Month: April 2005

Ok, I apologize for the bad pun in the title… My kitchen scale often comes in handy when I’m trying to make use of oddballs and extra bits of yarn. If you’re wondering how much yarn you have left on a skein or ball that’s already been started, just weigh it on a postal or kitchen scale. Compare the number of grams to the total number of grams on the label. With a little simple math you should be able to figure out how many meters you have left.

For instance, say it was originally a fifty gram ball, 150 meters and you have 30 grams remaining. 150 meters to fifty grams is 3 meters per gram. If you have 30 grams left, you have 90 meters.

My baby, Jay, is five months old today. Since he grew out of his bassinette he’s been sleeping in a baby hammock, called an Amby. It’s on a spring so it sways and bounces gently while he sleeps and he loves it. But regular baby blankets are too big to fit in it. I made a simple mini blanket which you can see in use here. The size will also be great for the car seat. I’ll share the pattern as soon as I finish writing it.

I found the neatest new project bag at the hardware store yesterday.

It’s from a German company called Koziol — I’ve found they’ve got really great designed household stuff in addition to the bag. Check it out!

http://www.koziol.de

I’m addicted to containers… I always think the next great box or basket is going to get me organized. What I may end up with is a mess of containers. We move a lot because my husband James is in the Coast Guard, so I frequently get to start over setting up house. I love doing this–I’m continuously optomistic that this time, I’m going to get it right. Of course, for the last year, we’ve been squeezed into 670 square feet, so when we move in a month or so to a nice big three bedroom house, I’m sure we’ll be more organized than we are now. I’m already dreaming about how to set up the perfect craft space. Hmm… I think I’ll need some more containers.

So, I created a bib pattern the other day which I decided to try and publish electronically.

You can see the result on LuLu, below. The LuLu experience was a little frustrating–there doesn’t seem to be that much of an advantage for electronic publishing–except that the buyer can download the file immediately. You can try it here.

Or if you prefer, you can just buy via paypal with the button below for $4.00 (the same cost as the LuLu version)

Here’s my baby Jay wearing the bib:

I’ve been obsessing lately about crocheting in rounds. I’m teaching a class at Pins and Needles in Princeton, NJ on crocheted bowls and baskets… It’s definitely an exercise in letting go for some of my students. When you crochet in the round your work grows organically, you may need to adjust the increase here and there so your circle stays flat. The idea that a fixed pattern will not work was particularly disturbing for one student. She actually went home and developed a mathematical formula for how her particular piece should increase. I was impressed that she’d spend so much time working it out. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. Since her hands aren’t machines, the piece still needed to be massaged into being nice and flat. I suggested she might want to take up machine knitting.

Here’s the basic formula I use for flat circles:

Ch 4, Join with a slip stitch.

Round 1: 8 sc into the center of your hole. Don’t join the yarn at the ends of rounds; instead just let your circle “spiral” onward.
Round 2: (sc in first stitch, 2 sc in next stitch)* repeat from * to the end of the round. [12 stitches]
Round 3: Same as round 2 [18 stitches]
Round 4: (sc, sc, 2 sc)* repeat from * to the end of the round. [24 stitches]

Continue building the circle, each row increasing less (sc, sc, sc, 2 sc), etc. If your circle starts to look wavy, try smoothing it out on a flat surface. If it won’t stay flat, you’ll have to rip out your work to where it lies flat and add at least 2 more sc between each increase. If the edges are curling up, try increasing a bit more—go back to the last flat round and repeat it for another round before changing your increase.

I like to make small things–I’m an instant gratification kind of gal, but I’ve always been attracted to the idea of making a rug from strips of fabric. If I ever run out of yarn, I may have to try it.