Caps

No, I have not lost interest in crochet quite yet. My attention span may be short, but it's not THAT short! :) I just hadn't had a chance to take photos of the finished objects (FO's in crochet-speak) because of rain, bad lighting, general laziness, and lack of creativity in making the 2 FO's look different from one another. I loved working with the yarn so much that I made both hats from the same color!

So,first one is the Surfer Chick Quick Cap from Chicks with Sticks Guide To Crochet. It's one of the first two books I borrowed from the library when my interest in crochet was reignited. The other one was the For Dummies book. This was really fun to make and the pattern was easy to memorize. I worked on it on the commuter train to NYC over Memorial Day long weekend. I like the open stitches of the cap as it's summer right now. Who wants to wear a thick wool hat in the summer, right?

You can see that the stitches form a sort of scallop edge on the bottom of the cap. I quite like that part of it! Excuse the photos where I'm obviously holding a point-and-shoot as far away from me as possible in order to take a photo of myself. Must find a better way of taking hat photos that don't involve my being in the photo!

The 2nd cap I made is called The Professional, after the cap worn by Matilda, the young girl, in the 1994 movie "The Professional". The pattern can be found here for free. I used a lighter-weight yarn and one hook size down from the one called for in the pattern, which may be why this cap also has a lighter summery feel than the original, which looks heavier. As I used the same color yarn (from the same skein! And I still have leftovers!), I thought I should switch up the photo a bit so it doesn't look like I'm posting the same hat, haha! Notice the more defined band on the bottom of this one.

Between the two caps, I prefer to make the first one again, maybe in a different yarn. I've been itching to go to a yarn store and buy yarn for the past few days, weeks even, and it just never happens. I vow to go tomorrow! It's hard to buy yarn when I don't know what I'll be making and how much I'll need. Hats and scarves are fun because they take so little yarn.

Still working on the Zen Scarf..actually, more like still not working on it. But I shall finish it. Soon! Now, on to my next project.

Pepsi Throwback

Ever since I saw a case of these at Target, I've been wanting to have a taste, so when I saw a small bottle for sale by the checkout at the grocery store one day, I had to purchase it. Those impulse buy displays really do work!

Pepsi Throwback is regular Pepsi except it's made with natural sugar! What a completely twisted concept. Some marketing genius probably said one day, "Ooh, I have a great idea! Instead of making Pepsi with artificial sweeteners, why don't we make it with -- get this -- natural sugar!" And everyone else around the table said, "You're a genius! What a retro concept! Let's do it!"

And thus, Pepsi Throwback was born. I must say I really like the taste! I can tell that it's made with natural sugar because of the faint sugar aftertaste. Now if only they made Diet Pepsi taste like this...

This is a limited edition, so if you want to try it, act fast!

Zen Scarf - Work in Progress (WIP)

So, here's what I've managed to crochet so far. It's from a pattern called "Zen and the Art of Stash Diving" by designer Robin Chachula. I wanted a pattern that appealed to me and would use the practice yarn that i already had. I was able to buy some cashmere blend yarn on sale for only $0.99 so I couldn't resist buying the yarn. Cashmere! 99 cents! There was a limited range of color so I just chose the most neutral one I could find.

I'm on the second and last skein of yarn, so this will be done when I run out of yarn. I'm actually looking back at the original photo in the pattern and I can see that the stitches in the original are so much more open than mine. Maybe that's why I'm having a hard time with one particular stitch (the 3rd sc after the chain 5) where the stitch I'm trying to crochet into is sooo small! That's also probably why I haven't finished with this yet because that particular stitch is a huge pain.

I also ran into yarn issues. I was wondering why the yarn didn't really feel all that different from what I'd previously been using (50% cotton/50% acrylic) given that it was a cashmere bend, so I looked at the label and it was 3% cashmere/97% acrylic! Joke's on me. :) Looking at the picture above, it actually almost looks like chenille to me. Feels like chenille, too.

The other yarn issue was that as I was watching game 7 of the Celtics-Orlando game, the yarn became extremely knotted! I had to figure out how to untangle and unknot so I ended up unwinding the whole thing and then rewinding it into a decent ball of yarn. You can see what it looks like now the background of the photo.

Still, I'm having fun. I'm excited to see what this looks like after it's completely finished and then blocked into shape. Maybe it will relax a bit. And I'm also so looking forward to experimenting with softer yarn pretty soon.

Boy Beanie

It's hard to decide what to make next as there are just too many choices available! I borrowed the Stitch 'N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker book from the library (one of the many I have at home right now!) and finally chose to make the Boy Beanie because it looked easy enough and seemed like something would wear.

I used Red Heart Eco-ways recycled yarn to make this and the yarn felt a bit weird...almost like plastic, actually, but not in a bad way. Just different. Since I've just started crocheting, the only other yarn I've used prior to this is Lion Brand Cotton Ease. I can't wait to start using really nice yarn, but I've convinced myself I must practice more first.

Anyway, here's the finished product:

I added another round as the picture in the book looked like it would be too short for me. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the outcome of this project. There were a few issues with the back seam where the stitches gaped a bit, but you can't see it when the cap beanie is on. Plus, after doing some research, it seems like the designer has come up with a Boy beanie V 2.0 which "includes revised stitch placement and instructions which minimize gaps at the “seam” which were not included in the original version of the Boy Beanie published in Stitch n Bitch Crochet the Happy Hooker in 2006."

So, I might make another one of these just to satisfy that nagging itch to perfect the stitches. I don't know what I'm going to do with all these beanies, though, haha! Maybe I can sell them someday!

Crochet Hook Organizer

Of course, one can't take up crochet without the proper crochet hook organizer, right? Enter Etsy, my new source for all sorts of cool things I never knew I needed. I was just browsing through the "Local" feature to see what sellers in my area were selling when, lo and behold, I saw a listing for a crochet hook organizer! I wasn't even looking for one -- my hooks were just jumbled in among my yarn stash.

She didn't have this particular print available in a crochet hook organizer, but she had something similar in her knitting needles organizer, so I was thrilled when she very kindly agreed to use this particular fabric combination instead.

I had to wait for her to order the fabric, but after seeing the finished prodict photos (haven't received the item yet), I'm so glad I wasn't impatient enough to choose one of the other available prints that I didn't like as much.

Just look at the orange! And the pink! So pretty!

I can't wait till I receive the actual item so I can pretend to be more organized. :)

For the curious, the shop name is madbird, and she sells other items as well. I didn't notice she had the coordinating small pouch to the crochet hook organizer I purchased or I might've ordered it, too!

Coffee Cozy

I first learned how to crochet in home ec class back in grade school. We made doilies, so I wasn't really very inspired to keep it up, haha.

For some reason, I was recently inspired to take it up again. I don't even remember what triggered this desire...oh it might have been a recent trip to a craft store to look for calligraphy materials as my wedding is coming up and I thought I could save money by learning how to address my invitations. I got distracted and just started browsing through all the books about crochet and was amazed at all the things you can make nowadays.

After I got my calligraphy kit, I went to the library and started putting holds on all the crochet books I could find. I bought some cheap yarn, an H crochet hook (that's what the For Dummies book said I should get!) and began to relearn crochet.

After all my uneven coaster tries, here is the first project that looks vaguely decent: a coffee cozy!

I still need to perfect my stitches, but overall I'm satisfied. At least I won't have to use those paper coffee sleeves anymore, right?

Oh, and it turns out, I suck at calligraphy!