the crocus scarf

see, i told you these were relevant to spring.

as i was reminded yesterday by a kind commenter, i live in one area of the world that is approaching springtime. but there are large swathes of land where scarf-wearing is still de rigueur—nay, even necessary. you know—like the entire southern hemisphere, for instance.

ugh. how #firstworldproblems of me. i didn’t get my scarf tutorials on my blog fast enough, and now the area I’M in it’s spring! oh noooos!!! i feel so….northeast US-centric.

:/

anyway, moving on…this is another scarf pattern crocheted up for my mother-in-law.

pattern found on ravelry HERE, direct from the knitting daily website HERE, done in my favorite wallet-friendly caron simply soft yarn.

as usual, i changed it a bit—doing three repeats of the pattern vs. two (how it’s written). i also eliminated the edging, and opted for a simple single crochet border squaring off the three edges and following the bumps of the top edge.

it’s another scarf i was in love with, threatening to keep it. threatening who i’m not sure. myself, maybe? but it’s funny…i choose the pattern and the yarn with the person in mind. the entire time i’m working on it i’m thinking about that person. by the time i’ve finished—no matter how much i love the item—in my head it’s theirs. it belongs to them. and so it was with this scarf. i love it—the pattern, the color…but i could no more keep it for myself than i could walk into my mother-in-law’s closet and claim one of her shirts as my own. (her son, on the other hand…him i took. and i’m not giving back. so i’m not entirely sure my analogy works on all levels.)

is this normal with you other sewers/knitters/crocheters/quilters? i’ve only recently become secure enough to start giving the things i’ve made as gifts…so i’m wondering if this is kind of how everyone feels when they make a specific project for a specific someone. like—i love it, but it’s not mine to keep. let’s talk.

drops design scarf

okay can we just set aside for the moment that it’s april? i mean, if the weather doesn’t follow the calendar, why should my project sharing?

let’s pretend for a moment that it’s still the winter, maybe late january, and you’re still interested in crochet projects. because i have three scarves to share with you this week. and even if your sewing thoughts have turned to spring dresses and short sets, maybe you can just bookmark this for next fall, when you’re ready to cuddle up with a skein and a cuppa. k? k.

first up: this peacock blue scarf, based on a drops design pattern.

this scarf was a gift, so i had guinevere model it for some shots before handing it off. what i didn’t realize when i took the shots was that the settings on my camera were wonky, and so a lot of the photos came out blurry. and now the scarf is gone…so you must see blurry pictures.

pattern found on my ravelry HERE, and direct from the website HERE
yarn: caron simply soft in color ‘peacock’

the original pattern calls for the flower/grape cluster things to run the entire length of one side of the scarf, making it more like a wrap or shawl in my opinion. so i did three repeats of the pattern then turned it sideways and worked the lattice design for about 34”. then i made a separate section of three repeats of the cluster design and attached it on the other end.

it’s not perfect, you can see the seam where i joined the two sections if you look. but i couldn’t figure out a way to do it continuously without overtaxing my limited brain power (and crocheting knowledge). and honestly when you’re wearing the scarf it’s not noticeable at all.

i liked the idea of the design hanging down on the front. it also makes the scarf a little more lightweight than your average crochet/knit scarf. maybe this is a spring project after all?

the last thing i did was block the edges of the scarf. the cluster design gets pretty clumped up as you work it, so i wet it and pinned it flat to my ironing board and let it dry for a day. the caron yarn is acrylic, so it doesn’t take long to dry.

my instagram photo of this step was much more dramatic:

my biggest victory in this scarf? this is what the pattern looks like:

that’s right—it’s an actual crochet PATTERN. and it turns out, they’re really not that hard to read. it was my first time using one like this and i was pretty proud of myself for figuring it out. #supercrocheter

baby, baby, baby twooooo

as it turns out, the issues with getting the rest of the post about elliot’s doll have less to do with a) the length of the post or b) me actually writing the post or even c) me actually photographing the rest of the stuff i made her and more of d).

‘d)’ of course being “photographing the stuff without elliot trying to be in it”

although the doll and bed were presented as one unit, she’s thoroughly convinced—in the headstrong oblivious-to-reality way that only a toddler can fully muster up—that this tiny bed is for her to nap upon.

she gets pretty bent out of shape if you try and put Baby in. it was a fight to get even a couple of shots that did not include her valiant attempts at folding her body in such a way as to be comfortably ensconced on that tiny poster bed.

but i did manage a few.

Baby got a sweet little wooden bed from IKEA. for $20 it comes with the dark blue “mattress pad” and “pillow” and a little plaid blanket.

duktig image via IKEA site

it came home like the above picture, but it got the googiemomma upgrade: a paint job, new quilt and coordinating pillow.

when i bought the fabric for the little quilt at joann’s i glanced through their spray paint selection for a color that matched. oooh, coral isle. perfect. but our joann’s keeps the spray paint under lock and key, requiring an employee to come to your aid. because you know, all the rowdy graffiti arteests and inhalant huffers head first to joann’s for their drug/tool of choice. :/

anyway, the other issue is that they charge $8 a can for spray paint?!?!?! one can only assume they are not familiar with the pricing of spray paint in the rest of the world.

puh. i’ll show them. i’ll just nip off to the local walmart…err…sears hardware…nope, maybe a.c. moore?…nooo…lowes? strike 4.

NO ONE, i repeat NO ONE else apparently carries krylon spray paint in coral isle.

(do you follow me on instagram? cause i’m pretty much the awesomest instagrammer ever.)

i drove around for an hour before sheepishly heading back into joann’s. come to think of it, maybe that’s why their paint is under lock and key. all their exclusive colors are the craft world equivalent of gold blocks.

regardless, i got my paint (40% off coupon whatwhat!?!) and that stinkin’ bed sucked up the ENTIRE can.

i bought a fat quarter pack of d.s. quilt fabrics (also with a coupon making it only $6) and a 1/2 yard remnant of white fleece for the tiny quilt and pillow.

i did 8 squares of each pattern and 16 white fleece squares, all cut 2 1/2” square. the back is solid white fleece and i free motion quilted in a random squiggly pattern over the whole thing.

that gave me fits—almost enough to turn me off of machine quilting for good. but after consulting with some Super Quilter Friends (similar to the Super Friends just more cozy and covered in thread bits) i’m thinking the thread i was using is the biggest issue.

anyway, it was done and i had fabric to spare, so why not whip up a little matching dress for Baby?

a simple little dress with a back velcro closure, and i attached the magnetic binky to the dress with the ribbon that came wrapped around my fat quarter pack (waste not want not, amirite?) now we have no loss of the binky and a perfectly coordinated set.

snug as a (handmade) bug in a (quilted) rug.

now get that baby out. it’s time for elliot’s nappy.

so that’s it. one baby doll, two clean diapers, one poopy diaper, one bed, one pillow, one quilt, one dress, one magnetic binky, oh! and one fabric tissue box thingy with six squares of the leftover white fleece inside—boom! wipes.

haha! forgot about that. i just cut the remainder of the white fleece from the back of the quilt into square-ish shapes and serged the edges. the little container is a basic little box that velcros closed on top and has a hole cut out so the “wipes” can pop out.

okay, now that’s really, really it. Baby is quite happy in her new home, the recipient of much love and many rather rough diaper changes. and that’s just the way i like it.