The Best of 2009

Babette Afghan. Model, Larry

Happy almost New Year everyone! I want to thank ALL of you for reading my little blog this year and leaving comments. We love comments!
Even though I write about Los Angeles, cooking, family and friends here, my primary focus is knitting and crochet. So, I thought I'd list my favorite top ten projects of 2009. This was the year that I focused on making shawls. I could definitely list more than ten shawls as ALL of my favorites, but since I used the same pattern for lots of the shawls, I thought I'd talk about a bunch of different projects!

You can find all project details on my Ravelry projects page.

"It's a Wrap" Shawl w/ edging from Doris Chan's "All Shawl"

Granny Triangle Shawl with "All Shawl" Border (Model, Courtney)

Floaty Scarf (which is essentially a granny triangle) Model, Susannah
Garland of Stars
I completed three scarves for the Red Scarf Project. Here are two.
Trader Joe's Bag covered with Granny SquaresMy Favorite Sweater

Larry's Mardi Gras Hat

Wedding GrannyGhan

Wishing everyone a very happy 2010!

#welcomeblanket

I've completed TWO Welcome Blankets! #welcomeblanket

Ellen's Welcome Blankets

I struggled a bit with my first red, white and blue blanket. I used the Corner2Corner crochet stitch. While this stitch is great for garments, it doesn't really lend itself to modular crochet. Stitching the blocks together for the design was tedious. Once I figured this out, I bit the bullet and just carried on until I was finished. 

Corner2Corner Welcome Blanket

For my second blanket, I discovered this tutorial for diagonals/triangles within a granny square. The uniform edges of a granny square are much easier to join than the Corner2Corner squares! 

Granny Triangle Welcome Blanket

I like this triangle granny square so much, that I'm now working on a baby blanket for one of my cousins using this pattern in blush pink and gray washable yarn.

Future Baby Blanket

Join me in making your own #welcomeblanket. Find the details HERE. 

Fin!

I've crocheted yet ANOTHER granny triangle shawl out of Noro Kureyon (worsted weight) yarn. Crocheting with worsted weight yarn, using a size "J" hook is super fast! My co-worker, Courtney is the tall shawl model!

Once again, I used Doris Chan's border from her "All Shawl" for the border. You can find Doris' pattern on Ravelry for free.

Granny Triangle Shawl

Along the top edge of the shawl I crocheted a reverse single crochet stitch, commonly known as the Crab Stitch. I think it gives the piece a nicely finished edge.
I now have plenty of gift shawls on hand for the upcoming holidays as well as for a few birthdays.

Yesterday at our workplace holiday gift fair I sold out all of my baby sweaters. My co-worker, Amy purchased a little "Bruin Baby" cardigan for her little boy, Jack. The cardi fits Jack perfectly!

What a Cutie Pie!

Holiday Gifts

I've been working away for over 8 months on this year's holiday gifts. The Gift o' the Year is a a hand-crocheted shawl. I've been experimenting with multi-colored yarns, sock yarns, worsted weight yarns and more. I've made Seraphina Shawls, Granny Triangle Shawls and Rectangular Shawls. I'm kinda' shawled-out.

HOWEVER, I'm smitten with the combo of any striping Noro yarn and this granny triangle shawl (which is really a scarf pattern - Ravelry link). I can't stop making them! I'm working on another one right now! They're fast and gorgeous (just like I USED to be in the OLD days)! (rimshot).

Thanks to my tall co-worker, Courtney for being America's Next Top Shawl Model!

All my yarny friends are going to receive FABULOUS gifts this year!!!
For calendar items for this weekend, check the L.A. Times, L.A. Weekly, L.A. Conservancy and yesterday's blog post!

Circus!

From "Inside Crochet" Magazine, "Circus Blanket" by Emma Varnam

Circus! I really liked the photograph of this blanket, "Circus," designed by Emma Varnam. I figured I could crochet it by looking at the photographs. Varnam used the Corner-2-Corner crochet square method. This makes for a very dense piece.  I decided to use the granny triangle square method for this blanket so that it would be lighter for our California climate. The blanket was a birthday gift for my friend Mary Jo.

I have a lot of acrylic yarn in various colors, so I thought this would be a great way to use up some of the excess yarn. I like making blankets and afghans with acrylic yarn so that they are easy to wash and dry.

I started out fine with the pattern. Here is an early photo, along with my human afghan holder, Mr. Larry.

In progress, "Circus" Afghan

I worked on the afghan sporadically, usually at home. Once a blanket gets to be a certain size, it really isn't a portable project any longer! I think, while watching TV and multi-tasking, I got a bit confused about square and triangle placement. Somewhere along the way, I managed to reverse a square so that the pattern was wonky! I didn't realize it until it was too late to change. Also, I was under a deadline to finish this blanket by MaryJo's birthday! I ended up scraping the chevron pattern of "Circus." I added an entire round of plain white squares and then an entire round of smaller squares in mostly blues, greens and grays with a pop of bright color once in awhile. 

