Mesh problem

I have a slight mesh problem ... 😂

Craft breweries

Those damn craft breweries... 😂

Autumn Mists vest pour moi

I crocheted a warm, button-front vest pour moi back in 2015, and it’s awesome, if I do say so myself. I didn't use a pattern, just kind of winged it and figured it out as I went along.

But it didn't take long for me to decide after wearing this that the vest really, REALLY needed pockets. It took me two years to finally get around to adding them, but at last it now has two patch pockets on the front. 

To make the pockets I modeled them on the patch pockets of my husband's Carhartt vest. Using the same double crochet mesh stitch as the vest itself, I did a fdc of 24 stitches wide and then worked the pockets from the bottom up. 

But I also wanted these pockets to be able to hold anything I put in there, so I knew it would be important to line them with fabric. That way even tiny coins and the like would not be able to fall out from between the crocheted stitches. I used a remnant of this adorable penguin fabric to make the pocket liners. I tacked the liners to the front of the vest and then sewed the crocheted pockets over the liners. I sewed around the pocket opening to secure all the layers together there, and that's all there was to it. I'm a lot happier with the vest now that it has pockets.

Living in California, this vest is the perfect thing to wear outdoors on just about any winter day, so I'm sure I'll get lots and lots of use out of it.

Dragonscale Hat and Cowl

I have made this hat before (Lotus Hat), way back when I was brand new to knitting. I loved this pattern because it was super easy to work and a great introduction to following charts that produced an impressive finished product with gorgeous texture.

Last year when my daughter LadyU visited her dad over Christmas in snow country, she discovered that she could really use something like a balaclava to cover her head and face while out walking the dog. Pressed for time, I quickly crocheted up a Warm Winter Ski Mask and mailed it to her. That was good enough to tide her through that visit.

After she returned home, LadyU said she wanted something similar in design to the balaclava but perhaps a bit nicer looking, something along the line of the Valanar Cowl and Hat -- a set with a hat and snug-fitting cowl that can be pulled up over the hat to provide coverage similar to a balaclava.

Well, it took me some time to get back around to making her a set like that, but I finally did it using the Lotus Hat pattern. (My version doesn't provide as much chest protection as the Valanar Cowl, but I figured she could wear another scarf if she needed more coverage there.)

I made the hat following the main pattern instructions (4 mm needles with a CO of 96 stitches), repeating the lace chart three times before working the decrease chart.

I wanted the cowl to be a looser gauge and be about 12 inches long but still have about the same diameter as the hat, so for it I used the 5 mm needles with a CO of 84. (The lovely crosshatch lace will work over any multiple of 12.) I repeated the lace chart eight times, with about 1 inch of 1X1 ribbing (six rows) at each end.