Crochet to Go

I've been on hold for what seems like hours trying to make changes to a plane ticket. So...crochet finds!

For adults, I'm in love with these lamp shades. They're so simple - I'd love to have a set for stringing in the back yard at night. Or a row of them along the wall, spotlighting art.

For children, wouldn't crochet letters be a great learning tool? They'll double as pillows.

I'm busy with baby presents these days. I have several pregnant friends, most of whom aren't planning to find out the gender of the child in advance. I think I've said before that I generally find crochet to be a girly medium - patterns that work in fabric, or even knit, often look overly feminine when worked in crochet.

I'm pleased with this latest effort - it's completely gender neutral. The pattern was found in Simple Crochet for Cherished Babies (I simplified the front closure, otherwise it's exactly as written). The styling is very simple, and it should fit for quite some time, depending on how much you roll up the sleeves. I like the slightly open-weave feel of it - I think I might try to modify this into a hoodless cardigan for myself. It would be the perfect coverup for wearing around the house.

Other projects I have going on:
1. A worsted-weight baby quilt based on this pattern. I have neither the time nor the incredible patience needed to pull of the exact result, but even in a looser weave it's looking pretty good.
2. Final modifications on this hat (the brim will stay the same, but the overall hat will be deeper.

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Originally uploaded by aliciamalia.

I survived the Maker Faire. As you can tell from this picture, it has a carnival-ish air about it. Lots of burning man art, some bands, and building after building of robots, electronics, and models. The craft component was surprisingly minimal. I imagine it was an absolute dream come true for a 13-year-old boy. From what I gather, the event was significantly larger than last year, and I hope it continues to grow. There's certainly something for everyone, but it doesn't yet feel like a cohesive whole. Certainly interesting, though.

The Craft Blog ran a post on the toilet paper wedding contest recently - did you check out the photos? I absolutely agree that this first example should have won. Can you believe all the detailing? I'm quite fond of this second dress, too.

If you have a lot of time - and toilet paper - information on entering the contest is available here.

Robyn of Crochet by Faye has a very interesting post this week about her design process - I'd definitely recommend checking it out. I was especially intrigued with how she multiplies crocheted samples in photoshop (like this example) to find interesting patterns. Very clever. I must refine my photoshop skills.

Here's another major find from my Grandmother - dozens and dozens of crocheted flowers. My Grandma Welch (my great-grandmother) made them; my mom remembers her making one after another when she was a kid.

I've always thought that these were used as doilies, or possibily as coasters. My grandmother writes that they were starched and used as Christmas ornaments. I imagine that's quite beautiful - I'll certainly try to do that this year.

Being several years (at least) from having a house big enough for a full-sized tree, I've been trying to think of other things I could make the extras in to. Ideas so far:
1) scarf
2) shawl
3) placemats

It's only days away! It's like burning man, without the dust. And with more clothes.

I'm signing at the Chronicle Books booth on Sunday at noon. I'll have some crochet projects along, and would love to talk to YOU about everything you're making right now. Stop by! You can see first-hand the weird way I hold a crochet hook (a result of being left-handed and self-taught). There's a lot of other really cool stuff happening too. Won't you be crushed if you miss power tool drag racing? Haven't you wanted to learn how to make your own cat furniture? Seriously - they have everything.

Learn more about Maker Faire is right here.

I'm drowning in printouts of adorable amigurumi projects these days. Here are a few of the best:

Happy eggs.

Toy airplanes, with pattern for sale.

Birds and a platypus in crochetroo's etsy shop (and lots more).

Raindrops in mochimochiland.

Bjork by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin
Originally uploaded by the adventures of hori hara.

One my surprisingly observant coworkers stopped by my desk the other day and said, "Whenever I hear Bjork I think of you." I was flattered and flumouxed, until he said, "You know, that outfit she's wearing in the posters on the street outside."

I had never noticed, but look - it's crochet! Quite a spectacular collection of crochet ruffles.

I finished this a few days ago. It's getting a little late in the season for a heavy scarf, but my mom spends a lot of time up in Oregon, where it's still fairly cool at night. It's my first project from the 2007 Crochet Pattern-a-Day Calendar. I don't like 90% of the patterns in it, but I really enjoy thumbing through it and seeing all the interesting, odd, and funny things you can crochet. I'll definitely buy it again next year.

This is the "Cluster Craze Scarf", from 2/8/07. I'd recommend increasing the initial foundation chain (it's a little short), but otherwise it's a fine pattern. You can find it online here.

Wedding season is upon us, eating up all of my crafting time. I was in San Clemente for a shower this past weekend. Adam and I took Monday off to make it a mini-vacation, and spent two days hiking around Julian, CA and the Anza-Borrego State Park.

These pictures are from Anza-Borrego. The size of this cactus is unusual (most were about 1 foot tall), but it certainly wasn't the only large one. The needles were nearly the length of my hand. I was really tempted to break off a few and see if they'd work as sewing needles - I bet they'd be perfect. I didn't, though, so the next hiker can see the plant intact.

