Spring Crochet roundup

Happy first day of spring!

It's still very cold here in the mid west.  I had to defrost my car this morning before I could drive anywhere!  But spring is officially here by the calendar and Easter is right around the corner. 

Spring, to me, means longer hours of daylight, flowers, baby animals and spring cleaning.  But we'll put the cleaning off for another day.

I'm "celebrating" the first day of spring by making up a list of things to do until I run out of time to do them (does anyone else have this problem?). I went shopping this morning, then sat down to have breakfast. I picked up my computer and read a bit of computer coding lessons online then picked up my paper to make some notes, coming up with an idea for this blog post in the midst of it.  I put down the notes, and opened my blog only to start writing and realize I never put my groceries away. I was putting my groceries away when I remembered I hadn't done laundry yet...  One of those days, you know what I mean? So I am going to finish something (this post) first before going on to the next thing (laundry) today. Just forget the list, Kendra, it does you no good!

This post is about spring. Spring crochet, to be exact.  There are a couple ways to celebrate spring with yarn.  Spring animal amigurumi and spring apparel are my favorites.  Here are a few links I enjoy:

• These free hatching chicks from Toma Creations
• This bunny bottom garland from Love the Blue Bird
• This amazing crocheted flowers wreath for £3.50 (Great Britain Pound) from Mandy O'Sullivan (that would be about $4.91 USD)
• This lacy poncho on yourcrochet.com
• This lacy lightweight scarf found on Yarn Obsession-this one has a video tutorial too!

There are hundreds of other patterns to be found, do you have a favorite?  Share your links in the comments below and let the rest of us see them.  Have fun with your spring crochet!

sweater alteration

the sweater

I got a few more items from Aunt J  that  love but need to alter.  This sweater with the beautiful dark red color is one of them.  The problem is the little upside down v shape in the front of the hemline.  when I raise my hand to brush my hair out of my eyes (which I do a lot!) my belly shows. If I was 20 years younger (and 20 pounds lighter) it may not bother me so much.  But as it is...

the lace

I've been wanting to work with lace for a while now.  I'm turning 40 in a couple weeks and I've noticed my tastes have changed.  I'm trying to dress like an adult (my husband's words, not mine).  So I thought this might be a good opportunity to do so.  I couldn't find a wide band of lace at our local WalMart so I had to make some.  Knitting is tedious and time consuming so I decided to crochet it instead. I wish I had thread that matched the color of the sweater but I didn't so I used white.  White goes with everything, right? I found the pattern for this lace on Pinterest, which linked to this page.  I wasn't sure how much to make, but I wanted to possibly go around the sleeves to tie it together so I made more than I thought I needed.  It's a good thing I did!

carefull!

I used the crochet thread that I made the lace with to sew it by hand to the inside hem of the sweater.  I used a small yarn needle.  It doesn't have a sharp point to snag on the threads and it has an eye big enough for the thread to go through easily.  First I turn the sweater inside out, then I slightly stretched the fabric before inserting the needle through 2 little threads at a time then back through the lace. I probably shouldn't have done that because being the hem of a sweater, it won't be stretching at all so the lace didn't need to have room to move.  If I had left it alone I may have had enough left over to go around the sleeves like I had planned.  It turns out that I had exactly enough to go around the bottom!

finished! you can see that "V" now

I wasn't planning on a ruffle, but I do like it as it turns out.  I think a tiny bit of skin still shows, but I'm much less self-conscious about it now.  Yesterday I wore another of Aunt J's sweaters and it was cut a bit high also.  I'm working on another strip of lace (my own design this time) to put around the bottom of it.  Do you alter your clothing?  I'm rather new to this but I'm having loads of fun!

closeup

 

lacy flower applique

Level: Experienced.
G hook and worsted weight yarn, ch 4. (dc, ch 1 in 4th ch from hook) 5 times. Join in 2nd ch of beginning ch 4 (6 dc, 6 ch 1)
2. ch 4. (yo, pull up loop in 4th ch from hook, ch 1 leaving 2 loops on hook, yo, pull through 2 loops, yo pull through 2 loops-Foundation double crochet (fdc) made.) Ch 1 (fdc ch 1) 3 more times. ch 3 more, sl st 3rd ch from hook (picot made)ch 1, (dc in base of fdc, ch 1)4 times.
3. sk dc ch 1 from previous row, sl st, repeat row 2until 4 petal are made.
4. *sk (dc, ch 1), sl st.sc in 3rd ch from previous row's ch 4. sc front loop only (flo) in each dc and ch 1 of petal, up one side, around picot(at point of picot, sc, picot (ch 3, sl st in 3rd ch from hook), sc), down the other side. sc in sl st at base of petal, repeat from * around all 4 petals. If changing colors, end with sl st after last sc in sl st and fasten off. attach new color in sc. If not changing colors, proceed without sl st . 
5. ch 5, (tr, ch1 in same sp) 8 times. working behind petal, sc in ch 1 sp of first row.working behind petal, *(tr, ch 1 in same sp) 9 times in sc between petals. working behind petal, sc in dc of first row repeat from * 2 more times. Join to 4th ch of beginning ch 5. If changing colors, fasten off and attach new color. If not changing colors, proceed. 
6.ch 30. sl st in 2nd ch froom hook and next 10 ch. ch 18. (dc, ch 1)4th ch from hook, 3 times, dc. sk 2 ch, sc in next, sk 2 ch *(dc, ch 1) 4 times, dc* in next, sk 2 ch, sc in next,*(dc, ch 1) 4 times, dc*, sk last 2 ch of this offshoot, sl st in next ch of stem.sl in next 10, ch 20. (dc, ch 1) in 4th ch from hook. (dc, ch 1, dc ch 1 dc) in same sp. sk 2, sc, sk 3, *(tr, ch 1) 4 times, tr* sk 3, sc. sk 2, *(dc ch 1) 4 times, dc* in next sp sk last 2 ch, sl st in next ch of stem.sl st in last 7 ch, fasten off.