Day 120 and Bubbles

I've picked up my little toy knitting machine again!

I still can't get it to make a flat panel, but I did make an interesting effect with the tube. I made it exactly as long as I wanted the scarf and then with a secondary yarn (I choose to match my color, but since you can't hardly see it, any color would be fine) and evenly spaced some running stitches. By pulling on those running stitches tightly, the tube squished up to make a very cute chain of bubbles or... well they would have looked like sausage links if it was in pink! If you were so inclined, you could even stuff those bubbles for a more substantial third dimension and a quilted feeling scarf. Call it hotdogs XD

It's a good thing I have a sense of humor or I could never live with my weird self :P

Day 119 and Doodles

I was hoping to make a scribbles style scarf with crochet, but I just couldn't get it to look right. However, using a thin yarn with a huge hook gives an interesting mesh that looks quite a lot like filet crochet. The loops all want to stretch out even though the scarf weighs practically nothing.

I suspect a shawl made in this way would not only be a fast weekend project, but even if you were to use cotton, wouldn't be that heavy at all!

Day 118 and Latch Hook

Latch hooking is a totally different craft, and it's emulated here. It looks a little bit like insanity, butif you look carefully, you'll see a strip of crochet in the center. 2 rows of filet netting provided a soft gridded base for this scarf reminiscent of the canvas even weave which provide the base for latch hooked rugs. The canvas is far too stiff and uncomfortable to be wearable so the crochet substitution is very much a necessity.

With a thin simple base in hand, the rest is fringing. With traditional latch hooking, every single row of even weave is given a fringe. This makes a shag rug and since every yarn is placed by hand, interesting patterns can be made. If you feel up to such a task, make your filet grid the appropriate size for your gridded pattern and just latch hook every row onto it in the pattern you desire. I decided not to be so in depth this time around and used very very long lengths of fringe and filled only the edge of my filet crochet. It's a little bit crazy, but it's really quite comfortable and there's no doubt that it's flashy!

Day 117 and the Wrap

A cowl can be joined in many different ways. Instead of just putting the ends of a rectangle together, try joining an end to an edge for this very classy pointed collar.

If you're not sure how long to make your rectangle, it's actually a really easy formula.
Length of the rectangle minus width needs to equal the target circumference (I think 22 inches is a good number to aim for so that it comfortably stretches over your head).

For this exact scarf, I used size 15 needles, 25 stitches and knit in moss stitch for about 36 inches before sewing. The yarn I used I don't think is being made any more (Jaeger Michelle) but it was a light worsted with a halo.

Day 116 and Holding Hands

Hey Hey Hey! It turns out I have not exhausted my ideas for the ever versatile, ever speedy, fingerknitting! This time around I made a few strips and carefully counted my rows so that each of the strips would be even. Then with a larger sized trusty crochet hook, I used a single crochet, chain one pattern to connect the strips of fingerknitting.

The look is very different from other finger knitting ideas. Usually each strip curls into something that looks like I-cord, but when crocheted together and forced to stay open, there is an interesting laddering effect.

Day 115 and Accessorize

So I decided that I could do another less plain jean scarf. Same thing, but with some decorations thrown on. I like to make my decorations on pins so I can wear as few or as many as I want and I can pin them on after I've arranged my scarf. Then if I want I can move them to other scarves, it's a cinch.

Incidentally all of the flowers and the butterfly were patterns that are demonstrated on youtube. All I did was turn on the demos and start crocheting along. For many of them I didn't even have to pause to catch up as they were stitched in real time.

Day 114 and Estonia

This is one of my absolute favorite pattern books is Knitted Lace of Estonia. The history is interesting, the patterns are gorgeous, and the techniques used span from simple to very complex lace with fascinating little bobbles called nupps. This particular pattern has no nupps, but look forward to seeing them much later in the year.