Crocheted Roving Rug

This was my first foray into crocheting with roving and I used a plastic size S hook. This black shetland roving was made from fleeces that were a bit tender and hence had more noils and neps than I would want in a roving for spinning. The first rug was bath mat sized, originally measuring 21" x 35". After wetting (done in the shower) and washing with Charlie's Soap, I rinsed it in rain water and tumbled it in the dryer with no heat to get out the excess moisture, then allowed it to air dry. The finished rug is 19.5" x 31" and it is tighter and feels firmer than it did originally, although still quite soft.

Crocheted Bag Holder

This is another one of those no pattern projects that I sort of made up as I
went along. The top is an inch or two of single crochet. The mesh portion is
a simple series of chains (varying from 3-7 stitches in length) that are connected
to the middle of the last loop formed by each chain. In the beginning and central portion the tubular bag the chain lengths are progressively increasing and then are
decreased towards the end and finally finished off as two rounds of single crochets
for added strength on the end from which the bags will be pulled out. I crocheted this
is two shades of green "peaches and cream" cotton yarn.

A Tale of Two Caplets

At SOAR in 2004, I saw a caplet done in triple crochet using ribbon yarn. It was beautiful. It took me another year to find a ribbon yarn that I liked and a few months thereafter I had a caplet. It is the top one in the photo. The problem was that I found I didn't really like it all that much and it has hung in the closet ever since. Last winter I decided that I would try to crochet myself a net market bag using a grayish tan yarn that I think is a blend of linen and cotton. There is no way to know as this yarn is something I picked up at our Guild's annual Christmas swap and giveaway. Since I didn't have a pattern I improvised, first trying bottom up which I didn't like and so took apart. Next came a top down attempt. Unfortunately this just didn't seem right either, but along the way I looked at it and decided it would be a lovely caplet. This is the one at the bottom in the picture. I really like this one and have worn it twice. It would look even better with wooden beads along the bottom, but I haven't yet figured out how I want to add them. The bottom line is that I did get a caplet, just via a different route than originally envisioned.