Ambrosia and Bliss

The name of my journal has changed in honor of my yet-unstocked Etsy store. In my family, things we like are often described as "sweet ambrosia" or "it's the bliss". So two of my favorite words now describe some of the most fun I know how to have. Between my crafts and gardening, it really says it all.

My Etsy storefront can be found at http://www.ambrosiaandbliss.etsy.com. I hope to have some items up for sale soon. If I can find new homes for some of my creations, it will help offset some of the purchases I made while poking around!

I have a box of Opal yarns coming that I plan to make into scarves - pattern(s) to be developed. I can't wait for the yarn to get here so I can try out some ideas I've had. The Argosy scarf has me wildly excited about lace, but not in the traditional sense.

I also have some felting ideas I'd like to try out. Granted, one of my ideas will of course require new yarn because I don't own the colors I want. Isn't that always the case?

Crimson Pillow and nerdiness

My Crimson pillow is finished! I blocked it when I finished the Daffodil scarf and put it together just before Christmas. I really love how it turned out. I seamed the edges with a simple crochet slip stitch and it worked very well.











As for the nerdiness, I have lots of little things that make my crafty life easier.

First: I got Clara Parkes' "Knitters Book of Yarn" for Christmas. I am loving this book. I have so much to learn about different fibers and this is really going to be a big help. I haven't had time to dig deep into the pages yet, but I will soon.



Second: I bought a set of needle files today. I'm planning to do some beading and they will help file down the rough edges on my wire wraps.

Third: I used a spare file card binder to make a yarn catalog for myself. It's full of 3x5 cards, one for each brand and style of yarn I have used so far. Then I used a hole punch in one side to make a space to loop a sample of each one. The color is written on the back of the card. It was inspired by the shade cards I saw at Elann.com. It's helpful to see the fiber contents, weights, stitch counts and care instructions all in one place. I'm a list-maker by nature, and this binder makes me happy. Yes, I'm weird.

Daffodil Scarf

My lovely Daffodil scarf is finished. I was able to get 23 repetitions of section two out of the single skein of yarn. I might have been able to get one more but I wanted to leave myself enough to finish the decreases. On size 4 bamboo needles, the scarf pre-blocking is 58 inches long and about three inches wide. The angles are seriously curled, so blocking should help display the stitch pattern.

Details:
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock "Daffodil" (80% superwash wool, 20% nylon) - 1 skein (215 yards)
Pattern: Argosy Scarf
Needles: Bamboo US size 4

Pre-blocking:







During blocking:




After blocking:

Blocking gave this scarf a whole new feel. The angles are defined and the open weave between the blocks really opened up. Now it drapes around my neck lightly with a slight stretchiness. It's so light, it's like a soft whisper against my skin. The colors in the sock yarn came out so different than I expected, but I love the effect. I plan to make more with this yarn, perhaps in different colors. I know someone who would love the Daffodil, but I'll have to make another because I want one for my very own.

"Princess" Kitty Donut

The felting of the "Princess" Kitty Pi was a partial failure. I hand felted to test, but didn't do a bigger crocheted swatch. The end result was this:



The Patons felted beautifully, as always. However, the Bernat Alpaca maintained stitch definition and shed hairs all over. I was picking hard round hairballs out of the lingerie bag I felted this in. It's still soft and yummy, although a little hairier than when I started. I didn't want to toss it because the colors are lovely. It was finally blocked and dry so I sat down to think about a solution.

I found some cotton batting left over from another project and by sheer luck, it was just the right length to go around the circle. I braided three strips for stability.



Then I stitched the eyelash border to the edge of the base to create a kitty donut. The sides are low, but nicely padded. The finished dimensions are 15" outside and 10" inside with a 2-3" rim. It's a good size for a smaller cat and I'm glad I was able to salvage what could have been a disaster.

Links galore and daffodils!

