I decided to attempt a new technique of crocheting 2 strands of yarn together. You can choose 2 complimentary (or contrasting) colors or 2 different textures of yarn for entirely new looks. My friend Sue, who donates yarn to me for creating soft comfort hats for cancer patients, presented me with a skein of Simply Soft Sunshine and a skein of Simply Soft Soft Sage. I decided they were nice colors and decided to make a hat holding both yarns together. It was turning out beautifully, a nice thick double crochet post and the colors were really very nice. It also ended up a bit stiffer than I'm used to, so I increased the size to compensate for the lack of stretch. WELL . . .
The hat soon became too large. I was holding it up on my palm with the top down and the sides up explaining to Sue that I would have to pull out a few rows to shrink the size, when she pointed out that it looked like a pretty basket! I looked at it again and sure enough, it was a pretty Spring basket! So I thought, "what the heck!" we'll use it as a candy dish in our department.
Long story short, I continued for a few more rows, topped it off with a crab stitch row and made a pretty little crocheted daffodil for the front and here is my Spring basket!
This weekend was also a Women's Health Fair at our small local hospital. This being the first year for this event, I decided to bring a small skein of yarn to keep me busy while waiting for some of the free sessions that were offered. I had a small amount of pink / white yarn from my very first cancer hat, so I thought I'd try my hand at making a necklace choker. I knew I had a couple of loose pendants (without chains) that might work nicely as charms on the choker, so I quickly worked up rows of a single crochet / double crochet pattern that looks pretty and in less than an afternoon, I had this great necklace. My hubby helped me chose the charm and button for the clasp and I finished this up lickety split!
The hat is beautiful----- oh, wait you made it into a basket....try reducing stitches and making it smaller. You must be like me, getting the stitching so tight makes it stiffer, try crochting looser. I know it's hard to do, but that would really make a lovely hat!
ReplyDeleteand I love the necklace.
Verna, I know. I make hats for cancer patients and was going to take out the rows that were too big when there were only 2 to unravel, but my co-workers loved the bowl idea so much that I went with it and kept the stitches tight. I added the daffodil on the front because I've been crocheting "holiday / seasonal" items for our department this past year and we didn't have anything for Spring. So instead of a hat, this is our Spring candy bowl!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment on the necklace -- it was fun to wear and nice and warm, too!
Very nice basket! I used that technique to make my little guy I hat last summer, I used blue and white. Oh and my little guy does decide not to eat as well as puking everything up.. He only wants french fries and chocolate and those kinds of things.. Sigh. I'm glad to hear your son eats really well now and that you guys made it through that! Maybe there's some hope for us :)
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