Engineer, after all

T-shirt basket pattern

 







































(Ta-dah! This is the first crochet pattern I have ever written. I hope it makes sense!
Sorry for possible mistakes) 
You can find out more about the basket in the previous post here.
You'll need two M-L sized T-shirts of colors A and B - whichever you like. Here you can find one of many tutorials on making T-shirt yarn. It's easy and you'll love it.

I used 7 mm hook; you can use any large hook that's comfortable for you. Crocheting with T-shirt yarn is quite a physical exercise, so, if you want to have strong fingers, you are welcome :)

Start with making a magic ring.
Every row begins with ch 1. First sc of every row is worked into the same st (the one from which you make ch 1). Every row ends by joining with sl st.

Row 1: 7 sc in the ring (7)
Row 2: 2 sc in every st around. (14)
Row 3: sc, 2 sc. Repeat 7 times. (21)
Row 4: sc, sc, 2 sc. Repeat 7 times. (28)
Row 5: sc, sc, sc, 2 sc. Repeat 7 times. (35)
Row 6: sc in every st around. (35)

Now the simple increase part is over, and the fun triangle part begins.
How to change the color smoothly: I give example for sc, but the same principle applies to any other stitch. Color should be changed during PREVIOUS stitch.
Work sc as usual to the point where you have 2 loops on your hook and you're going to finish sc with pulling hook through both loops. You needn't fasten off every time you change color. Just leave the color A to hang in there and use color B: yarn over and finish sc. When you're done with color B, you can pick up color A and continue with it like nothing happened. And the other way around.

From row 7 to row 12, work 1 sc in every st.
Row 7:  6 sc with color A, 1 sc with color B. Repeat 5 times.
Row 8: 2 sc with color B, 4 sc with color A, *3 sc with color B, 4 sc with color A* repeat 4 times, 1 sc with color B.
Row 9: 3 sc with color B, 2 sc with color A, *5 sc with color B, 2 sc with color A* repeat 4 times, 2 sc with color B.
Row 10: 4 sc with color B, 1 sc with color A, *6 sc with color B, 1 sc with color A* repeat 4 times, 2 sc with color B.
Now you can bind off color A.


Rows 11-12: sc in every st around. (35)
Row  13: sc, sc, sc, sc2tog. Repeat 7 times. (30)
Leave a loop for hanging and fasten off.

Now you have your own bathroom (well, not necessarily bathroom) basket. Isn't it nice? :)

T-shirt yarn

I made T-shirt yarn in November, and couldn't imagine the long and painful fate that awaited it :)

At first I was planning a bathroom rug. I made 2 attempts in that direction:

As you can see, both were a disaster. Anyway, I didn't have enough of old T-shirts for a rug of satisfying size. So I had to give up that plan.

Next, I thought of a T-shirt scarf - they were overfilling Pinterest boards at the time.

Scarf looked OK - about 12 meters of  braid, by the way. It was almost finished (a few months in that state, to tell you the truth) when I said to myself: hey, actually this yarn was made for CROCHET!

So, after tedious couple of hours of unravelling braids I again had this:

Also I had an idea in my head, inspired by these pictures from nice blog Sort of pink:

I liked the triangles on the rug and the idea of basket, so I mixed them together. Here's what I've made:

 Now I'm working on a pattern for this basket. I'll post it as soon as I can :)

To be warm

Sadly, we don't live in Thailand. In our climate, after winter is gone, we still have to wait for the spring to come. Sometimes a month, sometimes even more.
So hats and scarves are pretty relevant, as before.
And they are very, very good objects for crochet.
My initial idea was to make a scarf based on this pattern (later I found out that this is a variation of a quite common stitch, one of its names is Catherine Wheel. Another tutorial on it you can find here)
But then I changed my mind and decided to stick with plain shell stitch, which is simple and gorgeous:

I used my grandmother's bulky yarn for this project. Unfortunately, there were only 2 skeins, so the scarf came out not as long as I wanted. Alas! You can't buy yarn that is equivalent to the one which is at least 20 years old.

Scarf was fast in the making, and looks nice. Although I haven't yet figured out how to wear it properly...

That's all about scarves for today. But, as you remember, this post is about hats, too :)

I'm really proud of myself as a pattern designer, and of my Pompom-Earflaps-Braids-Tassels Beanie :)
I will wait for the spring wearing it.

If you really love me, take me to IKEA

We spent yesterday doing one of my favorite things - decorating and optimizing home.
There were some minor adjustments that involved drilling the walls...

And the big one - new curtain in the living room!

Who are those crazy people that buy new curtain holder for a rental apartment? We are!
No more horrific tiny clips, no more standing on the table and hanging a curtain for a half of an hour!

The room became bigger and brighter as by magic.

I can't wait to make some other interior-makeover plans a reality!

Hearts

I made a big crochet heart on Valentine's day, but was not satisfied with the way it came out. So, I unravelled it and turned it into two smaller and neater hearts, using this pattern.
Then, I took a corkboard potholder, a couple of needles and here's what became of it... Looks quite festive, I think.
Oh yes, I've almost forgotten, today IS a holiday! At least in post-Soviet countries.
Congratulations, babon'ki :)

Granny squares

Just a couple of months ago I didn't understand at all what people find in granny squares.
Like many other crocheters, I very much enjoy starting new projects, but it can be hard to concentrate throughout the work and successfully finish them.
So, I was looking for something fun and easy, and right at the moment I came across Summer Garden Granny Square pattern. I decided to give it a try with yarn leftovers from other projects. Of course, after the very first square I found out that they're addictive! 
I have a few ideas about what to make out of them, but I'm still not sure. Let's see how it turns out.

They are sooo nice! And colors look surprisingly good together - for an accidental color palette :)