yarn – yarnchick

crochet:: the coolest bucket hat, like ever

I’ve said it before and I will say it again. For a girl that doesn’t wear hats, I sure make a lot of them. So many in fact, that I have begun to wear them.

This is my newest hat design because yes, I had to reinvent the wheel. I tried other patterns. I really did. I frogged all of them. This one has all of the features I needed.

super simple to follow instructions because I’m basic that way
amazing yarn that you can soak in ice-cold water, wring out and stay alive in the blazing sun of climate change
face-flattering brim because I am hyper-critical of how I look in a hat even when I am picking veggies from the garden by myself at 8am on a Sunday while wearing sunglasses

You can find the pattern in my Ravelry shop 🙂

Thanks for stopping by!

crochet:: yeah, yeah, yeah…I took some time off

unicorn

And just what exactly have I been up to? Things…stuff…sometimes nothing. Lots of other social media & deleting a bunch of apps I don’t like. Taking classes & learning to *gasp* knit. More about the dark arts later though.

Today is for saying

Hello Again Lovelies!

Today is for easing back into the focus it requires

so I can write again. It’s been too long.

Today is for showing you some yarnporn

of my experiments in wool dyeing since we last spoke.

Enjoy & thanks for stopping by

super girlie

martha’s beach

capturing summer

crochet:: the chunk

I promised you the pattern for The Chunk a few weeks ago, and I am here to deliver.

I have finally finished it, and we love, LOVE, LURVE this blanket.

I’ve been working on this idea for a couple of years, just letting it percolate because I wasn’t really sure of the details. I knew I wanted a bed-sized blanket in white or cream. I knew I wanted it to be thick & squishy. I knew NOT what pattern to use. I knew NOT what super bulky yarn to use. Did I try several? Oh heck yeah, I tried and frogged lots. And then lots more. And then ignored the urge for some months. But it kept nagging at me. I wanted a fisherman’s sweater for my bed. The inspiration pieces from designers on Pinterest I could find were great, but they were all knitted.

When I gave up on the fisherman’s sweater look with complicated cables in a super bulky yarn, it finally clicked for me. If I wanted a simple and classic monochromatic afghan, I needed a simple stitch pattern. Instead of reinventing the wheel, I looked back at my favorite patterns from the past. Lo and behold, I realized the Dreamy Layers Afghan from back in 2011 could rock a single color with a nice pebbley, nubby texture. At that time, I had only bought 8 of the massive Bernat Blanket Yarn skeins I thought I needed. Little did I know it would take double that! In the end, you can make it whatever size that works for you, but I’m not gonna lie ~ it’s really awesome to have it basically end up king-sized on a queen-sized bed.

Expensive? Yes.

Also. Totally. Worth. It.

the chunk afghan pattern can be found here::

https://www.ravelry.com/designers/lisa-victoria–yarnchick40

I’m completely smitten with The Chunk paired with my Amazing Technicolor Dreamghan. And now, with these 2 in the done column, my bed is complete and we can handle whatever cold this winter has to offer. I say, bring it on old man winter!

Thanks so much for stopping by & if you should decide to make The Chunk, please do come back to share your FO!

crochet:: afghan envy

You know what they say about men & their vehicles when it comes to size, right? What I need to know is what it means when it comes to hookers & afghan size…

I’ve taken on another king-size afghan project that is currently running my life, and I’m not sure what my obsession is with massive blankets. A couple of years ago, you may remember the Amazing Technicolor Dreamghan that was my afghan to beat all mother of afghans…

well, take a peek at The Chunk.

And no, I’m not talking about Frankie (lucky dog is already down to his goal weight loss & that shot of his bicep it pretty hot…hmmm, where was I?…).

Oh, right…I’m about 3/4 of the way done with the chenille super bulky weight blanket he is reveling under. Our love for it is rivaling the wooly counterpart.

I’ll be sharing the details when it’s complete 🙂

Happy hooking!

crochet:: did you forget something?

Yes, you.

Y’all were supposed to remind me about the whole complicated amigurumi thing that drives me insane. After the AT-AT debacle, you promised to stop me before I accepted any special orders for complicated toys that pay me about 30 cents per hour. Ok fine, you didn’t promise…but dammit I wish you would have reminded me. We’ll just leave it at that.

Frigging adorable hedgehog with a very well written pattern, that you can find here.

While working on said adorable hedgehog, I became quite stabby…

If this were a gift for someone I love, well that would be a different story….

I am only charging a reasonable fee for the order and yet it took over 10 HOURS TO MAKE.

Not my idea of a winning business model…so once again I implore you to remind me that toys are not my thing. Thank you, that is all.

crochet:: on the topic of taking a break…

You may or may not have noticed that I’ve been taking a little breakity break from blogging. There were lots of reasons, lots of things to do, lots of changes to be made in my life.

