Posted in crochet
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This weekend my oldest son and my only husband shot the state indoor archery competition. Because they were shooting, my youngest son and I spent several hours on both Saturday and Sunday at a large indoor arena watching them shoot the state indoor archery competition! We didn't come home with any medals this year, but I came home with these:
Meet the Dorothea Dishtowel. This is a pattern I tried recently from the lionbrand website. I have made several patterns from lionbrand, but these are one of my favorites. This is the second time I've made a batch of these. My husband absolutely loves them.
They are made from the same cotton worsted-weight yarn that you would use to make dish cloths. Actually, the pattern would make a great dishcloth if you made it smaller.
But as dish towels, or tea towels, they can't be beat. They are very absorbent for spills and drying dishes. They are very thick for pot holders and trivets. And they are beautiful! We are definitely hooked...pun intended.
I may never buy regular dish towels again! |
Posted in crochet
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One of the easiest and most functional things I make are pot scrubbers. I’ve seen lots of "scrubbies" patterns in which a shape is made of cotton or acrylic to use when washing dishes, but my scrubbers do not use yarn. I use nylon tulle to make pot scrubbers. You can find the tulle in the weddings section of the craft store. The tulle comes wrapped around tubes and in varying length. This week I happened upon two tubes of tulle at our local thrift store. I got two 25-yard lengths, one green and one blue, for $.97 each. I got 2 doubled scrubbies and one singe out of each tube of tule. Now THAT’S a bargin! When was the last time you bought six nylon scrubbers for under $2? The pattern is a very simple circle crocheted in the round, of course, and then decreased on itself to make the scrubbie a double. When I get to the end of the tulle, I just make one circle so those are not double thickness but they work just as well. Pot Scrubbers (when working with the tulle, just wrap around your fingers as you would thread, it will "bunch up" so you can work with it.) ROW 1: ch. 2 turn; 6 sc in 2nd ch from hook. Do not join rows, work in a continual round and count as you go or use a stitch counter and mark the end of each row. ROW 2: 2 sc in each sc from row 1. (12 sc) ROW 3: 1 sc in first sc, 2 sc in next sc, repeat around. (18 sc) ROW 4: 1 sc in first sc, sc dec in next sc, repeat around. (12 sc) ROW 5: sc dec in each st around. (6 sc) Finish off and leave a 6" tail. Weave the tail around the top row and pull to tighten. Then weave the rest of the tail back into the scrubbie to keep it sinched.
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Posted in crochet
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I took a break from my current project this week to make gifts for my book club girlfriends. I joined this book club almost 2 years ago and this year was our second Christmas luncheon. As of a week before our planned meeting at the restaurant I still had no idea what I wanted to give the girls. I had purchased a candle set for our gift exchange game, but I wanted something special to give each of my friends for Christmas. I decided one-week before our gathering to make doilies for each of the book club girls. I enjoy making doilies when I’m in the mood to make doilies. I love the way they look and their dainty elegance. I wanted something for each lady that showed I cared enough to make them something. And so, armed with a stack of patterns from the Internet, I began my quest to make six doilies in seven days. I managed to keep the house clean, and feed my family and only once did I have to declare the day a "crochet only" day. For Sunday’s luncheon I came with a stack of neatly wrapped doilies, each pattern as different as the ladies to whom I would be giving them.
This first doily is called "Blue Doily." It is a really sweet pattern, although at times it was difficult to follow. This is definitely not for a beginner. You must be able to interpret patterns and understand how things should be worded even if they are not worded in the correct way.
The next doily might be my favorite and it is called, "Mom’s Crystal Star." It is a very solid doilies. There is not a lot of open work and so it blocks easily. It reminds me of a quilt pattern, which is why I may like it so much. I’ve always wanted to quilt.
"A little bit of blue" was also a really neat pattern that I enjoyed making. It was a little different with cluster stitches to make the solid spokes of the doily. Again, this was a pattern that needed some interpretation, so it is not for a beginner.
The last three were taken from a pattern I downloaded months ago at http://www.anniesattic.com/free_pattern_day/ I check this website every day to see if the daily free pattern is one I would ever try. Sometimes I print them. Sometimes I save them using File-Save As. I have a Crochet folder full of patterns from Annie's Attic Free Pattern of the Day!
I finished this crocheting frenzy by making a little doily for the outside of the Christmas package used for our swap game. This was also a pattern I got from the Annie's Attic site.
And with that a week of crocheting frenzy was over! On the way to and from church Sunday morning I returned to working on my knitting project, a clapotis. Happily thinking that my pressure-projects were over, I went to our lunch, thoroughly enjoyed myself, ate too much, laughed too hard, and returned home to my wonderful brood of boys. When I came into the house, the Big Dog informed me that he needed me to make a draft dodger for the study door...tomorrow! Ah well, that clapotis will get done one of these days. |
