Crochet to Go

In honor of San Francisco's favorite holiday, here's a sampling of the best, the scariest, and the craftiest crocheted Halloween treats.

From upper left: Curbly features the ultimate way to candy-coat your cat; Frankenstein and Pirate Panda on Amy Gaines' flicker page; decorative pumpkins; Harry Potter & friends; and man-eating sea creatures (and much more) on this clever Japanese site.

And finally, What Not to Crochet features this beautifully executed (pun intended) saw scarf, my absolute favorite of the bunch.

I mounted my felted "painting" yesterday. It's not quite right yet - I think I'll have to nail a frame around the edges - but it's getting there. As you can see, it definitely fills up a wall.

Here's another (semi-)related project that I found interesting. Marilyn Rose created these spectacular quilts from her own late night pictures: She snapped photos of the scenes with her point-and-shoot camera "from behind the wheel going way too fast on the highway." Read more here.

I'm back on hats. I've finally finished (at least for now) my "basic hat" pattern, and have been experimenting with yarns, patterns, and variants. I really like the striped one.

The purple hat drops down slightly farther in back to keep more of your head warm, and has ear covers. I think it's going to be a lot warmer than the flap-less hat. This photo is certainly not one of my best, but as my friend Brooks pointed out, it has a certain anime (plastic?) quality that's interesting. So there you go.

It's done! This is actually my first felting project. I suppose if you're going to try something, go big.

I definitely still need to block this, and figure out a way to hang it (I'm thinking I'll stretch it over a wooden frame, but does anyone have a better idea?).

In order, these are pictures of:
1) The original painting
2) The crocheted, unfelted version (36 x 36 inches)
3) The felted version (26 x 36 inches - I'm not sure if it's normal that the work only shrinks horizontally?)
4) detail of colors
5) side-by-side comparison of before and after

I'm pretty pleased with the overall result. It was a lot of work, but it's going to look great on my living room wall. My only reservation is the felting itself - I'm not sure it's a better work because of the felting? I loved it just as much before. Hmm. I'm going to tackle an ocean scene next.

The crochet phase is done! I'm doing the actual felting tomorrow. Here's a glimpse into my process.

I originally took a jpeg of the painting and overlaid a grid in photoshop. It was good on screen, but not very useful when I was actually working. I couldn't easily print it out, given the number of rows (142 sc across, 180 rows high). Eventually I settled on the two visual aids shown here: one printout of the painting with 16 x 16 stitch squares drawn over, and a second handdrawn version showing where to place the accent colors. I used safety pins on the work itself to show the grid lines (shown in the last photo).

Other specifics: this is worked entirely in single crochet with a 5.5 mm hook. I used Lion Brand Wool and Patons Classic Wool Merino in cream, black, navy blue, blue, gray, purple, and green.

My felting project is almost done! It's huge - almost 4 feet x 4 feet - and within an hour of being completely crocheted. I love the way it looks, and am really afraid to felt it. I've decided to just go for it, though. I'll have pictures by this time next week.

This art exhibit looks amazing. Artist Jean Arkell has knitted mini reproductions of the homes of female killers - or the houses where they committed the crimes. I love the houses, and am even more drawn to the written descriptions of the crimes. There's a certain awkwardness to the prose that adds to the general oddness of the whole project. It's very straightforward, and yet slightly off. For example:

Christiana Edmunds was a 43 year old spinster who lived with her widowed mother. She had become infatuated with a married man, Dr. Beard. In September 1870 she brought a box of chocolates to the Beard's house and insisted that Mrs. Beard eat some over a pot of tea. Christiana had filled these chocolate creams with strychnine. Immediately after eating one Mrs. Beard became severely ill. As a result Dr. Beard accused her of trying to poison his wife. Christiana denied the charge and set about trying to prove that there was a poisoner at large in Brighton. She would pay children to buy chocolate creams from the same sweet shop that she purchased the box of chocolates for Mrs. Beard from. She would inject these with strychnine, then re-wrap them and pay another child to return them. The innocent shop-keeper sold on these poisoned sweets. On 12 June 1871 this activity resulted in the death of 4-year-old Sidney Barker. Christiana even sent poisoned cakes and fruit through the mail, addressing some to herself, to try to emphasise her innocence. She was eventually caught and sentenced to death but when it transpired that she was mentally ill her sentence was commuted and she was sent to Broadmoor. She died there in 1907 aged 79. It later transpired that no less than four members of her immediate family had died as a result of mental illness

Do you read Cute Overload? I only read it occasionally, as, well, it generally tends to be an overload of cuteness. A friend forwarded this link on. Yes, it's cute, and I suspect it's actually useful in Japan. When I was there (a long, long time ago), all fruit was carefully packaged individually. It was a nightmare of plastic and cardboard. As silly as it may look, this is an extremely green solution to a major problem.

