Rainy Days

This latest project is quite reflective of our weather lately. Rain, rain, cloudy skies and more rain. I am overjoyed at the cooler temperatures, but a little sun here and there would be nice.

I decided to dig out a crochet hook and try my hand at a larger crochet project. Eva's Shawl seemed like the perfect pattern to start with since there are no fancy stitches and I had yarn on hand that I could use. The yarn I picked is a hand-dyed lightweight sock yarn that I purchased in my early days of knitting. It is beautiful, but a bit splitty and definitely on the thinner side of what I like to use for socks, so I was happy to be able to use it up on this little shawl. While I did have almost a full skein, it wasn't enough to make a full-sized shawl, so what you see here is more of a shawlette. I think I like it better as a scarf, though.

Halfway is for Sissies

As I mentioned in my previous post, my obsession with Pinterest continues to grow. The first project I decided to tackle was a crocheted rag rug. I'm no expert at crochet, but I know the basics and thankfully, that is all you need for this project. I had hoped that I could make a rug entirely out of scrap fabric that I already had on hand, but unfortunately my recent need to purge the house of junk no-longer-needed-treasures left me with little remaining in my fabric stash. There was enough to get a good start, though, and I supplemented the rest for a reasonable price by scouring the clearance fabric bin at Wal-Mart and buying 3 sheets at Goodwill.

If you are a long-time reader of my blog, you may have gathered that I tend toward the "Go big, or go home" theory with crafting. I don't mean to. I guess it's just my nature. When I was really into scrapbooking, I did it with gusto. When I started knitting, I tackled a Dale of Norway colorwork sweater as my first sweater project. So I guess it is no surprise that when I decided to crochet a rag rug, I would make one that is 4.5 feet wide.

I would have loved for it to be even bigger, but as it happened, I had EXACTLY enough fabric for this size. Since I had to buy fabric (cheap though it was) to complete it, I just wasn't willing to buy any more. This is not the color scheme I would have picked if I was actually planning a rug and buying fabric accordingly. However, I meant for it to be a rag rug made from scraps and I love the perfectly imperfect nature of it.

In All My Spare Time

All in all, as a homeschooling mom with a toddler, the only "me" time I get is between 11 PM and midnight (if I'm lucky), so I have to squeeze in the creative stuff wherever I can. It is easy enough to knit or crochet a few rows here and there while the kids do a worksheet or write spelling words. Sometimes it doesn't feel like much since I'm not working in a big chunk of time, but here's proof that it does add up.

Creative Repair & Holding Out Hope

I've been busy with the crafting lately. One project on the to-do list has been to find a way to repair a hole in one of Natalie's dresses. It's a comfy, cotton knit dress from Land's End, but there was no way to actually repair the hole. The best I could do was cover it somehow. I had considered sewing a band of wide ribbon around the waist, but kept putting off going to buy ribbon. Fortunately, I remembered that I had some nice cotton yarn in a color that would match, so I crocheted this little circle medallion thingie and stitched it over the hole. Not a bad solution and now Natalie can wear the dress again.
Another project that was both started and completed this week is the Tamarind Cowl. It's a quick, easy knit and using Malabrigo yarn makes it even better.
Now if only the weather would cool off.

SPS: Perhaps it was a burning day...

Here I am this morning with a nifty wee granny square. What? Everyone else is doing it.



I used some leftover Fawkes sock yarn and a sz E crochet hook. As much as I love this colorway, it's a bit odd in a granny square, methinks. Not Fawkes in his full glory, that's for sure.