Crochet Scene on the Street- Soho

Who'd a thunk a crochet tricycle would be in front of the Apple Store?  And who made this anyway?   It had a big chain wrapped around it like the other bikes.  It seems to work too.  So cute!

My I wish List

I've decided to start an "I wish" list for all the patterns and handmade things I'd like to make one day. This is the first of hopefully many to come....I just found this pattern for a crochet dodecahedron (try saying that 10 times fast!) via tumblr. Koigu yarn would be perfect for making these and an great for using the yarn left-overs from projects.

And for the close-up please:

:

Get the pattern here: Berroco® Free Pattern | Celestine Crochet

If you don't know Koigu yarns it is beautiful hand dyed yarn out of Canada...  Here is a sampling of the kind of yarn colors available.

Source: knittybitty.de via Angela on Pinterest

The range of colors is insane.  I'd love to know how they dye this way too.
So that's all for now.
xo CP

Pouf Pouf Baby!

This is my second try at the pouf.  My first attempt was back in May where you can see the results here.  So far I have used  Burly Spun  yarn and used 4 strands of yarn as one strand.   I used the biggest crochet hook I could find. For the first pouf I noticed that the more the kids played with it and rolled it around there was  lots of pilling and it was getting kind of worn out looking . It was also stretching out and I  could see the foam pillow inside.  It wasn't dense enough.

These are photos of my new version using single crochet pre-felting.  I already like this better because I used single crochet throughout instead of double so it's much more dense. I also made the reverse side the outside of the poof.

 

views of the poof

Could even use it as a dog bed...

I had sewn most of it together and left an opening for the foam pillow insert before throwing it in the hottest water possible in my washing machine.  I had created a woolly mass of wet wool. After taking (actually felt like I was dragging) it out  of the washer it gave off an odeur de farm...  It literally smelled like a barn every time I passed our little laundry room.   I have a ridiculous, delicate, vent-less dryer which was pathetic for drying this thing.... I finally decided to just put our bathroom radiator on high and put the wool blob on it.  Two days to dry!! Thankfully there was no mildew smell... Now here is the end result after washing and felting it:

It's much denser and less likely to pill.  I still have to sew in the foam pillow on the first pillow I made (it is now also felted ) but this is what they look like stacked.  Just have to make a 3rd to finish the stack... (Any collection or grouping should be an odd number.  It always looks better!)

I'm seeing more poufs in my future. Everybody who sees them likes them - especially the kiddies that come to visit on play dates....

Have a good weekend!

Xo S.

Start of the Sunshine Day Afghan

A couple months ago I was on one of my favorite blogs Posie Gets Cozy and saw that she (Alicia Paulson) was making the most scrumptious blankie I'd ever seen.  Okay- my kids are too old for blankies but I figure they can use it as a decorative piece on their little beds.... I was obsessed with tracking her progress on the thing and after  she completed is I went to her site and  bought the pattern !  That was back in February.


This is her blankie:

Sunshine Day Afghan by Alicia Paulson

You can get the pattern and read more about it here.    Soooooooo finally I decided it was time to make the blanket.  Since I'm "here and there"this summer I wanted something that could travel easily and I figured this would be the thing.   Now for the color palette. I really loved her use of neutrals for the outside border of each  square so I worked from that idea to start with.
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For all the other colors I looked at the cool blog Color Collective.    Lauren Willhite of Color Collective posts beautiful photos from mags, books,the web and who knows where else and then creates a palette that she pairs with it.   Here are some of my favorites:

Creature Comforts via Color Collective

Jen Gotch via Color Collective

I used these paleettes to create my own combo platter, bought a ton of yarn and starting the crocheting! Will be back to report with some samples of the  squares I've made!! Stay comfortable and cool.  Enjoy the last month of summer. Can't believe it's almost over.     xxo

My granny square pillow is finally completed...

I keep meaning to put this picture up because I finished my Koigu wool pillow.

