There Go All Those Little Alleyways...

Ankh-Morpork Inspired Touque – from the Discworld Series by Sir Terry Pratchett

Imagine a flat world floating through space on the back of four elephants, who, in turn, are on the back of a giant turtle and you have Discworld. On the Discworld is a city called Ankh-Morpork where failed wizards rub elbows with heroes, assassins, trolls, and the wee folk. This is what I imagine a citizen of Ankh-Morpork would wear. 

Materials:

(2) Contrasting Colors of Bulky Weight Yarn (one ball of approx 100 yds each should work).  Any weight and hook could work, just make sure it doesn’t get to peakish before your edge is wide enough.

Size 5.0 Crochet hook, or one what doesn’t vex you too much if your yarn is very complicated.

(1) large eyed yarn needle for weaving the ends in.

Pattern: 

First step: measure the circumference of the recipient’s head.   Divide by four and round up to the nearest  ½” .  For instance, my head is approx 22”, which means that the bottom of each hat panel with be 5.5” across. 

Hat Panel (make 4)

Ch 14.

Row 1 – sc in the 2^nd chain from hook and continue until one cH remains.  Work 3 sc in the last CH. Turn work so that your next stitches are made in the bottom side of the chain, directly opposite of the ones you just made (28 stitches)   Chain 1, Turn.

Row 2 – sc in each stitch until you reach the center stitch of the three 3c you made in of the previous ARCH.  Make 3 sc in the center stitch and continue with sc to the other side of the ARCH.  Pick up your contrasting color.

Here’s an example of what a NOT-SO-Complicated yarn looks like.

 

Remaining ARCHES:  Work as for Turn 2, switching colors as alternately until the straight side of the hat panel reaches the measurement you determined would be your head circumference divided by four.  (For me it was 5.5 inches.)   Fasten off.  

Construction:

Sew the four panels together so that each peak of the ARCH is at the crown and the flat part becomes the part of the hat near your face .   I recommend pausing at this point to weave your ends in so you have a nice Clean line to start with before you start the edging band.

Edging:  Join whichever color you wish at any point on the Straight EDGE, ch 1 and sc evenly around the open end of the hat and join.   Try it on.  This will give you an idea of how many rows you will need to make the edging band and if your hat is just a little too big around you can do a few evenly spaced decreases until it’s as snug as you like it. 

Continue with as many rounds of sc until your edging band is long enough to suit you.   Fasten off and weave in the edging band ends. 

Up Up and Away! Aviator Inspired Scarf

Okay, so I took a stab at offering this pattern for sale at a price of $2.00, but I got no bites. So in honor of my offering it for free, please consider making a donation to my fundraising efforts for the Tyanna Foundation at the Baltimore Marathon Here: http://www.active.com/donate/TeamTyanna2011/Yarnmonkey

And now the pattern:

Pattern:

Materials:

Color A - 1 skein of Bernat Felting Natural Wool, 2.60 oz / 75 g, 84 yd / 77 m – Colorway: “Iris”

Color B - 1 skein of Stitch Nation Bamboo Ewe, 55% viscose from Bamboo, 45% Wool, 177 yd (162 m) per 3.5 oz (100 g) Colorway: “Twilight”

Hook: J – 6.0

Nations: Yarn needle

With Color B, Ch 22.

Pick up Color A, and carry it along under your stitches.

Row 1 – Sc in 2^nd chain from hook. *ch1, sk1 chain, sc in next stitch** repeat from * to ** ending the row with a sc. Ch1, turn. Loop color A up gently so you can stitch over it in the next row.

Row 2 – Sc in first stitch, *ch1, sc in sc made in row below**. Repeat from * to **.

Row 3-Finish – Repeat Row 2.

You may wish to smooth your rows as you finish them to ensure an even edge and the roving doesn’t pull your stitches inward.

Finish: Weave ends in. Block gently, if desired.

Here's the chart!

For those who would like the full-graphics awesomely designed by my boyfriend pattern with the history behind the person I am dedicating the pattern to, please e-mail me at totouchistoheal@gmail.com.

Toodles!

Gratutitous Child photos

The Journey of 1000 Stitches begins with an idea.

I have had the vision of exactly what I want in a garment floating around in my head for several months now. I tried several times to modify existing patterns to my idea and always the finished product wasn't quite right.

The bodice was too big...It didn't come together the way I wanted it to in the center...it was too tight under the arms... You get the picture.

