WIP Wednesday: Croeso progress, Dew Drop Cowl, and a non-knitting FO

Hi all! Happy WIP Wednesday! Here is my latest Croeso progress update picture:

Oh I love this shawlette so much. You might notice, though, that in the top left corner is a little ball of yarn...that's all I have left of this colorway. I'm trying desperately on Ravelry to get a small amount of coordinating yarn to finish with since I am pretty sure that little ball doesn't contain enough yardage.

I know it's a stretch, but does anyone reading this have a small amount of any sport weight wool that might go well with this, that I could buy from you? I can't get another full skein of JDMS Mohonk anytime soon - it's very pricey. It's well worth it, but I just can't do it right now.

Edited to add: Yarn problem solved! Hooray!!!

Also, while I'm asking questions, here's one for anyone who has knit a clapotis: any idea why those who have made it on Ravelry have used such drastically different yardage? I've checked out several projects using just 1 specific yarn, and people have used anywhere between 4 and 10 skeins. I'm having trouble figuring out how much yarn I actually need for the pattern, since the pattern itself says I'll need more than I have but the projects would have me believe otherwise.

On another note, I've realized that the smaller size needles I use, the more my hands hurt when I knit. Right now I am also working on a Dew Drop Cowl - here I am posing with it at the latest Stitch & Bitch:

I'm using size 10 needles for the cowl. My Croeso shawlette is knit on size 4 needles. The difference is crazy - I don't need my wrist braces while working on the cowl and I have almost no hand and wrist pain. When working on the shawlette, I need the braces and I need to pace myself much more and stretch a lot.

Anyway, I'm not in a hurry to finish the cowl because it's a great project to bring to Stitch & Bitch! It's just stockinette except for a few eyelet rows. Great mindless knitting. I still managed to mess up the first eyelet row while working on it at S&B, so I have to make sure to do the eyelets at home! LOL! Most knitting is not truly mindless enough for me to work on it while talking, but straight stockinette or garter I can do.

And here, as promised, is an FO:

I made the little mookaite heart earrings on the left to go with the "Angel Pig" on the right. These were gifts for my second-oldest niece's birthday, which just passed (ohmygosh she's 10 - where does the time go?!). I hope she likes them. We weren't able to give the gifts in person because my sister and her family are camping, so we had to mail them. My hubby picked out the piggy and helped me choose the heart beads. The earrings are sterling silver (posts, headpins and little round beads - all sterling). I like to use the good stuff. ;-)

Not sure if my niece ever wears dangly earrings. These are very short dangles, so maybe she will wear them. She is very athletic, so I didn't think big dangles would be such a great idea! I made sure to use post earring findings so they'd be less likely to fall out of her ears.

I am almost finished with a secret crochet gift project. More on that in 2 or 3 weeks when it's been finished and received...

Foot Hats, part II

Let me explain how my crocheted socks got the very silly nickname of "Foot Hats." I think it all started when the socks were at this stage, or maybe before:



They looked like little hats, and my husband and I were putting them on our stuffed animals and such. Finally, I put them on my feet and decided they were "Foot Hats," and couldn't stop laughing about it. Yes, we are that silly. (Or possibly even sillier than that silly.) The socks look a lot less like hats now and a lot more like socks, but the name has stuck!

Finished "Foot Hats" on my feet:



I had a heck of a time with this pattern. The beginning part was very hard, and I wound up frogging quite a few times, but I finally figured out what the pattern meant. (Or at least, I think I did. There's no way to really know, since the photos in the book aren't very clear.) Also, luckily for me, I figured out almost right away that they were coming out too big. I had to start over with a D hook instead of the recommended E.

The body of the sock is a very easy shell pattern, and lots of fun, especially with colorful yarn like the Deborah Norville Serenity Garden yarn that I used. By the time I got to the heel, I was feeling pretty confident. Then I tried making the heel...and felt significantly less confident. I blame this partially on the fact that there are no diagrams or pictures in the booklet of what the heel should look like. Even when I eventually got it right, I was very confused. It comes to a point on either side of the heel, which, to someone like me who's used to manufactured socks, is really weird-looking! Thankfully, the socks fit well. If they were even a little too big, I think the heel would be very awkward.

If you want to try this pattern, make sure you take note of the instructions under heel rows 2-13 where it says "Place stitch marker in ends of rows 13, 11, 9, 7, 5, 3 and in base of row 1 on each side of Heel." I missed this the first time around. The next time, and many times after it, I was completely befuddled by where the markers were supposed to go.

After I figured that out, the heels still proved difficult. You're supposed to single crochet in each of the marked stitches, but as there's no diagram, I didn't really know how to do that and had to sort of wing it. I'm not used to crocheting in stitches that aren't "normal" crochet stitches. I've rarely even crocheted around borders or anything like that. I did get some helpful information from Janet Rehfeldt's Crocheted Socks book, without which I probably wouldn't have felt like I had even the slightest clue of what I was doing.

And now, I'll complain some more about the pattern. ;) For the leg part of the pattern, the first round simply says to "evenly space" a certain number of the aforementioned shell stitches around the foot and heel. To me, this is a cop-out. It says, "Go ahead, you do the math because we didn't want to." Um, there's a good reason I've never written a crochet pattern or done anything in crochet without a pattern written by someone else: I am not a math genius. Sure, I'm pretty good at math, but figuring out how to evenly space those stitches was a challenge. Crocheting these socks was difficult enough without having to do that. I wish the authors had done the calculations for us and maybe even put in some diagrams. The sizes are a straightforward S, M, and L. I'm sure it would've have taken all that much effort for an experienced crochet designer to do that--or at least, nowhere near as much effort as it takes someone like me.