 I am so glad I didn't pursue a whole blanket.... could have taken forever and I was ready for the next thing.  In the end I decided to make it a pillow 14x18".  I bought the insert at Economy Foam and Futons on West 8th St in NYC and based the size on that.   I decided the little blanket had to cover the front of a grey flannel pillow cover.  I happened to have some fabric left over from a jacket I made as my final project in tailoring at  Parsons 10 years ago... The fabric made a beautiful case - kinda want to make another one like that or a series in different menswear fabrics.   I used the koigu yarns as well as some glitzy gold yarn (maybe a mistake?) and

Detail view- I decided I like the "wrong" side better.

some mohair.   I also decided that I liked the back side of the granny square blanket.  The correct side was too delicate/girly looking so in the end the back turned out to be the winner!

the back of my pillow.

 this looks a bit disjointed but I'm still learning about the blogging thing....  My next posting will be about Tunisian crochet.  It's pretty cool and you rarely see it anywhere at least I haven't seen much!

My poof/lozenge

 So I finally finished my poof (sp?) I had this idea of big lozenge-y things you could pile in the corner and when the kids want to sit in a circle or watch TV or just play around they could sit comfortably or just roll these things around. I bought this extra thick yarn and did this pretty imperfect circles.  I loved the color combination and had been wondering where to use it.... I'd like to make 2 more and pile them up to see how they look. I finished this last night and really didn't like it until I brought it to the living room and the kids couldn't keep their hands off of it!!  L and J had a friend over and I had to take it away because they were all getting bratty about it. Guess I have
 to make some more.... but I'm going to try all single crochet. not sure why on the orange side there are all those gaps and hardly any on the pink side.   I think I need to add a handle of some sort on the side as well. The kids immediately started dragging it around on the floor and rough- housing.  One down, lots more projects to go!!!

The finished product!!

Purl has opened its new store!!

Yesterday I was out in Soho and able to stop in to my new obsession- Purl on Broome Street. They just moved there and now their 2 small stores have been combined into one large one. So exciting and it gave me lots of ideas.  I just don't have enough hours in the day. At the moment I am catching up on mending and fixing stuff that I have in a pile for AGES! Nothing like procrastination!!

 In the meantime I finally taught myself how to do the tunisian simple stitch. It is so cool. It looks like knitting and weaving all at the same time but its CROCHET. I've been making all sorts of little samples. Now I have to figure out what to make with it!  Here are some of the samples:

 I can't quite figure out how to add the last sentence at the bottom so it's here for tonight.  I've almost finished my granny square pillow. It's pretty cool... I think. maybe ?  not sure but it feels great to be doing stuff with my hands again and I finally took out my sewing maching and am leaving it out for good -- otherwise I will never use it.  And a good sewing machine is a terrible thing to waste!!

I LOVE this new stitch I learned. I want to make cozies for everything in my house now!!

 

How many granny squares you ask...

So far I have completed 45 squares.... If I make a qn size cover it would require 900 squares!!! no way! so I think I'll make a throw size. I'm afraid to make that calculation so will wait on that. I've used Klimt's work as inspiration for color and bits of gold in the patterns. The funny thing is I didn't take a pic of one of Klimt's work with all the gold...which has been fun to add to my squares.

I've used Klimt's work as inspiration for color and bits of gold in the patterns. The funny thing is I didn't take a pic of one of Klimt's work with all the gold...which has been fun to add to my squares. I've also included flowers that remind me of my grannies...
The color should be better- esp the photo of the grannies... not loving my new point and shoot that I got as consolation to no DSLR.  I should like it . all the reviews said so!! Its the Lumix LX-3 
I' m always havinig to fiddle  with it.  When its on automatic the pics never look good....It takes fisheye  pictures which was never mentioned but I've seen on blogs that people have been disappointed with that aspect.  I just want one of those point and shoots that magically makes everything look beautiful... maybe I shouldn't do research at all and just get a cheaper camera at at J and R that can take a no fail good pic..... another project I guess. 

Granny Squares on the Brain

Never thought I'd say this but I am dying to start 2 granny square projects.  The first is a beautiful circle in square granny that I saw on the  Rosy Little Things blog by Alicia Paulson. Until last week I had no idea who she was but came across while googling crochet projects.  I LOVE her blog and it inspired me to start this blog.  At any rate I cannot wait for her to publish the how-to of those squares.

Another granny project is a baby blanket I found on the ohdeedoh website (part of www. apartment therapy.com)  It's the modern take on the baby blanket. I LOVE the colors. And who says it has to be for a baby.

Actually there is a 3rd project involving granny squares using Koigu wool yarn.  I have to make that up b/c I have the yarn. I  saw a sample of it at www.knittycity.com on the Upper West side in NYC. The yarn is so beautifully dyed and the colors are so saturated and crisp.   I need to take some pics of what I've made with that yarn...