Felt-it Felting

It's just my luck. About the time I discover a yarn, the company takes it out of production. Such is the case with Caron and it's Felt-it yarn (actually, I think I'm beginning to notice that Caron is rather quick to discontinue yarns.. or is that only my imagination?)

Here is a little tote that I made with 3 skeins of Caron's felt-it. I'm pretty sure the colorway is called Wildflowers, but mine doesn't have as much cream in it as the colorcard at Caron shows.

I had 3skeins and it was barely enough.. but would've been enough if I hadn't experiemented with doing the handles in a different manner and messed up some of the yarn.

I was so short that one of the side seams wasn't stitched securely enough and it came apart during the felting process. I had to stitch it back together while still wet with a totally different wool.. but I don't think it shows very much.

Actually the mend makes it even more unique and one of a kind. ::grin::

Without further ado.. here are the pictures.



Mended area

Postfelting

Prefelting


I can't give out the pattern, it's based very heavily on the Felted Tunisian tote class taught by Kim Guzman. You can visit her group at Ravelry or one of her websites, CrochetKim or Wips'NChains. Perhaps she might agree to assist someone, but I cannot share it, so please don't ask me.

Phthalates in yarn??

Thinking about the upcoming CPSIA legislation and National Bankruptcy Day (when 70 million dollars worth of inventory must be destroyed on February 10, 2009, and 61% of manufacturers expect to be put out of business) What FOOLISHNESS in the middle of an economic crisis!!

But I digress....

What I wanted to comment on was why do yarn companies think it's a good thing to make yarn out of recycled plastic? Do Moms (green or not) want their babies cuddled by blankets that possibly have bpa or phthalates in them? If we knew what kind of plastic was used to make the yarn.. maybe, just maybe.. but the yarn companies aren't required to divulge this information and I'd be willing to bet that without a requirement.. they aint gonna say. Sort of a Fiber "don't ask, don't tell".

Oh, ok.. just don't use the yarn for babies.. well, that doesn't work either because there's no telling what a caretaker of a child or infant might use to wrap a kid in when the child needs warmth. An adult sized blanket works just as well as a baby one when getting or keeping warm is the need.

Just going on the record to say I won't be buying or using any yarn that is made of recycled plastic anytime soon.. unless I can know WHAT kind of plastic ws used. (and yes, I know that acrylic has problems too.. )

And CPSC?? It would be so much smarter if you required the yarn companies to test the yarn instead of the end manufacturers... Please consider this.

Another WavyBaby Blanket

I used Caron Perfect Match in White, Hobby Lobby's I Love This Yarn in Soft Blue and TMA All Season in CloverPatch (the green). The picture doesn't show the detail of the green very well.. it has tiny flecks of yellow and blue in it.. very subdued.






The pattern calls for Baby Yarn and to start with a chain of 176; ending up with 175 stitches in the first row. I used worsted weight and chained about 132. I ended up having to undo some of my beginning chain. Eventually I had 118 stitches in a row and 6 "waves" per row in the blanket.

Now to go work on the "Impressive Plaid" blanket I started this weekend while hubby was glued to the tv watching football.

Willowy Peach Afghan

I'm working on an afghan made up mainly out of my own head...but the square pattern is from Jan Eaton's 200 squares book. It's the "Willow" Square. (that reminds me.. I haven't seen the Movie Willow in awhile.. might be time to dig it out again. Dang.. I just had a huge brain freeze on the actor in that movie.. the same one who played Jim Morrison in the Doors... sheesh)

Back to the afghan.

Colors are all by Caron Simply Soft.. Country Peach, Copper Kettle, Chocolate, OffWhite and (perhaps) Berry Blue.

Here's some pics of what I have so far.... still haven't figured out the perfect layout. And I go back and forth between liking the Peach & Copper or the Peach & Chocolate squares the best.

(please excuse the messy bed.. and the ends not woven in yet.. since I might be taking some of these back apart.. I didn't want to do that yet.)





The square in different color combos (one of them has a country blue instead of berry blue)




some other squares in the same colors...




Almost all the squares so far

Any opinions on what I should do? I'm waning to emphasize the peach color. DD says she likes the Peach & copper best.. and that I could mainly do it and scatter randomly (very randomly) the others.. then do the peach and chocolate as a border around the outside.

I dunno...I don't have enough made yet to lay that out and see.

I'm making this for myself.. as a cuddly for in the hospital (if I finish it in time) and afterwards. Peach is the color for endometrial cancer. They're still not sure if I have cancer or not.. but I'm trying to get myself mentally psyched.. just in case.

2 more for Project Linus

Both for Project Linus's support of the TAPS "Good Grief" Camp.

First is the Daisy Square (I call the square FlowerPower..cuz it looks so 60's).. I got tired of all red/white/blue and decided to make the centers different colors. I cut off one square in the bottom right in the picture.. oops...it has a pink center.

Made with Hobby Lobby's "I Love This Yarn". Pattern available from a very generous person on crochetville. Look for Daisy Charity Square or see a previous post for a link to her blog.





Next is another Hearts & Diamonds..made with all Caron yarn. The red & white are the pounder stuff.. the blue is wintuk. This was my first time to use Caron pounders. I don't like it that much and don't think I'll be buying it again. Nothing really wrong with it.. just not what I'm used to working with. I think the wintuk is better quality.

Hearts & Diamonds is a free pattern by Coats & Clark. It used to be a free tear-off in the stores, but now it's available online.





click the pictures to see them larger.

SimplySoft Quick Blankets

I'm getting ready to make a delivery to Project Linus, so I'm getting pictures posted of things I've had made for quite a while.

I'm not super speedy at crochet.. just am really bad (or good?) at procrastinating at making pictures of my work.

Material: Caron Simply Soft Quick





Please click to enlarge

The top one I made first by the pattern provided by Caron on the label of the yarn. They are Tunisian squares, made on a regular (non-tunisian) P hook. It was a tight fit, but as the squares aren't really large, I managed to squeak by. I will probably have to enlarge this one (which will mean frogging the border) and adding more squares. It's a bit on the small side for Project Linus purposes, but I will take it to our coordinator first and see what she says.

The second one is made of the same yarn, same pattern, but a size N Tunisian hook. I just made more of them and joined with black. I realized after I made it how 70's looking it is!!