CIRCLE WITH A DOT

#makeShitMonday, #crochet edition - in which I am going to finish this damn bag someday... But not today.

So I spent a decent amount of time working on my [Honey Moon Bag](https://www.mooglyblog.com/honey-moon-bag/) while traveling... And clearly I wasn't giving it my full attention. Because I *finally* got the second half done, and I went to attach the two halves - and if I align the tabs properly, one side is right-side-out but the other side is wrong-side-out. And my stitch count is correct, but the second side seems just slightly smaller than the first.

(You can see this coming, right?)

I was on a plane and tired of working on it and just wanted to be done, so I pinned the two sides together anyway and figured I'd finish it up at home. Picked it up today, which is when I realized - I had skipped a row somewhere! That's why the tab isn't where it should be, that's why it's slightly undersized.... ARGH.

Fortunately I only had to frog back four rows, and it'll be an easy fix. But maaaaaan, I was looking forward to getting this knocked out today so I can move on to the next project I have kitted, which is much more exciting! Oh, well.

@cannibal @crafters

Happy #makeShitMonday!

I'm still chugging along on this [Honey Moon Bag](https://www.mooglyblog.com/honey-moon-bag/) out of sheer cussedness. I finished the first side, started the second side, then realized they have to, y'know, *match*. And when I frogged back the tight version, I kept the first two rows, because I didn't want to deal with re-doing the magic ring.

So I had to get that tension right, then switch back to the looser tension, and at this point I'm just checking against the first side after every row - I don't want to have to do this *again* because it came out 1/2" larger when I was done!

And then I have to figure out a strap attachment. And a strap. But it may get parked at that point... because my brother-in-law wants a hat!!! Hats are easy. Hats are fun. Hats for people I love are double fun.

But before I get to make his hat, I am going to finish this damn bag... Or at least this side of it.

@cannibal @crafters

#makeShitMonday, back on my #crochet bullshit...

So last winter I made [scarves for @mbroome and my mom](https://infosec.exchange/@llorenzin/113824081839727708) by adapting [this lovely wrap pattern](https://www.mooglyblog.com/winged-wrap/) from one of my favorite designers.

@mbroome was complaining that he didn't have any toboggans he liked, and I had a skein plus a bit of that yarn left over, so I figured I'd try to make a matching hat. How hard could it be? I started from the bottom up, with the W pattern in a circle, and just kept fitting it to his head until I got it the right size and shape...

We'd talked about putting a fleece liner into it to make it a bit warmer, but by this time it was getting into spring, so it sat around until the weather started getting cool again - at which point he went to REI and found a merino wool beanie that worked perfectly with it, and I just whip-stitched the crochet hat onto the beanie.

He wore it to Thanksgiving, and my mom liked it so much, I offered to make her one, too! (One can never have too many cute hats. And It'll be warmer than the previous hat, anyway.) Which meant I had to figure out what I had done the first time - fortunately I took *some* notes.

@mbroome decided he wanted his hat to be just a little deeper, so it'd come further down his ears - I had him pull the beanie down where he wanted it and figured out I just needed to add a couple more rows above the decoration... And then spent most of our Christmas holiday reverse-engineering the first hat, writing out a hat pattern, and making him a newly Mike-sized version of the hat - we'll give Mom the original.

I was sewing the beanie in on our drive home and realized I probably had enough yarn to squeak out one more - and I've been looking around for a good toboggan for a while now. So I figured I'd see if I could test my pattern and make myself a new hat along the way - and I won at yarn chicken! There's just enough yarn (from the tail ends of two different skeins!) to knock out one more... 🧶

I'm really happy with how the hat pattern turned out, and I'd love to post it on Ravelry - I've reached out to Tamara at Moogly for her okay, since it's based on her original pattern. Hopefully she'll be on board with that!

@cannibal @crafters

#makeShitMonday, more #crochet...

No, these photos aren't out of order.

So that good start on the Honey Moon bag? Well. I realized that I was really dreading working on it, and *then* I realized it's because I've been keeping my tension pretty tight to make the fabric as solid as possible... And with this tape yarn, it means I'm basically fighting every stitch.

So... I frogged the whole darn thing back to the first two rows (left those because I don't want the hassle of making the magic ring again), made a quick yarn ball of the loose yarn, and I'm going to start over with much less tension. We'll see whether I can actually keep it consistent across both sides of the bag!

@cannibal @crafters

#makeShitMonday, #crochet edition...

We had an extended Thanksgiving holiday with my family - drove out to my mom's Tuesday morning so the three of us could take my uncle out that evening to celebrate his 80th birthday, then down to Georgia on Wednesday so my sister could host our traditional feast in her new home...

