Crackpot Quilters’ Blog

by Ann

Now that it is time to be getting Serious about Christmas, I have been working at finishing the counted cross stitch ornaments that I made for my two Hungarian grandchildren, Blanka and Kristof,  last winter. I started on them shortly after Christmas when I am usually inspired to do things Christmasy, and finished the stitching sometime in March or thereabouts. Then they got put aside in favor of more fun stuff, like the beginning of the nativity set I am making for James. I remembered to bring them here to the CLH for finishing and just got them done. Each one is backed with a piece of stiff cardboard and finished with a piece of small-print Christmas fabric. I forgot to take a photo of the backs, and I am too lazy to get the camera out again, so you will just have to imagine what they look like. The backs are cute but boring.

Now I just have to shop for some gifts for the grown-ups. Not nearly as much fun.

by Nancy
I realized recently that I was committing a major fashion faux pas by wearing my off-white gloves with my black and blue-purple winter jacket, so the obvious solution to the problem was to crochet myself some black mittens! I looked around for a little while at some possible patterns and then decided to give one a try. The first pattern I tried is from the Coats and Clark website and uses standard worsted weight yarn. This mitten is the first from the left. I like how the ribbing turned out, but for some reason the transition from the ribbing to the main mitten is very tight. Also, the top of the mitten looks a little odd where it finished off. I didn’t even bother to do the thumb because I wasn’t happy with the mitten. So, I tried pattern number two, from the Bernat website. This is the middle mitten in the picture. It uses a chunky weight yarn. I like the shape of the mitten and the thickness of the bulky yarn, but the hand part of the mitten turned out too short, and the ribbing is too loose and too short. So, it was time for mitten number three, the last one in the picture. I mainly used the same Bernat pattern as for mitten number two, but went pack to regular worsted weight yarn and used the ribbing instructions for mitten #1. Once I got to the end of the ribbing, I used two strands of worsted weight yarn to try to recreate the thickness of the bulky yarn. And I made it longer in the fingers than the directions call for. I’m quite pleased with how it turned out! It feels like it will be very warm. Now all I have to do is remember what changes I made to the pattern so I can make a second mitten to match the first!

by Nancy

Here’s a look at my largest crochet project to date – a cardigan for myself! The pattern is pretty simple -it’s half double crochet throughout. It’s made with a bulky yarn, so it works up quite quickly. The top picture is the completed back of the sweater. The bottom picture is a close-up so you can see the yarn more closely.
P.S. This post was made from my phone!