Summer Has Begun

It's hard to believe almost a month has gone by since I last posted. Lots of busyness happening in our lives, though not much of it was fiber-related. However, I did get a chance to fit in a few new projects.

In early May, I discovered a wonderful thing. There are many creative folks out there designing knit and crochet projects that need folks like me who aren't so creative to test their designs and patterns for them. I am all on board with this, since I am an editor by nature and always find those little mistakes that can undo a beautiful project. I have often contacted designers and publishers to notify them of errors in the pattern, so I appreciate when a designer takes the time to have his/her pattern tested by others. I admire creative people, but they aren't often quite so picky about the little details as I am.

Anyway, my discovery and, subsequently, Project 11. On Ravelry, groups have begun popping up calling for pattern testers, and that got my attention. So I waited until I knew I'd have a little time to take on a small project and then found one that I thought I could tackle. The Surfer Boy Wallet by Michelle B. over at MyDailyFiber was a cute billfold-type item made with crochet cotton. I have TONS of this stuff, so I thought it would help with the destashing while giving me an opportunity to work with a designer. I checked out her other patterns and loved what I saw, so I raised my hand...and she picked me! Yay!

I used two different color threads: navy blue and a red/white/blue ombre.

Both of these threads are size 10, and the pattern called for a size 8 steel crochet hook. The project worked up very easily, and the small single crochets quickly created a stiff, dense fabric. I used the blue for the main color and the ombre for the card pocket.

Here's the finished product:

It holds bills and credit cards, but not coins, and can get wet with no issues. It's machine washable, and you just lay it open flat to dry. Thanks, Michelle, for giving me the chance! It was a pleasure to work with you!

After all that small crochet work, I was ready to knit again. I looked in my stash and found a large bag of red boucle called Marks & Kattens Freesia.

I think I found this yarn at Goodwill many moons ago, and just put it with the rest of the stash, waiting for the right project and then forgetting about it. It's a cotton/acrylic blend, and it's a true boucle, something you can't easily find anymore.

So I began my search (thank you, again, Ravelry) and even added the term "boucle" and, lo and behold, I found the perfect project. Janis Abel created a sweet little shawlette using a rayon boucle called the Ruffled Triangle Scarf. Although it was her first attempt a writing a pattern, she did a bang-up job of carefully explaining her short-row technique (which I love, by the way, as it requires no wraps). Because you use the short rows to create the ruffle, it takes longer than your average scarf or shawlette, but I love the results and am enjoying the process.

The combination of the boucle yarn and the short-row ruffles creates a gorgeous drape. I can't wait to finish this! And I believe I have enough yarn to make two!

And since I tend to have more than one project going, and since I found something groovy project that Leisure Arts posted on Facebook, and since my sister has now taken up crocheting and we like to do stuff together (is that enough excuse?), I started another project while the shawlette above is still in progress.

Project 13: Floppy Brimmed Hat. Two of my stash items, given to me several years back by my friend Keo (you've got to check out her amazing blog here), along with two ENORMOUS bags of yarn and crochet thread were two spools of J&P Coats Crochet Nylon. These are worsted-weight nylon cords that are strong and stiff, perfect for outdoor-type items. I had one new spool in beige,

and one in a very pale green that was started, but then rewound. Here's a photo of it after I finished the hat, though the green color is not quite true:

The hat called for 2 spools of cord, so I decided to use both of these and break up the colors. While very stiff, it crocheted with no problems, although weaving in is something of a challenge. Nevertheless, I got it finished just today, and present to you now my Summer Beach Hat, or what I like to call "How to Hide from the Sun and Everything Else"

Yes, I'm in there somewhere and, no, it doesn't matter which direction I'm facing, it would look like this. I take it the designer has a slightly larger head than I. Actually, I may pull out the last three rows on the brim and just leave a single row of the green for piping. Then I may be able to see out of it. :)

Getting back to my stash

With all the projects I had going, it's been a while since I've checked into my stash to continue logging. So yesterday I dove in again. I thought I had recorded all my commercial yarns, but I found two more that had slipped by me.

First up is about a half skein of Bernat Alpaca Natural Blends in a color called Tundra.

One-and-a-half skeins of this bulky yarn was used to make a cute slouchy hat for my daughter back in February, and I have this half-skein leftover. Haven't decided yet what I'll do with it.

Next up is a lovely 3-ply 100% alpaca handspun yarn that I purchased when we lived in Connecticut. It was my first purchase of handspun from a local fair, shortly after I began my fiber fanaticism.

 

 

The color is hard to make out in this photo, but is' a soft, heathery oatmeal color, achieved by plying 3 different colored singles: natural (off white), dark brown, and a fawn color. I made a scarf for my husband with the bulk of it, and have about 267 yards of this remaining. Again, no ideas yet, but at least it's measured and logged. :)

Reaching deep into one of my stash bins, I pulled out a couple of bags with yarns from unraveled sweaters. I absolutely love obtaining yarn this way. Both of these sweaters were FREE from the "clothing closet" event a local church puts on about three times a year. I bring them our hand-me-down clothes, and then I "shop" for used garments for our family.

For the past several years, this has been a wonderful way to harvest free yarn, as well. I'd look for sweaters made from fabulous fibers that either had holes or stains in the garment, and then I'd take them to see if the yarn was salvageable. Sometimes, the garments were not fully finished, and once the seams were ripped, I was left with a mess of short pieces of yarn. That was disappointing (though it provided us with free stuffing for my daughter's handmade pillows!)

More often than not, however, when you get a sweater made with great fibers, it's well constructed too and allows for perfect unraveling. Talk about gratification! I would keep the labels and care instructions, and put all the yarn from one sweater into a single ziplock bag. Unfortunately, I never measured it, so I'm having to do that now. And I can't find my niddy noddy. Phooey. Out comes the yardstick.

Over the years, I've used some of my gleanings for market bags, scrubbies, and even a lovely capelet! There are still bags and bags left in my closet, though, so now is the time to get them all in order.

One bag had a bulky, deep wine-colored tape yarn made with 65% ramie and 35% cotton. The sweater was from The Limited and allegedly handmade.

The color is actually deeper than I could capture today. This flat yarn is strong and sturdy and will work well for things like hobo and market bags. It also reminds me of purple linguini (oops, my Italian is showing). It measured 575 yards, and I've decided to offer it to my crochet class students in the fall.

Another tape yarn was from a J. Jill sweater. It's a smaller (narrow) tape than the purple, and it's made from 77% cotton and 23% nylon, which gives it a nice elasticity.

The color is interesting, too. The tape is primarily a soft, powder blue which is "outlined" in a dark blue, giving the finished product a heathery effect.

I haven't figured the weight yet, so I'm swatching with it before I can find a project for it.

More stash organizing to come, along with a newly discovered opportunity to put a good use to all this yarn! Hooray!