Thursday, February 24, 2011

Scarf and Shawl time in SoCal?

It has been freezing here lately!  Several mornings there was ice on the car windows.  And I left my scraper in NorCal when I moved here.  I am afraid the jade tree may have bitten the dust.  When jade trees freeze they look fine for a while but slowly become mushy inside until they collapse.   Very sad...  Unfortunately, it was too large  to dig up and put inside.   In the thirteen years I have lived here, this is the first time it has been that cold that often in the winter months.  We do not even have central heating in our house because we never really needed it.  Last year we had a brief cold spell and bought a little space heater.  This year, however, we had to buy several more.  Fortunately, these cold snaps do not last very long. Still, unusual weather for SoCal and extra sweaters and long robes help, but for outside I really did not have enough "winter gear", so I have been making shawls and scarves.

Here are some of my latest efforts. Others are already gone because friends saw them and took them.  (I must teach them how to knit and crochet).  But I was flattered and anyway, one has only one neck.

OK, the one on the left is made from one $1 ball of deep purple bouclé  in a double crochet with skipping every other stitch  - 7 inches wide and as long as the ball lasted.  Then I wove a multi colored "novelty" yarn through the holes and also made tassels.  I actually made one knitted scarf of this stuff  and it is a    " b * t c h "   to work with.  It looks like a little black thread ladder inter spaced with colored silky threads which love to tangle or unravel,  and no matter how careful you are with knitting needles or crocheting (practically impossible - the loopy effect makes it hard to keep track of the stitches), it is very frustrating to process.  Not recommended, but great for tassels and weaving through. And fortunately it was cheap.  All this yarn is from Big Lots, so you know I paid very little.

The shawl on the right is of a very "hairy" multicolored yarn.  There is a slit in it, a third way in, so that one end can be pulled through the other.  But you can skip that because with all the fluff going on, you can hardly see the slit.  I added the same bothersome  yarn tassels but this time I tied opalescent beads in them.   Perhaps this is a bit clearer on the photo at the bottom, and clicking on the photos allows a larger view.


The middle one is made from a ball of dark brown bouclé yarn, thinner than the purple yarn,  and I knitted it in stockinette about 5 inches wide and about 2 yards long.  Then I crocheted from beige wool and beige speckly cotton all kinds of different motives: flowers, stars, peace symbols, etc., and sewed them on with black thread - almost invisible - and added some tassels.  For more detailed instructions click on the link.
http://fanaticalfroebeler.blogspot.com/p/how-do-i-do-that.html

They were all easy and fun to make and they keep me warm, these freezing days when I go out foraging.

For details click on HOW DO I DO THAT?

~ Tranquility and Tolerance ~

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