FOs--Crochet!

So, I'm sure I've mentioned a million times that you cannot bring knitting needles onto flights into/from/within Australia, and that I only realized this when David Reidy on Sticks & String mentioned it in passing on one of his podcasts. After briefly mourning the loss of SO MUCH KNITTING TIME, I decided it would be a great opportunity to practice my newly-acquired crochet skills.



1. Pattern: Crocheted Flower Pot Sun Hat

I found this pattern through The Daily Knitter/Crocheter. They send me an email update every so often with links to the stuff on their website. If I had more time on my hands, I would probably make more use of the site, but as it is, I just always check the new free patterns. And since I wanted to make something for my trip, I really loved the idea of a sun hat, you know--I was going to Australia, and it was bound to be sunny, right? Well, I didn't bargain for a) the flight over being so dark the whole time, so that I felt guilty putting my light on, b) having to rely on The Happy Hooker for re-teaching myself everything and c) having to pull out and re-crochet the hat after finishing the whole thing, because my first pass was just too freaking big.



2. Yarn: Rowan basic cotton yarn. The first and only time I spring for Rowan, and it's freaking dischcloth cotton. But I didn't have enough of anything suitable in my stash, and my LYS didn't have any hemp yarn. You can never accuse that store of changing with the times, at ALL. They stock the basics, but if you want something different, you'll have to go somewhere else, by God, and I didn't have time for that, so dishcloth cotton it was. I also thought that cotton would be a good choice for a sun hat that I might have to wash if I was sweating in or something. But I think it is a lot thicker than the hemp yarn the pattern called for, and my crochet skills are really not up for altering patterns at this stage.



3. Modifications: Well, because of the gauge error I ended up cinching the back of the hat with a piece of white ribbon, and I think that will do it ok. You could probably also get away with a brooch of some kind back there, but for now, this will do to make the hat wearable. Now I just have to have an occasion to wear it once the weather warms up again.

Next up, another project I'd taken with me to Australia, failed to make, and couldn't face putting the yarn back into my stash for another unspecified length of time so just whipped out:



1. Pattern: Baby It's Cold Outside sweater

Again, trolling for patterns that I could take with me, I was attracted to this one because it asked for one skein of Lion Brand Homespun yarn, which I just happened to have in my stash from a birthday present from my sister, who doesn't knit and doesn't know how much yarn things take to make, from back when I had just started knitting.

I figured that I would finish the sun hat on the plane over there, and then work on the baby sweater during my down time, and have both finished when we got back. I did finish the hat while I was there (after crocheting the whole thing twice, remember...), but couldn't wear it, because I needed to weave in the ends and find a ribbon for the back, and that had to wait until we got home. And the baby sweater never saw the light of day, except for when I was repacking in the various cities we traveled to. I did finish that in the first week we were back, but only finished the trim on it at the end of last week.

2. Yarn: The sweater did use one skein of Lion Brand Homespun for the 6 month size, which is what I made. It also called for 1-2 oz worsted weight yarn in a contrast color for the edging. I used Bernat Baby something-or-other tripled to make my edging. This was also from my stash, and was the only thing I had that seemed to complement the bright kelly green of the sweater and also the texture of the Homespun. I barely had enough Homespun left to seam the sweater, but it did just work out. I had absolutely nothing left after that though.

3. Modifications: I left slits at the armholes for turning back the ends of the sleeves more easily. The cuffs seemed really tight to me the way they ended up. I also originally wanted to make the cute crocheted buttons in the same yarn as the trim, but I didn't understand the directions too well, and my only try ended up the size of a cherry tomato, and that seemed too big to me, so I just used two buttons from my Grandma's button stash, and it looks fantastic.



I'm pretty happy with how this came out, considering. I won't be entirely embarrassed to give it to my friend at work who is pregnant, but I also realize that it isn't going to last very long. I mean, Homespun doesn't seem to be the toughest of yarns, and the way I seamed it together is pretty dicey anyway, so if the baby gets to wear it a couple of times before it either falls apart or he outgrows it, I'll be happy.

So yay! Crochet skills improving apace! And on the horsey intarsia front, I'm almost up to their eyeballs, which means that I'm 2/3 of the way done! YAHOO!!!