WIP no more

I don't know about other crafts, but in crochet, a WIP is a work in progress. This sweater has been a WIP for oh, about six years now. I started it when I found out my sister was going to have a baby. That baby is now in kindergarten and will turn six in March.

The problem was that the pattern is dreadfully written.

However, once I set my mind to it and sat down and stared at the photo, the thing only took about 6 hours to complete ... including sewing all the pieces together and weaving in all the ends. If I'd only known.

Here are the pieces I'd completed six years ago, all wrinkled from sitting in a bag for all that time.

And here's me striking a pose with the finished item. I put it in the mail this morning!

Woolly goodness

Here's a scarf I wove up back in July. I had bought one huge skein of "Duet" yarn at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival back in May, and it sat there begging to be used. This yarn is so pretty that I wanted a simple structure to show off the colors, so I used plain weave (basically under one thread, over the next). The yarn comes from Brooks Farm in Lancaster, Texas and is kid mohair and fine wool.

Yummy sleeves

My husband's aunt owns an alpaca farm in Virginia, and she gave us some huge cones of alpaca yarn. I found a pattern in the most recent issue of Interweave Crochet for an alpaca shrug (or as I like to call them, "sleeves") which looked too scrumptious to pass up. So I doubled the brown yarn and started crocheting away. I didn't like the striping on the pattern, so I did a few stripes of single crochet directly on top of my previous rows. There's a name for this but I can't remember it.

Hoo boy are these things warm. (Thanks to Sheila for suggestion this use of the alpaca in the first place!)

I know, I know

It's been forever since I last posted anything. I've been a bit of a slacker, it's true. But it's possible that a tiny bit of productivity might be heading my way soon.

Meanwhile, here's a little project I did for my niece Ruby, who turned 3 on September 24. It's actually woven, not crocheted, from cord, using two Weavette looms to make four pieces, which are then sewn together. Since it's made from cord I'm hoping it'll hold up to the ravages of the average 3-year-old girl. I got the pattern from a recent Handwoven magazine. The strap is crocheted. Ordinarily I would never make anything quite so lurid, but it was for a 3-year-old, so really you can't go wrong with pink and purple.

I also scored a major coup with what I put inside the purse. Apparently upon seeing what was there, Ruby clutched it to her chest and said, loudly, to her sister (another pink lipstick-loving princess), "This is MINE, Lilly!" Heh.