Falling Leaves Crochet Cowl

Available at my Etsy Shop - Kay Clair Goodies

What?! It's been more than a year since I posted my last article.  Honestly, I am not good at handling multiple tasks.  Writing an article takes a long time since English is not my native language.  I need to be careful to pick proper words, grammar....etc.  Well, anyway, I wanted to introduce my new PDF pattern today - this one also took long time for me to complete editing.  (I really wish 48 hours for a day!)

This pattern includes, crochet chart with instruction for different size of yarn and suggestion of construction of this scarf.  Original shape of this scarf is big O shape - infinity scarf is twisted but not this one.  You can also finish this scarf as a straight scarf.  Width could be determined by your choice but only multiply by an even number.  Original pattern starts with 62 chains.  Sizes 2 or 3 yarns works well...but yarn and hook size are your choice.  Best thing for making this scarf is that you can finish this scarf quickly - stitches that are used for this scarf are Single Crochet, Doubles Crochet, and Chains.    ---    Falling Leaves Crochet Scarf PDF                    

Cherry Blossom Crochet Scarf

 My mother used to make me a lot of cute outfits when I was young.  I was always big fan on her creations and I still am.  I guess she likes all the feminine stuff - lace, flower, and frills! 

 One day, my father asked me if I was interested in going to a music concert with him.  I really wanted to go with him, and I asked my mom to make me a nice outfit for the special occasion.  I think I was just turned to 4 years old.  I asked her if she could make a pants suits!  I was not big on skirt at that time.  Anyway, she said "OK!" and she immediately started working on it.  I don't know how many days took for her to finish my pants suits, but they were very pleasing to my eyes. On the shoulder, there was frills .  There were frills on the cuffs of pants, too! In the end ... I was more proud of my suits than going to the concert! 

I believe creating cute stuff is really good for my soul.  Looking at lovely creations gives me so much energy to go though real life's toughness.  Winter coldness - this is one of the toughness of life - I wanted to see something that gives me warmth - Spring Warmth.  I turned the pages of my old patterns - mostly my mom's hand down - and I found this cute flower pattern.  I needed to make something with the pattern.  So, I tested a few yarn to decide what kind of yarn was good to make a cute spring scarf.  I picked size 2 pink ombre yarn.  The crochet hook size was E/4.  Here is the picture!   I just listed this scarf on my Etsy store, Kay Clair Goodies.  I would like to try making this scarf with other colors soon!

 

Bulky Yarn 1 ball project!

    I finished my new knitting pattern today!  It is a PDF pattern for mittens - bulky weight yarn project.  Bulky, chunky and jumbo size yarns are very popular recently.  There even is a yarn called Mega size yarn!   I don't have any plan to use mega size yarn right now, but I needed to use size 5 - bulky weight yarn from my MEGA amount of yarn stash!  I usually use this size of yarn to make amigurumi bunny, however, I hadn't used them for something wearable before. 
   It is still cold outside.  When I take my child to his school in the morning, I often forget to put on my gloves.  It is a very short walk - only 2 minutes! - but I always regret that I didn't put on my gloves.   So it was easy for me to come up my new project idea!  Plus, I thought it should be finished quickly to wear them tomorrow!  I listed my PDF pattern on my Etsy shop today.  Take a look at it when you have a chance! 

Boucle Yarn Project completed!

    My boucle yarn project has done today!  Simple garter stitch shows the color and feature of the yarn very well!  Here is the picture!  Hmmm....what is the good name for this scarf?  From the color way....I decided to call this finished work - Monet Garden Scarf!    If you are interested in making this scarf, please check my previous post. What stitch is the best for strong character yarn?  I enjoy making this scarf while I was watching TV!  (It is hard to watch TV when I am working on 'lace' pattern - If I do that, I am sure I would drop many stitches!)  After finishing my project, I thought this basic knitting stitch - garter stitch - worked perfect to help showing the yarn character the best. It will be good to go back to the basic next time when I encounter next strong personality yarn. 

Doesn't it look like Monet color?

What stitch is the best for strong character yarn?

   I dug up one of my yarns from the bottom of a container a couple days ago.  I really like the color but it was really hard for me to decide what to knit with it.  So, it was in my yarn container a few years.  This type of novelty yarn is called 'boucle' yarn.  This beautiful yarn is originally from ICE (Yarn Paradise in Turkey).  I think this yarn line is already not made anymore. (This is sad!  I wanted to get other colors!)  I was staring at the yarn ball for a while and waited for an idea came up -for what to make with it.  This yarn has a strong character.  Too strong....It may not good to make cable pattern - pattern would be hidden under this colors.  I thought and thought....and finally I came to a conclusion.  Strong/complicated character yarn needs simple stitches.  My choice of stitch is garter stitch.  It is a reversible look stitch.  I decided to make a cowl with this yarn!  My pattern is as follows.  If you have a this kind of boucle yarn (this yarn has skinny part and thicker part),  try this pattern to consume your yarn stash.  I thought simple stitches worked great to make the yarn feature stand out. 

