Lt. Dax, Happy Halloween 2008 or 2408

My Altered Ego Lt. Dax


The spots came out nice!

Trick or Treat!

Ravenclaw Philosophy Hat

So very little is promoted to make hats for men in Tapestry Crochet or any kind of crochet for that matter. I mean hats that are a competition to the knit hats I see. Believe me is very hard to write a pattern this way and I believe people will become bored with the so many instructions that have to be given to create this kind of Hat! I can tell you that making a hat is very easy, here are the basic things you need to keep in mind:

1. Know your stitches.

I mean know what is a dc and what you can do with it, FPdc, BPdc

2. Have an open mind and listen to your inner Artist - designer.

3. Be patient and remember frog is not a 4 letter word.

Sometimes you don't like how it looks and you are commanded to frog the hat to row #9 then do it. You will be happy and that is what counts.

4. Be playful and experiment playing with stitches, keep it simple, use solid color yarns or subtle color variations, definitely have a contrasting yarn.

Talking about yarn, Tapestry Crochet is not a place for fun fur or novelty yarns unless you are doing and edge or an accessory to the hat.

Well here is a Harry Potter Inspired hat, I am hoping I will have it done by Tomorrow or even tonight to close the month of October 2008. Thanks for stopping by!

The Eye of Jupiter , FOs and some more

The Eye Of Jupiter
The columns of The Temple, The Algae
May the Gods of Kobol have mercy on our souls!

The Eye of Jupiter is Born

I think that all of us that remember the Galactica of The 70's can say that the New Battlestar Galactica has a different point of view. I found the program at times extremely interesting and sometimes a bit crude. Nevertheless the actors on this Series are fantastic, they Idea of the Human-Cylons is wicked. I like Battlestar Galactica, because it is a program I believe we can relate to. I can see us there in the future of our own planet, but more than that to see the family of man with the 12 Colonies.

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The Eye of Jupiter was believed to be an artifact contained within The Temple of Five, located on the algae planet, that supposedly will give further clues to the location of Earth. Both the Cylons and the Colonials of the Fleet desire it. The Colonials have the advantage of finding this special temple and beginning the search for the Eye.

This is actually my first attempt at this hat, but I did not like how it was looking and I frogged it to a point and restarted. This is what happens even when youare following a chart. Thisng look different in a chart than when in Tapestry Crochet on the round.

So the Eye of Jupiter Hat is born and it is at a crucial point that I wanted to share with you, I will be making some more embellishments later on . Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas Barroque o Navidad Barroca

Tapestry Crochet at it's best. I really like this hat, it has been an interesting journey, as even though I am following a chart, I had to improvise for crochet and it came across as Poinsettias instead of Northern Stars lol! It looks very nice. Tapestry Crochet is a more complex kind of crochet.

This is a side view of the hat as I am observing the real poinsettias, can you tell the difference?

The back of the hat is very cool, I created the top with the Tapestry Crochet Technique and then when I reached the third Surface Crochet I decided to pick up the stitches with a knitting circular needle and go with gusto. The Pattern follows a nice simple stockinette with alternating of reds, greens and white. Then I used the three yarns at once for a couple of rows. I actually finished it with the three strands, but did not like the way it look. So it was frogged up to two lines of using the three yarns and used just the green to finish the hat. I Bound off with and I-Cord Bind off and it looks lovely. The yarns red and green are Cervinia Calzzetteria (these are sock yarns), and the white is Lambs Pride. It needs to be blocked and if it wasn't for the lambs Pride white yarn it would have been a toss in the washer. There are more hats on the working, my creativity juices are flowing, thanks for stopping by and get into the Holiday Spirit! Ho Ho Ho!

October 08 WIP FO Part 2

I am showing you here some of the Works in Progress and some of the FO. A little Yarn Critique and how I am blocking the Chartreuse Fall Hat. Thanks for stopping by!

Chartreuse Fall Hat FO

The Chartreuse Fall Hat is a hat from Ruth Sorensen, you can look her up on the Internet, she has a beautiful e-book that you can purchase and you will learn some new challenges in color-stranding knitting.
I really enjoyed the making of this hat and it was a bit time consuming as I was following the chart religiously, I thought right! Well I did a different bottom for this hat than the one she recommends so it became very apparent to me by row number 20 something that I needed to jump up to row 30 something if I wanted the hat to look nice.
My guess was right as the hat came out the right size for me. I really enjoy these hats and working on them can be addictive, but the end product is gorgeous, all you need is the right contrasting color of yarn. I like this kind of green a lot. Well my friends it is a nice fall day and I have my Monday Knitting and Crochet Group to go to, I will ask one of the ladies to teach me how to cast on a toe for toe up socks. Thanks for stopping by!

