friend Amy designed this crochet shawl called the Variable Star Shawl, and she asked me if I would test it for her.  Of course I said yes.  It was very easy to make.  You do need to pay attention to it for the first 10 rows, but after that it was so easy that it was a little boring to work on.  So that just means that it is the perfect t.v. watching project.  I brought it with me to my classes, because it was easy to put down and pick up again whenever one of my students needed me.  For this one (I've made 2 so far) I used James C. Brett Marble DK yarn and an H hook.  I love how the yarn looks and feels.  This DK yarn feels more like a worsted weight yarn.

This was such a fun and easy to pattern to make that I made a second one using Cascade Sunseeker cotton yarn and an H hook.  The yarn has sparkles in it, and I thought that it would be great to use at the beach (sometimes it gets chilly there).

March 14th was Pi Day, so I just had to make a pie.  Since I am loosing weight the pie that I made has zero calories.  This is just the cutest hot pad pie pattern.   For the red I used Cascade Avalon cotton yarn (worsted weight), and for the brown I used Cascade Ultra Pima yarn (DK).  A G hook was used throughout the pattern.  Because the two yarns were a different weight, I made the brown circle (not shown, because it's behind the red circle) one row wider.  Now that I have made the pattern I have some tweaks that I would like to do the next time around to create a bigger hot pad with thicker lattice on the top.  There was nothing wrong with the pattern, its just a personal choice to tweak it.

Here is the skinny scarf pattern that I created called the Vine Scarf.  You can download it for free of of ravelry.   For this one I used Cascade Avalon cotton yarn and an H hook, and I made it in a single day.  

Then I made a 2nd one, this time I used Cascade Sunseeker cotton yarn (it has sparkles in it) and an H hook.  I gave this one to my mom.

Using the same yarn as the 2nd Vine scarf I made this pineapple stitch bag.  I used this free pattern, but I made up my own handles instead of following the pattern.  The bag is a bit small, because the yarn is DK instead of worsted weight, but thats ok.

My boss got a new dishcloth crochet book in the shop that has 13 patterns in it, one for each month plus a bonus dishcloth.  So I made samples for the store using Plymouth Jeannee cotton yarn and an H hook.  I made these 4 dishcloths using just 2 skeins of yarn, and I had enough leftover to make a coster afterwards.

Then I made 2 of the July dishcloths.

And then I made the September apple dishcloth.  This is a great pattern book.  The only pattern that I don't like is the Easter egg dishcloth, because it looks more like a bowling pin to me.

Here is the display for them at the shop.  

The month wouldn't be complete without making some baby hats for the charity A Child's Light.  The first two are from this free pattern, and the bottom one is from this free pattern.  I used Cascade Pacific worsted weight yarn for all 3 hats.  The top two used an I hook, and the bottom one used a G hook.  I used up 1 whole skein of the multi-colored yarn making them, so the bottom ribbing of the the bottom hat used a solid color purple yarn (same yarn).  

Last but certainly not least is the Yes, Yes Shawl that I made this month.  I love how this shawl turned out, and I am definitely keeping it for myself.  The pattern is more of an intermediate pattern, because it does require some attention and chart reading skills to make it.  I used 3 skeins of Cascade Sunseeker cotton yarn and a G hook to make it.  Yes, I am totally into the Sunseeker yarn right now.  Not only will it be great for the Summer (cotton yarn), but it has sparkles running throughout it.  I will be showing this baby off for months to come.  

February 2015 Projects

This shawlette was made in one day.  It is a very easy pattern.  I was disappointed with how small it turned out to be.  The next time around I will chain a lot more stitches.  Here is the free pattern for it. I used an I hook and Caron's Simply Soft yarn for it, and I chained 150 to start it.

Here are some more purple baby hats that I made for A Child's Light using this free pattern.   Each hat is made with different yarn and an I hook: Caron's Simply Soft, Cascade Pinwheel, and Cascade Pacific - all worsted weight.

I also made 3 more of the ribbed hats using Cascade Pacific Chunky yarn and a J hook.  The two bottom hats are baby size, and I'll probably donate them to my church's holiday fair in December.  The top green hat is adult size (for my mom).  Here are my notes for the larger hat: The larger one had 6 rows of flat circle, skipped the row where 4 increases were made, and did the post stitches for 9 to 10 rounds.

During one of the snow storms that we had in February I made this "Get Whale Soon" tissue box cover.  Puff paint was used to create the eyes and mouth.  This is a very easy pattern to make.  I used Caron's Simply Soft yarn and an H hook to make it.  I think that it would make a great get well soon gift.

One of my students wanted to make an ear warmer, and this was the free pattern that she wanted to try out.  However it used a foundation single crochet to start it instead of a chain, so I made the headband to learn how to do a foundation single crochet.  The headband is really pretty and fits me perfectly.  However it really is just a headband and not an ear warmer, so my student ended up making a different pattern.  I used Cascade Pacific worsted weight yarn and an F hook to make it.

I made these socks for my husband.  He has worn them almost everyday ever since (except when they've had to be washed of course).  They were made with Plymouth Encore Tweed worsted weight yarn and US 5 circular needles (magic loop - 36" cord).  Even though the pattern was free, it is not on ravelry.  I got the pattern from my knitting teacher.

The ladies in my Wednesday night crochet class wanted to learn how to make something on the round knitting loom, so instead of crocheting we all loom knitted.  It was a lot of fun.  I showed them how to make a hat and a drawstring bag, which is really the same pattern.  They both need a "brim" - where after a few inches you fold the bottom up and loop those ends back onto the loom.  The difference is that for the bag you need to lay in 2 separate knotted ribbon loops for the drawstring inside of the "brim" before folding it and looping it back on the loom.  For my small yarn bag (thats balls of yarn inside of it) I use James C. Brett Marble Chunky yarn and the green round plastic knitting loom.

I made the last 6 squares for my sampler afghan.  The pattern is from "101 Crochet Stitch Patterns & Edgings" by Annie's Attic.  I wrote a review for the book so that I could share some of the mistakes with my corrections for it.  

Here is my finished sampler afghan.  It was made using 12 skeins of Plymouth Encore worsted weight yarn and a G and an H hook.  I started it in January 2014, and I worked on it periodically during 8 of the 14 months since I started it.  The edging was very easy to do.  I'm very please with how it turned out.