Mandalas for Marinke and Osgood scarf

Just over a year ago, Kathryn Vercillo began the project #mandalasformarinke in honor of sweet Marinke (also called Wink) who lost her battle with depression the end of June 2015. Kathryn has been sharing the mandalas collected throughout the past year. I missed the post that featured my own mandalas and happened across it today so I thought I'd share the link. You can find it on the June 12th posting. She did a lovely job combining the pictures of the mandalas along with important facts to help those suffering from depression.

I've really fallen down on my crocheting lately. I started a hat weeks ago and this is as far as I've gotten. LOL  The yarn is made in Italy and is fingering weight Knit Picks Felici in the colorway Time Traveler. I wonder why I chose it? :-)  This yarn is a limited time offering. The wrapper says "special reserve". It's a very nice yarn and I do recommend it if you have fingering weight yarn needs.

The hat pattern I'm using is Big Button Beret. It's not a difficult pattern. I've just been spending too much time away from my hooks and at my coloring desk.

I do have big plans to make another Doctor Who scarf. This time it will be the Osgood which I've not done before. I've been collecting yarn trying to match the pictures I've been able to find online. There is no "official" pattern that I'm aware of but there are a couple out there that have been posted on Ravelry. They are not crocheted, of course.

You can find Chris Starfire's pattern here. (You have to sign in to see it.)

You can find Sonya Shelton's pattern here. It's set to public so you can see it without signing in.

From all accounts, the Osgood is based on the second half of the former Witty Little Knitter's Season 16 scarf. (Witty Little Knitter domain was let go by Tara Carstensen and has been taken over by Gene Fender of doctorwhoscarf.com . There's nothing there right now but there will be at some point.) The reason we think this is the pattern is because that particular scarf pattern had a one stripe color error in it which is shown in the Osgood - yellow, red, yellow, green, yellow instead of yellow, red, purple, green, yellow. Many, many hours of looking went into figuring that out. LOL

I've accumulated a number of skeins to try and find good colors for the Osgood. At this time, Vanna's Choice Mustard is the lead contender for the yellow. Red Heart with Love Pewter is the lead contender for the grey and the I Love This Yarn Mixed Berry for the purple and Fire Red for the red. I have Vanna's Choice Dusty Green currently for the green but will have a look at the Loops and Thread Fern to see if it fits better as I've not seen it in person yet. The tan is giving me fits. I've found a few light tans but none have that pink tinge it looks like in the photo. I may have to settle for one that comes close. We'll see which yarns win. Since there are two online patterns, maybe I'll do two of them. :-) I've still never worked a Season 15 though, nor a Romana S16 scarf.

All that said, it will not be perfect because lighting and other factors affect how the colors look on TV and online. Not having seen the scarf in person, it's all guesswork. And of course the original is not crocheted.

If you're interested in more details about Doctor Who scarves, you know where to go ... my own Gallifreyan Crochetin'.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

scarf and hats

First off I want to mention that the Knit Picks Felici yarn is back. This is one of those here today, gone tomorrow yarns so I ordered several skeins in the Time Traveler colorway. This is fingering yarn. My current thought is to make a Big Button Beret. I made one of these some time ago and loved how it came out. Of course ... fingering yarn. It will take a while.

In other news I've completed a scarf and two hats from the I Love This Yarn purchased a few weeks ago. The color is Stonewash, kind of a blue grey denim kind of color.

With two skeins I was able to make a scarf about 6' long and two adult male size hats.

I've already packaged it to go to Sandy at The Bridge and Beyond but I think it is about 7" wide. The edging is straight single crochet.

The hats are my Basic Adult Beanie at Crochet Cabana. Because I used a thicker yarn than the pattern uses and an H hook rather than a G, I crocheted fewer rounds (I think it was 18 total). For me, the measurement after Round 9 (to 72 stitches) gave me the size I needed so I didn't do another increase round. I used four rounds of single crochet to end.

Adult male hat should be between 8 and 10" from center to last round, and circumference between 22 and 24" around. It seems huge to me because I have a small head but it fits the guys.

That's it for now. I know I've been lax with updating but life interferes.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

Jacob's Ladder

Someone left a comment on my Jacob's Ladder video at YouTube and while I was approving that comment, I glanced over and saw several other videos featuring Jacob's Ladder and I decided to have a look at some of them.

The video at Stitchopedia by Jessie made an interesting point. She says that your chains between your stitches which are used to make the "ladder" should be twice the height of the stitch plus 1. For example, the turning chain for double crochet is 3 so you would figure 3 x 2 + 1 = 7. If you were using a different stitch, you would take the turning chain, multiply by 2 and add 1. I'd never heard this before so I found it interesting.

