Blowtorch Crafts

I have started a crochet shawl while waiting for the courage to start Francis’ sleeves.

Too bad I didn’t really check how many of these squares I’ll need before I started. 55 and 11 half-squares. One square takes a little over half an hour to crochet – hopefully it will be faster after some practice.

It is lovely, though. Pattern from Drops, in norwegian and in english.

The body is finished, the sleeves and cowl remain:

And a bit of a challenge.

I really dislike knitting with double pointed needles. I live in fear of the stitches escaping off the wrong end of the needles. And then I discovered that there was something called Magic Loop, knitting with an extra long circular needle (explained here). Finding a long enough needle NOW proved to be a bit more difficult though. And then I found out that you can knit with two shorter circular needles, like this. And that is the method I will try first.

Wish me luck, it looks complicated.

I am repeating myself, but knitting top-down is FUN!

I have reached below the sleeves now, and I love how I won’t have to sew – almost at all. I have reached the point of mindless knitting in the round for 5″, but I keep being amazed at the lovely texture of the yarn. I am using Nepal from Drops, and it is 65% wool and 35% alpaca. And amazingly easy to work with.

I keep petting the sleeve increases – they look so nice! Much prettier than seams:

The pattern is Francis Revisited by Beth Silverstein – ravelry link here.

I couldn’t resist any longer, and bought the yarn for my Francis yesterday. And I just had to start:

I love the yarn, so soft to the touch and easy to work with. And I love the pattern, too! This is my first top-down sweater, and it is really fun. Look at the increases!

It is really fast on 6mm needles (which is good, as I have no patience).

I made some simple bracelets last week that I haven’t posted yet. I have used the same technique as on a handmade bracelet I bought in Cuba a couple of years ago: a long string with a couple of beads knotted on, and a few rows of macramé to secure them together and make the bracelet adjustable. Neat, huh?

This one is for my mother, who loves hot pink:

And this one is for me, with little green turtles:

I bought the turtle beads from Little Appleton Beads some years ago – the melon beads on the ends og the string is from the same shop.

What am I doing now?

I am knitting.

This is the beginning of a little cardi for me, in pale yellow cotton. I suspect I will put it away when the weather gets colder and pick it up again in the spring. I don’t like knitting with cotton in the autumn and winter.

As you can see, it has been a while since I knitted anything – my stitches are uneven. Hopefully it will get better with blocking.

I plan on starting a sweater when autumn comes. I’ve fallen in love with Francis Revisited:

(image from the creator’s blog).

You can find the pattern here, in the right column.

Isn’t it lovely? I plan on knitting it in the new DROPS yarn Nepal, a wool/alpaca blend knitted on 5mm needles. Should be quick (I hope).

I don’t do this enough, but amigurumi is really fun. And fast! Found this one via the WhipUp newsletter:

It really is the game Pass the piggies, done in crochet! They come in their own little basket and all. You can even print the rules of the game directly from the pattern.

Genius!

Pattern here

Eva has made a gorgeous crochet blanket:

And of course, she made me want one too.

I’ve been at flickr gathering inspiration:

Love the patterns!

Found this sweet pillow some months ago in a store – I only saved the picture, as I thought I’d make something similar, so if anyone recognize it, please let me know so I can link to the store:

Have to show you the mutated bastard chicken thingy my friend’s daughter made for easter:

Look, ma – five eyes!

Three cowls and fingerless mittens for presents:

red cowl and mitts with roses

plum cowl and mitts with teeny roses

blue-green cowl and mitts with green silk scrunch

What to do with a boring cardi? I loved the colour though:

Duckie buttons were purchased:

But embroidery turned out to be the thing du jour. I made an old school-tattoo-motif, no less:

Update coming soon on the finished cardi.