My motivation for winter projects plummets once it starts to warm up.  This is probably normal given that I live in Virginia, where it's 80 degrees through most of September.  I've wanted to make the Asymmetrical Neckwarmer for awhile, but I had a hard time choosing yarn and then Spring came.  As the wretched heat and humidity of Summer faded away, I looked at what I had of the neckwarmer so far and decided I hated the colors.

Part of the problem with the yarn I'd been using was that the colors didn't change at the right places for this pattern.  After my previous experiences with substitutions gone awry, I decided that if I was going to do this, I needed to find a Landscapes colorway that I liked.

 My version is done with Desert Spring since I wasn't sure I wanted to be a gloriously warm rainbow.  It's made in a long strip, then seamed together at the shoulder.  Since I'm an idiot, I thought it had one arm (it doesn't).  This slightly impeded seaming.

Once the seam is made, the collar's worked around the neck opening.  The pattern says to work the collar until it's about 4", but I went with "until the yarn is almost completely used up."

For whatever reason, this item has gotten more compliments than a lot of my other scarves/crocheted accessories. Apparently the boyfriend's mother now wants him to marry me so she can get one of these.  So, stay tuned for my 300 Craft Projects pre-engagement blog!

It's not really a cover up

This is Toro's first craft blog post.  He was one of my post-Zoot foster kittens.  In August he was hired on permanently.  Here he is sleeping on his first crochet project.

Webby Sundress is my second attempt at a Double Stitch Twins pattern.   I'm pretty sure Stitch Nation yarns ceased to exist, so I did mine with Red Heart Soft.

I was initially just going to use two colors--Watercolors, a variegated shade, for the main dress and Lilac as an accent, but I decided it would look weird to only match one of the colors in Watercolors.  I would like to praise Red Heart's Multicolor Coordinates List, but my A.C. Moore didn't have one of the matching colors and I didn't like the other one when I saw it in person, so I just eyeballed it.  But it helped me choose Lilac to begin with and it's good for star afghans?

Given my statuesque proportions, I used a larger hook and added a few rows to the bodice and middle to make sure that it would actually fall to knee length when worn as a dress.  Since I was using three colors instead of two, I also added a second (third?) stripe to the top section.

I also skipped two of the chains for the belt/halter neck.  This was partially because I wanted to wear the finished project on a date the weekend I finished it, but also because I was happy with the way the two ties looked.  They're long enough that you can wear it around your neck a few different ways--regular halter, criss cross, make a bow in front, etc.

As a mesh dress over an existing dress this was a hit with the boyfriend, but I'm not sure how I feel about it as a skirt.  I don't think black will work given the greens and browns in it, and matching the length is also a bit tricky.

With my current body, I also feel it's not as flattering as a skirt.  The top part feels like it draws way to much attention to my paunch.  I also tried it over a long tank top and leggings but didn't like it (then again, I don't like looking at myself much these days).

Toro helps with the ruffle

I like the way it turned out, but if I were doing this one again I'd pick colors that work better with my existing wardrobe.  The little bit of brown is what kills it since all my neutrals are black and gray (aka light black).

No pictures from my date, so here is what the finished product would look like on a very thin person with a bonus glimpse into my messy closet.

Rainbow is the best color

The magic rainbow bag is a simple project that took way longer than it should have.

As I've blogged about before, I like the idea of Bonbons.  I'm just not as big on stripes and what to actually do with even smaller yarn scraps.  But after confirming that my friend's daughter still considered rainbow to be the best color, I decided that I would do something with rainbow Bonbons.  I didn't know what that something would be, but even if I didn't have a vision, I had a coupon.  Having a coupon and/or being in a craft store while bored has often been my tragic flaw.

Fortunately I was able to combine my mastery of buying more craft supplies with browsing the internet for projects and I discovered the granny square bag.

  This could be made with any colors, but I went with rainbow.  To keep from running out of anything, I did two versions of the squares--one starting with red and one starting with purple.  I considered assembling the bag with red border squares on one side and purple border squares on the other, but Brian said the alternating layout looked better.

