Tag Archives: crochet

Inspiration: Mrs. Drewe

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I love me some Downton Abbey, but I always am disappointed about the lack of knitwear on the show.  I guess knitting just isn’t classy enough for Lady Mary and Co.

But, my new favorite character has no problem with rocking a super-cute cardigan.  Mrs DreweIt’s Mrs. Drewe, Marigold’s adoptive mother (and most ridiculously portrayed character in the show.  We’re supposed to think of her as a jerk for not wanting Edith to hang around Marigold.  I don’t know about you, but if a weird, entitled lady who happens to also be my landlord kept sniffing around my kid, I would go all mama bear, too.  Just my two cents.)

Mrs Drewe2Anyway, look at her adorable cardigan!  I think it’s crocheted (though it’s kind of hard to tell).  I love the understated, all-over texture, and that shade of pale, gray-brown would go with just about everything (especially her robin’s-egg blue blouse).  I might have added a row or two more to the cuffs, but that’s just me.

Want to make your own?

This cardigan has a similar shape, but I’d make the sleeves longer, remove the bobbles, and add more buttons:

Summer Breeze Cardi by Elena Malo

CTMJ09YOKECARDI 01This one uses an interesting crochet stitch to make a very cool all-over texture pattern, though it is a bit different than Mrs. Drewe’s.

Sparkling Crochet Cardi by Heather Lodinsky

WR2134_project_medium2[1]Or, maybe you’re not a crocheter.  This knit sweater features a texture across the front and back that echoes Mrs. Drewe’s sweater.  (Also, super cute!  I might have to make one for myself with my fancy buttons.)

Tinder by Jared Flood

Tinder3_medium2[1]Who’s your favorite Downton character?

Pattern Spotlight: Baktus

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I might have been late to the Hitchhiker party, but I’ve been a member of the Baktus fan club for years.

This super simple long, skinny, triangular shawl/scarf is one of my favorite patters for several reasons:

1.  Garter stitch.  Love.

2.  It’s crazy versatile.  I’ve made Baktuses (Bakti?) from everything from bulky yarn down to fingering weight yarn.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA3.  It looks great worked in those pretty hand-spun skeins you have in your stash that you can’t figure out what to do with (You know, the ones you couldn’t leave at the yarn store, but you have no idea what to use them for.)4357513044_2288fc815f_z[1]4.  The Baktus uses only as much yarn as you happen to have.  If you have three skeins of bulky, it’ll use that much.  If you have one skein of lace-weight, that’ll work, too.  (No weird little leftovers to fuss with!)  Actually, the pattern has you weigh your yarn at the beginning.  You begin the pattern by increasing, then when you have exactly half your yarn left, you decrease, for perfect results every time!

3592484405_e3fa9a5775_z[1]5.  The Baktus scarf is really and truly unisex, and super cool.  P1100072rav_medium2[1]6.  People have used the idea of the Baktus and came up with their own (gorgeous) versions.  Want lace?  Add cool geometric edging?  Or leaf edging?  Maybe you prefer crochet?

5717416916_2d555e0368_z[1]Baktus might be the perfect project.

Have you ever made a Baktus scarf?

Pattern Spotlight: Baby Louis

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I don’t know about you, but when I make a stuffed animal or baby doll, I like the final product to look as if it wants to steal my soul.  There’s no better present for your kid to open on Christmas Morning than a doll that a possibly (definitely) possessed newborn-sized, anatomically accurate baby doll.

(My husband is creeped out by all dolls-or at least most.  He freaks out when he goes through the old boxes of stuff in our basement and he comes across my old American Girl doll, so I can only imagine how much he will like this one.  Sorry, Tristan! I hope you weren’t planning on sleeping tonight!)

Anyway, meet Louis, the crocheted baby doll that was weirdly popular on Ravelry this week.

louis_medium2[1]He has eyes that open and close, and a mouth that you can put a pacifier in.  (Which is touted as a selling point, for some reason.  I think it just makes him creepier.  Think about crocheting a mouth separately and then sewing it into the face…)

start_medium2[1]Sure, this doll is firmly in the Uncanny Valley, and is definitely going to tell your kid to murder you in your sleep, but I have to hand it to the lady (or gent) who designed him.  From a technical engineering standpoint, he’s pretty impressive.  To crochet a doll that human-like is pretty crazy.  So, hats off to them.

