crochet: mission accomplished

I can knock another item off my 101 Things list: learn to crochet.  I took a class at my local yarn store last night and have finally mastered it. Now I can make all of Roxy's adorable amigurumi animals!



We started out with a simple chain stitch, then went into single crochet for the loop end of a potholder. I started out with some Peaches & Creme Gumdrop color, but it was a bit too difficult to see my stitches. I switched to some white instead.  The yarn is leftover from the dishcloth I made from Mason-Dixon Knitting.







I'm only about four rows into it, but I'm definitely "getting it." It took me a long time to master knitting, so I'm not aiming high with crochet.  I think a few dishcloths or potholders will be just fine to start with!

finally finished

Success! I finished Elbac last weekend while I was stuck in the parking garage. I may have locked my keys in my car and was waiting for AAA. I only drive to work once every few months, so this was really good timing.



This took me a bit over two years on the calendar to finish, but I had only knit about three inches of it before I put it down for two years. I picked it up again in January of this year, and got quite a bit done on my work trips. I'm very happy with how it turned out after blocking- I stretched it as much as I could and it softened up nicely. It's also the perfect length, as you can see in the above photo.



I learned a ton about "reading" knitting while working on this scarf. I had mostly stuck to simple knit/purl patterns, with one ribbed scarf & hat thrown in over the years. This was my first attempt at cabling, and the two-year break makes it clear that I struggled with it.

But somewhere on that plane to Las Vegas, it clicked and I could tell where I was in the pattern and what came next. I haven't had any luck with my next project (Wisp from Knitty- I've cast on six different times and mess up within the first 10 rows on each), but this was invaluable in teaching me how to actually knit.

Knit on size 7 needles with Rowan RYC Cashsoft DK yarn in a cream colorway- not quite 3 balls.

progress!

Finally, some progress! Well, mostly. I got my Knit Picks order last week of yarn for the aforementioned backlog of projects.



1. Scarf for Dad- Campus Scarf from Scarf Style, in one color only. Yarn: KP Essential Tweed Inca Gold. I am double stranding it on 6s or 7s. Probably. It's also more brown than in the catalog, which is good.



2. Shawl for Mom- Guinevere from Wrap Style, in Alpaca Cloud smoke. I have the needles for this- yay! It'll be my first time knitting with a laceweight yarn.



3. Felted stuff- clutch from One Skein, boxes from Mason Dixon Knitting. I am hoping these are quick knits.



I'm also still working on Elbac from knitty, and it is moving along much faster now that I'm marking my rows with paper clips. It was taking so much time trying to remember if I was on row 2 or 3, or worse, 4, of the repeats. I still have 50 some repeats to do, but it's going quickly.