Crocheted Coasters with Jazz Yarn

Completed: 2007
Dimensions: seven coasters, each 3 1/4" in diameter

Sometimes I'm just a sucker for pretty yarn. I bought one single ball of Artful Yarns' Jazz yarn (in color "Billie") at a store back in 2003 or 2004, but didn't have a plan for it and didn't do anything with it for years.

Finally I decided something needed to be done with it, even if it was just to let me work with it.

I used a size G crochet hook and crocheted little single-crochet circles until the yarn was used up, and then felted them inside a pillow case in the washing machine in hot water.

After they were dried and flattened out, I used a spare length of Jamieson's shetland yarn in a light beige to embroider little stars in them. The stars came out much more awkwardly than I had meant them to, but I kind of think they work.

Rainbow Orphan Scarf

Completed: 2014
Finished Size: 7" wide by 72" long

I made this scarf using a pattern called Orphan Scarf by Doris Chan. Her technique in this pattern is really simple; you basically just do rows of single crochet with very small gauge yarn with a very large hook. While you're working with it, it doesn't look like the spaces between the rows are very big, but once you've washed it and blocked it and stretched it out, the rows get really far apart.

She uses it in a number of patterns, including a set of curtains.

The finished product

I did have trouble with the ends, as they were firmer than the middle and tended to bow out wider than the body of the scarf. Maybe it's something about the way I cast on and finish off my crochet; or something in the blocking. If I was to use this technique again, I might not stretch it quite so far, and let it stay a bit more uniformly wide all over.

Detail of single-crochet loops

It's an excellent pattern if you want to try something with just one skein of laceweight yarn, which is what I had: a skein of about 400 yards of rainbow hand-dyed merino lace yarn I had bought at the Ann Arbor Art Fair in 2013.

Diamond-Motif Scarf with Yarn from the Kangaroo Dyer

Completed: 2008
Finished Size: 8" wide by 62" long

Finished scarf

I crocheted this scarf using yarn I won as a door prize at the 2007 Franklin County Fiber Twist festival in Greenfield, MA. (This festival is now known as the Fiber + Fashion event at the Little E).

Detail of crochet diamond motif

The yarn had no label on it, so I'm not sure what type of wool it was or how much of it I had or where it came from, but I think it is a merino sock yarn, and I'm guessing it was about 400 yards. I wasn't sure I'd have enough yarn to finish the scarf, but it turned out to be more than enough.

I do know it was hand-dyed by the Kangaroo Dyer, and that my photos on this page don't do it justice; it is really a nice variegated combination of autumnal colors, from ochre to burgundy to black.

I used a crochet pattern from Jojoland called simply "Cashmere Scarf," which doesn't really do the pattern justice either; it is a good-looking, well-proportioned, lacy but sturdy pattern of interlocking diamonds. I kept it for myself and it's been one of my totally unreproducible favorites for years.