Stitchboard Admin message #166
Re: Tunisian gauge
December 11, 2013 at 5:22:25 PM
 
Sherry,

I hope the curl does come out in the wash!    I can't wait to try it.  I haven't done much since yesterday...it mostly depends on what's on TV.  That's my favorite time to work, because it's my "down time."  LOL, I need a computer like on Star Trek, where it does what I tell it, so I can crochet and do computer work at the same time.  Why, I could have the computer type this and be crocheting those dishcloths right now!    Sigh.

I noticed a curling problem with the dishcloth I decided is not going to be given as a gift.  It's very pretty, the aforementioned snowflake, and I made it only about 6", rather than the 9 or 9 1/2" it's supposed to be by leaving out the last (unnecessary, IMO) row, but I also didn't like it because it is all curly, and there's no way to give it as a gift without first washing it.    And it was way too labor intensive to make it three more times.  The one that was supposed to have almost petal-like edges doesn't curl tremendously.    So I'll make three more of that pattern, for sure.

So I'm still only one down, 15 to go.    My purpose in moving on to the snowflake was not to do the same two in a row, but to mix it up so I don't get bored doing the same one, over and over again.

LOL, I'm glad to know cursing is a good way to work off negative energy!  I always give the reason (and this is true, confirmed by real studies!) that cursing helps relieve stress.    Maybe I need to step it up so I can be completely calm all the time. 

That's what I think about those, ugh, 9 - 10" dishcloths!  Most people's hands aren't that huge!  Why on earth would anyone need something so big?!  I agree with you 100%...5 1/2 - 6" is just fine...anything else would be much too unwieldy, IMO.

I do the same...use dishcloths once before they go into the laundry, as well...you're just going to put soap on them, anyway, so why not use them before laundering?  And I also agree that it's better not to waste the yarn, to get "two for the price of one" so to speak.  Anything else would be a complete waste.  Even sponges are not 10", and certainly aren't square 10"...if they were, they wouldn't be very useful for dishwashing.  I'm guessing sponges are about 3" x 5".  And while it's true a dishcloth is flatter, IMO, that makes it much more flexible, anyway.

Argh, yarn caculations are so difficult!  I buy extra, extra, extra.  I don't remember if I mentioned the woman who wants towel toppers...she wants four of them, so I told her, buy four skeins of cotton, and anything that's left can be returned with the receipt.  I always try to figure over...it's awful to get stuck without enough!    Especially since I've had trouble with dye lots...with the "no dye lots" being terribly unreliable, as we discussed before. 

I bet the scarf will be much appreciated! 

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Stitchboard Admin message #168
Re: Tunisian gauge
December 12, 2013 at 11:36:03 PM  (in response to BetwixtTheStitch message #2)
 
Sherry,

LOL about the VR on Win7!    Did you manage to get it working well enough to use it, or did you finally have to give up on it?

Okay, I confuse easily and suffer from CRS.    Was that the TKS done on the diagonal or...?

Exactly, pretty, easy and fast!  The one took a little over an hour, IIRC.  The snowflake was at least two hours of intensive work, so I just finished, cut and it's waiting for the ends to be tucked in and we'll use it.

I found another one that looked like it might be easy, but ugh, it was time consuming, so I frogged that one, though may try it again with a larger hook.  The reason I frogged it was because it was so tight working with the awful size F hook.  I decided that since this one was done in the round, I'll take advantage of a larger hook and stop when I think it's getting big enough, then edge it with the edging in the pattern, on far fewer stitches, so it looks a bit different.

Also found another pattern that I think will be adequate by removing 3 sts.  And I'm seriously thinking of working your bobble pattern with hds for another one, maybe a slightly larger hook, like a G. 

Two 7 oz skeins sound about right, but you never know, argh.  Can you grab extra when the weather is cooperative? 

Oh, I'm trying to remember where I found the towel topper patterns...there was a gorgeous one, a leaf, IIRC, though I can't recall if it was knit or crocheted.  Hold on (LOL), I'll see if I can find the list that I started with again.    The woman who wants the towel toppers picked out a simple dc pattern, I think.  Argh, I can't find it again and will have to show her some choices once more.  That was months ago. 

