What's in your project bag?

What tools do you consider to be essential "can't live without" items? I'd like to think that the things I keep in mine are those that I really need for a project.

In the current (smaller) bag, a hunt uncovered the following...

I have one actual on-hook project in there, and that's the wrap for Kate. Mind you, it's actually a dual purpose project. Kate's been wanting a sweater and I saw a flyer advertising a $1k contest for items made using Vanna's Choice yarn. I think we came up with something nice. :) I have to get pictures of it posted onto Ravelry shortly.

In addition to the project, I always carry my roll of hooks. I love Susan Bates hooks. My roll has the aluminum hooks ranging from B1 (2.25 mm) through to K10.5 (6.5mm). If I'm a really good girl, Santa might bring me the three new aluminum hooks Bates has started offering... namely L, M, and N. I have them in the lucite but I'd LOVE to get the aluminum versions.

Attached to the strap is my "chatelaine" that holds my trusty 20 year old Ginghers, a Clover Chibi needle holder with several sizes of yarn needles and a tiny split ring that usually has a half dozen or so stitch markers hanging from it.

In the side pockets I have the current pattern, a note pad, measuring tape and a pen.

The "oddest" thing in my project bag? That'd be the solitary size 15 wooden knitting needle that I use to wind my skeins of yarn into center pull balls. :)

I usually have at least one or two random skeins of various weights from my overwhelming stash in case I want to do a quick and "mindless" (or should I say Zen) project. For the record, that's usually a scarf or a hat.

Quick Child's Scarf

Quick Child’s Scarf

Med weight yarn
I hook

Foundation row: Chain 20. 1 sc in 2nd chain from hook, *ch 1, sk next chain, 1 sc in ch. Repeat from * to end. ch 1, turn. (10 sc, 9 spaces.)

1st row: 1sc in first sc. 1 sc in first ch 1 sp. *ch 1, sk next chain, 1 sc in ch. Repeat from * to last sc. 1 sc in last sc. Ch 1, turn. (11 sc, 8 spaces)

2nd row: 1 sc in first sc. *ch 1, sk next chain, 1 sc in ch. Repeat from * to end. ch 1, turn. (10 sc, 9 spaces.)

Rows 1 & 2 form the pattern. Repeat until scarf is desired length.

Adjust hook size to taste, I prefer loosely crocheted “squidgy” scarves to a tighter stitch and an I hook with a loose stitch gave a scarf roughly 4 inches wide. I got one scarf with leftover yarn out of a Red Heart Soft Yarn skein. The scarf was also finished in the course of an afternoon’s chat with friends and family on Thanksgiving. The young lady it was intended for was able to leave with it when it was time for her to go home.

Mari's Baby Hats

Disclaimer: I did not create this pattern from scratch, this is a variation on several hat patterns that are already out there, all I wanted to do was gather the information I use regularly to make a hat in one place.

H Hook
Bernat Baby Softee yarn
Basic hat pattern, worked from crown to brim

Note: Beg ch 2 does not count as a st in this pattern.

Ch 4, sl st to 1st ch to form ring

Row 1: ch 2, work 12 dc in ring, join with a sl st to first dc. 12 sts

Row 2: ch 2, turn, 2 dc in ea st around, join with a sl st to first dc. 24 sts.

Row 3: ch 2, turn, dc in 1st st, *2 dc in next st, dc in next st, repeat from *, end with 2 dc in last st, sl st to first dc. 36 st.

Row 4: ch 2, turn, dc in first two sts, *2 dc in next st, dc in next two sts, repeat from *, end with 2 dc in last st, sl st to first dc. 48 sts

Row 5: ch 2, hdc in ea st around, sl st to first hdc. 48 sts

Row 6: ch 2, dc in ea st around, sl st to first dc. 48 sts

Row 7: alternate between rows 5 and 6 four more times for 14 rows

Row 15: switch colors for a contrasting brim if desired and repeat rows 5 and 6 twice more after that for a total of 18 rows.

Row 19: finish the hat with a repeat of row 5. Weave in and trim ends, fold up brim

*Optional trim: add a row of sc for a simple trim or shells for something a bit frillier

How I finish the hat tends to change almost every time I make one. If I'm doing a basic hat, I'll switch colors at row 15 for the contrasting brim. If I want the hat to be a solid color I tend to do a accent/contrast sc trim for boys or a simple *sc in stitch, ch 2, sc in next* pattern to create a tiny bit of ruffle for a girl.

Measurments:

9” hat ~ increase until the hat measures 3” from edge to edge or 1 1/2" from center to edge, total length 7 1/2"

10” hat ~ increase until the hat measures 3 1/4" from edge to edge or 1 1/2" from center to edge, total length 7 1/2"

**12” hat ~ increase until the hat measures 4” from edge to edge, or 2” from center to edge, total length 8”

** this is the size of the baby hats I used to make for donating to local hospitals

Stash-Buster Scarves

This pattern is good for getting rid of random skeins of yarn that you may have hanging around. When working on these, I was going for toddler to young child sized so they're "skinny scarves".

As a caveat, I'm not very good at writing these up so suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Supplies:
1 skein of yarn or roughly 6oz of random yarn bits that are a similar weight
1 crochet hook that gives you a scarf with a texture you like (or "squidgy" as my sister calls them)

Chain 14
Row 1: Starting at the 2nd chain from the hook, 1 sc in each stitch across, ch 1, turn - 13 sc

Row 2: sc dec over 1st two stitches, ch 1, *sc dec, ch 1, repeat to last stitch, 1 sc, ch 1, turn
* you should still have 13 stitches

Repeat row 2 until the scarf is as long as you want.

Wheee, happy birthday to me!

So, another birthday. :) This was was actually pretty darned good, mostly because of my best friend Kate, her folks and our friend Shilo. :)

I'm already looking toward the weekend and everything that needs to get done. One of the things is to take the yarn, needles and patterns I got handed to me when Kate's MIL was cleaning out the house after her mother died and move them into storage. I don't quite have the mindset to go through them properly right now. It's a bittersweet thing because the one thing Mary (Kate's grandmother in law) loved was when I'd be sitting there crocheting during family functions. She used to both knit and crochet in her younger years but arthritis and failing eyesight stole that from her. So to see her granddaughter-in-law's best friend bring crochet back into the family, it brought her a small bit of joy. I'm sure it didn't hurt that her great-grandchildren tend to be some of my intended "victims". She also loved the two lap robes I made for her. It still brings me to tears 4 months later that the family decided to have them buried with her because she loved how warm they were. It's morbid and kinda twisted but it's also very sweet and human... the desire to keep her warm even then.

I've been trying to keep the enthusiasm up for the lap robe for my friend Minx's mother Mary... however the minute my brain made the connection that once again I'm making a lap robe for someone named Mary who is dying... it's been harder to pick that project up. I will manage, but it's ... hard.

Ack!!!

Well, I now have yet another reason to frog the sweater I'd been working on for Minx. When one skein ran out, I knotted the end together. I no longer do that, for that matter, that was probably one of the last projects I did do that on. Bad bad naughty me!

Both cap sleeves are now frogged and I'm one skein into frogging the body of it. I think there's 6 or 7 ... maybe 8 or 9 skeins worth of yarn in there. The sucker is heavy.

Huzzah!

Becky's newest sweater is done. :) I just finished it tonight and will be handing it over to her grandmother tomorrow. Yay!!!