Bells for the Bells?

Here's one of my recently completed projects.

His favorite color is blue, and bells have a rather sentimental ring in our house *grins*  so, I thought Bell Lace in blue yarn would be pretty appropriate.

The bells are kind of hard to see, because acrylic yarn doesn't really block.  It will relax with use, though, and the bells will become more visible.

Abbreviations:  CO = Cast On, K2tog = Knit 2 Together, sl 1 = Slip one stitch purlwise, psso = Pass Slipped Stitch Over, YO = yarn over

Bell Lace from 365 Knitting Stitches a Year Perpetual Calendar by Martingale & Co.

CO multiples of 8 + 3

Row 1 - (right side of fabric) K1, P1, K1, *P1, YO, sl 1, K2tog, psso, YO, P1, K1, P1, K1 (rep from *)

Row 2 - P1, K1, P1, *K1, P3, K1, P1, K1, P1 (rep from *

Row 3 - Repeat Row 1

Row 4 - Repeat Row 2

Row 5 - Repeat Row 1

Row 6 - Repeat Row 2

Row 7 - K1, K2tog, *YO, P1, K1, P1, K1, P1, YO, sl 1, K2tog, psso (rep from * TO LAST 8) YO, P1, K1, P1, K1, P1, YO, sl 1, K1, psso, K1

Row 8 - P3, *K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, P3 (rep from *)

Row 9 - Repeat Row 7

Row 10 - Repeat Row 8

Row 11 - Repeat Row 7

Row 12 - Repeat Row 8

Repeat these twelve rows till your project is the size you want, then bind off.  

Double-Duty Double-Backs

2 Washrags & a Scrubbie

Staggered Fern Lace

Double-backs suck.  Just thought I'd put that out there.  I worked from 3pm - 11 pm and had to be back at work at 7 am to work until 3 pm.  I live 55 miles from my job, so there's really no point in even considering coming home to sleep.  By the time I get back home again, I've been awake over 30 hours and am pushing worthless.  But, I generally have several hours to kill in the parking lot waiting for my next shift to start.  Most of the time, I'll go to the gym for an hour or more, take a nice long shower, go run some errands (shopping, getting gas, etc.), then kill the remainder of the time reading or knitting.  Last night I skipped the errands (primarily because I left my wallet at home), and just knitted.  I came home from work today with two new washrags and a scrubbie :-).  The orange washrag is the staggered fern lace I mentioned yesterday.  The pinkish one is just me playing with knits and purls, and the scrubbie started out as a horizontal eyelet rib, but I ran out of yarn.  I didn't want to unravel it, so I ran the long tail from the cast off through the eyelets and scrunched it up, then crocheted the remainder of the tail into a loop for hanging it up by.

The lace looks a little warped, but that's just because it's not been blocked.  I didn't see much point in expending the effort to shape it perfectly when it's destined for the dish pit.  I still have unimaginable balls and scraps of yarn left to play with.  Unfortunately, most of it is acrylic or some other form of synthetic fiber.  If I had more natural fiber scraps and oddments, I could make hotpads, towels and oven mitts.  I'm thinking I may end up with a funky colored bath mat, maybe, or a psychedelic mud rug for the front door.

Anybody have any suggestions on what else might be appropriate for acrylic?  Theoretically, acrylic can be used for hotpads and mitts, but it can melt if it gets too hot.  Melted plastic on skin, counter tops, and/or cooking utensils is not happy.  It might be OK for putting under a casserole dish.  It's not very absorbent at all, so it's not ideal for towels.  It seems like acrylic was really made for washrags lol.  It's tough, colorfast, and abrasive enough to get dried on foodstuffs off of cookware, but soft enough to be appropriate for non-stick coatings and other easily scratched surfaces.  It's also really good as an exfoliator in the bath or shower.  And, since it's an artificial fiber, it doesn't seem to harbor mildew and mold like cotton washrags.  I just really don't need *that* many washrags.