Sunday 17 November 2013

Tunisian Crochet and playing with yarn

It has been a while since my last post. I have been busy, but not with quilts this time. I have been learning a new skill! After the tunic class I started a Tunisian Crochet class, and my first project was a dishcloth in a simple stitch pattern. It is like crochet and knitting together, just like this tool is like a long knitting needle with a crochet hook instead of the point.
 

 
There is also another kind of a tool, like a normal crochet hook but with hooks at both ends. It is needed when you make  a closed circle like a hat or mittens. I made wrist warmers for myself:
 
 
This pattern is a honeycomb. The heavier, multi-coloured yarn just peeks through the honeycomb stitches. The class is great fun, too bad we only have one more evening to learn some new technique. Maybe there will be something along this line for the Spring term as well.
 
I have also knitted some socks and mittens to some little girls I know.
 


The mittens are made with my grandmother's pattern, and for the socks I tested two different types of heels from my 2-at-a-Time Socks book by Melissa Morgan-Oakes.


And because the weather has turned colder, I faced my fear of cables and knitted this hat to keep my poor head warm. The yarn and the pattern are from my favourite yarn shop Lentävä Lapanen, the Flying Mitten.

 
Like many fears, this one had kept me from doing something fun for no real reason. I have knitted cables many many years ago, and knitting this hat showed me that not all cables are nightmares. Just take a heavy yarn and a very simple cable pattern to begin with. Today I finished a loop scarf to go with the hat when the real winter comes. Now we are just having the darkest, gloomiest time of the year. I think I'll start another pair of socks and just sit on the sofa by the fire and TV (and Mr. K) and a mug of tea.