Craft Trade!

At the end of last month, one of the clubs that I'm in went on a field trip and I made the awesome discovery that one of my friends knits. We decided that since I crochet we should do a craft trade. So she knitted me a scarf and I crocheted her a hat!

The hat is made with super bulky yarn. However, the yarn I used still wasn't bulky enough for the pattern that I used. I ended up adding three of the dc rows and three of the sc rows. I didn't increase any stitches around, but if I make this hat again I definitely will find a way. The other modification I made was starting the earflaps with 8 stitches across instead of 6.

Me modeling the hat

When we traded the final projects, we discovered the yarn I used for her hat was the exact same yarn her sister had used to make her a scarf! It was destiny.

I am completely in love with the scarf she made me (I'm wearing it right now)! It's so fluffy and does a good job of shielding my neck/face from the bitter winter weather.

Rainbow Scarf Pattern

Well blog, it's been about a month. I promise I have been crocheting, it's just all my projects seem quite large and time-consuming right now. But...I do have a new pattern! This one was created in collaboration with my friend who had the idea to make a rainbow scarf and I played off her idea. So here goes (it's pretty short).

Rainbow Scarf

Materials:

I hook

6 colors worsted weight yarn

scissors

yarn needle

Directions:

With red ch 200 (check length and adjust as desired)

Row  1 - hdc across starting in third ch from hook

Row 2 - ch 2, turn, hdc across in back loops only

Row 3 - pick up orange, ch 2, turn, hdc across in back loops only

Row 4 - ch 2, turn, hdc across in back loops only

Continue with the remaining colors (each two rows wide)

At the end of the purple rows FO and weave in ends.

See! Super simple. Crocheting in only the back loops creates more texture which is definitely a good thing in this case!

Chevron Infinity Scarf & News

I've got a couple large projects I'm working on now, but I just finished up a smaller project! I had some gray and white yarn just sitting in my pile for some time now and I decided that I wanted to make an infinity scarf but didn't want to do normal stripes anymore. While flipping through a small booklet of patterns that I have I found a pattern for a ripple baby blanket. With a little tweaking I was able to make this chevron infinity scarf!

I am pretty happy about how it came out! It's a little longer than I'd like, but other than that it's great. I just used Red Heart Super Saver yarn.

The pattern has a slight ribbed effect created by working in back loops only. Unfortunately I can't share this pattern with y'all because it was a purchased pattern and so is not mine, but if you find a ripple pattern you should be able to recreate it!

In other news, I finally got a Ravelry! And I am completely addicted. There's so many things that I want to make now! Also, this past weekend I got started on an Avatar blanket, which I am pretty freaking excited about! Here's what I've got so far:

A Commission

Over break I was hanging out with one of my best friends. We were spending the evening by introducing her to Firefly, and naturally I brought my crochet bag with me (because I bring it everywhere). Here mom came in and was talking to us and saw that I was working on a hat and commented how cool it was that I knew how to crochet and she wished she had learned. She then went to her room and grabbed a bag of yarn that she had bought at a garage sale and asked if I would make something for her. I showed her this blog with the things that I had made and so we decided upon an infinity scarf and a hat!

This is the 5th infinity scarf that I've made with this shell stitch pattern! Gotta say it has become a favorite.

The yarn that I used was really cool. It was spiral shaped and had a silver strand with all the blues (and purple). Also, it was at least ten years old.

My friend was even kind enough to let me take a picture of the back of her head!

Infinity scarf pattern: http://yarnchick.blogspot.com/2011/10/simple-shell-stitch-infinity-scarf-free.html
Beanie pattern: http://linz-craftingadventures.blogspot.com/2012/10/neon-green-beanie.html

Christmas Presents, Part 2

As promised, here are the last items for my grandmothers!

This is the second hat. I made this with a super chunky weight yarn. Because of this I ended up using 50 stitches in a round rather than 60, which was plenty.

The first scarf! Again, I used the infinity scarf pattern. Even with a chunky yarn I used the pattern exactly (except for using a J hook), but I made the scarf shorter than the scarves I've made with medium weight yarn.

This is the second scarf. Instead of four shells in a row I used to three, which worked out surprisingly well. I also used an N hook.

Even with slightly different construction, the scarves ended up being about the same thickness. I'm very pleased with how they turned out, especially because I needed to make modifications to the patterns I used. I even found a model!

Now that I'm all done with Christmas presents I can look ahead to other projects! Yay!

Christmas Presents

This was my first Christmas while knowing how to crochet, and so needless to say I put this skill to good use!

Above is what I made for my mother. 

The scarf is the same infinity scarf pattern I had used before because while I was making the first scarf my mom commented how much she loved it. I really like the yarn I used for this set. I found it in a local yarn shop in a small town about 30 minutes from where I live. My only complaint is that they tied to pieces of yarn together in the middle of the skein! UGH! You can see the awful red to suddenly purple transition in the picture. Luckily you can hardly tell when it's worn.

I used about one and a half skeins for the scarf and so decided to make this headband with the extra. Turns out I had the perfect amount! I created this by using a double crochet stitch with an I hook. It was very quick and easy.

This next set is what I made for a gift exchange at a family Christmas gathering. The rules were that it had to be a unisex gift, so neon orange and neon green totally work, right?