This is the page I thought I had showed her, but now that I look at it, yes, it does have the leaf I mentioned, but am not sure about all of those:
http://grandmotherspatternbook.com/?p=5462

Unless she picked the zigzag with the buttons.  Argh, I don't remember.    Maybe she picked this one (to be made plain), but it's knit and I could have sworn she'd picked crochet:
http://www.favecrafts.com/Kitchen-Knits/Kitchen-Towel-Hangers-Knitting-Pattern

Anyway, the one I really, really liked (and will probably make this for us after we can move) was this one, which is also on that Grandmother's Pattern Book page:
http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf51824958.tip.html

Not that I really like green or anything...green and I have an understanding, but I'd probably use a deep autumnal red or something, instead of green.  Not white for sure.  Hate white, since it shows all the dirt. 

What do you think of the towel toppers on that page?  Are you going to make some towel toppers for yourself?    I think that would be wonderful! 

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Stitchboard Admin message #170
Re: Tunisian gauge
December 13, 2013 at 4:53:13 PM  (in response to BetwixtTheStitch message #4)
 
Sherry,

I completely understand why you'd give up!  I would, too.  It really doesn't seem to be worth any time investment, not when it's that labor intensive, with no guaranteed results.    I've worked with VR before, and it's iffy.  One minute, it recognizes a word, the next it doesn't.  Hubby has his phone and regularly speaks times for alarm settings, and sometimes it doesn't recognize what he's said.  It seems to have improved over the years, but I bet not that much!  I used to try to use it to write patterns...seemed like a no brainer to speak directions...of course it didn't recognize words like "crochet" half the time. 

Ick, I wouldn't want to work with the diagonal TKS stitch either under those circumstances!  Doesn't sound very appealing. 

Oh, I see what you mean!    Love it.  It's very pretty and yet looks simple enough.    Are you using that for a dishcloth?

(I think you can link to it by just pressing enter...on my screen, it underlines it and then makes it a link.  I'll do that here, so there's a link...if you want, I could edit your message, but I'd rather not!)

http://thelazyhobbyhopper.blogspot.com/2011/11/how-to-crochet-diagonally.html

Isn't that cabled topper gorgeous?!  I wish the woman had chosen something like that, as it would be fun to make it with Tunisian, but she was uninterested.  So it looks like I'm going to make something very plain for her.  Sigh.  Oh, well.  It's going to be variegated yarn, so if it is that coffee cup/striped set, it wouldn't be as labor intensive as all that...I'd just make it "solid" and let the variegated yarn do all the work - she didn't want stripes or coffee cups or anything on it.    So I guess plain isn't terrible!  And with a variegated, it would confuse cables, anyway, so I guess just a straightforward thing is best. 

Oooh, towel toppers for gifts sounds like a lovely idea!  Would you crochet the towels, as well?  I'm so loving the idea of crocheted dish towels/hand towels since you mentioned that.    Want!  When I'm done with all of the dishcloths and have finished a couple of other back burner things, I want to make at least four towels, two for the kitchen, two for the bathroom.  It would be even more ideal to have 6 of them, but I'm not going to shoot for that until I get at least 3 done, anyway, and that depends on time, sigh. 

Love the idea of getting a jump on next year's gifts...wish I had some of this year's gifts done...sigh.   Everything is going to be late this year.  I'm probably going to end up mailing out client gifts...and those are my top priority, so you can only imagine how late I am on gifts for people like my bestie, who I know would understand, but still... 

I totally agree about crocheting the towel right onto the topper.  Why buy good towels, then have to punch holes in them and then have to make the topper on that?  I'm with you...that's why I want to make towels with toppers.  Besides, if I do that, I can make them work with our kitchen/bathroom.  The bathroom one just goes on a regular towel bar, so I'd like to have buttons or snaps for a wider towel topper, and probably a slightly longer towel, as well.  LOL, there's really no use to a back part of a towel on a bar if I'm just drying my hands! 

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Stitchboard Admin message #172
Re: Tunisian gauge
December 14, 2013 at 6:40:52 PM  (in response to BetwixtTheStitch message #6)
 
Sherry,

Thank you for the link!    I had been there ages ago, yet had completely forgotten about it.    I'm going to try a dishcloth in that pattern using variegated...looks like a nice, quick pattern!  I'm all about quick now that I messed up and didn't get very much done. 

I told hubby we'll just mail stuff out.  Or if he sees anyone, then he can deliver it.  Another thing is I think he's going to be out in that area next week, and I'll just make him my delivery guy!  Got to put the husband to work! 

GMTA!  Definitely, crochet the towel right into the topper!    Love your way of thinking.  Though I'm not doing them as gifts...those will be for us!  Honestly, I don't know that I have what it takes to do an entire towel at once for a gift.    I like dishcloths because I don't have to make a whole set at once when I have several to make!    I can go from one to another, so there's no boredom factor. 

