Posts Tagged ‘natcromo’

Crochet Made Easy

Uhg, I hate that phrase. “Crochet made easy”… as if it were hard in the first place!

And yet, there are a lot of ways one can make their crocheting life easier. And what better way to celebrate NatCroMo, than with some helpful tips? (And tutorials… lots and lots of tutorials. :D)

Today’s helpful tip has to do with a tool you might not associate with crocheting, but one that I have found invaluable!

A kitchen scale:
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This scale made my Jacob’s Snakes And Ladders blanket possible. I weighed any questionably small scraps of yarn before using them – if they weighed at least 15g (a number I came to by weighing the project after the first and second rows), I used them to make a row on the blanket. In the past, I have used it to determine an approximate yardage for my finished projects.

For its next trick, I’m going to use it to weigh a ball of yarn while I work with it – I’m going to chain 1/3 of it, and then sc the rest. (This will make more sense should I be successful and can show it off to you all!)

Enjoy NatCroMo (National Crochet Month), everyone! Crochet in public, join a crochet-along, learn a new technique, teach, shout it from the mountain tops! And stay tuned – there are more tips, tricks, and tutorials to come!

Experimental Widow

This story has two beginnings: at the last guild meeting, I asked if there was any particular reason why Jacob’s Ladders had to be straight; and Mass Effect 3 was about to be released and make me a “Gamer Widow“.

Now, I quite enjoy the Mass Effect games. It’s a neat story line, and Charles plays the games so thoroughly that we never miss a single plot point or line of enquiry. As a crocheter, though, I would be remiss if I didn’t use the time he was wrapped up in his game to make something cool.

Those of you who are mildly familiar with Mass Effect 3 are probably saying, “but ME3 hasn’t been released yet!”. To which those of you are are quite familiar with it would reply, “ah, but they released a demo of the game as a free download ahead of time.”

In the spirit of this “demo” version of the game, I decided to try playing with Jacob’s Ladders to see what they could do.

After a few swatches…
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I was ready to go!

This bears repeating: Charles plays these games quite thoroughly, exploring what is possible with every type of character, so, after the first day:
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Then the second:
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The four days later:
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He shot enemies, I crocheted:
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Five days:
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Only to finish eight days after I started:
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Here are some close-ups (click to enlarge!) :
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Here’s the front compared to the back:
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Only one question remains: what the heck am I going to make during the actual game now?

Novelty Stash

March is National Crochet Month (or NatCroMo)!

I’m celebrating by trying to be as helpful to crocheters as I can! I’m going to start by making you all feel better about your stashes.

Today I sorted out my novelty yarn stash, and here it is all out on the bed:
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There’s well over a hundred balls of yarn in this picture (approximately 87% of which seems to be black-and-red variegated. Yeesh).

What am I going to do with all of this crazy yarn? Well, I have a few plans. I’m hoping to make a few monster bags (like this one), and maybe some Rapunzel scarves (like these), and maybe trim some amigurumi (like, well, all of these), and… and… I don’t know what else. Any ideas?