Once the squares are assembled into one big square, bag is joined by placing the wrong sides together and double crocheting through the edges of both squares.  Since I was low on almost all the Bonbons colors and didn't know if pink would make it all the way around, I used some leftover white (which probably turned out better than a pink border anyway).

I crocheted the sides together, and then went off to do something else.  Then I made handles and continued to procrastinate.  Sewing/joining is my least favorite part of any project, so I did other stuff.


Zoot enjoyed the project in her own way.  And I very slowly considered that maybe at some point I'd start sewing the handles on, and eventually I'd get around to weaving in the loose ends (you know, probably before my friend's daughter went to college).

Zoot passed away a month after the above picture was taken.  I still have a few other WIP that Zoot slept on, but this one was sort of the last.  She slept on it and played with the little balls of yarn and after she died I had to get it out of the house.  So this is the only project Zoot got me to finish faster (after interrupting it a few times).

What with grieving and all I didn't manage to get a picture of the finished bag (and probably shouldn't post pictures of friends' children on my humble little blog), but for me it's probably always going to be the last inadvertent cat bed rather than a magical rainbow bag.

This is the last of the backlog posts for now.  I did some crafting in Zoot's memory, but I'm not ready to post about that yet.  Zoot may make some appearances (which will indicate I've taken my good sweet time finishing something), but this will be her last heavily featured post.

Unforgettable

I want to like Boutique Unforgettable yarn--it's probably accurate to say that I do like it since I like a lot of the colors and I've tried to use it in projects...

...but those projects haven't come out quite right.  They look nice. I still like the colors.  But crocheting with Unforgettable is what happens when you make something in the Pet Semetary.  It just comes back...wrong.

There is no way in hell this yarn is actually worsted weight.  My first encounter with Unforgettable was for the Cluster Stitch Wrap (to the left).  I liked this pattern so much that I actually used the yarn pictured to make it.  Long time readers (hi, Kristen!) know that I generally take the pictured yarn colors in a free pattern as a suggestion.  And maybe even the brand.  That's right, yarn companies, this is one crocheter who's not falling for your scam to give me free patterns to get me to buy your yarn!

So, I dutifully bought this yarn and began stitching.  And then it came out too small.  Think "pastel rainbow wild west bandito" too small.  So I tried again with a larger hook.  Wearable, but still smaller than promised.

 Here's the finest product modeled by Zoot so you can see the insufficient size (although to be fair to the pattern and scarf, Zoot was built like a feline opera singer).

Naturally I learned nothing from this experience and went back to Unforgettable to make the Butterfly Wrap.

Like the yarn, I want to like the Butterfly Wrap.  For mine I used some leftover purple wool and a coordinating shade of Unforgettable.  I don't know if it's the yarn or my burly shoulders, but it does not drape beautifully over my shoulders.  Maybe I would have better luck with Treasure, the yarn it was written for, or something like Lion Brand Landscapes, but the end result is too small.  This could also be a one size fits most problem; even at my skinniest, I still usually needed larger sizes for jackets and cardigans.

State Fair Baby Set 2014

This year I didn't get anything finished in time for the State Fair competitions (or anything finished that I hadn't already sent to its intended recipient), but last year I combined baby gifts with State Fair entries.

Brian's friends Doug and Danielle were expecting a baby, and I found a bunch of gender neutral Pipsqueak yarn.  Pipsqueak is nice to touch (more on that later) and a complete pain in the ass to actually work with.  Since it's so fluffy, it's difficult to actually see the top of each stitch.

As I actually had time and crafty ambitions back in the halcyon days of 2014, I decided to find some yarn to match the Pipsqueak and make a sweater, toy, and blanket.  For the sweater, I used my go-to baby sweater pattern.  In the last year I tried another baby sweater pattern, but then I got bored and the baby got too large.

 Here are the two front pieces, the back, and a sleeve before assembly.  Despite having made at least three of these sweaters, I still have no idea why the right side is smaller than the left side.  Maybe human babies are asymmetrical.