BTW, speaking of towels, though, wouldn't that diagonal crochet be interesting for a towel?  It would sure work up fast! 

Argh, I'm sorry that your kitchen isn't pulled together and is more "useful" than anything, though I guess useful is the better choice if you can have only one of them, huh?    Sigh, though I'm sure you didn't exactly have a choice.     Love the idea of appliance covers.  It will definitely pull the kitchen together, and it will keep appliances from getting dusty!  LOL, sigh, thanks...now I'm thinking along those lines, too.    The juicer, blender, etc, all things that don't get much use, gather dust and would look so much better with washable covers!  Pull the cover off here and there, wash it so it doesn't have dust on it, put it back on, and then everything stays perfectly clean!    What a fantastic idea!  

LOL, isn't the back half of a hand towel totally wasted?  Unless you take it off of the towel bar - which I generally don't - you end up using only one side.    May as well make the towel slightly longer (not too long, though!) and have all of that space available for hand drying!  And then with a topper on that, which goes the length of the towel, it will lay flatter, dry easier, and no wasted towel space! 

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Stitchboard Admin message #174
Re: Tunisian gauge
December 15, 2013 at 6:52:45 PM  (in response to BetwixtTheStitch message #8)
 
Sherry,

I bet your granddaughter will love the hand towel!  It's such a pretty design. 

I just made a dishcloth with it.  I kept going until it was over 5" under 6", then did a round of sc, approx 1 sc at the top of each "vertical" stitch and 2 or 3 in the horizontal ones.  I purposely went 2 stitches "back" or "under" when doing the sc row , to keep it from looking like the edging had holes in it.  I like the way it turned out!  I didn't bother counting to know if they've got the same number of scs on all sides...meh, they're dishcloths!

Also decided that the way to let people know what they are is to include a tag, perhaps saying something like, "Care and feeding of your new dishcloths."  Then I'll just say to wash them in a washing machine and throw them in the dryer and they'll be fine! 

LOL, I'm afraid nobody will otherwise know they're dishcloths!

I think that's a wonderful idea to make that pattern into towels for yourself and to work the topper in.  If you use a variegated, you also won't have to mess around with working in a gazillion ends.  I don't want to do a striped effect, bleh, and have all of those yarn ends to weave!    The lazy crocheter, LOL! 

And then starting the towels now would be fantastic!  LOL, just don't forget where you stashed them...that's my problem...I always forget where I stash things away.    They're in such safe places I don't know where they are. 

I can't wait to see what you make dust cover wise!  

Oooh, now that you mention it, you're right about the RH yarn for dust covers.  It really doesn't need to be absorbent.  Just needs to keep the dust off, and then you can throw it into the washer when it gets a small layer of dust on.    Best of all, no need for blocking, no worries about stretching (or shrinking), and the colors will never fade! 

Oh, yes, you can change the colors whenever you get tired of them!  Maybe change them every year or so.    Love that idea, too! 

Argh is right...after all, it was your kitchen, so if they didn't like your ideas...too bad!  That's so wrong.  You have to live with it, not them.  I'm so sorry they did that. 

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Stitchboard Admin message #176
Re: Tunisian gauge
December 16, 2013 at 8:51:31 PM  (in response to BetwixtTheStitch message #10)
 
Sherry,

Glad you like the tag idea!    I came up with it because all I have is the one wrapper from the outside of the yarn cone.  So I have to be creative to have some way of letting people know what the things are and what to do to keep them clean!  The time I made the coasters, I had a couple of wrappers, so I cut one into a square, put a like-sized piece of plain paper on the other side, used the opposite side as a "message" tag, taped packing tape all around both sides (which made it stiff like laminate), cut it to size, then cut out a simple tiny triangle and put a ribbon through the triangle, then threaded the ribbon around all 6 coasters and had the tag on the top of the coasters, threaded on the ribbon.  Then the ribbon was tied.

It would be even easier to do that all with the computer, because then you could have guidelines around the tags for cutting, rather than eyeballing it, the way I did.

The diagonal crochet is perfect for TV watching!  Once you get past the first awkwardness of where to crochet into the previous row (LOL, or at least, that was my problem), it's sooooooooooo easy.  Love it! 

Four down and 12 to go.  I would be much farther along, but I wasted the three hours of TV watching last night trying to work out the one pattern.    Crochet...rip...crochet...rip...crochet...rip. 