But, while the designer was asking if they could design a nearly-human baby doll, perhaps they should have asked if they should.

(No.  They should not have.)

Swatches on My Wall

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I have always had mixed feelings on swatches, especially when need one just to figure out my gauge.  They take time to work up, when what I really want to do is jump straight into the sweater-knitting.  And, they use up precious, precious, yarn that could be used in the aforementioned sweater.  And, of course, I hate waste, and there is nothing as wasteful as a dumb swatch sitting at the bottom of a bin in my craft room.  Nothing. (Don’t try to tell me about rainforest deforestation, or the overuse of paper towels, or the oil industry.  Swatches are more wasteful.)

Well, friends, that all changed a few weeks ago, when I was doing my bi-monthly rummage through my knitting supplies, and I realized I had acquired a sizable stash of some pretty cool swatches.

And I found some twine and clothespins.

I had no choice, really.  I had to make a swatch display on the back of a closet door.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERACool, right?  I plan on adding more and more swatches as I collect them.  It’s really fun to see all of my ideas from the last six months laid out like that.  Some of the swatches are projects I designed (see Grandma’s Sweater and the Sailor Jane Scarf in there?).  Some are ideas that I ended up not using.  And some are simple gauge swatches that I used for projects I made from other peoples’ patterns (there’s one for my Persistence is Key Sweater).

I might come up with a more permanent way to display my knitting ideas (frames maybe, or embroidery hoops?), but for now, I love the flexibility that my little “clothes line” gives me.  I can add to it easily, move things around, and if I need to take a swatch down to look at some detail, I can do it, no problem.  I love having my knitted “idea book” up on my wall.

What do you do with swatches?  Do you keep them, or do you unravel them?

Inspiration: Last-Minute Halloween Costumes

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It’s almost Halloween!  My favorite holiday of the year.   (Sure, I say that about almost all holidays, but still!  You get to dress up in silly costumes, decorate your house with creepy-crawlies, and give candy to random strangers.  What’s not to love?)

If you (or your kids) are dressing up, you probably already have your costumes planned out.  (I’m being Harry Potter for Halloween…  after all, I have short, unruly hair, glasses, and a mysterious scar on my forehead (not really, but a girl can dream).  And it gives me an excuse to run around with a magic wand.)  But, if you’re still looking for some costume ideas, I’ve got a few super-cute knitting projects for you.

Maybe your kid is a sweetheart who can take care of herself in a fight?

To Grandma’s House by Melissa Schaschwary

cobo_medium2[1]Or maybe she is just a big cuddly teddy bear?

Baylie Bear Cowl by Heidi May

DSC_0177_medium2[1]Is she an beach enthusiast (who’s not super into being able to walk around)?

Mermaid Costume by Courtney Wiche

DSC_0090_medium2[1]Or, does she have her sights set on ruling the kingdom (or, rather, queendom)?

Circlet by Dani Sunshine

circlet_bug2_medium2[1]

Pattern: Hogwarts Scarves in a Weekend

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Sometimes you need a little more magic in your life. Sometimes you need something to keep the chill away while reading your favorite teenage-wizard-themed novels. Sometimes you’re invited to a Harry Potter party, and you need a quick costume accessory.

This Hogwarts Scarf is just what the Medi-Wizard ordered. It’s crocheted at a huge gauge with extra-bulky yarn, so it works up in almost only a few hours. Feel free to make the scarves longer (or shorter) by adding more (or fewer) stripes.

So get out your magic wand (or crochet hook), and conjure up a scarf this weekend!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAGet the pattern for free here:

Hogwarts Scarves in a Weekend

Whoops! A Counterpane Follow-up

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Do you remember Grandma Anna’s Counterpane?  I spent hours reverse-engineering one of my great-grandmother’s bedspreads from a little snapshot my Mom sent me.  I even posted a pattern.

It turns out, I didn’t have to.  (Insert sad noise here.)

I received a package from a great-aunt a few weeks ago (one that also included a few of my great-grandmother’s crochet hooks).  In the package was also a couple of my grandmother’s old craft magazines.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThis booklet, the Learn How Book, was published in 1952 by Coats & Clark.  It has a few simple projects and extremely thorough instructions on crochet, knitting, embroidery and (very usefully) tatting.  (The projects are actually pretty and practical, especially considering the publication date.  There’s even a sweater that I would totally make for myself, if I wore a girdle.)

