WIP Wednesday

Feels like I haven't done this in ages!

But I've been busy... soooooo busy... and even crochet busy!

I've been working on a short sleeved sweater for Zoë.















It's pretty much done, except for the crown I'm embroidering on the front. I found a free image and traced it with a children's felt tip pen. Comes off in warm wash, absolutely perfect! The yarn is superwash merino wool, so I'm not concerned. Yeah, and I'll block it after washing to add some length (I was stingy on the yarn...). But I think I'll have to stitch around the crown again, it's not as visible as I'd like it to be... oh, but the matching scrunchy and bracelet are done:

Also, I am crazy busy designing my own patterns. My head is full of ideas and I plan staring selling my patterns by January... The first one is pretty much finished, just working on the photography and getting it written up all nice and proper. Here's a little peak:

AND: An old friend of my husband's just became a father and we only found out today, after the baby boy has already been born. So I'e absolutely got to up with something really quickly! And make it a bit bigger, probably...

So, I'm too lazy to link to all the places I can think of. This means I'm just linking to my favorite crochet-person in the world: Kristine! ;-)

Free Pattern: Granny Sleeves

I made this beautiful wrap for my Mother's birthday

and the yarn was just soooooo yielding I figured I could make something for myself! And because I just love the look of the cluster stitches on the wrap I went for something with granny squares. I was going to come up with my own pattern but then I realized that I was combining two patterns: Nina Leon's Ribbed Sleevo Scarf and Suzetta Williams' Granny Scarf.

But I'll still give you a pattern for what I did, I call them my Granny Sleeves!

And you can also wear them as a scarf if it's too hot for long sleeves! So, here's the pattern:


Yarn: dk weight (I used just under 400 yards, but I'm tiny...)
Hook: 4mm (G)


Gauge is not important, you'll be working with the actual measurements


Colors: A = beige, B=pink, C=green (Just letting you know what I used, pick whatever you like!)


(1) 
In color A chain multiples of 4 for the length of you scarf. Keep in mind to subtract quite a bit since you'll keep adding to the length with each round. My foundation chain hung a little lower than my elbows and produced a full length sleeve. Guesswork, no formula, sorry...
Add 2ch and then 3ch for turning chain


(2)
dc into 4th chain from hook
dc in next 3ch
[ch1, skip 1ch, dc in next 3dc] repeat along scarf
dc into last 4ch
fasten off color A


(3)
attach color B in space between last two dc
ch3, 2dc,ch1
[3dc, ch1] 3 times into same space you attached B
[3dc in ch-space, ch1] repeat along scarf
[3dc, ch1] 4 times into space between last two dc
[3dc in ch-space, ch1] repeat along other side of scarf
join with sl into top of ch3
fasten off color B


(4)
attach color C in next ch-space
ch3, 2dc, ch1, 3dc, ch1 into same space
3dc, ch1 into next ch-space
[3dc, ch1, 3dc, ch1] into corner space
[3dc in ch-space, ch1] along the side of your scarf
work corners as described
join with sl into top of ch3
fasten off color C


(5)
Continue to add rounds as in (4) until the scarf is wide enough to wrap around the very top of your arm. If your yarn stretches take that into account, you'll want the sleeves to be pretty tight fitting at the top of your arms so you won't loose them!
Leave a long tail to sew first arm.


(6)
Fold scarf lengthwise and sew arms closed from the ends to the middle. Mine are 17" long, but again, I'm tiny...


(7)
Weave in all ends. Wear it!


Btw, I'd love to hear your opinion on how you like your patterns written. This is only the first one I'm actually writing down. Do you prefer brackets over asterisks? Do you like more line breaks and paragraphs? How easily can you follow the instruction?... Things like that...

Thank you so much for reading and your feedback!

WIP Wednesday

And it's Wednesday again!
I'm kinda between projects and I need my husband to take some pictures for me...


I have been working on a shrug that is mostly just sleeves and can also be worn as a scarf. Here's a brief glimpse:

Did you recognize the yarn? Yes, those are the leftovers from the wrap I made for my Mom's birthday! I loved the way the yarn looked in the cluster stitches, so I decided to make something with granny squares. This not entirely my own pattern, though; but I typed it up anyway. I'll be uploading it as a free pattern soon. (At least I hope it's going to be soon...)


And guess what? There's still some yarn left over! I'll try to make a matching hat for this little thingy...


Alright, now head in over to Kristine's and see what everyone else is doing:

Sweater and I are back!

After that nasty sinus infection stole about two weeks my life, I'm finally crocheting (and posting) again! I have a new smallish project, a padded sleeve for my beloved Kindle:

This is the pattern: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/padded-kindle-sleeve
The colors are kinda dull in the picture, sorry...
I'm still thinking about embellishments, but I want it to keep a simple look, so... maybe nothing at all.


Also, I have made made some progress on my blue sweater! I crocheted one long sleeve, even though I new I didn't have enough yarn to make long sleeves. But the sleeves are crocheted from the bottom up because of the pattern. So I kinda had to make the whole thing to find out how to alter it. Finished it, put it together with safety pins and "put it on". And I was thrilled to see how well it fit! It would have been too long for me to wear that way anyway, but I decided to go with short short sleeves, I don't do 3/4 length on anything, I think it makes me look fat! So the yarn needle marks where I would have my new starting chain:

And then I spent an evening ripping the whole thing and turning it into neat new balls of yarn... Using those, I learned something: The yarn unwinds much better from a handmade ball than from the store bought skein! Makes my awesome yarn bowl much easier to use, too. Still, I think I'm just lazy enough not to wind my own balls... 

Oh, well, so I made the short sleeves and wet blocked (100% cotton) all the pieces on my super fancy blocking board, also known as our mattress for overnight guests...

This is my first blocking experience and I'm so excited to find out how it'll turn out! I was impressed with how much you can shape the wet fabric (and how tight my crocheting had become by the time I made the sleeves...) Can't wait to sew it together! I don't sew well, so I'm kind of nervous about that, too.


So far from my end of the world, visit Kristine's blog and check out what everyone else is up to: