Friday Fortius

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Glow Critters

Two more of my students are turning eight this month and getting baptized next month. So out come the glow-in-the-dark yarn and crochet hook again! I'm making glow critters from white yarn because the kids wear white for their baptism, and I use glow in the dark yarn to symbolize the Light of Christ. All the kids in my class can tell me now why I make them white glow critters! Object lesson mission achieved!

When the kids saw my January creation, a bat, by request, each of them wanted something different when their birthdays came.

After my February creation, a snake, by request, all the rest of the kids started wanting snakes! That intensified when the four-son family of the sole boy in my class adopted TWO real live snakes as pets. His weekly tales keep my kiddos snake charmed!

As the year has rolled along, some of the kids are expressing their desire for different animals again, but a couple still want snakes!!!

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Noro Days

(Can't you just hear Bruce singing Noro Days?!? Now it will be in your head, with modified words, all day!!!) More than a decade ago, probably closer to a decade and a half ago, I was on a sock yarn kick. I bought every clearance skein I could find. I knitted or crocheted socks for all my female friends for Christmas. I still to this day have bins of luscious yarn, sometimes in color combinations that don't really tickle my toes anymore. At one time, though, those hanks of crazy sock colors were like buried treasure every time I found a new sale.

Noro definitely was my favorite. I bought quite a bit (not sock yarn) in one colorway fully intending to knit a sweater that winter. I also have a bunch of gorgeous purple silk sock yarn which also was supposed to be a sweater. They go together so well, perhaps I can craft something using both stashes one day...

During sleepless nights, I sometimes dig through my sock yarn bins and work up little Etsy projects with that exquisite sock yarn – in sometimes unusual colors. I was kind of looking for a project I remembered starting but never finishing a long, long time ago. I can still remember how that yarn used to make me smile. And I knew if I had my chance, I could make my crochet hook dance. And maybe I'd be happy for a while... (And now you'll have THAT song in your head, with modified words, all day long!)

I remembered designing this purse back in 2010 or so, and I would hunt for it whenever I had a few minutes of nothing else to do. I finally found it a few weeks ago, but not in the sock yarn stash. It was buried beneath a pile of beautiful black, satin-like vest lining leftovers. Along with a second purse I didn't even remember making!!!

Both were crafted with Noro highlights left over from projects I made back in my Noro days. Both needed to be lined, and both were stashed safely away for the day I could get around to hand-stitching a lining. That day has come. I cut linings for both this week, pinned the linings in place, then packed the unfinished bags in my neat little quilted crochet bag (formerly carried weekdays aboard the commuter train) so I can hand stitch the linings into place whenever I get a chance. I'm really hoping I'll be able to list them in my Etsy shop soon! Because they are so totally unique!

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What Shawl I Do?

I don't have as much time to craft these days, and I'm so far behind, I don't need new patterns. Or new fabric. Or new yarn. So what did I do last December but buy a large crochet octopus pattern that will use up at least 246 of my 2,000+ pony beads? I HAVE to have a crocheted octopus in my garden, right???

I already have more WIPs than I can finish in one lifetime. Why on earth did I buy a new pattern??? Because it was so friggin' adorable!!!

So I HAD to buy (online) some beautiful gradient worsted yarn to make the octopus. Turns out, though, the yarn is not worsted. It’s thinner (and way splittier) than sock yarn. (I actually plan to try making an octopus with thread, but I'll wait until I've finished a few more WIPs.) (Maybe.) I could easily make this pattern work with sock yarn, but this new yarn is just too splitty to work tightly. Yes, I tried. And I truly gave it my best shot. I literally wanted to throw my embryo octopus out the window before starting the second tentacle.

Nevertheless, I couldn’t wait to use the gorgeous new (splitty) yarn because the colors are so pretty. Yes, you guessed it. I started yet another new project. Because I really like the pattern. Actually, I LOVE the pattern. It's one of my own. And I can crochet loosely, which makes the yarn a little tiny bit easier to use. If I work on the new shawl a bit (almost) every night before bed and don't skip too many nights, it's not really a WIP, right???

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Snowflake Monday

Today was going to be another No Flake Monday because I didn't have time to work up a new pattern last week. Amidst a plethora of (routine) medical appointments for Lizard last week, I ordered some white glow-in-the-dark yarn from Amazon to crochet a bat for the 7-year-old in my Sunday school class who is turning 8 tomorrow. (I've crocheted bat appliques for her birthdays the last three years because bats are her most beloved animal.) That means she's getting baptized this weekend. Hence the color white. And the glow symbolizes the light of Christ.

The yarn arrived Friday night, and I actually finished the bat before bedtime that night. We had snow on Saturday, and I once again spent way too much time shooting snowflakes I'll likely be editing for the next two or three weeks. :) No complaints. After church on Sunday, I worked up this quick and easy flake because this yarn is so awesome! It isn't too splitty (some of the glow yarn I've tried is darn near unworkable), it really glows, and the snowflake I made doesn't need to be stiffened!!! Oh, and there's enough yarn left in the skein to crochet a snake for my next 8-year-old-to-be in February. (Each of the other kids excitedly told me their favorite animals after they saw the bat, so I will have to order more yarn for March's unicorn, October's rooster and cat, November's polar bear and December's unicorn.) Click the yarn photo if you'd like to check out the yarn. I don't receive any compensation for sharing the link. I've fallen helplessly in love with the yarn, and the kids absolutely love the bat!

You may do whatever you'd like with snowflakes you make from this pattern, but you may not sell or republish the pattern. Thanks, and enjoy! (Yes, I'll share photos of the bat on Thursday, so make sure to come back!)

Finished Size: 2.25 inches from point to point
Materials: Size E (or desired size) crochet hook, fingering or light sport-weight yarn OR glow yarn OR size 3 crochet thread

Nimble Snowflake Instructions

Make magic ring.

Round 1: 6 sc in ring; sl st tightly in starting sc. Pull magic circle tight.

Round 2: Ch 2 (counts as 1 sc and [ch 1), 1 sc in next sc] 5 times; ch 1, sl st tightlyin 1st ch of starting ch 2.

Round 3: Ch 1 (counts as 1 sc), [2 sc in next ch 1 sp, 1 sc in next sc] 5 times; 2 sc in next ch 1 sp, sl st tightly in starting ch 1.
If you're not reading this pattern on Snowcatcher, you're not reading the designer's blog. Please go here to see the original.

Round 4: Ch 1 (counts as 1 sc), [2 sc in next sc, 1 sc in each of next 2 sc] 5 times; 2 sc in next sc; sl st tightly in starting ch 1.

Round 5: Ch 1 (counts as 1 sc), [1 sc in next sc, 1 fpdc around post of Round 2 sc directly below, 1 sc in each of next 2 sc] 6 times, omitting last 2 sc of final repeat; sl st tightly in starting ch 1.

Round 6: Ch 2 (counts as 1 sc and ch 1), sl st in 2nd ch from hook, 1 sc in each of next 4 st), in next st work (1 sc, ch 1, sl st in sc just made, 1 sc)] 6 times; sl st tightly into 1st ch of starting ch 2; bind off. Weave in ends.

Finish: This one doesn't have to be stiffened!!!

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Wordless Wednesday

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Dip Dyeing Away

The avocado pit dye jars are empty, possibly for the season, and the yarn and thread are ready to be crocheted into projects!

I'd started a new batch of dye back in spring because I needed freezer space that was being hogged up by avocado pits from the last year or so. I stuck a new hank of wool yarn into the dye in May but then had to transfer it to a new container in July after the neighborhood bear played soccer with the plastic pretzel jar I'd been using for avocado dye projects for years. I used two first dips, meaning I used fresh dye twice, on this hank of yarn, hoping to get a really rich color. Now that a ton of tint has been absorbed, oh, how I hope this hank holds its color!!!

