Marble Scarf

I found this yarn in San Antonio last summer, when I was visiting Froggy.  At the time, I was thinking that it might make a good scarf but it was such a fantastic yarn that I bought it without really knowing what I wanted to make.  It was $13 for the skein, which is a little higher than some yarns but in the grand scheme of yarn-related things, it's not a bad price.  It was a larger ball and in colors that I don't normally wear - oranges & pinks mostly, with some blue, lavender and cream colors.  But it was very soft and fluffy and I knew it was coming home with me as soon as I saw it.  I have since seen the brand in the local yarn specialty store, but they don't have a large selection of it and didn't have any colors I really liked.  Yesterday, I finally made up my mind and decided that yes, it was going to be a scarf.  I made it in one day, it took me a couple of hours and my shoulders & hands are still sore and cramped - but it was so worth it!  I haven't fringed the ends and I'm not sure that I'm going to.  I still have plenty of this yarn left.

This is the yarn, after I made the scarf.  It's hard to tell the size, but there is still quite a bit left.  Sorry that it's blurry, it's also on the brown leather couch so it might not look as bright as it actually is.

It's the "standard" size I make, about 60" long.  5 rows, triple stitch.

A close-up of the stitches, again sorry it's blurry!

The yarn is by James C. Brett.  Brett uses a number as opposed to a color name, this one is MC4.  Brett is based in Yorkshire, as in England.  I'm not sure, but I think the yarn is a relatively new yarn to this country.  Or at least I haven't seen it before.  I found it in SA months before I ever saw it in my area.

The specific style is Marble, chunky weight.  It's 100% acrylic, but it feels like silk.  It's about the softest yarn I've ever found that doesn't cost an arm and a leg and works well with crochet, although I think it's probably intended for knitting.  It's machine washable, which is nice since some yarns just don't work in the washing machine.  It's lovely and I'm seriously considering using it for the afghan I have planned for the (very) near future.

Black & White Crocheted Scarf

 A while back, the middle of the summer actually, Otter asked me to make her another scarf.  After several trips to look at yarn, she finally decided on black & white.  But she wanted sideways stripes instead of lengthwise.  I started the scarf and then realized that I'd forgotten to count stitches and after several rows of black & white color changes, I wound up frogging the entire thing and starting over.  And this time, I made sure that my rows were al lthe same size!  It was a pretty basic mistake, but it meant that Bill's blanket would be getting some black & white yarn on it since I now had several pieces of black & white yarn in varying but small sizes.  Here's the finished result of the second attempt:

Close up of the stitches.  There are 15 across and it's 3 rows of each color.  Well, it was supposed to be - a few of the sets are actually more than three rows because I wasn't paying attention!

This picture was taken before I got finished tailing it.  Tailing means that all the little end tails are woven back into the body of the piece so that they don't show.  Tailing sometimes takes longer than the actual work to make the piece, especially with small sections like this.

A slightly better close up of the stitches.  It's all single stitch which is fast and easy, but smaller.  Otter didn't want fringe on this one.  I enjoyed making it, but I prefer the lengthwise, triple stitch scarf that I usually make.  Just because it's easier!  But I did enjoy this one and I'm pleased with how it turned out.  Once I got my brain engaged, that is.

Wooden Book Shelf

Someone gave Bill a bunch of scrap wood.  It's actually in pretty good shape, most of it is usable.  He had to take nails out of a few boards, but that was about it.

It's no secret that Otter and I practically live at the library.  We usually have more books than we can carry.  That's not the problem.  The problem is where do we put them when we get them home?  And, how do we keep them straight in terms of due dates?

I decided we needed a small bookshelf.  I looked at a couple of thrift stores with no luck.  Then Bill brought home all this wood and decided he wanted to make one for us.

Here is the construction, more or less in order!  Any captions will be beneath the pictures they are describing.

Nailed and glued together, wood filler on the few spots that needed it.  There weren't too many places that needed filling in, mostly just to cover the nails and just a couple of minor spots.

One of his many toys - in this case it was holding the backing on while the glue dried because Bill was afraid it would bend.  The backing is a piece of paneling he's had forever and never had a use for.  Until now!

First coat of stain.

2nd coat of stain.

Close-up of the shelf, with the 2nd coat of stain.

The side, witht he 2nd and final coat of stain.  And a lot of other junk!

The finished product!  I can't remember, but I think it's around 26" tall.  The books are usually stacked on it "the right way" - backs out and not piled.  At the moment, mine are on the top shelf and Otter's books are on the bottom.  But we usually read each other's books, so they don't stay that way.  It's working out great, it's just the right size and we have figured out a system to keep newer books from getting mixed up with older books - we usually have a lot of late fines!