For the border, I crocheted a few rows of white then added the Chocolate Box Granny design in lime green. At the corners I placed a picot fleur di lis. I think it turned out nicely. It's lively and still reminiscent of circus colors!

Picot Fleur di Lis corners with Chocolate Box Granny border

The Amish and Mennonite say that only God is perfect. That's why there is a  purposeful imperfection in each of their quilts! I like that reason! I'm going with it.

Happy birthday dear MaryJo! I hope your new afghan keeps you cozy on cool nights! We celebrated with a lovely brunch yesterday at Bacaro in West Hollywood.

Brit, Natalie, Ellen MaryJo, Darcy @Bacaro, West Hollywood

Winter Afghans

There's so much trouble and strife going on in the world right now.  I feel like I have to bury my head in yarn and just crochet an afghan.

It's winter.  Although we've had some blue, sunny skies here in Los Angeles, it is cold at night.  I own many afghans for warmth, but I can always use one more.  I'm attracted to multi-color, bright blankets.  Here are a few patterns I found on Ravelry. Click on the link in each caption for pattern information.

Magic Rainbow Baby Blanket

Granny Log Cabin

Diamond Flower Baby Blanket

Snowman Granny Square

Saw this beauty online.  No pattern. These are hexagons with fantastic color placement!

Triangle Circle Afghan

iHeart Hearts!

Larry's crocheted heart necklace @ MONA, Glendale

Yes, I know it's corny, but I just love the HEART design. I'm almost ALWAYS wearing a heart pendant around my neck (unless, of course I'm wearing my excellent new Breeze Block pendant)! We need more heart in this world!

A few of my heart pendants

When the cartoon, "Cathy" started showing up in my daily newspaper in 1976 (written by Cathy Guisewhite), I immediately identified with the character. Cathy always wore a shirt with a heart on it. I wanted to be just like Cathy.

My idol, Cathy!

My heart obsession has carried over to my crochet and knit projects.  I've made dishcloths, potholders, hats, doilies and more with hearts of them.

Sunflower Daisy Heart

Baby Heart Fez

Heart Dishcloth

Halloween Costume, The Red Heart Queen of Crochet

Valentine Heart Doily

Intarsia Hearts

Last year I saw this heart blanket online called "Tune My Heart Blanket" by Magdalene Lee.  I was very taken with this design. It reminds me of an old-fashioned quilt. I'd recently mastered the triangle granny square in two colors, so I got all of my pinky yarns together and proceeded to crochet this blanket! I added a row of solid squares at the top and bottom to make the piece longer. I LOVE it! This blanket is going to be gifted to a special friend for her birthday!

"Heart Be Still" Blanket, modeled by Mr. Larry

I named my blanket, "Heart Be Still" after a favorite Billy Vera song!

Crocheting

I'm always crocheting SOMETHING. I also have a few knit projects on the back burner. I just finished my scrubbies for the Ravelry Annual Scrubbie Swap. A scrubbie is basically a small washcloth. Some people use them for scrubbing pots and pans, dishes, etc. Others use them as buff-puffs or mini-facial exfoliating cloths.

I've made many scrubbies over the years, but my favorite is this year's project.  I've been wanting to make this fried egg scrubbie for years. I finally dove in last week. This is a  free Japanese pattern called the "Sunny-Side-Up Tawashi" by Hamanaka Kikaku. The directions are in Japanese, but there is a chart. Basically, the white of the egg is a circle with some longer stitches spaced around the edges. The yolk of the egg is a crocheted circle, sewed on to the white part of the egg. I stuffed a small bit of yellow cotton into the yolk before sewing. I'm quite pleased with the result!

Diagram for "Sunny-Side-Up Tawashi"

We are supposed to make tags for our scrubbies, mail them off to Scrubbie Central. Eventually, we will receive three different scrubbies back. Here's my tag:

Tag for Tawashi, with crocheted bacon and eggs

I also have a "couch" project ongoing. I'm making an afghan with my leftover bits of acrylic yarn called "The Circus Blanket" by Emma Varnam. Instead of using the corner to corner stitch like in the pattern, I'm crocheting each square with the triangle granny stitch. It's a fairly fast blanket to crochet and SO colorful!

I love how the ripple stripes are created out of triangles and squares!

My Human Blanket Caddy

I have an ongoing crochet project using this Kauni, self-striping yarn. It's a poncho that is a long rectangle. Eventually, once I finish crocheting the piece it will be folded in half with an opening for the neck. This creates a nice asymmetrical poncho. I hope I finish before the weather gets warm!

This is becoming a poncho!