I'd stuck a hank of crochet thread in with the yarn in the recycled glass canned peaches jar with fresh avocado dye that had soaked in the sun (in the living room window during winter and on the porch as soon as overnight frost danger passed) for about seven months, hoping to get a darker hue on both the yarn and the thread. The thread, which initially was dipped in a jar of avocado pit dye that had already been used at least twice, really needed more pigment. Now it looks awesome!!!

All my dyed fibers get a Synthopol bath followed by a strawberry Suave shampoo bath followed by a strawberry Suave conditioner rinse. The Synthropol supposedly helps the dye cling to the fiber, and the strawberry (or cherry blossom or peach or whatever fragrant Suave products happen to be on the grocery store shelves) makes the washing process fun because it smells so good.

Now all the ammonia and crushed avocado pits are nurturing soil and flowers in the garden. The thread is dried and wound into a ball. The yarn is on the drying rack and will be wound into a ball as soon as it dries. I think I discovered the cure to drought... Set the drying rack outside to help speed the process, and the rain comes a tumblin' down!!! Ha ha ha!

When I finished washing the yarn and got ready to hang it on the drying rack, I found another hank of avocado-dyed yarn from last year hanging there that somehow had been forgotten.

Now it's in a ball and waiting with 11 other wound balls to be crocheted into a poncho I've had brewing in my head since my second trip to The Wave on Valentine's Day 2014. Yes, I've been avocado pit-dyeing wool yarn one hank at a time for eight and a half years to create my dream project!!!

The thread project has been in progress for three years. It's really slow-going. I used to work on it during my weekday train commutes and then while I had to wait in the car during Lizard' physical therapy during the pandemic. I haven't totally figured out a routine new block of crochet time. Yet I think this project is going to be SO beautiful. The pattern will be on my blog for an upcoming Snowflake Monday when I finish what I think will be a shawl...

Now I finally have enough yarn to begin designing the poncho!!! (Which I hope will work up faster because yarn is bigger than thread...)

Linking up with Alycia Quilts.

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Jarred

I haven't wanted to do any dyeing for a while now because I haven't used up the yarn and thread I've already dyed. But summer is solar-dyeing season, and I needed space in my freezer that had been devoted to future avocado pits dye projects.

So, I ordered another half dozen hanks of bare Felici. Just love the softness of this yarn!!! And it takes up the dye so beautifully!

While I waited for the yarn to arrive, I put the frozen avocado pits in my thrift store blender on the porch and made four more jars of dye, which sat in the sun for a few weeks, solar brewing.

When the new yarn arrived, I prepared the first hank for dyeing and stuck it in fresh dye.

I also had a hank of crochet thread I'd already solar-dyed with avocado pits, but it had been a third or fourth dip. I try to soak up every single drop of tint I can get befoe I discard the ammonia-soaked avocado pit mush into the flower garden. (Helps keep critters away from the flowers, and turns hydrangeas, delphiniums and larkspur bluer.) This particular hank of crochet thread didn't take up much color; there probably wasn't much pigment left! I decided to overdye the pale sandstone thread and stuck it in the jar with the yarn because I already have enough pale avocado crochet thread. I'd really like to have more deep, dark rich browns and reds for the motif project I've been working on for more than three years.

My best avocado pit dyeing results have been when I let the dye (in airtight glass jars) sit in the sun for six or seven months. Dye with barely a couple of months of sun hadn't produced much hue on the fiber when I was forced to take it out of the plastic pretzel jar... One of Smokey the Bear's relatives made a surprise late-night visit and rolled the jar all over the backyard trying to get it open, presumably because the bruin couldn't tell from the smell this wasn't healthy eatin'.

Sorry I have no photos other than the puncture wounds in the jar's lid! I wonder if the bear knows how lucky he was that he couldn't get into the ammonia-laced dye?

Back into a glass jar with more fresh avocado pit dye the yarn went. I'll let it sit for a while again before I check the color, which I hope will be darker.

The thread is almost exactly what I was hoping for, though, so I'm going to go ahead and wind it into a ball so it can commiserate with the rest of the avocado-dyed crochet thread stash before they get transformed into motif magic!

Linking up with Alycia Quilts.

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