Ginkgo Night Moves scarf

This free pattern is Night Moves, a lovely shawl or scarf designed by PurpleIguana. For my project, I followed Fiber Spider's video tutorial and patern mods. His mods begin when we reach the first decreasing row. 

I also greatly appreciate PurpleIguana's notes about yarn usage that she included on her Ravelry project page. 

The shape of these crochet shells reminds me of ginkgo leaves. 

Fiber Spider project inspo photo

I had a partial cake of the Red Heart It's a Wrap Rainbow in the Foggy colorway that had 134 grams  out of the original 150 grams. (I also had two other full-size cakes on hand.) I wanted to try to use all of the partial cake for this scarf, so, based on the notes on PurpleIguana's project page (linked above), I calculated that I needed to crochet my scarf until it weighed about 89 grams before starting the decrease rows described in Fiber Spider's mods.

I was working from the white end of the cake to the gray end of the cake. On my first attempt, I started the decreases a bit early and ended up with still having quite a bit of the gray left, so I placed a marker to indicate where I started decreasing and then ripped back to that point. Then I crocheted another four-row repeat section using the original (increasing) stitch sequence before starting the decreasing rows again.

As you can see in my photo, the plies of this yarn are not spun at all, which can sometimes make it a bit fiddly to work with. But, overall, it is a lovely yarn that feels soft and light.

Plies not spun

On that second attempt, I ended up running out of the gray a few rows before the end of the scarf, so I stole a few grams of the gray end of one of my other cakes to complete this project. 😂 Hey, it's my yarn stash; I can do what I want with it. 😹

Before blocking

I soaked the scarf in a washtub with a splash of Woolite and a few drops of peppermint essential oil mixed in, with the hope that some of the fragrance will remain in the fiber after it's dried. I would have liked to have used lavender essential oil for the fragrance, but I only had peppermint on hand, so I used what I had. But now I'm thinking that I need to add a vial of the lavender to my collection soon (ha!!). This project turned out so well that I'm intending to enter it in the fair this fall, and I would like the fiber to have some lingering fragrance, if possible, to please the judges. 🤞

After rinsing and gently squeezing the scarf, I rolled it inside a fluffy bath towel and pressed out the remaining excess water. Then I pinned it to the blocking boards, gently pulling out the bottom sawtooth points and opening up the lace. As you can see in the photos, the blocking makes the scarf several inches taller than it was before blocking. But it would be lovely either way, with or without blocking.

Blocking

Dimensions after blocking: 80 inches by 14 inches. 

Swirly spiral hat free pattern

This is a relatively easy, quick-to-make pattern that produces an elegant-looking hat that’s perfect to donate to patients going through chemotherapy: Divine Hat by Sarah Arnold. I made this one in just a few hours and plan to make many more to donate. Thank you, Sarah, for sharing your patterns for free! Hat projects usually make great stash-busters as well.

I love the swirl effect and deep texture.

Shells and Trellis Hat chemo free pattern

This year, I feel moved to crochet and/or knit caps to donate to patients undergoing treatment at a local cancer center. And although I have purchased many patterns over the years (and will certainly be purchasing many more in the future), sometimes it's nice just to be able to use a free pattern.

The expression goes that you get what you pay for, but I've found that there are LOTS and LOTS of high quality free patterns to be found online if you just take the time to look for them. I will try to share links on my blog to some of the patterns I've found and have particularly enjoyed making because I think you will enjoy making them, too. Be sure to give your love to the original designers who have so generously shared their work!

I found this Shells and Trellis Hat pattern at the Halos of Hope website. Their very worthwhile mission is to provide handmade hats to cancer patients in need. Go support them or donate a handmade hat to your local cancer center today because it's a great thing to do.

Update: Halos of Hope has had to suspend its operations, although its website is still online. So anywhere I've suggested that you, my fellow yarncrafters, should donate your wares to Halos of Hope, please amend that to say "your local cancer center" or any other suitable charity program in your area. The pattern for the Shells and Trellis Hat is also available on Ravelry here.

Infinite Granny Square Baby Blankie no pattern needed

This is a simple baby blankie made with ever-increasing rounds in a classic granny square cluster stitch pattern. You can make it as large or as small as you like. I stopped at 30 rounds, making the blanket about 40 inches square, then added a basic shell trim around the edge.

 I made the blanket as part of a set for my grandniece Morgan, with a matching cardigan and hat.

The cardigan is Crochet Baby Cardigan (formerly called Abby's Jacket), and the hat is Flower Power Cap, both designed by Britta Graham.

These pieces were made with Lily Sugar-n-Cream cotton in Kaleidoscope.

Hats for baby Elise

A shell-stitch earflap hat, a little pink cotton sun hat, and a white christening bonnet for new baby Elise! 😍

The earflap beanie is based on Britta Graham's lovely Shell Stitch Cloche pattern.

I unfortunately lost track of what patterns I used for the sun hat and christening bonnet, but I know there must be dozens of similar crochet patterns to be found online if you do a quick web search.

For a friend

I found out this week that a dear friend has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. As she faces this battle, I wanted to give her something to remind her of the warm thoughts and love that people who know her are sending her way.

She is such an elegant lady. So I thought that Britta Graham's lovely Shell Stitch Cloche would suit her well.

I added a clip-on detachable rose that she can wear - or not - according to her mood each day.

Yarn hug. Please get well, J.