Finish It Friday - Pillow Cover

I needed a quick and easy project to work on while watching tv in the evenings with the kids. This was pretty fun to make but I would like to use different colors for the rows next time to make it more interesting. The inspiration and tutorial for this project came from the Nest.

Saturday

Jon worked. 

Kids played. 

I paid bills.

We all went to Ilene's birthday party.

Dinner at Chick-fil-A.

We all went to church.

I crocheted.

Jon and I watched Fringe we recorded last night.

And that's Saturday.

How about you? What did you do today? 

Friday Night Cowl

I bought this totally awesome yarn at the South Bend Museum of Art. It's made by Elizabeth Zapf of ZabeZapf Handspun. It. Is. Gorgeous.

This is the first yarn I've purchased that wasn't cheap and isn't acrylic. Now I understand why yarn snobs exist. This yarn works up beautifully, the stitches lay perfectly, and it doesn't split while you're working with it. 

Since I only had 138 yards to work with I decided to make a cowl or a scarf. It's my first cowl and I've decided I love it. It's a rather stretchy fabric so I can stretch it to three times around my neck if I get cold. 

Here's the pattern I used:

Chain 202 stitches.

Row 1: Single crochet in 3 chain from hook. Single crochet in each chain stitch across. Chain 2 and turn.

Row 2: Double crochet in each single crochet. Chain 3 and turn.

Row 3: Triple crochet in each double crochet. Chain 2 and turn.

Row 4: Double crochet in each triple crochet. Chain 1 and turn.

Row 5: Single crochet in each double crochet. 

Place both ends together and single crochet a seam to attach.

Weave in ends and enjoy your beautiful handiwork!

This may be simple but I love it. Let me know if you make one, too!

Ravelry Blog-A-Long Update #6

The update this week includes some progress. I've been working on joining the circles as I go along for the Flowers in the Snow project. This is not easy. Like I said before, I've got 192 chances to get it right! 

But seriously, this is not easy. I was considering switching gears and NOT joining them as I go along. I was even considering making today the day I take all of these out until I took the photo. Doesn't really look so bad after all. 

My problem is that I see the close up item and fail to see the big picture. When I'm looking at it close up I see "oh that one stitch is too loose." And "why did I put those two circles next to each other?" 

Blerg. 

When really, I need to look at the big picture and realize that it's gorgeous. I'm the only one who sees the flaws. I'm going to continue and get better at it. So there.

And as for Sarah's sweater. I haven't had much time to work on it. The thing is that I started working the sleeve on DPN's and that's really hard for me. It's best if I sit at a table and use the surface to help hold the rest of the garment. 

But, I am ridiculously proud of myself that I made that ribbed bottom edge. Is that gorgeous or what? 

Sorry the photo appears to be a little blurry. Might've been the lighting. Not sure. 

Anyway, hopefully I'll have lots of progress to show next week, too.

Check out everyone's year of project updates.

Year of Projects Series
Initial Post
Ravelry Blog-A-Long Update #1
Ravelry Blog-A-Long Update #2
Ravelry Blog-A-Long Update #3

Ravelry Blog-A-Long Update #4

Ravelry Blog-A-Long Update #5

Ravelry Blog-A-Long Update #5

Flowers in the Snow Project

Just a quick update today. I've finished 168/192 of the circles for the Flowers in the Snow Project. I'm taking a short break from this so that I can work on my first knit sweater (below).

Knitting Pure & Simple

Children's V Neck Down Pullover

I decided to take a class at my local yarn store to learn how to make this "top down" sweater. I must say that I'm really proud of myself that it's already actually looking like a sweater. And, I was actually able to  "divide for the sleeves" all by myself! 

Check out everyone's year of project updates.

Year of Projects Series
Initial Post
Ravelry Blog-A-Long Update #1
Ravelry Blog-A-Long Update #2
Ravelry Blog-A-Long Update #3

Ravelry Blog-A-Long Update #4

Ravelry Blog-A-Long Update #4

Hey Friends! I have an update. Although I cannot include pictures this week because my laptop is currently broken and I have to hobble along on my son's really old but absolutely adequate desktop computer. (I know, first world problems, right?) Anyway, getting pictures onto this post is just something I'll do later in the week when I have my own machine back.
Anyway, I have decided to take a break from the original Year of Projects project I had started on. That was all of the blocks from 200 Crochet Blocks. I have 30ish blocks done. Here's my difficulty and why I'm finding the project so frustrating. I'm having trouble making them all come out the same size which is why I was asking about blocking in a previous post. The ones which go round and round are easier to make the correct size because I can always just add another round of something if necessary. The ones that go back and forth are much harder for me to get right. Obviously I still have a problem with this gauge stuff. It also really depends on the day, I think. Some days I work really tightly and some days it just seems to be easier for me to work more loosely. Kind of a bummer. So I've decided that this project needs to just take a break and think about the error of its ways.

I finished my first ripple blanket since I've last updated. It was fun to figure out a new pattern.

Flowers in the Snow

I've started on the circles for this project. I have been to her site and drooled over her version of the project so many times that I just couldn't help it any more. I had to get started. So far I have somewhere around 50 circles made. I honestly haven't counted today. I decided yesterday that my goal will be to make at least 12 each day because that would get me finished with the circles in 16 days.

In a couple of weeks I am taking a knitting class at my Local Yarn Store, the Yarn Gourmet, where we'll be knitting a top down child's sweater. I'm really excited about it but I'm concerned because I've been doing so much crochet. I took some time to practice my knitting last week and my fingers weren't happy about it. Practice makes perfect right? I may have to whip up a couple of knit scarves in the next two weeks to get my fingers and my brain ready for knitting rather than crochet.

Thanks for checking out my update. Promise I'll add photos later in the week.

Check out other folks projects and join the year long blog-a-long on Ravelry.


Year of Projects Series
Initial Post
Ravelry Blog-A-Long Update #1
Ravelry Blog-A-Long Update #2
Ravelry Blog-A-Long Update #3