Granny Squares and my new Knitting Machine!

Have been busy busy busy! Wedding plans are coming along nicely, dresses are all in, center pieces are all bought, shoes are bought and quite ridiculous, two hall payments left, the list goes on and on and on!


Went to the cottage this year but sadly didn't get much progress done on my latest projects. Oh well I guess sometimes crochet has to take a back seat! Am currently working on two granny square baby blankets at the same time and some fingerless gloves for my friend Kira! The blankets are going to look awesome when they are completed! I am making them 5x6 (in 4 inch motifs). One will be white blue and a little green, the other white green and a little blue! I love making granny square blankets!


Some of my squares are a little more time consuming from the colour changes. I love the look of a multi-coloured granny square! After many years of doing these I still find what takes the longest is hiding all the ends! My personal favored technique for doing this tedious task is to hide them while I make the square. I use a yarn needle to hide the ends across the stitches where there are holes and then to just crochet them into the corners. Repeat until the ends are all buried!


I know that many people out there say that you should never knot your work. I however knot all of my work. Knots are small enough to hide and are barely noticeable when done right. Also when making anything for children I prefer to double knot my work as you don't want yarn ends popping out all over for them to choke on. Let's face it, babies put everything in there mouths! The end result of these two slightly time consuming extras gives not only peace of mind but also a square that appears to have no front or back!





And this, this baby here is my knitting machine! Brought it home from the cottage this year. Nana was very kind to pass this on to me along with all her pattern books and a big bag of yarn! Have been trying things out a little on it, doing test pieces here and there. I think that screwing thing up on this is a big pain in the ass but boy do you ever learn a lot trying to sort things out! Loads of fun this machine and I think it might be great exercise as well! This baby is all manual!

Off to work on some more squares!

My Morning

Done with night shift for the day? My night is 9:30 in the morning! I love night shift but sometimes it makes my world all topsie turvy and I have a hard time motivating myself.

With the grand success of my very first "Funny Bunny" I am starting a second one! This one is going to be yellow and I WILL write down the directions for the ears this time as I am staring down the barrel of not remembering how I made the first pair! I am also thinking that I might after these two hunt around for some kind of safety plastic eye I can put in instead of stitching them in. Also I should hunt for some cool buttons for some newsboy hats I have been dying to make!

The weather here is warm which is AWESOME!!! It seems like winter has been going on for ever! Now if it could only be sunny while I am awake I would be able to enjoy said warmth without getting myself or my crochet all soaking wet!

Other things on my long list of to do's? Make another baby blanket for my soon to someday be sister in law who is so graciously carrying baby number two! Make some more funny bunnies, and maybe try branching out into kitties and puppies and hey maybe even a monkey or two! Also maybe get a head start on some (look around to make sure nobody hears me) Christmas!

Now I will leave you with a crochet tip...

Don't white knuckle your hook! A tight hand makes a super tight stitch and hey it also hurts after a while!

Boy have I been busy! My Honey and I have been planning our October wedding (yep that's right the StitchWitch is getting hitched!) as well as plenty of crocheting done! My projects have been all over the board recently!

First we have this funny little bunny for my shiny new niece Grace! Being that this three month old beauty was born in the year of the Rabbit and it's so close to Easter I thought a little bunny would be lovely!



Next I spun up some fingerless gloves to match my cowl!



Finally a scarf for a lady at work. I am also working on cat nip toys but sadly I can't seem to manage to get a picture...darn cats keep stealing them!

My Passion, Crochet!

Well the craft show is over! Time for a little relaxing and some blogging! Had these up for sale at the show this weekend!

The craft sale was super slow this year. Saturday was brutal! No Christmas music (for a Christmas Craft sale?!?!?!) and hardly anyone came. We have a feeling that some poor advertising was maybe involved. Sunday was a lot better. The Santa Clause Parade in my home town was on and it dragged people out of there nice warm houses! Thank-you Santa! Sadly I didn't sell one of these blankets at the sale! I have three of them! This one in green, one with blue and one with pink. One of the best things about crochet is that it never gets passed it's best before date! Will have these up at the street fair this summer and I have them up at my Etsy shop for sale!

I will take the time to be completely honest here, as dismal as sales were I still had a good time! I got some Christmas gifts done, some gifts bought, some lovely tea (mmmm tea). Got to spend two fun days with two of my best friends! The three of us have a little side gig (side gig to our regular everyday jobs!) making soaps and lotions. We have a side table at every show with all the stuff we make with our hooks.

Ah those hooks, they come everywhere with me! I am that person that hangs out chatting with folks at pig roasts, birthday parties, bridal showers, long drives while crocheting! It's just what I do! I started in my early twenties (21ish?!) with an old hook my mom had in the kitchen junk drawer and an old pattern book from like the 50's and I was, hooked! I love to make things! I make car parts for a living, I make soaps, lotions and candles with my friends and give me a hook and some yarn and I can make something with that too! Crochet is by far my oldest and dearest passion.

So with my tea almost done it is time to tie things up, I am off to work on my latest project...super chunky cowl, which I will be gifting to one of my SIL's for Christmas!

Happy Hooking!

Welcome to Stitch Witch!

I have started this blog because I love to crochet! I have been doing it now for more than ten years and have learned a thing or two. I also have an Etsy shop that I just started! Please visit www.etsy.com/shop/darkravyn to see the blanket I just posted! There is one picture but three blankets available! I look forward to more posts on the things I am building with yarn and hook as well as what some of my friends are building!