Illusion knitting

Your encouragements to this post motivated me to take a better look at the slightly felted top. It still fits. Maybe I can knit edging on it and use it as a capelet?

I'm throwing in some dishcloth photos.



This one is done by playing with the varigation in the yarn. The yarn is two-colored and one color is knitted on front and purled on back and the other is purled on front and knitted in back. Super easy pattern but unique results. The pattern depends on how many stitches you cast on and of course I forgot how many I cast on. My best guess is 39 sts on 4.5 mm (size7) needles.

I stopped doing the Monthly Dishcloth KAL a while back but am back on the wagon. The mid-March cloth was based on illusion knitting technique, where you alternate knitting and purling with two colors to come up with a pattern which appears at a certain angle. Look.



I made that cloth with Knitpick's CotLin which is a super soft cotton (tanquis), linen blend. I want to make a top out of this yarn. It's really nice. Those two colors go very well together.

Crochet all day (and it rhymes too!)

What a great day for crafts today. First of all I had to take it easy because I had mosquito bites on my feet, some of which were close to my knees and they have a tendency to swell up and I could hardly walk yesterday. I was much better today (Sunday) but still decided to take it easy. For instance I sat outside while my daughters were playing in the back from noon until 6:30! It was very comfortable in the shade and there I sat and crochet. I finished this bathmat, which is a part of a gift set I'm working on. And I finished a square for a Crochet-a-long on Ravelry, where you make one square a month. I have been making them with 8 mm hook, but consistantly ran out of yarn before I was done. I planned to purchace an extra skein to fix that later or have it one row smaller but then had the brilliant idea of using a smaller hook. Problem is that in the US there is no hook awailable between 6.5 and 8 mm. I thought 6.5 would be too small and had my mom send me a 7 mm crochet hook. It did the trick. I made the March square and I even had a little bit of yarn to spare. It work out perfectly (except that now I have to remake January and February and get caught up with the other months).

I took some photos of finished objects. For instance this cool illusion dishcloth, made out of Knitpicks CotLin (which is part cotton and part linen and for some reason super soft). The pattern is not obvious (although it is in the photo I took straight on) until you tilt it and then it pops out.

Let's not forget the german crochet bag I made out of Sugar'n Cream stripes.



I love it. I loved making it (although putting it together was a little tricky unless you had the diagram in front of you). And I am considering to line it although at the moment it sound like a good idea to use it only for things that wouldn't fall out of the holes! In the background you can see my shade, where I sat all day and crochet.



I also finally took a photo of my womb I made from knitty.com. I finished it a while ago but never took a photo. Now I just have to send it to my midwife, who delivered both of my daughters, at home. Maybe she can have it decorate her office.

Hedera by Cookie A and crochet mania continues

I'm knitting Hedera. The pattern is well written and the first socks fits perfectly. Here is a picture of it unblocked.



Like all lace it blossoms when blocked (in this case worn)



I'm just knitting it when I'm away, at S'n'B or waiting rooms and such, so the progress is slow. BTW the color on the lower photo is more correct.

The blanket in the forground is a blanket I'm crocheting out of crappy yarn. What can I say. It came in a huge skein and beautiful colors and I needed a mindless project. I believe I talked about it few days ago.

I'm taking next week off. I don't know if that will mean good quality craft time, but I hope so. We are all (me, hubby and kids) going to Washington D.C. Unfortunately, the 6 hour car ride will not result in much knitting, since I'm going to be driving.

I hope to have the bag I was crocheting ready soon (provided I do the dreaded sewing ;) ). I can't wait to have it done, so I am very motivated, but not motivated enough to not work on other projects. My bathmat is coming along very well. I love the pattern. It's a crochet V-pattern.

Anyways, tomorrow is the first Saturday of the month, which means the library knitting club will be meeting. This month we are going to have a yarn swap. I have some yarn I can part with (I think) ha ha.

Adieu mes chers amis, a bientot.