All that said, however, I LOVE my Foot Hats and would consider using this pattern again sometime because the finished product is so beautiful. I just want my fellow crocheters to be warned about the problems I had, so maybe they can get it right in a few less tries than I did.

Hello! It's been quite a while...

I took some time away from crochet again, and now I'm back. Or trying to be, anyway. I've had some seriously frustrating crochet "issues" lately.

First, there was the lovely Java Jammie. I've been wanting to make one of these for years now. Literally. I had the yarn, so I finally gave it a shot. The first few rows looked weird, but I kept going...and it was coming out really cute! Then, I realized I'd screwed up around the flowers and hadn't increased where I was supposed to. So much for that ever fitting a coffee cup. I frogged it...and haven't been able to get it started the right way since!!! :(

The problem: Rnd 1: Work 1 sl st in each ch around.

A row of slip stitch? How's that work, exactly? Seems like, in my case, it doesn't. Did the designer really mean sc instead? Or am I just missing something? HELP! (Please?!)

Next, I tried to work on the Zen Scarf I'd started and left to hibernate for a while. I got it started up again, or so I thought; but it kept coming out wrong, with really strange edges. I ended up frogging it because I just couldn't figure out how to continue the pattern the right way. I also didn't like working with the pattern very much. It was incredibly difficult to keep track of which row I was on (I suppose I should've been writing it down, or checking the rows off, or something; but I hadn't when I'd started out, and maybe that was the entire problem). Maybe I'll try it again sometime, but for now, it's in the frog pond.

Then, I tried to make a Tunisian Lace Ascot. That didn't work out, either. I think maybe Tunisian crochet is not my thing. I eventually got the first row done, was all excited, and messed up the second row and couldn't figure out how to correct it without starting over. Then I couldn't even get the correct number of loops on the hook again.

GRRRRRRAAARRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHH.

I have finally decided to try out a Queen Anne's Lace Scarf. I hope that turns out to be easier; it certainly is pretty. (No working pics with the pattern, but there are a ton of projects with pictures on Ravelry.) I want to make it using some beautiful Handmaiden Double Sea Silk yarn that I bought last week in Toronto at Lettuce Knit, while my husband and I were on our (delayed) honeymoon. :) (Honeymoon was fabulous, by the way!!)

I hope the QAL Scarf is a quick project, too, because I will soon be starting graduate school and probably won't have much time for the yarny goodness. *sigh* We'll see, though; I may still be able to fit in my crochet habit somewhere, now that I've picked up my hooks again.

Back to work, baby blankie, and a request for flower patterns

My Meez is knitting at the office. *giggle* I've been sick for a while, but I made it in to work yesterday afternoon and will be doing the same today. I won't actually be crocheting at work, but my Meez can get away with it. ;)

I am almost halfway done with the blanket for the new baby. It's a very easy pattern, but it takes a while. It will be a very warm blanket, which I guess will be more useful in the winter...though it would also make a good playmat. It's nice and thick. It's going to have a hood, but who cares if it's a hooded playmat? It's all good.

Tomorrow, my fiance and I are heading out to RI for the wedding of one of my best friends, in which I am a bridesmaid. Before we go, I need to have made a black flower brooch to fasten my sash (our bridesmaid outfits have cute sashes) and a pair of earrings to match the necklace I'm going to wear. The earrings will be easy--I already know what I'm going to do--but I don't know about the flower. *gulp* I've never tried one of those before. I'm not even sure which pattern I should use. I'll be using Caron Simply Soft, and I want a flower that will be about 3 inches in diameter.

Any suggestions for a pattern that would yield that result?

I'm gonna sew beads onto it afterward (I'd start crocheting with beads, but I don't want to do that with a first attempt, since I won't really know how it'll look till I'm done).

I had to miss last night's KUTI meeting. I'd had every intention of going, and then it turned out that the air conditioner repair guy could come fix my A/C sometime around 7 PM, and I had to go for it 'cause it's been HOT in my apartment. I stopped in at our meeting place at around 6:15 and didn't see anyone there yet, though evidently there was a group member in line buying her dinner. D'oh.

It's just as well that I didn't see her, though, 'cause I would have hung out and talked for a little while...and meanwhile, the A/C guy was already at my place! He'd forgotten to take my cell phone number with him, so he was there waiting when I got home at about 6:30. He did a great job with the A/C (and didn't charge much!). YAY!

Sock help?

I have been working on my first pair of socks. Well, right now, it's just part of one sock. ;) Anyway, I've been trying to work with the pattern for In Your Shoes Ankle Socks from Crochet Me...and I'm having some trouble.

I made the cuff, which looks great. After some deliberation, I managed to sc 2 rounds of 36 stitches each around the cuff, though I was quite confused because it didn't say whether to join the rounds or not (I slip stitched them together; dunno if I was supposed to).

Now, however, it says to "sc across front half of tube." Following the pattern as I have been, I started my rounds of sc at the back seam after slip stitching it together so I wouldn't have to cut the yarn. I thought that was what the author meant...but now, the only way I can think of to crochet 18 sc across the front of the cuff is to cut the yarn and start sc-ing the front part. The pattern doesn't say anything about whether this is what I'm supposed to do or not.

To make matters worse, the author, Pam, appears to be MIA. Her blog link doesn't work, and I haven't found a current one anywhere. I did find someone else who seems to have made socks according to the pattern, so maybe I'll try asking her my questions?

Any help would be much appreciated!