Chartreuse (pronounced /ʃɑrˈtruːz/, /ʃɑrˈtruːs/; French IPA: [ʃarˈtʁɶz]) (the web color) is a color halfway between yellow and green that was named because of its resemblance to the green color of one of the French liqueurs called green chartreuse, introduced in 1764; whereas chartreuse (the traditional color) is a yellow color mixed with a small amount of green that was named because of its resemblance to the yellow color of one of the French liqueurs called yellow chartreuse, introduced in 1838.^[1]

Cabled Bag WIP

This is one of my Knitted Projects. I am De-Stashing will you believe that? I can spend some money in yarn if I am giving it away or have a specific project for it. In the meantime I am De-Stashing by making useful items and some gifts. The Sari Recycled Yarn is a very hard yarn to deal with. It is silk, so you know iit is very strong, but anything made with it on it's own does not look classy. There are exceptions of Course I have seen a little cute bag from Jen Loves 2 Knit HERE that looks very nice. The shawls and the vests just do not have an appeal to me. Unless I have a project that includes other yarn I would not purchase Recycled or Not Recycled Sari Silk Yarn again. It is heavy, very pretty to look at and soft, but it loves to tangle.

This bag is made using two strands of Yarn, one Of Sari Silk Yarn and the Other one is Hand Dyed Wool. So this bag is based on a model that I found on the Internet, yet Once you discover how to knit on the round you really want to keep on knitting on the round with as little purls as possible lol! I have adapted this pattern to fit my needs. The bottom of this bag is made with a J Hook, 6 mm and it is made on the round as well using the technique that people use to make the soles of some slippers and booties. I have this Wool that I bought from EBay about 2 years ago and I am de-stashing, shades of orange , yellow and blues, I am almost done with the orange shades, I am half way done with this bag and definitely making I-Cord Handles and lining the inside. I think that once I made the lining I will make and I -Cord border to help hide the stitching of the liner.
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I am not doing the cables without a cable needle, because I have two yarns to deal with at the same time lol. RC is a cable that you put your stitches to rest on the rear, and LC is a cable to you put your stitches to rest on the front of the work. Without knowing I am becoming a bit of an expert on cabling. I will let this project rest for maybe a day or so and back to my crochet. I am working on a Tapestry Crochet Hat pattern that I am testing with some of my cyber friends. "The Palermo Sun", I always name my hats. Thanks for stopping by!

Hats, Bags and a Men's Retreat

This is my Baroque Christmas Hat WIP, it is done with Cervinia Sock yarn and F hook .
This one is called the Palermo Sun, which I am writing the pattern as I go,it is a pattern for the daring and it will be fantastic, I will be sharing it here and on Ravelry!
Here is what I am doing with the Sari Silk Yarn, with another strand of wool. Sari Silk yarn is very pretty, but it is not the easiest yarn to make a pattern with. SO I grabbed this Pattern Cables and Bobbles Patchwork Shoulder Bag from HERE and modified to serve my needs. I started the pattern with a bottom in crochet, then I picked up the stitches and I am knitting up and around. This pattern is made for straight needles, I am using four sets of #10 US circulars.
Finally you see the Men Who Knit West Coast Fall Knitting Retreat bag for 2008! I will keep you up to date later on and maybe there will be some videos next week. In the meantime I want to thank you for stopping by!

Green Thumbs there are!

I told you I do crochet and these gloves are proof lol The Fingerless or Not Glove Pattern found HERE is the pattern that I have used for these beauties. It is a fun pattern and given the fact that it is the first ever Glove Pattern that I have made they look fantastic. The feel a bit smaller, I could probably add a free stitches and rows to make it more comfy. The Fingers are made Using Lambs Pride worsted weight, Aurora 8 Karabella, Knit Picks Wool of the Andes and some Paton's Merino. At one point I ran out of blue so I did an experiment, I use one row of Knit Picks and one of Lambs Pride and you can't really tell, it is the blue finger by the way. lol I am hoping to take some sock yarn in a future trip and make some cutesy gloves. Thanks for stopping by!

