New Tam pattern

I know I am a terrible blogger. The truth of it is that I am pregnant and I have trouble creating crochet whilst I create life within me. Anyway, over the last two weeks I seem to have my mojo back and I have been crochetting every night. Of course I have given away a couple of things without taking photos of them first, but hopefully I will be able to show everything off in here over the next couple of weeks.

This is an almost finished tam I am making for a friend in Perth. It is made out of Pakchu cotton which is organic fair trade cotton from Peru.
http://www.ecoyarns.com.au/index.php?main_page=page&id=4&chapter=0&zenid=bdcc7fbf521813deb514709adcb2b089
It is very soft but the colours are a bit disappointing. We wanted a stronger chocolate and dark olive and in the photos that was what it looked like, but sadly when it turned up it looked a bit pucey. It took me ages to work out how to get the colours to work together.

Guess what I did?

It was just to big to do anything else. I am a perfectionist and it was quite carthartic to frog it. I am going to start again tomorrow. I have an invitualation job (uni exam) that will take 3 hours, so I am kid free with nothing to do. It will be bliss. I can't believe I get paid for it! I will post pictures when I have some.
:D

Tall Latte - ARGH!

I feel in love with this pattern as soon as I saw it.
http://www.canadianliving.com/crafts/crochet/crocheted_v_neck_pullover.php

I bought the book then bought the yarn and then got my friend, who is a dressmaker, to measure me. The pattern state that if you don't want a figure hugging jumper then to go up a size. I did a gauge test and even did a swatch test with the contrasting colour.



I did that and realised by the time I got to the underarms that it was way to big, so I frogged it and started again. The size down is written poorly. There are quite a few pattern row that simply don't work. I doubt it was tested once typed out, because one of the rows is obvioulsy half missing. Having already started the size up I improvised those rows. The whole way through I had one extra pattern repeat which is about an inch to inch and half (American pattern). Now I have measured it and it is about an inch - inch and half bigger than it is supposed to be, but on me it feel huge. I still need to do the sleeves and the neckline.

It doesn't look too bad right?

Again, not too bad right?

Hello? Can you see the extra material now?

OK, now here is me holding at least 6 inches in at the back?

Does it look better or is this going to make me look fatter?

And that is my grumpy face! LOL

Now looking at these pictures I am thinking it doesn't look that bad, but it does feel huge. I think I should frog it and start again a size smaller, but this would be a size smaller than my measurements as well. I seriously think that won't be a problem because there is a lot of room in this one. Anyway I need your help! Does it look huge and would I be better to frog the lot?Another alternative would be to go back to the hip shaping and take that out. It would save about 4 - 6 inches, but I worry that it would look boxy.


Can anyone give me some advice please?

Baby Jacket

Wow I am a terrible blogger. I seem to be driven to crochet for hours for a whole month and I don't want to stop to blog it all.
I am currently persisting my way through Tall Latte by Doris Chan. I am almost finished my third attempt and I am only mildly happy with the results. Don't be surprised if I frog it for a third time. I think I need to go down a size again. I should take a photo and let you all decide what I should do.....
I have also made a shrug for Amelies birthday in August. I just need to weave in the ends and take some photos of her with it on before I blog it.

I made this baby jacket for my niece who has just turned one. The pattern came from "Crochet for Babies" and is called the Soft Shells Jacket. This is the pattern link on Ravelry. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/soft-shells-layette
Anyway, as it is so warm here in QLD I decided to use Bendigo 8ply cotton in the shade of Lavender. It was a well written pattern and the jacket turned out perfectly. It fits like a dream. Sadly I didn't grab a shot of Shannon wearing it. :( I may make one of these for my precious angel as well.

Finger Knitting

A friend was looking for something to do with her 6 year old daughter on Intuitive Parenting

http://www.intuitiveparenting.info/forum.php

so I suggested Finger Knitting and I found a tute link for her on You Tube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3LKAlDz9ig

So can you guess what happened next......
Yes next thing I have wool in my hand and I am finger knitting.
I made Aimee a cute scarf in less than half an hour! and that included running to get the wool and learning how to do it.
Here is a photo of me modelling the scarf. Not much of a model for a Saturday afternoon. At least I put on a descent shirt LOL


Now I just need to find a kid that I can teach. I am itching to teach this and introduce a child to the love of wool. Unfortunately, I think my two are a little bit too little for it.

Hats and Scarves

We are off to Adelaide on Sunday. My aunty tells me it is very cold for Queenslanders in Adelaide, so I whipped up some hats and scarves for myself and the children.



Aren't they adorable! Can you tell it is still hot here in Queensland?
The scarves were simple and worked up really quickly, so Sharon was totally telling the truth when she called this pattern "The One Hour Scarf." This is a great pattern for a beginner and it is also a wonder stash buster.

http://laughingpurplegoldfish.blogspot.com/2008/03/one-hour-scarf.html

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/one-hour-scarf

To be honest Logan hat was a bit of a PITA. I made the toddler size but it was far too small, more suited to a baby. I have tried to give it away to a couple of kids under 2 and it is too small for them :( I will give it away as a gift so it won't be wasted. This could have been because my gauge was wrong. To be honest I didn't check it and I do have a tight gauge. The second hat I made was a womens size. As you can see it fits, but the brim and the crown are too big. If I was to make it again, I would make the brim 2.5cm shorter and the crown about 5cm shorter. I would also do it in hdc as the sc was very slow. This is a good beginner pattern.

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/gotcha-covered-2

http://www.coatsandclark.com/Crafts/Knitting/Projects/Accessories/LW1268+Gotcha+Covered+1.htm

Aimees hat was a dream. The pattern was interesting but easy and very quick to work up. This hat took less than two hours and I was looking after the kids whilst I made it. It looks great. It is probably a bit too hard for a beginner, but someone with a bit more than beginner knowledge would be able to make this and impress their mates as this looks a lot harder than it is. I highly recommend this pattern.

http://www.rheatheylia.com/index.php?page=patterns&id=0

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/divine-hat-2

Here am I modelling the same hat. I made this one using 12ply Bendigo Wool. I think the cables stand out more with the thicker yarn and I would definitely use this yarn if I was making this hat for a man.

Armegins Longies

Anyone who pays attention around here, will have noticed that I have had longies for Armegin in my progress bar for about a year now. I promised them for Sheryn for his birthday last year and weren't finished. I had the bright idea of creating a reversible pattern for longies as there is little on the market for the boys. The problem was the number of colour changes created bulk number of ends to be woven in, which keep popping out and making the whole thing look messy. Anyway, I put it in the cupboard to hibernate whilst I searched, thought and pondered what to do. Anyway I finally came up with a solution when I encountered the same problem with Aimees dress (Yes, that is hibernating as well, but not for the same reason) So anyway, long story short, here are the finished, sigh on relief, longies! and they are only a week late LOL

I really want to write up the pattern for these as I do think they are worth it. I haven't seen anything on the market like it, but maybe I haven't looked hard enough?