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. 

Wild Birds of Paradise Silk Scarf

This was a really quick little project.  I started it on Christmas Day, while waiting for all the rest of the family to arrive at my Mother in Law's house, and finished it last night.  The pattern is the Naturally Southern Scarf, and the yarn is Darn Good Yarn's DK weight silk, in Wild Birds of Paradise.  I had received a skein of it in their yarn subscription box, and loved it so much that I knew I wanted to make something larger with it.  When I checked my account, I had enough points saved up to get a $25 gift card, plus the lovely curiousfae sent me a $10 credit from them that she wasn't able to use, so I paid next to nothing for it.  I love the deep raspberry, teal and turquoise, and how they are offset by the bright cheerful yellow.  Also the silks used in their yarns are waste that would otherwise end up in a landfill, but DGY rescues them, and then provides fair wages to women in India & Nepal, allowing them to work from home and support their families. 

13th Doctor's New Year's Scarf

Like many Doctor Who fans, as soon as I saw the promo shots of 13th Doctor Jodie Whittaker in the upcoming New Year's special, I fell in love with her rainbow scarf.  Not long after the promo pictures were released, someone of course came up with a crochet pattern for one. 

I had many of the colors needed in Caron Simply Soft, so after a quick trip to pick up the rest, I sat down last weekend to make myself one!  The pattern was designed by Mel Harrison over at Mahogany Turtle and is free on her blog.   For a full list of every one of the 17 colors of yarn I used, check my Ravelry page.

It stitches up really fast, and is easy to adapt, based on what you have on hand.  I absolutely love how it came out, but of course, as soon as it was done, I became aware of a friend who has a greater need for a rainbow in their life right now, so I just packed it up and shipped it off to him.  It'll arrive a few days after Christmas, but he'll have it in time for New Year's, and hopefully it will keep him warm and protected during the cold winter months in NYC.   Josh has always been a bit of a Guardian Angel to his friends and family, stepping up whenever someone has needed help.  He's the ultimate Gryffindor, chivalrous and selfless in his efforts to help anyone who needs it, always ready with a kind word when you need it most.  I hope this little rainbow will keep him safe as he goes about changing the world for the better.  I guess I'll just have to make myself another one as soon as I get back from Christmas with my in-laws.

Ravenclaw Scarf Ornament - With Pattern

I recently had the pleasure of swapping with lindyv321 in the Harry Potter Holiday swap.  She's a Ravenclaw, and I decided to create a tiny Ravenclaw House scarf for her.  I looked around for patterns, but didn't like the sizes of the ones I could find, or I didn't have the right sized yarn, so I just made up my own based on what I had on hand.  I've included the pattern below in case anyone else wants to make one for themselves.

Ravenclaw House Scarf Ornament

You will need:
Sport Weight cotton yarn in your choice of colors (I used Omega Sinfonia)
3.25 mm crochet hook
needle to weave in yarn ends

Row 1: With Blue, chain 7, sc in 2nd ch from hook. Sc in next 5 across. (6 sc)
Row 2-4: hdc across (6 hdc)
Row 5: Change to bronze, hdc across (6 hdc).
Row 6: Change to blue, hdc across (6 hdc).
Row 7: Change to bronze, hdc across (6 hdc).
Row 8-41: Change to blue, hdc across (6 hdc).
Row 42: Change to bronze, hdc across (6 hdc).
Row 43: Change to blue, hdc across (6 hdc).
Row 44: Change to bronze, hdc across (6 hdc).
Row 45-47: Change to blue, hdc across (6 hdc).
Row 48: sc across ( 6sc).

Finish off, weave in ends.

Fold scarf around, and make 2 tacking stitches with some spare blue yarn, to keep it in a folded shape. Cut 2 strands of yarn 14” long, and string them through the top of the ornament. Tie a knot, then slip on a glass pony bead, and tie a second knot. Leave a gap for a hook, then tie another knot, add a second bead, and tie a final knot before trimming off the extra yarn.