Matching hat and scarf! As you can see, I didn't exactly finish before my family had to leave... However, I did manage to barely get it done in time. Whew!

I was tired of making an equal size stripe pattern (plus I had less green than orange) so I decided to try out stripes of different sizes, and I really like how it turned out. Double crochet stitch with an I hook.

Lastly I am making a hat and scarf for each of my grandmas! Below is the hat I have finished.

This was the first time I worked with chunky weight yarn and I didn't realize how much quicker projects take when you use it. Too bad it's more expensive. I used my hat pattern from a previous post, same number of stitches in a round and everything. This made a looser hat, which was my goal.

And because it was Christmas, I had to include a picture with the tree! :)

Infinity scarf post: http://linz-craftingadventures.blogspot.com/2012/11/infinity-scarf-surprise.html
Hat pattern post: http://linz-craftingadventures.blogspot.com/2012/10/neon-green-beanie.html

Infinity Scarf Surprise

She has no idea yet, but as a frequent reader of my blog she'll find out soon. My best friend of 13 years is an absolutely amazing person, and significantly more fashionable than I am. I hadn't created anything for her yet and I'd been seeing a lot of infinity scarves around campus lately and they look like something she would absolutely love. So combining this pattern (http://yarnchick.blogspot.com/2011/10/simple-shell-stitch-infinity-scarf-free.html) with some black, sparkly yarn will do the trick! :)

I really liked this pattern because of the shell stitch. It's unique and the scarf pattern almost has a vintage feel to it (as described by my boss). If you were to undo the scarf so that is was straight, it's approximately four and a half feet long.

Hey, look, it's a vertical infinity symbol!

The great thing about this pattern is that pretty much every female I've shown it to has said how pretty or neat it is!

So...surprise, Natalie :) Thanks for being an amazing friend!

Camo Scarf

I'd just like to start this blog post off by saying this is easily the ugliest thing I have ever crocheted. However, there's an interesting story behind it:

When I first started to crochet I was at Hobby Lobby shopping for yarn with my boyfriend. He's in airsoft so when he found this camo yarn he insisted that I make him a scarf from it. 

It took me awhile to tackle this project because I knew that working with a yarn this fuzzy was going to be difficult. Turns out I was right and that it is essentially impossible to see the stitches and so there was a lot of guess work in the beginning of the scarf...

Hence why the end is so flaired. About halfway into the first skein of yarn I realized that two was not going to be enough for a decently long scarf, so it was back to Hobby Lobby. Unfortunately in the time between me buying the yarn and starting the scarf, Hobby Lobby had discontinued the style of yarn! In order to try to avoid a crisis, I went with the most similar yarn I could find. 

Essentially the only thing the yarns had in common was the color. Rather than give up I just finished the scarf.

Only one of the ends is accidentally messed up; I tried to make the other end look similar. It's not as easy as it looks. Either way though it's finished and he likes it so that's all that matters!

Also, a special thanks to my boyfriend for his photography for this post! :)

Vertical Stripe Scarf

Recently I realized that even though I have been crocheting since the beginning of this year, I had yet to make something for myself. Back in March I'd gotten some yarn from a local yarn shop intending to make a scarf for myself, and since it's already gotten below 32 degrees multiple nights, I decided to finally make it.

I decided to do something different and work this scarf lengthwise. Definitely a good decision, because I am very happy with the result.

The yarn I used was a lighter weight (about a 3) but I still used an I size crochet hook. To start the scarf I chained somewhere in the ballpark 200 stitches, although that could be easily adjusted. Next I turned and double crocheted one stitch per chain all the way across. This process is repeated for a total of 12 rows. Rows 1, 2, 11, and 12 are dark green (the foundation chain row does not count as row 1). Rows 3, 4, 9, and 10 are orange. Rows 5-8 are pale green.

To make a tassel I cut three strands of the yarn (approximately 10 inches each), folded them in half, and knotted them through the outermost stitch on the end of the scarf. I used one tassel per row on each end of the scarf.

I actually have a decent amount of yarn left from this project so hopefully after I learn a friend's basic beanie pattern I can make a matching hat!

Joy's Birthday Scarf

After three months of getting weird looks from people in my Psych lecture, I finally finished this scarf!

I made this scarf for my best friend for her birthday...which was in January, so I'm only a little late, right?

Here's a picture with my foot to scale. (I wear size 11)

 It's a little hard to see in the picture but the yarn is actually very sparkly! It's an easy way to to add a little bit of flair to an otherwise plain piece. This was my first time trying to switch colors of yarn within a piece, and so it was a tad difficult at first, but by the end it worked out. The rest was very simple, I just used a single crochet stitch, but the next time I make a scarf I'm planning on learning the double crochet stitch! 

Next up on the list of things to make is a Gryffindor bracelet since I got sorted into Gryffindor on Pottermore! Check it out: http://www.pottermore.com/

Baby Unicorn

One of my most recently completed projects was this lovely unicorn that I made for my friend:


(poor quality iPod photo)

He's not too big, probably around 4 inches, but he's super cute! I discovered the pattern for him here:
http://dlfsblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/free-pattern-baby-unicorn.html

It was initially a little scary because I had to play around and figure out how to connect all of his pieces, but overall it really was a decently easy pattern to follow and a lot of fun! My friend loved him and I even got a scarf that she knitted me in return:

(A much more high quality photo)