Pastel Colors

I was totally obsessed with pastel colors this spring and though I haven't been knitting much, I did dye and then knit a pair of socks and crocheted a necklace and a pair of earrings.

For the socks I used a new to me yarn, 50% merino and 50% poly-amide. It is thinner than my usual sock yarn and it feels less warm because of the lower merino content. I had bought 300 g of it and dyed 50 g for a pair of socks, so I have 250 g more, which I intend to dye one day into similar pastel colors and make a spring sweater for Gaby.

For now, I only have the socks :) I wound the yarn into skeins, divided into 5 consecutive sub-skeins.  I dipped each sub-skein into the dye until it was exhausted, then added the new dye and dipped the next sub-skein and so on - a very fiddly and long process just in order to avoid breaking the yarn and having to weave in ends between colors. I know, sometimes I do act crazy, but I thoroughly enjoyed the process of continually knitting each sock from a single ball of yarn.

The socks are my usual toe-up recipe, fish lips kiss heels, 1x1 rib with Lory's twisted bind off. There is a difference between the two socks - one is knitted on 2.5 mm needles with 60 sts, while the second was knitted on 2.25 mm with 64 sts and magic loop technique. There isn't however much of a difference between the textures of the two, so in the future I'll keep to my preferred 2.5 mm sock needles.

And while I was still in the mood for pastels, I dyed a few strings of cotton yarn and made a necklace for Gaby. She already wore it and got a lot of compliments (which feels so good to hear!). 

And as it turned out that neither of her pairs of earrings was a good match for the necklace, I made her a new pair of earrings as well. 

Meanwhile, May came, the temperatures rose, we took out the light summer blouses and my plans for the pastel sweater became weather-inappropriate, so I've put them off for now. The transitional seasons here are so short some years, that the boots get changed directly for sandals and spring sweaters become redundant.

Crochet Ball Necklaces

It all started with an idea for a small present for one of Gaby's sweet friends, who always brings me fresh rosemary from her family garden. I had one cake of YarnArt Violet 100% mercerized cotton in bright yellow, a remnant from a yellow sweater I knitted years ago. And I also have various wooden beads I´ve bought over the years for craft projects. On Wednesday after my Spanish classes I passed through one of the craft shops downtown and bought two metal wire circles for necklaces and two waxed cotton strings with clasps.

First I crocheted around two beads with the yellow cotton yarn, added three more bare wooden beads and voilá - the necklace was done. But as easy as it sounds, don't get me wrong - I'm so clumsy and inexperienced with the crochet hook, especially with such a small hook and thin thread, that crocheting around each bead took me probably half an hour each and cost me at least one aching finger :)))

However, I was bitten by the crafting bug and I spent the next day dyeing small amounts of the yellow yarn with different concentrations of blue cotton dye to get a gradient. Thus the second necklace was born, with crocheted balls for complementing earrings, which I intend to finish once I buy the necessary hardware. This necklace is for Gaby.

But how could I not make something for myself! This one is a long pendant, hanging on a waxed cotton string, with complementing earrings, of course.

And because husband complained that the colors I was using were too dull, something bright and cheery - reds, oranges, peaches and yellows on a waxed string:

I have plenty of dyed cotton yarn and ideas for necklaces and earrings, so there'll be at least a couple more before I exhaust my inspiration.

Easter Egg Tree

Super easy and fun decoration for Easter (which in Bulgaria this year, being Orthodox Christians, we'll celebrate not tomorrow, but on May 5th. I think having different dates for Western and Eastern Easter is silly, but I suppose some more centuries will have to pass for the clergy to figure out the issue).

I've used again the same scrap yarns and cushion filling as for the mitered square cushions.
Yarn: YarnArt Jeans, 50 % cotton, 50% acrylic, hook 2.5 mm (C).