Green Thumb or Not Fall Gloves

I started these Gloves with the Cervinia Sock yarn above, but realized early enough that it was not going to be enough, so I decided to get creative.


Fingerless or Not by Jill Wright is the pattern that I used for these gloves. I modified the pattern to suit my needs of having every finger and thumb free ! I decided to use multiple wool blends and here is the result. This is my First ever Attempt at Gloves and it was a great experience. This is a wonderful pattern and easily modified. I used the G hook.

I think this is a very clever pattern!

Thanks for stopping by.

Celtic Sun FO

I always try to make a hanging loop on all my hats. Here you have the view of the inside of the hat. The color combination is fantastic. I am working on a second one, let me see if I can write the pattern for sharing.
Frontal View
Back view
Profile View

Another Frontal View. I hope you have enjoyed the pictures and the Tapestry Crochet. The next hat using the same yarn will not be the same, but maybe similar. Thanks for stopping by!

Celtic Sun A Tapestry Crochet Adventure

I am inspired by my Barcelona Gothic Sun Hat to Reach out into the Ethers and come out with the Celtic Sun Hat. This is a very Intricate Pattern it is based on the power of 8 at the beginning and then I keep adding some stitches after the Horizontal edge, with the brown yarn until I come up with about 115 stitches. There is a science to this and is that I want to work with multiple of fives after I am done with the crown's edge. This Hat is made with Berroco Bonsai Bamboo, very lovely yarn for crocheting with a metal hook. A metal hook is very convenient for this kind of yarn as it is very smooth

This picture above is showing a cross cable between the two green edges, the one Cable crossing behind is brown while the one in front is green. Then I follow with another brown row and I start the Celtic Heavenly Sky. I let this hats take a rest, as I tell everyone, these hats, the yarn and the hook tell me a story and I allow the story to come out. Thanks for stopping by!

The Alfie

This is the Alfie a sideways Hat, it is made flat and it uses short rows . At the end, when you are done with the hat you will use a type of Kitchener stitch to sew the hat together. Personally I did not know how much fun I would have making these hats from Woolly Wormhead . Com . let me tell you if you want to learn new things and have some nice hats in the end, this is the booklet for you. Here below you will see the place where the hat has been joined together with Kitchener stitch. I wore the hat backwards on purpose so that you can see the invisible seam. I did not like this Lopi-Lite or Lite-Lopi 100% Virgin Wool to begin with, but as I was shaping the hat I realized what a beautiful colorway and texture this yarn has. What does Crafty Andy do with so many hats? Sometimes I sell them, sometimes I donate them, but I definitely wear them to make sure they are comfortable.

I am working on some crochet, there will be some pictures tomorrow, it is another hat. I also have some Christmas Themed Yarns in Bamboo and a beautiful Project for the Holiday Season and Winter. This to be revealed later this week. Thanks for stopping by!

October 08 WIPs

Some of my Works In Progress some interesting websites!

Happy October 2008!

October 08 Basket Liner

October came along with the Quilting / sewing bug , I got these baskets that I wanted to make a liner for and I had the opportunity to do this the other day.
The liner is very important to keep your treasures and your Precious Yarn from being torn by the wicker. I used some quilting techniques, but I will not call this one in particular a quilting project.

So later on I will have some video with some of my works in progress for knitting and some tips. I enjoy being in blogger and sharing some of my life with you. Thanks for stopping by

The Quilting Y Chromosome

The month of October 2008 starts with the Quilting Y Chromosome Basket Liner. A basket without a liner is not really good in my opinion. I got this basket long time ago and wanted to make a liner for it to protect myself , not the basket lol! Well the wicker baskets are sometimes rough on the items you put in because of their nature. Any wicker basket that you buy should be lined because you don't want splinters in your hands or the yarn that you store in the basket. The quilting centered is inspired in the Y Chromosome, it has a cotton pad and it is closed with piping of different colors on each side. I have been using some of my Christmas Quilting materials from two years ago. In this economy the best thing to do is to pamper yourself, use things you have stored and promote the economy by making things at home. There will be another basket liner in the next few days, thanks for stopping by!