I started on the swatches for Jacob’s wool, and then finished them all in a day, even the nålbinding. I must have thirty other projects I’m not working on. Hm.
I had two large cakes of yarn, and two small nostepinne balls, so I used the smaller amounts to make the swatches. I hope to make something wearable out of the larger cakes of yarn.
As a Thank You to Sugar the Samoyed’s family for sharing Sugar’s fur for my fiber study, I sent them a crocheted heart and the remainder of the yarn.
I designed the leather heart using Adobe Illustrator, then cut it from vegetable tanned tooling leather. Having precision cut holes was awesome to make a blanket stitch around the edge. I then crocheted into the stitches using a single crochet in the back loop.
In February 2015 I finished crocheting a driver cover for my Dad, in the shape of a black Labrador head.
The neck is a crocheted rib, the ears are single crochet triangles, and the rest is single crochet in the round with a small hook in the style of amigurumi (although I don’t think I knew that word at the time). The nose is stuffed, but the skull is provided by the head of the golf club.
In February 2015 I finished a crochet project for my Dad that has a basket weave looking texture for a hat and scarf.
The technique uses front post and back post double crochet stitches in sets of three. It is actually an easy texture to achieve, but I recommend not using black yarn while trying to learn to count the stitches and rows. Also, size up any wool hats, as wear causes light felting, which shrinks the hat.
In January of 2015 I was examining the construction techniques of Irish crochet, a type of free form lace that has a rich texture.
Padding in crochet is carrying a thicker cord, or multiple cords, along inside the crocheted stitches. The padding cord also gives more control of the shape of the crochet because it can be pulled tighter and lock in curves.
Critters and Craft 