Thursday, October 31, 2013

I need to knit and crochet faster!

So I think I have finally figured out the chainless foundation half double crochet stitch!  I think this has been one of the harder skills that I have learned, mostly because even with the great videos that are out there it is hard to see exactly where the hook is going in those videos.  I am certainly no expert at it, but I think I have a good enough understanding of it.  And if not, by the time I am finished with the 47 stitches that I will need for the flower that I am working on I should have it down pat!

I have been working my way through Christmas presents and my yarn stash.  I am in the middle of two Christmas presents, I finished and gifted one super early, and I have finished a couple of toddler hats in the past two weeks.  It is hard to see a noticeable difference in the amount of yarn I have, but reason tells me that by making these items and giving them away that I am, in fact, working through it!

I need to get myself together enough to get some more pictures taken and up.  With the number of things I am working on or that I have completed recently I have no good excuse for not having pictures!

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

I can't do just one project at a time!

So, here is the progress I have made so far on my socks.




Admittedly not very far along.  This portion has been very easy, though the tiny needles still vex me sometimes.  I am just doing a simple pattern - I figured learning sock techniques was enough without mixing in a fancy pattern.  So far they seem nice and stretchy - I am looking forward to getting one done.

Part of the reason I have not worked on them much is because I have been working on hats for my niece, as well as Christmas presents for various family members.  And some fingerless gloves that a friend asked me to make for her.  It was actually one of my very first projects a year ago, and I am finally getting to the second glove.



Both still need thumbs added, but I feel good in getting this pair worked on and, hopefully, completed soon.  

I am still working on whittling down my yarn stash, too.  Though I did buy some sock yarn for the socks, the gloves are yarn I have had for a year, and the couple of baby hats that I have been making are all from things I have had for a while.  So, that is making me rather happy, too.  Feeling like I am cleaning up my home while at the same time making fun and cute things that people will wear is a feeling that I like.  I didn't get a picture of the hat that I made for my niece this weekend.  I had to tear it out 3 times on Sunday and I finally finished it yesterday when I had free time again.  I think I just crochet too tightly - meaning that patterns written for normal crocheters don't fully apply to me, so I end up adding extra rows.  But, I learned that lesson well this weekend, so hopefully I can just begin adding rows sooner and making sure to measure circumference so that I don't have to rip out hats three times!  Measure twice and crochet once?  Something like that.



Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Lacey difficulties

So, this is the baby blanket that I have been working on, on-and-off, for quite a while now.





For my first project that has intentional holes it hasn't gone horribly.  However, I do struggle with keeping the proper number of stitches because it calls for 145, but the pattern V shapes look like their should be 12 in each, plus 6 on each end of the blanket.  So, I often get myself into trouble with that.  Exhibit A of that is here on the second row up, the really wonky section that looks nothing at all like a V shape!  This was pretty early on in the pattern and I still hadn't quite figured out what  I was doing.  I could have ripped it out, but chose not to.

Later, once I had the pattern in my head better, things went quite smoothly, though, as you can see below, there were still some hiccups.  On that row third from the top you can see the bottom of the V pattern is not done correctly.  Once I realized why I was messing up, the 145 stitches vs. 12 per pattern section, I quit from frustration.  I am sure I will get back to it here soon, but does anyone have any suggestions on how to make sense of this in my head?  http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/precious-baby-blanket is the pattern that I am using.  Am I just missing something that makes this more difficult than it should be?