Please find me at the new OnePinkHippo.

Recent FOs

I finally have some FOs to share!

Lots of Love Lapghan by EssHaych

Yarn: Caron Simply Soft in Victorian Rose, Blue Mint, Grape, Grey

Hook: H (5 mm)
Date started: October 12, 2015
Date completed: April 14, 2016

Lovely pattern, and I really like the way the granny stripes border brings the blanket together.

~

 

Rainbow Ridges Hat by Lion Brand Yarn 
Yarn: Lion Brand Landscapes in Boardwalk
Needles: US 9

A very quick and easy knit using short rows then seamed up the back. It came out super long and slouchy; personally I like it rolled up and not so slouchy. The next one I’d probably cast on 35 stitches. However, f you make it into a beanie it’s almost doubled and is super warm.

The Altered Stitch, Los Angeles, California

I just got back from Los Angeles (pictures soon!) and of course found a yarn store!

We were staying in Valley Village and there was an adorable yarn store a short walk away and they were having a sidewalk sale and had yarn marked down all the way to $1!  It was an adorable store, full of wonderful people and beautiful yarn.  I wanted to buy the whole store, but only got away with a few skeins.

I got all this, plus two more skeins that are going to my good friend Sarah in England, but I want them to be a surprise, plus a Vogue Knitting for only $50!  Oh, the little pink ball on the left isn't from the Altered Stitch.  More on that guy later.)

I got three skeins of this lusciousness.  80% wool, 20% nylon superwash merino wool blend, Hachito yarn by Mirasol Yarns.  

I got one skein of Hachito in a different shade.

I got two skeins creamy white white splotches of pink and brown as well.  This is superwash merino,  Delicious Yarns Taffy in Butter Cream from Valley Village, California.  Yay for local yarns!

Then two incredibly decadent 100% silk from India, it's Duke by Silkindian.  It was originally $29.75, and I got it for $5!!  

It was an adorable store, and I highly recommend it.

And then we stopped in a store where everything was $2 and I found some adorable kitty yarn, and I had to buy some.  (One of these is coming your way, Sarah!)

Next post:  Los Angeles photos!

Trying to get back in the [crochet] swing of things by making my neighbors a baby blanket.

I’m also currently fighting the urge to buy a huge crochet hook and some super bulky yarn and bust out an afghan in two hours but the only thing that’s open is Wal-Mart ??? I doubt they’ll have what I want.

A few flowers...

I hope to get back into the swing of blogging!

Gretchen

I finished my first color work project!

Gretchen's Easy Tam by Lion Brand Yarn

Yarn: Lion Brand Vanna's Choice in Wheat; Loops & Threads Impeccable in Folklore

Needles: US 8

Dates: July 18 - 22, 2015

I think it's too big, but I took it to my therapy group and showed them and after oo-ing and aah-ing over it they came to the conclusion it was a perfect size.  I had been working on it there for the past few days.  I wish I had the time to make everyone in the group a hat; I met some lovely people.

 It looks pointy at the top, and there's a picture on Ravelry where it looks pointy on my head too, but in the picture above it looks okay.  Plus I can wear it as a slouchy hat.

I'm really proud of it.  My first time doing stranding and reading charts, and it came out beautifully!  Albeit a tad big.

I would definitely knit this hat again, and I already have planned to, this time following gauge (oops!) and using wool so I'd be able to block it easier than acrylic.  (Steam blocking scares me.  I don't want to melt the yarn!)

All in all, it's a fun, cute pattern, and it looks 5 times more complicated than it actually is.  I feel like I can tackle more complicated charts and color work now!

ETA:  Like me on Facebook!

Zinnia Square

MATERIALS

I - 9 (5.5 mm) crochet hook

tapestry needle

YARN

Four colors of worsted weight yarn

For the green sample I used:  Murphy’s Mart Wintuk in Pink, Red Heart Super Saver in a dark blue, and an unknown worsted weight in green

For the white sample I used:  Red Heart Super Saver in Soft Yellow, an unknown worsted weight in turquoise, Red Heart Soft in a dark pink, and Caron Simply Soft in White.

