Granny Infinity Fringe Scarf

I love infinity scarves, and I love fringe - so here is a quick and easy pattern that combines the two!

Hook: 6.5mm
Yarn: Worsted [4] Caron Simply Soft in Pagoda (teal), Passion (fuscia), and Autumn Maize (tan)

Chain 92, slip stitch in first chain st to join.
Round 1: Chain 3, dc in each of the next 2 sts, *Ch 1 and skip the next ch, dc in each of the next 3 sts*. Repeat from * to * until you reach where you started.

DO NOT JOIN.
Here’s how it becomes an infinity pattern – instead of joining, swap to the underside or back side of the granny row you just made. If you’re not familiar with making an infinity pattern, you’re going to flatten your work as if you were going to join, but add ONE HALF twist in order to reach the back of your work. Normally when you join, this is the thing you’re trying to avoid, but today, go ahead and embrace it.

You’re basically making a moebius strip, and if you never made one of those in school, check out this video for the basics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y65oqN5_MqU


Ch1 and then 3 dc in the first ch1 gap (made when you skipped one ch st in the first half of this row) continue to *ch 1 then 3 dc in the next ch 1 gap* until you’re all the way back around at the first ch 3 you made at the beginning of the round. Sl st in the top of that ch 3 to join.

From here on, it is pretty simple.

Future Rounds:  Ch 3, 2dc in that ch 1 space. *Ch , 3dc in next ch 1 space* all the war around until you’re back where you started. Ch 1 and sl st into the top of the turning chain to join.

Stripes can be interesting, because they will always add onto the outside of the work. I did 4 complete rounds of teal, and then 1 round of my accent color.

I also added a fringe to mine. I cut pieces of yarn that were approx. 14” long, and then knotted them onto HALF of the edge (it actually goes all around the circle on one edge….though of course a moebius strip only really has one edge, so just keep adding fringe until you feel like you’ve got enough).

Gigi the Giraffe

Ok, so among all of the other works-in-progress, I DID manage to find time to make this adorable little critter for baby Enora's first birthday present!

The Gigi Pattern is a free download on Ravelry, so sign up if you haven't already!

Ok, so I was very bad about it, and I didn't write down the yarn, the hook, or ANYTHING! I think that I ended up using a 4.5mm hook, because I have NO idea where half of my hooks went! What is going on in the world?!

You came for the pictures of Gigi, so here they are!

I struggled a bit with attaching the head to the body. I really could not find an angle or arrangement that made me happy. I kinda went with it, and in the end, I added the mane to help hide the crazy neck angle thing (that you can sorta see from the side angle). I think it did the trick, though I wish I had decided to add a brown strand or two into the tail now.

Anyways, it seemed that Enora loves Gigi!

P.S.: Yes, I am still working away on my veil. I thought I had finally got to the point where I had the circumference done - so I pinned it on to a scrap piece of tulle to measure. And I discovered that after almost 18 FEET of lace still wasn't enough, I pretty much put it down. I still have to finish another 1.5 feet of lace for the first round, go over all 20 FEET of lace with a (simpler) round 2 of stitches, dye it to match the ivory of my dress, and sew it onto a final piece of ivory tulle. Hooooo Boy.

King-Sized Blanket

So, first and foremost, let me apologize for my long absence. It has been a CRAZY year thus far, and we're only at August!

I chose a pattern for my Lace Veil and I've been working slowly but surely away on that. I've also been busy with some home improvements. I re-did the laundry room so that I have an organized place to store ALL my bins and bins of yarn! Yay!

Anyways, all those other projects aside....

I bought the yarn for this project back at Michael's Black Friday Sale (that happens on Thanksgiving evening, instead of Black Friday). There is generally very little crowd, the deals are still incredible, and I picked up six Jumbo Skeins (744yds) of Red Heart for only $3 a piece, before my 30% Off coupon!

I know that I don't like making blankets, mainly because they take so long, but I figured that I could hold 2 strands of worsted weight yarn together to make a bulky strand, and work with a 10mm hook and it would go faster.

