Joined!

The sleeves and the body of little L.'s sweater are joined! I placed markers at the four intersections of the sleeves and body to mark the spots for my decreases. I forgot to say that I opted for a raglan sweater. My decreases are paired on each sides of the markers.

I plan on crocheting for about an inch before putting oatmeal stripes in my design.
I have almost an inch, and I can hardly wait to stripe! I will be using the same Misti Alpaca Cotton Silk mix in a lovely tone on tone oatmeal.

Sleeves

I made a little more progress on the sweater for little L. I finished one sleeve and am almost done with the other.
As I did for the body of the sweater, I am crocheting the sleeves in the round. I placed the paired increases on the underside of the arm, evenly spaced a few stitches apart, and at regular intervals. I love the way the increases are there without being there.

Little discrete pearly bumps going up the arm, adding structure, and smoothly enlarging the sleeve to fit cute chubby arms.

I am more and more in love with the yarn (Misti Alpaca cotton silk) and the stitch pattern (single crotchets through the back loops in the round) as well as the round, seamless construction. This is going to be such a comfy, soft, light summer sweater for the slightly chilly walks we will take in the evening, after a long day at the beach this summer.

I tried the sleeve on my little L. The perfect fit! I am not sure he was as excited about the sleeve as I was. After examining the loose threads, he quickly decided to take the sleeve off. I hope he will be more impressed with the finished sweater!

Pretty Granny

I took a little break from my gardening projects this weekend to take pictures of the little adorable granny squares I have been crocheting.

They are possibly the simplest pattern you could think of for a granny square. Just 3 sectins per square. I have been using only 5 colors from Brown ship cotton fleece. I have been debating adding other colors but each time I try, I return to my 2 original squares, one with a red center, coral and oatmeal, and the other with a turquoise, a light celadon and oatmeal.

Notice the lovely crochet hook I am using? I just bought a Clover Amour hook, and it is truly love at first stitch! This hook is so comfortable, it makes crocheting a breeze. I find myself crocheting for hours without my hand getting tired. I also really love the colors of the hooks.

The squares are destined to become a throw for my room. Maybe, it will be ready for winter! It would make me so happy to sit in my room, warm, and cheered by the flowery, summery colors.

The Perfect Crochet Stitch

I have crocheted on and off over the last few years making mostly blankets, and a few baby sweaters when I was expected little L. But a few months ago, while browsing Ravelry, and the crochet magazines at the bookstore in particular the lovely Inside Crochet , I found myself dreaming about all the things I could do with crochet.

In my rediscovery process, I fell in love with a fabulous, yet very simple crochet stitch, the single crochet through the back look while crocheting in the round. By having each single crochet go through the back loop only, the front loop creates little horizontal bars on the front of the work, breaking the traditionally vertical appearance of the crochet posts. The posts as a matter of fact almost seem to disappear. The fabric is soft and flexible and best of all it is perfect for either girl or boy garments.

The sample I am showing you here is knit in Misti Alpaca Cotton silk. It is a sport weight, and I am using an F hook.

This little sample is actually the body of a seamless crochet sweater I am designing for little L. But more on that later.

Spring

Happy Spring!

Spinning So Blue

Another spindle spun yarn. Delicious merino silk. I love the blue color. So watery. The yarn is a 2 ply sport weight, destined to become a slouchy hat, that will match my son's beautiful blue eyes.

I spun this yarn on a simple ashford top whorl spindle. It was so relaxing. I spun a little bit here and a little bit there. That is the beauty of spindles, anywhere you go they can go, discretely tucked away in your purse, so light you almost could forget they are there. But of course who could forget about the gorgeous fiber waiting to be spun!

Spindle Fun

It has been a lot of fun to spindle spin some merino silk blend in a lovely sage green color.
I spun the singles on my Ashford spindle and then made a 2-ply with the singles.
The result was enough worsted weight delicious yarn to make a slouchy hat for my youngest daughter.

I found spinning this yarn so easy and relaxing, I wanted the knitting to be as effortless. I knit a simple roll brim hat with a slouch. I knit and knit until the hat was long enough to have a slouch, and then decreased drastically.

I am so glad this has become my daughter's favorite hat.