Cottony Soft Scrub-Me-Up

i made this out of peaches n creme cotton, i'm not sure how much since im using Mill Ends, probly a ball and a half, maybe two. and i used an aluminum size F hook (US)

now the thing about this pattern is that it's worked to fit an individual hand (mine) lol. so i'll just approximate the idea to you here :)

it starts with chaining a length thats equal to the space from your finger tips to the meat of your palm, then working rows of sc's to slightly wider than your hand is, make sure to work in back loops only. you want your scrubby thingie to be actually capable of scrubbing :) so that's why there's ridges.

i changed it up after this but only slightly. instead of sc's i started doing dc's, still in back loops. and i did this for the width of the back of my hand.

once the whole piece was capable of surrounding my hand comfortably, i sewed it up in a tube, then sewed up one of the short ends. then i took my cotton and attached it to one side of the remaining short end that wasnt closed up (making sure to attach to the edge of one side. Make sure for yourself that you put your stitches in the right place, this is the only "tricky" part but if you don't watch out you wont have a proper thumb hole). i worked along the edge of that created opening evenly in sc's. you should be able to work rows evenly in back loops (not rounds) and there should be an open space where your thumb can peek through after about 12 rows or more.

work your sc's as much as you need to cover your hand up, so that it feels comfortable on your hand like a mitten. then once you have the right length, work a few rounds in either dc or sc (whichever you are more comfortable doing, i did dc's cuz i was running out of my first ball by this point and i wanted to make sure it was long enough.)

yes i did say rounds that last time lol. to make rounds directly after your rows, work in the same way that you have, except when you get the the end of your row do not turn.
just "jump" to the other edge and start your stitches again there, going across the other "side". you'll need to join your last stitch to the first "jump" one if you're like me and can never remember your place. if you have no problem working in rounds without joining, hoorah for you lol, carry on.

now at this point you have a mitt with a thumb hole.. so of course you need to make the thumby part :P

soooo. make a chain slightly longer than the circumference of your thumb and make a small rectangle of rows of sc's. work in back loops only. mark the place (or remember how many rows) where you will sew the swuare into a tube for your thumb. now crochet more rows of sc's, it should be a lil bit longer than your thumb actually is, from the base to the tip or vice versa actually. so you will have some extra stitches that wont be sewn together, cuz those will be the stitches that you sew to the hole on the mitten, so that it can actually become a mitten.

now here's a tip: work the "body" of the thumb straight. and then when you are working the "base" which you will not stitch together, make decreases in the beginning stitches of each new row.
to make decreases this way : ch1, put hook thru first stitch and draw up a loop. put hook thru next stitch and draw up another loop. now draw up one more loop and pull that loop through the other three on the hook.

don't be scared! it's not gonna be straight, but it will be fine. start by aligning the thumb's bottom stitches to the "bottom" of the hole. use pins if you have to. this is not an exact thing, you just have to sew as neatly as possible using the stitches that you have. sew sew sew, the ends together as evenly as possible, and when you get done you will have a mitten :) yay!

<3 Mari

Pretty Motif Thingie

well, i havent taken this off the hook yet because i keep thinking that it can totally definitely be expanded..
but also the reason im posting now it cuz dont you think this little motif thingie would look awesome joined together? like say at the points for a kinda sharp pointed hexagon beadspread or tablecloth? yes, me too.
ok so i used cotton thread, i dunno what number it is cuz its Mill Ends and there wasnt a label. but it's thicker by a lil than the size 10 (only thread ive ever crocheted with) and it has kinda a ropey feel to it, while staying super thin.
and also i used an aluminum size C hook (US)
which i know isn't really a thready hook but it's the smallest hook in my collection i could find at the moment...
Anyways, here we go:

chain 8, join with sl st to form ring.

1) ch3 to count as first dc, make 23 more dc's in ring. join with sl st to top of beginning ch3.

2) chain 1, sc in same space as joining. ch5,* skip 1 stitch, sc in next, ch5*. repeat from * to * around, ending by joining with a sl st to top of first sc. (ignore all beginning chain 1's they are not stitches)

3) sl st up to 3rd chain of first ch5 space. chain 1, sc in same stitch. ch5, *sc in 3rd chain of next ch5 space, ch5.* repeat from * to * around, ending by joining with a sl st to top of first sc.

4) sl st up to 3rd chain of first ch5 space. chain 1, sc in same stitch. ch7, *sc in 3rd chain of next ch5 space, ch7.* repeat from * to * around, ending by joining with a sl st to top of first sc.

5) sl st into first ch7 space. chain 3 to count as first dc, make 6 more dc in space, ch3, make 7 dc in same space. ch3, sl st in next ch7 space, ch3. *make (7dc, ch3, 7dc) in next ch7 space. ch3, sl st in next ch7 space, ch3.* repeat from * to * around, ending by joining with a sl st to top of beginning ch3.

this is my original pattern. please do not sell this pattern, or copy to any other website or publication. you may post links to my blog to share. feel free to print out a copy for yourself. you may sell what you make from this pattern, not in mass quantity.

<3 Mari

Monsters of Unfinishedness and Lack of Inspiration

alright...
i've been not procrastinating, still crocheting, but kinda never getting anything done.
long ago in november i began and almost finished a doily.. wrote a note about it in the last blog.
but sadly the website i was crocheting from (no printer, saving files and making pdf's bug me) was shut down due to some goofy people violating copyright laws.
well i just looked at the doily and it is a real beauty even though its not finished... i would have liked to get it done, it woulda been my fourth ever doily :)
so what i did was i took a picture (yay) and here it is

i love those flowers. i can honestly say i had no idea what i was doing but the directions were written so well that it just pretty much formed itself.
i wanted to immortalize this thing before i tore it up to use for something else. feels like a shame. and i know i'm getting whiney but i cant help it.

so anyways im sitting in the dark trying not to mistype while staring at the screen... remembering that i also made some cell phone covers for my cell. paulie got it for me, i think lotsa ppl have seen it in commercials that they dont seem to play anymore. but its awesome. so it needed covery thingies cuz i always scuff, scratch, maul, and maim everything i own.

these are made with blue peaches n creme cotton i got from an unsecure website which caused me to be robbed blind. ya, i lost all my money and found out about it while trying to get some lunch during my first day of work in a new town... ah orientation was never so much fun. anyways here we go! i made two of them, one with a short loop on it and another with a longer strap, both in single crochet done in rounds. you know, simple stuff.



i've been half working on stuff and half wishing i could, which means i can't really get too involved in a project because i work. a lot. and if im not working i want to be doing absolutely nothing at all because im grumpy and hungry. but i have managed to take some laundry day time to start on a scarf. hopefully that gets done one of these days.

whoever's reading this, i'm honestly sorry about not being able to create or share anything awesome. i really do enjoy those things, they make me feel a certain way that i like. and a way that im not very good at explaining.

sooooo... i'll be doing my thing, hoping that i get some crochet groove going so that i feel like im back on track. lol its funny my life takes over and i feel out of it, but when i have no life im happy to sit and crochet. (im so weird)

Mari <3