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I Finally learned how to do the crab stitch (AKA Reverse Crochet, I hate sending you to about.com because of their popups!!! so, I’ll link directly to the images for the helpful part)

First put the hook through the next st opposite your working direction (if you’re going right to left, as usual, then insert through the next st to the right)

Then, pull the loop through under the working loop! I actually twist my hook to get them to ’switch places’! This is where the twist comes from! This image was the ~AH HA~ that I needed!

Then just yo and pull through as usual. So now I have the crab st in my st vocabulary to use on the lunchbag pattern (a la twelve 22) I’m making!!

New Toys!

Originally uploaded by fullofstitches.

My son ran in from the backyard carrying a package clearly marked JoAnn Fabrics. The delivery man apparently tried the front and when we didn’t answer went around to set it on the side yard (they usually just dump them in the bushes next to the front door). In the time it took him to go from front to side, I went from backyard indoors.

The children were utterly fascinated with the new setup. This is the only unwound yarn that I had, so I tried the swift out. Almost all my handwound balls have been rewound with the ballwinder.

I was wandering about online and came across a fruit & veggy playset pattern. I wanted to get her Soaker Sleep Sack anyway, so I figured ‘What the hey!’

How does a homeschooling stay-at-home-wife hide that she’s trying to make a Christmas present all afternoon? I don’t, I found out. While sneakily stuffing the half dozen fruits and vegetables that I’d already crocheted, BB came up and started trying to help and AJ was wanting to know what it was. They ended up running off with the bag of 3 or 4 vegetables while I was trying to finish up the rest of them.

These things make up so quick! I’d done all five vegetables and an apple to the stuffing point, so they were picking food off me and running off to play with it as I finished the touches. While they were playing, I made another apple and started the strawberry. Then dinner. Then I finished the strawberry and AJ requested the watermelon -she’d found the pattern picture. I don’t have enough orange yarn right now to make them, but I’d like to do another carrot or two and the orange. There’s also a plum in the pattern, which I could make, but I think a bag and 9 food items in one day is all I can handle today! And, I still need to add the seeds to the watermelon.

There’s also a tropical fruits pattern, but I don’t want to spend the extra $$ today. I’d love to have a banana and that pineapple, though.. Maybe I’ll wing it sometime. I also want grapes. I was thinking whilst making some fruit that it would be so easy to just do bobbles all over and -voila- grapes.

note: I changed the bag pattern to have 2 handles. My children like to wear things either around the neck (which is not allowed) or around both shoulders, so I thought I’d keep the short handles, but put two so they could wear it on one shoulder like Mommy or on both shoulders. To do this, I worked the dc border halfway around (there are 16 triangles over the diamonds, I went across 8 of them), then slip stitched back across 4 of the triangles and started the handle, worked it for about 10 inches, then slip stitch joined it to the beginning 3 dcs so that the last sl st ends up on the first dc, then I continued to dc (purl dc, really) the other way around and joined to the last dc from the first half, turned and worked the other handle from that point (9th triangle from original beginning, or 8th triangle from direction just worked) and connected it to the third triangle from there. I sl stitched to the beginning and joined/fastened off.

So, that means that the handles are worked -above the dcs- over 4 triangles.. start in one, skip 2, end in last. Then there are 4 triangles that the sl sts are worked over, then handle (start in one, skip 2, end in 4th), then 4 triangles that sl sts are worked over.

I also worked the carrot top differently. I wanted it to look more like carrot leaves, so I worked: 5 ch, sl st in 4th ch from hook, 6 ch, sl st in 5th ch from hook, sl st in next 2 (to be in same as the first sl st), 4 ch, sl in same place, sl st in next 2, repeat twice, increase length of leaves to your desire.

Why haven’t I written? Well, I still need to take pictures of the 2 dresses and quilt I’ve made, but I’ve been busy with homeschooling and handwork. Here’s a summary of the beginning of December (plus, there’s still stuff in the works!):

I need to starch the snowflakes, but they are #1-4 of the 99 Snowflakes publication.
2 bookthongs (of the 5 or 6 I made), 2 were given to Ben’s friend the night I made them, then I made the others for fun.
The pineapple bookmark, and the one below, are from the Icicle Bookmark pattern online.
The hearts are cute, but the pattern was a tiny bit confusing.

The socks are for AJ for Christmas. They’re the “My Little Angel” pattern from SocksSocksSocks done in Lorna’s Laces: Buck’s Bar colorway (yes, the same yarn I tried to make my Jaywalkers from, now I’m just trying to use it up!!).