For the blue sample I used:  Lily Sugar ’N Cream in Hot Orange, Soft Violet, and Hot Blue and Lion Brand Lion Cotton in Fuchsia 

For the Christmas sample I used:  unknown worsted weight cotton

STITCHES USED (US TERMINOLOGY)

ch:  chain

sc:  single crochet

dc:  double crochet

tr:  treble crochet

DIRECTIONS

With C1, ch 3.  Slip stitch to first ch to make loop.

ROUND 1:  Ch 3 (counts as first dc), 11 dc around.  Sl st to first ch of ch 3. Fasten off C1.  (12 dc)

ROUND 2:  Join C2 with sl st to any dc.  Ch 3 (counts as first dc), dc in same stitch, 2 dc in each dc around.  Sl st to first ch of ch 3.  (24 dc)

ROUND 3: Ch 3 (counts as first dc), dc in same stitch.  *Dc, 2 dc* around.  Sl st to first ch of ch 3.  Fasten off C2.  (36 dc)

ROUND 4:  Join C3 with sl st to any dc.  Ch 3, 3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc, skip 2 stitches.  *3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc, skip 2 stitches* around.  Sl st to bottom of first ch 3 sp.  Fasten off C3. (12 points)

ROUND 5:  Join C4 with sl st to top ch 2 of “point.”  Ch 4, 2 tbl, ch 3, 3 tbl in space.  ~*ch 3, sc in top of “point,” ch 3* 2 times.  [3 tbl, ch 3, 3 tbl]~ in next space.  Repeat from ~ around.  Join with sl st in top ch of first ch 4.  (4 corners, 8 sc.)

ROUND 6:  Sc in sp.  Sc.  *2 sc, ch 2, 2 sc* in corner.  3 sc.  [2 sc in chain space.  sc in sc.] Repeat between [ ] once. 3 sc.  *2 sc, ch 2, 2 sc* for corner.  Repeat around.  Fasten off C4.

Be sure to add your completed square to Ravelry!

Happy crocheting!  x o 

More Zinnias

I was feeling a bit blah today so I pulled out my cotton stash and made a dishcloth (hot pad possibly?) out of my Zinnia Square design.

I love working in cotton to be honest.  It makes me so happy.  I'm not sure why, possibly because it's something that's Not Acrylic.  I work with wool rarely, though I'm starting to use more out it, and I haven't really tried any other fibers.  I have a few balls of Bamboo but don't know what to do with it yet.  

(I have worked with polyester, in Berroco's Love It Colours, which I adore.  I might need to make another Reverie with that yarn, it was perfect.  Oh dear, it's been discontinued!)

And then I felt festive and worked another dishcloth Zinnia square up in Christmas cotton.

Crochet and dinosaurs

Just a little pick-me-up today.

Granny Stripe Madness!

Arwen (happy 12th birthday baby girl!) and I pulled out the granny stripe blanket yesterday.

It's full of smooshy DK goodness.  How squishy it is!  This is a dream to work on though it's a bit warm having a big blanket in my lap.

I'm excited to do this project, just rows and rows of granny stripe goodness.  I'm using DK weight acrylic yarn given to me by my dear friend Sarah (EssHaych).  I've sent her a list of the yarns she gave me as we don't readily have Hobbycraft and Yarnfair brands available in the U.S.  Unfortunately I think the dark blue color has been discontinued, but I trust Sarah will find me a close match or something I can substitute.  

Yarn for the third color repeat waiting to be added.

Hopefully this blanket will be done for this winter!  It's been hibernating in a Scuttlebutt amber ale box for the past few months.  If I had only realized just how squishy and delightful it feels I would have tried to finish it sooner.

Yesterday,  I was also working on my granny stripe cowl so it was been a day full of grannies.

