[3 sc, sk 2 sc, 3 dc in ch sp] repeat across row

Woah - a blog post! Don't fall out of your chair. Guilt has finally driven me to update this poor blog. Can't blog worth a hoot on my phone and the tablet was worse, so sorta just gave up. BUT - I have a new laptop so will try to get back into blogging a bit more often than every 3 months lol.

I've been on a crocheting jag that shows no signs of quitting any time soon. My San Diego pal Julie is a serious crocheter also and when we get in the same room, our output  increases exponentially.

While at her house for 3.5 days in November I finished a shawl and started and almost finished a scarf. While visiting again in January, I finished a scarf, started and finished another scarf, and started a third for the plane home. It's wonderful to have the entire to do nothing but create fun stuff with pretty yarn. Since she had to cook and drive, she didn't get quite as much done but still made serious progress on her shawl and hat and scarf!

Made this adorable hat in a couple hours. Yay for bulky yarn.
Pattern is the Seamless Spiral Slouch. Amy loved it
and that's a good thing cause it replaces the leg warmers
I just couldn't bring myself to finish after the second came out
an inch off from the first one.

Mmm...Malabrigo. This is Rios in Jupiter.
Used the Aspen Cowl pattern but just made it a scarf
since I hate yanking cowls over my head every time I heat up.
Love the pattern, love the yarn.

This is a Spring Petals scarf.
Can't remember what the blasted yarn is. Hopefully I can find
the ball band at home in the disaster that it my studio and
kitchen and family room.

This is an Elise shawl, a pattern that Julie found on Rav
and made one of. I loved hers so dashed off one for myself
in a colorway I was pretty sure I didn't like. But when it was done,
it grew on me, especially with my lavender sweater.
Yarn is Twisted Fiber Art Organic Stripes. Closeup below.

Another Spring Petals scarf. It works up so differently
 in various yarns that I may end up with a bunch of them.
Yarn is Ruby Sapphire in a discontinued sock yarn
that is just magical. So sad she doesn't make it any more.

Last but not least, a Sezession I shawl.
Again I don't remember the damn yarn.
That's why you should put your blasted yarn
in Rav the instant you buy it!
Great pattern, I have at least two others,
and the yarn is lovely, a dark gray-green and
dark gray-blue that works as a neutral.
Another shot below.

the Christmas scarf

My work pal Amy is a crocheter, a rather amazing one. Her grandma taught when she was little, but she doesn't know the names of the stitches she makes and she can't read patterns. She just looks at something and figures out how to make it. Scarves, tops, hats, shawls - all sorts of crazy stuff that turns out great with no pattern at all. As I said, amazing.
But she wanted to learn so I told her to go sign up at Ravelry and choose a scarf pattern and I'd teach how to make it so that she could learn which stitch is which, what the abbreviations mean, and how to follow along when it's all written down. So we met up at Starbucks a week later and sat down to learn. She's a bright girl and within minutes had it figured out with a bit of explanation from me.
That was a Monday, our day off. On Tuesday, she wore the new scarf to work. Did I mention she's also crazy fast?
Anyway, what with her newly unleashed crocheting skilz, we decided to make scarves for each other. I have a ton of stash yarn that I need to burn thru so I picked out a beautiful Noro Kochoran, color # 14, and here's the lovely scarf she made me. I tend to make lacy scarves, so the fact that this one is thick and poofy makes me love it all the more. The yarn is a bit sheddy, but I'm hoping that will wear off, and anyway that's why there's lint brushes, right?
As you can see, I have another skein of yarn and plan to make fingerless mitts to match.
And I need to get good pics of the scarf I made her.

almost scarf time

It's almost getting chilly enough for a scarf in the mornings, and once the weather cools off even a little, I start getting the itch to knit or crochet. Mostly crochet cause it's quicker and I'm better at it. I have a ton of Noro yarn and am determined to make things with it before I die, so I chose a pretty Silk Garden Lite and made this simple scarf. Love those color changes. I have another in the works already, a diff pattern using Noro Sock, thinner than this yarn and different colors.

Just getting to the colors I like best,
the grays and aquas.

All done, took about 5 days of working on it when
I was waiting for other things to happen or
watching the boob tube.

Didn't bother to block it cause it's pretty flat already
and I didn't want the edge loops to be all pointy.
It's about 6" wide, 4.5ft long

you say face cloth, I say wash rag

Must be a my-generation mid-western thing but I grew up calling that piece of toweling that you scrub yourself with a wash rag. Sounds kinda tacky now that I'm older and have been exposed to more sophisticated terms, but I still think wash rag when I see one. Or maybe these are dish cloths.

Anyway, I store my knitting and crochet projects in small, handled gift bags. Lots of them. I had 10 or 12 several months ago, taking up space on my dresser. I whittled that down to 7 not long ago by unraveling things I knew I'd never finish, and moved them to the top of the dryer so they'd be more in my face. That got me to finish two scarves that I need to take pics of and blog about. Then a few days ago I grabbed the wash rag bag and finished one of the two half done ones.

That got me kinda back into it so I bought some more fun colors of cotton, dug thru my patterns and made a couple more. I gave them for Christmas one year and they were well received so may make another batch with that in mind.

The last one is a hodge podge of patterns that I just couldn't get my head around for some reason. I started one pattern, couldn't get the count right, winged it for a few rounds, then jumped into another pattern and manged to get the spiral pattern I'd been trying for in the first place. It's also the largest at close to 8" across. Love the colors.

Cotton yarn kills my hands and wrists cause it has no give at all, so I'm done for a few days at least, but the last two were each done in a day of crocheting at odd moments and short binges, so if I do one or two a week, I'll have a pile by Christmas.

Anybody wanna swap wash rags??