Posts filed under ‘Hook’
Linkage
I know I usually only post feminist-related links, but today isn’t Friday and I feel like posting some a little more blog-related. So here are some other things I’ve been reading recently:
Cook:
- Paula Deens cheese-stuffed mushrooms. Its recipes like these that make me wish half my host family weren’t on a diet.
- The great debate: which direction is best to cut a sandwich? Ah, NPR. You make me smile.
- Talk about deliciously elaborate Christmas dishes. The Christmas rocky road at the bottom looks particularly delicious.
Hook:
- The patterns at Monster Crochet make me feel lazy and/or untalented/uncreative.
- Look at how cute the squirrel is! And other things.
- Ignoring the poinsettia on last weeks post (I don’t like poinsettias,) this blog is also pretty cool.
Book:
- From Sweet: “Three Lyric Essays“
- From Sunsets and Silencers: “The Trouble with Dream Interpretation” and “Words for This”
- From Sugar House Review: “Our Last Christmas Eve,” “What Any Stone Can Tell You,” “Side Effects May Include,” “Handling Your Audio Media,” “Sinflower,” and “But in Chinese Yellow Is Erotic”
Flower Hats
My latest crocheting project is hats for my host kids and host mom. I found the flowers in ‘The Happy Hooker” by Debbie Stoller, so if you want the pattern for those you can find them on pages 242 & 243. That hats are super easy, I made each in a day (I have a lot of free time.)
Flower Hats
(Using a J hook, worsted weight wool, and working in spiral rounds)
- Chain 4
- DC 8 in loop. (8)
- DC 2 in ea st. (16)
- DC 2 in ea st. (32)
- HDC around (32. To prevent ruffling and because I like changes in texture.)
- *DC 2, DC in next 3* rpt. (40. For the kids I stopped increasing here.)
- *DC 2, DC in next 2* rpt (48)
- DC around
- HDC around
- Continue DCing rounds alternating every 2 or 3 rows with a HDC round until it covers the tops of the ears of the person it is for, ending in a HDC (even if it isn’t an even count.) I’m pretty sure both of my hats ended up being between 16 and 18 rounds total.
Oh, and the flowers are safety pinned on, not sewn on (though you can do as you like, of course) just in case they aren’t feeling the flower at any given time.
-Ariel
Halloween Boo’s
Halloween Boo’s. My host family and I had so much fun with these, even though we were caught by both families. Even the adults had fun (nostalgic memories of ding-dong ditch maybe?) For those who don’t know what a Halloween Boo is you can find out here. My host mom translated the poem into Danish (with a few alterations to keep a rhyme scheme going.) The kids drew the Halloween Boo Ghosts and my Host Mom decorated two wine bags to put the poem, rules, and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies into. Anyway I’m just posting this because it’s a really fun tradition and I wanted to spread the fun.
-Ariel
Simple Fingerless Mittens and Hat
As the weather has been colder and colder here in Denmark (especially in the mornings when I bike the 6yr old to kindergarten!) I’ve found myself increasingly thinking about mittens. Fingerless are best, because childcare often leaves one needing full use of their hands. The internet failed me on this account (mostly because I’m too lazy to search for longer than twenty minutes for a pattern.) The first pair I made were far too small, and many of the others looked fancier or more complicated than I generally prefer. So I made my own pattern. Then I made a hat to go with it. A scarf may be on its way…
These patterns were made using a size K hook with 3 skeins of worsted weight wool.
Fingerless Mittens
- Holding all three strands of yarn together, chain 25
- Row 1: In the 4th chain from hook, dc 22. The chain counts as 1st dc. (23)
- Row 2-10: Ch 2, dc 22, ch counts as 1st dc. (23)
- Row 11: Ch 2, dc 7, hdc 1, sc 1, slip to end.
- Sew ends leaving room for thumb (I sew directly on my hand because I’d rather make sure my fingers are covered as I like than count stitches and have it fit poorly, but if you’re a counter, from wrist to fingers I sewed 15 stitches, skipped 4, then sewed the rest. Though I actually leave the very last stitch unsown, creating a slight dip that allows for slightly better flexibility, imo.)
(Make two, unless you are differently handed.)
Hat
- Holding all three strands of yarn together, chain 2
- Rnd1: In 2nd ch from hook, dc 6
- Rnd 2: In spiral rounds throughout, dc 2 in ea st (12)
- Rnd 3: dc 2 in ea st (24)
- Rnd 4: dc 2 in ea st (48)
- Rnd 5-15: dc around (48)
- Sew ends in.
Please note that I made these patterns specifically to fit me and are NOT one size fits all. For larger hands increase the mittens pattern by adding an extra round(s) in the middle. For larger heads, increase the fifth round by stitches that are common denominators of 48 (ie: for 54 stitches around instead of 48, dc 6, then dc 2 in next st, rpt.) Also, the top of the hat is not a completely flat spiral, it will ruffle a bit. This is not a problem once it is on your head, as yarn stretches and the hat (and gloves, for that matter) should fit snugly.
I’m thinking I might have enough yarn left over to make a matching scarf as well. For this I am just going to chain to the desired length, then dc enough rows to get to a desired width. Simple, right?
-Ariel
Stuffed Bears
These bears are my latest crocheting project for the girls I watch. The skein next to them is to get an idea of the size. The pattern is NOT mine, I found it online at http://www.crochetville.org/forum/showthread.php?t=31654 The only changes I made (outside of the colors) were to use an H hook, and on the last round in the arms I did 4 sc st, turned, then did the remaining 4 sc in the previous st’s causing the top of the arm to be longer. I feel this allows the arms to hang a bit more naturally on the bears. I’ve decided to let the girls choose whether they want button eyes and nose for the bears or not, as I think it’s cute both ways.
I’m thinking about making some mittens or finger-less gloves next, what with the weather changing and all (the other morning it was 5 degrees celsius out! I don’t even know what that is in fahrenheit, but I was cold bicycling to the kindergarten!) Anyone have any good patterns to suggest?
-Ariel
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