I think I might do three pattern repeats and then block, seam up the back, and then it's ready for wear.  Working on it I realize the length is good, it's about average cowl length.  I'm very glad I didn't frog it.

Zinnias, Yarn, and a Kitty

Zinnia from the garden.

Remember the squares from this post that I was struggling with?  I didn't know how to make them look like what I had drawn or how to make them into squares from circles, but I did eventually figure out the big pink one.  Say hello to the Zinnia Square!

Zinnia Square by Jillian Bankert/OnePinkHippo

Yarn: For the white square I used Red Heart Super Saver in Soft Yellow, an unknown worsted weight in turquoise, Red Heart Soft in a dark pink color (excuse my camera), and Caron Simply Soft in White.  For the green square I used Murphy's Mark Wintuk in pink, Red Heart Super Saver in dark blue, and an unknown worsted weight in green.

Hook: I - 9 (5.5 mm)

I wrote everything down so expect a pattern in the next few days!  I'm currently working on bringing them over to this blog, so hopefully by this weekend I should have all three patterns up and ready for making soon.

~

Last week I dyed some white wool with Kool-Aid!

Yet unnamed colorway using Kool-Aid in Grape, Mandarina-Tangerine, and Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade, the latter of which barely comes through.  The grape is really powerful, when it was wet I thought it was going to turn out black. (!)

Method: maiyamayhem's Popsicle Kool-Aid dyeing tutorial

Bare: Paton's Classic Wool in White

Weight: worsted (10 ply)

Amount: 100 grams/210 yards

I did another skein too but that one is destined for a Christmas present and won't be shown for another few months.

Does anyone have any tips on making easy-to-dye hanks?  I unraveled the skein into one big loop, then tied it at intervals but it still got tangled, and now instead of a nice solid cake I have 5 baby cakes per colorway.  (Special shoutout to my mom for untangling the mess I made.  Thanks mom!)  I'd love to be able to dye more skeins but don't want to have to waste almost 3 days untangling.  Any help or ideas would be much appreciated.

~

Bonus kitty shots, here is Pip:

WIP Wednesday

I've started joining (!) the therapy crochet afghan in beautiful teal.

More squares have been added since I took this picture.  It's coming along quite nicely, the teal making the solid color squares really pop.

Progress had halted but I have decided to resume work on the granny stripes cowl.

I stopped because it seems as though it's going to be a longer cowl than I wanted.  I'm seaming it up at the end as I didn't want to try and join 150 chain stitches in a loop without it twisting, so i can always make it to whatever length I want, but I don't want a chunky seam.  It's too short to be a decent scarf, (scarflette?) and I don't really want to add buttons to it.  So I've decided I'll push forward.  It'll just be a longish cowl and maybe next time I'll chain 100.

Squares!  Or, soon to be squares.

The top red, yellow, and blue is a redo of my Vera's Spike Stitch Daisy Pattern.  I don't like how the center curled and was fluffy, and am just not pleased with it in general so I decided to redo it.  The pink one is a square design that I had floating around in my brain for a bit, so it's nice to get it out and in 3D.  I've been writing these down as I go so watch this space for new patterns!

A knit (!) hat and cupcake pincushion are in progress as well, because I can't have just one project going on at a time, but I don't have pictures of those.  

What's on your hooks and needles this week?

ETA:  Check out these 5 crochet hacks.  #4 is going to save me a ton of money!

Finished!

Sand Stitch Washcloth 

Sand Stitch Tutorial And Afghan Square by The Stitchin’ Mommy

Yarn: Lily Sugar and Cream in Soft Purple and Painted Desert

Hook: H-8 (5.00 mm)

Started and finished: July 7

Made for: This is a “practicing the stitch” cloth. I have an idea in my head for an iPad case and this is the perfect stitch.

Ravelry | Tumblr

Shenandoah National Park Picture Post II

The entire set of photographs can be found HERE.