You can find her written instructions for the sample piece show in the video here as well as other neat stuff. She also has Etsy and Ravelry shops. I don't know Jessie personally, but enjoyed her video and her shops.

I have personally used double crochet for the Jacob's Ladder afghans I've made in the past. I have always made the chains either 8 or 10 chains wide with the last row being a shorter chain. Here are a few of my JL afghans. The second one is the replacement afghan I made for my mom when her first one went missing at the nursing home. I put her name right in the pattern. :-)

You might think your hook would make a difference as the stitches would be taller with a J hook than a G hook. That is true, but your chains would also be larger. In the video I saw, she used a J hook which I think is an excellent size for this type of project if you're using worsted yarn.

Another Jacob's Ladder I ran across is one I've seen before. It is Beth in Texas' video which can be found here. Her written instructions can be found here. I do know Beth and she is a crochet designer extraordinaire. I have long followed her work and have corresponded with her occasionally. You won't be disappointed if you have a look at her designs and instructional videos.

Another video I looked at was at the Crochet Crowd. Mikey was demonstrating a pillow made with single crochet Jacob's Ladder. I don't know him personally but have admired many of his designs and videos. He gives a lot of information and does a great presentation.

I'm adding another video. I just looked at Yolanda's video and for those who speak Spanish, she has Spanish info right on the video. She is demonstrating how to make a shawl. She gives information on how to make the double crochet as well as the Jacob's Ladder technique and also puts fringe on the ends. She uses a chunky yarn in her video as does Mikey above.

[additional note] I just ran across a pattern called Jacob's Square by Jessie Rayot. The method she uses to make this square (in the round) uses the ladder technique so I wanted to include it here.

If you are interested in the Jacob's Ladder, just go to YouTube and do a search. There are many videos on how to make various things using this technique - afghans, pillows, hats and more. Yes, you can work Jacob's Ladder in the round. Have fun with it!

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

Doctor Who inspired dc wool baby afghan

I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth. I just haven't been at the computer as much lately nor crocheting as much as I used to. Thanks for stopping by and not giving up on me.

Note I updated this post after finishing the afghan so all the info would be in one place.

My current project is a Doctor Who baby afghan worked in double crochet and made from a scarf wool kit I bought years ago from Little Red Mitten. Yes, I was taking a chance on the yarn as far as quantity but it worked out pretty well. I was only short one row in the chocolate kisses.

Here is a picture of the yarn that came in the kit. It is Nature Spun Sport 100% wool yarn (mothproof). Each skein is 1 3/4 oz (50 gram). There are two of the Red Fox, Wood Moss, Spiced Plum, Saddle Tan and Charcoal. There is one skein of Chocolate Kisses and Goldenrod.

Here is what I have left (before edging). As noted above, I ran out of the chocolate kisses and could only do two rows where I had planned 3 so I suggest getting 2 skeins of that if you want to do the full three rows. Those pictured are partial skeins except for the spiced plum which is a whole skein. I used the small bit of leftover spiced plum for the simple one round of single crochet edging and still had a little left.

I am writing up the pattern but it's really simple as far as stitching. Just chain 152 (or use the chainless foundation of 150) and double crochet each row, changing colors as is noted in the pattern. It measures about 36" x 44". I took my double crochet pattern for the scarf and halved the numbers. If it was an odd number I went down. For example, if it was 5, I chose 2. Since there were no baby afghans in Doctor Who, I felt like I could make my own choices without worrying too much about screen accuracy. I think it worked out nicely as far as size.

If you are interested in more information on the Doctor Who scarves, you might like to visit my Gallifreyan Crochetin' site and also doctorwhoscarf.com .

I'll post again when I've completed the afghan. It shouldn't be too long though there are a lot of tails to weave in.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

cloths

So here's what I've been doing...

These are wash or dish cloths made with cotton. They are simple designs, chain 30 for most, then double crochet in the back loop only on all rows. Then I worked a single crochet edging all around. Easy peasy.

These will be going to Sandy over at the Bridge project. They always need cloths. I made a bunch of filet crochet cloths a while back that were not suitable for this project. The cloths need to be crocheted in a more closed pattern. So ... tada. Here they are. 

The size of the cloths vary though all are over 7".

The yarns used are also varied. Some are Knit Picks sport weight cotton which is scrumptious. I think the worsted cotton might be Sugar 'n Cream.

That's all. Just a quick update.

May you all have a very blessed Easter celebration!

Happy crocheting!
Sandie