I found a yarn shop (LYS in the lingo) tonight while I was on a quest for Opal Hundertwasser "Der Blaue Mond" yarn because I fell in so love with this scarf that I want to learn a bunch of complicated knit stitches, just so I can make one of my own.



I found the yarn, but then I found another one I loved even more. It's Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in the color "Daffodil". It has everything I love about the Opal yarn, without the grey and the red. I am going to learn Vyvyan Neel's Argosy scarf pattern if it kills me, just because this yarn is so beautiful, it deserves it.



The Argosy Scarf pattern is fairly complex although Knitty calls it "tangy" - meaning harder than beginner but not described as "hoo boy".



Last but not least, I am thrilled to have a friendly LYS with very helpful people - Monterey Yarn. I am looking forward to a lot of yarn shopping in the future. I was bursting with ideas and I now understand why Crazy Aunt Purl likes to smell yarn. High quality yarn is a work of art, even before you knit something out of it.

"Princess" Kitty Pi

I have another kitty pi ready for felting and blocking. It's an experiment with a new yarn, so I wanted to capture photos before I felt in case it's a disaster.

The base is my old standby Patons Classic Wool Merino but I couldn't find a color I liked for the sides. I came across this absolutely delicious creamy pink in a Bernat alpaca blend and thought I'd give it a shot. I hand felted a small sample and it did ball up, but I'm not sure how much it will shrink compared to the Patons. It's really difficult for me to predict what will happen, even if I felt swatches, because the base is crocheted in the round and the stitches shrink differently lengthwise and crosswise. I compensated by keeping the sides short and I also decreased stitches every 25 for about 5 rows to make it cup in a little. That way if the sides shrink less than the base, it will hopefully still stay upright. The Alpaca is also a bulky yarn and has enough substance to hopefully hold itself up.

Details:
Base - Patons Classic Wool "Royal Purple" - one skein
Sides - Bernat Alpaca Natural Blends "Peony" (70% acrylic, 30% alpaca) - one+ skein
Trim - Bernat Boa "Parrot" (100% polyester) - 1/3 skein
Hook - 5mm H8
Stitch - Single crochet in the round
Starting dimensions:
Base - 18" diameter
Sides - 4.5" including single row of trim

I am in mad love with both the colors and the Bernat Alpaca. I can't describe how soft and wonderful this fabric feels. If this felts properly, it will be a pi fit for the most spoiled of kitties. I plan to knit something else with this yarn to make use of the texture. The Bernat Boa was on sale and may have changed my mind about eyelash yarns. The colors are fun and really suit the overall scheme.

Natural Crimson - a Plethora of Stitches

So I've learned to knit again. I knew how once upon a time and decided to pick it up again so I could do even more with yarn. Also, I was working on this new pillow and the single crochet stitch was eating up a lot of yarn. I had heard knitting uses less, so I wanted to see how it would turn out if I knitted the back of the pillow in stockinette instead.

Annie Modesitt (http://www.modeknit.com) mentions Continental knitting in her writing and says it's her preferred method to knit. I read about both English and Continental knitting in the Stitch 'n Bitch Knitter's Handbook and decided to give it a try. It's easier for me to knit Continental because I can hold the yarn in my left hand and do the work with my right, just like I do when I crochet. I've gotten fairly speedy and my first stockinette is turning out rather well, if I do say so myself.

So this is that lovely Paton's SWS "Natural Crimson" I had tried to make into a scarf. I frogged it and am now working on a 13x13 pillow. The front is done in the same Wavy Chevron pattern - basically all double-crochet, but it gets into some fun front-post double crochet stitches to make those delicious ridges.