But, right at the end of the crochet section, something popped out at me and literally made me do a double take.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIt’s the counterpane!  The counterpane!  I couldn’t believe it!  Not more than a month after spending all that time working out the pattern from a tiny, blurry, cell-phone picture, and the pattern lands in my lap!  I couldn’t believe it!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIt even used the word “cluster” for the bunches of stitches, just like I did.  Weird, right?  (Sure, the big clusters were called popcorn stitches in this pattern, but hey.  Close enough.)

I scanned through the pattern, and it looks like we both did mostly the same things, which is amazing.  Although, it’s a little hard to read the pattern in the booklet… look at that block of text!

The biggest difference I saw, though, was that they used a much, much finer gauge on their bedspread than I did.  I used a size H crochet hook, which is about 5 mm in diameter.  The booklet calls for a size 7 steel crochet hook, which is super tiny!  It’s actually less than 2 mm in diameter.  That means that instead of the blocks being about 10 inches across, like mine turned out, the original counterpane squares were only 5 inches by 5 inches!  That means, if you’re following the original pattern, you’ll need 260 squares just to make a twin-bed-sized blanket.  Talk about dedication!

I’m glad I got to see the original pattern, and I love seeing my great-grandmother’s old-fashioned handwriting in the margins of some of the patterns.  But one thing is for sure, I definitely won’t be making this bedspread at the original gauge.  That’s just crazy!

A Very Special Hook

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I don’t talk a lot about crochet.  I’m mostly a knitter, after all.  But I do enjoy a good crochet project from time to time.  There’s something very gratifying about the speed that you can work up a lovely afghan.  And I love the idea that you can use a tool as simple as a little hook to make such beautiful and complicated patterns.

Hooks like this one that I received in the mail from one of great-aunts:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIt’s a beautiful  little tool.  It’s wooden, and well worn to satin-y smoothness with years of use.  And the most amazing part:  It was hand-made by my great-grandfather for my great-grandmother.  And (amazingly!) it’s managed to survive all these years.

Can you imagine whittling a crochet hook by hand?  I can only imagine how many times my great-grandfather must have started this hook, only to end up cutting all the way through and having to start again.  (Or at least that’s what I would have done, but then again, I’m a knitter, not a woodworker.)

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI haven’t worked up the guts to try crocheting with the hook yet, but it would be perfect for making a lovely cozy blanket with chunky yarn (the hook is about a size US M).  I’m afraid of breaking it all these years!  For now, I think I’ll keep it in a shadow box in my knitting studio, where it will stay nice and safe.

Pattern: Grandma Anna’s Counterpane

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My Great-grandmother Anna was a remarkable woman. She was married at 16, lived through the Great Depression and World War II, and raised 11 children (and nearly a hundred grand-children). And through it all, she spent every free moment knitting and crocheting to keep her family warm. She even won a blue ribbon at the Wisconsin state fair for her knitting!

I never got to meet my great-grandmother, but her legacy lives on in the projects she has left behind. I like to imagine that every piece of her knitting is a friendly little “hello” through the decades to me and her other descendants.

Zimmer CounterpaneThis counterpane is based on a bedspread that one of my mother’s cousins inherited from Great-grandma Anna. The pattern has been lost, so I decided to come up with my own. The original was made with white worsted-weight cotton, like most traditional counterpanes. Feel free to substitute your favorite fiber, or change the color to give the blanket a more contemporary feel.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAGet the pattern here:

Grandma Anna’s Counterpane

Inspiration: Freedom

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Happy 4th of July, everyone!

Instead of talking about fireworks, flags and red, white and blue, I wan to talk about freedom.   And free-form knitting.

Free-form knitting is knitting without a pattern, without a plan (or at least without much of a plan).  It’s playing with stitches, colors and textures.  And it’s super interesting.  Pick a coordinating color palette, cast on a few stitches, and start playing!

Here are a couple tutorials:

Freeform wrapper OMG by Colleen Davisomg_wrapper_medium[1]

Tips for Freeform Knit & Crochet Garments, Prudence’s Way by Prudence Mapstone2041214197_4929516023_z[1]

Basic Introduction to freeform knitting and crochet by Janice Rosema

2740000828_88b9886d25_z[1]

So, go celebrate your freedom with a little free form knitting (and maybe a backyard barbecue).