tKnit Socks

Oh, hey there.

So while we all know that I haven't updated my blog in 3-ish years, let's just pretend nothing happened and pick up where we left off, shall we?

When we last departed I had juuuust taken up Tunisian Crochet and I was getting to know it, like you do any new crochet stitch. It's different from classic crochet, quite different, and I didn't feel any warm fuzzies towards it ~*until*~, oh! UNTIL I discovered the Tunisian Crochet Knit and Purl Stitches. YUM! 

So I tunisian crocheted a bunch of scarves for everyone I knew (myself included). I practiced the Honey Comb stitch (which is my favorite-est), and even made my grandma a gorgeous blanket -- I'll have to find a picture of that one for you.

But you know what I've always wanted? 

SOCKS.

I've always wanted hand knit socks. The crochet slipper patterns that are available just don't do it for me. They're too bumpy, too floppy. They don't conform to the foot in the way that I'd like. 

So I did what you do if you're a desperate crocheter.

I youtubed it. 

Tunisian crochet in the round is a bit different from flat tunisian crochet. 

It requires a double ended hook (I made a compulsive trip to the craft store for one, because I couldn't wait for Amazon!), and 2 skeins/balls of yarn - one for drawing up a loop (that's your front side) and one for drawing through the loop (that ends up being the backside of the finished item). I used my preeeeetty yarn (Knit Picks Sock Yarn: "Make Believe") for the outside, and for drawing through I just used whatever meh was laying around. HA!

Tah-dah! I'm so pleased with the results!

The only downside is it's August in Virginia, which means it's muggy and hot and disgusting right now. I'll have to wait another 2 months to wear my delightful tKnit socks.

If you want to make your own pair of 

~* Tunisian Crochet Knit Stitch Socks *~

then

~* Follow This Tutorial by Woolpedia! *~

Oh yeah, and get yourself a double ended tunisian crochet hook. You need to size up about 2 hook sizes from what you'd usually use for standard crochet. For instance, I used a 4mm for sock weight yarn, so. Yeah. Don't worry, you'll get a feel for it. 

In other news, I'm on instagram now, so if you want to see my dancing be-socked feet, follow me there! 

I just started updating my Facebook page again too!

And of course I never stopped pinning crochet things. All the pretty pretty things.

How did I sign off, again?

Oh yeah.

Have a Lovely Day!
~Jess

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Scanning the Sky... (Week 1)

Not long after deciding to create a sky scarf I settled on my yarn for the project. It's an Alpaca blend, so it's incredibly soft and was reasonably priced for the amount in each skein. I anticipate having a lot left over of certain colors (mostly the very dark grey and the white).

This dark grey is for thunderstorms!

This deep, gorgeous blue (love!) is for cloudless sunny days (like today!).

 The white is reserved for foggy days, or if we get snow (boo, snow! Not a fan).

Cloudy with sun. So far this variegated yarn has been put to good use (4 out of 8 days).

And grey for cloudy-maybe rainy days that lack the intensity of a thunderstorm.

Now that you've been introduced to the yarn, let's move onward for the Work in Progress shot!

This represents 1 week of sky-scans done in the Tunisian Crochet Knit Stitch

I love the backside of the project as much as the front.

So, some details...

 ~ I'm using a 5mm afghan/tunisian crochet hook with bulky weight yarn. I'm keeping the tension very loose (if I'd crocheting in traditional method I would have gone with at least a 6mm hook, maybe larger) so that it doesn't roll in on itself.

~ Since this is one-row-a-day, I began my work by chaining 24 (as in, 24 hours). My scarf is 6.75" wide. 1 week ended up being about 2.25", which puts me on track for a scarf that is.... (mathing in progress...) oh, only 34" (?). Ha, will have to extend my deadline a bit! ;)

~ I pick a time of day to record the sky. One thing I realized within the first day is how ever-changing weather is! This is, of course, what makes these sky scarves so gorgeous, but it could have been a source of frustration to me if I woke up to a rainy day that turned partly cloudy and ended with a big expanse of azure blue. So, I chose noon as my sky gazing-row creating time, and whether the weather looks different prior to or after that time frame is not really a concern to me. This scarf is little snap shots of sky.

~ I'm not there yet, but I want this scarf to be versatile (because I can see myself wearing it every day!). I plan to create button holes in the second to last row (and sew buttons to the first row), so I can change it from a regular scarf to an infinity scarf at my whim. Now, how to create button holes in Tunisian crochet.... uh, well I have months to figure that out. ;)

Have a Lovely Day!
~Jess

*** 

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I'm Not Knitting

I really fell hard for this "Conceptual Knitting" trend. It's been on the back of my mind for ages. I pictured granny square blankets where each square represents a day and each color represents a bird in my bird feeder, scarves where each row color is picked by students in my yoga classes, or a great big (mostly green) blanket where every time something ripened in my garden I'd incorporate a special stitch in the appropriate color (red tomato"bean stitches", orange carrot "spike stitches", pink strawberries "bobble stitches"). Despite these musings, I still kept coming back to the original design: tracking the variations of the sky.

Yes, I settled on the Sky Scarf by Leaf Cutter Designs. It goes like this: every day you look up at the sky and create a row that reflects what you see (light grey if cloudy, dark grey on stormy days, bright blue when the sun shines and the wind blows, blue and white blended when partly cloudy and so on). At the end of the season (or year), you end up with a gorgeous representation of the sky over your home.

The "trouble" is, I don't knit. And it happened that all the scarves I was falling for were knit scarves. The crochet representations looked much too tidy for some reason.

Now I'm not about to take up knitting.

So after a bit of internet research and some youtube tutorials, I present:

The Tunisian Knit Stitch!
(click the link for a fantastic youtube tutorial!)
(if you need more convincing: she has a British accent that is so lovely to listen to)

Crocheters everywhere who love the knitted look but can't seem to figure out how clicking two sticks together could create a fabric: REJOICE!!!
:)

Friends, this is exciting. I'm crocheting a Sky Scarf that will look like it's knit. I was going to start in September so the scarf would track my favorite time of year: Summer's end and Autumn's beginning. But. Well, I mean it's only a week and a half until September starts.... so really we're nearly there and it's absolutely fine that I begin now. Who made this arbitrary "Start in September" rule, anyway? Me. So I can break it.

More details and pictures to come. Check back!

Have a Lovely Day!
~Jess

*** 

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