At least five "almosts" later I was successful in creating The Frankentank. It had everything I wanted. Correctly fitting straps, a snug bodice, and a skirt that had a nice drape to cover the squishier parts of my..ahem...waistline.

The message here? Don't give up on YOUR vision.

Consult stitch dictionaries and patterns. Look closely at garments that are similar to get a feel for how an element was done. Ask other fiber artists what they would do in cases where you're coming up against roadblocks. Make similar items to get a better understanding of the flow and keep asking yourself questions.

Would I have more control over the drape going bottom up or top down? Is the yarn right? Would a taller or shorter stitch work better?

With each try you will learn one or two new things and you will be able to create what your minds eye sees. Remember, with crochet almost all things are possible.

Good luck!

Doggie Dentures Skinny Scarf

This faux-houndstooth (doggie dentures - get it??) -guitar-strap inspired scarf is a super-quick gift that can be worked up in a couple of hours and is appropriate for anyone on your list because YOU choose the colors and how many rows you do depending on the recipient.

I left it skinny because I was feeling all hipster-like, but you could do a few extra rows if you like.

Materials:

Really, any yarn will do - just increase or decrease your hook depending on the weight. For these examples, I used 1 ball each of:

Stitch Nation Bamboo Ewe and Red Heart Bamboo Wool for the purple and pink one.

I used Paton's wool for the Neon/Gray.

Hook Size: H (5mm)

Notions: I think everyone needs a friend named Nigel and you might need a yarn needle for weaving in the ends.

Ready to get your scarf on?

With Color A -

CH 301.

Color A

Row 1 - sc in 1st ch. *Sk 1 ch. Sc, ch 1 in the next ch. * Repeat *-* until you sc in the last chain.

Row 2 - Sc in First sc, *sc, ch1 in the last row's ch1 space*, Repeat *-* until sc in last stitch, join Color B at the end of the row.

Row 3-4 - Repeat Row 2 with color B, return to Color A at the end of Row 4.

Now just keep repeating Row 2 until your scarf is wide enough for your tastes.

Fasten off, and weave in your ends. You may choose to tassle or not to tassle and leave it squared off at the end. It's entirely up to you. If you want to really make it look like a guitar strap, I'll be publishing directions for that in the next few days along with photos of some other yarn-weight and color choice examples.

Good luck!

I keep meaning to update this blog but life keeps getting in the way and just because I haven't been blogging doesn't mean that I'm not stitching and learning, learning and stitching. Here are some updates:

Things I've Learned:

You can make a garment and dye it, rather than bending a yarn to your will. Like so:

I was a little disappointed in the red blobs everywhere, but this is a learning process, right? Learn from the red blobs and move on. With this jacket, I also learned how to lay in a zipper.


It's okay to make things you wouldn't necessarily wear just for the practice because you may end up liking them enough to wear them:

oooooohhhh....stripey.....


And I can probably get away with this at work. This was actually entered for judging at the Allentown Fair last weekend along with the toilet paper cozy, a baby set, a sushi pillow, a shawl, and some other things I can't remember right now.

Other fun stuff:

You can soak a doily with dye or this cool Bingo dotter-style stuff called Tee Juice and print it onto a T-shirt by rolling a soda bottle across it. My only recommendation on that one is to use a dollar store doily rather than spending a couple of days making one just to ruin it on purpose. For a twist, lay a funky stencil over the t-shirt or layout a couple of random words in art tape before you lay the down the doily. You'll have a neat image in the doily that might not be readily visible unless someone looks really close. (Photos to come.)

Next time: The Frankensweater!

(Piecing a new design from patterns you've mastered to make something awesome.)

Yeah, I was THAT kid.

You know the one.  Weird shirts.  Boy's shoes.  Riding a bike without a left pedal.   The one who could be counted on to be the only one being yelled by the teacher for disrupting the class.  I was probably walking backwards in line or something.  

I gloss over all that strange, annoying behavior by telling myself I was a rebel.  Not following directions was my 8- year -old way of lashing out at the establishment.  Yeah, right.  

Crochet lets you be a rebel but over the last 30 years I've learned that there is a time and place to rebel.  And there's a time to follow the directions.  This is one of those times. 

I had attempted this sweater before, not minding the warning not to use acrylic.  Not paying as close attention to the pattern as I should have...and as expected it was a big. giant. disaster. 

So, I had enough of a really great yarn to try it again.  I also had something to prove.