Wristwarmers with hairpin lace

Third project for the Ravellenic Games

Entered in the Mitten Medley event Wristwarmers are allowed as long as they have thumb hole (they need to cover the palm and not just the wrist).

I was looking around on the web for cool things to do with hairpin lace, and I came across these wristwarmers on a blog. Sadly the woman didn’t have a pattern for hers (I asked), but I managed to make a similar pair anyway.

They are made with one strip of hairpin lace and the gray parts are crocheted out from the strip on both sides and then sewn together.

Finally I added an edge on the front to make them a little bit longer (and more colorful). Nice and comfy

Flu & crochet...

In spite of my great plans of finishing projects I have done very little since my last post. I've been sick since I had the swineflu vaccine on Wednesday. Although I feel better now my shoulder is still pretty sore from the shot, and I have no energy to do much crafting. I have found that when I'm sick amigurumi takes too much concentrating and is harder on my hands than "regular" crochet, so I've mostly been making granny squares. The purple wrist warmers are finished, though, and the purple granny square bag was felted along with them. All the other bags are crocheted, just need to be felted :)

I hate what the flash does to the colors, but there's very little light in our apartment and daylight is pretty hard to come by these days, so without it the pictures would just be a big blur :/

The groundhog has grown a little (the front legs are made but not yet attached), but I've fallen a bit behind on the secret crochet-along, which is now almost over. I have only managed to do the first four parts (head, hat, legs & body):

Not very happy with the girl's backside, it's butt-ugly (pun intended), so I was kind of hoping for a dress that would cover up her "cellulites", but she's going to have a snowflake dress, so I guess I'll only have to show her from the front when she's finished :p Instead of working more on the amis I've started the Block-a-month cal on Ravelry, and these are the squares I've made so far:

The bottom squares are the 6 inch Little Dahlia square pattern for January. They aren't anywhere near 6 inches, though, more like 4. Not sure what I'm doing wrong, I use the hook size (5mm) and yarn weight that the pattern recommends, but they just come out too small. The top squares are made from this pattern from last year's crochet-along (March), and even though the pattern suggested the same yarn weight and hook as the first, they actually would be bigger, so I had to make some changes to get them the same size. *sigh* I don't get it... Anyway, as long as I can stick to the same size I guess I'll be okay :) And again, the flash messes with the colors. That yellow-looking color is actually green...

Ten thousand projects!

Well, it certainly feels like it sometimes... In addition to the two (possibly three) crochet-alongs, I have several other projects going, all of which I hope to finish before school starts for real next week.

I've actually been working these color pencil holders since since Christmas, from a pattern by Amber Jolly (bought on Etsy, A. Jolly Shop). The red one is crocheted with double strands of yarn and a 4mm hook. What's strange is that I started the red one first, but only the blue is finished... The blue pencil is crocheted with thinner yarn and 3.75mm hook, and is perfect for crochet hooks :) I made a few changes in the pattern and stiffened the pencil with a cardboard roll (the ones in the middle of toilet paper or kitchen paper towels).

The next project I need to finish are these knitted wristwarmers for my mother. She used to have a similar pair, but she lost them, so now I'm making her new ones for her birthday. They only need to be felted, but I plan to make an owlet keychain in matching colors, so the present isn't ready to send just yet.

I crocheted this little bag to keep my RPG dice in, but it's too small for me, since it only holds one standard set of 7. The pattern is added to my other blog :) Please contact me if you find any errors, I had some trouble making this up (I'm not used to joining rounds of single crochet), even though I believe the pattern should be correct.

