The shawl from hell

Sure, it's absolutely gorgeous.  But it took me from December until the beginning of this month to finish this.  Going to stick to small projects for the next little while.

The lace finish was probably the least boring part of it, and thus my favourite part.  And not nearly as complicated as it looks!

The arrow and ridges part was also fairly simple.  It's just that it was a large project and was. So. Boring.  If I hadn't told my mum that it was for her, I'd keep it forevermore and never let anyone touch it, to make sure it lasted as long as humanly possible.

The pattern is from Crochet! magazine, Winter 2013, and it's called the Lisdoonvarna Shawl, by Bonnie Barker.  The level suggested is intermediate, but I'd put it more as advanced beginner.  I kind of wish I'd done the suggested red, but if I ever get faster and want to torture myself again, I'll do that for myself.

Presents!

I've been busy working on some birthday presents, and two of them are (mostly) done.

The first one is based on my lacy mohair scarf.  Exactly the same pattern, different yarn.  It's a super-soft eyelash yarn, done for a friend who is allergic to wool.  Looks quite different when both all one colour, and not as able to see the stitches.  But is it ever soft!  Note that the colour looks completely different in different lightings.  The first, where it's only just started, looks closer to the proper colour.

The next is something I've been working on for a long time, and as I worked through it, it seemed to suit a particular friend.  From a pattern bought from My Little CityGirl, I mixed up the colours, and used a linen/cotton blend.  And learned that linen can be very difficult on the fingers to work with.  I'll think more carefully on whether it's necessary to use linen next time.  :)  It's not perfect; I switched hook sizes by one half part way through without realising.  And it's going to be a pain to block.  But I'm rather pleased with how it turned out!

One more present to go before turning attention to xmas presents...

Lacy mohair-cashmere scarf

Knocked off another WIP, to complete my lacy scarf, shown here in early August.

It was a very simple project, from the book Crochet One-Skein Wonders, edited by Judith Durant and Edie Eckman.  I did it in a mohair-cashmere blend yarn, which was in a variegated army green and purple colour mix.

Despite the open spaces, the material makes it quite warm.  Best for cool days/evenings, or non-windy cold days.  It's just over a meter long (about six feet), so it can be worn several ways.

The lace is simple.  It's just a repeated shell pattern.  But it looks so much fancier!  It didn't need finishing, because the combination of the finagling done at the start, and the chain three between rows gives it a consistent edging.

Now to complete more of my WIPs.  Working on another scarf at the moment, as well as the Tunisian lace shown last time.

Simple Tunisian lace scarf

This pattern came from the Spring 2013 issue of Crochet! magazine, and is called the Bubblegum Lace Scarf.  It's a super simple lace, done with Tunisian crochet.  It's my first complete project with Tunisian, other than a little bookmark I did to practise the Tunisian Simple Stitch.  It is also my first time making tassels, which were as easy as I hoped.  It was a pattern that was good to do while anxious in a hangout, or while watching television.

As per pattern, it's a rather short scarf, with apparent length coming from the tassels.  Given that it's a summer scarf, and not really intended to protect one from cold and biting wind.

I tried to rush through this scarf, to finish up another from my list of WIPs.  Because the Tunisian lace project that really has my interest is a lot more complex and interesting.  It involves rows with crossed double Tunisian stitches, a non-standard working off to compensate for skipped stitches, decreases, and overall prettiness.  In a lovely blue and maroon yarn I've been yearning to use.

I'll be trying to knock off a few more WIPs, to get to more of the lace patterns.  The mohair/cashmere lacey scarf is now over halfway done, for example!

A selection of current works in progress

My concentration isn't everything that it used to be.  The way I deal is by keeping many projects going at a time, and switching between them.  It allows me to sit with crochet for hours at a time.

Clearly, I have a ridiculous number of things going on right now, as this is merely a selection of current works in progress.

Here's a poncho that I've been working on, but have let sit for a couple of weeks.  I'm wishing that I had gone darker orange, but as I hate to undo all those zig zags and such, it's staying with the colour selection as shown.  A few more rows to go, and then some sewing and finishing!  This is a project I began while visiting family, and did most of my work on it that weekend.  Family visits can be stressful, so it was nice to have something with a little complexity for distraction (the zig zag stitches).

I also have a longer-term ongoing blanket project.  I'm working on squares in this brown and a cream colour, and then will alternate the squares attached together, in a checkerboard type pattern.  This is a basket weave stitch, and very easy, but a little time-consuming.  It's simple enough that I can do it while paying attention to other people and what's going on around me, so it's saved as my anxiety work.  When in a situation where I may get anxious, I make sure people around me are okay with it, and work on this as I talk with them.  It's done wonders for how I relate to people.

I picked up my first kit from Mary Maxim, for a pair of cuffed slippers.  The pattern is darling, and I love the yarn colour.  Done in acrylic held together with two strands, it amazes me how well this is coming together without any frogging necessary.  Well, I say that, but they may be a little big, so I may have to start again if I can't think of somebody with really big feet to gift them to.

And the last one I'll share for now is a lacy scarf, in mohair.  Mohair isn't the easiest yarn to work with, and mistakes can be a little more challenging to frog.  But for lacy creations, I can't imagine another yarn looking nicer in this pattern!  This is fairly incomplete, compared to the other projects.  It's not challenging to do, but that's compensated for by how it looks and feels.  The yarn is an army green and purple mix, and looking gorgeous, in my opinion.

I will share as significant progress is made, or alternatively, when complete.

It's about time

I should have started this once I realised that crochet was going to be a permanent hobby.  This is where I'll put up pictures and commentary about my projects, and perhaps show off some works in progress.  And sort of bookmark for myself and others some interesting techniques and such.

Much is coming.