Crocheted Kitchen Set

I created a set of kitchen accessories for my cousin's wedding gift.

Dish Scrubbies

I didn't follow a strict pattern for these, so I apologize for the vague tutorial here. All the tutorials I found online said to use 3" wide strips of tulle fabric to crochet with. The craft stores have rolls of 6" wide tulle in the bridal department. I'm too lazy to bother cutting tulle in half lengthwise, so I used the full 6" width of tulle. I don't recall what size hook I used, but it was probably a 5.5mm or larger. I'm afraid I don't recall exactly the stitches I used, but basically I started with a magic ring, crocheted 6 stitches into the ring (I think I did sc, though it may have been dc), then worked 2 more rounds with even increases in sc. One round of sc with no increases. Then ended with 3 rounds (I think) of even sc decreases, back to 6 sc, & finish off.

Next time I make these, I'll edit exactly how I made them.

I have some dish scrubbies someone got me that were made with the 3" wide strips of tulle, and while they work great, I think these made from 6" wide tulle will last much longer before breaking down.

Dish towel

Original Pattern

Made this one with blue & white cotton yarn, and changed up the striping pattern a bit.

This guy looked REALLY wonky when I finished stitching it up.

Prior to blocking.

So I went into my first attempt at blocking a project! (Yep, I've managed to avoid blocking for years.)

I don't have a blocking board, & my ironing board is smaller than the towel I made, so I laid the work on top of a pile of cushy bath towels on the guest bed, which had conveniently been stripped of sheets at the time. I then soaked another bath towel in water, wrung it out so that it was very wet, but not dripping, & laid it on top of my work.

After only having a wet bath towel laid on top of the work.

Just laying on the wet bath towel did wonders for reshaping the kitchen towel. It was still a touch wobbly on the edges, but much better.

Next step in my blocking was to use a hot iron to press the wet bath towel with the kitchen towel under it, finalizing its reshaping. 

After pressing, removing the wet bath towel, & letting the kitchen towel air-dry the rest of the day.

Et voila! After the blocking procedure, the kitchen towel had darn near perfect shaping! 

I'll probably still avoid blocking whenever I can, but now that I've had success with it, I'm no longer afraid to block when necessary. :)

Roxy Fox Hat

My husband found the Roxy Fox Hat on Etsy, & wanted me to make it for our friend for Christmas. I am thoroughly pleased with how it turned out--and so was our friend!

(Ignore the super-dorky poses. It was late & I was giddy from that I-just-finished-a-craft-project high.)

Now, I usually don’t buy patterns. But I was short on time, & couldn’t afford the trial & error this go round to figure out my own version. So I bought the pattern, and I honestly feel it was worth it! Comes with instructions, both written & in chart form, for both the fuzzy & non-fuzzy versions of the hat, in all sizes from baby to large adult. That’s a lot of patterns all in one! Extremely well written, also. I'm glad I invested in this one!

I didn’t swatch & dived right into making the largest size for an adult. Came out pretty darn big. Frogged & swatched. My guage worked up bigger than the pattern’s, using the same yarn & hook called for, which is a little strange since I tend to work pretty tightly. I loved the hook, though, so I just scaled down & made the Pre-Teen/Adult Small hat. Came out fitting an average-sized adult’s head perfectly.

If you can splurge for a paid pattern, I highly recommend this one!

Holiday Hat/Snood & Arm Warmers

My dance troupe hosted our second-annual Holiday Hafla (ie dance party for those who don't speak Bellydancer) this past December. We decided to have fun with our costuming & go all Christmas-y, since we were dancing to Christmas music. It was so much fun!

Looking through my yarn stash again, I saw two partial skeins of the CHUNKIEST yarn I have ever laid eyes on. The local craft store doesn't even have anything this beefy! I tried to work it with my 10mm crochet hook, which was the biggest I had, but the yarn was too big for it. I had to go get a 15mm hook to make it work! I have no idea where this yarn came from or how long I've had it, but seeing as one skein was white & the other was red & green, it was going to be perfect for what I had in mind!

