Blog Page – Page 92 – Laura Chau Designs

whoa, an FO!

Hey! I finished one of my crochet projects!

I’ve had a sad, naked couch cushion for ages (well, not that naked – I put a bed pillowcase on it) and it was finally time to do something about it. I really love how this turned out, and I’ve always wanted to make more housewaresy stuff with my vast collection of yarn.

The front is a Wool-eater square, while the back is a granny square.

Let me tell you, the granny square side was WAY faster than the Wool-eater side – all those extra loops in the Wool-eater really slow me down. The yarn is all Cascade 220, 2 skeins of the teal and little scrap half-or-third skeins of the yellows.

I single crocheted the two sides together along three of the sides, holding the two pieces wrong sides together. For the last side, the opening, I single crocheted along the front and back separately, and added some chains to close it up.

Super fun!

May 9, 2012
rip and re-crochet

Along with my Wool-eater obsession, I also started another crochet project – a ripple blanket. I’d bought a bunch of Cascade Eco Wool awhile ago with the plan of making a knitted blanket, but once the crochet took hold it only seemed natural to crochet it instead!

I started with a 5mm hook and a single strand.

That didn’t really seem right though, so I ripped it all out (after finishing a whole huge ball of Eco wool!) and started again, this time with two strands of yarn and a 6.5mm hook.

It’s going to take even more yarn than I’d bought, but that’s ok! It’s really nice and thick, and goes really quickly with the big hook. The only downside is that I can’t do as long in a sitting as with smaller yarn – the motions are pretty taxing on my wrist.

I also finally, finally got back to my spinning wheel after ages away from it!

I had this BRIGHT teal merino half spun up already, so it didn’t take too long to finish it up. It’s 420 yards of fingering weight 2-ply, and very soft.

After that, I needed something quick from the wheel, so I grabbed a lone bump of Pear Tree Merino roving and spun that up really quick-and-dirty style. It’s very inconsistent, but really soft and fluffy. I love spinning long draw!

This one is 216 yards of 2ply worsted(ish) weight. Not sure what I’ll do with it, but for now I’ll just take the relaxation of sitting at the spinning wheel with something good on the tv.

May 7, 2012
friday things

Finally measured my giant wool-eater against the cushion – why is this cover taking so long?! Because it’s an 18″ pillow, that’s why. Hrmph.

I can really only do 1 tier at a sitting now, because my wrist doesn’t love crochet.

But for some more instant gratification, I started a yellow granny square for the back of the pillow.

Ahh, that’s better! The Wool-eater has an extra wrap on each stitch (double yo) and lots of extra twists and turns, so this double crochet granny square feels a lot quicker.

Alas, I must put down the crochet and work on my deadline knitting project.

It’s a sweet lace piece for my upcoming collection, in Malabrigo sock. We’ve got a date picked for the photoshoot, a photographer, a stylist, a model and a makeup artist – exciting!

April 20, 2012