Tag Archives: crochet

Squishy cable love

Posted on January 19, 2024 | 7 comments

I had forgotten how much fun it is to knit cables, especially with bulky yarn.

cabled knitting
When Harry Met Lucy

It’s mesmerizing to watch the cables develop. I just finished Row 50 of the back. Yes, there are two row counters because the center cable has a 32 row repeat, and the side cables have a 24 row repeat.

I put the charts inside a page protector to give it some body, and I’m using my ribbon covered magnets from a Slipped Stitch Studios pattern keeper to keep track of which row(s) I’m on. Why not just use the pattern keeper? Because the magnets only work if the chart is printed in portrait mode, and I can read them better printed in landscape mode!

The next step in the sweater process is deciding if I want to modify the drop shoulder for a better fit for DH. I modified this favorite sweater for him (Sky Lights from North Island Designs, not on Ravelry because it’s THAT old), so I put it on the floor to measure it.

Helpful Knitting Cat Bisquee

I’ve measured all the important bits: Length to armhole, cut in at armhole, armhole depth, neck width, overall length of sweater and sleeve. Now to translate it to the current knit…

We’ve had an ice storm on top of a snowstorm, so we’ve been cooped up inside. Perfect weather for knitting, and for baking.

Calvin helped me make blueberry muffins. He can smell melted butter from the other room.

The birds are puffed up against the cold, and hungry, so I put out bird seed.

I’m ready for the ice to melt. And I need to start getting ready to go to VKLive NYC next week. Must. Stop. Knitting. Sweater. For now at least! How are things where you are?

7 Comments

Posted in cat, KAL, Knit, yarn

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Astoria StitchFest 2014

Posted on July 15, 2014 | 5 comments

Do you love knitting and/or crocheting? Do you love the Oregon Coast? Here’s a winning combo for you: Astoria StitchFest. This is a brand new event October 10-12 in Astoria, Oregon. I’ll be teaching there, along with Sivia Harding, Mary Scott Huff, and Laurinda Reddig.

I’m teaching Cast On/Bind Off, Blocking, Entrelac, and a new class, Slip Stitch Designing. I’m especially stoked about sharing the magic of slip stitch knitting, which results in colorful patterning, but only one color is worked per row. Here’s an example of a slip stitch cowl I designed.

starwood detail

I hope you’ll come join us in Astoria this fall. More details about the classes, the StitchFeast dinner on Friday, and places to stay in Astoria are on the website.

5 Comments

Posted in events, Knit

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monogamous knitting

Posted on July 3, 2013 | 14 comments

I’m back! I was traveling last week. I took two knitting projects with me. One was my Garland shawl, and the other was the beginning of a Filigree shawl.

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I guess I really am a monogamous knitter at heart. I only worked on the Garland shawl; I never even looked at the Filigree. I had been worried about trying to knit with beads on this trip, because we were spending a week on this 65 foot catamaran.

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(The Ouvea V)

Surprisingly, bead knitting wasn’t a problem, as long as I wasn’t knitting while we were actively sailing. Which is no time to be knitting, anyway.

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(hanging out at Monkey Point, Guana Island, a great snorkeling spot)

We were celebrating my mother-in-law’s significant birthday, and it was a blast. Our family of 10 spent a week in the British Virgin Islands on a crewed charter (captain, chef, hostess). It was a blissful week of sailing, snorkeling, and beaches.

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(The Baths at Virgin Gorda)

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(Above the Bubbly Pool at Diamond Cay, Jost Van Dyke)

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(DH getting away from it all, Benures Bay, Norman Island)

And sunsets…

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I found a couple of these little shells on the last beach of the trip (Benures Bay, Norman Island). So cute!

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It’s a coffeebean trivia (false cowrie). They’re about a centimeter long. They look like smiles on the other side.

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I brought them home and turned them into the centerpieces of a little keepsake project. Ankle bracelets, one for me and one for sis-in-law. These remind me of sand and the color of the sea when the sun is shining on shallow waters. (I had to drill holes in them to string them; I did that with a bead reamer.)

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The instructions for these beaded bracelets (or necklace, or whatever) are in my free Victoriana Bracelet pattern. They’re made with a crochet chain with a few beads worked in. Pick some beads and make one for yourself, and one for a friend!

Back to my Garland, and real life…

14 Comments

Posted in beading, Other craftiness, travel

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Free and easy…Victoriana bracelet pattern

Posted on November 11, 2012 | 3 comments

My crochet beaded bracelet class didn’t happen Saturday; not enough people signed up for it. I did these at a party last week with my Crafty Moms group, and we had a great time. I’m guessing that this project may be a better bead store offering than a yarn store offering, and that’s ok.

All dressed up and no place to go? I wrote a pattern for the class, but it’s so simple that I’m going to offer it as a freebie. You can download it here. Victoriana

These bracelets are simple and quick, and they make great gifts. The fun is in choosing just the right beads for your project.

I use pre-threaded silk cord, because it’s easier to thread beads with small holes (no doubling the cord back through a needle), but do as you like. The only stitch used is a crocheted chain stitch; we had several non-crocheters at our gathering and they had no problem learning this simple stitch. Gauge is not an issue; you just go until it’s long enough.

Enjoy!

3 Comments

Posted in beading, pattern design, tutorial

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Beads and the C-word

Posted on April 13, 2012 | 11 comments

I was inspired by Nancy Ricci’s Facebook post of a beautiful beaded necklace that she had crocheted. She made it with C-lon thread, a size 1.75 mm crochet hook, and lots of beads. I had to give it a try.

strung

You begin by pre-stringing all your beads on to the thread. The last bead you thread will be the first that gets crocheted in. I found that a dental floss threader was a big help for stringing beads, but it’s hard to get the relatively thick thread through some of those tiny bead holes, and using the threader means that it’s a double thickness going through.

Nancy crocheted one stitch between each beaded stitch. I decided I liked the look of two chain stitches between each bead.

crocheted

You can see my progress from threaded beads to crocheted beads here.

transit

I originally thought I was going to make three graduated strands, but I didn’t like the way they looked as singles. They kind of curl back on themselves, and I wanted stick-straight strands. I decided to make them all the same length, and braid them slightly to give them some heft. As I was finishing the last 4 inches of beads, my strands got straighter, so there may have been some operator error involved.

done

I finished the ends of each strand with knot covers (there may be another name for these clamshells that cover your knots) and connected them to a jump ring, which I then connected to a toggle set. (Like the gecko?) The knot covers aren’t quite the same color as the toggle set, but they’re close enough. They look like beads.

gecko

When I was done, I wasn’t sure I liked the necklace, because it wasn’t what I had envisioned. But I’ve been wearing it today to see how it hangs, and I like it more and more.

on

(Ah, yes, the bathroom mirror picture.) Too bad it’s not for me! If I were to do it again, I think I’d see about bigger beads (to give it more visual weight and maybe hang straighter? and then I could have my three graduated strands) or thinner C-lon (it comes in weights, but there was only one weight at the bead store) for these smaller beads. I wanted to put some freshwater pearls in, but the thread was too thick for the holes in the pearls. More fun things to play with!

11 Comments

Posted in beading

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