Jacob's Ladder wip

I thought I'd update on the Jacob's Ladder afghan wip to replace my mom's lost one. I've done 10 cable sections - well, what will be cable sections when they're done. So far, as you can see I have green, yellow, claret, red, off white and am working on brown. I have two skeins of buff fleck and I think I will use that for the name sections.

This section is about 58 1/2" wide at this point. It will be less wide after the cables are made. It is about 27" in length but I'm not finished adding to it and also the name sections will add quite a bit to the finished ghan.

Just for reference, I am using an I hook.


More on that as I get more accomplished.

In other news, the other day I got curious about how long I've been a member of CGOA (Crochet Guild of America). I wrote to them and the office was kind enough to check for me. They don't have a lot of paper records before 2004 but they did find a member list from 1996 that had my name on it, so I was a member since at least that year. Since the organization was founded (according to their Facebook page) in 1994, I was there during its early days. I was surprised, but pleased to find out I've had such a long association with this great organization.

Crochet Cabana has been around since 1997 so we are close in age to the national organization. :-)


Happy crocheting!
Sandie

Jacob's Ladder

A while back I made an afghan for my mom to use at the nursing home. You can see it here or here. Well, it has been "misplaced". It was picked up to be washed and wasn't returned. They are supposed to be looking for it, but in case it doesn't turn up again, I decided to make her another one and put her name right on it in a manner similar to the way I made the Austinghan.  I've come a long way since the Austinghan in terms of my understanding the filet crochet process. :-) That was the project from hell at the time, but today I would be able to proceed better. Progress.

Anyway, I wanted to do this new ghan in the same style as the first one since she seemed to like it. That one was done in the Jacob's Ladder technique. I will be using yarn that I have on hand so I started with a hunter green and then grabbed this yellow, which is a tad bright. Okay, it's very bright, but her eyesight is very bad so this bright color might do well. I have read that seniors generally are able to enjoy bright colors more because of their poor eyesight.

I am always amazed at how wide the Jacob's Ladder is when you are working it and how much it shrinks after you work the cable loops. The photo above shows it laid out on my sofa which is about 86" long. I didn't actually measure the ghan at this point. The next color I am using is claret. I will probably have some blue, white, and red in it at some point as I know I have those colors. Not sure what color I will do the name in yet. Each section will not be the same length.

If you are interested in how to do the Jacob's Ladder I have videos at the YouTube Channel.

I've put aside the spiders for the time being as I don't have enough Vanna's Choice to finish it now. It's not on a deadline so timing is not as crucial.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

more spiders

Everywhere I look I see the spider stitch now that I'm aware of it. LOL I have been working on my own scarf pattern, as requested. I've completed a scarf, which is actually going to be part of an afghan. I've decided to make strips using the spider stitch and join them together into an afghan. Each strip could be a scarf by itself.

These pieces are not edged, but you can see the edging I'm going to use in this picture of a previous spider scarf. It's one round of sc followed by a round of what I call faux picot.

I should have the pattern finished soon. I will probably leave it rather open ended as to size. Scarves can be made any size and in a pattern of this type you can just do as few or as many spiders as you want to. If you are locked into a particular size, then I will have a guideline I think will help.


Happy crocheting!
Sandie

interview, spider stitch projects

I was pleased to be interviewed by Marie Segares of Underground Crafter recently. It was so much fun to relive the beginnings of Crochet Cabana and share with you all. Thanks for the interview, Marie.

You can all read it at http://undergroundcrafter.com/blog/2012/02/21/interview-with-sandie-petit-founder-of-crochet-cabana/  . If you are interested in taking a class to increase your skills, you might like to visit her blog post which lists various class opportunities. I did!

What's on my hook? Yo-yos! I've made over 400 of them so far with the leftover  yarn balls hanging around here - we need a name for those leftovers. Skeinettes? Think that will catch on? LOL These are for a project my daughter wants to tackle. (She's sewing in the tails!) I have hundreds more to make, but this is mindless work. Nice break.

I also plan to work on some of the squares in the Chain Reaction afghan. I have the DVD and the print copy as well as the three extra squares.

