FO: Bellflower Infinity Scarf: AKA Lori's Christmas Scarf!

Okay, it's been a while. There's truthfully not been a whole lot on the crafty front. Now, you'd think there would be because the big news since my last post is that I'm expecting (next month! Yay!), so you'd think I'd be making a lot of cute baby stuff, right?

Wrong. I haven't made a-one.

Since the last post, I did make another cthulhu, an amigurumi bee (requested by my husband's best friend Phil for his baby nephew), and an infinity scarf for my mother-in-law. The last is the only one I have a picture of:

My beautiful and awesome mother-in-law Lori, modeling her infinity scarf. :)

 

 

Unfortunately, as you can see, the picture is tiny, so you can't really see the scarf very well. The pattern can be found on Ravelry; it's the Bellflower Infinity Scarf.

 

If you're looking for something quick to make as a gift, I highly recommend this scarf.

 

The Pros: The scarf is quick to work up (once you've figured out the first couple of rows), and the pattern is easy to memorize with just enough variation to make it interesting.

 

The Cons: The seam is ugly, but it's hidden behind the wearer's neck, so it's really no big deal. The first couple of rows can be a little confusing, too.

 

Tips: It helped me to read it aloud and draw out the stitches to see what it was supposed to look like. After that, because I ALWAYS get my chains confused and start miscounting once I begin working in the base chain, I placed stitch markers where I needed my hook to go. Interestingly enough, this tip has saved me so many headaches and was orginally suggested by my husband, who does not crochet.

 

Also, someone on Ravelry posted these instructions to make the last row "straighter" and therefore easier to join. At the end of doing the 4th row repeat, chain 3 and turn. Then do this: 

sk 1st dc, dc in next dc, ch 1, sk 2 dc, sc in next dc, sk ch-1 sp, sc in next dc, ch 1, sk 2 dc , dc in next dc across, do not fasten off.

Slip stitch as pattern indicated.

I wish I could find the person who suggested this. It worked like a charm. As soon as I find the person whose page I got this from, I'll come back to credit them!

 

 

 

 

Happy Anniversary to ME!

Today, my husband Jim and I are celebrating our one year anniversary. Per usual, Jim demonstrates how well he knows me by placing this among my gifts:



Amigurumi Knits by Hansi Singh

The funny thing is that a couple days ago, I was thinking about how there is so much crochet amigurumi, but not nearly as much knitted ones. I wouldn't have thought much about buying this book, until and I flipped through it and thought, "Why not?" After all, I've yet to attempt anything beyond scarves with knitting. Maybe this book will help me knit myself out of this self-inflicted rut!

The Creative Virgo: An Oxymoron if I Ever Heard One.

It's nice--albeit weird--to have my old "Chaotic Spring" blog back at Blogger. Whereas before it was a personal blog, I've decided that it's now going to be more of a creative place, as I have my personal blog at springading.com. And by "creative," I mostly mean crocheting and knitting, but I want to leave room for drawing, should I decide to ever go back to it, or sewing, should I ever decide to actually learn it.

Why another blog? After all, I do sometimes post crafting pictures on my main blog. Besides the fact that the Virgo in me likes to compartmentalize my interests, sometimes, I want to go into details about what I've learned or a trick I picked up. However, some of my non-crafting friends (and my non-crafting husband) read that blog, and I know crafting tips would bore them to tears, so I never post them.

So, this blog would be the place that might be of more interest to, say, the people I know on Ravelry. Some things to know that could be/will probably be relevant to this blog:

• I am left-handed. This means that my crochet projects will look backwards.
• I err on the side of geeky. Some my projects will probably reflect that.
• I'm also practical. This means I tend to make more useful stuff than geeky stuff. Still--be prepared for some geeky stuff.
• I taught myself how to crochet and knit. I don't know if this will affect anything, really, but just to put it out there, I was not taught by my grandmother, so I don't have age-old advice to pass down. Sorry.

I also have a lot of other hobbies, so posts will probably be sporatic. You've been forewarned.