Friday, February 23, 2007

I love this yarn.

Pretty, huh? It's Frosting by Yarn Bee. I think Yarn Bee is Hobby Lobby's brand; at least I've never seen it before now. It's so lovely; it reminds me of a field of wildflowers. I'm about to make a baby hat with it.

2/40 so far on the Lenten Hat Project.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Hooks & Hats

This is my new rosewood crochet hook. My cousin Maggie & I went to the Yarn Barn Tuesday. Yarn Barn seems to be the closest thing to an LYS we have in this city. We seriously need a real LOCAL yarn store. Many apologies to the elderly ladies at the Yarn Barn. But I'm trying to make an effor to shop locally, so one chain store is as good as another.

Their selection of crochet hooks was pathetically small. Aside from some bone and abalone hooks up by the register, these rosewood hooks were the only ones I couldn't have found just as easily at Wal-Mart or Michaels. There were beaucoup knitting needles that were different from the typical stuff, but there was only one rotating rack of hooks. Pathetic.

It was only $8, though. I started out trying to make a hat with it, but it was splitting the fibers too much. I will try again, just not with something I'm trying to make quickly.

Hats...Someone on MotheringdotCommune mentioned that she was doing "40 hats in 40 days" for Lent. Sounds like a great idea, so I'm stealing it. Well, copying. I'm Protestant, so we're less about giving stuff up than we are about taking stuff on. It's my biggest charity project to date. I hope to find a local hospital for them to go to, but I'll mail them somewhere if necessary.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Valentine's Day Purses **UPDATED**

I was hunting all over trying to come up with something to make for my girls for Valentine's Day. At first I was going to make little pillows with their names on them, and then I remembered that they're girlie girls. So I made purses instead.
They're insanely simple & fast to make. I used an H hook, Caron's Simply Soft & Simply Soft Brites, and HDCs. Each one is an hour's work total, and that's being generous.

I'll have the pattern up on my patterns page within a day or two.

In other news, we went on a magazine hunt yesterday, and I finally found a copy of the KnitScene that has Lady Linoleum's pattern for the mini top hat in it, and that's going to be my next crochet project.

UPDATE: The pattern is online here. Please let me know if you find any obvious mistakes.