Friday, February 24, 2006

Walkin' on the Wild Side!

And the knitting girls sing doo do do doo do do do...... (forgive me, Lou Reed!!, hehehe)

According to my friend and Knit Nite organizer,
Kim, apocalyptic events are occurring! Are you ready for another?

Yes, it's true....cover your eyes and protect the innocent....

Fluffy
KNITTER Deb has been walkin' on the wild side...

AND CROCHETING!!!

I give you Exhibit A:


These are 2 medallions from the Carnival Shawl from Rowan's Classic Holiday, Book 3. I'm using one of my *favorite* yarns, Knitpicks Shine, an ultra soft cotton/modal blend sportweight yarn.

What, you might ask, has caused this Fluffy KNITTER to walk on the wild side?

When I was about 8 years old I learned to knit and crochet. I was pretty unenthused by the knitting (too fussy, too many needles!) but the crochet really caught my fancy! After all this was in the 70's when acid green ponchos and granny square anything's were all the rage. So I merrily crocheted many a hideous poncho, a granny square vest or 20 (eek!!) and a couple of ripple stitch afghans but shockingly (not!) the crochet quickly lost it's charm and knitting came back onto the radar screen.

I knit steadily for many years, using my crochet skills for the occasional trim or border, but as an adjunct, nothing more.

Since I've returned to the knitting fold these last 3 years, I continue to use my meager and much atrophied crocheting skills, albeit rarely.

In that same 3 years I've been keeping my eyes open for an afghan that struck my fancy. Living in Florida, I really wanted a nice cotton afghan that would be cool enough for warm weather but good to snuggle in when it got cooler or the AC was working full blast :) Alas, nothing knitted really struck my fancy...then I saw the
Carnival Shawl. My eyes saw "crocheted shawl" but my brain said crocheted AFGHAN!!! YAY! I could make lots of medallions, sew em together and have the beautiful, cool cotton afghan I've been dreaming of!

As I mentioned, I am using the ultra soft and easy care Knitpicks
Shine
and so far the only color I have is the cream leftover from my Kiri. I've planned a striking, earth toned palette including the cream so I'll show off the other colors once they arrive :) The medallions are fun and easy to make and each one takes less than 2 hours! This will be my ongoing, "inbetweenmyTWOknittedprojects" grab-it project. I plan to make about 80 medallions so this won't be completed any time real soon! I'm really enjoying making these and I confess I'm thrilled to be back walking on the wild CROCHET side again!!

In less earth shattering news, this is and will always remain Casa de FluffyKNITTERDeb so KNITTING has occurred as well. In addition to another pattern repeat on the Diamond Fantasy Shawl.....

Here is my in progress Sockapalooza sock!


And look Claudia, my very first picot cast-on!! Isn't it lovely? I may be a picot convert cause that cast-on is just too cute!

My Sockapalooza pal has feet that are on the fluffy side too so I wanted a pattern that had lots of stretch and showcased the beautiful pinky-orange Twinkletoes yarn. I chose the awesome Lacy Scallops pattern from the talented and generous Sock Bug and I think it's a perfect marriage of pattern and yarn, don't you?

Lastly, I leave you with my P-Man because he has some wonderful news! He no longer has to live in the bombed out bare cement floored hovel we have been calling home for the last 4 months since Hurricane Wilma came to visit because....

We have a NEW FLOOR!!!


Doesn't it match his fur beautifully? Apparently, he's a *light oak* kinda guy!

We never realized how slippery this Pergo stuff is, it's kinda like living in a skating rink! My sweet Pumpkin has yet to adjust and he's still bashing sliding into the occasional wall now and again, altho his Mom has so far managed to remain horizontal! Good thing *fluffy* makes a good cushion in cases like this!


Next week, Pumpkin hopes to share another post hurricane hovel home improvement as well! I guess things are always changing when you start walking on the wild side!

Have a great weekend and crochet KNIT lots!! :)

21 comments:

Alison said...

Pretty socks. I do love Shine as well.

I actually crocheted for many years because I had an uncle who used to take my knitting off the needles. (Not my fave uncle; he was grown and should have known better.)

Congrats on the floor. Really nice!

Agnes said...

I like crocheting ... just that it's much more difficult for me to get the gauge right! I have put down my 63-square afghan for quite some time ... do want to finish it ... have to think about that!
Your sock pal is so lucky ... gorgeous yarn, beautiful pattern, expert-skilled knitter = wonderful socks!

La Cabeza Grande said...

Welcome back to the fold, Debi! Seems like we're living parallel crafting lives...

I, too, learned to knit and crochet around the same time (age 6 or 7), but really took to crochet like mad. Yep. I had my share of granny vests, etc. I did it pretty steadily for about 10 years then dropped it altogether until about 3 years ago when knitting caught my fancy once again.

Anyway, its not about me. It's all about your beautiful medallions, fab picot cast-on in ORANGE Twinkletoes (yay!) and happy Pumpkin and his new Pergo floors.

Glad to see things are coming together for you.

Carole Knits said...

Crocheting? OHhhh noooo! Hee, just kidding. I think that shawl is pretty funky. And your sock looks great, too. I haven't tried the picot edge cast on but I'm planning on it one of these days.