My grandmother recently unearthed these from her cedar chest: hand crocheted dishcloths, made by her mother. I'm curious - was this a popular style at one time? A google search turned up only a few hits, including this free pinafore dishcloth pattern. As soon as I get through my project backlog, I'll try to develop patterns for how to make these two.

Craft magazine posted a feature on the Crochet to Go Deck! You can check it out here. The editor, Natalie Zee Drieu, did a beautiful job. There's a link to a free pattern (the cover wrap top), too. You'll also find an interview with yours truly, with everything you ever wanted to know about the first project I crocheted, favorite patterns, and what I'm making next.

Some projects just don't work out. I was sure this was one of them - the yarn wasn't draping well, the shape looked all wrong, clearly the directions were for a project other than the one pictured. The pattern is the little yellow dress pictured in the upper left corner (Coats & Clark's Book for Babies, Book No. 510, 1956), made to fit a 1-year-old.

I've suffered along on this pattern for a month. That's really long for me - generally I try to move on to something new every two weeks or so. But we've been traveling, I've had some freelance work, the weather's been improving, etc. I definitely can't say I've put in a lot of hours on this project lately. I finally finished it in 2 back-to-back bursts this weekend, sewed it together, and... Wow! It's not quite what I set out to make, but it's rather cute. It's also adjustable at the shoulders and waist, and buttons up one side, so you don't need to struggle to get it over the baby's head.

Moral of the story? Don't give up, even if success seems impossible.

The pattern is available online here.

Here's my favorite easter project. The pattern is available for purchase here.

Thanks for Whipup for unearthing this post on the Poppalina blog - made from yarn remnants, it's a spectacular example of why experimenting with color can be a really good thing. It reminds me of the ripple blanket that Alicia of Posie Gets Cozy has blogged so extensively about.

It makes me want to organize my pile of scraps and make something!

I spotted the Precious Mesh shop in the Etsy Showcase yesterday - can you believe this work? I'm blown away. It's handcrocheted and surprisingly affordable.

I love the Craft Magazine blog: they consistently feature wonderful, surprising things. Take the Translations in Tupperware contest - who knew? The deadline for the third annual competition is August 31st. Do you think you can top this dress?

I should first say that Colombia is not an inexpensive country, in most respects. A mid-range hotel costs $80-150. A nice dinner for two costs about $30-50. A bottle of water costs $2. A fast food meal costs about $10 (significantly more than the U.S.).

That said, I bought very few locally made crafts. I had hoped to find pottery - specifically large ceramic bowls for wedding gifts - and found very little. I do love the weaving style shown here, and plan to do some research into how to do it myself.

My favorite store by far was Galeria Kano. There are many locations, the best of which is in the Zona Rosa district in Bogota (the mall location, not the street one). Galeria Kano specializes in fairly inexpensive, gold-plated reproductions of pre-colombian artifacts. Some is very subtle, some definitely is not. It's nice work, and when you buy it they give you a card that states the region and time period of the original artifact.

Other stuff? Turtle shell bowls and utensils, which I think are beautiful but can't ethically allow myself to buy. Painted furniture, which I was told would be ripped apart in customs. Lots of random trinkets, such as wooden fish, that seem to be common to a lot of areas in Latin America. Rum - did you know that Colombia now has to import molasses to make rum? There's no current entirely Colombian rum brand. They still grow sugar, but the by-products are made into a gasoline additive.

Finally, crochet? Yes, I was amazed at the number of fabric stores, most of which carry crochet hooks and cotton crochet thread. Knitting needles were rare. I saw numerous garments in the tourist shops in Cartegena with crocheted trim. And swim suits of course. I actually wore my crocheted suit - for a couple of hours at least. Man, it really gets itchy after awhile!

Check it out! My friend Elese spotted the Crochet to Go Deck in the NYC Anthropologie this past weekend. So far it doesn't seem to be at the San Francisco store, but I'm checking frequently. Let me know if you see it at any other locations.

My apologies for delaying so much on posts. I finished posting pictures from the Colombia trip on Sunday - click here if you're interested. I'm nearly through my list of missed blog posts too (I'm currently reading 47, which is fine on a daily basis but completely overwhelming when I fall behind). Who knows, maybe I'll actually get to my Colombian crafts post tonight.

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Originally uploaded by aliciamalia.

From Colombia - a country filled with crocheted crafts. Surprisingly, there doesn't seem to be much knitting at all. More to come...

I can't resist posting a link to Neta's site. She's based in Tel Aviv and creates free-form dolls in crochet, and other mediums. I'm a little scared of the work, but it's fun to dig through her archives and see the things she's made.

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Originally uploaded by aliciamalia.

Here's another scarf from The Happy Hooker. Worked entirely in sc, it couldn't be easier. It's a little stiff - I might use a larger hook next time - but I like the look of the vertical stripes.

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Originally uploaded by aliciamalia.

I have a number of projects I want to get started on. I also have a mountain of yarn and cringe at the thought of buying more. So I'm stalling and making easy projects with what I have. Here's another version of the One-Skein Scarf from The Happy Hooker.

USA Today ran an article this week about knitted and crocheted products for the home. The examples are fairly uninspiring, but it's great to see this sort of exposure for the medium. Read it here.