Week 14 of Crochet Challenge

This week is crochet in public week, and I did.  I frequently crochet in public as I used to travel a lot and always crocheted in airports and on planes, in fact that is how I got involved in bead crochet.  Small project, pre-strung beads made for a great travel project.  Today I was at the Denver Art Museum and in between the talk about Bark Cloth conservation (next post) and the Modern Masters exhibit, I had coffee at the Café.  No interaction with people, which is what I usually find when I crochet in public.  Occasionally I will get a comment about "my mother used to do that" or "is that knitting?" (arrghhh seize the teaching moment), but usually people just take it in stride.

Crochet project and Pick Me Use Me Java Jacket

I am using the cotton/wool/silk yarn I got at the Quilted skein to make a bag.  I had swatched and pulled out about 5 lace patterns before I finally admitted that it was a bit to thick for the lace look I wanted, so now I am making a bag from Cheryl Theis' get hooked on Tunisian Crochet.  It is supposedly a market bag but I think it will be a project bag.

You can also see my crochet trimmed Java Jacket.  This past week Crochet Concupiscence reviewed Craftivism by Betsy Greer (http://www.crochetconcupiscence.com/2014/06/important-craft-book-craftivism-by-betsy-greer/).  I had seen a post on craftivism by Betsy last year on http://craftivist-collective.com/ and I started my Java Jacket project.  You know those cardboard sleeves that you get for coffee in a paper cup?  The ones that usually don't get dirty or wet but we throw them away anyway?  Well I poke holes in them and crochet them.  Then I use them, give them away or leave them at coffee shops.  They say "take a pic of me in use and post at http://instagram.com/pickmeuseme# or https://www.facebook.com/PickMeUseMe".  It is fun and it reminds me to reuse stuff.

Oh yes, I also got to crochet at the Enterprise location while I waited for my hubby after I turned in the car.  We had had a spot of trouble with the truck and rented a car while it was being fixed ($$$ don't ask).  There was a noisy 3 year old boy running around so no one was looking at a grey haired lady crocheting.  All in all a great day, next post I will tell you about the museum.

Crochet Challenge Week 11: What kind of crocheter are you?

What kind of crocheter am I?  I did touch on that last week, I definitely alter patterns.  I might just like a stitch that was used in a pattern so I will appropriate it for something else.  The design might be to big or to small so I need to change it.  Usually I have to adapt because I am making something using my stash and it does not quite match the thread being used in the pattern. 



My Crochet "Doodle"

What I love the most is working with a technique or a stitch until I am comfortable with it and then
going off and designing something all on my own.  I love that feeling when my brain starts whirling and saying "what if...what if...what if...". 

Somehow though this has not translated into "freeform" crochet.  I do have plans to work on that technique.  For now the closest I come is what my friend Robin calls my "doodle" as in the picture above.  When I am stuck I pull this out and just start to crochet.  It isn't anything, so anything goes, next I am going to play with some color I highly recommend it as a relaxing exercise in shape.  I am using cotton crochet thread size 10 and a size 10 hook but it can be adapted to any weight.  Don't think useful as in hat, scarf, toy, etc, just let go and start to crochet.  You can see I was sort of rigid in the beginning.  I had been crocheting beaded ropes and it took a while to get out of that mode, plus I kept making mistakes while making the tubing so I went with the "what if I let the mistakes go into the design"? That is when I really started to enjoy it.  Try it you might like it too.

More Amulet bags

I had previously posted some bags that still needed work and I am happy to say I have finished them.  I am still on the "finish your WIP's" kick from the 52 week Crochet challenge.  It is a good kick to be on as I tend to start projects when I have an idea and then let them languish because I have another good idea that has to get started RIGHT NOW!  WIP's are great when the inspiration bug does not bite though, since they are mostly designed I can do the finish up work while waiting for inspiration to strike.  The first bag is the "sun" bag.  My first try at using beads to cabochon the center stone.  I tried to get a close up of the glass piece in the center so that you can see the "sun spiral".  This one was one of the pieces that whispered a story and it is here. I tried to get a close up so that you could see the center of the glass insert.  The trim has amber, and Peruvian opal beads and tiny teardrops.  The trim design is from The Beaded Edge, as is the strap.












The next bag is one of my earth bags.  The purple trim is from the book The Beaded Edge and it is called Pansies, as it is supposed to look like the little flowers.  I used a vintage button for the closure.

