Flower Necklace

I designed a flower necklace for my Etsy shop, The Concept Cat.
It looks fairly basic, but I had to come up with the shaping for the leaves and flowers based on my crocheting experience, rather than on existing patterns, because everything sold at Etsy must be original.
The neat detail to this project is that there are buttonholes all the way down the length of the necklace, so the flower can be buttoned at any point.

I've considered writing this pattern up, but there are some jiggly things I do with the leaves that I am not sure how to explain - they're non-standard moves, so I'd have to make my own abbreviation for each of them, and try to clearly explain them. While I think I am rather good at writing up clear patterns (knock on wood) this kind of thing isn't what I would like to attempt on only one cup of coffee. Or even with the baby in the house. Maybe if I locked myself in a closet with a flashlight, and nobody was home, or knew where to find me?

Well, you get the idea.

Mother-Baby Beanie Set

I got my first Etsy sale, and it was (of all things!) a request for a custom made mother and baby beanie set. It needed to match a striped baby carrier. This is what I came up with:

It's crocheted. Stripes of varying thicknesses were requested, and not being one to turn away from a challenge (recall me saying I learned to knit on varnished and filed shishkabob sticks...?) , I chose to use single, half double, and double crochet stitch rows rather than just making the rows appear wider by doing two or three rows of single crochet in the same color. I did this because I wanted the hats to not be as stiff as they would have been had they been entirely in single crochet. I needed to pay close attention to when it was right to put in increases because it wouldn't just be every two rows, etc. I also needed to have the baby beanie mimmick the mother's beanie enough so that it was obvious they were a set, but not exactly match because the baby beanie used less rows but still needed all the colors represented. I think it turned out well, and fortunately, so did my customer. :)

I included this flower broach to match the beanies as a thank you gift:

Trellis Inspired Beanie

I knit V the cardigan Trellis from Knitty and I felt it needed a good hat to go with it, so I made this using the same gauge, yarn and cables:



View of the crown. I'm pleased with how it came together.


I think it turned out well.

Edited to add:

In fact, I think it turned out so well that I wrote up the pattern. Here it is!

Trellis Inspired Beanie Pattern

Size: 3-6 months

Tools: a set of US #7 dpns (4.5 mm), darning needle

Yarn: I used about half a ball of Lion Brand Wool-Ease, so approximately 100 yds of any worsted weight yarn might do.

Unfortunately, I don't have an adequate knitting chart generator to express this pattern, so I've written it out row by row. (If you're familiar with Trellis then it may be helpful for you to know that Rows 9-18 are essentially Chart A. I made a point of generally referring to where the Seed Stitches go, rather than saying exactly where every purl or knit should be, because I found that if you follow Chart A literally the second and fourth repeat of the diamond cable doesn't have it's Seed Stitches match up to the border.)

Some Abbreviations:
LT: k 2nd St on LH needle tbl, then k 1st St tbl and slide both sts off the LH needle.
LC w/ P: sl 2 sts to cn, hold to back, p1, k2 from cn
RC w/ P: sl 1 st to cn, hold to back, k2, p1 from cn

CO 76 stitches, join to work in round, being careful not to twist yarn. Work 8 rows in Seed Stitch.

Seed Stitch
Row 1: K1, [p1, k1] to end.
Every row is the same.

Row 9: *p2, LT, k2, p2, k2, work 7 sts in SS, k2, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 10: *p2, k4, p2, k3, work 7 sts in SS, k2, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 11: *P2, k1, LT, k1, p2, LC W/ P, work 5 sts in SS, RC W/ P, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 12: *p2, k4, p3, k2, work 5 sts in SS, k2, p1, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 13: *p2, k2, LT, p3, LC W/ P, work 3 sts in SS, RC W/ P, p1, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 14: *p2, k4, p4, k2, work 3 sts in SS, k2, p2, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 15: *p2, LT, k2, p4, LC W/ P, work 1 st in SS, RC W/ P, p2, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 16: *p2, k4, p5, k2, work 1 st in SS, k2, p3, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 17: *p2, k1, LT, k1, p5, sl 3 sts to cn, hold to back,sl last p st from cn to LH needle and knit it, k2 from cable needle, p3, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 18: *p2, k4, p5, k2, work 1 st in SS, k2, p3, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 19: *p2, k2, LT, p4, RC W/ P, work 1 st in SS, LC W/ P, p2, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 20: *p2, k4, p4, k2, work 3 sts in SS, k2, p2, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 21: *p2, LT, k2, p3, RC W/ P, work 3 sts in SS, LC W/ P, p1, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 22: *p2, k4, p3, k2, work 5 sts in SS, k2, p1, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 23: *p2, k1, LT, k1, p2, RC W/ P, work 5 sts in SS, LC W/ P, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 24: *p2, k4, p2, k2, work 7 sts in SS, k2, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 25: *p2, k2, LT, p2, k2, work 7 sts in SS, k2, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 26: *p2, k4, p2, k2, work 7 sts in SS, k2, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 27: *p2, LT, k2, p2, k2, work 7 sts in SS, k2, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 28: *p2, p4, k2, work 7 sts in SS, k2, repeat from * 4 times.

Begin decreasing as follows:

Row 29: *p2tog, k1, LT, k1, p2tog, LC W/ P, work 5 sts in SS, RC W/ P, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 30: *p2, k4, p2, k2, work 5 sts in SS, k2, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 31: *p2tog, k2, LT, p2tog, LC W/ P, work 3 sts in SS, RC W/ P, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 32: *p2, k4, p2, k2, work 3 sts in SS, k2, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 32: *p2tog, LT, k2, p2tog, LC W/ P, work 1 st in SS, RC W/ P, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 33: *p2, k4, p2, k1, sl1, k2tog, psso, k1, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 34: *p2, k1, k2tog tbl, k1, p2, k1, ssk, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 35: p2, *k1, LT, p1, p2tog, p2tog, p1, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 36: *k3, p2tog, p2tog, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 37; *k2, ssk, k2tog, repeat from * 4 times. Cut yarn. Using daring needle, thread yarn end through remaining sts and close off top.

Drawing a day #1

Here it is:
Alas, I am rusty, in art and photography. I don't know if you can tell, but the above is a rose. It's not a real rose, but a cloth hair clip rose that I snagged off my dresser at 8:15 in the rush to get something drawn. It may have been a little too ambitious, because it took me until I was nearly finished to be warmed up. Just how long has it been since I have drawn anything? I know I was pregnant at the time, and the baby is now four months old. So at least four months, if not longer. Oh, my. Well, hopefully tomorrow I plan ahead a little more and draw something I am a bit more proud of?

A drawing a day

To keep some sense of motivation going, I'm beginning a new scheme on this blog:

A drawing a day.

This daily drawing will have certain perimeters:

1) it will be exactly 3"x3", because I am hopelessly anal and anything larger would take me a couple days (Ok - I exaggerate slightly, but the gist of it is I need to not paint myself into a corner here and shoot for something attainable);

2) it will be completed and posted by 9am PST;

3) it will be drawn, of course.

I had the baby

As you can see below. I had maternity leave, I used it, and then on the third day back I got laid off.

On a positive note, now I have more time to knit. With the baby. :P