Clean Edge Single Crochet

I am absolutely in love with Mamachee’s clean edge double crochet! (Read about it here: http://mamachee.com/2014/05/22/double-crochet-hack/) I use it for afghans all the time when I don’t want to have to crochet a border afterwards.

It makes a wonderfully straight edge that doesn’t need to be covered up later. For my latest afghan project, however, double crochets were just too bulky and were not giving me the amount of detail that I wanted.

What I really needed was a way to make a nice clean, straight edge in single crochet. Mamachee’s method involves making a tiny cluster at the end of every row; basically it’s a dc2tog worked in a single stitch. Unfortunately, trying to work a sc2tog into a single stitch results in an ever-tightening loop on your hook that is nearly impossible to work through.

What I needed was an extra step in the middle to “anchor” that middle loop. I  tried a ch1:

This seemed to work pretty well, but I wasn’t completely satisfied with the edge that it produced. It was fairly straight, but I thought I could do better.
Next, I used a method that I borrowed from knitting. Knitters can make 2 stitches out of 1 by knitting into both the front and back of a stitch. Initially this feels a little weird with a crochet hook and more than once I was convinced that my first loop was going to fall off the hook. But everything turned out great!

To work a scfbc:
Sc to the last stitch of the row. Insert hook from front to back in last stitch; draw up a loop. Rotate hook around and insert in last stitch from back to front; draw up a loop. (Rotate your hook the opposite direction you normally do to make it easier to pull this loop through) Yarn over and draw through all three loops on the hook. scfbc completed!

The bottom swatch in this picture shows plain single crochet worked in the normal method. The top left swatch shows the results of the extra ch1; its better, but not great. The top right swatch uses the single crochet front-back-cluster. Wow, that’s a mouthful! Lets abbreviate that to scfbc.
So, to make a sc project with straight edges you would work to the last stitch of the row, scfbc, ch1 and turn. Work back across the row as normal to the last stitch. There is no special treatment for the first stitch of the row. Just remember that in single crochet the initial ch1 does NOT count as a stitch.

I have attempted to make a video showing how to work the scfbc. Please excuse the poor quality of this, it was recorded on my phone, in the phone clip, clipped to my collar. Hopefully it shows enough detail to allow you to work the stitch.

Just for comparison, here is a swatch worked in sc using the scfbc at the end of each row next to a dc swatch using Mamachee's method. I think the edges look great on both!

Lined Slippers

I absolutely love the Lizzie slippers (here); but for me they weren’t warm enough. So, I set out to figure out a way to line them. I think they turned out really well…

Basically, I worked the Lizzie pattern with a hook one size larger and then made a liner for it. I am currently working on writing up a pattern for a wool slipper with a fuzzy liner. I should have the pattern finished by the end of next week.

Poppy

Just found a new pattern that I am absolutely in love with. It’s called “Poppy”. You can find it here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/poppy-11 This was truly a case of love-at-first-sight for me. It’s just a really elegant, simple look. I knew I had to make one right away. And since a friend of mine is having a baby girl in February, I seized the opportunity to knit something really cute for her.

My friend and her husband are huge Chicago Bear fans. So when I looked at the pattern I instantly envisioned it in navy and orange. I think it looks fantastic. (Please, noone tell my husband that I put one of our Packer babies in Bear’s colors.)

My next step, I think, will be to convert this pattern to be knit on my Passap. It should be easy enough, it’s essentially one giant sock heel. Even the garter stitch rows won’t be too bad on the machine because they are just single ridges.

Here’s a link to my project page on Ravelry, if you’re interested: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/lzbthmcmullen/poppy

Up is down… Down is up…

Have you ever had one of those days when you had too much to do and everything that could possibly go wrong did? Yeah, I’m having a month like that. This week has been especially bad. First, I lost my phone. It turns out one of my kids had hidden it AND put it on “airplane” mode so it wouldn’t ring. Then, I went to McDonald’s to get breakfast only to discover that somehow my wallet had mysteriously disappeared from my purse. (I did find it later, at home.) I have tons of paperwork that needs to be done, but I also have a ton of homework. AHHH! Where to start?

On the knitting front however, I just ordered a complete set of DPNs off eBay; and I’m getting ready to make gauge swatches for a Christmas tree skirt for my pastor.

I’m hoping to have some nice knitting/crochet pictures to show here in the next few days.

Oh, wait! I just remembered the baby shower gifts I made:

 

 

 

 

 

There’s a cute pair of Cowboy “boots” to match the hat, but somehow I missed getting a picture of them before I mailed them to Texas. These are for my Sister-in-Law’s sister who is having a baby in December (I think it’s December).

Done, done, done!

WooHoo! I finished my scarf/shawl and got the pictures submitted for class. Here’s a look at the finished product.

I absolutely love how it turned out. I have dubbed my version of this pattern the “Spring of Life” shawl because of how the butterflies remind me of the whimsy of youth. I hope my grade reflects the amount of time I put into this project.

They’re done!

Finished my socks today. They just need washed with the next load of laundry and they’ll be ready for wear. Check them out:

Sorry for the bad pictures (and the swollen ankles). I should be able to get better pictures after they are washed!

Alternate Progress

Well, I’m still working on the socks; I’m up to the heel on the second one. But I had to take time off from them to work on a project for a Humanities class I’m taking. I had to come up with an original art project based on the word “Spring”. I am not really a “art person” so I’m knitting for my project. This is what I have so far:
It’s a heavily modified version of Foldi’s Butterfly Lace Shawl. Heavily modified because it’s a hand-knitting pattern and I’m knitting it on my Passap. I love how it’s looking so far. I’m about half done with the knitting. I need to knit the other half of the shawl and graft the two pieces together at the center. I am also thinking about dyeing it starting with a dark pink at the ends and fading to the natural color at the center.