Tuesday, I decided to try crocheting up a pair of longies for the baby.

As modeled by the 2.5yo. She doesn’t wear diapers, so I figured she could give me a good approximation of whether the pants’ll fit on a littler one over a diaper. Looks like it may be a tight fit.. and the legs may be too long! The pattern is “Peppermint Twist Pants” from Crochet for Tots.

The closeup shows the 2 sides of the fabric when working Purl hdc every other row, hdc the rest of the rows. I’ll add this to my Purl Crochet page.

Me? Forget? Often.

Tonight I was moved by Denise’s hats and decided that I will use my Magic Stripes leftovers from socks to make some of those hats! I do admit that mine will not be near so pretty this way, but I’m on a tight budget and personally like a lighter fabric with tighter stitches to a thick one with larger holes. If I get through my Magic Stripes, then I may see what other washable yarns I have to give either weight pattern a go. I’ve made 3 so far. The pattern is *here*.

Also, we had picked up some “Lion Wool” (2.75oz per skein, one skein per child) for mittens whilst visiting in OK, but I hadn’t looked for a pattern yet. I remembered afghans for Afgans (which I have yet to do anything for.. I may this year!) and using their links found a mitten pattern for the children. I used the preschooler size (which has it’s own page) to start a pair for BB. The first mitten is crocheted and the second is started. I’m thinking that the children’s 5-7 will be AJ’s size (she has Looooong fingers) and the 8-12 size for TJ. These mittens stitch up so quick!! I’m thinking of fulling them slightly for fun and to see if that closes some of the holes crochet has. I’m sure that they don’t really need it, but they’ll full up with use anyway, right? And, perhaps I can get a Preschooler size out of what’s left that I can send off to A4A?

In less than a week, we shall be flying. What sort of toy should I have on the flight? Instead of finishing a WIP, I started a new thing: a cradle-purse for one of the girls. I had the cream acrylic from fixing a blanket my friend Becky-in-OK’s mom had made. The *ahem* variegated is from my step-Grandmother-in-law. She likes lots of colors.

I’ve decided that I don’t like the bottom of the bag. I’d rather it be rectangular or oval (like booties or slippers) so that it will sit well on a flat surface. I realize that it’s a ‘cradle’ pattern, but I think I’ll make a ‘moses basket’ style.

Can you believe Sock Wars is already beginning *this coming Friday*!!!!! EEK! YarnMonkey called for a gauge of 22st/4in (5.5st/in) in DK weight yarn. Saturday morning, I dug through my sock patterns for anything close and came up with one pattern (I may have more, but stopped at the first one), and it was a reasonable practice sock!

Not only is it cute, but it fits my 2yo great! This is supposed to be an ornament, but I continued until I ran out of purple.. which means this sock has no mate Which means no points toward Summer of Socks (Judges, may I have 1/2 the child’s size sock points?)
I’ve got some red DK and more of this black yarn, I’m thinking maybe I’ll make her some snazzy Christmas socks, but I must work tomorrow to finish Ben’s Flying Spaghetti Monsters (FSMs for short)… er, I mean ARRRRgyles.. Talk Like A Pirate Day is Tuesday!! Last night, I sewed in all those ends, seamed it -my first mattress stitch!!!- and worked the heel flap. This morning, I turned the heel and began the gussets. The mate is only a cuff. I still have to begin the colorwork.

I think the black points are actually closer to matching than in the pic, but the sock is a little wonky - somebody didn’t take the time to block (it’ll be around his ankle anyway!), the white lines line up nicely.
Yesterday, I took some time at the park with Ben and the children. It’s not the place for lots of loose balls (before the Arrrrg diamonds were done), so I took Sue’s socks. She’d picked out Mineshaft in Lorna’s Laces for her next pair and it took me some time to get gauge, but they make nice park knitting:

I see why they named it mineshaft! 9st/in attained this fascinating swirl thing. Wonder how far it’ll continue, or if it’ll pick up again after the heels/gussets.