***Note: For my scarf ornament, I used the sport weight yarn for the blue body of the scarf, but for the contrasting bronze stripes I used 2 strands of Lion Brand Bonbons sparkle, held together.  In my case I used brown & copper to get my bronze color.  The Bonbons are a very fine/light weight yarn that was much thinner than the sport weight, but was just about equal when using 2 strands at once.

14 Scrap Busting Dishcloths in 12 Days

My parents came to visit for 8 days last week.  Since I was trying to keep the house neat and clean with guests, I decided to crochet something tiny, that wouldn't be in the way, and would hopefully help me use up some yarn.  Answer: dishcloths! 

I managed to make 14 of them in 12 days, and hope to get 2 more done tonight.  Bonus, they make great stocking stuffers and gift basket fillers. They were all made from the Fire Blossom Dishcloth pattern, which is free on Ravelry.

A few super-scrappy ones, that were made up with the tail ends of various yarns that were all in a zip loc bag.  My dad claimed most of these.  I missed getting a pic of my favorite green & blue one before my mom made off with it.

A few more matchy-matchy pairs, made from bigger half-skeins.  These will go to a few neighbors & friends.

A set for my mom, made to match a vintage tea towel I bought her.  This was one of my more 'matchy-matchy' scrap sets.  I've made her dishcloths before, but she's never used them until she came to visit last week, and discovered there are no scrubby sponges in my house, just a drawer full of handmade dishcloths.  After 2 days she declared she loved them and wanted some for herself.  Good thing these were already under the tree.

And a rainbow set for my MIL, to go with a vintage linen towel I bought her.  Best part, I basically emptied my entire cotton yarn drawer!

Autumn Kaleidoscope Shawl

I have been trying to stash bust in an effort to keep my studio neat and tidy, and to avoid accumulating too much yarn.  The pattern is the Kaleidoscope Shawl, and it's free on Red Heart's website.  When I saw this simple pattern, I knew it would be great with the skeins of Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable that I bought on clearance a few months back.  It's basically 5 rows of granny, then 5 rows of 'every other' double crochet net, with a picot shell border.  It works up really quick and easy, and I love how it shows off the colors in the yarn.  I think it's going to my lovely sister in law.

Haunted Mansion Grapghghan

I tackled a great big scary new realm in the world of crochet.  (Well, scary for me.)  I created my first graphghan!  It is a gift for a friend who just got married.  Neither her, nor her husband, wanted to keep their own names when they married, but neither liked the other's last name either, so the decided to pick a new one together.  They are both Disney fanatics, and love the Haunted Mansion, so they chose to use the name of the fictional owner, Mr. Gracey.  Clearly they needed something both cozy, and a little bit macabre for their very own Gracey home, so I chose to use a portion of the wallpaper in the Haunted Mansion as my inspiration.

I created the graph in Stitchfiddle.  It is 175 single crochet stitches across in each row, and was 188 rows tall.  (The graph was really 185, but included 3 empty space rows at the top, but none bottom, so I added 3 black rows down there.)  I felt like the graph looked fine when I printed it out, but once I got working on it I discovered bits where I felt the colors should change to create a more graceful curve, or even off a line, so I altered it a bit as I went, using black and silver sharpies to alter the graph, so it is not identical to the graph you see below. Once I completed the graph, I realized I needed some sort of gothic lace border, so I used this pattern on The Spruce Crafts, V-Stitch & Picot Border.

The body of the graphghan was done with Red Heart Super Saver in black and orchid.  It took 2 Jumbo skeins of orchid and 1 Jumbo skein of black.  I had just a bit of each leftover.  Rather than go out and buy more of it for the border, I used some Vanna's Choice in black to do that part.  I don't think you can tell that they are two different black acrylics in it.  They eyes are Caron Simply Soft in Cream that I had in my stash.

 I'm thrilled with how it came out, but I'm also quite glad to see the back of the project!  It took me a lot longer than I thought it would, about 8 weeks.  I haven't measured it, but it is about 42" wide x 50" tall.