Yarn Crazy

Completed large basket and almost completed medium
basket with lots of Thick and Quick still to use up!

I've gone a little crazy this week -- yarn crazy.  I'm still working on crocheted baskets.  My daughter has requested a set of nesting baskets.  I guess she assumes I have some kind of control over the size they turn out.  I finished a large one and then ran out of Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick and Quick partway through the middle-sized basket.  I made several trips to two different Michael's stores and only found one more skein in the correct color, barley. I called around and even looked online, and the Michael's web site was out, too.  Then I discovered four skeins at my local Jo-Ann Fabric, so yesterday I rushed over and bought all of them.  I should have more than enough to finish the set of three baskets.  And isn't that what yarn hoards are all about?  Having more than enough?

While I was milling around Jo-Ann, I came across Crochet Noro, published by Sixth&Spring Books. While I told myself that I can find plenty of lovely free patterns on Ravelry, I didn't listen and splurged on it.  My first project is going to be the Strawberry Lace Scarf.  The Noro Shiraito yarn called for in the pattern, however, costs $30 for 198 yards, and two skeins are needed.  I can't see that much of a splurge, so today I drove about twenty miles to a neighboring town with a larger Jo-Ann Fabric.  I knew from their web site that they had Premier Serenity Garden yarn in stock.  I went with the intention of picking up three skeins of the hibiscus color.  Well, here's what I came home with:

I think I was feeling colorful.

Gotta love the red sticker!

Yes, that's twelve skeins of yarn.  Four Serenity Garden in hibiscus, four in crocus, and four Hipster yarns in flamingo.  The Hipster yarn was on clearance.  It has a cool name and it's pink, so I couldn't resist it.  And at $1.97 each, why not?  When I texted my daughter that I'd bought twelve skeins of yarn, she wanted to know what I am planning to make.  Um, scarves . . . because the gazillion scarves already in the scarf drawer don't count? Actually, it's because I am getting ready to drive down to Tennessee for my third week-long visit in six weeks. While I am there, I need plenty of projects to keep me busy.  Last trip, my mother kept asking if I wasn't tired of crocheting baskets.  The answer to that was no, but I made a doily just to be agreeable.  (My first thread doily.  It was pretty bad, so there's no photo.)

As you can imagine, I'm not making all these nine-and-a-half-hour drives just for fun, but these colorful yarns will be sure to provide a bright spot in the next week.

Basket Case!

Last week I was down south visiting the old, the sick, and the infirm (aka my family).  While I was there, sometimes with not much to do, I became something of a basket case.  Crocheted baskets!

Aren't the little handles adorable?

I blame my basket craze on Meredith at Mereknits.  Toward the end of August, she began posting pictures of a basket she had crocheted.  Yowza, I was hooked (sorry).  So I hopped on over to Crochet in Color, where Meredith got her pattern, and promptly downloaded the pattern for myself.

Last week I crocheted FOUR baskets.  You can really tell how poor my crochet skills are when I tell you that none of the four baskets turned out the same size or even quite the same shape!  I gave a mulberry-colored one to my mother, so I don't have pictures of it, but you can see what I mean with the picture of the other three.

No consistency at all!

The baskets are worked with a double strand of super bulky yarn.  For some reason, I had the most trouble with the beige basket.  The yarn is all the same brand, Yarn Bee Effortless Super Bulky, but the beige was "hairier" and my hook got caught more often.  Maybe that is why I hooked it tighter.  Another factor that made them different is that with the first one (far right), I accidentally hooked the sides from the inside out (working on the far edge of the basket rather than the side nearest me).  I don't know how I got that going, but I think that's what gave it the slightly bulbous shape.  The second basket (center) was made "correctly," or at least as correctly as I could do it.  It has straight sides.  Because I'd seen the bulbous one first, though, I kind of liked it better, so I made the third basket hooking the sides inside out again.

When I brought home my basket haul, the husband wondered what I am going to do with them.  I could see one in Florida holding sunscreen.  My brother suggested a smaller one with shorter sides as a place to throw car keys.  I'm not sure what will happen to these, but there is some gray Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick and Quick in my yarn bag waiting to be made into yet another basket!

