Revisiting the Bucket List

Several years ago, I made a bucket list of what I wanted to make.  The original post came up as a related post, so I decided to see what I’ve actually done.  I could actually strike some items off the list – wow!

So, revising the bucket list … Here is what was on my original bucket lists, and how I’ve done …

1)  Entrelac – learn how to knit and crochet entrelac correctly – nope, not yet.  I’m still doing the biased basketweave pattern.  Will remain on the list.

2)  Granny Squares with a Zigzag Twist – nope, not yet.  Will remain on the list.

3)  Apache Teardrops – nope.  Having second thoughts on whether I still like this.

4)  A hexagon project – Yes !!!  The African Violets !  I still want to add to it, to make it bigger.

5)  The Cathedral Rose Window Afghan – Stained Glass Afghan – Kaleidoscope Afghan – Nope.  Will remain on the list.

6)  Kitchener stitch and seamless grafting – nope.  I’ve sort of figured out a way to join seamlessly, but this will remain on the list.

7)  A lacy beach coverup – yes !   Here’s the post  and another one, if you want to read all about it.   And one already in progress 🙂

8)  A fine-lace/fingering weight project. Yes!  I’ve worked more and more with fingering weight yarn.  I do have hanks of lace in the stash, but haven’t started anything with that yet.  And while this is not quite a fine lace project, there is ‘lace’ in the title – does that count?  Hawaiian Lace and Busco Gancho Lace 

9)  A Japanese pattern – any pattern.  Nope – will remain on the list.

10)  A woven blanket made with the Cricket loom.  Yes !!  And am planning on starting another one, before I forget how to use the loom and weave.  This 5-panel blanket had me woven out, after I finished working on it.

11)  Mandala Crochet Coat – nope.  But will definitely remain on the list, since I’m drawing a lot of mandalas, anyway.  One of those designs will end up as a coat, since I now have the basics on how to crochet a coat or jacket 🙂   Oh yes, although not a mandala, I did crochet two coats last year!  Yaaayyy!!

 

Not originally on the list, but I added ponchos to my mental list, even though I think at some point I said I wasn’t going to make those.

Surprisingly, I don’t have any new major thing to add … Just more ideas to make the same things with different yarns or patterns, like the coat, beach cover-ups, and woven blankets.

But the year is young … something may come up yet!  🙂

Do you have a crafty bucket list?  How are you doing with it?

 

 

 

 

Weekend Non-Projects

It’s the first day of spring !!

Happy Spring!!  Yaaayyy – It actually feels like spring today, with the temperatures actually warming up later today.  Then it’s back to winter on Wednesday, with a forecast of snow …

I’m still on the hunt for a crochet project for National Crochet Month.  I’ll even settle for a knit project for National Craft month instead 😉

So with spring and warmer weather on the mind, I picked up a skein of Prism, because I liked the colours – when it was wound up in a ball/skein.  Now that I’m working on it, these colours are not calling to me.  Maybe it’s the wrong pattern.  I don’t think I’m continuing with this … By the way, I’m almost done with this ball, and this shawl is barely wrapping around my shoulders.  So definitely the wrong pattern, because you’re supposed to get a decent sized shawl with just one ball, right?  Or not?

Last night – at midnight, actually, because I wasn’t really sleepy yet and was browsing Pinterest and also it was at that moment that I decided that I wanted to try something – I started this.  I’d been wanting to work with the Caron Cakes in Pistachio, but wasn’t sure what to make of it.  I thought maybe a summer poncho in a lacy pattern would look good with this, since it’s a worsted weight yarn.  Another variation of a pattern, or more of two patterns combined.  *sigh*  I’m liking the pattern – which I’m making up as I go along – but now thinking that it may be a bit heavy for summer … Needs to be more lacy …

We’ll see.  I haven’t given up on it yet.  I have another two cakes, so I hope it’s enough for the poncho.  Or wrap.  Or something that can be done with three cakes, because I’m being good and it’s not time to buy yarn yet 🙂

And I saw the Rick Rack Rib stitch last week, and had to try it out.  I thought I had ‘memorized’ the pattern when I first saw it, but found out later that I was missing a k1 or a p1 in between the rick racks.  The darker colour is the wrong stitch, although I’m sort of liking that too.  The red colour is the correct sequence.

This is becoming a sampler of practice knit stitches  That’s the herringbone in the grey part, that I had to try a couple of weeks ago.   And I can’t remember what I was doing with the darker red colour.  It started out with practice on the mesh/lace stitch, but I don’t know what happened in between.  And I didn’t want to frog, because it didn’t look bad, and also because I don’t like to frog knit projects because I can’t pick up the correct number of stitches again after that :o)

And that’s my non-projects for the weekend.  They may or may not be frogged – well, the first one is definitely going to be frogged and turned into something else.  And I’m set on working on the Pistachio and finishing something with it, and perhaps have it ready for another out-of-state soccer tournament in a couple of weeks. And the knit sampler – well, that’s probably going to sit until I see another knit stitch that I want to practise on 🙂

Have a good spring day!

