Bombshells and Bags

Things have still not really settled down around here.  After a major health scare for the younger of the twins (she's okay but the problem was very personal and not mine to share), tragedy struck my brother.  The room he rented in a house caught on fire when his vape charger lit up his bed.  He lost a lot, so I put some projects on hold to work on a blanket for him.  It's still in progress, but good progress.  I'm almost 1/3 done. 

The thing is, his blanket is a rainbow plus black, so it's 7 colors, and it's taking up a LOT of room in my yarn bag.  I don't mind, but it left me needing a place for my hooks, stitch markers, and scissors.  So I came up with a quick weekend hook to solve the problem. 

Inspired by the LL Bean Boat and Tote bag, I made a not a bag not a pocket for my yarn bag.  It hangs off the handles of my big bag, so that my notions and hooks can go outside rather than inside the main bag with my yarn.  The bonus is the hooks and markers and scissors don't sink and get tangled on the skeins.  Yes, I work out of skeins as long as possible. 

Seeing as this one is my own design, dear readers, I am going to give you a pattern so you can try it for yourself.  For this pocket bag, I used worsted weight yarn, the new Mainstays $2 yarn from Walmart.  I thought I would give it a go on something that was just for me.  Honestly, I was impressed, but that's a whole different post there.  Mainstays, like other worsted, is your standard 4, so it takes to an I hook beautifully.  It's a little thinner, so if you want a tighter bag you may need an H hook.

A note about this pattern.  It's not flat, the base is an oval worked on both sides of a starting chain.  This makes it roomy enough to hold your little hooky odds and ends.  This works out best in 2 colors.  I used a nice nautical blue, and a pale oatmeal gray that looks like dark canvas, to keep with the true Boat and Tote style.

Onward to a pattern!


Inspired Ocean Bag

Yarn is worsted weight (4) Mainstays, Red Heart Super Saver, I Love This Yarn or similar.  Hook is standard Boye I hook.

Gauge, I am not sure and will have to fill in later, my ruler is on the lam.


Stitches used, and abbreviations

sl - slip
ch - chain
sc - single crochet
hdc - half double crochet
blhdc- back loop half double
In this pattern all Chain 2s count as the first HDC of the next row.


Begin by chaining 32


Row 1 - In second chain from hook, hdc.  HDC the full length of the chain, 30 stitches.  HDC 3 more into the ending chain, 2 for the oval end and 1 to start the next side.  Continue half doubling along the back side of the starting chain, 29 more chains.  HDC 2 additional stitches into the final stitch, slipping into the 1st stitch to join, completing the oval base.  Chain 2.

Row 2 through 5 - In each stitch, HDC one, working all the way around the oval.  Total stitches 64, including the chain 2.  Slip into the first stitch and chain 2 to step up.

Row 6 - Changing color to a second color, in the back loop only, blhdc one in each stitch, 64 total including the chain 2.

Row 7 through 14 - Repeating row 2 HDC in each stitch around, 64 total with the chain 2. 

Row 15 - Repeat row 14, but do NOT chain 2 at the end.

Row 16 - Slip into each stitch all the way around the bag, 64 total, finish off.


This is what it looks like before the straps are added.

Straps (make 2)

Chain 75, leaving a LONG tail.  It will be used to sew the strap down to the bag.

Row 1 and 2 - SC in every stitch, 75 stitches in each row.  Finish off, leaving another long end.



Joining instructions.


To join the straps to the bag, first, make sure they are laying flat.  Keeping the last row on top, bend the strap into a downward arch.  Counting 9 stitches in from one side, sew the strap to the bag starting at the color change, making sure the strap pushes against the slight ridge created by the back loop only.  Make sure to stitch it down well.  I went all the way up and all the way back each strap, as if I were sewing on cotton fabric rather than yarn. 

Do this again, counting in 9 from the opposite edge to ensure even placement of the straps.  Repeat with the second strap, securing it to the back side.  And that's all she wrote! 


Please note, if you see any errors in this pattern, please leave a comment and I'll do my best to correct it.

Anyway, I have a long way to go and not a lot of time, so back to the blanket I go.