The long story has way too many layers to bore y’all to tears with, so the short story it will be…

My father’s death 1 1/2 years ago was very difficult and I have been in a funk ever since. You can even see it in my blogging, or lack thereof. I was in a miserable place both personally and professionally. I changed jobs last summer and got my professional life in order to the point it no longer weighed down my personal life where I was attempting to deal with loss and sadness. (I’m apparently still queen-of-the-run-on-sentence)

This spring I decided I needed to *ahem* grow a pair and work on my personal life. I made a list, as one does when one is as OCD as I tend to be. I realized I needed to fix SO MUCH CRAP in my own head that the only way through it was to sprinkle in some rewards to myself or I would be overwhelmed. I didn’t want to get to a point that I’d give up, my Daddy would not approve…

I began my Personal Reboot Challenge with simple things each week building on the success of the previous week. Some things were easy, like ditching soda. Others were very flipping difficult, like working out every day and quitting smoking. I’m 3 months in and happy to report that I have completed the list, kept all the good habits and not reverted to the old bad ones! There were small rewards along the way…a Runza hamburger, fries & a Dr. Pepper (OMG ~ hated it after eating healthy for so long), and with the money I’d saved by not purchasing cigarettes I got fancy & expensive hand-dyed yarn, and a new set of crochet hooks. But the pièce de résistance was to finally make myself a studio space in my itty bitty house. It took a ton of work, and even organizing an 8-family garage sale, but I did it!

I have emptied out the basement living room, and I’m in the process of making myself at home in my very own studio.

Here are a couple of pics with my progress so far.

I still need to move 2 more of the white cabinets into my space, hang some art on the walls, and to find the right office chair…but I’m on my way.

Thanks for stopping by

Have a lovely day!

crochet:: something new…sari silk yarn

I’ve told myself time and time again to STOP BUYING novelty yarn!!

But I don’t listen to me all that well.

Isn’t this stuff absolutely divine??

I’ve started a few scarves as Christmas gifts with this beautiful stuff.

It’s scooped up threads at the sari factory spun into yarn. Yay for recycling and upcycling.

And that my friends, inspired me to do a little facelift on the old blogster.

Whatcha think?

crochet:: my masterpiece is complete

And the funniest part?

I have stats.

21 months

145 colors

254+ hours

16,747 (approx) yards of yarn

And the most impressive stat of all…

244,896 stitches

Boom.

~before washing~

~after 1st shrinking wash~

We’re going to give it the 2nd shrinking wash today. I fully expect that it will have decreased by 1/3 in size…but we absolutely love it.

This has been my ALL-TIME FAV afghan ever.

And I don’t usually say things like that, because let’s face it afghans take forever to make and if the stitch, yarn, or pattern is a bore/hassle/frustration, I’m just satisified the experience is over. This one was pure bliss all the way around.

I loved the yarn:: Knit Picks Palette (they don’t pay me btw, but they have been PIVOTAL in changing my mind regarding fibre choice & I will most definitely purchasing from them again. Just sharing my personal thought as a customer.)

I loved the stitch:: ch, sl st, dc (can you say mindless so I can watch seasons of Sons of Anarchy, Game of Thrones, and tons of football??)

I loved the pattern:: 14 round grannies/join as you go (I could always keep a square or 2 in my purse with me)

The finished product is exactly what I was looking for. Warm and squishy, soft and cozy, and my very first large-scale 100% wool blanket.

I love it when a project is successful. I’ve decided this is a family heirloom.

My son asked me how much time & money I spent on it. So I told him & showed him my stats.

Then he asked:: Why didn’t you just buy a new comforter?

He is no longer in the will.

crochet:: a little thing called a mid-life crisis

OK, I am confessing here and now that this particular birthday bothered me.

It’s just a number. But I really DO NOT like my number right now.

Moving on.

I was given a LoVeLy birthday surprise party and I had to share the yarny parts.

~cutest cake~

~the most AmAzeBaLls yarn bowl a hooker could ever want~

I love my friends.

Have a ridiculously amazing day 🙂

crochet:: no more sleeps, it’s tomorrow right now

Hello my friends in yarn!

You guys had fantabulicious fun-word-of-the-day submissions.

Thanks so much for playing along.

Without further ado and because it’s past my bedtime on a school night, the winners are::

Patricia Ponte

Wynn

HappyCat13

Deirdre McKinnie

Congrats y’all!

I would also like to add that had HappyCat not won any yarn, she would have gotten the honorable mention for the word pupfartlet. I can’t say that one without a giggle 😉

I would also like to tell you all again thank you for visiting my little corner of the interwebz and that I truly wish I had enough stash yarn to send you all because that was a whole lot of fun.

Now, if the 4 winners will please shoot me an email (yarnchic40@yahoo.com) with a mailing address, I will get these all out on Saturday morning. Because I work days. Even though I wish I were retired. I have till 2032 until retirement. So yeah, I’ll be mailing it all on Saturday morning. Time to make the donuts.

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