COMPLETED - Summer Scarf!

Well, school and my 'other' business have kept me a bit busy, so I've not been crocheting as much as I used to...but I did take out enough time to make this beaut! It's only a "simple" scarf, but hey, when opportunity knocks...

This is a simple summer scarf in Lily Sugar and Cream -- too thin and hole-riddled to be useful in the winter, but just the right colors to be worn in the summer and through the early fall. A great colorful addition to a "boring" outfit!

Snarkel Series - Top in Progress

Hat is taking too long too, which shocks me if only because I remember the last hat going really fast. I guess that's what happens when you look at your colors too much...

The idea behind the body of this hat is to use the solid blue and swap it out tapestry-crochet style for the multi-color yarn when it reaches its own blue sections, creating an awesome tye-dye effect in the striping. It gives me more control over the color layout of the hat, so it looks less chaotic and more purposeful as a result. It's a great way to use the multicolor yarn without it screaming "Store-bought yarn!", which can only be a bonus.

The drawback, like I said though, is that it slows me down because I'm still looking at the yarn too much. I'm hoping to finish this, but I

WREK Backpack Series - COMPLETE!

This piece took me too long to finish! Well, at least it's done, and it looks gorgeous... but OH was it painful to work on.

Final Yarn Count: Needed a little more black than I'd expected, but nothing beyond the 2 skeins of black I expected (just barely!) Plenty of white left over though.

Pattern Survival: The straps were altered towards the end because I was convinced the closure was off. The straps seem a little too thin now (and they're too short for the boyfriend's use -- oops) but they work.

Frogging Factor: Check your tapestry sheet. I messed up a couple of times on this bag, and had to rip out three rows at one point because the bottom part of the K was too thin. Ouch. Messed up in a few other places as well, but because they were blackspace errors I just left those in.

Comfort Level: Super comfy once finished, so long as the strap size is right.

Do it again? Not without a BIG incentive to do so. Single crochet all the way around for a tube that large? WAY too time intensive. The end result is awesome for sure, but the effort single crochet takes is an easy ticket to crampsville.

Legalese: I have the permission of WREK Atlanta to make this bag for my own personal use. You don't. Please ask nicely before reproducing the WREK logo, or better yet, make a bag with your own logo on it. :) As a bonus, your logo might be smaller and so you can save your hands some pain anyway.

Snarkel Series - Planning

Well, the radio station is starting to take notice of the backpack, so the next likely project to do is one for a friend, who wants... well... an odd little piece. Literally, "A snorkel on a hat".

Well, who am I to argue? Except I think having multiple bits is better than just one... the example pattern shows three merged into one, and I think I can pull it off just fine. A little yarn mixing to make sure the snorkel bits sit up before I work on the actual beanie, and since I already have the right colors in Lily "Sugar and Cream" cotton yarn, this should come out perfectly funky.

Of course, I need to finish up my other pieces before I get to work on this one... and since I have a general deadline of "before the semester's over", I should work quickly! I'm gonna have to delay the Sushi-rae further to do it, but eh...

WREK Backpack Series - Progress Report

Well, I want to try to finish this bag before MomoCon as it'll likely be my best shot to show the bag off as an artistic work, but I'm torn between doing that and getting a few of my other art projects ready in time, not to mention the whole "I have major projects due in every course before spring break" issue.

This is a slightly old picture, but it's the next as far as progress goes. The large letters are coming in QUITE large, to the point I almost wonder if the bag is going to be much bigger than I expected just because the roundness was so deceptive. Then again, it's not like having a big bag is ever a bad thing.

WREK Backpack Series - Base Complete

Many more rows have been added to our initial base since we last saw it, as you might be able to guess just by looking at the size of the crochet hook compared to the rest of the work now. The tapestry crochet has already begun as the sides begin to form (so that the logo doesn't feel "thicker" than the surrounding stitches) All the white's been used for so far is foundation and that two-row stripe where we stop counting the 'bottom' of the bag and start thinking about the design.

The white yarn's going to be used for more than just the logo; The top of the bag and the strap(s) should also be trimmed in white to help pull in the color scheme more, so we have some actual fashion in this versus just "Let's make a backpack with the logo on it". Also, the whole "let's do the entire bag as through it were tapestry" allows for less tie-offs (which, while they don't affect the integrity of the bag, can be messy) and a little more freedom in the work itself. I'm halfway tempted to find a way to include my signature on the body-side of the bag (i.e. where it won't be normally visible) as a bit of an ego-kick and also as an experiment to see how such an idea would come out.

By the way, see those red circles? Say hello to my stitch markers. They're going to help me center the WREK logo in the right place. There's one at the roughly center point (subject to adjustment when we actually start) and the other one is 30 stitches ahead of it (I work clockwise because I'm right-handed) so I can start counting from that point. Once I have the first row of tapestry started, this process should become much easier.

... I am a little disappointed that the bag is only a little bigger than my handprint though. Apparently when I thought this was going to be huge I was thinking in terms of my wool.

WREK Backpack Series - The Base

Just a progress report on the bottom of the WREK backpack. Because I like to do most of my projects in the round, the backpack starts at the bottom and builds up from there.

The base is just a flat foundation chain of 5 with a shell stitch on top; everything else is crocheted around this, with some gradual adding of stitches (for the circular portion) and some corners (for the flat section). The goal is to get the circular section up to 50-60 stitches, so the logo can stay mostly on the curvature.

The base is being done with two bits of yarn in order to give it further stability, along with providing an easy way for me to switch one of them to white for the Tapestry Crochet later on. Also... we ARE talking the bottom of the bag here. It deserves to have a little extra support since it'll have to hold more weight than the rest.