Craft:Blog featured these crocheted candies recently (pattern available on Etsy); inspiring a search for more sweets.

Rare Bird Finds has this playful candy heart scarf. I think I might even like the concept more as individual pins.

Finally, who could resist these donuts? Check out the artist's Flickr group - there's some really nice work.

This hat came out beautifully. The yarn is really lightweight but warm. I think I might make the same hat for myself.

Here's my picky coworker modeling it. I so rarely get photos after giving something away - he was thoughtful enough to snap a picture while out camping. He was really happy with the result.

I've started my mammoth felting project. It's 36 inches wide and (when finished) will be about 38 inches tall. I have 35 inches more to go, so don't expect to see the final anytime soon! I'm sticking with a single color for the cream background, but will try to replicate those shades of blue, green, and purple on the mountain. My hope is that the felting process will blend any solid lines into subtle accents. Stay tuned.

This painting is by Willoughby Walling.

I'm in a hat phase again. Baby hats, brimmed hats, adult hats. This work-in-progress is a gift for a very particular person, who has had a lot to say about color, shape, and sizing. I'm actually enjoying the pressure to make it perfectly right.

The yarn is rowan 4 ply soft (100% merino wool), which is a joy to work with. It's fairly fine, which is making the project more time consuming than normal, but it really is quite soft and has a nice stretchy quality that makes it great for a hat.

My latest Etsy purchase arrived in the mail this week. I love it - it's wonderfully crafty and aggressively edgy, all at the same time. I'd love to see a similar treatment with a crochet hook (or perhaps 2, crossed?). There are a lot of other designs well worth checking out, including wonderful baby clothes.

Thanks to my coworker Amanda for a great project idea - we spent some time discussing designs last week, and settled on a decidedly low-tech design for a high tech product. I also wanted the case to clearly say "phone", not iPod.

I used a 3.5 mm hook and worsted weight yarn. The entire pattern is worked in single crochet. Follow the grid below to create the pattern, then sew the bottom and side seams.

I'm frankly surprised I'm not seeing more yet. There are oodles of iPod covers out there (tip: the iPhone is the same width as the Video iPod, but slightly taller), but there aren't many contributions for the new product. I'll post my design later today. Here's a sampling of some of the best options out there.

1. Daddy Types Handknit iPhone
2. Wrappers iPhone Case
3. Pink Poodle

I saw a post on crochetville recently for a crocheted cat toy. That in and of itself isn't all that interesting (except, really? Why not buy a toy for a dollar, or better yet, throw a ball of string at your cat), but the post also mentioned it was for a crocheted cat toy exchange group. It blows my mind that such things exist. I love seeing all these yarn swaps, but this is just going too far.

I am not a member of any such clubs yet (and am actively avoiding anything that will pigeonhole me in the "crazy cat lady" genre), but I do bookmark themes avidly. Food seems to be a big one lately. "Melbangel" has a spectacular food set on Flickr (as well as people and animal sets) that includes these avocado and scoops of ice cream.

"Benicetomice" personifies her food, like this TV dinner I'd be afraid to eat. She's got a wonderful hot dog design too.

This is a quick project - less than three hours start to finish. I used the "Boy Beanie" pattern from The Happy Hooker, swapping in an H hook for the recommended I. Size-wise, it's perfect for a 2-3 year old. I doubt the recommended hook size would actually fit an adult. Save the pattern for kids.

I have a new trick for grouping multiple images: Mosaic Maker. It's fast and easy tool. And if you're interested in cataloging and grouping in general, this article from Evil Mad Scientist Labs is worth a read.

I'm finding more and more crocheted clothing and accessories out there - the trend definitely isn't dying. Clockwise from upper left:
- Dress from baby gap
- Crocheted clutch from Banana Republic
- Dress from Forever 21
- Top and blanket from Free People
- Bikini from Free People
- Cardigan from Free People
- Top from Forever 21
- Dress from Forever 21

Did you catch The Knitting Circle Shows Its Chic article in the NYTimes last week? It's definitely worth a read. I particularly like this acknowledgment of the power of craft bloggers:

“I do think the runways were inspired by people doing crafty things at home and by how inventive this generation is,” said Ruth Sullivan, an editor at Workman Publishing, which publishes large numbers of crafts books. She added that designers may also be looking at the Internet, where rafts of people are designing their own patterns and posting them on blogs."