Anonymous said...

It is all gorgeous. Love the crochet, makes me want to take the crochet hooks out of mothballs. Pumpkin looks a little unsure of that floor. Hope he gets the hang of it soon.

Cathy said...

Great floor, cute pumpkin, awesome crochet! lol I too crocheted more than knit when I was younger, I think it's great to know both as they complement each other at times. I can't wait to see what the afghan looks like all finished :)

Anonymous said...

I learned to crochet first as well, but I could never get the love. Your new floor looks lovely. I am unfamiliar with Shine. If you get a second, I would love to know more about Shine.

Once again, congratulations on your "walk on the wild side". Happy knitting/crocheting.

p.s. My gosh you must be fast with handwork. You have more forward progress than anyoneI know...

Anonymous said...

Well, I'd consider you a traitor, but I was a crocheter long before I was a knitter. I've made more doilies than I can count. I think I'll have to get some Shine - Marguerite (Stitches of Violet) just made a gorgeous sweater with it. The socks are lovely too and P-man's floor. Great match!
Dorothy (Missouri Star)

chris said...

Hooray for the new floor!! It's beautiful and P-Man looks like he definitely approves. ;-) I'm so happy for you guys! And whoa, I thought I was going to spot some safari animals or something with all your wild-side walking! ;-) Your medallions are gorgeous... like you, I actually learned to crochet first, too, but haven't really returned to it since the good ol' poncho/throw pillow days. The Shine crochets up really beautifully! And what a great way to use up leftovers, too. Your sock pal's socks are GORGEOUS!! That picot cast-on is too cute... I'm going to have to give that a try, right after I try your Turkish cast-on. BTW, I have to tell you, your mammogram story CRACKED me up!! I haven't had the pleasure of undergoing the medieval boob contraption yet, but with noboobageatall, I think my poor chest is going to get smashed to smithereens! Take care and have a great weekend, sweetie! :-)

Catherine said...

Another parallel crafting life here - and now I have to go find that Rowan book, because I'm intrigued! Love the flooring - I've thought that if I stayed in this joint forever I'd replace the rather odd tile with Pergo, but there's an awful lot of tile to replace.

Vicki said...

I need an afghan. Yours actually sounds pretty promising. And the picot is super cute :)

Marguerite said...

Love Shine! Is that the Blush color? It looks so pastel.

I ordered a skein in Blush, and the yarn I received was closer to acute embarrassment. I want some Blush from your dye lot!

Last week I ordered some linen fingering weight yarn from Louet for a Stahman Faroese shawl. Thought you'd like to know, because it's all your fault! LOL

I never would have tried linen without reading your raves about washability and not needing blocking.

Anonymous said...

I love the little medallions, they are quite pretty. I'm very impressed with your crochet skills. I crocheted prior to knitting but my skills were very, very lame.

Congrats on the floor!

Beth said...

Some of those Twinkletoes colors are just too awesome. You've got one very lucky sock pal!

Anonymous said...

I love those socks! I might just learn to love orange yet. Your new floor is gorgeous and I think it was very smart to coordinate your kitty with it!

Kathleen said...

Lovin' your crocheted medallions.
Must try out that Knitpicks yarn you mentioned.

Jes said...

Shine is so great, it will make the perfect Floridian afghan. I love the ease of the medallions, but I do not envy the seaming that needs to happen ;)

The floors look wonderful. The p-man will get used to them, but in the mean time, there's nothing like watching a cat on an ice skating rink to pass the time. =)

Knittykim said...

Nice floor. Glad he is not totally orange-he may blend right in to that floor!!

Are you making an appearance Saturday afternoon??

Ada said...

Love the little medallions it will make a beautiful afghan.
The socks are looking great. Don't worry to much about Pumpkin he'll get the hang of that slippery floor sometime soon.

L. said...

I know what you mean about crocheting sometimes....all of a sudden I get the urge to crochet things instead of always knitting.

I love your Market bag and it looks so similar in color scheme to my entrelac knapsack on my blog.

Unknown said...

I made an entire crochet blanket using the same pattern you used for the medallions...they're beautiful, by the way! your work is pristine! you clearly have high standards in your work. i have great respect for those who take pride in their own work and strive for perfection & beauty, as you clearly do... anyways, as i was saying, I made the whole blanket with gorgeous, super soft, super expensive yarns! it came out beautifully and was wrapped & gifted to an ungrateful relative for her new babygirl...after opening hundreds (no exaggeration) hundreds of gifts, she open mine,which also happened to be the only handmade gift. she looked at it, shrugged her shoulders, then threw the blanket behind her, to the ground...and that was that! i've never seen it again!!! my point??? i didn't save the pattern!!! silly me! so now i have been looking for it for years...then i visit your page...and here you are, a knitter who rarely crochets, and coincidentally publishes a photo of two medallions, crochet in the exact pattern that i am looking for. i have tried, own my own, to reproduce and write up the pattern...i haven't been able to...ho-hum...so here is my question...are you willing to give up your pattern? i am very willing to pay for it... so again, i love your work and am very grateful to have found your sight...thank you for the time you have put into it! i appreciate it and am hopeful, that i may just be able to make this blanket again... only this time, it will be gifted to my appreciative and precious daughter...