I planned to make a queen sized blanket, and even cast on with one of the stitches from The Complete Book of Crochet Stitches. Unfortunately, because the 2 strands I was working with were different colors, the color of the resulting stitches totally hid the pretty stitch pattern. Plus, it was a 3-row repeat pattern, which meant I spent half of my time looking up the pattern to see what row came next. I ended up shelving the project for the better part of six months.

Well, two weeks ago, the hubby and I decided that we needed a new mattress. Plus, if we're getting a new mattress, we should probably upgrade to a king-sized bed so that we have room for our 70lb German Shepherd bed hog.

"But if we get rid of the queen, we're going to need all new blankets!" I said, "and we've already got oodles of queen sized blankets for the guest-room!"

So, I pulled out the queen-sized blanket that I had started and frogged the whole thing. Yes, You heard me. I took 12" of beautiful queen sized blanket and I frogged it. And I cast on for a king.

And do you know what? I finished it. In 2 weeks. Booya!
I did end up having to hit the craft store for more yarn there at the end, but those 6 skeins would have easily finished a Queen Sized Blanket.

Ok, so here is what you came for:

Pattern: Shashaholic's Brain Dead Afghan
Hook: 10mm
Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver in Aran and Coffee (744 yds per skein, 4 skeins Aran + 4 Skeins Coffee)
Notes: I LOVED this pattern! It was easy, it was simple, and it was QUICK!

I began with ch 228, and that was about 84" after the first row. By the time I finished 6" of pattern, it was only 66"! Oh no! So that became the height of the blanket, and I just kept going until I had sufficient width. At the end, I went over the first and last rows freehand to even them out (I didn't want the wavy edge) and I added 2 rows of hdc in just white + 3 rows of dc in the mixed colors just to add a little extra flair.

Find it on Ravelry!

Re-Useable DIY Journal

I don't know about you guys, but there are days when you just need to vent. For me, those are usually the days when the fiance is already sick of hearing about it, and the friends are all busy at work or something. Hence the journal.

I've been meaning to pick up a new one for a bit now, but I haven't had the time. Today, I figured I'd tackle one I saw on Pinterest a while back.

The Reusable Nature Journal Tutorial and Template was a great start for this project. No, I didn't print out the template. I wanted to make mine a little larger and sturdier too.

I followed all the basic steps, adding 4 changes:
My pages were full 8.5" x 11" pages, folded in half and sewn
My cover material is the same height as my pages (plus about 1/4")
I put grommets on the holes for the laces (I had them, and it makes it more durable)
I hot-glued white cardboard (from an old gift-box) to the inside covers

Material I used was leftover red pleather, and I used 1/4" elastic instead of elastic cord - both things that I already had in the stash. 

Lace Samplers

Well, I figure its almost crunch time for me to get started on making the lace for my veil. I'm planning to make an oval, full-length, mantilla veil that can be worn several ways and passed down to other friends and family who are getting married. Traditional mantilla veils seem to have 3-4" wide lace all around the border. Knowing that I need ~17' of lace to go all the way around my border, I think 4" is a bit over-ambitious. So I've played around with different patterns that are anywhere from .5" to 2.5" wide.

I've posted a few bracelets before, but as pretty as the lace is, I haven't loved the look of it for the veil. Here's my previous post.

And here are the new patterns I've worked up:

Similar to the lace I did last time.
Pattern #147

I wanted to keep it simple, but I like the more romantic look of a shell pattern.
Pattern #73

I went for something wider, and I really liked it.
Wide Scallop Pattern

This is probably my favorite. It has the shell pattern, but it is more of a "lacy" look than pattern #73.
Pattern #3018

So I've had several people tell me that they like the simpler edging. I can see that it would have more versatility. However, they are both worked into the base chain long-ways. Meaning I would chain 17' and then work 17' of sc into that base chain. If you've ever done base-chain work with lace, you know you can only do a limited amount in a sitting before your fingers are in agony. The larger two pieces have a short base-chain, and are then worked one motif at a time, across. This would be a bit easier on my hands. Also, I feel like if I'm going to spend approximately 80 hours working into the base chain (based on some preliminary calculations) that I would want the lace to be pretty damn impressive.

Ok, folks, what do YOU think?