It was love at first sight when I spotted Fia Lotta Jansson's top tutorial (thanks Craft Mag for the link). Fashion-forward, crocheted, obviously fairly simple...a perfect weekend project. The tutorial isn't actually that helpful, though - she repurposed "lace trim" for the crochet portion. It also doesn't address how the strapless top stays up, or how you get it on. For all of you crafters out there, here's a complete pattern.

Crocheted top:
Starting chain: multiple of 10 sts + 2
(Mine was 172 chs using a 3.5mm hook and baby weight yarn. Make a chain and wrap it around under your arms to determine your chain length - it should be an inch or two longer than your actual measurement. )

Row 1: Work 1 sc into 2nd ch from hook, 1 sc into each ch to end, turn.

Row 2: Ch 3 (counts as 1 dc), ship 1 sc, 1 dc into each of next 3 sc, *ch 3, skip 3 sc, 1 dc into each of next 7 sc; rep from * to end, omitting 3 dc at end of last rep, turn.

Row 3: Ch 1, 1 sc into each of 1st 4 dc, 3 sc into next 3-ch-sp, *1 sc into each of next 7 dc, 3 sc into next 3-ch-sp; rep from * to last 4 dc, 1 sc into each of next 3 dc, 1 sc into 3rd st of ch 3 at beginning of previous row, turn.

Row 4: Ch 1, sc into 1st sc, skip 2 sc, 1 sc into next sc, ch 6, skip 3 sc, 1 sc into next sc, * ch 5, skip 5 sc, 1 sc into next sc, ch 6, skip 3 sc, 1 sc into next sc; rep from * to last 3 sc, ch 2, 1 scinto last sc, turn.

Row 5: Ch 1, sc into 1st sc, 12 dc into 6ch arch, * 1 sc over next 5 ch sp into center st below (from row 3), 12 dc into next 6ch arch; rep from * to last ch 2 sp, 1 sc into last sc, pause.

Take a break and wrap the piece around you again. Work several rows of single crochet along the short edge (as many as you need for a comfortable fit), ending with a button hole. Use pins to mark where shoulder straps should be placed. Turn.

Row 6: Sc across entire top. At marked shoulder strap locations, work 6 sc up first half of arch, ch 75, sc back down ch, and continue working sc along your path. Fasten off. Sew button at opposite end of button hole.

Be sure to not sew your button hole tab to the tshirt portion to allow a little extra wiggle room when putting this on. Knot your shoulder straps. You're done!

I finished the blanket last night. It turned out beautifully - the worsted weight yarn creates a very different looking pattern, almost floral in appearance (you can see Poppalina's original and the pattern here). I kept the border simple, just a series of single crochet rounds. I've decided to not give it as a baby gift after all - it will make a nice reading blanket/couch throw for an adult.

All told, this project took about 3 weeks. The pattern is varied enough to not get tedious, and it's a great way to use up leftover yarn.

Next up: a couple of hats for charity and a felted pillow case for my living room.

Remember this pattern from back in April? I finally got around to making it. I love it - it took just under 3 hours total (perfect for a plane ride), would work in a variety of colors, and is easily customizable for different animals. I'm thinking I'll try a teddy bear version next.

I made this for a coworker, whose wife is due in about 2 weeks. I don't think I've talked a lot about work here (personal life usually only makes the other blog), but I work at a pretty cool design firm in San Francisco. Despite being almost entirely male, everyone is very supportive (often surprisingly so) of crochet and crafting in general. It's great. We're hiring a lot of people right now, so get in touch if you're interested and qualified (designing, programming, copywriting, project management, hr, interaction design): jobs@method.com, or alicia@method.com.

It's a beautiful, sunny day, I have a wedding to go to in a few hours, and I just found a picture of a project made from the Crochet to Go Deck! I don't know if it gets much better than this. Fern commented on the blog recently, and I just spent the last hour reading through her posts (great blog, Fern!). She made the cupcake for mother's day. I made all of these projects at least once (most many, many times), but it's still a huge relief to see that they work for other people. Thanks Fern! You made my day.

Did you catch this post on Whip Up a few weeks ago? This wonderful creation is hand crocheted and then covered with plaster and paint. By a guy, no less. He has a fairly diverse selection of work available in his Etsy shop. Check it out.

(And if you're wondering, like I did, the size of this is about a foot long. It would be amazing if he made a life-size one.)

Threadbanger has a great post on the above topic. Katamari hat, anyone? I take issue with them, however, for not including Monster Crochet's golem hat. It's truly a masterpiece.