I think I may be developing an addiction.

Hooray for Yarn Swaps!

Recently Libby of Artistic Expressions by Elisabeth hosted a yarn and tea swap.  I think I was the first person to sign up -- a yarn swap, how fun is that?



Last week, my yarn arrived!  I was so excited, I opened the box immediately.  My package was from Libby herself, so it was extra special for me since I have been reading her blog for quite some time, and I knew it would be fabulous. I was certainly not disappointed.  Everything was wrapped in a fun print fabric, and she had written a note on a beautiful note card with one of her photographs on the front.  You see, Libby is one multi-talented woman.  She crochets, sews, and is an exceptional photographer as well.  You can check out her blog and her website to see her work.

My package contained a yarn that was completely new to me, Alpandina, an alpaca blend from Peru.  So soft, and what a wonderful, earthy color.  I have been wondering what to make with this special yarn, and I think I will make my first shawlette from a pattern on Ravelry.

Libby also included Twinings Earl Grey tea, and -- surprise -- a package of Meyer Lemon Moravian Cookies, a local specialty in her area.  They are absolutely delicious.  So thin and crispy, delicate and lemony.  Perfect!  They are very good on their own, but I'm thinking they might also go well with a little frozen vanilla custard.







         

Naturally, a yarn swap is a two-way street, and that is half the fun.  Even before I received the name of my recipient, Geraldine from Gege Crochet, I was planning what yarn to send.  I decided to send something truly unique, yarn from one of the Illinois Green Pastures Fiber Cooperative producers.  I headed to Esther's Place, a wonderful fiber arts studio located in a picturesque older house in Big Rock.  Esther's Place (named for a sheep) is a great spot to learn to knit, crochet, felt, spin, and pretty much anything that can be done with wool.  There is also a nice little shop with gorgeous roving and yarns.  It was really tough to choose the yarn, especially for someone I don't know, but I finally settled on a soft and fluffy yarn spun from the wool of Icelandic sheep, raised and spun at Red Brick Road Farm in Dixon, Illinois.  I really hope Geraldine likes pink!

This was the first time I have participated in a yarn swap.  Thanks, Libby, for hosting it!  It definitely won't be my last.

  

Crochet Plans of Mice and Men, or What Michael's Knew

A couple of weeks ago, I checked out a wonderful crochet book from our local library -- 200 Crochet Blocks for Blankets, Throws and Afghans: Crochet Squares to Mix and Match by Jan Eaton.  I figuratively drooled over it for a while and tried out a square that was too hard for my meager skills.  After returning it today, I realized I really wanted my very own personal copy.  It is available on Amazon for $16.47 and Wal-Mart's web site for $16.46.  But I had a 40% off coupon from Michael's stashed in a drawer.  (You Michael's regulars probably know where this is going.)

a few of the 200 squares in Eaton's book

I have become a little obsessed with learning to crochet squares.  Never mind that all I've managed to make is one partial granny square of three and a half rounds.  I've seen funky granny square slippers on Ravelry, and I'm determined to make some for myself.  (And won't they look great once I've walked around and collected dog hair on them?)

So today, I headed off to Michael's where I picked out three colors of cheap, on-sale ($1.99 per skein) yarn for the granny square slippers.  And, happy day, they had a copy of Eaton's 200 Blocks book.  Full price at $24.95, but I had that coupon.  I happily handed the cashier my 40% off coupon.

"Coupons aren't good on books or magazines," she said.  Well, of course not.  That would be too good of a deal.  I thought about Amazon's $8 savings (not counting shipping), but I had the book in my hand.  I wanted the darn book.  So I let the cashier ring it up.

No doubt, this is what Michael's counts on: avid crochet book desire and a lack of reading the coupon's fine print.  By the time someone reaches the cashier, she's already bought that book as far as her heart is concerned.

I'm happy to have the book, and I'm just going to forget about the $8 I could have saved.  But I think I'm going to shop at Hobby Lobby for a while.