Christine Fonseca's "Transcend" Cover Reveal

Congratulations to Christine Fonseca - Her new book Transcend, a Young Adult fiction psychological thriller, which will be available in September has a gorgeous cover which has been revealed today. You can see the widget for it over on the right (at least until September) or you can see it here on Christine's blog.

In order to help celebrate, some of Christine's blogging friends are revealing a secret about themselves, so I'm just going to cut right to the chase: One time, many years ago, I borrowed a laptop from this guy that I kind of liked to get a term paper done and formatted properly. I got bored for a bit and started going through his messages and found one from a girl he had been dating, and there was all this drama about how she had thought she was pregnant (by him) for a while, but even during that time she had slept with a Chippendale's dancer. She was all apologetic about it, but his responses were not immediately forgiving (though it did seem like he really wanted to forgive her).  

I never told him or anyone else about reading all that. I felt horrible that I had allowed myself to stumble upon it. I'm not sure how everything turned out for them, though I do think I saw them together at the store a couple of years later when I still lived in the area.

WIP Wednesday: Bernat Mystery CAL 2012

Yeah, I'm not quite done. Everyone else is done, but not me. I am almost done. I only have the edging to finish, though I didn't put it together the way they suggested. Here is a link to the Bernat CAL forum. The first two photos are examples of how the afghan was supposed to be put together. You may have to login or register to be able to view the photos. As you scroll down and view the next pages of the forum, you will see that not everyone put their afghans together the way  the instructions suggested. Some people added more pieces, some used more of one color than another.

We were given clues every week. We were told to by a certain number of skeins in whatever colors we wanted, so there would be a main color, color A, color B, etc. I'm not happy with the shade of green I picked for my afghan. I guess that's what I get for ordering my yarn online and trusting the colors. If I ever do something like this again, I think I'll get the yarn in person.

So here's my almost finished afghan. I'm only showing a corner of it, in hopes that I'll be done by Friday, when I'll show you the whole thing:

I wasn't supposed to stitch it together this way. The stitches weren't supposed to show up. Also, I'm making up my own edging. There are a couple of other differences that I'll talk about in a future post.

Nora Ephron

She made me laugh, she made me cry. 

FO Friday: Oceana Slouchy Headband Hat & Pattern!

For my Finished Object, I submit the Oceana Headband Hat. I kind of made it up as I went along, writing down what I did in each row. I will be posting it on Ravelry after I post it here, though the pattern is here.
The name of the hat is a play on my daughter, Ceana's name.

Note how the hat matches my daughter's eyes! 

*This is the first time I've written down a pattern for something that is a "make it up as I go along" creation. I've been over this at least twice after typing it out. Please let me know if there are any typos, or if there's something that just doesn't work. As of this typing, this pattern has not been tested.*

Oceana Slouchy Headband Hat

1 skein Berry Colorful Yarnings light sport superwashed 100% merino 2-ply – Teal

Hook: G

Gauge: I don't really have a gauge. If you use the weight and size hook I used, it should be fine since it's fairly stretchy so there's some room for error. 

Stitches used:

Slip stitch (sl st), single crochet (sc), half double crochet (hdc), double crochet (dc), triple crochet (tc)

Special stitches:

Puff Stitch (puff st): YO, Insert hook into indicated stitch, yarn over and pull through a loop.  You should have 3 loops on your hook; Yarn over again in preparation to insert the hook into the very same stitch once again. (4 loops on hook);  Insert the hook into the same stitch, yarn over and pull through a loop.  You should have 5 loops on your hook.   Yarn over again in preparation to insert the hook into the very same stitch once again. (6 loops on hook);  Insert the hook into the same stitch, yarn over and pull through a loop.  You should have 7 loops on your hook. Yarn over again and draw the yarn through all the loops on the hook.  This completes the puff stitch.  You can work an extra chain to secure the stitch. 

Herringbone half double crochet (Hhdc): YO,  insert hook into indicated stitch and yo; pull through (3 loops on hook),  Do NOT yo over again. Just pull through the first loop on hook. (2 loops rem on hk), YO, Pull through both loops on hook. Herringbone half double crochet made.

Double crochet decrease (dc dec): Work a double crochet in the specified stitch until two loops remain on the hook. Double crochet decrease made.

Triple crochet decrease (tc dec): Yarn over twice, insert hook in stitch indicated by pattern instructions, draw up a loop, (yarn over and draw through 2 loops on hook) twice, yarn over twice, insert hook in next stitch, draw up a loop, (yarn over and draw through 2 loops on hook) twice, (3 loops on hook), yarn over, draw through last 3 loops on hook to complete stitch.

Instructions:

Create and adjustable ring (also called “magic ring,” or “magic loop”). There are some good tutorials online. Here’s one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvjYPFBP85c

Rnd 1: after you have formed your slipknot, ch 2. Dc 9 around; Pull tail to close ring completely; sl st in top of ch 2 to join.

