The Grass is Always Greener

I recently found this yarn I'd purchased many years ago...like, MANY. I have two full skeins of it and the color is SO deep and vivid, and shiny too. It's Caron Simply Soft in, simply, "Green". I LOVE the color, the feel, how it's working up, everything. Not finding anything online that really floated my boat for this yarn (insanity since I spend 99.9% of my day online browsing everything knitting-related), and knowing I wanted something I would actually wear, I decided to "make up" a basic tank (in quotes b/c it's so NOT original).



So far: I cast on 144 stitches (a guess) and I've done 2" of a 2x2 rib at the bottom and then switched to stockinette for what I estimate will be about 8 more inches (a total of 10.5 to reach right under the boobs). Then, for the boob part, I'm going to do seed stitch...and straps too, likely crocheted like my Razor Cami was.

Sand in the Sky - Crochet Hat

I wanted to make THIS hat, b/c I think it's super cute...but after finishing it, it was not only WAY too long on me (covered my nose) but it looked ridiculous. SO, I frogged it back to Row 17 of the pattern and left it like that. I used a K hook just like the pattern said.

I LOVE this yarn so much! It's Bernat Softee Chunky in Nature's Way and it's shinier and softer than the solid Softee Chunky. SO nice to work with! I used New Denim Heather for the brim, starting at Row 16 (the dc's), and it matches the blue in the other yarn perfectly. I am loving this hat (if not the pics of me with a shiny forehead). It literally took me like an hour the other night.

Anyway, here are some pics:

The Blue Monster - my Razor Cami

Well...here it is, 165 years after I started it. UGH, it took me forever b/c my interest waned with the repetitive (yet easy to remember) lace pattern and then a yarn tangle in the skein got the best of me...so I left this project alone for months. I finally decided I HAD TO finish it, so here it is. I TOTALLY messed up the dividing at the armpit and I haven't woven in ends yet, but I'm psyched the straps look good...I crocheted around the top edge, adding straps as I went.

Anyway, here it is:



Knit with Lion Brand Baby Soft in "Bluebell" and size 5 circs and straights.

CROCHET PATTERN: Red Spiral Slouchy Beret

Materials

Crochet Hook - Size I
Yarn: Red Heart - Cherry Red (less than one skein)

I started out making THIS hat and I don't know if it's me or the pattern, but I had a lot of trouble with the sizing (and I used the same materials and hook size). I noticed that the vertical lines on top of the hat were working up into a spiral for me, but I liked it better so I kept doing it. In order to get the spiral, I was doing the "fpdc" into the stitch to the left of the previous 'fpdc', hence working up into a spiral instead of a straight line. Anyway, it repeatedly came out HUMONGO, so I kept frogging it back. Finally I just decided to frog it back until it was a 10 inch diameter, per THIS pattern's specs. For me, a 10" diameter was achieved at Row 11 of the first pattern link. At Row 12, I stopped doing all 'fpdc'.

(Join rounds with sl st, then Ch 2 at the beginning of every round)
Row 12: hdc around, skipping over every fpdc
Rows 13 - 16: hdc around (100 sts)
Row 17: (hdc in next 10 sts, hdc2tog) around (10 times = 90 sts)
Row 18: (hdc in next 9 sts, hdc2tog, one hdc in next 4 sts, hdc2tog) around, +4 hdc
Row 19: (hdc in next 4 sts, hdc2tog) around (64 sts)
Row 20: (hdc in next 4 sts, hdc2tog) around, +4 hdc
Row 21: (sc in next 4 sts, hdc2tog) around, +5 sc (45 sts)
Row 22: sc around. Bind off.

Long Time No Knit

Well, that's not totally true. I'm just taking FOREVER to finish my Razor Cami, but I've started and frogged about 3 projects in that interim. I came upon a yarn tangle in the skein for my cami, so that project came to a standstill. Then I cast on last week for a cute minidress/jumper in last summer's Knit1 mag (knit in LB Homespun) that I wanted to wear to great acclaim over Thanksgiving in NYC, but I noticed dropped stitches about 1/4 the way in so THAT got frogged too. Then I made a red slouchy beret for Clanda, upon request. THEN, the last two days, I was working on the red/cream matching scarf she subsequently requested, but decided upon completion today that I am a jackass for putting the rough RHSS yarn (in Cherry Red) at the exact place it goes around the neck, in lieu of the OH-SO-YUMMY-SOFT Bernat Softee Chunky (in Natural). DER...so that is getting frogged too.

SO, lots going on but nothing good.

Here are some pics of the Red Spiral Slouchy Beret and still unfinished Razor Cami: