back to school!

Woohoo, back to college. The past few weeks have been a flurry of packing, driving, unpacking, and lists of things I forgot. I have things laying about the room, and I can't seem to get organised. But who cares? I have a tote completely dedicated to my yarn! I'm a happy camper indeed.

So that's how my life has been. I finally have an Etsy set up, along with my Paypal, but I need to start powering things out that I can sell. Unfortunately, that can only happen when I'm not in class. I made the mistake last year of bringing my crochet to class with me, and I never got anything done. Well, as far as learning goes. I got a lot of projects done!

Speaking of projects, I'm currently working on a large scarf. I'm using Loops and Threads Country Loom, and I absolutely adore it. It works up very quickly, and if I had to complain about anything, it would be the fact that one skein only has 104 yards. But it is a super bulky yarn, so what can you do?

Once my scarf is done, I think I'll try playing around with warping the pattern into something that I can use for cowls, or skinnier scarves. Or maybe I'll make the stegosaurus that my boyfriend has been wanting. Chances are good that I'll tackle both at once and give myself a headache, so that will be fun!

Lovely segue there: headaches and fun. The fun bit is that I've finished my first large project, a blanket! It was a gift for a friend that was in the hospital (no worries, he's fine now). I used a nice wave pattern and whipped it up in about a week. The headache part is that my lip is swelled preposterously. I got my lip pierced last week, and it's a tad painful. So to distract myself, I've been tackling things like cross stitching. Now, I am completely enamored with cross stitching. It's so much fun, and I can tote around small projects easier than I can my crochet projects.

So yes. That's my life so far in college. More later.

mad hattery

I love hats.

So when I wanted to crochet myself a nice beanie, I found a few patterns that fit the bill nicely. Sweet, simple, and to the point. The pattern I ended up attempting used front-post double crochet, which I have been dying to try.

So when I made the hat, and it was far too tight, I was sad. I frogged it halfway, added more increases, and did it again. Still no. now, it was a little too loose, and still too short. Dang. I frogged it halfway again, looked at it, and laughed. I proceeded to make my own pattern.

Now, I know that I leap-frogged off of the pattern (for those of you wondering, it was this hat), and I'm not claiming that it's my own, totally original idea. But it is a variation, and my own pattern. And I small step in the right direction for making my very own original hats.

Food for thought: If almost everything has been done before, can one say that he has created a "completely original" item? Can't all patterns be seen to have been leap-frogged off of each other?

picking up the dusty needles?

This was spurred on by my love and obsession of the Weasley sweaters that dear Molly Weasley makes for the kids for Christmas. I do so want one.

So, is it time for me to test the waters of knitting once more? I am enamored with the look and feel of knit sweaters, and I know that a crochet sweater won't have the same feel. So, do I suck it up and crochet a sweater?

Or do I finally take the dive, and further my knitting skills? I admit, whenever I look at knitting patterns, I become intimidated. Bind off 18 stitches, place 12 on stitch holder, bind off remaining...Huh? I try to visualize the instructions, but I only manage to become more confused. Does anyone have a good video tutorial, or maybe a detailed photo tutorial?

Will post more on the potential knitting later.

help! i need somebody!

Help! Not just anybody!

Calling all Cupcake Crochet readers! I know that there aren't many of you out there, but if you're reading this, perhaps you can help me.

You see, I'm in a bit of a pickle. I've been trying to get into tapestry crochet, and I've found one or two tutorials for it. However, I'm a bit stuck on how to do it in a turned piece. And it doesn't really help that I've found it difficult to follow the directions in the view videos that I found.

So, dearest readers, have you any help to offer? A tutorial, a video, even a book that you found helpful? Did a friend of a friend's mom's cousin mention a trick he or she found helpful?

If so, I'd love to know! Tapestry crochet has thus far befuddled me, and I'd be grateful for any help at all.

I'm also interested in knowing what everyone's favorite method is to join two pieces! So, feel free to comment with your favorite technique!

go team!

Wow, three posts within a couple of days! I guess I'm trying to make up for lost time...

It's the Olympics once again, and when I'm not crocheting, I'm watching the games avidly! I'll watch almost all of it.

And I won't just cheer for the US teams, either. Mom and I will sit in the basement, yelling, "Go Germany! Go Canada! Go Great Britain!" We'll cheer for everyone, which I think is great. We watch events where the US isn't even participating, and cheer other countries on. We just like to watch the events! I mean, sure, we want the US to win, but there's more to winning than just getting a gold medal. The Olympics are all about sportsmanship and unity. I'm truly bothered when people think that unless they get a gold, they lose. Not bothered in a "wow I dislike you" way, but rather a "wow, I kind of feel sorry that you don't see the bigger picture" way. And I know that other countries have different customs and different ideals. I'm not insulting that. I'm just talking in general.

Speaking of cheering for other people, I was a huge fan of the 200 meter butterfly, where Michael Phelps got silver. The reason that I liked it, though, was because Chad le Clos, from South Africa, won gold. The announcers mentioned that he's a huge fan of Phelps, and for me, that's just awesome. He gets to say, "I won a gold medal at the Olympics," but it's also more than that. Le Clos gets to swell with pride and say, "I not only won an Olympic gold medal, but I beat one of my idols to do it."

Come on. Who doesn't get chills when they think about that? There are a lot of awesome and inspiring stories regarding the Olympians. The US woman who got gold in Judo: The first Olympic gold medal that the US has ever had in that event, plus she overcame being sexually abused by her first Judo trainer as a child. The Mexican women who won silver and bronze in the women's individual archery: Mexico, in this event, had never won an Olympic medal. And these are just the examples off of the top of my head. I don't know about you, but I get goosebumps.

On a less thrilling side note, my feathers have gotten rather ruffled over the women's soccer quarter final, in which USA played New Zealand. The game started awesomely, the US ladies didn't seem quite on their game, but the ref was calling fair fouls. That, by the way, is a huge pet peeve of mine: When a ref will be very "lopsided" with their calls. I mean, really? You'll turn a blind eye to the slide-tackle that team X made on team Y (when you're looking straight at them!), but you'll barely see the same foul when team Y does it to team X, and immediately issue a yellow card! I've seen it happen, and it doesn't matter who the teams are, it irritates me. I have choice words for refs like that, and none of them are polite. Anyway, as the game went on, the ref became more and more lopsided. I mean, really, you'll let them shove our girl to the ground, but if one of ours barely glances her, you'll card her? Are you serious? And no, I'm not saying that all of the fouls called on the US team were false; most of them were spot-on. But really? I'm seeing a lot of fouls from New Zealand that aren't being called. I do not approve, ref. Get your eyes checked, please.

On a lighter note, I love the where's-waldo-esque jerseys of the US team. I think they should all get glasses, to complete the look.

edit 8/7/2012: Wow. Fixed a couple of sentences. I was in such a hurry to get all of my thoughts out, that I had a couple of typos. For example, the woman who got the US a gold in Judo: I made it sound like the US had never won a gold in anything before. Oops. XD

works in progress

Part two of my "back from hiatus" post. I felt that the first one was sooo long, and that I should be kind to my readers, and break it into two parts.

Here are other things that I'm working on, because obviously one project at a time is not enough. These are also things that I've recently finished, but don't yet have pictures for.

- I'm creating a Cupcake Crochet "mascot!" or at least an official symbol. I'm going to take it with me when I go to sell things, like at the Oktoberfest in our town. I'm using this pattern, a regular old cupcake pattern (another free Ravelry pattern). However, to make it bigger, I'm using a bulky yarn and a size J hook. Hopefully, since the hook makes the stitches a bit tight, it will hold the stuffing.

- More information on my baby blanket adventure, that was very briefly mentioned in the previous post. I thought to myself, "Oh, my, baby items are small. So, if I want to sell things, I should also make baby items, because they're so fast to make!"
Well, this may be true for baby hats and booties. But, to no one's surprise but my own, baby blankets can still be tedious. Especially when one uses worsted weight yarn, as opposed to something like bulky. I used an original pattern, and set to work. Well, I got 35 rows into it, and wanted to tear my hair out. I'm just not great with the longer projects. I get bored, because I'm admittedly an instant-gratification type of person, and eventually this blanket was reserved for car rides; I'd get one or two rows done to and from shopping with Mom. So, in a stroke of genius, I finished it off! Why torture myself with one long, boring rectangle, when I can have a rectangle surrounded by granny squares! I'm a huge fan of grannies. They're quick, relatively easy, and I get instant results. So, more on that blanket later.

- I recently taught my lovely mother how to crochet (not really the usual order, is it?). So, in an act of love, she wanted to make me a cowl. On a side note, I love her dearly, because she keeps forgetting that there's an "l" at the end, and calls them cows. So, in order to teach her a new skill (holding two strands of yarns together, and crochet with both of them) I picked out black and blue sparkly yarn. Where I found that the yarn and the pattern I picked out for her were very easy to work with, for the life of her, she just couldn't get it. So I, very happily, took over. I used Loops and Threads (the Michael's brand, for those of you unfamiliar with it) Impeccable Glitter. I thought it was simply a dream to work with. It holds its shape very nicely, and really didn't have any trouble distinguishing the back loops, which I needed for the cowl.

- Well, I finished the cowl with plenty of yarn left over, so I set out to make a matching hat. For this, I needed something that doesn't use a lot of yardage, especially since I had no clue how much I had left. I found the waffle cone slouchy hat, which is a free pattern by the lovely Julie over at the Gleeful Things blog. It's not quite done yet, but it's working up to be wonderful.

- My mom was quite taken with some super bulky holiday yarn that was on sale at Michael's, so I picked up a couple skeins as well. As it turns out, I didn't really care for it. It's a novelty yarn, one of those numbers that's super plush and squishy, but it distinctly isn't typical yarn. So, unwilling to totally give up on it, between two skeins I managed to whip up three holiday cowls. They're red and white striped, and one ended up slightly, well, deformed. It's got a bit of a dip in it, and the stripes are rather awkward, but I'm on a mission to pick up a nice candy cane pin for it. To boost its self-esteem, I suppose.

- My personal favorite out of my recent conquests has been my wave scarf. I wanted to sate my curiosity about crocheting waves, so I made a scarf to practice! It alternates between mint green and dark blue every two rows, and turned into a lovely scarf. However, it was rather tedious to make. This time, I'm not complaining out of boredom; my wrists were throbbing after a while, because I wasn't working with either color long enough to settle into a rhythm. I think that once I sell it, I won't make another that alternates colors so often. Or, I'll go long-ways, instead of crocheting width-ways. I'll have to play around with it.


Well, that's all for now! Like I said, once I go back to school, I'll try to set aside time once a week to post. Or, at least make a conscious effort to write a little throughout the week, and post the final product on Friday or Saturday. I promise to do my best! Look out for posted updates on the hat, amigurumi, and pieced-together baby blanket!

sorry for the hiatus; lots of yarn!

Welcome to another post for Cupcake Crochet! I am enormously sorry for the unintentional hiatus. I've been so busy with life, that I just haven't been able to set aside time for blogging! Fortunately, since I'll soon be returning to college, I should be able to set aside time once a week or so to blog properly. Whether it's a new project, or thoughts, or plans, I'll try to get something posted. You may even get guest posts from my suitemates, three of whom also do yarn crafts! So, without further ado, here's a super-long-end-of-hiatus-post!

So, to fill you all in: I've been doing a LOT of crochet. I've done a baby hat, baby booties, a baby blanket (still in progress), several cowls (my new addiction), and a scarf. I'm also testing the waters of making amigurumi, which is so much fun! I've sadly mostly given up on knitting. Try as I might, I couldn't get the hang of anything but squares and rectangles. Crochet, on the other hand, I can pick up fairly easily. So my knitting needles are taking a vacation. Possibly a very long vacation.

My big adventure has been to make things that I can sell. As a college student, it's always great to have extra cash. True, I have a job, but I'm really making an effort to reserve that money for books and other college necessities.

First off, here are a few cowls that I've done. That I have pictures for, at least.

- I made the lovely Diagon cowl, which is a free pattern on Ravelry. Modeled by my fantastic younger brother (ambushed before he went to sleep to do the modeling...). I'll come right out and say it; I chose him, because his head is huge. I was concerned, because I used a smaller yarn than the pattern called for. I loved this pattern because it was really simple to work up, and it didn't take a lot of yarn; maybe 60 yards. I'm not quite sure how much yarn was in the skein, but I comfortably got two cowls out of it. I highly recommend the pattern!

Brother giving me an "I'm so creepy" expression.

...yeah, there's no way to explain this.

- Nextly, we have a lovely striped cowl. This pattern was not my own, but I can't find my source D: So I'm terribly sorry, I can't share the pattern with you all. But it was a lot of fun to make, trust me. The yarn, I rescued from the discount bin at Michael's. I fell in love it immediately, because it was thick and squishy and soft!

"Not bad."

Here's a picture of us both! Yay for silliness!

- Here, we have the fantastic Black Hole cowl. Again, a free pattern on Ravelry. I admit, it was slightly tedious to work up, but that's only because I was being impatient. This was made with Lionbrand homespun yarn, which I had never used before. I have one more skein of it, but after that, I don't know if I'll invest in more. I personally like yarn that can take a bit of a beating, and this yarn felt slightly fragile when I tugged on it. I actually snapped a few pieces when I was working and frogging it, since I tried out a few patterns before settling on this one. It was commissioned by my boyfriend's mom, who simply asked for something to keep her neck warm.

My version of the Black Hole cowl, presented by my boyfriend's sister.

- This is a tiny octopus wearing a blue top hat. I really don't have any other comments.