Remember the spider scarves I did for Special Olympics? I didn't think anyone else called this stitch by the name spider, but come to find out there are several projects using this stitch. I didn't find another scarf though! heh [edit: Okay, I did a search on Ravelry and there were scarves there with the name spider or similar. Not just like this one though that I saw.]

So here are some items I found that also uses spider stitch or spider lace. The projects are different, but the premise is the same, with "legs" (generally not 8) and a "body" in the center.

First, this spider bag pattern. Pretty neat! It is worked with thin cotton yarn and a steel hook 2.5mm. She has a chart up. For the life of me, I couldn't get the pdf file of the chart to load, but it worked fine on my daughter's computer. I am perplexed by that. I will hopefully figure it out. I probably need to update my pdf reader. I have a tendency to ignore those "you need to update now" messages. LOL

Here is Mario Melino's Crochet Beach Skirt.

Here is a beautiful Spider Stitch Wrap (or Shawl).Thank you to Ravelry as I was able to find the pattern at Caron International. Surprisingly, Caron doesn't have a search on their site that I could find.

About.com has what they call Spider Lace. It is created differently than the Spiders I use but still very pretty and useful technique.

They also have this Spiderweb cowl. Some people don't like cowls, but I find them interesting. I don't generally like anything close around my neck, but if you make the cowl loose fitting, I think it can work and this is certainly a pretty pattern. I am thinking if you use a sport or light weight, soft yarn it would feel nice around the throat.

If you enjoy making clothing, here is a Spider stitch cardigan. The pattern is not online but in an older Interweave magazine from April 2007. You can see the details at Interweave here.  Maybe you can find an archive copy somewhere.

That's all I found. If you find another spider stitch project, preferably that includes a pattern or link, holler out and I'll add it.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

new hooks

First things first, if you enjoy contests and the chance to win crochet goodies like yarn, you will want to stop by the Bridge Project. SandyH has a contest which runs from February 14 to March 14. Details here. 

The other day I received an e-mail with a video highlighting Knitter's Pride crochet hooks. Of course I'd never heard of Knitter's Pride and even though I'm not a knitter, I had to go see these hooks. :-) You know what happened!I purchased three hooks.

You can see the Dreamz hook here along with the video. This is a wooden hook. I got two of them. One is perfect. I used it last night to make some yo-yos and it was very lightweight and the yarn glided beautifully. I have not used the other one, but the throat of the hook (see parts of a hook here) is a little rough. I'm hoping that won't cause a problem.

Here is the H 5.0mm Dreamz.

The aluminum H hook I purchased is here. The video also appears on that page. Someone does a bang up job on this web site. Videos are a great way to sell merchandise. I like seeing the hooks in action. The handle on this hook is a soft rubbery one similar to the Etimo Tulip hooks. Very nice.

The shaft is not as long as I like on the aluminum hook, but that is also true of the Etimo and the Crochetlite hooks and many of the hooks that have an added piece to the handle. The second hook in this photo is the other #7 4.5mm Dreamz hook.

The square I made with the new H hook is from Pam's Comfort Cables Crochet  Afghan over at Knit Picks. I purchased this pattern both to support their efforts and because I thought it was beautiful. I absolutely love the pink and green colors used in this afghan. I purchased a couple skeins to test drive it and you can see the result. My square is not 8" x 8" as stated in the pattern but it is very stretchy. I'm not a particularly huge fan of cables, but there are a few patterns in there that are basically just front and back post stitches. I do like the textured look of the post stitches. We'll see how things go.

I spent part of my morning updating my hook pages at Crochet Cabana and also organizing my hooks by size. I have more H and I hooks than any other size. I do have hooks in all sizes from C to N, P, and S. I've never seen an O hook, but Ebay has R, T, and U which I'd love to have just for completeness though I really don't envision using that large a hook for anything in the near future. I have talked about making a rug though...

Back to the hooks. I put them in plastic ziploc bags after I sorted them, but that is a temporary measure. Now I'll go back and see what I can do with them.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie