A few new Chain Maille Pieces

I have a few new pieces up for sale - right now they are only available through my Facebook page, but I hope to have them in my Etsy Shop by the weekend.

Oriental 12 in 1Chain Maille Rainbow cuff bracelet

Caged Beads Chain Maille Bracelet

Caged Pearls Chain Maille Earrings

Helm and Byzantine weave Chain Maille Bracelet

Caged Beads Chain Maille Earrings - pick your color

Oriental 12 in 2 Chain Maille Necklace

Scale Maille Flower pendant on woven cord

Caged Pearls Chain Maille Necklace

Peter Pan Collar Chain Maille Necklace in Oriental 12 in 1

Linked Byzantine Wave Chain Maille Bracelet

Caged Beads Chain Maille Bracelet

Caged Beads Chain Maille Necklace

Caged Beads Chain Maille Bracelet

Elfin Style Caged Pearl Earrings

Sock Drama - continues!

So, it's official, I'm addicted to making socks.  I'm still working on getting a better toe, so here is the plan - I'm going to try working from the center out.  These socks are for a friend for Christmas - so you won't be seeing this until after she does...but you can follow along on the journey as it goes.

So, her foot is somewhere abound a size 10 - 11.  Since I can't very well ask her to measure her feet for me, I'm using the chart from My Jewel Thief Knitting Blog.  I'm going for a size 11.  The chart says the heel to toe measurement should be 8 3/4" and the toe should be 2". This will make the foot from toe to heel turn 10 3/4"  I make my medium socks 45 stitches around and decided that adding 5 stitches should do the job.  I chained 50 and carefully joined it, then I began doing rounds of 50 Extended single crochets.  Here it is after 10 rows.  The sock is worked inside out - so this is the wrong side.  When I get the right length, I'll take another pic of the right side.

 

I'm using a Susan Bates D hook with Deborah Norville Serenity Sock Weight yarn in Teal Tease. The Heel, Toe and ribbed top will be done in Deborah Norville Serenity Sock Weight yarn in sky blue. 

Here is the completed foot (the maroon thread running through is just a marker for the beginning of the rounds).  There are a total of 41 rounds including the chain and first round - moving on to the toe and heel now.  The toe will be a series of decreases and the heel will be done with the short row technique.  I'll try to remember to get pics of the process.  It's really quite simple once you get the hang of it.   I'll be starting with 27 stitches and each row, you leave the last stitch unworked.  When I get down to 16 stitches, I'll reverse the process and increase back up to the 27 original stitches while working down to the previous row to pick up the unworked stitch with a SC and a slip stitch for reinforcement.  

I've started the toe with 1 SC in each stitch.  I put a marker in at the 25th stitch and the 50th stitch.  Every other row I'm doing a decrease before and after the marker for a total of 4 decreases in every even row.

 

After the 11th row, I'll slip stitched the opening together, tie off and weave in the threads. 

 

Now, onto the heel.  I'll be doing the short row technique.  I'm going to start with 27 SC in this sock and continue working back and forth reducing each row by not working the last stitch in each row until I get down to 17 stitches.

First Few Rows

 

Decreases done (15 stitches left)

Starting increases and working in the unworked stitch from the row below

The heel will start to curl up

Halfway through the heel turn

Heel turn completed

From here, I do 1 row of HDC to rejoin the heel to the foot of the sock and close the gap by stitching 3 together in the gap and start the petite shell stitch.  (sc,ch3,sc into same stitch skip a stitch and repeat and join).  After the initial 'set up' round of petite shell, it's a sc, ch3, sc into each ch3.

after 1 round of HDC, Petite shell 'set up round and 1 round of petite shell

 

18 rounds of petite shell completed

After the 18th round of petite shell, I did 1 round of DC followed by 6 rounds of FP/BP ribbing

 Completed sock (though I might do 2 more rows of ribbing using the contrasting color to pull the whole thing together.

 Yeah - I decided to do the last 2 rows of ribbing and I'm glad I did!

This mess sat in my scrap pile for almost 2 years. I had gotten it in a swap 100% merino hand painted - darn expensive stuff. It came in one of those double twisted balls. I started taking it apart without the first clue what I was doing and created this mess...I cried and threw it in the pile - until Friday - It was mocking me and and my destashing New Years resolution, so I sucked it up and tore into it - 7 hours later, I had a ball of frankensteined yarn

2 days later - I have my favorite socks so far.  It was all worth it!  All is right with the world.

My first foray into sock land

Well, the time came, I ran out of excuses and this yarn had been teasing me long enough.  I took a deep breath, shut myself up in a closet with a pattern, my computer (for youtube tutorials), a D hook, my yarn - which I'll get into later and a pair of scissors.  It was time to suck it up and try a pair of socks.

The yarn - 2 years ago, I was gifted with a 370 yard hank of hand painted, 100% merino wool called Lollipop Guild by Sunshine Yarns.  She has some amazing stuff in all colors and weights.  The yarn I was gifted is superfine fingering weight, the kind used for socks.  I loved it - touched it just about every day and dreamed of the day I would have a pair of socks made from this skein of dreamyness.  Yesterday, I decided it was time.  These socks were not going to make themselves.  I can crochet (I can even knit if I have to) but the yarn couldn't do it by itself...so....

The fear - HEELS!  They look impossible and patterns for them read like a foreign language to me.  Quite frankly, they scare me to death.  So I searched the internet, I searched You Tube and finally found a video that deciphered the cryptography that is sock heels.  Who knew that the heels would be the least of my troubles.

The Toe - I first picked up an old skein of baby yarn from my stash and tried out a practice sock...the heel was pretty straight forward, but I really didn't like the toe.  It was sort of triangular and looked weird.  So I had the brilliant idea that I would try to figure out a better way to do it - 4 hours later, I picked up the good stuff and went back to the original plan.  I crocheted and frogged about 100 times before finally giving up and going with the tried and true.  It was also pointed out that once it's on, it shapes to your foot and doesn't look triangular and funky.

The Foot - this was without a doubt the easiest part...25 rounds of 45 extended single crochets

Back to the Heel - First you decrease...

Then you increase and join to the row below - it's called 'turning the heel'

The Cuff -  I couldn't figure out how it was going to end up not having a divot where the sole and heel join, but as I worked the cuff - it just sort of went away.  If anyone can explain the physics behind that, I would love to hear it.

The hard part here was figuring out the math - damn my math teacher who swore I would actually need that crap in real life!  I wanted to do a cable pattern ending in a rib at the top and had to figure out how to spread it evenly over the stitches I had to work with.  Graphs, Charts and a calculator later, I think it ended up pretty close.

so...the finished product still looked a bit angular, and maybe a bit odd sized...

But, once it was on my foot, it was the sock I had always dreamed of.

Now...do you think I can duplicate it or will my other foot just be cold forever?

The gifting season is here!

Well, Black Friday is over and so is Cyber Monday, but I'm not over the gifting sales craze yet.  All month I plan on running sales for my Facebook fans.  Right now I'm running a sale on all things geeky!  If you've got someone to buy for that's a Doctor Who, Star Trek, Star Wars Fan or a gamer, I've got something for you.

Doctor Who Simple Bracelet - Available in Child or Adult sizes

Super Mario Charm Bracelet

Star Wars Stitch Markers - for Knit or Crochet

I've got a show coming up on the 5th of December and I couldn't decide if I wanted to to all Jewelry or add in a few crochet items - so I decided to do a bit of each and as with all shows, I try to add a new design or two...so for Jewelry, I've done a few intricate Memory Wire Bracelets done with Tubular Peyote beads...

Egyptian Dreams in glass and crystal

Deep Forrest in Glass, Crystal and Stone

As for the new crochet items for the show, I've started doing owl hats and a one off minion hat!  The owl hats can be done in just about any color combo you can imagine and all sizes.  This minion is toddler size and I'm trying to make up my mind if I should offer other sizes as well.

Pink and Yellow Owl hat with bows - toddler size

Minion in toddler size

If you're interested in any of these items, please click the links to message me through my Facebook page or contact me by E-mail.  I plan on having these items in my Etsy shop after the show if there are any left :)

So,  I've been crocheting up a storm and have discovered the joys of baby photo props and Cable stitch (sometimes together).

As far as the photo props, I'm still looking for a photographer to work with.  I'm willing to do a deposit for pics or discount for pics deal.  If you or someone you know is interested, please contact me.  Most of the props are available in my Etsy shop.  Here's the link so I don't overload you with pictures. FC Etsy Shop.

Just for a sneak peak - here is the Mermaid Set and Football Helmets:

As far as the cables go - Can you say Mittens and Fingerless gloves?  I think I'm addicted.  So far these are not up on either Etsy or my Website, but they are available through my Facebook page.  Please come check it out and like my page.  I always offer my newest stuff to my Facebook fans first and I run exclusive sales on the page as well.
You can find me HERE on Facebook.

 These are actually a true red, they photographed weird.

 Dusty Rose Fingerless Gloves done in Caron Simply Soft yarn

Grey rag wool mittens - 100% wool - a bit scratchy, but warm

Teal Mittens in Caron Simply Soft. These are my favorite.












Lastly, If you're already thinking about Christmas like I am, These apple cozys make a great teacher gift.  Only $6.00 each and you get to choose your colors.

More on the Granny Sweaters

Thought I would share some additional pictures of these awesome sweaters.  They are very versitile.

This is a long one that I did on a cotton/linen blend.  I just added MANY more rows to the hem before adding the collar and trim

A multi colored stash buster with a belt

Another multi colored stash buster 

 Another multi colored stash buster