Sweet as Pumpkin Pie

My beautiful ladyfriend Aurora Lady has this thing about pumpkins.  She loves them.  Lots.  So when she asked me to make a pumpkin hat for her to wear this fall I was all over it.

The Pattern:
Textured Slouchy Beanie by Rachel Choi

The Yarn:
Anzula Cricket in Arizona
Anzula Sebastian in Clay 
Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo DK in Green


I love patterns where I learn a new stitch.  I'm admittedly more of a freestyle crocheter and only recently have been making myself follow patterns, so the Fpdc was a real treat to learn. Front Post Double Crochet is what made the ribbing possible, giving the pumpkin it's pumpkiny look.

As always, Anzula did not disappoint.  So amazingly soft with it's superwash merino/cashmere/nylon blend (80/10/10) Cricket is the deliciously plumper sister of Squishy, and has a really delightfully springy twist.  I'm pretty sure it's my favorite of the Anzula yarns.  Plus, Arizona is a perfect colorway for autumn crochet.

For the stem I used both Sebastian in Clay and Baby Bamboo in Green to give it a more natural pumpkin stem look and of course made some cute sproingy tendrils!

I think it's safe to say that Aurora is the cutest little Punkinhead ever! 

Art by Aurora Lady. Duh. You should buy some. Of her art. Duh.
These photos on here are totally yoinked from her blog, too.

My first Knitastrophy

Okay, so it's not an actual knitastrophe. 

But dang, I have about 10 inches left on my 8's with my Kusha Kusha scarf and I want to start on the Madelinetosh Honey Cowl because I found some of the most deliciously autumnal yarn while I was at Knit Culture in LA last week.  And I wanna use my 8's. 

So the dilemma of slipping the needles off with my way the heck basic skills and ruining my Kusha Kusha and my life or knitting like crazy to finish and move on.  Oh my God, I might just have to finish a project before moving onto the next for once. 

I guess we all know what I'll be doing after the kids are in bed tonight. 

The Radiant Radish

I'm a pretty big Beach Boys fan so when I saw this adorable pattern for a baby radish scarf I jumped on the opportunity to create a Radiant Radish for myself.


For those of you who had social lives in high school and didn't sit listening to your dad's Endless Summer on vinyl and certainly didn't read Brian Wilson biographies, the Radiant Radish was the name of Brian Wilson's health food store endeavor. 


This is gonna go great with my pajamas!

And I'll probably be the coolest girl at the farmer's market too!

Actually, do me a favor and listen to this song as you finish reading this.











The pattern: Baby Radish Lariat Scarf by Twinkie Chan
Can be found in:
Twinkie Chan's Crochet Goodies for Fashion Foodies


The Yarn: Ms Gusset Sock Yarn

This was a blast to make.  It was super easy, I did it in an evening. The Ms. Gusset was very nice to work with.  Sproingy.  I am in love with the colors.

You can make multiple radishes and have a big bunch of them hanging around your neck.  I like the silly elegance of the single radish though.

Pink Lemonade, anyone?

I really love that darned little patron saint of crocheted food, Twinkie Chan.  Her work is adorable and fresh and I've lusted after her ebay and etsy forever, but being chronically broke I haven't ever been able to buy more than a refridgerator magnet.  

Until this summer.

I was at Sock Summit working in the Anzula booth and across the aisle I spied Twinkie Chan's book.  I think I squealed. (Can I get a confirmation on that?) All of her genius, but with the fun twist of being able to do it myself?  I almost died.

But I didn't die.  I just bought the book with great haste* and immediately set into making the first project that made me salivate: the Pink Grapefruit Scarf. 

I was graciously offered some odds and ends of the super delightful Anzula Squishy to make this dream come true, so I set in that night using Squishy in the colorways Ducky and Raspberry, with Anzula's Haiku in Au Natural for the sections. 

Scarf is worked in sections so it's really easy to take on the go without lugging the whole project. Downside?  Sewing and weaving in tons and tons and tons of ends.

Because the pattern calls for some seriously chunky ass yarn and Squishy is fingering weight, the citrus slices turned out much smaller than they should have (gauge, what?)  making them more lemony.  And well, I like lemonade even more than grapefruit, so I christened this my pink lemonade scarf.

The pattern was so easy to work off of and Squishy never ever disappoints to the touch so this project was incredibly fun.  Now that the chilly weather is settling in I don't take my scarf off.  No, seriously.  I was at the OBGYN this morning and he asked if I wanted to put it in the pile with my pants.  I declined.  Sometimes a girl just needs a brightly colored superwash merino/cashmere/nylon blend shaped like fruit on her neck, okay?!

Crocheters of the universe- do everyone you know a favor and buy the damn book.  Even if you're not into wearing food, you've gotta have a cousin or a friend who just is dying to have a cupcake hat. 

*"OMIGOD I NEED THIS CAN YOU BREAK A HUNDRED BECAUSE A BALLER LIKE ME ONLY CARRIES THE BENJAMINZ?  THANX!"