I managed to finish this [Memento Mori shawl](https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/memento-mori-shawl) in time to bring it to her as a housewarming gift, and I'm really pleased with how it turned out! Had enough yarn to bump it up to six rows of skulls (rather than the four in the pattern) and that made a really nice size. The baby alpaca yarn is incredibly soft, and she loves it. 🥰🧶

Driving back Sunday through holiday traffic was brutal - took us 7.5 hours to get home, rather than the usual 5.5 - but at least I got a good start on a [Honey Moon Bag](https://www.mooglyblog.com/honey-moon-bag/) for my next project...

@cannibal @crafters

#makeShitMonday, #crochet edition...

...in which I realize I am an *utter dumbass* and managed to break yarn, weave in ends, soak, and get mostly through blocking Betsy's shawl before noticing that I somehow only made the final edging picots on one side, but not the other. ‍️

At which point I swore a bunch and finished pinning it out to see how visible the difference was. (Answer: very.) So my current plan is to unweave the end, tie back on - I thought about a Russian join, but I think the double thickness would be really noticeable in a picot - at the same place I left off, make the remaining picots, and then try to dampen just that edge and block just those picots. Realistic? I guess I'll find out...

On a brighter note, I started a [Memento Mori shawl](https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/memento-mori-shawl) for my sister on the flights to & from the wedding visit, and at least *that's* going pretty smoothly!

@cannibal @crafters

#makeShitMonday, #crochet edition...
So I finished the contrast edging for the second shawl... The edging yarn has a slight gradient, so the two sides are asymmetrical, which would drive *me* nuts. But I sent both pics to my friend, and she likes it that way! Which is lovely, because it saves me the time of frogging again and re-doing the self-edging.

These friends are both women I know through my mom, so now I'm making Mom a shawl of the same pattern - that way they'll all have a matching set. I took my show on the road again - @mbroome & I just completed a 4-day, 40-mile thru hike in the Uwharries, and we had a bunch of free time in the afternoons, so I was able to get the body mostly done around the campfires and finished it up when we got home last night.

Next steps are to block Betsy's shawl (this week), finish the edging (on planes to/from a wedding this weekend) and block Mom's (next week), and take both of them to Mom when I see her next Friday. I think I can get it all done - wish me luck!

@cannibal
@crafters

#makeShitMonday, #crochet edition...

More adventures > more roadtrips > more progress! I'm making another instance of the same shawl for a different friend, and I was able to get the body done while adventuring - and then add *and frog* the edging while attending a pops concert and a Paperhand Puppet performance this weekend.

Why frog the edging? Because my friend was interested in a contrast edging, and I have some blue yarn left over from another project, but I don't know if she'll like those colors together. So I figured I'd work it up both ways and let her decide! ️ And it was easiest to just finish with the original skein and then pull the edging off so I can re-do with the blue... Hoping to get that done this week.

@cannibal @crafters

#makeShitMonday, #crochet edition...

I missed last Monday's update due to Having Adventures, so I have a twofer this week - I've finished, blocked, and delivered the triangle shawl for my friend, *and* I got my mohair wrap done!

Fall is Adventure Season around here, and the weather has been glorious - in the past two weeks, we've backpacked 30 miles in 3 days at Doughton Park, dropped two vertical caves near Blacksburg, and spent several days rappelled and ascending on a 700' drop at Whiteside Mountain in Western NC. We're headed out to Hanging Rock State Park for another round of backpacking tomorrow... more training for a 4-day, 40-mile thru hike in October. So I've had plenty of time to work on these as we roadtrip to our adventures!

Also got the yarn ball sorted for my next project, and I must say - winding a yarn ball in a car is *not* a great option. Next time I'm going back to hanging the skein off my treadmill desk...

@cannibal

#makeShitMonday, #crochet edition...

I've put my mohair wrap on hold to make a scarf for a friend who's about to go into chemotherapy - when my MIL was in chemo, I remember her mentioning how cold the treatment rooms were, and I'd like to give my friend something warm, soft, and comforting to wear for her treatments. 🧶 I had a skein of this lovely cashmere-merino blend in my stash, and she liked the colors, so we're off to the races!

Normally I don't love working to a deadline, but I really want to get this done before her chemo starts, and this is absolutely the fastest progress I've ever made on a single project... I wound the skein into a yarn ball on Sunday August 17th, and today I've just completed the body, so all I have left is the edging. It helps that we had a road trip to VA to take some friends caving - I got a *ton* of it done in the car.

Unfortunately we had a huge downpour while camping there, and my project bag got wet - the yarn was damp, so I left it out overnight to dry out, and then realized in the morning that there were a zillion moths around. The last thing I want is moth eggs i
on a gift! So I did a little research online and found that [heat is a good way to kill moth eggs](https://www.wellandgood.com/shopping/how-to-get-rid-of-clothes-moths). Conveniently the filament dryer for our 3D printer can hold at the appropriate temperature... So I jury-rigged some standoffs to keep the yarn off the heater bars and made a little yarn sauna.

Hoping to get it finished and blocked this week, so I can drop it off for her this weekend!

@cannibal @crochet