Jar Doilies

I'm going to refer you to my Twitter feed again: the other night I spent the evening watching Price & Prejudice while working on some crochet. I was making covers for the jars of strawberry jam. Giving homemade jam at Christmas is sort of a family tradition. Especially when budgets are tight. I think we've wrapped the jars in the past, and maybe last year we didn't even do that. I don't remember. But this year I've finally got my act together to crochet lid doilies. How darling is that?

Let's get in a little closer. (sorry the pic is a little blurry) I've made four of these. They're made from 4-ply cotton yarn (same stuff as the market bag). They were so easy to make! I only made four because I ran out of yarn. I think it looks Christmassy, don't you? The green ribbon makes it.

This is the one I was working on while watchinglistening to Pride & Prejudice. It took me about an hour and a half. It's my very first attempt at thread crochet! I love the delicate look.
I've been intrigued with it for a while, but never took the plunge. I took LB to Walmart the other day, and couldn't resist spending a little bit of that Craigslist money on a spool of thread. (I got 1000 yards for under $4, so it's not that bad.) I am very pleased with how it came out. The pattern calls for other colors, but I was just lucky that Walmart carried the thread at all. Maybe someday I'll be able to invest in other colors of thread.

Here's a closer look at the top detail. I really like it. It's more interesting than just rounds and rounds of double crochet. (Uses less thread, too).
Somehow mine came out smaller (as in diameter) than the pattern said it would. I was actually using a bigger hook, so I'm not sure how that happened. I suppose I may have been making the stitches too tight, but I would think the bigger hook would counteract that. My other thought was that it was because of the way I made the ring in the center. (here comes the technical jargon that only other crocheters will understand) The pattern, like most patterns in the round, starts with a chain, then joined with sl st to make a ring, then x number of sc in the ring. I don't start my rounds that way any more because it leaves a hole in the center. I found this amazing website called Crochet Cabana where, among other tips such as the invisible finish, I learned how to make an adjustable ring. So no more holes in the center of MY rounds! But, if the pattern was expecting that hole to be there, it would have an impact on the diameter of the doily. DH said the only way to find out would be to cut out the center design and see if the rest of the doily fit the jar the way it's supposed to. I looked at him cross-eyed, wondered if he understand all the ramifications of such an action, and explained that ACTUALLY, the only way to find out would be to make another one, WITH the hole in the center. He thought there were too many uncontrollable variables in my proposed experimental design, but since I'm certainly not going to cut the center out of this one, he wisely dropped it.

So anyway, my first thread crochet project is a success, so I'm encouraged to continue with thread crochet :)

Market Bag

This is my "market bag". I don't actually take it to the grocery store, but I have used it a couple times. I mostly use it to contain a current crochet project. It's made with two balls of that yummy cotton yarn (Peaches and Cream? I think?). The pattern calls for three balls, but I managed to eke it out of two. I felt very thrifty.

The whole thing is worked in the round from the bottom up. I didn't count my stitches at the end of each round, but when I counted them at the top, I had many more stitches than I was supposed to. Somehow I'm adding stitches. It's something about the way I join rounds in single crochet (I don't have this problem in double crochet). I need to pay better attention to what I'm doing (and counting stitches wouldn't hurt).

LB's sweater

One of the reasons I started a personal blog (as opposed to continuing to use the video blog as a platform for personal musings) was to show off some of my craft projects. I started this blog almost 2 months ago and have yet to post about some project, lol. But today I finally got my act together and even have a photo.

This is a little sweater I crocheted for LB last spring:


The blue yarn came from my grandmother's closet (it's like shopping for yarn, but it's all free!!!) There wasn't quite enough of it, so I had to use the white. I think I would have preferred to make the whole thing striped and give it a hood, rather than a collar. It's actually my first, real garment. Up to this point I'd only crocheted things like scarves, mittens, hats, etc. You can't see the seams, but they're terrible. I used white yarn and it shows something awful. Oh well. it's cute and soft.