 

 

Through the Years

Charisse told me that she could see the evolution of my knitting and crochet … from the first projects she got, to the current ones I’m working on.

I had forgotten some of these experiments, which she gladly took in … From the simple beanies and patterns, to the present and hopefully more advanced stitches.  I must say that the quality, choices and diversity of the yarns available in the market has also improved over the years.

So, here’s a time capsule of my projects that Charisse has accumulated.  She even sent me pics of those that I didn’t have one of, because in the beginning, I didn’t think to take pictures of what I made.

My first beanies … yikes!  look at those joining lines!

 

These were my first beanies … plain, simple, single or double crochet.  I used the colours of the yarn to make the patterns, rather than the stitches.

That’s when variegated and self-striping yarn became a favourite … I could use any stitch, and didn’t have to think about colour changes, or cutting and joining.

Simple, basic stitches still looks good to me, and my fingers automatically start a hat with those stitches.

 

 

 

 

  More hat experiments, adding the raised stitches and front and back post stitches.  More experimentation with different fibers as well – that orange and pink hat is a polar-tec hat.

I was also coming out of my knitting comfort zone more … That cowl is basic knit and purl, but there was a ssk in there *gasp*

That cowl looks warm and cozy, and that pattern might be just the one I can use to work with new yarn …

 

 

 

This was the first hat that I successfully free-winged, knitting from the bottom up, to the decrease to the top.  Somehow, my stitches were the right number, my decrease was even, and the close at the top was good.  Then I crocheted the scarf … I didn’t know if my luck would hold out and I would get a good knitted scarf.

 

That cowl … Another experiment with the front and back post stitch, but I used a bulky yarn.  We joked that it could also be used as a skirt.

 

That cowl looks so warm and cozy!   Looks like a basic knit ribbed stitch, and I let the yarn do all the wrok.

 

Another basic beanie, and a super-bulky cowl.  I was trying to recreate an ‘Outlander’ scarf, but ended up with another pattern.

 

An off-the-shoulder wrap, done in bulky yarn.  The original pattern was for fingering weight, but I was too impatient to finish 400 yds of yarn … I used a bulky yarn instead.  It’s a nice pattern, and perhaps one day I’ll make one in fingering weight yarn ….

 

Ahhh … the year of the braided earwarmers.  I still have two that I use, and they’re coming in very handy during these cold days.  The cowl was knit by the swimming pool when I was in Goma, DRC a couple of years ago.  It’s knit with big and small needles, in an alternate lace and solid pattern.  That was one of the few times that I was inspired to follow a pattern and actually stick to it, for the whole pattern – no tweaking, no changing a stitch.

I also started making capelets and ponchos, which had always been on the to-do list.

 

And my current pattern obsession – the Poncho Capelet (you can read about it here).  I’ve got three other WIPs of the same pattern, different yarn :o)   I need to finish them before winter is done!

 

This is a modified Baktus pattern scarf, using bamboo yarn (you can read about it here).  I wasn’t sure at first how it would come out, with the thick and thin yarn, but it came out nice and really soft.  Now I’m thinking of getting more of the yarn and making another one for me.

And that’s the evolution of my knitting and crocheting.  Do I still make mistakes?  Yes.   And I still tweak the pattern when I get lost in the pattern … or miscount …  But I’ve come out of my comfort zone, and venturing out to more ‘advanced’ patterns.

And maybe someday I’ll try knitting socks !  lol

Happy knitting and crocheting, everyone!

 

 

 

 

Crochet Unevenly

I thought I was done with this modified Baktus pattern scarf.  Vaguely, I remembered reading of a scarf pattern that was straight on one side, and the increase and decrease was on the other side.  As usual, miscalculating on the amount of yarn and the number of stitches, I finished the two balls of yarn that I had with a scarf that was more of a trapezoid than an obtuse triangle.  So I put it away …

Until I discovered two more balls stashed away in my ‘yarn for current WIPs’ that I had forgotten about !  You see why you need to organize your yarn, so that you know how much yarn you have for a project that you’re working on, or know where to look for more?  lol … Oh, and now I know what this yarn is … the first two didn’t have labels, so I didn’t know if I could find these selling anywhere.   These two balls had the labels folded and inserted in the middle of the wound-up balls.