It was my fault, but I wanted something to look a certain way, and I was going from a pattern, and decided to make it my own.  The first row started the pattern, and I didn't like that.  So I added a sc row.  Then had to recalculate and rip, rip, rip.

Uuuuuuuugggggggghhhhh, don't you hate not being able to remember things?!  I know I have RH yarn around somewhere...but damned if I can remember where it went! 

IMO, the RH for the dust covers and being able to change them whenever you want to a different color scheme is absolutely ingenious! 

Oh, yeah, sigh...men in general aren't very good listeners, and the older they are, the more stubborn and cantankerous.  The older they are, the more resistant they are about listening to women, as well, sigh. 

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Stitchboard Admin message #178
Re: Tunisian gauge
December 17, 2013 at 8:19:50 PM  (in response to BetwixtTheStitch message #12)
 
Sherry,

Feel free to use my idea for the tag - or anything!    I also forgot the other reason I can't use the label, even if I had "enough," is because it probably says to leave the items to dry flat.  Um, no.  Washer, dryer, done.  I'm not going to have people leaving things flat to dry, bleah!  I wouldn't want to fuss that much with dishcloths!  I can see for coasters, but not dishcloths.  They're just going to get wet and misshapen with use, for crying out loud!    They don't need to constantly look "pretty."  Useful is much better in this case.

Anyway, I think it looked wonderful to put the two papers back to back and tape them with the packing tape.  The only thing I would suggest about that is to use a good, heavy tape, because then it's strong like laminate and looks like it.    I don't know how it would last over time, sigh, but for crying out loud, who wants to actually have tags laminated?  IIRC, I cut it to leave a tiny bit of the tape around the edges, maybe a quarter of an inch or so, where it would have something to stick to, of course. 

With a graphics program, you can put a triangle in the exact middle...LOL, I eyeballed it.  I wanted to use an Xacto knife, but couldn't find one, sigh, so I used a razor blade to make three little cuts.  You could also make it a square or better still, use a hole punch (which I also couldn't find, sigh).

Yeah, I'm sure you're right about the yarn wrapper going in the garbage...people these days don't seem to be very interested in reading, for crying out loud.    But some do save gift tags, luckily, so if it's interesting enough, they'll hold onto it and also sometime view the care instructions! 

I'll be happy to test anything you want!    I hope you also won't mind testing anything I come up with, as well...I still have to write up the directions for the cap, which hubby tried on the kitty...sooooooooooo cute!    It turned out to be just the right size, so now I have to weave in the ends.

Since these cozies won't be to sell (unless you plan to do so later?), how about using simple free graphics from the Web, and using the Free Pattern Wizard to make them into crochet graphs? 

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Stitchboard Admin message #180
Re: Tunisian gauge
December 18, 2013 at 7:53:02 PM  (in response to BetwixtTheStitch message #14)
 
Sherry,

LOL, glad we agree!  A dishcloth is a dishcloth.  Best guess on the 16 is 9 to go?  Will have to check on that.  As of yesterday morning, I had four done, one of each.  Yesterday I did one and a half and today I've finished the half and made another one.  Wow, I guess the math really does add up...LOL, what do you know?! 

No pictures of the hat yet, because that was the messy "try it on with all of the ends hanging down."     So I have to work those in, but have been concentrating on the dishcloths.  Ugh, not even halfway done!    These things are going to be later than late.  

I have to take some pics...ends hanging out all over on those, too, for now.  And one of a certain pattern is noticeably smaller than the other...oh, well, they're dishcloths!

Oh, yeah, if there's anything that you think you can sell, why not?    I'm so loving the idea of the dust covers.    IMO, it's the greatest way of decorating and redecorating with the colors you want!    I have to think others will feel the same way...and even better, can you imagine how nice it would be for someone who is renting?    They can't change their colors as they want...but with the dust covers, they can!  It might not negate floor/wall colors (thinking of a place we rented that had embarrassingly '40s and '50s greens and yellows on the walls and floors, sigh), but just think how nice it would have been to have appliance colors in nice blues, pinks, purples, etc...the colors of our choice!  

I'm sure you'll find just the right design for the covers, and if you don't find anything that really grabs you, maybe just nice combos of colors?  Stripes?  Variegated? 

Oooh, the TKS cables would be great, too, tied in nicely with a TKS cabled towel topper.    Now that's gorgeous!    I adore cables.    And putting the cables in contrasting colors would be super.

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