Finally I've been exploring the world of granny squares again :) I wanted to make a bigger bag for my dice, and I came up with a pattern, which is now also posted on my pattern blog, along with a tutorial for a basic granny square. The bags are really simple, if you know how to make granny squares you can do this without a pattern, but I have written it down anyway :) A lady on Ravelry commented on these bags and said she'd use them as soap bags, which of course gave me a new idea... Maybe, if I find the time and the money later this semester, I'll give soap-making a try. I mean, if I could make my own soap and sell them in these bags... They would be great as gifts, too :)

After the first two granny square bags I decided to make some in pure wool for felting. The colors are inspired by the Warhammer roleplaying game, where there are eight different schools of magic with corresponding colors (life/green, death/purple, shadow/gray, amber/brown, sky/blue, fire/orange, alchemy/gold, light/white). That means eight bags, five of which are now made (the blue is not on the picture). I have only felted one of them, though, I want to wash them separately in case the colors bleed. I will probably add photos as the bags are finished :)

Knitted wrist warmers

Finished, at last! Quite happy with them, I think I'll consider making a pair for myself some time :) Made from this pattern, knitted in wool and mohair on 3.5mm needles. The thumb hole was not in the pattern, I just made it up when I sewed them together.

Okay, if you are related to me in any way, don't read this!

It's about your Christmas presents, you see... Not that I think any of my family reads this blog anyway, they don't usually read English stuff. However, my mother checks my Flickr page now and then, so it's best to be on the safe side. It would be bad to ruin the surprises. First, a few non-present projects:

A crocheted gingerbread house. It's tiny, only 7cm high and 8cm long! The house itself is actually Tunisian crochet, because I want the walls to be as thick and sturdy as possible. Not quite sure I succeeded, it looks kind of floppy. Maybe I need cardboard walls after all. I guess I'll see after I crochet some snow and decorations and a bottom for the house. I got the idea to make the house from Pysselkiisen's blog, where she posted a pattern for a crocheted gingerbread house. You can see the original pattern for the house here (in Swedish) :)

Another thing I've been working on lately are these tiny Tunisian crochet coin purses. To be honest I just wanted to try out some color combinations, but I have no patience for making stuff for no purpose. Today I sewed one together and put a button on and everything :) *Proud* I think I've said it before, but I hate sewing on buttons. Anyway, I'm quite pleased with them :)

This is the second attempt at the wristwarmers for my cousin, and this time they are big enough to be felted. However, I'm not sure I want to give them away, as I found another pattern I'd like to try. You can see the pattern here (also in Swedish). I want to make them in black and white, possibly with mohair instead of regular yarn.

Finally I have also started to knit a Clanger (this is the nose) for my mother. In case you don't know, The Clangers is an animated TV series made in the seventies, about some pink (knitted) aliens on a blue planet, and they whistle when they talk. Very cute :) I am too young to have seen them on TV, but my mother watched the show when she was little, and she remembers them. I'm not sure if she knows that they are pink, because in Norway the show was aired in black and white, at least the first episodes. So now I'm knitting a Clanger from a pattern I found here, and I have ordered the complete series on dvd to give my mother for Christmas :) I feel like I've been quite inventive with some of the presents this year, I hope I can keep it up for the rest of the family.

Crocheted scarf and Tunisian crochet purse

Really pleased with myself today, I actually finished two projects without starting a new one in between! I should have read 20 pages about ancient Indian literature, but I will catch up tomorrow instead.. Anyway, two Christmas presents down, a few more to go :) I plan to make a lot of the Christmas presents, as I don't have a lot of money, and this year no one seems to want anything. Home made stuff is always a hit :)

The crocheted scarf I started about five days ago is now hanging to dry and smells really awful. I always forget how bad wet wool smells, it surprises me just as much every time I pull something out of the washing machine... Here is how it turned out:

It is symmetrical, so it's twice as long as this and identical stripes on the other end...

As I might have mentioned earlier when I tried out different techniques in Tunisian crochet, I feared that the 3-color change could be addictive. It was. I picked out some green yarn and started crocheting, not really knowing what I wanted to make. It turned out to be a purse, which I think will work well as a case/purse for my grandmother's glasses. Green is really her color. I'm quite happy with the button I found, it's cute. I think maybe I got it from my grandmother's collection, so now she'll get it back :p I'm worried the case is a little big, though, but we'll just have to wait and see.

Finally I've started a pair of wristwarmers for my youngest cousin, from this pattern by Crochet Kitten, in wool and mohair like the scarf (and they will be felted, even if that's not in the pattern). The one I've started looks like it will be too small, so I'll have to try again tomorrow...