It only took Bill a couple of days to build this, the staining process probably took longer than the actual construction.

Turquoise Blue & Brown Prayer Shawl

This is the latest prayer shawl I've made.  This is the one that is for someone that has been dealing with a serious illness and I've been anxious to get it finished so I could send it to her.  Of course, that means that I've had all sorts of interruptions but I'm finally finished with it.

Otter (in her Batman shirt) is my model.  This picture is darker than I'd like, it's a beautiful shade of turquoise blue with chocolate brown and has some silver highlights.

A close-up of the stitches.

It's the same pattern as the previous prayer shawls, foundation chain and the rows are a combination of double crochet with chain stitches.  It's about 60" long and about 18 - 20" wide.  It's Red Heart yarn, Red Heart has some new yarns that are very soft and not as rough as their standard acrylic yarn.  It was very silky and I enjoyed working with this yarn.  I chose it because of the color and general soft feel, then I realized that it was good old Red Heart.  I'm glad that Red Heart is jumping into the "better yarn" market.

Froggy's Quilted & Appliqued Wall Hanging

This is what Froggy gave me when I visited her last week.  It's machine and hand sewed as well as appliqued.  It's a wall hanging, about 20" x 15".  It has a polka dotted background, the edging is bright  yellow with assorted colors on the front.  The center attraction is an appliqued armadillo with a heart on his shell, a Texas flag and flowers including bluebonnets.  The corners have a button, the bottom two are lavender butterflies and the top two are yellow stars.

Froggy obviously put a lot of work into this and I've very happy with it.  Now, we just have to decide where to hang it.  Bill wants it on one wall and I want it on another one!  We both want it in the bedroom, it works really well in there with the quilts we already have and we both like it a lot.

Here's the full piece.

Armadillo!  They are very special creatures to Texans.  Yes, sometimes we do call them speedbumps!  But this little guy is so cute.

Sorry about the string that shows!  It is a stray thread that I didn't notice until just now.  It's not attached, it just landed on the star.

The flag!  And a close up bluebonnet.

Crochet Tote Bag

I made this several months ago, actually I think about a year ago, for Froggy.  At the time, she was learning knitting and I thought that a crochet bag for knitting would be good.  There is a joke about crocheters and knitters not getting along.

It's all single stitch, 5 different yarns.  The bag is basically a very long rectangle, then it's folded to where the two ends are together.  It's stitched together at the sides with a couple of rows of single stitch, possibly 3 rows - like I said, it's been a while since I made this one!  The bottom is lavender, the two sides are pink on the lower half and maroon on the top half.  Both sides are the same.

The handles are single stitch as well and attached on each side with single stitching.  I can't remember if the handles are double or not, but it seems like they are.  (After I looked at the picture, they are a single layer and not double.  I should have made them double as they would have been stronger.  It seems like I intended to make them double but apparently I didn't!).

It's decorated with two crocheted flowers in pink camo which matches the side stitching.

Here's a closer shot of one of the flowers, but it's a little blurry:

I didn't think to measure the bag, I took the picture when I was there last week.

At the time, it was an experiment to see if the side stitching worked like I thought it would.  It did work, and I have used that technique a few times on other projects.

Of course, Froggy gave up on knitting (at leat for a while) but she can use this bag for a lot of other things such as her quilting.

Also, there is a dog story connected with the pink camo.  I absolutely fell in love with the color when I first saw the yarn and hadn't used it much when I started this project.  I had the yarn ball sitting on the lower shelf of the sofa table and Frasier found it.  Which I discovered when I looked out the kitchen window.  And realized that he'd done what he's known for:  taken it outside.  In the rain and left it there.  I was infuriated, but I should have known better than to leave it down in his reach.  The yarn was pretty wet and I also discovered that it smelled like Frasier's breath - which can be fairly bad.  So I tossed it, went to Michael's on my lunch hour and bought a new skein.  And I don't leave anything like that down where he can get to it anymore, it's all in either my crates in the closet or in my ever-expanding collection of tote bags.

Crocheted Soap Holder Bath Scrubbie

This is my latest crochet project.  It only took me a few minutes to make it.  It's a holder for a bar of soap, it's actually a scrubby.  The soap stays inside it and it is used as a wash cloth or scrubby.  This one is made with acrylic yarn, but it could also be made with cotton yarn possibly.  It's a combination of chain stitch and double stitch.  It's held closed with a chain stitch drawstring.

I made this one as a prototype, and Otter was my test subject.  She said that it worked great, she used it and had no complaints.