The More Things Change

The last few months have been, shall we say, hectic.  My wife's twin daughters graduated high school last month.  The months between my last post and then were spent crocheting them gifts, planning a party, and a very long trip to a college visit.  (5 hours in a car, ick!)  The last month has been about recovery from 3 very chaotic months, and working with my facebook group, Stitched By Hand, which has seen a dramatic increase in members lately.  We've started a crochet along there, which I am running, and I'm still awaiting permission for a stitch along for cross stitch.

I have quite a few projects going, a couple of them new.  Like the crocheted sandals I have to get more done on, and the lap blanket for my wife that I want ready to give her the day her Vols first play this year.  Keeping everything straight is already a challenge, but it gets worse when you consider Christmas is coming.

Christmas is months away you say?  When making gifts, that means you start months and months in advance.  Last year, I started in August, and felt horribly rushed by the end of it all.  So this year, I intend to start in June... As soon as I can figure out what to make.  I do have some ideas, but it's not concrete.  Added to the mix is that Britt now lives here, and since she is out of school, finding time to make her something is going to be, well, difficult.

It seems I have a lot to do, between finishing projects, starting others, and planning for the return of the holidays.  I guess the more things change, the more they stay the same, don't they?

Memories of a Lifetime

Crocheting goes back in my family, way back.  My mother crocheted, and sometimes still does.  My sister and her oldest daughter crochet.  I don't know as my grandmother did, but my Great Aunt Nettie, the woman who gave me her love of crafting did.  And my Great Grandmother did.

Today I received in the mail a package from my mother.  In it contained her famous peanut butter balls (yum!) and the work of my Great Grandmother's hands, my Christmas stocking.  Made for me when I was a child, I don't remember having Christmas without it till the year I turned 33 and moved out of the state my mother lives in.  I asked her to keep it for me, but we both decided this year that after Christmas she would send it to me.  Today, it arrived.

Within this stocking, woven through it's loops of yarn and trails of thread, are untold memories of a lifetime.  They are the memories of my childhood, and of family holidays with members who are no longer with us.  It's the Christmases where it was our turn to host the family, and the living room was full of laughter and love.  It's the years it was my Grandparent's turn, and we would all cross the street early so my mother could help my Grandmother and aunts with the holiday cooking.  It's pumpkin pie, Christmas carols, and my Grandfather's quiet voice presiding in his chair by the big bay window.  It's a life I don't ever want my bad memory to erase.

For years I have been wanting to recreate this stocking for my wife and her twin daughters.  Now that it has arrived, I can get started.  I intend to make them in some strange colors though.  Orange and white for my Tennessee Vols loving wife.  Blue and Yellow for the older of the twins Mary, who is in FFA.  Crimson and white for the younger twin Britt, who just likes red.  Pale blue and white for me.  This one, the one from my Great Grandmother, will go in a shadowbox case to be preserved safely, still displayed every Christmas.

I will be posting the pattern here on it's completion.  For now, onward to the hook!

If You See My Marbles

If any of you have seen my marbles, I would like some back.  I have decided after liking the Virus Shawl to make several as gifts.  Okay, no problem, they only took 2 weeks to make.  Except I want to make at least 3, possibly 5 more, so there goes about 2 months.  I found a great pattern in a book called Afghan Extravaganza.  Now I want to make 3 of those as gifts.  By estimation, that's another 2 months... Each.  So there goes another 6 months.  Make that 8.  That doesn't count my granny shawl, my corner to corner blanket, OR my cross stitches.  Nor does it consider the other 2 blankets I have going.  Oh good gravy!  Can someone please find my marbles for me, I have absolutely lost mine!

Great (Crafting) Expectations

Ah, New Years.  Time to make resolutions you never keep, plans that always seem to fall through, and goals that don't quite get done.  Or, maybe time to stop thinking in terms of resolutions, and start thinking in terms of things I would like to get done.

I'll admit it.  I'm a WIP collector.  I have a cross stitch project, a thread crochet project, a knit scarf, three crochet blankets, and two crochet shawls going.  What can I say, it's a thing.  Now, one of those blankets is meant to end up king size, and will be completed with the help of my lovely wife, who is currently sitting beside me working on her own c2c blanket.  One is a ripple I'm just not sure I'm thrilled with how it's turning out.

I do have a fair few items I would like to start this year too.  One of my shawls I'm working up is the Virus shawl.  It's extremely popular at the moment, and it works up quickly, which is nice.  I love how it's turning out so much I've decided to make not one, but THREE as gifts.  Which is why I'm teaching Chris how to make them too.

