Infinity Scarf, Touque & Mittens For A Woman

While working on my projects for donation, I was thinking that maybe I should make something more feminine as well. So this is what I came up with.

I had some red, white & black yarn from what I inherited from my mom. I might make this again for myself.

Do you notice how each wavy row seams to sit on top of the previous row? That's because of crocheting in the back loop one row, and then the front loop, the next row, and repeating. It espcially looks great when the row colour changes.

The mittens are from the Daisy Farm Crafts site.

Sorry that you can't see the details very well, but it is hard to photograph black. They look great though! And if you check out the link to the Daisy Farm Crafts site, you can see what the cable pattern on the mittens looks like.

And lastly, the toque.

Once again, I can't remember where I got this pattern from. But if I find it, I will put the link in latter.

Well, this is not a very wordy post like some of my others, but I hope you don't mind not having to read too much. Just mainly sharing the photos this time. Busy day today.

Happy Crocheting!

Scarf & Toque Set Plus More

Welcome!

Today I am sharing with you a scarf & toque set (hat or beanie for the US). This is one of those that will be donated for the needy in the area here.

However, this scarf is inspired by a Daisy Farm Crafts pattern and made just a tiny bit wider, and the rows are width ways, rather than the length of the scarf. The toque (or hat) is my own creation using the same stitch pattern.

The day I took these photos it was cloudy and I could not get the right lighting for these photos. The colour of the yarn is a burnt orange, not red. It is a yarn that my sister gave to me and informed me that it was form our grandmother. She passed away in 2006 at 92. Anyway, she had this project she was working on and had never completed. So there was the incomplete afghan, and several balls of yarn that went with it. I unraveled all of the afghan and ended up with four colours of yarn with enough to make more than one scarf an toque from each colour! The light green and yellow colours you have already seen in some of the baby blankets I made - the first one, I did not get photos of, but the second one, and last one have been posted.

The stitches used for this set are the HD Herringbone stitch, and the Berry stitch. What I like about this combination is that it looks the same on both sides because the Berry stitch is done in two rows, so that each side gets a row of Berry stitches.

Here is the set.

Now let's talk toque (hat). You will not that it was not crocheted in the round, but as a flat piece. The reason I did that is so that I could use my preferred ribbing. You will also see that I have ribbing at the bottom, which is traditional, but that I also have a narrow band of ribbing at the top. That is to help gather the top without as much bulk if the crochet stitch pattern were just continued to the end.

Closer look at the narrow top band of ribbing.

Closer look at the bottom band of ribbing.

The ribbing is created using a SC in the back loop. (You can do this with a slip stitch, a SC, a HDC, or DC). Then you sew up the side seam, and then gather the top together.

This one is a slouch toque, so it hangs down a bit at the back when wearing it.

On to the scarf.

I made this just a bit wider so that a person could wrap it around their head with good coverage, should the need arise.

It can be folded in half lengthways to wrap around the neck as you see below.

You can see the rows of Half Double Herringbone and Puff stitches.

And lastly, the mittens. These are not a Daisy Farm Crafts pattern, but one I picked up from somewhere online, and can't find again to share with you. Sorry. They are vary easy to whip up and the pattern has all sizes from infants up to large adult hands.

The ribbing is SC in the back loop, and the body of the mitten is in Half Double crochet.

After completing this set I still had a fait bit of this colour of yarn left. I know there wouldn't be enough to crochet a scarf, but I could probably get a toque and mittens from it. I was right! Here they are.

I think why I like creating things to donate it that I can try out all these different stitches or stitch combinations. Like this toque for instance. The first time I tried the Wheat Stitch, and it is so much easier than I thought it would be to do it!

I think I will try this pattern again!

Well, that's it if this batch of yarn, and I hope you have been inspire to try out some new stitches, and to make some things for those in need in your area.

Happy crocheting!

Another Scarf For Donation - Half Double Herringbone

This scarf is wider than most I make, and I am wishing that I did not make it so wide. I was unsure of there would be enough yarn to do this, but decided to go ahead anyway. I wanted a scarf that would be wide enough to cover your head well enough if needed, but making it wider ended up in having a slightly shorter scarf than I wanted. But I wan't about to unravel the entire thing and stat over.

This yarn is a little fuzzier, and the colours are gorgeous. I opted to practise my Half Double Herringbone stitch for this project. It turned out so soft and squishy thick with this yarn.

Here in the next photo, you can can see what I meant about the scarf being a little short. It does however cover my head with enough to tuck into the a coat front.

If not being used to cover a head, it can be folded in half to narrow it, and give a double soft thickness.

Here is a closer look at the colours of this soft fluffy yarn.

I ran out of yarn and therefore did not add any fringe to the ends. Not sure I would have, even if I did have more yarn.

Happy crocheting everyone!

Another Scarf & Toque for Donation - Wave Stitch

I have had this sitting around for awhile wondering if I should share it with you or not because of the imperfections. After much deliberation, I decided to go ahead and share for a few reasons.

1. I tried a new stitch that I really like the look of,
2. Even though there are mistakes, I learned from them,
3. Everyone has projects like these and no one is perfect in all of their projects

So here it is.

I used a purple and leftover green (from this set) to make this scarf & toque set. I love the "Wave Stitch". I did not have enough of the green left for the toque, but I don't that matters much.