I started with the arm warmers. I knew I'd be limited on yarn, so I wanted to start with the items that needed to match first. I chained enough to be able to stretch over my hand but still not be loose around my arm. The whole thing is worked in dc, and worked as tall as I thought looked right. I carried the yarn up from one row to the next, rather than cutting after each color change. Here's the pattern I used:

Arm Warmers
Ch 8. Join to 1st ch w/ sl st to form a circle.
Row 1: Ch 3 (counts as 1st dc). Dc in ea ch around. Join to 3rd ch w/ sl st. (8dc). Switch colors.
Row 2: Ch 3 (counts as 1st dc). * Ch 1. Skip 1 dc. Dc in next dc. Repeat from * around. Join to 3rd ch of 1st dc w/ sl st. (4dc). Switch colors.
Row 3: Sl st in next ch sp. Ch 3 (counts as 1st dc). * Ch 1. Skip 1 dc. Dc in next dc. Repeat from * around. Join to 3rd ch of 1st dc w/ sl st. (4 dc). Switch colors.
Rows 4-6: Repeat Row 3.
Row 7: Ch 3 (counts as 1st dc). Dc in ea ch sp & dc around. Join to 3rd ch of 1st dc with sl st. (8dc). Finish off & hide yarn tails.

I wanted the second piece to be a slouchy hat, but I lost the Yarn Roulette & came up a row or two too short. So it's kind of more of a snood. But whatever, it still worked just fine! :) After the arm warmers were done, I was left with a bit more of the white than the red & green yarn. Some trial & error resulted in the above color configuration looking the best & getting me the most mileage out of the yarn I had remaining. I finished the snood off by sewing three side combs into the edge at center & at each temple to keep it from flying off while dancing. (My hair is extremely slippery & ejects adornments regularly!) I am very happy to say it didn't budge from its place the entire night of the hafla, and I danced three separate times! Pattern:

Slouchy Hat/Snood
Row 1: Start with a magic ring. Ch 3 (counts as 1st dc). * Ch 1, dc. Repeat from * 8 times. Join to 3rd ch of 1st dc w/ sl st. (10 dc). Switch colors.
Row 2: Sl st in next ch sp. Ch 3 (counts as 1st dc). Ch 1. Dc in same ch sp as previous dc. * (Dc, ch 1, dc) in next ch sp. Repeat from * around. Join to 3rd ch of 1st dc w/ sl st. (20 dc).
Row 3: Sl st in next ch sp. Ch 3 (counts as 1st dc). Dc between ea dc of prev row. Join to 3rd ch of 1st dc w/ sl st. (20 dc).
Row 4: Sl st between joining dc & next dc. Ch 3 (counts as 1st dc). Work each stitch of this round between dcs of prev round. Dc between each dc for 5 more sts in this row. (you should have 6 dc on this row now, including your ch 3 at the beginning.) * 1 dc dec. 1 dc. Repeat from * 3 times. 1 dc dec. Join to 3rd ch of 1st dc w/ sl st. (15 sts). Finish off & hide yarn tails. If you wish to make a slouchier hat, add more rows from here.

Fine As Findley Cardigan

I started this cardigan back in the Spring of 2013, intending to wear it that summer. Yeeeeaaaahhh..... that didn't happen, lol! Who knew working with laceweight thread would take so long? ;)

Unfortunately for me, the shaping of this garment was all wrong for me & how I like my clothes to fit. It flares out from bust to hem, but I prefer a closer fit at the waist. I didn't realize that was how it'd work out until I was almost done with it. I could have frogged almost the whole thing & reconfigured the stitch counts to change the fit, but I just didn't think it was worth the effort at that point.

Fortunately for my friend, I offered the cardigan to her! She tried it on when it was nearly done & it looks great on her! I just had to add a few more rows to the hem, since she's taller than me. Finished that up, washed & blocked it, and now it's ready to go to its new home!

I'm a little bummed that this didn't work out for me, but very happy that someone I know loves it & will get some great use out of it! I'm a little jaded on the wearables genre & probably won't return to it for a while, though.

Read the play-by-play of this creation over on my Ravelry Project Page.