The other thing I want very much to get started on is a project I got permission for from the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.  One of the stipulations is that I cannot show you the pattern, and the finished piece is for my home only.  What this means is that this piece, though beautiful when finished I'm sure, will never appear on this blog.  I mentioned it because it's going to end up a large project that takes a lot of time, and I've been putting it off.

What I am sure I want to do is learn techniques for my art.  In my life, a lot of dreams have slipped through my fingers as the circumstances of life have taken me so much farther than I ever thought.  I will never be an architect.  I will never build the house of my dreams.  I will never go to college.  These are the realities when the dreams of youth have passed.  All we have is the future.  I can't go to college, but that doesn't mean I have to stop learning.  I can still learn new crochet and knit stitches.  I can still learn new cross stitch and beading techniques.  I can teach myself to paint, and better my drawing skills.  At almost 40, a formal education may have passed me by, but I will never be too old to try something new, never too old to learn new things about age old art forms, never too old to start a new project.

So here's to 2017, and letting the little goals and little hopes take the place of the big dreams that cannot be.

The Holiday Hustle & Projects That Are "In".

Apologies to all of you.  I'm well aware I have not posted since before the holidays.  Things got rather hectic around here in a push to finish all my projects in time.  Alas, I did manage to pull off everything with just days to spare.

Why is it the Holiday Hustle you ask?  Well, between October and December 22nd, I made 5 hats to sell, 3 for my family, three sets of wrist warmers, 3 cross stitch projects of varying sizes, made a tree skirt, AND finished a blanket for my wife that was 4 years in the making.  Holy cow, having written that down, no wonder I was exhausted after Christmas!

Now that that's done, I can sit back, relax, and work on things at a much slower pace and not feel stressed.  The funny thing?  I've already started on two new projects.  Go figure right? I didn't intend to start anything new till I finished the other 2 blankets and granny shawl I have going.  Yeah, that was before I asked for, and got, my first Caron Cakes yarn for Christmas.

Ah, Caron Cakes.  Probably THE hottest yarn right now for users on Facebook.  What's the big deal you say?  Well, Caron Cakes are an exclusive to Michael's stores, made to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Caron company.  They are an acrylic wool blend yarn that's super soft, and so great for wearable items.  It's variegated, but the colors change abruptly, leaving stunning changes in your pieces.

Well, if you know me, I couldn't resist getting started right then.  So I picked up my purple one, and started in on a virus shawl.  I have always thought they were beautiful, but was never sure if I could pull one off.  I can.  In about 10 days I have gone farther with my virus shawl than I have in 4 months on the granny shawl.  Fortunately, at the speed the virus shawl works up, think 4 simple repeating rows, it should be done in far less than 4 months.

The other thing I started?  A corner 2 corner (C2C) blanket in the blue.  Surprisingly easy, and it looks like it will make some stellar stripes.  So now I'm back to having 3 blankets and 2 shawls in progress, and that doesn't even count the cross stitch project I have going too.  Uh, can we say I have a slight problem with WIPs?

On Matters of Patterns

Fall has finally arrived, and it's gotten cold even here in Arkansas.  The leaves are finally turning and falling, even though it's already mid November.  Mornings are close to freezing, which for Arkansas in November is a bit of a surprise.  I'm thinking we might actually be in for a cold winter for a change.  Why the commentary on the weather?

Tis the season for hats, scarves, and gloves.  I've been on a hat fest lately.  After learning how to make them I've already sold 5, and have orders for 3 more.  It got me thinking, hats call for gloves, but I have zero desire to try little finger holes until I'm better at crocheting and knitting.  The solution?  Fingerless gloves!  Alas, I am plus size.  Most patterns I've found go only up to adult size, and don't at all take into account plus size people.  I must have been off my rocker, but I thought why not make my own pattern?  So I did.

It's been a learning experience for sure.  Knowing the notations is one thing.  Putting them into readable practice is quite another.  I've got my first glove all worked up now, but I'm not completely ready to post it yet.  I have to make the left hand pattern as well, since there will be a slight variation at the thumb area.  Once it's done, I will be posting the pattern here free.  For now, this is what the right glove looks like.  

Now onward to the left!




*Photo taken by my wife Chris.