Good …  I could use the two balls to knit a border around, making the scarf bigger and wider.  The stitches would be perpendicular to the body, but I figured that would be an interesting design instead.  hmmm … just noticed that I’m using a lot of geometry terms for this scarf …

I got tired of picking up stitches, so I decided that I would just crochet the border around, instead of cramming all those stitches to knit on the circular needles.  Pattern instructions would usually say ‘crochet evenly around’.  Well, because of the thick and think strands, and the resulting thick and thin stitches, it didn’t feel that it was an even crocheting around.  I continued on, anyway, loosening and tightening the stitches as I went along.  Every once in a while, I would insert two single crochets in a loose stitch, so that the yarn wasn’t pulling across tightly with one single crochet, or too loose because it stretched too much.

So now, I have another finished scarf … yaaayy !  It is in some sort of triangle shape now, and the border edges are kind of rolling up  … but it’s so nice and soft and squishy …

 

Four Seasons Cowl

I know I’ve posted about this WIP before, but I’ve now named this my Four Seasons Cowl.  I had four lone skeins, and in colourways that were close to the seasons.  So Four Seasons Cowl it is.

I always wanted to knit the linen stitch again, after my first try – the Downton Abbey Cowl – some years ago.  This is how far I’ve got and coming along nicely.   I like how the colours play against each other and make up patterns as the piece progresses.  And these colourways are playing out nicely, don’t you think?  Hmm … looks like watercolours in this photo …

This is Fall and Winter.  Technically, it was still fall/autumn (before 21/22 December) when I started, so this part is the fall/autumn. It’s got the oranges and purples.

Winter is the darker blues/greens/purplish hank.  Although it doesn’t represent our winter weather this year.  It’s been unseasonably warm, and even though we’ve had a blizzard and snowstorm, it’s still not as bad as in previous years.  I shouldn’t complain … I really don’t want winter to stay too long.

And I started on Spring, with the bright colours.  Yes, we’re a little ahead of the seasons, but then I’ll be finished in time to use this for spring, right?

Hoping to start on Summer soon … maybe this weekend … but I already have the 5-Panel blanket on the weekend project list … and the African Violets … *sigh* … we’ll see how it goes …  

What’s on your hooks and needles this weekend?

Happy Weekend all !

 

 

Twinkly Orange and Purple

And we’re back!

Can’t believe it’s been so long since I’ve been able to post on anything here.  Summer started, and everything suddenly started happening …

I had to take an office trip out of the country at the last minute and of course, that threw all the schedules off.  I did remember to pack two WIPs – one of which I frogged – and extra yarn, needles, hooks …

Since I’ve been back, I haven’t exactly been inspired to knit and crochet either.  I got some new yarn, and with ideas bubbling in my head of the projects that I wanted to work on, somehow, it didn’t work out.  After I started knitting or crocheting ten rows, it wasn’t looking right so I’ve been frogging more than working on anything.  I’m just working on finishing a WIP now.

One thing that I did finish before the trip was this Busco Gancho Lace shawl.  I finished it in time for the trip and used it throughout, and got many compliments on it 🙂  I haven’t seen the pattern released yet, so I’ll update this if and when it is released by the designer.

The yarn is SWTC Little Star in two colourways, and the sparkle in the yarn reminds me of twinkling stars.

Here’s what it looks like during blocking.  Since then, I haven’t been able to take any photos of the shawl after blocking, but you can see from these that the pattern makes for a nice drape.  I’ m already planning to make several in different colourways … soon as I get my cro-jo back …

Hawaiian Lace

I made the deadline!!

Cutting it close, but I knew that I would be staying up late during the weekend and would get a lot done.  Anyways … here’s the finished shawl … blocked and cleaned up, and modeled by Charisse!

I used a portable steamer to block this.  The yarn, SWTC Pure, was 100% soysilk, and I didn’t want to risk soaking it, and then squeezing or accidentally wringing too hard and pull it out of shape.  I laid it out on the bed on top of two beach towels (those were the only ones big enough for this).  I held the steamer about an inch off the top, and gently pulled and flattened it into shape while steaming.  After a last pull to even out, I left it drying for a couple of hours.

It’s a nice and easy pattern, good for beginners, and even though the middle – mesh – part seemed to take ages to finish, it looks good.  Even Tin says the mesh part looks complicated, so you know it looks good.  It’s light and airy, and big enough to wrap around you, without it feeling heavy, even if you throw the ends over your shoulders for a tighter wrap,.

The pattern is available on Ravelry – Hawaiian Lace.  Go and check it out.

And since that’s my pattern obsession for now, I’m going to continue and finish this other one I started at the same time as the red one … remember this?  I’ll probably take my time doing this .. This one is a bit fiddly to work with …