Crocheting and Knitting and Painting Oh My!

Hi!!  I know it's been ages since I've posted.  (Sorry about the title, I'm watching Tin Man on Netflix while writing this.)  Since my last post, I've made quite a few things.  I've crocheted 4 summer sweaters, one fall sweater, a hat, a couple baby blankets, a teddy bear, painted 7 paintings and knitted a couple sweaters, several scarves and a couple more of those shoulderettes that I had made before (see link in my first post).

I'm still not finished with that lovely purple shawl that I'm knitting for my friend.  I am over half way done now though!  I think I've been procrastinating because I've never really learned to block my work and this project definitely needs blocking for the full lace effect.  So to help myself with this, I signed up for a lace class on Craftsy.com.   The class I took was Lace Knitting: Basics and Beyond with Eunny Jang.  She is a great instructor. I learned new ways to cast on and bind off so that a lace piece can be blocked.  I also learned how to read a chart and how to fix my mistakes...GASP!  I know, who would ever think that I could make a mistake!  Anyway, I now know how to block the piece (in theory anyway) so work can now resume.

Two sweaters that I crocheted are lacy tunics, made from motifs.  One is black and purple and one is ecru and white.  One is a sleeveless lace pineapple tunic and made from a pink variegated worsted weight cotton yarn.  The fourth is ecru and white, also lacy, short sleeved and short in length. I made it to wear over my sun dresses to make them acceptable to wear to work.  I'll list pics and patterns later when I relocate them!

The scarves I made while doing the lessons for the lace knitting class.  I modified the pattern for the final project to make it wider and longer.  The yarn I used was Solemate form Lorna's Laces.  It's a hand-dyed super fine (1) yarn made of 55% Superwash Merino Wool, 15% Nylon, and 30% Outlast Viscose.  The color is 76 Aslan.  It'll look much better when blocked.  I purchased the on the Craftsy website.  You can read about Lorna's Laces at http://www.lornaslaces.net/.  You can find out about yarn, patterns, and other things there.

My favorite part of the project is the knitted border at the bottom.  I've never done anything like that before.  I really like the way it looks.  As usual, I'll post another picture of it when finished. 

This is one of the other scarfs I made using two of the lace stitches from the class.  This one I'll be sending to a friend who moved to Texas.  As before, this one will look much better after it's blocked.

I've signed up for other classes at Craftsy...a sweater, a shawl, some socks (both toe up and cuff down), and a few other things.  I'll be posting pics as I go along.  If you'd like to follow me on Craftsy, I use the same name on there...Sofyann.

UPDATE: I finished the pink sweater I was working on in an earlier installment.  I don't have a picture of it yet but will post one soon.

TIP: I was reading my intro and this came to me!  For those of us that still rock it old school when it comes to patterns (meaning we don't keep them on an iPad or tablet), I have a great tip I learned on Facebook.  Purchase plastic page protectors and dry erase markers at your local office supply. Place your pattern pages in the page protectors and use the dry erase markers to mark off your rows as you go.  When you're finished, you can just wipe it off and store your patterns in a binder for future use.  This technique works great for both written and charted patterns.

I need to get a little work done around the house before I start dinner.  Rest assured, I am back and will be posting more often.  One of the classes I'm taking on Craftsy is how to design your own sweaters and another one on how to write patterns, so maybe sometime in the future, you might find a pattern or two of my own design!  Until then, have a great day!

Sofyann