This wave stitch works great for a toque because it is a little like a ribbing stitch. It take a little more time than just a simple ribbed stitch, but adds some interest. Though for the purpose of being quick, I may just decide to go back to the simple ribbed stitch for the toques I donate.

Here is a closer look at the wave stitch on the toque.

Now, the scarf is where I made mistakes and learned a few things.

Despite the nearly 200 chains to start the scarf, it ended up much shorter than I liked. The wave this stitch creates makes the chain shorter. I know that, but still there could have been several more chains. That is why I added the Half Double Herringbone band at the two ends of the Wave Stitch section, and then added a long fringe, which I normally do not do.

Here is a closer look at what the Wave Stitch looks like when you use more than one colour.

And this is what it looks like from the back. I actually like both sides. What about you?

So that's it for this set. Shall I still donate it? What are your thoughts?

Happy crocheting, everyone!

Bean Stitch Scarf & Ribbed Toque for Donation

Most of the scarves I have crocheted in the past were always done with leftover balls that would never make an entire scarf without combining other leftover colours of yarn with it. As a result, I often found the scarves not quite as long as is fashionable. However, they were long enough to serve their purpose. This is the first scarf that I was able to crochet with a single colour and and make at a more fashionable length.

I wanted to try the mini bean stitch, and loved how it turned out. The scarf is squishy soft and feels nice and thick.

In this photo you can see how much longer is is in comparison to these scarves from my first post.

I love the small texture of the mini bean stitch, as seen in the close up below.

This next photo shows the scarf with the toque I made to go with it. I decided not use the bean stitch on the toque, because I wanted to be sure the toque would fit heads of multiple sizes without stretching too much.

This is a closer look at the toque. As you can see, I also opted not to make a pom pom for the toque.

Here is a closer look at the ribbing. This is a very easing toque to whip together.

I hope that whoever get's this set, will be pleased with it. I only wish I had donated them before the winter storm we just had (September 27, 28, 29). It was the earliest storm of this kind I had ever lived in. It is of course melting away now, but we are dealing with large piles of snow that melt during the day, and freeze solid during the night.

I hope that if you like to crochet or knit, that you have the opportunity to make scarves, toques, & blankets for the homeless in your area. This is a good way to help out while staying at home.

Happy crocheting!

Welcome to My New Creative Blog!

I am excited to begin sharing some of my projects in other fields of creativity that I love to do. I now have time to pick them up again.

To begin, I will start with some projects made a few months ago, and once I catch up with them all, I will then start to post my projects as they are made. Between the months of February and June of 2019, I have been doing a lot of crocheting. Since I had not done a whole lot of it for quite a few years, a perfect opportunity presented itself while I was in Calgary, between February and June of this year. A group of women were knitting or crocheting scarves for the homeless and needy of the city. Unfortunately, I did not get photos of a couple of the scarves I made before handing them in to the project manager of our group.

My daughter and I decided to participate, and I had such fun doing it and getting back into the crochet groove! Dana, who I share the paper crafting blog with, also wanted to get into crocheting, so I was able to refresh her memory as she had self-taught herself. She is doing great!

Since my Mom had passed away 3 years ago, I inherited all of the yarn she had, and some of it was ends of skeins and leftovers form her projects. Some of her yarn were for projects she had never gotten around to. One of my sisters loves to knit, and she gave me about a 1/4 of her yarn collection too! So thus far I have not had to spend much on yarn for the projects I have been doing.

I started off using the remnants of passed projects from Mom's yarn collection in making these scarves, and some of the colours combinations may not be ideal, but the scarves are made with care and will serve their purpose in keeping people warm.

This is what I started using to carry my yarn and hooks around in...a carry basket of sorts that I remember my Mom using as I grew up. Now I am using it, and I remember her teach us three girls how to crochet, knit, and embroider. She would use the all the thine and even took it to my sister's ballet lessons to work on projects while she was in class.

Here you can see an unusual colour combination for a scarf...a burnt orange, gold, and a shade of pink or rose. You can also see all the little skein ends left over and rolled into balls.

I was thinking of using just the two fall colours instead of including the pink/rose, but I did not know if I would have enough to make a scarf with, therefore the need for a third colour, and the best one to go with the two.

I used the 'Check' stitch for the one you see in the carry-all.

Here are some more photos. (the colour did not come out too well for the photo below)

 The next scarf I crocheted, uses the 'Basket Weave' stitch. I really had fun with this one, and I could see my old crochet skills coming back with this next scarf. Not so many mistakes, a more even tension throughout, and straighter edges.

I chose three colours again for this scarf, and am glad that they matched better. The yarn was in three larger leftover balls and I decided not to do anything special in mixing the colours, but rather just use up each one in turn.

Here you see the two scarves together.

While they may not be as long as people like their scarves today, they do wrap around the neck, or over the head, and fit into a coat or jacket enough to keep warm.

I had made three more scarves besides these two, but never got photos taken of them before I handed them in as we left Calgary in June.

What I would like to do is to encourage you to participate in knitting or crocheting scarves for the homeless and needy in your area. It is such a joyful thing to do, and you can practice some of these stitches you have wanted to try out. I just know that I had so much fun doing this, and am looking into doing it here in Lethbridge now.

After talking about my Mom today, I am thinking I will create a post one day sharing with you an incredibly beautiful afghan that she made for me.

FYI

Worsted, medium #4 yarn used for these scarves. I used a 5mm hook for the left scarf, and a 5.5mm hook for the right scarf.

Happy crocheting!