Crochet-ing along

Life is pretty busy at the moment, and I'm trying to squeeze in a little bit of yarn play here and there among the other, far-less appealing commitments that need to be tended to. I've found that the crocheted squares I'm doing for a blanket for Dev are the perfect little amuse-bouche at the end of a long day.

I find myself whizzing through a bunch of centers, and then doing the alpaca edgings on three or four at a time - it feels very productive to all of a sudden have four new finished squares at the end of an evening!

Once those two are done, I'll have 26 finished squares. I figured out last week, however, that in order to make a more-or-less twin sized blanket, I need (gulp) 120 squares. Ouch! I'm either going to have to start buying All The Mini-Skeins, or accept that it is not likely that it will be done by Christmas.

I had some other crocheted items appear in my life this past week - my new Potholders!

The patterns (from top left and going clockwise) are: Fudge by Jan Eaton, DROPS Extra 0-843, and the Wool Eater Blanket by Sarah London. I love them, and plan to hang them in a place of honor in my office instead of using them - they're way too pretty! This swap was lots of fun, and I'm looking forward to taking part again next spring. 

FO: Ripples

I finished H's Ripple Blanket while at Wonderwool last weekend. I love it.

Pattern: Neat Ripple Pattern (Rav link) by Lucy at attic24, which is really more of a recipe then a pattern FYI
Yarn: baby melter acrylic FTW! Aka: Jarol Heritage DK, which is actually 55% wool/25% acrylic/20% nylon, and very nice to use. 270 yds/100g skeins, less the one each of navy, pale blue, teal, turquoise, red, chartreusey-green and royal blue.
Hook: US G/4.00 mm
Start/finish: 1 March - 26 April 2013
Comments/mods: since this is a recipe and not a flat out pattern, I had to do a bit of (ehem) swatching to get the size I wanted. I did a little practice swatch (also usefull for practicing decreases, which I hadn't done before) and figured out how many stitches I needed for approximately 24 inches wide (answer: 90). Then it was non-stop ripple action for a couple of weeks.

I didn't want a set striping pattern, so I grabbed the colors (mostly) randomly. I say mostly because I tried to space out stripes of the same color a little bit...

I ended up doing seven stripes of each color, which took approximately three quarters of the 100 gr ball. Total yardage used for this, therefore, was approximately 1400 yds. Finished measurements after a trip through the washer and dryer: 30 inches wide by 32 inches long. Due to the wool content, it did felt slightly in the dryer, but it came out nice and thick and cushy.

Done just in time to go off to baby H this weekend. Now I need to figure out what to do with all the leftovers (color block baby sweater anyone?).

Baby blankets, as far as the eye can see

Since my secret baby blanket has now touched down in Houston, I can share the vast number of pictures I took before I entrusted it to the vagaries of the mail service.


Pattern: Granny Stripes, by Lucy of Attic24
Yarn: Patons UK 100% Cotton DK, 230 yds/100 gr skein, less then one skein each of white, red, brown, turquoise, green and yellow.
Hook: US G/4.0 mm
Start/finish: 25 January - 7 February 2013
Comments/Modifications: This is my first crochet project bigger then a potholder, so I spent a fair bit of time trolling the web for reasonably straightforward baby blanket patterns. Lucy's blog is chock full of clear tutorials, beautiful photography and so much enthusiasm that I'm a bit surprised I haven't burned my knitting needles in effigy. (OK, maybe not that last bit, but it's a great blog.) Since her tutorial was much more a recipe then a straight pattern, I had to do a bit of swatching and planning of the color sequence.

I ended up working six repeats of the following color sequence - white, yellow, red, green, brown and blue - and then added one more white stripe to make a bit more symmetrical. I also wanted to some kind of border, so I picked up stitches all the way around the edge and worked a border with a stripe of each color in half-double crochet (or double crochet if we want to stay true to the UK terminology). The final blanket was approximately 26 inches wide by 36 inches long.

At each corner I chained stitches to bridge the gap, increasing one stitch at each corner on each subsequent row. I probably could have done more chain stitches, or done increases in the stitches from the previous round - this treatment resulted in corners that don't lie perfectly flat. In fact, the whole border ripples laong the edges, proof positive that my crochet gauge is probably not that consistent yet.

I loved doing this blanket. It was quick, relatively straightforward for this beginning crocheter, and I'm really pleased with the results. As is the impending new mom, which is the most important thing!

I sent it off to Houston along with a Peapod Cardigan I knitted a while back but hadn't found an ideal model for yet.

And the best news? Now that I've finished my second crocheted baby blanket, I'm well into my third.

That was my beginning on Friday night, and now I've got 15 16 stripes done. Total. Crochet. Addiction.

So. Boring.

The fact that I have knitting that I can not talk about is really starting to irritate me. But two of the three projects are almost done! I think I can get away with a couple of teasers...Secret #1:

Please note colors have been adjusted to not represent reality. I'm on round 4 of 6 of the edging now. The end is in sight.

Secret #2 is done.

And needs to be packed up and put in the mail by the end of the week. So...there's a bit of knitting/hooking evidence for you. But...be forwarned that I took advantage of Boo's second round of feverish cold over the weekend/Monday to finish off all of my spinning projects, to the tune of seven (!) skeins of yarn. And I started something new yesterday and finished the singles today, so Fiber Friday might be nine (!!!!) skeins of yarn to share.

Dude...

Baby present #2

Some good friends of ours had their first baby six weeks ago, and it's been so much fun to whip up teensey tiny sweaters in a few days. This particular project took a bit longer, but not much...

Pattern: Rainbow Ripple Baby Blanket by Celeste Young
Yarn: Stylecraft Life Aran (light blue, 75% acrylic/25% wool), approximately 530 yds, and Stylecraft Special Aran with wool (dark blue, 80% acrylic/20% wool), approximately 420 yds.
Hook: US H/5.0 mm
Gauge: after sending through the washer and dryer, 5 dc/4 rows per 1.5 inches.
Start/finish: 24 August - 9 September 2012
Comments/mods: my second real crochet project completed - hooray! This was a good second project - similar construction to the potholders (crocheting around and around and around and around and...), similar techniques (changing colors), but on a much larger scale - the finished blanket was 41 inches across from point to point.

But...the whole thing is constructed entirely out of double crochet stitches with a few chains thrown in at the points. It was really useful to me to do something that didn't require worrying about different stitches so I could focus on how placement of the stitches altered the shape of the blanket.

The trickiest bit was the center, but after the pattern was established, it was clear sailing.

I don't usually use mostly-acrylic yarns, but having lived through two babies, the ability to throw anything associated with them straight in to the washing machine and the dryer is just too important. This yarn was fine to use - no discernable squeaking! - and softened up really nicely after going through the wash. I'd use it again for baby stuff for sure.