Ok, I’m done for the day, for reals
OMG I actually crocheted something
I’ve always been a knitter and I never liked the look of crocheted items. It makes me think of grandmas, macrame and avocado-colored appliances. I feel like a person either learns to knit or crochet and rarely does she cross the line to the other side. I consider crochet the dark side. It’s like skiing and snowboarding. I grew up skiing and I never could get used to my legs being attached to one giant ski.
But I decided I should learn how to crochet in case I ever find myself stranded in some nursing home with a hank of Red Heart craft yarn and only one hook.
Also, if ever I should create a blanket from yarn, it would have to be crocheted. The idea of knitting a blanket — row after repetitive row — makes me gag a little. At least with crocheting you can make dozens of individual squares in a matter of minutes and then stitch them together like a quilt and voila — a blanket for cold people to enjoy on the couch.
What a stupid, stupid idea. After selecting a somewhat complicated granny square pattern (I believe it’s called the vampire fang square) I set off creating my ideal blanket. After about 35 squares I realized that not only to I have to weave in the 10 loose yarn ends of every square, I’d also have to block each square and then stitch them all together and then crochet a border around the whole thing. GOD, what a nightmare.
So I shelved the idea. Six months later I came across a huge crochet hook in my stash of yarn. Huge hook calls for huge yarn. Huge yarn makes bigger squares. I tossed the whole vampire square project and started on a simple granny square blanket, but this time with HUGE yarn. I ended up with giant squares. Eureka! All I have to do is make 9-12 squares now and it will be the size of the blanket I originally wanted to make.
I’ve made 6.5. I can’t get myself to make any more.
So on to today’s project — a granny stitch hat.
It took three tries, but I used some scrap yarn and came up with this:
I honestly couldn’t imagine how the series of stitches I was creating would turn into a hat. It was like magic. Reading crochet patterns totally sucks. It’s like reading bass clef. I know what the terms mean if I really think hard about it.
Granny Beanie
Ingredients:
Worsted weight yarn (1/2 a skein?)
Size J crochet hook
darning needle
Stitches Used: Double Crochet (dc), Single Crochet (sc), Chain (ch), Slip St (sl st)
Pattern
Ch 4, join with sl st to form ring.
Rnd 1: Ch 3 (counts as first dc now and throughout), 2 dc inside ring, ch 1, (3 dc in ring, ch 1) 3 times, join to third ch of beg ch 3. (12 dc, 4 ch 1 spaces)
Rnd 2: Sl st in next dc, Ch 3, 2 dc in same stitch, ch 1, (3 dc in next ch 1 sp, ch 1, skip next dc, 3 dc in next dc, ch 1) around, 3 dc in last ch 1 sp, ch 1, join to third ch of beg ch 3. (24 dc, 8 ch 1 spaces)
Rnd 3: Repeat rnd 2. (48 dc, 16 ch 1 spaces)
Rnd 4: Sl st in each of the next 2 dc and in next ch sp, ch 3, 2 dc in same sp, ch 1, (3 dc in next ch sp, ch 1) around, join to third ch of beg ch 3.
Rnd 5 onward: Repeat rnd 4 over and over until it’s the right depth for you
Rnd 1: Ch 3 (counts as first dc now and throughout), 2 dc inside ring, ch 1, (3 dc in ring, ch 1) 3 times, join to third ch of beg ch 3. (12 dc, 4 ch 1 spaces)
Rnd 2: Sl st in next dc, Ch 3, 2 dc in same stitch, ch 1, (3 dc in next ch 1 sp, ch 1, skip next dc, 3 dc in next dc, ch 1) around, 3 dc in last ch 1 sp, ch 1, join to third ch of beg ch 3. (24 dc, 8 ch 1 spaces)
Rnd 3: Repeat rnd 2. (48 dc, 16 ch 1 spaces)
Rnd 4: Sl st in each of the next 2 dc and in next ch sp, ch 3, 2 dc in same sp, ch 1, (3 dc in next ch sp, ch 1) around, join to third ch of beg ch 3.
Rnd 5 onward: Repeat rnd 4 over and over until it’s the right depth for you
Final Row: Ch1, SC into every stitch. Sl st into first ch of row and weave in all ends with a darning needle.
Now all I need is to learn to crochet a flower. Oh yeah! That’s the real reason I taught myself to crochet. I wanted a flower on a knitted hat. I still haven’t learned to do it, but maybe now that I’m more familiar with crocheting I can figure it out.
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Harlequin Cowl
I was up to the wee hours finishing this cowl. It took a toll on my fingers. All that knitting two together gave me bruises on my hands, but I love the finished product. Thank you daylight savings time!
Things I would do differently next time:
- On the trim, do knit2, purl2
- Make it 112 stitches so it can wrap easily around twice
- Not use three strands of yarn at a time because it was really tough to knit 2 together with all that bulk
Otherwise, I’m happy I have a neckwarmer to match my headband and gauntlets. It’s nice not having to deal with long scarf ends.
Onto a new project!
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Posting No. 1
So I’ve been tinkering with the idea of starting a blog and I think it’s high time I do. It’s mainly for my own benefit — I make so much stuff I can’t keep track of it all. In addition to knitting (hence the Knit Nat title), I cook, sew and repurpose things. This blog is a catalog of all things Craft.
I’ve wanted to knit myself a cowl for the winter and I finally used my $25 credit at the Quilt Tree to purchase the most beautiful yarns for it. I did a lot of Ravelry research yesterday and found a pattern that was simple enough. It’s an easy lace pattern.
Just how luscious is this yarn?
I shall call this project the Harlequin Cowl.
Ingredients:
24-inch size 9 circular needle
1 skien of Cascade Lana Bambu color 11 & 2 skeins of Ironstone Sunset color
1 stitch marker
Cast on 104 stitches. Place marker and join yarn, being careful not to twist the work.
k4, p4 for three rows (or however wide you want the trim to be)
row 1:*k2tog, yo*, repeat ** till end of row (don’t forget that the last stitch of the row is a yarn over.)
row 2 and all even rows: knit
repeat this pattern till project is wide enough to your liking
k4, p4 for three rows and bind off.
Here’s what I have so far:
Alaska Knit Nat 