One disadvantage to being so far behind in blogging my projects is trying to remember what I used.  I think the main part of the sweater is Caron Simply Baby in Tiny Sprite.  Caron, Bernat, Lily Sugar n' Cream, and Patons forming the craft-Voltron that is Yarnspirations has explained a lot of my "excellent luck" and "discerning eye" in finding yarns that just happen to match perfectly across different brands.

Once the sweater was assembled, I added the blanket yarn as a trim.

For the toy, I used an amigurumi tiger pattern.  A coral cotton yarn was a "close enough" match for the Pipsqueak, and cotton is generally durable.  Plus, extra hats with the leftovers.

Because I'm fucking brilliant, I made the little cat toy wear a matching sweater.

Brian's favorite picture from this project

Basically, most of the body is made with the green yarn.  The front paws are about 2-3 rows of coral before changing colors to make the "sleeves."  I either left the front loops available for the collar or just sewed it on.

It looks like the cat just has a hairy chest that cannot be contained by a tight sweater, but this is the front of the trim.  That's right--I'm so brilliant but insane that there is this level of detail on this potential chocking hazard.

For the blanket, I used this pattern and alternated Pipsqueak and the sweater yarn.  A pattern may not be necessary for experienced crafters as it's a large rectangle with stripes.  Like a granny square, all the stitches are worked in chain spaces which is the only way to make crocheting with Pipsqueak tolerable.  Making the foundation row and slip stitching at the beginning of each row was like trying to make love to a drunk Muppet in the dark.  With a K hook for a dick.

Basically, I discovered the yarn equivalent of metallic embroidery floss.  Oh, how cute and fluffy it looks!  Oh, how I hate it!

Competition was stiffer in the baby set category in 2014, so this set did not win anything other than repeated gropings from passers-by and a thank you note from the happy parents.  Such is the siren song of Pipsqueak novelty baby yarn that State Fair visitors actually rubbed their grubby little hands all over it before going to get more fried Oreos (yes, I washed it before giving it.  Zoot probably slept on it too).

My cat passed away in June.

This probably isn't the best way to start my first post in over a year--especially since my job, rather than my cat, was what really got in the way of crafting and posting--but Zoot always wanted to be a part of crafting.  If you received a crocheted gift from me before June 2015, Zoot either slept on it or wanted to play with the yarn while I was making it.  She also sat on the stamped tissue paper while I was decoupaging reindeer, and she liked to sleep in the middle of wreaths.

This has been a difficult summer because Zoot always wanted to be nearby, and now she's gone.  It's also forced me to confront one of my unfinished projects.

Years ago I started this pillow for Zoot.  And then I never finished.  I got distracted by other, quicker projects, and I learned that I'm really terrible with anything involving lots of squares and eventually having to join those squares.  Honestly, I don't think I ever would have gotten around to finishing it, but now it's too late.

The squares will probably join the ones from my grandmother's house and eventually made into small blankets for shelter animals.  "Eventually" being short for "eventually when I stop beating myself up over this one unfinished project."

A happier post (still involving Zoot) next time, but for today I'm still sad (and why drag somebody's gift into that?).

Rammy

 Apparently I've been so caught up in the fun and excitement of being underemployed that I never posted Rammy.

Rammy was made for Kristen's birthday.  Nothing says "Happy Birthday, UNC Legal Staff" like turning a Kid Robot Mini Raffy into a bootleg UNC toy.

When I first imagined the Raffy to Rammy transition, I considered sculpting beautiful Carolina blue horns.  Fortunately this delirium passed, and I bought a paint pen instead.

After Rammy's face was completed, Rammy was decapitated for fleecing purposes.  This involved gluing pom poms onto a decapitated giraffe body.

The only difference between DIY giraffes and DIY sheep is one's willingness to glue pom poms.  Also, I'd like to thank Munnyworld for not giving this thing the most distinctive feature of a giraffe so that it could easily be turned into a ram.

Rammy now lives happily among the actual licensed rams.