August 2010 CAL: Tunisian Scarf

Yep, I know I’m super late on the August 2010 CAL project. The month is more than half over and I hadn’t even decided on a project until yesterday. It’s been a lazy blogging month. What can I say?

Well, I’ve gotten as far as deciding to do a Tunisian crochet scarf and had settled on Obtuse last night… only to start it and discover that I wasn’t very happy with that decision. The pattern is a little confusing and not quite what I hoped it would be. But I have been wanting to design a Tunisian scarf so I’ve finally been adequately inspired to get on that. If anyone is CALing with me (anyone?) I’ll be happy to help you with Obtuse if you choose to try it OR I’ll let you in on the design process of my pattern-in-the-making and walk you through it as I go. Just email me or leave a comment if you’re interested. I’m planning to sell the pattern eventually so you’d be getting a free pattern and free help! The catch being that you might get pieces of a pattern at a time with possible errors (that I’d correct as soon as they are found, of course.) But, I would send you a nice PDF copy of the pattern when it’s finished.

I anticipate getting started on it right away (tonight) and finishing it sometime within the next 2 weeks or so. So far I know that it will be designed with bulky yarn and an M hook. You won’t need a special Tunisian hook for this, just a hook that has a fairly straight handle. I’m using this one… and this yarn:

Tags: bulky, CAL, crochet, pattern, scarf, techniques, tools, tunisian, wool
Category 8/10 Tunisian Scarf, Crochet, Inspiration, Uncategorized |

Knitting Milestones

So last weekend I finished my first pair of knitted socks. This weekend I started another knitting milestone, my first knitted garment. I’m making the Coachella tank top because it’s summery and seemed like a fairly simple design. I started in on Friday and am already halfway finished.

I’m using a cotton yarn that I already had on hand and I ordered needle ends to use with my Denise Interchangeable cable (originally purchased for use with the crochet hook ends). I also ordered a couple more crochet hook ends in the same sizes as the needles so I have the option to “knook” certain parts. Particularly the bind offs… I honestly don’t know how people bind off large projects without hooks. It’s infinitely easier!

Also, I thought it would be cool to integrate my crochet skills so I improvised a lacy crochet back instead of the plain knit back.

Tags: cotton, FO, knitting, knooking, summer, sweater, tools, tunic
Category Knit |

Homemade Knook

In an attempt to “knook” socks, I needed the smallest hook and cable I could find. What I ended up doing is taping a strand of Jelly Yarn to the end of my size D (3.25mm) hook, the smallest one I have. Smooth masking tape really would be ideal but all I had was scotch tape. It works pretty well as a knook but unfortunately is still not really small enough for sock weight yarn… unless I want really thin socks.

Please ignore the pug hair, I apparently need to vacuum :)

Tags: jellyyarn, knooking, socks, tools
Category Tools |