Wednesday, April 02, 2014

What Katy Did Next . . .


I know! I hold my hands up in shame!

It's been over a month, again, since I last blogged - and I do feel very ashamed of myself for ignoring all my bloggy friends out there!

Mind you, I guess 'ignore' is the wrong word for it, really, as I've been physically unable to sustain more than a brief look at my emails, and a lightening check on FB, to see if I've had any messages which, apart from my daughter, and one of her friends, I had a sad lack of :(

'Mrs No Friends', that's me :(

Right, now I've got all the whiny, self-pitying stuff out of the way, I guess I should start telling you what I've been up to in crochet world - and, looking back at the past month, it's been a surprising amount, considering the poor state of my health - so I'm happy that at least I've been fairly productive, despite everything :)

To start with, I had to remake the gloves of a hat, cowl and gloves set that I'd made as a wedding anniversary present for my Mum - as she lives over 360 miles away from me, I'd had to guess her hand size from memory (it was meant to be a surprise), and had forgotten that her hands had become quite swollen due to her own health problems so, as soon as she sent the offending pair back to me, I tried to take them apart, so I could reuse the yarn, as I didn't have any more of it left.

Unfortunately, I quickly realised that this wasn't going to work, and so sent off to the USA for some more. I had bought the original yarn from Red Heart - their Worsted Weight Super Saver brand, in a gorgeous Honeydew colour:


http://www.redheart.com/yarn/super-saver-economy/honeydew

It took around 18 days to get to me, and I was waiting impatiently for it to arrive, and so decided that I might as well make an additional present for her while I waited. I used the same brand of yarn, in Ocean:

http://www.redheart.com/yarn/super-saver-economy/ocean

to make her a lighter Cowl, ready for the slightly warmer late spring days we'd been promised:





I didn't use any particular pattern to make this - I decided to just go mad and make it up as I went along - but I think it turned out nicely and, once I'd sewn on a button, and one of my little owl tokens, I figured it was bright enough for a nice late spring wear - fortunately, Mum agreed, and tells me the colour reminds her of her favourite heather, so we were both pleased.

What made it better was the gloves, that I had decided to make up with the same stitching as the cowl - which fitted her perfectly - whew!





While I waited for that pesky yarn to arrive, I decided that I'd make my daughter some more house slippers, as she'd told me that the previous pairs I'd made had worn out so, using some of the Red Heart Shimmer yarn:

http://www.shopredheart.com/default.aspx?PageID=62&CategoryID=7&ProductID=3683


that I'd stashed away previously, with a mind to making something for my girl, who loves her glitter, and so I made her 3 pairs of slippers, using a wonderfully easy, and free, pattern that I'd found at Jay's Boutique Blog.


jaysboutiqueblog.blogspot.fr/2012/05/free-pattern-womens-house-slippers.html


It really was easy to make and, as my feet are only a wee bit smaller than my daughter's, I was able to make them to fit just right for her. I used the black, and the peacock, colours for 2 pairs, and then remembered how quickly she gets through slippers, and so decided to make another pair with some worsted weight Red Heart Super saver yarn, in a lovely Tea Leaf colour that I already had from making my Mum's previous present.

http://www.redheart.com/yarn/super-saver-economy/tea-leaf


I doubled up the yarn for the sole of the slipper, and so hope that they'll be a bit more hard- wearing for her to use, and I chose to make them using a mix of different styles that turned out into a creation of my own (I wish I'd written it down as I went along now, as they have turned into a sturdy, yet comfortable, pair of slippers):





As I still had some of the shimmer yarn left, along with a whole 100g skein of the pewter colour, I decided that I might as well make a cowl for my daughter, too and, as I had a lovely pattern for a Mobius Cluster Cowl, designed by Candace Barr, that I'd bought from crochetspot.com, I decided to make it with this lovely yarn.

http://www.crochetspot.com/store/index.php?pattern=238





I don't think it turned out too badly, considering it's the first time I've ever made anything of a mobius nature :)

By this time, the much-awaited yarn had arrived, and so I went ahead and made a much simpler pair of fingerless gloves, with cover, than I'd made previously. I didn't use any particular pattern, but cobbled together the gloves using parts from a variety of patterns I'd made before and, thankfully, they, too, fitted Mum perfectly :)






Now, in the parcel that brought this yarn, was a couple more skeins of the Red Heart super-saver yarn - this time in a lovely mix of intriguing neon colours, called Blacklight! (9th row down, on the far right)

As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to buy it, to make something for my daughter and, when it arrived, I was so glad that I had done :)

http://www.shopredheart.com/default.aspx?PageID=62&CategoryID=4&ProductID=1969


I immediately decided to make her a set of earwarmers, a cowl, and some fingerless mitts, which I knew would be handy for her for those cold nights that can happen in Scotland, where she's currently working. I decided to use my firm favourite of a pattern for the earwarmers - one that Brex likes very much, and I know fits her well - it was designed by Clare of bobwilson123 fame - here are the links for both the written pattern, in PDF form, and the first part of the video showing how it's done (the 2nd part is right there with it): 

http://www.bobwilson123.org/headband.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJLIsyyn_CM

I used the same stitches when making up the cowl, and the gloves, too, so they would match - and here's the result:





I really do love these bright and jazzy colours, as they remind me so much of my zany girl :)

Once all of this was out of the way, I told Brex to expect a package and, when she asked if the cowl was the type that could also be used like a hood, it got me back to the crochet hooks, and looking for a pattern to make one for her - fortunately, I came across a pattern which seemed perfect for her - and challenging for me - as it uses a popcorn stitch that I had previously attempted, but had failed to make.

I found this pattern at:

 http://calleighsclips.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/candy-stripes-hooded-cowl-free-pattern.html

I followed the pattern, and was really surprised at how easy Elisabeth Spivey, who designed it, had made the instructions for crocheting the popcorn stitch. The free pattern is downloadable as a PDF, so I did that, and was soon crocheting away, using the last of my Red Heart Tea Leaf yarn, and also the last of the Peacock Shimmer yarn, to do so - and I was very happy with the result :)





So, now that I've finally finished everything for my girl - for the moment, anyway - all it needs is for her parcel to be sent on it's way, to one very happy daughter :)

I'm now having a break from the crocheting for a few days because, as soon as my hands recover enough, I'll be starting up a Crochet By Numbers course that I put my name down for. I've already sent the photo that I'll be making up into a crocheted picture, and have had the pattern sent back to me, along with others that Todd Paschall, the owner of the site, and my tutor, has provided for me to practice with so, hopefully, the next time I write a post, it will be to tell you how I'm progressing with it all :)

Until then, have a happy, crocheting, time :)