Crafty me: the last of the Captains work

Before I returned to full-time office work stuff I spent 4 years and many hours building up and establishing Captain Apricot, a 100% handmade cottage industry type business that allowed me to be a stay at home maker and satisfy all my creative urges while Pai was little. I still have dreams about returning to the world of handmade but if I do, it probably won't be with crochet. 

I was really lucky to be able to spend so long doing something that made me happy and allowed me to be at home with my little one, though towards the end there I was experiencing some serious craft burn-out and if I never make another pair of button up fingerless gloves it will be too soon. 

Anyhoo, long preamble just to share that I did a bit of a tidy up of my crafty space and came across a pile of the very last Captain Apricot creations and so I thought that I'd upload them and see if there was any interest. Pop on over to the Captain A facebook page to have a lookie (this is a seriously discounted affair my friends but there's not much left so once it's all gone, that's it!)

This feels very final, but in a good way. Moving on to new and exciting things and letting go of old when the time is right. 

8/31 - Crafty Me: Fingerless Gloves

8/31 you guys! I turn the ripe old age of 31 in September so I officially have less than 2 months to complete 19 more projects. Totally unachievable, (I'm such a glass half full kind of person) what was I thinking? I do actually have a pile of things to share but I've not yet managed to produce photographic evidence so it's not quite as dire as it seems (really though, I should have started this project when I was 25).

Full disclosure, these gloves were not made to give as a gift or to keep for me but to list in my Felt store. I've been feeling the need for a new laptop and perhaps a fancy scmancy camera for this blogging malarkey but let's be real, those aren't things I need, per se and not exactly impulse buys you grab on the way home from work on a whim. 

I don't have the cash lying around to make these things happen so I figured I'd see if I could turn some wool into gold. Also, I have a ton of pairs of these for myself already and pretty much everyone in my family has already been given a pair as a gift at some point in the last 5 years. 

So yeah, gloves: 

I made a few pairs in a few different colours but I fell in love with this aqua yarn a few years back and I'm still totally smitten. I love it so much I have nail polish to match. Not even kidding. 

The pattern is mine and the Ravelry details are here if you're a curious person who crafts things from yarn and you want to have a lookie. 

Crafty Me, Crafty Pattern: Convertible Wave Cowl (Free!)

Ahoy there! I've been crocheting a lot lately, after a long hiatus that arose from crocheting a lot. You'd think I'd learn. I decided to share a simple pattern I worked up a few years back that I still really like the effect of. I've sold many of these cowls over the years but these days I'm more focussed on pattern design than selling finished items. I have so many ideas but so little time so my pattern output isn't exactly what I'd like it to be (patterns released so far this year: 0. Pattern concepts I have swimming around in my head: 6520).

Moving on. Pattern below:

Skill level: 

Beginner

Stitches used:       

Double crochet -dc

Single crochet -sc

Chain stitch –ch

Materials:               

9 mm hook

5 buttons of 20mm width or more.

Chunky/bulky weight yarn (you can also use 2 strands of DK or 8 ply yarn, which I have done in this pattern as it is hard to find vegan chunky weight yarn)

Gauge:                   

3-4 pattern repetitions per 10 cm/4 inches. Gauge is not essential for this 

pattern,more repetitions means a slightly smaller scarf and less means a larger one. 

You can change your hook size to suit if you have a preference either way.

Pattern Instructions:

Chain 20 Stitches

Row 1: Sc in 2^nd ch from hook and in each ch to end. Ch 1 and turn

Row 2: sc in 2^nd sc from hook, *chain 2, skip 2 sc and sc in next 2 sc. Repeat from * to end. Ch 2  and turn

Row 3:  dc in 2^nd sc from hook, *chain 2, skip 2 sc and dc in next 2 sc. Repeat from * to end. Ch 1 and turn.

Row 4: Repeat row 2.

Row 5: Repeat row 3.

Here’s how things should look at the end of a sc row once you’ve got going:

Continue repeating rows 2 and 3 until your scarf measures aprox 85 cm, finishing with a sc/ch st row. You can opt to making it longer if you want to be able to wind it around lots of times but you will need more yarn for this.

Next row: Sc in 2^nd ch from hook and in each sc and ch to end. Fasten off.

Finishing:

Stitch buttons onto the ch st gaps along one end of scarf as shown.

Weave in all your ends and threads and if you're so inclined, block. I don't bother with mine, but you do you. 

You can now use every ch  st gap on your scarf as a button hole and so it can be buttoned on angles, along straight lines or just using a few buttons at a time. The possibilities are endless! (Not actually endless, there is a finite number of rows and button holes, but you get me).

Ravelry details here!

If you make this, I'd love to see. Share with me at the Shiny Happy Crafty facebook page and make my heart explode with all the happy. 

5/31 - Crafty me. Kid bear cowl hood thing

So this is pretty freaken cute. A cowl, with a hood, with ears. Am I right in saying that adding animal ears to anything makes it automatically 77% cuter?

After an unexpected bereavement on R's side of the family, I found myself packing Edie's bag for a flight to Te Wai Pounamu, or the South Island of NZ. It's cold down there and as I folded teeny tees and underpants I realise my poor neglected child didn't have an appropriate winter hat. We had a too-small leftover from the year before and a couple of other cute numbers that I loved and Edie did not and so I decided to whip this up using a pattern purchased via ravelry and wool I had lying around (hoping that what I had was enough because running out of wool when I'm 90% finished a project is pretty much the story of my crafting life).

Edie likes it, wears it (the true test of success is whether contrary preschoolers accept or moodily reject finished projects) and only sometimes throws it aside in annoying places. -like that time we dropped off our rental car and were heading towards departures to check in for our flight home and I notice she wasn't wearing her hood. It was still in the rental car and Edie didn't mention that she left it behind because "she wasn't actually very cold".

Ravelry deets here.

Crafty me 4/31 - The blanket

This one deserves a moment of silence for the momentus occasion that is its completion... (everyone else paused here, right?) aaaand let's continue. This is the project I began when I started my full time job last year. 

It's no secret that I'm a bus crafter, I like to have a commuters project on me for my 40 minute bus ride at each end of my work day. This blanket, however quickly became too large to be taken on my daily ride and so after a good start (such energy!  Such intention! Such a short attention span!) It became something of a drag. I'd pick it up and work a few rows while watching a movie but often found other important things  my hands needed to do (like eat popcorn, priorities) that impeded my progress. To consider making a blanket as large as this as a first blanket is probably not the smartest thing when you are quick to give your love to new smaller projects. I'm a sucker for the gratification that comes with a quick easy pattern and so my relationship with this blanket was very troubled with much on again/off again.

which makes this finished product one of my absolute favourites. It's beautiful and it shows I have stick-at-it-ness. If that's not a win-win I don't know what is.

Let's have a look at her shall we?