Crochet to Go

I've mentioned before my love for aprons. I really think they're wonderful, and generally spend several hours a day wearing them. Some people have security blankets; I have a security apron. My boyfriend, Adam, is starting to get with the program, too.

An excerpt from an email he sent from his office on Friday:

Nicola was featured in this week's daily candy - she makes a wide range of attractive, clever jewelry. Dig a little deeper into her site, however and you'll find a fine art section; all crocheted. I like the combination of text and flowers in this piece. There are several longer text versions crocheted out of cassette tape.

I'm making good progress on my grandmother's scarf. I bought two colors (shown) so that I have the option of adding a scalloped border around the entire scarf. I'm not sure if I'll actually add it - I'm really liking the look of this stitch all by itself.

Here's the promised sweater. I've taken liberties with the use of color and added a scalloped border around the entire garment. As you can see in the photo of the baby, the sweater is intended to just have a few color bands. I've really quite pleased with my brighter version. I'd consider adding an additional button next time and flairing the bottom section to give it more of the appearance of a dress.

Pattern notes (link to pattern):
The rows are very poorly marked; I'd recommend reading through the pattern first and marking the rows involved in each step.

Hook used: 3.25 mm
Yarn used: Coats & Clark Luster Sheen (1 oz. Pure Aqua),
TLC Baby (1 oz. lilac and light green, 2 oz. white)

Next projects: I'm crocheting a grey and black scarf for my grandmother's birthday and a baby bib from a 1950s baby book.

I've barely crocheted at all for the past several weeks (hence the lack of posts). There's a very real reason - actually, two. First of all, 3 out-of-town trips in July (a few pictures posted on my other blog). Secondly, my landlord has finally agreed to fix my basement - which normally houses my office & craft room / TV room / guest room - which suffers from (among other things): collapsing walls, ceiling, and floor; inadequate lighting; and a door that will no longer open more than a few inches.

As you can tell from the pictures, progress has been made. New cement was poured two days ago in the floor-collapsing section. The ceiling and worst wall sections have been covered in new drywall (the old walls were plaster). In fact, I don't think the whole project looks particularly bad in these photos. My problem is that the area has looked like this for the past 2 weeks - they've maybe put in a total of 8 hours in the last 10 working days.

Meanwhile, the rest of my house, storing the contents of the basement, looks like this last photo. I can't wait to have space to move around, relax, and craft in! Against all odds I'm almost done with a baby sweater, but I promise the production will increase once the house is back in working order.

How do you do it? Not absolute darkness, of course, but how about in the car at dusk, or in front of the television, with the lights off?

I usually wear a headlamp, and also have a clip-on lamp that attaches to a shelf or the arm of a chair. But why bother when you can have a light-up crochet hook? Ingenious!

More here (including the inevitable reference to a lightsaber).

These Chanel-inspired baby sweaters are so cute I'm angry I didn't think of them first. I think it might be my next project. I want to get the shape and pattern exactly right. Houndstooth, maybe? This picture is a knockoff, but it's close to what I'd like to do. Pink and black is definitely the way to go--I think it just needs a border and some big buttons.

Thanks to Adriene for this link - how to make crocheted flowers out of plastic bags. While I don't really want to wear this necklace, I do like the idea of making plastic flowers to decorate a recycled plastic totebag. Perfect for the beach, right? Stylish and completely waterproof.

Here's someone who's trying to add a layer of meaning to the art of crochet: Nathan Vincent. According to his artist statement, "My work explores gender permissions and the challenges that arise from straying from the prescribed norms. It questions the qualities of gender by considering what constitutes masculine and feminine. It critiques stereotypical gender mediums by creating "masculine objects" using "feminine processes" such as crochet, sewing, and applique." He clearly is quite accomplished at crochet; I admire the time and thought that has gone into these objects. You'll find a bit more info about him here, including a list of uncoming shows. Nothing on the west coast yet, but he is making it to the Ohio Crafts Museum in October.

My friend Jessica loaned me an amazing book she found at a used bookstore: The Baby Book of Knitting and Crochet. Published in 1948, it has roughly 150 patterns, many of which are still appealing to a modern audience (or, at least, to me). I've had the book on my nightstand for about two months now. My only problem is deciding which project to make first...

Feeling guilty about keeping the book so long, I recently went online to find my own copy. The author (Elizabeth Laird Mathieson) also wrote a The Complete Book of Crochet and The Complete Book of Knitting. Crochet is definitely dated, but there's hope--expect to see a few projects from the book in the near future. It includes this pattern that I made a few years back for Sophie.

Finished at last! I feel like I've been working on this project forever. It's unfortunately not a complete success. As you can see from the picture, it's rather small. I'm afraid it's just going to have to go in storage until I know a nice 8-year-old who's into tea parties.

I do love the edging, and am fairly partial to the look of filet crochet (especially when it's not being used to make a doily). I'd like to use this border on something else--perhaps sleeve cuffs?

If you'd like to tackle this project yourself, you can find the pattern here. I used a 2.25 mm hook and Aunt Lydia's Classic Crochet Thread Size 10 in color 419 (ecru, 2 balls), 486 (navy, 1/2 ball), 480 (delft, 1/2 ball), and 1 (white, 1/2 ball).