Chain on multiples of 17.
Row 1: chain 2, double crochet in 3rd ch from hook and then two dc's in each of the next two chains. Then skip a chain and double crochet every other five times. Skip a chain and then put two double-crochets in each of the next six chains. Repeat the five and six pattern across to end with two double-crochets in each of the last three chains. Basically, you start and end the row with half of the six part of the pattern.
Row 2: Chain 2, then front-post double crochet in each post and end with a fpdc in the turning chain. This row really flies because you're only crocheting around the posts and there's no counting. This is also why this pattern eats yarn. The end result is that on the back of this stitch, all of those nice tops of the stitches from the row below are hanging out and ignored and overlapping the posts of the fpdc's. It makes a ridge that stands out and creates texture, but it also means you get a lot less fabric length for the amount of crocheting you do.
Row 3: Chain 2, double crochet in first double crochet, then two dc in the next two dc.Then skip a dc and double crochet every other five times. Skip a chain and then put two double-crochets in each of the next six dc's. Repeat the five and six pattern across to end with two double-crochets in each of the last three dc's. This is basically row 1 all over again, except we're out of the chain and into the good stuff.
Repeat rows 2 and 3 until the fabric is long enough.

End result is:

FRONT:



BACK:



The Patons SWS has some fierce stripes using this stitch and I love it!

Next came my initial attempt at the back. I used single crochet back and forth and got this gorgeous, square, flat, crisp fabric with dramatic striping. I love the SWS because it has a gloss to it (see the photo of the back of the chevron to see how it shines under flash). However, I did not love the amount of yarn this uses because SWS is more expensive and you get less per skein than regular wool. It's 70% wool and 30% soy, so it's worth it, but still.. there had to be another way. Also, the striping was almost too dramatic to use with the chevrons on the front side of the pillow.



So, stockinette entered the picture. It's such a difference! The fabric rolls, which I know will be a non-issue after it's blocked and sewn into a pillow, but it's different to work with. Also, the striping is gradual and soft, and the whole fabric has a fuzz to it instead of the stiff, crisp texture of crochet. It's thinner and more wearable, but less dramatic. This is exactly what I needed. It echoes the colors in the front of the pillow, but is a nice quiet backdrop to the texture. It's like the Patty Duke show. The crochet is Patty Lane and the knitting is Cathy.




Put the three together and see what I mean. I can't wait to see how this pillow turns out!

Lilac Pillow

This is another pillow I made as a gift. My other sister wanted one for her bed so she picked these yarns to fit her color scheme. The green is very bright, so I used it only for the seams. It gives the whole pillow a little "pop" without being overpowering. Unlike the other pillow, I crocheted this so the stitch rows ran along the short side of the pillow. This gives the color balance my sister wanted and allowed for the thin grey stripes across the pattern.

This was a more challenging pillow to put together. My sister picked the colors she wanted from different weight yarns. The lilac was light, the white was medium, the grey was bulky and the green was super bulky. Because of this, I ended up double-stranding the lilac with white. Most of this pillow was done in half-double crochet. The exception is the grey stripes and the lilac at either end done in single crochet.

There are really only three true seams in this pillow. I stitched the last seam through the center crease of the fabric, just to keep the green piping consistent on all four sides. I didn't do this on the other pillow because I sewed it closed with the same yarn and the seams were much less visible.

Some notes on the yarn - they were all 100% acrylic except for 20% mohair in the green. The white feels soft in the skein but it crocheted into a heavier fabric than I expected. The lilac was soft and pleasant to work with. The grey was thick, soft and heavenly, although a little fuzzy. I like the texture it gave the stripes - dense and soft. The boucle, as I think I mentioned before, is a fun yarn but it's loopy and unravels in a hurry. It's nice for the seams because it gave texture without a lot of stitching and it's a nice contrast to the precise stitches throughout the rest of the fabric.

Details:
Yarn:
White Stripes - Red Heart "Soft White" (one skein)
Lilac Stripes - Double stranded with Red Heart TLC Baby "Powder Lilac" (half skein) and white
Grey Stripes-Lion Brand Jiffy "Silver Heather" (half skein)
Seams - Lion Boucle "Lime" (half skein)
Hook: 5mm H8
Stitch: Half-double crochet through most, single crochet seams. Stitches run with the short dimension of the pillow.
Pillow: Joann Fabrics "Soft n Crafty" 14x28in