Dragon Wing Shawl

I finished my Dragon Wing Shawl!  This project worked up so quickly and easily.  The pattern is the Lizard Shawl and is free.  The yarn is Lion Brand Shawl in a Ball in Feng Shui Grey.  I would absolutely make this pattern again.  Possibly with something that will keep a more defined edge than the Shawl in a Ball does, though I did find the row of border to be a big help.  (So much so that I did a second round of sc border to really help define the edges.)  After doing some weighing and some weird yarn math, it looks like I used 1.57 skeins of the yarn, along with a 5.0mm hook.

Secret Path's Shawl

Finally finished my Secret Paths Shawl!  I started it back in August, and it ended up getting pushed aside so I could finish a graphghan for a friend's wedding, and then for holiday crafting.  While I do love how it looks, I probably would not use the yarn again.  It's Lion Brand Wrap Star, in the color Fergie.  It's a strange yarn; 4 individual strands of lace weight yarn, held rather than spun, together.  It starts as 4 strands of teal, and eventually one of the strands is replaced by purple, then later two and two, and on and on to create the gradient effect. It's a wool & acrylic blend that was very annoying to work with, due to the static that would build up.

I crocheted the entire first cake as is, then the second cake from the opposite end, so I could have the thick band of grey in the center.  Then I used 2 more cakes, that I alternated between so I could get longer runs of the gradient.  When I got to the end of the written pattern, it was no where near big enough to move on to the border, so I did another repeat of the pattern, which resulted in a rather large shawl.  I probably could have fudged it to leave out 3 rows of the repeat for a more average size, but overall I'm happy with how it looks.  And most of all I'm so happy to have this WIP finally done!

Treasure Keeper Pouch

I received my Darn Good Yarn of the Month box yesterday. The pattern was so simple and cute that I whipped it right up after dinner last night!  It only took about 45 minutes while watching tv, and best part is that the yarn won't disappear into my stash since it was used right up.  I love how it accidentally stitched up with beautiful swirling stripes!  Sadly there wasn’t enough yarn to make the drawstring as the pattern indicated, so I used some purple leather cord and amber glass beads from my stash to finish it off.  Actually, I think I like the purple leather cord better than I would have liked the yarn chain.  The yarn is Darn Good Yarn's 'Darn Good Fancy Twist' in the colorway Pink Flamingo.  It's a worsted weight silk spun with a strand of black lace weight silk.

The pattern was in the box, and is simply called the Treasure Keeper Pouch.  It doesn't seem to be listed on their website, or I'd link to it.  It will go to a friend who has been playing D&D lately, to use as a dice bag.

Cream, Burgundy & Grey Woven Wall Hanging

As though I don't do enough crafts, I recently took it into my head to try weaving.  Since I wasn't sure if I would enjoy it or not, I didn't want to sink a ton of funds into a nice, serious loom, so I took advantage of a clearance sale Lion Brand was having on their Martha Stewart Weaver Loom.  I got one free, one on clearance for $10, and the extender kit from Amazon for $16.  Now I can put all three together to make a larger surface when I want to.  This was my first practice project.  Just a simple wall hanging, playing around with the tools.  I didn't follow any pattern, just making it up as I went along.

This was made from some yarns in my stash, and some my mom recently brought me.  Wool, wool-blend, and acrylics, all from my drawer of small scraps.  I'm looking forward to trying some different weaves and playing around with the scraps of beautiful silk sari yarns that are too beautiful to throw away, but too small to crochet with.

My only regret is that this didn't use up as much stash yarn as I hoped it would!  Guess I'll have to make some more.  :)

Stash Busting Ear Warmers (For whenever winter finally arrives in the South)

While it is currently 64 degrees here in TN (in freakin' January), I am certain winter will eventually arrive.  So I decided to whip up an ear warmer for those early morning walks with the pup on the days that it's chilly.  The received a skein of grey speckled tweed silk Called Stormy Day, from Darn Good Yarn's month subscription box back in November, and looked for an ear warmer pattern that I would have enough for.  I found the Irving Ear Warmer pattern, and tried it in the grey silk, only to discover that 50 yards was really not even enough for 2/3 of the pattern!  So I frogged it, and dug through my stash for something I might have more of.  Turns out I had 2 skeins of the same yarn in Oceanic Blues that I bought from their sample sale a few months ago.  Plenty to remake the Irving pattern.  It's chunky and soft.  :)

It's somewhat hard to see in this picture, but by using front post dc and back post dc, the pattern creates ridged stripes. 

Since I really had my heart set on making something in grey, so I decided to see if I could do anything else with the Stormy Day skein.  I ended up making up my own pattern.  I simply chained enough stitches to go snugly around my head.  Then I added 2 more chains, and started doing rows of double crochet.  I managed 5 rows of dc, and ran out with just about 7" of yarn left, just enough to stitch the ends together.  Then I used the leftover Oceanic Blues to add 2 rows of decorative slip stitching through the first and 5th rows.  Yay for 2 quick and easy projects, and for busting some stash!

Chunky Feather & Fan Afghan

I finally finished my monster afghan!   I made it for my couch, mainly for my husband during his occasional couch naps.  I've had a small lapghan that [member]pinkleo[/member] made me years ago on the back of the couch, and Jim would snuggle with it whenever he's there watching tv or playing video games.  Problem was that pinks made it for 4'11" me, and not for 6'3" Jim.  It basically covered his feet to mid-thigh.  This afghan on the other hand is HUGE, and can snuggle him from just under his chin, to all the way past his toes, and tucked around under his feet.  It's just shy of 5' wide, and a bit over 7' tall!

The pattern is the Chunky Feather & Fan Throw, and is free.  I tried the 15mm hook that the pattern recommended, but I didn't like how it was coming out, so I switched to a 12mm, and it was fantastic.  Still a little bit lacy, but not so much that Jim will put fingers and toes through it.  Since I went down a hook size though, I did alter my afghan to be 1 scallop wider.  (This is done by simply adding 17 ch to the foundation chains, for each extra scallop you wish to add.)

The yarn is Caron Tea Cakes in Pumpkin Chai.  Caron discontinued it, so I bought all 7 cakes they had on clearance at Michael's for $4.95 each and assumed that would be plenty, since several folks I had seen make one on Ravelry had used 6 cakes. But with the addition of that extra scallop, by the time I got through 6 cakes, I could tell that my afghan would basically be a square rather than a rectangle, so I went in search of a few more cakes.  Found a bunch on eBay being sold for a fortune, and bid on the cheapest which was $13 plus shipping.  The seller then contacted me and offered me 2 cakes that she had lost the bands for, for just $8 with shipping!  Woot!  So overall it ended up being 9 cakes, about 1836 yards of super-bulky weight yarn.

The only thing I disliked about this project, was the sheer size.  It took up my entire dining table when I was working on it, and it was too big for any of my project bags.  I'm so glad it's out of my WIP pile, and finally in its new home on the couch.