Crochet FOs

Before anything else, thank you all for the feedback and insight you gave me on last week’s YOP post. I really appreciate the time you took to respond and engage in conversation about the situation. I finished the hat and was able to leave it as a surprise when I went into work last Wednesday. The recipient sent me a message — he was very surprised and found the gesture kind and the hat lovely. Said he would wear it in good health, given our relationship, I can’t ask for anything more.

I should have been showing you the second hat in my Hatopolooza series, but I got distracted with these sweet little things. I don’t really do Valentine’s Day but with everything 2020 was and its extension into 2021, I figured I should celebrate every thing and every day as much as I can. I spent Friday night cranking out these pretties to decorate around my home for Valentine’s day and the rest of February.

They were quick and easy to whip up and I did 13 of them in about 2 hours or so of mindful crocheting — taking my time, no rush.

Pattern: Magic Heart
Yarn: different bits and bobs from other projects
The white heart is different from the others in that I used some unspun Tunis fiber, pre-drafted it a bit then crocheted a heart from it. After that, I slightly felted it so some areas are felted while in others the crochet stitches can still be seen.

And on that note, I leave you gentle readers with the first verse of Emily Bronte’s “Love and Friendship” poem on this international day of love.

Love is like the wild rose-briar,
Friendship like the holly-tree—
The holly is dark when the rose-briar blooms
But which will bloom most constantly? — Emily Bronte

Cheers to you today my crafty friends. May love fill your day today and every other day.

I’m not even going to start going on about the Harry Potter House Cup on Ravelry. Y’all already know what a Potterhead I am so let me just get to the project.

The Quidditch cup matches have been insane this term and the fourth match was a speed round. We were given 6 projects to choose from — knit & crochet — to test our concentration and speed abilities. First day submission equals maximum points and with all the other houses gunning for Slytherin this term (we are three in a row, Quidditch cup and House cup champions) it was all systems go on the first submission day. This was one time I was extremely glad that I know how to knit and crochet. My submission was this slouch:

Pattern: the Hadley Slouch and my Ravelry notes are here.

I finished this in 2.5 hours and will definitely do it again. My fingers were in pain from the death grip I wielded on that hook but I got it done in time! It didn’t fit me like a slouch although it fit Ziva (my hat dummy) just like it should. On my head with my fro unleashed, it fits like a beanie. I think I’ll work the pattern again and add extra rows to the body to make it more slouchy for my head/hair.

The other crafty bug that’s gotten under my skin is spinning. My spinning wheel and I are still not talking so I’ve gone back to spinning on my spindle. Well … as at yesterday. I honestly think I need to sit with someone to help me with wheel spinning but the places I’ve contacted in NY regarding wheel spinning classes want upwards of $595 and I just don’t have that laying around right now. LOLOL! Even if I did, I still don’t think I’d want to pay that much for classes. One woman even told me that I MUST take her studio’s spindling class before she would have me in her wheel class and that first class is upwards of $195. Needless to say I declined because there is NO place in spinning history where spindling MUST precede wheel spinning. NO PLACE! Some crafters do one or the other or both, but there’s absolutely no learning “order” so I let that go too. But I’m determined — I’m going to be on someone’s Tour De Fleece’s team in July. So as at today, I plan to spin for 30 mins a day. My goal is to start learning to ply by the end of the month. Fingers crossed! No scratch that … I’m going to do this!!!!

I posted this pic on IG but ended up changing my spindle to a Bosworth high whorl one instead of the Turkish one shown.

I also changed the fiber. The fiber I chose initially need a shorter draw and at this point I only know how to spin using the long draw. The spindle was a little wobbly and unbalanced but I believe it’s because I was trying to do a long draw on short staple length fiber. The fiber kept breaking and the spindle kept crashing to the floor. I guess they’re not named drop spindles for nothing. I switched fibers to BFL (Blue Face Leicester) that has a long staple length making it easier for beginners to work with and I used my Bosworth which is worth every dime!!! Good for me, one of the teams I supported at my old job gave it to me as a thank you gift on my last day before the agency closed. Now I think I need another well balanced high whorl spindle so I could split my fiber and get to plying faster.

So there you have it. Some of my goals for the next couple of months. What are you planning to work on?

ETA: this post was brought to you by the letter U for Umpire: something to do with sports in my Scavenger Hunt 2015 Stashdown challenge.