I'm finally done with the apron! I'm working on a post about that, but thought I'd put up a few pictures of what spent my weekend on. These are the "in bloom" and "fit to be tied" purses in Stitch 'N Bitch Crochet. The patterns couldn't be easier (total time, including making the lining, was about 3 hours per purse). I'm really pleased with the pocket I made for the burgandy version and those great little clasps holding the bags shut. The white flower is actually an earring from the estate sale I recently attended (and was inspired by this great owl version of the purse).

I have a new weekend passion--estate sales. Luckily, Adam loves them too. He looks for old tools and kitchen gear (recent find: a bacon press), and I look in closets and baskets for crochet materials. We had a great haul yesterday. I got this whole collection--which includes 7 sets of knitting needles, a filet crochet book from 1945, several pieces of costume jewelry, tons of buttons, and all of that thread (all on wooden spools)--for $15.

Design sponge, one of my absolutely favorite blogs, posted these pictures from ICFF (International Contemporary Furniture Fair), which was held this week. ICFF is housed in the Javits annex in NY, and coincides with the Stationery Show, which I generally attended while at Chronicle. Judging from the pictures I've seen, this was an exceptional show.

Anyway, how cool are these lamps? They're crocheted by a lebanese company--I found their site impossible to navigate and wasn't able to determine if they're hand done. I'm really curious about the fibers they used as well--don't you think there's some sort of artificial fiber involved to keep the length from continuing to stretch? Or made the fabric is glued to the balls?

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Originally uploaded by aliciamalia.

The photoshoot went very well--I cannot wait to see the final pictures! The photographer promised to scan in her polaroids and send them over; hopefully she'll do that this week.

So, what was it like? Well, as an observer, a long day. Clearly a lot of people have to work quite hard, and do it in a certain order. The stylist has to dress the model, who needs to have her hair and makeup done. The photographer needs to figure out the location and test the lights. Then everyone converges to actually take the photograph (or photographs--three rolls per shot seemed standard). It's an impressive process, and by the end of the day I understood why 11 shots was a lot to get through.

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Originally uploaded by aliciamalia.

Also known as my mom's scarf--this was the one book project where I was able to use something I had already made.

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Originally uploaded by aliciamalia.

I'm so glad I made this hat! The original model was black with a red stripe; it really wouldn't have worked with Jennifer's coloring.

I whipped these up earlier this week to provide a few different color options for Crochet to Go's photographer. The original cupcakes for the book were solid brown (chocolate) and brown and white (chocolate with white frosting). The fact that everything I made is actually getting professionally photographed somehow makes the book feel more real, and more likely to actually appear on a shelf someday. Hey, the publisher's paying good money for this, right? Surely they want a chance to recoup their investment. I've seen the call list, shot notes, and locations. I'm taking the day off of work for the first day of the shoot (this Monday). They plan to shoot for three days, doing the adult stuff, then baby, then still lifes. I'll try to sneak of few pictures of the team in action.

On another note, I finally broke down and bought Debbie Stoller's The Happy Hooker. Stoller really rubs me the wrong way--I often feel that her books are forced and trying too hard to be "cool." The patterns aren't awful in this one, though (she didn't write the patterns; just solicited and chose which ones to include). Her writing is also occasionally very funny and I find myself agreeing with a lot of her points. For example, she acknowledges that there's nothing wrong with acrylic yarn. (This is a huge pet peeve for me--why spend a bundle on yarn that you'll never be able to wash? Especially when the item is for a baby, who's sure to barf on it within the first ten minutes?)

I love what she writes about thread crochet (which is what the apron in the previous post is):
"it is understood by crocheters of every stripe to be a practice reserved for those with advanced skills, prison inmates with loads of time on their hands, or folks with a masochistic streak." I fear I fall into the latter category.

I realize I haven't posted anything I've made in quite some time. This is partly because I'm crocheting less (the weather's getting better; more time outside) and partly because I've been diligently working on the apron pattern. I love how it looks so far, but I seriously think it could take months to finish. Months. The pattern is at times hard to decipher and certainly not for the beginning crocheter.

Mahar Drygoods just went online. It's an absolutely charming site devoted to handmade, occasionally crocheted, gifts for children. And, as you can see, it has a sense of humor.

Crochet to Go has a photographer! Her work looks perfect--check it out here.

Craftster has a step-by-step tutorial up on making this great fat cat pillow. The instructions look impossibly difficult (photo immulsion method? Huh?) but I'm very tempted to try it. I've got the perfect model at home.

Or maybe I just need to get Niko on a diet.

Recently there was a call-out on a lot of the crochet blogs to "Flash Your Stash" (post a picture of your yarn supply). Having viewed several of these pictures (entire closets, neatly arranged but filled to the brim), I feel confident that my 20 or so balls of yarn is perfectly reasonable. But my craft book selection? It's nearly an entire shelf now. Given, I'm a big reader, and also that I worked for a publisher with good craft titles. But still...

Not crochet, but I couldn't resist posting this. It's a clean/dirty sign for your dishwasher. Instructions for how to make here.

Here's a fun (though very time consuming) project from the Readymade blog, crocheting old plastic bags into a very durable shopping bag. Probably worthwhile if you have mountains of bags floating around your house.