Rnd 2: Ch 2; 1 dc in top of ch 2 from below, ch 1, dc in next dc, ch1; *2 dc in next dc; ch 1, 1 dc in next dc, ch 1* (repeat from * to *) around. Join with sl st in top of ch 2.

Rnd 3: Ch 2; Dc in top of ch 2 from below, dc in next ch1 space; dc in next dc; dc in next ch 1 sp; *dc in next 2 dc, dc in next ch 1 sp; dc in next dc, dc in next ch 1 sp*  (repeat from * to *) around. Join with sl st in top of ch 2.

Rnd 4: Ch 3; dc in space between dc and ch 2 directly below ch 1; *dc in space between next 2 dc’s, ch 1* (repeat from * to *) around to the end. Join with sl st in space between ch 3 and dc.

Rnd 5: Ch 2; dc in same space as ch 2; 2 dc in next ch 1 sp; 2 dc in each ch 1 sp around to end. Join with sl st in sp between ch 2 and dc.

Rnd 6: ch 2; *puff st in next ch 1 sp, ch 1;* (repeat from * to *) around to the end. Join with sl st in top of ch 2.

Rnd 7:  Sl st in top of puff st; ch 2. 2 dc in ch 1 sp, *dc in top of next puff st, 2 dc in next ch 1 sp* (repeat from * to *) around to end. Join with sl st in top of ch 2.

Rnd  8: Ch 1, sc in top of same ch 2; *ch 5, skip next dc, sc in next dc* (repeat from * to *) till one dc before end. Ch 5, sl st in ch 1 sp to join.

Rnd 9: sl st in next 2 ch; sc in same ch 5 sp; ch 4, *sc in next ch 5 sp, ch 4* (repeat from * to *) around to end. Sl st in sc to join.

Rnd 10: sl st in first ch of ch 4. Sc in ch 4 sp, ch 3; *sc in ch 4 space, ch 3* (repeat from * to *) around to end. Sl st in sc to join.

Rnd 11: ch 2; 2 hdc in next ch 3 sp; *hdc in next sc; 2 hdc in next ch 3 sp* (repeat from * to *) around to end. Sl st in top of ch 2 to join.

Rnd 12: ch 2, Turn; Hhdc in back loop only of next hdc and in each hdc around to end; sl st in top of ch2 to join.

Rnd 13: ch 2, Turn; Hhdc in back loop only of next Hhdc and in each Hhdc around to end; sl st in top of ch 2 to join.

Rnd 14 & 15: repeat rnd 13.

Rnd 16: ch 1, sc around to end, sl st in ch 1 to join.

Rnd 17: ch 2; dc in next 3 sc, *dc dec; dc in next 4 sc* (repeat from * to *) around to end. Sl st in top of ch 2 to join.

Rnd 18: ch 4, tc dec in next st,* tc in next 4 sts, tc dec* (repeat from * to *) till 3 stitches before the end, tc in last 3 sts. Sl st in top of ch 4 to join.

Rnd 19: ch 4, tc dec in same st; *tc in next 3 sts, tc dec* (repeat from * to *) till 2 stitches before end, tc in last 2 sts. Sl st in top of ch 4 to join. TURN.

Rnd 20: ch 1; sc around in top of each tc and tc dc. Sl st in ch 1 to join.

Rnd 21: ch 1; in back loop only: sc in top of each sc around to end. Sl st to join. TURN.

Rnd 22 & 23: Repeat Rnd 21

Rnd 24: ch 4; tc in each sc around to end. Sl st in top of ch 4 to join.

Rnd 25: ch 4; tc in each tc around to end. Sl st in top of ch 4 to join.

Rnd 26: this is where it gets tricky. Hopefully the photos will help. Ch 2. 3 hdc down along the front of the ch 4 below, 3 hdc down along the front of the ch 4 below from Rnd 24. Hdc in the sc below next tc from rnd 24. 3 hdc up along front of next tc from rnd 24 and 3 hdc up along tc from rnd 25. Hdc in top of tc. Follow this pattern around to the end. Sl st in top of the next 6 hdc in front. Sl st in sc that the hdc is attatched to. You will be making the sc in the middle of the “legs” of the hdc that has been stitched to that sc.

Rnd 27: ch 1. Sc in next st and in every st around. For every other sc you will be working into the middle of the hdc around to end. Sl st to join. TURN

Rnd 28: Repeat rnd 21 twice.

Finish off, weave in ends.

House Full O'Intensities

Here's my latest guest post on Christine Fonseca's "An Intense Life" blog: House Full O'Intensities

Work In Progress Wednesday - Hunger Games Fingerless Gloves

This is sort of a combo WIP/FO. Since the one glove itself is done, it's FO, but since it comes as a set, WIP,  plus these particular fingerless gloves aren't totally matching. The oak leaf pattern goes down one glove and back up the other glove. They are designed by my friend's daughter and I get to test the pattern. It is supposed to represent oak leaf camouflage.

Maybe the pattern will show up better if I block it...?

I guess it's hard to see the oak leaf pattern in a photo. You can see it better in person.