The latest Cam craze

The MOST recent, totally brand-newest, hippest, quirkiest internet craze, and I'm inviting YOU to come witness it's growth!

Kzincam!

http://kzincam.camstreams.com/

(No, it's not MY cam. This is the cam of a guy who lives in Seattle.)

You the public, view public streets in a suburb of Seattle. Sure, it looks boring at first. But keep watching.

Odd things are afoot in the streets of Seattle...

Hysteria

I think I may be just the teensiest bit hysterical. I chose colors for my most ambitious project to date, a King-size afghan. I chose Homespun as the softest and thickest yarn, which limited the colors I could choose from. I wanted Colonial and Country, which would have been navy blue and a nice deep dark green, but of course Country has been disconinued, and Colonial didn't look right with the other greens that were available.

Caron would have been a good choice too, and I could have gotten the dark colors I wanted, but it couldn't have been as thick and non-holey as I wanted, either. In the end, I selected (from left to right in the picture) Black, Williamsburg (grey blue), Windsor (light grey blues and greens), and Regency (grey greens).

I'm still trying to decide whether I want to do a double-strand ripple, or large, 15"-ish squares. I think the squares might be more managable, but a ripple would be very pretty too. If I chose squares, I'd have to decide whether to use single or double crochet.

Since the project will most likely take me quite a while to finish, I wanted to get all the yarn I would need up front, since Homespun colors have that nasty habit of getting discontinued when you least expect. I purchased a grand total of 25 skeins! I became quite intimidated when I saw them laying out on the couch.

The "Crochet Hat," Part Deux

I won't go into all the little problems I had with this piece. I've never had to create a pattern from scratch before, so it was a learning experience in more ways than one! My crowning (pun intended) achievement: the buckle. After a good five or six fabric and thrift stores, I finally found the perfect buckle. Now I know why other women like shopping so much. I felt as though I had won the lottery.

Anyhow! I think this ended up pretty close. Pretty darn close, if I do say so myself. I'm still arguing with the brim about whether it's going to bend or not, but I feel confident in my ability to whip it into line.

World of Warcraft: The "Crochet Hat"

World of Warcraft, a "massively multiplayer online roleplaying game," exists entirely in pixels. The characters players choose as their avatars are clothed with interchangable items. A person will wear many, many different clothes of all types during their playing career. One of the possible items is called, in the game, a "Crochet Hat." (Not a "crocheted hat," as would be proper, of course, but apparently the designers do not actually crochet. We'll forgive them this time.) Since it looks a great deal like a cloth of leather fishing hat, many people, myself included, use this as a sort of mood setter when we go fishing.

When I mentioned I crochet, a friend exclaimed that I would be worshipped if only I could crochet this hat. I haven't seen the shrine yet, but this is hardly a challenge I can refuse! These are pictures of the hat as it exists in the game.

Hospital hats

I got bored with simple double-crochet hats in the round, so I picked up "Simple Crochet for Cherished Babies" by Jane Davis, and made these.

For the life of me, I could not get her "Rascal" hat to come out right. Instead, I altered the pattern by making several little triangles and sewing them together, instead of staying with the wedge-shaped continuous crochet she wrote in her pattern. I think it turned out pretty cute. I don't have a baby to use as a model (one of these days I'm going to buy a babydoll to dress up), but this convenient ball of yarn volunteered for modeling duty with little fuss and hardly any screaming at all.

Since I donate my hats to the hospital, I like use soft yarns, like Caron Simply Soft. In this case, the only color to come close to looking like an acorn was in Lion's Suede, which is much thicker than the pattern called for. I used a smaller hook, but alas, it ended up quite a bit larger than I intended anyway. It's the thought that counts, right?

And I was bored. Ha!

Comfort-ghan squares

These squares are part of my stash-busting attempt. (You may have noticed the colors look remarkably similar to the 63-square Heirloom Afghan, my first project. How astute of you!) They are 12-inch (more or less) granny squares which will be sent to The Crochet Dude as per the request on his blog to send squares for Heartmade Blessings, just as soon as I gather 12 squares or run out of blues, whichever comes first. That dark, black-looking color is actually navy blue, NOT black. I read the instructions!

For those of you chiding me for setting aside my Aran WIP: this is a great cause, so my conscience is clean.

Socks

I've always wanted to make socks. I think the whole idea of hand-made socks is pretty spiffy. If you'll recall, however, my knitted afghan didn't do so well. I thought that maybe, before I get carried away with the sock thing, I should try knitting again first. I picked up my needles and yarn, found a pattern I liked for an afghan, and set to work. I was never able to finish the third row. I tried, too. I ripped out and cast on no less than twelve times. After about two weeks of this, it finally occured to me that I was getting absolutely nowhere, and I really should go back to crocheting. I used the yarn I bought for the knitted afghan to make the Diagonal-Striped one, a couple posts back.

In the meantime, my desire for socks was grumbling at me.

I found another book, this one called "Learn to Crochet Socks." (Leaflet #1308, from American School of Needlework, 12 designs by Kathy Wesley.) Now we're talkin'! I chose some soft Microspun in lilac, and over the next week, made a pair of socks! I was excited. Delirious, really. Warm and soft, they fit just right! Except...

Except that nobody told me that my feet would feel every little stitch where one strand of yarn crosses over another one to makes a thick, knot-like lump. The socks are warm and soft. I'm sure there must be an accupressurist out there somewhere who could help design some lovely, beneficial crocheted socks. Perhaps I could adapt the deisgn for babies, who don't need to walk on yarn knots.

All in all, however, the sock obsession is over.