Needle : Size us10 (6mm) circular needle - 32 inches of length
Yarn : Boucle type yarn 2 balls (about 440 m)
1 stitch marker

Cast on 200.  Place stitch marker on the right-hand needle, and join to work in circle. 
Row 1 : Knit.
Row 2 : Purl.
Repeat Row 1 and 2 in turn. 

Keep working until you get 10 inches before binding off. 

Easy Knit Cable Hat PDF pattern is ready!

    I just completed knit cable pattern (PDF) today!  If you would like to try cable pattern this year, this will be a good starter project.  Crossing stitches alternatively happens every 4 rows, and the rest of rows are worked by knit and purl.  When you complete 5 cable (Large one) patterns, you are almost done! The crown part is made by decreasing stitches with K2tog.  This finished project fits regular women's head.  (20" to 22" circumference)  When you wear this hat, cable pattern and purl stitches are shown better.  (See my wearing this hat in the picture below!)  I'm working on Finger-less Mittens matching with this hat now.  Cable hat pattern is available on my Etsy store, Kay Clair Goodies.

How to use V-Shape Cable Needle

1. Pick up stitches with short end.

3.Then, slide stitches to long end to work. 

2. Drop needle to work next stitches.

 We have different shapes of cable needles.  Cable needle works like an extra hand.  I have tried three shapes of cable needles, and V-shape (or U-shape) needle with different length on each end gave me a hard time at first....until I found out how to use it correctly! At first, I think I inserted its long end to pick up stitches.  I often dropped stitches from short end when I tried to work on them.  Something was wrong. So, next, I inserted the short end first, then slide stitches that I picked up to long end to finish cable.  It worked very good!  -- I didn't drop stitches at all!  I tried 'straight' and 'dent in the center' shape needles before, and they were simple to use.  Just insert one end, and then, slide stitches to the other end to work.  However, about V-shape needle with different length of ends, there was a certain way to use. When I learned how to use V-shape cable needle, cable making became more fun for me!  V-shape cable needle also works great to hold slippery yarn in the curved area.  I personally like a thinner needle than the working needles.  It picks up stitches easily. 

Lilttle Fluffy Birds Amigurumi

My friend gave me her stash yarns a few years ago.  She had a nice collection of luxury yarn, and she generously gave them to me.  I took one of the yarns in my hands and waited for an inspiration of next Amigurumi project to come.  The yarn had a super soft texture, and I was easily able to imagine the baby birds sitting in their nest.  I like both crochetting and knitting when I work on Amigurumi.  For this little bird, I decided to use knitting technique to keep the soft and smooth texture on the surface of Amigurumi body.  Finished size is about 4 inches (height).

Materials are as follows. 

• Size 6 Double Pointed Needles
• Yarn : short fuzzy type of novelty yarn (sport weight or fine weight)
• A pair of 12mm safety eyes (solid black with washers)
• Size 2.75mm crochet hook and small amount of sock yarn for 'beak' and 'eyebrows.'
• Tapestry needle to finish.  

This is the back style.

   

Little white bird on black back ground.  You can tell how fuzzy it is!

 

Begin with a smiple intartia knitting!

I am a big fan of Fair Isle knitting.  I found a beautiful Fair Isle sweater in a store yesterday.  It was a sweater...it is Summer...so I didn't buy it anyway.  Just took a look at it, and I felt as if my mind were absorbed in the beautiful multi-color of scenery.  I was not sure if it was made by hand or machine knitted, but it was sure that  the result of using multiple color of yarns was stunning!  I admire the skill and I would like to make it mine!  Multi color yarn knitting is also called 'Intartia knitting.'  I thought using two colors is the good start for me.  Darker color and Pale color combination could create a good contrast.  I searched my mom's old knitting book, and I found cute rose pattern.  I added some dots above the pattern.  I was very excited once I started to see the rose pattern.  While I was knitting this cute hat, I was already thinking of knitting with China blue yarn.  That will be my next project!  I believe that any color would be beautiful to make this hat as long as you use darker color for rose on pale background.  (or Pale color for rose on Dark color background.)

Fishtail lace mitten in progress

    My fishtail lace mitten is in progress!  I finished to the last row before decreasing stitches toward finger-tip part.  There are total 48 stitches, and these stitches will be decreased to 6 stitches by Knit two stitches together (K2tog).  You can decrease by Slip-slip-knit (SSK), too.  K2tog usually creates right-slant stitches and SSK creates left-slant ones.  The yarn that I am using is Canopy fingering by The Fibre Company.  This is very soft and smooth yarn!  I've already started thinking of trying other colors of this line.   At the store that I purchased this yarn, I saw they had more colors.  My recent favorite color is light blue-green ...sometimes it is called 'seafoam.'  I was imagining of making this mittens with the color.  It is not a 'warm' color but it would look beautiful!   It is like eating an ice cream on a cold day! (=Cold-day ice cream tastes more delicious!)  Seeing beautiful color would make me feel warm!