Weavies

I bought a Weave-it style loom from Hazel Rose Looms while I was at the Black Sheep Gathering this summer. This is the 4" "multi square" loom (on the same page as the bookmark loom). It's a fun little change of pace. About the only thing that I need to try out is using a crochet hook to help pass the needle through the warp a little easier.

The rainbow color is leftover Red Heart yarn from my DD's beanie & the purple is Lion Brand "Vanna's Choice" leftover from afghan squares.

Summer! Now on to projects!

I finally have a break from classes! YES!  I love my program, but this last year of the tug-of-war between school, family, house, and everything else was really getting to me.

Seriously, I nearly came unglued on someone who said the *wrong* thing about my child care situation.  The college won't allow children into the art studios (and there are studios where safety is a big issue), so I can't take Cakes into school with me anymore (I would take her into the print studio with me since none of the presses were motorized and would have her do "her" art projects at a table while I did my work).  No job = no money for babysitter (not to mention that it's about 45 min drive to campus).  My time management isn't great (I get an amazing amount of housework and repairs done while trying to avoid a deadline), but when I say that I have a family emergency, respect it for what it is. Ok, rant over.

Now on to the happiness:

No, this isn't my pattern, but it's what I managed to make for the Cakes during finals week (she picked out the yarn and my finals were critiques, so my hands were -yay- free).

This pattern can be found on Ravelry or on Hand Crafting With Love website.

This is one of the few hats that I found that will fit my head (hairbands and stocking caps always seem to wiggle off & my DD has the same head-shape).  The griddle stitch (a checker-board of SC & DC stitches) gives the hat quite a bit of elasticity.  It's not really visible in the photo, but the bottom "cuff" is alternating front post and back post crochet which makes the hat feel really secure on my head.

It's a really simple pattern (SC, DC..), but the increases really trip me up (I have a bad habit of reading the wrong line).  What I ended up doing with the pattern was copying and pasting it into Word and reformatting it.  I do much better with charts than written instructions, so I put the paragraph-formatted instructions into short little lists.

from this:
Ch 1, turn. [sc in next dc, 2 dc in next sc, sc in next dc, dc in next sc] 3 times. sc in next dc, dc in next sc. Repeat from [ to ] 4 more times. sc in next dc, dc in next sc. sl st in first sc to join. (39 stitches)

 to this:
Ch 1, turn
[sc in next dc, 2 dc in next sc, sc in next dc, dc in next sc] 3 times
sc in next dc, dc in next sc.
[sc in next dc, 2 dc in next sc, sc in next dc, dc in next sc] 4 times
sc in next dc, dc in next sc
sl st in first sc to join. (39 stitches)

It just works better for my brain and it made it easier to mark my spot with a small post-it.  I have to say, this is the one thing that I really like about electronic format patterns - I can make adjustments to them for my own readability and annotate them as needed.  I have a bad habit of marking up printed instructions and sketching out charts when the text really reads funny to me.

Yet Another Coffee Cozy

Patterns for coffee cup sleeves (aka cozies) abound, but I hadn't found one that I really liked.  It needed to be big enough to fit my ceramic "to go" style cup and had to be wide enough to protect my hand from whatever sadist set the temperature on the hot water dispenser.  This one's pretty stretchy and really easy to have as a take-along for those times when I'm stuck waiting.  The photo below shows the sleeve on a ceramic tumbler.  It seems to fit much higher on the paper cups (nearly to the top on the 20 oz hot cups that I've been running into lately).

H hook
Worsted weight cotton (this was from either a "Peaches and Creme" or a "Sugar and Cream" skein)

For a wide cup band, start with ch 28, for a shallower band (the size of most paper sleeves) ch30 and stop before the 4th round of DC.

It's pretty simple - alternate SC and DC rows, increasing the SC rows by 2 evenly spaced stitches (with the exception of the 1st and last SC row). The wide cup increases by 6 stitches and the narrow one increases by 4.

The numbers in parenthesis are the count for the row and count the slip join as 1 space/stitch.

CH 28, join with slip stitch (30 for shallow sleeve)
Row 1 - ch 1 and SC in next space, SC each stitch. Join w/ sl in ch1 (28/30)
Row 2 - ch 2 and DC in next space, DC each stitch. Join w /sl in 2nd ch (28/30)
Row 3 (increase) - ch 1, sc in next space.  Make 6 sc (7 for shallow sleeve), 2 sc in next dc, make 14 sc (15 for shallow sleeve), 2 sc in next dc, and continue sc to end. Join w /sl in ch1.  The 2 sc increases should be equal distance from each other & if you fold the sleeve at the increases, the join should be in the middle. (30/32)
Row 4 - ch 2, dc in each following sc. Join w/ sl in 2nd ch (30/32)
Row 5 (increase) - ch 1, sc in next space.  Make 7 sc (8 for shallow sleeve), 2 sc in next dc, make 15 sc (16 for shallow sleeve), 2 sc in next dc, and continue sc to end. Join w/sl in ch. (32/34)
Row 6 - ch 2, dc in each following sc. Join w/ sl in 2nd ch.(32/34) - this is the last row for shallow sleeve
Row 7 (increase) - ch 1, sc in next space.  Make 8 sc, 2 sc in next dc, make 16 sc, 2 sc in next dc, and continue sc to end. Join w/sl in ch. (34)
Row 8 - ch 2, dc in each following sc. Join w/ sl in 2nd ch. (34)
Row 9 - ch 1, sc in each following dc.  No increases this row. Join w/ sl in ch1.

Finishing: cut yarn leaving a tail and pull through the slip stitch.  Weave ends in with yarn needle.
et viola!

Edit: I managed to make my hand very unhappy with me this summer (be kind to your tendons).  As a result I've noticed that my crocheting has loosened up & I've had to decrease the stitches that I've used by 1 to get the same size.  The bottom of the cozy when completed is approx 4 3/8" wide (folded) and the top of a tall sleeve is just a hair over 5" (again, folded).

My Favorite Homemade Cleaner

I received this recipe as a wedding gift.  No joke.  The crunchies will probably flip because it uses ammonia instead of vinegar, but I really like how ammonia cleans.  It's an amazing degreaser, but folks are turned off by the smell (but for some reason highly perfumed stuff is fine) and the scare factor (just don't mix it with any product that may have chlorine bleach in it).  I've actually used ammonia solutions to wash years of cigarette smoke scum off of walls and blinds easy-peasy.

To make 2 quarts (conveniently, the size of an ammonia bottle):
1/4 cup Ammonia (I use Lemon)
1 cup Rubbing Alcohol
1/2 teaspoon dish soap (I'm bad and just do a small squirt)
Water to make 2 quarts

I use this stuff everywhere: to soak off the gunk on the stovetop, to clean my laminate floors, my daughter's "artwork" on the furniture (the alcohol helps dissolve ink).