Discoveries

I’ve been working on the Orla Spring Socks pattern from Ravelry here. And I have discovered a few things:
1. I only like ankle socks. I originally made a taller sock and I didn’t like how it felt on my ankle.
2. I HATE French heels. I knit one complete sock according to the pattern, but I am now frogging it to make a pair that I will actually wear. I prefer a short-row heel, at the moment the Fish Lips Kiss heel is my go-to.

You can see from the picture that the FLK heel is much smoother; it also fits better on my foot.
3. I love the “flat” toe from the pattern (with a few modifications).

I love the roundness of this toe. The pattern originally called to you to decrease down to 8 stitches and then gather them, but that would have completely ruined the shape. Instead, I knit toe-up starting with 24sts and just changed all the decreases to increases. I love the look of it, and it fits perfectly.
4. It takes about the same amount of time to knit a sock as it does to drive from Lebanon, MO to San Antonio, TX. I knit, or rather re-knit, the first sock of the pair while my husband drove us to San Antonio for vacation this last week.

My new socks

These are my brand new socks, fresh off the e6000. I just finished them today. I have to say I love how I managed to get the patterns to almost match perfectly. That’s very hard to do on the Passap because you can’t see what you’re doing until you’re finished.
These took most of one ball of Premier Yarns: Non-wool Sock Yarn. I picked up a ball of purple and a ball of blue last time I was at Hobby Lobby for $4.99 each. $5 isn’t too bad for a durable, washable pair of socks! They are a little large at the moment, but from a previous pair with this same yarn, I know they will be perfect after they’re washed. Link to my Ravelry project page for these: Footie Socks.


This is all the yarn I have left from the ball. It’s a good thing I have small-ish feet. (I wear a size 7.5 shoe) Although if I were to knit for my friend Megan (a size 4.5 shoe) I could probably get three pairs out of two balls of yarn. LOL!

Lady Cornwall Finished

Well I just finished my Lady Cornwall. And I just discovered (the hard way) that apparently my mystery yarn was wool. I didn’t even know I had any wool in the house! I threw the shrug in the washing machine so it would be clean before I steam blocked it (what you do with acrylic); but I noticed when I went to switch my clothes to the dryer, that it had slightly felted. Bummer! Needless to say it is now drying on top of the dryer instead of inside it.

Still looks great, though. Still it’s good that I had already planned to make another one because I don’t think this one will stay in my house very long being hand-wash only.

Notes for next time: Continue YO increases all the way down the front; pair with double decreases for the last half to keep the same shape.

Texas Tree Skirt

So, I’ve finally finished knitting all the wedges for my husband’s Christmas tree skirt. Working on blocking all the pieces today.

Why do I bother blocking? Is it really worth all the work? I did use acrylic yarn after all. Well, take a look at this “before and after” picture. This is two wedges of the same design one before blocking and one after.

Quite the difference, huh? I hope to get all the pieces steamed and seamed today. Then all I have to do is knit the inside and outside borders.

In case your wondering, I’m blocking these pieces on an exercise mat. I picked it up from Wal-Mart this morning. It’s this one here. I will eventually get a grid marked on it to make blocking easier. I already checked and Sharpie won’t rub off even when vigorously steamed.

How many stitches…

…will fit on a 14” knitting needle?
Well, for me, in worsted weight yarn, the answer is about 195. Yep, that’s all 195 stitches of the last row of my Lady Cornwall all on one needle.

Now I have the wonderful task of switching to a circular needle and knitting all the ribbing around this thing. Yay, me! I hope to have this finished by Monday evening. Hopefully I can find somewhere to block it where the kids will leave it alone.

Finally, an update

Well, it’s been a while. I thought I’d stop by and show you what I’m working on. This is a Christmas tree skirt I am working on for my husband (he’s from Texas, obviously).

I’ve also been doing some hand knitting.
That’s a Lady Cornwall on my needles believe-it-or-not. I hope to have both the tree skirt and the shrug finished by Sunday. I think it’s do-able.
More pictures when I’m done…

Yes, I’m still here

Goodness, I just looked and it turns out my last post was in July of last year. Sorry to be so negligent. I’ve been really busy lately: going to school full time, taking care of 5 kids, and working. There’s been lot’s of knitting too, just not much time to take pictures and post about it. I hope to be able to update the blog soon on all my projects.

Passap Socks

It has been WAAY too long since I’ve blogged. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to catch up today. Just wanted to stop by real quick and show off the pair of socks I just made on my new (to me) Passap E6000.

They don’t match exactly, I didn’t take the time to start in the exact same place in the colorway, but I love them anyway!

Good night everyone, I hope to be able to post updates on all my finished projects soon.

P.S. The sock pattern is from the Passap Duo 80 manual pg 74, but I did a short row toe instead of the double decrease one.

Hat in progress.

New Finished Objects and Waiting

So, I am no longer without a knitting machine. I recently purchased a Brother KH910 on eBay. However, it needs a new spongebar. I have to wait until it arrives before I can play with my new toy.

In the meantime, I’ve been crocheting hats for my Etsy shop. I have 4 done so far and one in progress. Here they are in no particular order:

Talia was kind enough to model for me. Wow, it’s incredibly difficult to get a clear picture of a 7 month old.