Killing a dress with a penguin is a good idea (AKA blocking acrylic)

So I'd heard both sides of the story: blocking acrylic...pointless or absolutely essential. I wasn't going to bother until I came across the concept of 'killing' acrylic. The idea is to deliberately over heat acrylic and the result is a project with gorgeous drape. Now 'killing' goes against my pacifist nature but then again so does dressing my baby in one of those 1980s over-fluffy acrylic garments (usually in garish colours and sold at fund-raising events by lovely but misguided older ladies). So I gave it a try figuring I didn't have much to lose as the technique had worked very well for a much more experienced crocheter than I.


So here is Little Miss's dress before blocking:

  

The results are great!!
I used my 'Penguin' steamer as they are nicknamed. It's not much use as a cleaning steamer but it's great for defrosting the freezer and as I now know, for blocking/killing acrylic.

And after being 'killed' by a penguin:

The drape is much better, the fibres are much more relaxed - they don't spring up in odd places - apparently it's good to be killed by a penguin if you're an acrylic dress ;-).

Killing an acrylic project with a penguin steamer is easy. Just look at Beadknitter's blog for a tutorial on killing acrylic. I didn't pin the dress in place before killing it. I simply held the steamer about 4 inches fromt he dress, steamed it section by section and smoothed it with my hand as soon as the section was cool enough that I wouldn't burn myself. When you steam in this way, you'll know when you've steamed enough as you can see the yarn change appearance. I wouldn't go beyond this point or the acrylic (which is a plastic) might melt too much. I'm guessing that killing acrylic is basically melting the plastic enough to make it relax but not so much that the garment becomes a puddle of melted plastic.

Oh and here's a picture of Little Miss modelling - somewhat reluctantly - her dress. I decided to add a crocheted trim after killing the dress - I'm sure more organized, sensible people would have done it the other way round but the trim was an after-thought.

On my To-Do List...

I have just come across some great free patterns.
Posting here for safe-keeping:

http://crochet.about.com/od/scrapyarn/ss/ToyCarApplique.htm

http://www.crochetpatterncentral.com/patterns/farmyard_finger_puppets.php

http://www.marloscrochetcorner.com/bunny%20and%20chick%20pin.html

Elizabeth's booties

A very easy pattern that taught me a lot: http://www.bevscountrycottage.com/bevsbooties2.html

Granny square crochet hook holder

OK, this ain't gonna win any awards but I was fed up on having to search around for my hooks and I am too busy doing other things to crochet a hook holder...so I dug out this granny square that I got as part of a assortment of yarn odds and ends at a charity shop and stuck my hooks in. It works great!
The granny square is quite stiff and the hooks fit in snugly. I suppose if I had more of those granny squares I could stitch them together to make the holder bigger and perhaps put a flap on it too...

She fits!! She fits!!!

With my new passion for crochet and the early arrival of my baby daughter I couldn't resist crocheting her a baby cocoon!

From 2010-04-20

It was a race against time as I only had a limited amount of that wool (and energy!) and she's growing so fast I really wasn't sure she'd fit in it. I'm sooo happy she does fit in!
BTW, the cocoon is a photo prop only - not something to leave baby in.

Eventually I'll use the cocoon to keep her nappy stuff in.



At first, she wasn't too keen:

From 2010-04-20

But she soon snuggled into it and chilled out:

From 2010-04-20

A completely messed up dishcloth!

This really didn't go according to plan and has even more mistakes in it than my other 'creations'. Some bits are frillier than others....oh well...it's a dishcloth after all.

First adult hat

Here's my first crocheted adult hat. It's a very basic one done with extended sc and hdc stitches but i'm hoping i can make it versatile by attaching various embellishments. The photo doesn't really show how lovely the yarn is - it's Sirdar Wow and has a subtle sheen to it.
I followed a really good pattern created by someone on the Crochetville forums: Basic Hat Any Size

Teddy coasters

I never thought i could make anything like this!
I followed the free crochet pattern on Crochetspot .

Third dishcloth

This is turning into an obsession!

My hen needed a hat...

OK, I'll be honest.
The pattern was for a newborn cap.
But for some strange reason I forgot all about hook sizes and in my enthusiasm just grabbed the only hook size I own and happily got on with the job.
So I now have a hat for my papier mache hen.
But then again she needed a hat.
And I learnt some new techniques along the way too.

;')

Second dishcloth!

First crochet project

I've discovered crochet!
I always thought I would hate that type of thing as knitting is really not something I have ever enjoyed but crochet is sooooo much more enjoyable!
I have been teaching myself thanks to online videos over the past couple of days and although my only completed project is this dishcloth I have been practicing loads and loads of different stitches and have lots of little granny squares lying about.
I'm not one for decorative objects really so I chose to make useful items - like dishcloths! Plus there's something strangely satisfying to have homemade dishcloths in today's ultra fast-paced, industrialised world.
The dishcloth isn't as uneven as it looks - it's just that someone (ahem, me) didn't shape it properly before taking the picture - that and someone had already used it to mop up a spot of jam!