Cozy @ Home Crocheting

While waiting for the next sock installment, I made this Double Bump Dish Cloth using needles #7USA & SnC Pretty Pastels, from here:

The Front:

OH, and it's worth mentioned that it was easy for me to mix up the stitches, so I needed to check each row about 3x as I worked, and usually found errors!

The Back:

One of the yahoo groups I belong to is Rachels_Knitting_Room and eventhough it's a dishcloth group, Chappy is giving us a sock kal right now.   I've made 2 'house socks' before, that were knit like regular socks, just bigger yarn than sock yarn, so this is the 3rd.   But those were a couple years back, so not real clear in my mind.   Also, I went to www.youtube.com and looked up German Twist Cast-On and learned to do that, as it makes for very stretchy edge and will be good for the sock cuff.   I cast-on using a size 7USA dpn, then moved the first 12 to the #4dpn, and the last 12 to a #4dpn, switching out the middle #7dpn for a #4 when it was knit onto one in the first rnd.   Incase anyone doesn't know it, you don't knit with the 3 you are cast-on to, you use an empty 4th needle, and everytime you finish the stitches on one needle, it becomes the working needle (except that #7 that I cast-on with).

It calls for a worsted weight yarn and #4USA DPNs (double pointed needles).   I'm using Wool-Ease that I got on sale at Hobby Lobby for only $1.38 the other day.   I hope it's just the color they are discontinuing, and not the Wool-Ease.   It's Fuschia 137.    I have 2 balls, so will make a sock from each ball so I want have to join anywhere and end up with a knot under my foot.  Hopefully no knots in the ball!   My needles are Balene II by Boyle.   They are a plastic and really great for DPNs, because they don't slip out of the stitches, but are very light weight and even kind of cling on.   So, I'm having no problems of losing stitches.

I'm not sure what the finished sock will look like, if the cuff goes straight into the heel like a sockette or if there is more leg coming, so I went ahead and made all 15rnds for the cuff, which is larger than the 1.5" it calls for.  I'm not sure where to measure from, but if I include the loops on the needles, mine measure 2.25", if I don't include those loops, it's 2".  I'll have to wait to see what kind of sock it turns into to know if making it bigger looks stupid or not... but I was having fun, and decided to do all 15 rnds :)    I hope I'm going at this right, and that I finish this, as I have a house full of UFOs already, and don't want this to go in that pile!   Here's what I've done today, now to wait for the next part of the KAL instructions:

I lost my little cairn terrier 'Buddy', Sat, Jan 8, 2010.   He was a rescue that we got 2 years ago, and such a blessing to have known.    I knitted this pattern that looks like him, it was a lot of comfort to knit and think about him.  I finished it Jan 11, Monday.

I love seeing his little stocky figure on this cloth, and the color reminds me of his beautiful golden, nearly a strawberry blonde fur.   I used P&C, color camel.  This is funny, I just looked at the animals on her site and she has one that is Cairn Terrier, but Buddy looked like the Scottie one.

Ravelry download ($1.49):

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/scottie-dog-dishcloth

or her site:

http://www.designs-by-emily.com/dlg/cart/

Here is my 2nd finished UFO, I had 20 rows left to go on it, actually 21, as I added 1 more row as the ending edge looked short to me.   I had stopped where there was a row calling for a yarn over, after a purl stitch, before a knit stitch.   That has always been a mystery to me, but there was no need to have worried.  Turns out she had great instructions in the front of the book.

Nifty Knit Dishcloths, "Shapely Diamond", done with an 8 needle in SnC cotton worsted weight, color "Pastel Print".

This is my first UFO done from the UFO challenge we are doing for 2010 on the Crochet Plus+ forum.  It is the 4-corners dishcloth, size 8USA needles, P&C in Salmon Royale, from

http://1870pearl.typepad.com/4Corners.pdf

Here are my notes:

TURN OFF THE TV/MUSIC AND BE ALONE WHEN YOU GRAFT THE SEAM

18" DOLL SLIPPERS

NEEDLES: 3.25mm / USA 3

Yarn: Bernat Super Value in Lilac

I finally finished knitting my Turkey Cloth and he is beautiful!  Kudos to Knitting Nonsense for such a lovely freebie!

http://www.knittingknonsense.com/turkeycloth.html

The P&C cotton color looks more like rust in the pick, but is actually like a golden mud color.  Not being insane, I used no-fade Redheart for the trim!

Oh, I always add on a little in length to help it stay square after washing & drying. I added 2 rows to the top and both garter rows, and also added another of rows 5&6 and 51&52.

This is Snowflake #18 by Brenda S. Greer from:

I've never really stiffened/blocked anything I've crocheted before, after my first blocked doily attempt that hadn't dried in 3 days, and I had to iron it to keep it from mildewing... then I just started ironing all of them by putting a double folded towel on the ironing board.  This does 2 things: 1. ironing board covers have a reflective covering which increases risk of scorch.  2. keeps the doily from being ironed 'flat', same as you iron cross stitch to make the stitches pop forward.    You put the item, face DOWN, on the double towel, start in the middle, and iron your way out, stretching and pulling outward as you go.  You MUST lift your iron and press a second and lift, or you will scorch.   After it is ironed with a steam iron, and you are satisfied, turn off the steam, and give a quick pass, lift, quick pass, lift, never just stand there and iron it or you will scorch it.   True, another safeguard is that you are only ironing the back, so even if you scorch it, it will still look good on the front.  But we don't want a scorch at all, really.   THEN, you spray it with spray starch and kind of pat it in with your hands and let it dry before moving it (remember the towel is still there, so your ironing board doesn't get sticky.

So anyway, the snowflakes I've made in the past were rather doily like and so I could use the same process.   I decided I wanted to try my hand at stiffening, and I picked a snowflake with long slender legs that would never work if you didn't stiffen it, and set about to do some experimenting.   I first used a product in a bottle called STIFFY.   I poured some into a baggie, full strength, and squished my flake around it, and let it soak in it while I drew out the snowflake blocking grid from the back of the book and got some styrofoam and clear plastic ready.  The I squeezed my flake out against the inside of the bag as I worked upward toward the opening and pulled it out.   I blocked it with STAINLESS STILL QUILTING PINS (will not rust) and when it was dry, found it was not stiff enough.   Then I sprayed the back of it with what was supposed to be a whole other test, but it got called on early.   It was Aileen's Stiff Quik.    It got stiff enough and when dry, went to the tree.  

Then I made another and this time, put it in a baggie with Elmer's Craft Bond All Purpose Glue.   It is nice and stiff, but has shiny glue leaving behind the holes in the flake, almost looks like the fruit bag I was working on tore away with flake and is on it now, but I checked, the bag is in tack.

Next I will make 2 more of the same flake and try epsom salts and the sugar stiffening treatment.  

I chose this flake because it only takes about 15 minutes to make and the picots are not even tedious like normal picots, as you are chaining something like 6 stitches and then picot-ing into the 6 ch from the hook!    This is the simplest snowflake I've made, and oddly, think it is the prettiest on the tree, it is very snow crystal looking :)

(Worked on from Nov 1-23, 2009)

These are the "Winter Wonder" mini cloths from www.krisknits.com (also a ravelry download).  They call for a #3(3.25mm), and the first cloth had my hands really sore.  But then I realized I needed to loosen my tension and it all was fine after that.  I think these are great for coasters under big mugs, too.

(Finished Nov 13, 2009 #7/1.65mm hook)

Snowflake No. 8 (ASN 1025) by Mary Thomas b1934 from