Snowflake scarf, domestimication, and the rest of my day

Crafting

Crafts are always a nice way to start things off. Last night I began working on the 12 Weeks of Christmas patterns sent out by Red Heart. I can't actually figure out how to sign up for the patterns myself but my dear friend, Slayermel, is being kind enough to pass them on to me so I don't have to remember to check the web site. They're all free crochet patterns available on the Coats & Clark web site. The pattern for week 5 has already been sent out, but anal me has to start at #1.

Week 1: Falling Snowflakes Crochet Scarf
Yarn I'm using: Bernat Ice Christmas, worsted weight, acrylic
Hook I'm using: J/6.00mm as recommended in the pattern, I didn't bother checking gauge, it's a scarf, how much can gauge matter?
Where I am: After chaining 203 times (whew, and I didn't even miscount, but I double checked the number of chains before getting started), I went to bed last night near the end of row 2. That doesn't sound far, but the rows are loooong and the whole project is 3 rows and a round.
How it's going: Not bad. after completing the 3rd "fan" I realized I screwed up a bit. I originally put the 1st sc of the fan (after the dc's and turn) in the slip stitch not the first dc! So watch out for that. It was a minor frogging incident and then I got right back on track. But I must say, the white yarn with sparkle makes it really difficult to see the stitches. I think they were bang on designating this as an intermediate pattern. A beginner might find the instructions a bit confusing and if they choose white there could be issues with stitch placement.
Thoughts so far: My husband thinks it will be pretty.

Exercising

Today was all about getting back to P90x. I'm not following any set plan from the program any more, just using the workouts in general 'cause I think they're great!

Morning workout: P90x Legs and Back, ~60 min

Other exercise: biking to and from work, I'm lucky to have a bike lane on my route, one of the few in Toronto, ~15-20 min each way

Domestimication

I have been inspired to improve my efforts to take care of my home and myself by the book "Home Economics: Vintage Advice and Practical Science for the 21st-Century Household," compiled by Jennifer McKnight Trontz.

I picked it up at the Spadina House Museum. Spadina House is beside Casa Loma. It isn't as imposing an exterior, but it is a waaaay better museum. School children should be brought to Spadina House instead of Casa Loma, there's more history to learn there.

But I digress. The book offers great tips that may be from a while back in a different age but are still applicable. It also highlights the fact that home economics is actually an essential topic. It should be required school learning and it should be taught properly. When I took home ec in school all we did was cook and sew. But it's so much more: budgeting, managing a household, cleaning tips, decorating, proper care of household items, etc.

So, I'm trying to be more domestimicated. It's going okay. I'm planning meals on Sundays for the week, that takes the stress out of dinner. I always panicked about dinner, since I am NOT a cook. Knowing what I need to make in advance takes away the stress.

Tonight, we had tacos. Fiesta time! They were yummy.

Then after dinner, dishes. It helps to do stuff right away.

And now that I've bored everyone, I'm leaving.

Ridged and Waffle Dishcloths

I love making dishcloths. They make for short and satisfying projects that have a purpose at home or make a great gift. I'm putting these two dishcloths in the same post because the patterns were together on the Bernat web site, and you can find the file here.

This is the ridged dishcloth:

And here's a close-up of the stitches:


Now for the waffle dishcloth:


And the close-up of the stitches:


Both were very easy to make. I found that to get the right gauge I had to switch to a smaller hook for the waffle dishcloth.

Materials:

• "G" hook for the ridged dishcloth, "F" hook for the waffle dishcloth
• worsted weight cotton, I used Bernat Handicrafter Cotton Ultrasoft in Summerset
  

Egg Coaster

Here is a project I did sometime last year. It's a crocheted egg coaster. The pattern is from the Crochet Pattern-a-Day 2006 Calendar.

This was another fun and really quick project. I think it's really cute, but I'm still trying to decide if anyone would want a set of them as a gift. Any thoughts?

Materials:

• Size "G" crochet hook
• White worsted weight acrylic yarn, I used Phentex
• Yellow worsted weight acrylic yarn, I used Bernat Super Value
  

Cupcake Pincushion

I was in desperate need of a pincushion, so imagine my delight when I came across this pattern for a crocheted cupcake pincushion (I know, I need to get out more). Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to get a good picture of it so I've got two shots to highlight different things.

This first one shows the colours that were used and gives a good shot of the "paper" base:

This second one shows the shape of the "icing" top better:

It was a really quick and fun project. Aside from being a nice pin cushion, I think it would make a great birthday gift. The pattern calls for sport weight yarn and a size "E" hook, but I just used some worsted weight yarn and a size "G" or "F" hook, I can't remember which I used. My cupcake is 3.5" tall.

Materials:

• "G" or "F" crochet hook
• Purple worsted weight acrylic yarn, I used Bernat Super Value
• White worsted weight acrylic yarn, I used Phentex
• Red bead for the "cherry" topper
• Fibre fill

Love Bug

This is something I made for Valentine's Day 2007 and gave to my Sweetie:

I adapted it from a pattern from freepatterns.com. I thought the original pattern was rather over the top so I simplified it. I think it turned out to be a really cute little doll.

I gave him a rose that I got in a huge bag of buttons from Michael's craft store.

And this is what my Sweetie gave me:


Materials:

• G size crochet hook
• Red worsted weight acrylic yarn (I used Bernat Super Value)
• White worsted weight acrylic yarn (I used Phentex)
• Two google eyes
• Little plastic flower