After a dozen of tries I found that I like my Easter Egg best as follows:

A recipe for an Easter Egg:

 1 rnd: Make a magic loop, 6 sc in loop, sl st, pull the thread to close the loop = 6 sc
 2 rnd: 1 ch, 2 sc in each sc, sl st  = 12 sc
 3 rnd: 1 ch, (1 sc in first sc, 2 sc in next), repeat to end of rnd, sl st = 18 sc
 4 rnd: 1 ch, 1 sc in each sc = 18 sc
 5 rnd: 1 ch, (1 sc in first two sc, 2 sc in next), repeat to end of rnd, sl st = 24 sc
 6 rnd: 1 ch,  1 sc in each sc = 24 sc
 7 rnd: 1 ch,  1 sc in each sc = 24 sc
 6 rnd: 1 ch, (1 sc in first three sc, 2 sc in next), repeat to end of rnd, sl st = 30 sc
 8 rnd: 1 ch,  1 sc in each sc = 30 sc
 9 rnd: 1 ch,  1 sc in each sc = 30 sc
10 rnd: 1 ch,  1 sc in each sc = 30 sc
11 rnd: 1 ch,  1 sc in each sc = 30 sc

12 rnd: 1 ch, (1 sc in first three sc, 2 sc tog), repeat to end of rnd, sl st = 24 sc
13 rnd: 1 ch,  1 sc in each sc = 24 sc 
14 rnd: 1 ch, (1 sc in first two sc, 2 sc tog), repeat to end of rnd, sl st = 18 sc
15 rnd: 1 ch, 1 sc in each sc = 18 sc
16 rnd: 1 ch, (1 sc in first sc, 2 sc tog), repeat to end of rnd, sl st = 12 sc
Fill the egg with suitable toy filling.
17 rnd: 1 ch, (2 sc tog), repeat to end of rnd, sl st = 6 sc
Pass thread through the 6 sc  and close slightly the gap, weave in ends.

Crochet Bag

Project: Crochet Bag
Yarn: Karginlar Sentetik Makrame Iplik, 4 balls
Hook: 4 mm
Lining: knitted fabric from an old blouse
Time to make: 3 days

I ran out of yarn some 15 stitches before the end, so I had to redo the last row of the strap, crocheting tighter, to make the yarn suffice. But that meant that I didn't have yarn to do the flower. So as a decoration I took the tag from an old D&G bag, a favourite of mine and quite shabby now, and added it to this new purse. I think it looks cool :)

I made the bag following the excellent instructions and pattern chart from Bend Beanies.

The body of the bag - stretched and folded in half.

The lining - this is the back of a blouse my daughter outgrew this year (and my first attempt to sew knits).

The pocket is made from the lower part of the sleeve. I sewed it double, for better organization of the odds and ends one holds in her bag :)

The lining - basted ...

... and sewn by hand:

The gathering bands shape the bag (and evening photo)

The bag is ready. Inside:

Because the sleeve had a reinforcement at the end, which I kept, the pocket now has two narrow places for pens :)

Green Belt

This is the transformation of the second pair of cheap earrings I bought last month -
another crocheted ring belt.

This time I decided that the variation in ring sizes added enough interest, so the belt was done in one color and without breaking the yarn. First I crocheted consecutively only one half of all the rings and on the return I closed the rings.

The connection between the rings is a chain stitch and a slip stitch on the way back:

I'm linking this post to Linda's Creative Friday, where you can find plenty more FO this week!

In the end I'd like to invite you to visit Rinako's amazing giveaway. 

Isn't that yarn just gorgeous!

Rings Crochet Belt

Project: Rings Crochet Belt
Yarn: YarnArt Jeans various colors
Rings: zinc alloy
Hook: 2.5 mm
Time to crochet: a couple of hours

I was looking for quite a different crocheted belt pattern, when I came upon this photo and my daughter said she'd be happy to have one for her summer wardrobe. Given the various remnants of YarnArt Jeans that I have, this seemed the perfect little summer project. However, I could not find the right curtain rings, so bought these super cheap {ugly} earrings (only 50c the pair!) and voila - in only a couple of hours I had these lovely pastel color rings. If you don't know how to crochet around a ring - here's a video on youtube:

Then I arranged and rearranged the rings until I found the right color arrangement:

The rings are joined using a needle and the yarn tails:

Elegante

Project: Elegante crochet cardigan
Yarn: Alize Diva Solids 100% microfiber
Hook: 2.5 mm
Time to crochet: started on July 2nd last summer and
finished on March 10th 2012, finally assembled and photo shot today

This project traveled a lot last summer, I took it even to Greece, but the initial
enthusiasm left me as early as after a few days of crocheting and then it was a real
slog in between knitting projects.
Still, I love it a lot on my daughter and I can only hope she'll wear it at least
once this summer :)