Today, we went to the Pinnacles again. Had a much nicer hike - only like 4 hours instead of 5-6. That’s 2-3 miles with 3 children. Ben’s friend Jeremy and his camera joined us, so I may have pictures of that shortly. Knitting socks in the car makes Ben nervous (something about me or baby-to-be getting impaled with 4-5 thin needles if an accident occurs..), so I took some crochet. I’m working on a shawl, but don’t have the pattern handy. I think I’ll wait till it’s bigger to get a picture because I’m really making it for the edging and I’m not there yet. The body is a triple-crossed dc stitch. Pattern called for 2 balls of Lorna’s Laces and I thought, ‘Oh, I’ve got that.’ After it was started, I read the Lace weight bit.. I’m using sock yarn.. I hope 2 balls will make the body and the third ball -which has the same dyelot batch #, but is a darker color- will be the border.

In 2002, we moved to London. I suddenly had much time on my hands and worked a lot of crochet. At some point, I sat there staring at my work and thinking that the horizontal lines just didn’t do it justice. In traditional crochet, each pair of lines worked is shown as a joined horizontal stripe. I chose to figure out how to reverse every other line to come up with a smoother texture on one side and individual line-stripes on the opposite.

With a little practice, I came to be able to make garments with the new technique. Today, I’m beginning swatching for a sweater for AJ for her fourth birthday next month. Ben was kind enough to take some pictures over my shoulder to get a good image of just how I changed how I make the stitch.

Purl Crochet VidClip (click will take you to comment page, click again on video link, let load, watch…)
(Note: KnicKnac at crochetville uploaded this to her photobucket, so if you can’t see the original, try this link: PurlCrochetVid2)

A typical pattern has a stitch to row gauge of 4:5 (which I can never get!). In this method of crochet, I get a row gauge of 8:9 (note: results may vary, practice and gauge swatches are helpful!). Obviously, this can mess with a garment’s outcome! I feel that often in crochet the row gauge is more important (as long as a pattern stitch worked can be made correctly when you add more stitches in width) because at such places as necklines, etc, the patterns often call for decreasing on every row.

The problem of st/row gauge also presents the issue of yarn size. I have a pattern for a sweater that calls for DK yarn and size US8H hook. With this hook, I can meet the 16st/4inch, but my row gauge is 18 instead of 20 rows/4in. I have two options: a) use a smaller hook until I get row gauge, or b) use a smaller yarn. The first option will lead to a denser fabric which won’t have the drape the pattern maker showed. The second option will give the drape and get you to the row gauge needed, but will call for you to increase the # of stitches for the width of the finished garment to come out right -which isn’t that hard to just right on the page (so many stitches) added per row.

Note: Esther reminded me of two other things ‘purling’ crochet does: 1) Use the ‘back’ side for color work (it comes out much nicer), and 2) the edges DO NOT curl. This I’ve been taking for granted these last few years!

I made these sweaters for the twins in 2002 when I lived in the UK. It’s hard to believe it’s been 3 1/2 years since we were there.

I’m putting this photo up for Esther to examine (with magnifying glass? I haven’t learned to link yet… Maybe I should just upload it to my flickr or yahoo photo album? let me know..). I used what she refers to as ’stockinette crochet’. In order to have a smoother fabric, I kept the yarn on the same side of the work at all times - which means that on every other row the yarn is between me and the work and the hook goes through ‘back to front’. This helps to make a more uniform look to each row. Instead of having every 2 lines being together as a horizontal stripe, the stripes are smoothed out. On the back of the work each line is a defined horizontal stripe.

As Esther described, this leaves zigzags up the work, like so:
//
\\
//
\\

There’s about 30 min until I have to leave to go pick up my weekend guest. So, what did I stay up until 4AM doing?

Did I:
A. clean the house until it shone so that she’ll be comfortable in the environment and not scared that the horrible goo stuck to the floor under the table is going to rise up and get her as she eats?

B. tidy up somewhat so that there are at least traffic ways through the mess in order that we can get from door 1 to door 2?

C. Knit/crochet on a UFO and then decide 8 rows shy of completion after working on it for 2 hours that the yarn just isn’t right for the project and that’s why I stopped working on it (besides the monotony of the stitch that still needed 100 rows) previously. Then, stop to “tidy up” by reorganizing the yarn so that my non-crafter sister won’t have to see it all piled up around the living room. And then, instead of ripping the whole project out, start crocheting an adorable baby hat from the end that needs pulling so that I didn’t have to waste another 1/2 hour ripping, winding, then starting it?

(black elastic used to show styles of ties.. must get ribbon. Shoelace in back to show how it adjusts to size, again must get ribbon!)
And it only took 2 hours!
Pattern: Simply Lace from Sophie’s Precious Bonnets (an Annie Potter Original)
Yarn: Sinforia