Finished Object Friday

… on a Saturday 😛 But better a day late than never, I guess 🙂

There is this thing on Instagram, a tag called Finished in February (#finishedinfebruary), which is about finishing as many projects as possible, not starting any new ones, and not buying any more yarn. (Well, I failed already because I started something new last week… but don’t tell anyone!)

Anyway, I thought I should jump on this because I have so many wips and I really want to finish some of them soon. So I started bringing projects to my geology lectures, and I’ve actually managed to finish two scarves so far 🙂

This is one that I started recently and actually also the one I finished first. I found two balls of fancy yarn in my stash while looking for something else, and I decided to just make a simple tunisian crochet scarf with wavy ends, using the stitch variation I learned from doing the Dragon Tail. I think it turned out all right. Maybe a little bit short, but I used all the yarn I had (with only five inches to spare) and the brand is discontinued now anyway. It curled a lot, so I had to block it, and using a wet towel and an iron is the only way I know, but it might not have been the best method for an acrylic scarf… Oops 😛

And here’s the Dragon Tail finished as well 🙂 Also shorter than I’d liked, but I ran out of yarn, so I’ll just have to figure something out. May have to use a pin to close it or something. The next time I make one of these (yes, there will probably be more, the pattern is fantastic – quite easy, but looks very impressive), I will either use thinner yarn or a thicker hook, or both. This ended up being quite dense and stiff, so I doubt it will drape much… Oh well, lesson learned 🙂

WiP Wednesday

Only a week late 🙂 Heh. I did actually draft this post for last week, but never got around to posting it. (I haven’t worked much on any of the projects, though, so the pictures are from last week.)

Anyway. Progress on the scarves, and even more scarves! Got a couple more rounds done on the nalbinding cowl, and I think I solved the problem with the join.

You can hardly see that I jumped from the middle to the top row 🙂 The only thing is that working in the middle row for the first round left a fairly visible ridge around the middle of the cowl, but since it’s twisted you can at least only see it on one half at the time 😛

Got a good deal further on the Trillian too:

I figured if I knit a centimeter or two every day, which is about three rows (back and forth three times, that is) I might just finish this sometime soon 🙂 Behind a few days now, though… Probably because of these two:

Yeah, I just went ahead and started two new projects on the same day, on Thursday I think it was. Got a sudden urge to do Tunisian crochet again and I wanted to do something fancy 🙂

This is called Dragon Tail. I found the pattern on Ravelry, but there’s also a YouTube tutorial that might be as easy to follow 🙂

And this is just a regular scarf. Found some fancy yarn and wanted to try a different stitch, and so I ended up with something called net stitch, or full stitch, or waffle stitch. Who knows. It’s very cool, and I love the thick fabric it creates, but it takes a while.

Also the scarf curls up a LOT, so I probably should’ve used a bigger hook, but 6 mm is the biggest I have. I have to get more hooks, but now I’m not allowed until next year

World’s biggest pencil

Well, maybe not quite, but it really is huge!

Made to keep all my Tunisian crochet hooks, and also handy for storing dismantled hairpin lace tools. It’s over 40cm long and I used two whole balls of black yarn. I taped two empty paper towel tubes together and put inside to stiffen it.

It’s made from the same pattern as the one I use for my regular crochet hooks, but with a few modifications and thicker yarn. This is the third one I’ve made (though only the second I’ve actually finished), so I didn’t even look at the pattern. Hence the small changes… The pattern is from this Etsy shop.  Here they are together:

(Please ignore the mess on the floor… It’s been a hectic week and I haven’t had any time for cleaning. So glad tomorrow’s Friday :))

It’s bigger than my laptop! Next I need to finish the one I’m making for my Clover crochet hooks; they won’t fit in the other one because of the thick handles. And then perhaps one for my knitting needles. But not yet. With this done and out of the way I’m finally ready to move on to some Halloween Dudes 😀

Felted bags

Two felted Tunisian crochet purses:

Both are made up of one long piece and sewn/crocheted together at the sides.  I used a 6mm hook for the bags and 8mm for the handles. I planned on felting them just a little, but they felted a lot anyway and came out tiny, almost the right size for Bollan to have her stuff in 🙂

I have also made this Patchwork bag from a free pattern by Lion Brand:

This was not supposed to be felted, but I did, and I don’t know how I feel about the result. I forgot how well this yarn felts (Gjestal Cortina), and it also came out a lot smaller than intended. I crocheted the squares in hdc instead of sc to save time, and then I made a sc edge around the top of the bag in brown:

I made the handle a bit longer than in the pattern, and I decorated the ends with a few cross stitches in green and purple:

But after felting the stitches looked like un-even blobs. Pretty pointless…

My boyfriend thinks the bag looks great, though 🙂

Okay, if you are related to me in any way, don’t read this!

It’s about your Christmas presents, you see… Not that I think any of my family reads this blog anyway, they don’t usually read English stuff. However, my mother checks my Flickr page now and then, so it’s best to be on the safe side. It would be bad to ruin the surprises. First, a few non-present projects:

A crocheted gingerbread house. It’s tiny, only 7cm high and 8cm long! The house itself is actually Tunisian crochet, because I want the walls to be as thick and sturdy as possible. Not quite sure I succeeded, it looks kind of floppy. Maybe I need cardboard walls after all. I guess I’ll see after I crochet some snow and decorations and a bottom for the house. I got the idea to make the house from Pysselkiisen’s blog, where she posted a pattern for a crocheted gingerbread house. You can see the original pattern for the house here (in Swedish) 🙂

Another thing I’ve been working on lately are these tiny Tunisian crochet coin purses. To be honest I just wanted to try out some color combinations, but I have no patience for making stuff for no purpose. Today I sewed one together and put a button on and everything 🙂 *Proud* I think I’ve said it before, but I hate sewing on buttons. Anyway, I’m quite pleased with them 🙂

This is the second attempt at the wristwarmers for my cousin, and this time they are big enough to be felted. However, I’m not sure I want to give them away, as I found another pattern I’d like to try. You can see the pattern here (also in Swedish). I want to make them in black and white, possibly with mohair instead of regular yarn.

Finally I have also started to knit a Clanger (this is the nose) for my mother. In case you don’t know, The Clangers is an animated TV series made in the seventies, about some pink (knitted) aliens on a blue planet, and they whistle when they talk. Very cute 🙂 I am too young to have seen them on TV, but my mother watched the show when she was little, and she remembers them. I’m not sure if she knows that they are pink, because in Norway the show was aired in black and white, at least the first episodes. So now I’m knitting a Clanger from a pattern I found here, and I have ordered the complete series on dvd to give my mother for Christmas 🙂 I feel like I’ve been quite inventive with some of the presents this year, I hope I can keep it up for the rest of the family.