Thursday, April 17, 2008

I'm so happy it is warm and I'm wearing my tunic!

This is my first large wearable project I made. It is a tunic made from Lion Brand Cotton Ease in Hazelnut. This pattern can be found for free at Lion Brand.com or here if the link works. http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/60730A.html?noImages=0

This attempt of mine is not perfect. It took about 4.5 skeins of yarn. Because the tunic is made of two identical panels I ended up making one in a size small and one in a size medium. I did this because after making the small I was afraid that it would be too tight so I did the front in a size medium to allow more stretch.
This is a picture of me wearing the tunic (today actually right now as I'm writing this). One problem I have with this is that the yarn (cotton ease) stretched (since it is 50% cotton 50% acrylic). I like the texture and durability of the yarn it has a lot of give. I am tall and although the tunic is supposed to be longer I did not increase the pattern length any. The first time I wore the tunic it fell just below the hips but now (wear 5 or 6) it has stretched to well bast my but and is about the length of a short dress. Sometimes I tuck the bottom up so it is not as long (as in the picture above). The picture below is the full length (untucked) version of the tunic.
As you can tell from the pictures I like to wear this tunic with bright (bubblegum) colored shirts underneath. I usually wear this hot pink shirt or a bright turquoise or green shirt underneath to contrast the neutral color. I find it is a good tactic to make crocheted items with neutral or basic colors and then pair them with different bright colored shirts to change the look. I normally pair this tunic with a bright shirt, jeans or cargo pants (as pictured) and my Birkenstocks (which I own in hot pink).

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

My first pattern post YAY!!!

Since this is my first pattern post let me know if you have any questions/comments/concerns. This is the first time I have ever written a pattern for someone besides just me to use.

This scarf was made in the Fall 2006 with yarn I found at Walmart on sale. It was in small skeins (less than 100yds on cardboard cylinders). I think it is an acrylic fingering weight with a nylon ribbon. This scarf ended up too short for an adult so I called it youth sized or oops too small for me size. When I cut the ends the nylon part unraveled so the fringe is shredding. But this is a good beginner approach to crocheting because there is minimal turning. It took me forever to learn how to turn properly and to make it even. My first projects all looked terrible so they were donated to the homeless shelter. This scarf is going to Goodwill because it is to small for me and I do not have a small enough child to give this to. Who ever said college kids aren't generous?








Youth Stripe Scarf

3 skeins each of blue and green yarn (I don’t know what the brand name is but I bought it at Walmart for less than $3 a skein each yes than 100 yds) or about 300 yds of any worsted weight yarn

Size I or J hook

L 39”

W 4.5”

With color A ch151

Row 1 with color A turn and sc in 2nd ch from hook and each ch till end (150) fasten off

Row 2 with color B sc in each sc

Repeat until desired width or until you run out of yarn by doing 2 rows of color A and 2 rows of color B

It is easy to adjust the width of stripes by doing more or less rows of each color.

I added fringe by cutting pieces about 6 inches long and tying them to the end of the scarf. This did not work too well because the nylon part of the yarn unravels easily.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

So this is my first post um this is awkward

I picked the name Kollegiate Hooker because I thought it is a cute, catchy pen name for a collegiate crocheter. I guess if anyone comes here looking for porn they are out of luck, well oops. I am a sophomore geography/meteorology major which means I'll never get lost and always know the weather, who likes to crochet and has two best friends who are avid knitters (one has a spinning wheel). I am bent on crocheting and I refuse to learn to knit although I admit some of the stuff they make is pretty cool (but crochet is always better). I got the idea for this blog after getting roped into seeing the yarnharlot speak on her book tour and realized I need another form of procrastination from school, work, and knitters. I hope to post my finished projects and patterns I have made up and/or severely modified. This may be kinda slow and haphazard because I am prone to creative bursts and droughts and budget and time deficits but I think this could work (well hopefully).
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