The last bag is one of the Interlocking Crochet patterns.  It is reversible and I put vintage buttons on both sides so that it could be worn with either pattern.  I love using old buttons.  I have a few that are really nice Bakelite buttons that need some really special designs, still working on that.
























I did do one project as a distraction when I got tired of working on bags, I crocheted another rock, this time using wire.  In the past I have not enjoyed using wire, it was to tough on my hands, but I found some 36 gauge and that is much easier to work up.  The beads were added by doing the top section first.  This let me work with the beads on the "wrong" side and then use that as the "right side for the top.  Once I put the rock into the net, I continued and closed up the back (no beads).  Not my favorite but I would try it again, I just need to get some more wire.  It is a different technique and not as forgiving as thread.  When it kinks, it stays kinked, even in the light gauge I used.

Crochet Challenge Week 9

Last week's challenge was to finish, work on or rip out WIP's.  I had previously posted two amulet bags I was planning to finish, well, I finished one and a half of that posting but I finished another bag also.  I also ripped out a scarf that wasn't going well (challenge give me strength Arrrggghhhh).  The bag I like the most is the Desert Amulet Bag.  It has a story that it told to me as I was making it. 

Desert Amulet Bag

You can see that story here (Desert Bag Story).  The bag is crocheted cotton #8 in turquoise, cream, tan and khaki.  Colors that remind me of the desert sky, sand and scrub brush.  The neckpiece is about 19 inches, crocheted with the cotton thread and fastened with a desert lizard toggle.  The beads on the front are drilled stone octagons with tiny carvings.  Closing the bag is a flap with loops, the loops slide over the mother of pearl "dragon's teeth" shell pieces.  Above the flap are two vintage brass beads and above that is a .... stone "hanging" piece that I bought at a trunk show in California.  It is supposedly from Afghanistan, but no one could tell me its real purpose, I think it makes a wonderful, mysterious addition to the bag.  This is not a glitzy bag and as such might appeal to men as well as women.  I am rather fond of this one and had a good time writing it's "story".

 

I finished another Amulet bag also.  The Earth Bag.  The bag itself is 3 x 3 inches with an additional inch of crocheted, beaded fringe with sandstone chips at the base of the bead loops.  The overlay crochet bag had a bead and vintage button clasp.  The 22 inch crocheted and beaded neck strap had a really nice feel to it, soft yet substantial.

 



















Sun bag

The last bag is not quite complete, the front and back are joined and the fringe is crocheted but not attached.  I have not decided on a neck strap yet.  This is my first try at enclosing a cabochon with crochet.  The center stone is a glass worry or meditation stone with a carving of a spiral sun in the center. Sorry but I have not figured out how to photograph that yet.  It was a bit loose so I had to tighten up the front and it turned out a bit off center.  I used gold metallic sewing thread and a size 12 hook to tighten it up.  The fringe is crocheted but not attached.  This one is telling me a story, but it isn't finished yet.  I'll post the story when it is done.


This week we are supposed to be organizing our patterns.  I intend to keep on working on those WIPS, I really want to finish some more amulet bags





 

Today is Hump day and I've been "Hookin".  In fact I am combining "Hookin on Hump Day" and the 52 week crochet challenge.  this week's challenge is to take a work(s) in progress and either finish it, work on it or rip it.  Since I am the queen of WIPs I have plenty to choose from.  I have finished a drawstring bag that I have been working on.  You may have seen some of my posts on Interlocking crochet.  This purse is Interlocking crochet in the round.  It is my first one, no pattern yet but I really like it.  I had two small balls of novelty yarn, not enough for anything big but plenty for this design. I started with a standard circle increase with one yarn.  Then, using both the red and the gold I built up the sides.  I finished off the top working the two colors together and then added the casing and shell border in the gold.  The drawstrings are just a chain stitch.

Interlocking Crochet in the round

These are my other WIPs that I am hoping to finish this week.  I have been making amulet bags and these two are my own designs.  The gold one has a clear glass "worry stone" with a spiral sun design on it which is encased in beaded crochet and then the flat background is worked around it, like a beaded cabochon.  The long oval bag will be hung from a small, sort of dumbbell shaped bead that I got at a trunk show in California several years back.  Supposedly it is from Afghanistan.  Both need to be assembled and have straps added.  The back of the gold bag needs to be finished.  The gold bag also will have a fringe.  I promise to post the finished bags when they are done.