back to the hook: ripple #2 begin!

November 8, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The arrival of my Stylecraft Special DK pack in the mail yesterday still has me in a high state of excitement and happiness.  I wanted to start right away, but before I could pick up my hook I had to organize the colors in a way that would make sure that I used all of the colors equally without necessarily going in a strict pattern.  I came up with this:

Each of the 17 colors has been labeled.  As I use them, I’ll move them from one side of my coffee table to the other so that I can easily keep track of which ones I’ve used, and when I finish using all 17, I’ll mix them up and start again, randomly pulling colors.  A little OCD, you say?  Perhaps, perhaps.  As a counselor-in-training I actually haven’t been able to rule it out for myself.

Anyway, I’ve done 14 stripes already (28 rows, not counting the chain foundation):

I’m loving it so far.  My favorite color is the lavender shade, which is the fifth from the top in the picture above, and I debated not using it for stripes at all but saving it for a lovely thick border.  I decided against this, however, determining that if I need another skein, it’s only a couple of dollars, and I can certainly spare that for such a beautiful color.

I really do like this ripple pattern because it is so completely mindless and you can just go along with the rhythm happily while watching movies or listening to audiobooks.  Currently, I am re-listening to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, but I’m interspersing my listening sessions with romantic movies as well.

Don’t think that just because I’ve started this new ripple, however, that I’m not doing anything else.  There are quite a few new crocheted beanies for charity laying on my coffee table.  Soon there will probably be a post with a lovely picture of all the donate-able items spread out for you to see.

Thank you all for the compliments on my puppy and her new sweater.  She seems to be enjoying it’s coziness quite a lot, since we still haven’t turned our heater on.  We’re waiting as long as possible in the effort to save money on our electric bill.

Well, I think it’s time to go back to my ripple.  This post was a little break for my hands (sort of… I mean is typing really a break?).  Thanks for stopping by — I’m sure there will be more posts soon about my ripple progress because I’m so excited about sharing it with you!

 

 

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it’s here!

November 7, 2012 by 4 Comments

Stylecraft Special DK: the “Lucy Pack”

Finally, my package from Deramores is here!  It took 19 working days, which was longer than it was supposed to take, but now that it’s here I know that it was totally worth the wait.  The colors are so gorgeous and vibrant, and the yarn is so soft!  I was not expecting it to be so soft, considering it’s 100% acrylic, but I think it’s going to be great to work with!  I never use DK yarn so it will probably take me a long time, but that’s fine with me.

I’ll be making another ripple blanket.  The first one I made looks so great but I don’t use it because I made it with Berroco Vintage Chunky, which was expensive, and I don’t want to mess it up.  It covers the bed in the spare room.  This new one will be used frequently and bring much happiness to our downstairs living area.

Since I got “the Lucy Pack” and am making Lucy’s pattern, I feel a little bit like a copycat.  I assuage these feelings with the knowledge that my new blanket will be super cute, and that it’s not exactly like hers (“the Lucy Pack” was put together based on her granny stripe blanket, I believe, not her ripple blanket).

Well, I’m off to work out a color progression, thanks for stopping by!

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new project: another shawl

October 20, 2012 by 5 Comments

The last shawl I made made me so happy that I want to make another one with different yarn.  I’m using this:

Two balls of Cascade Yarns Heritage Hand Painted Sock Yarn, 75% Merino Superwash, 25% Nylon, 437 yards each (or 400 meters each)

The pattern, again, is here.  Here’s what I’ve got so far:

It’s a little blurry but the color came through surprisingly well.

The hook I’m using is the G/6 hook from a Susan Bates set.  The set is really special because it belonged to my great grandmother:

The G/6 is in the top right corner of the picture.

My grandma gave the set to me, along with a set of steel hooks for lace work, but I don’t really use those because I don’t work with thread much.  I’m really glad she gave them to me — they mean a lot.

On another subject, everybody else is blogging about their beautiful fall weather and sharing their beautiful fall pictures.  I’m so jealous!  We’re having weather in the 70s every day, but that just started recently, and the foliage isn’t looking so great.  Much of it is just brown so far, with pretty colors occasionally interspersed.  I really hope this winter is colder than last winter (during which I mostly wore my usual t-shirts with a coat, and maybe a scarf).  That’s what happens when you live in South Carolina, I guess.  Winters in Oklahoma, where I lived until I was 15, were actually colder than they are here.

Also, I was asked to mention how I like the new JKR book, The Casual Vacancy.  Honestly, I’m still only about halfway through.  It’s dramatically different from the Harry Potter books, and not just because it’s written for adults.  It’s not a fantasy book, there aren’t really distinctions between good and bad people, and there’s a lot of depressing subject matter (i.e. horrid parents, awful relationships, rebellious teens, and drug users, to name a few).  I think the biggest difference, though, is that I haven’t laughed once.  The Harry Potter books made me laugh a lot, just because of funny/witty comments or situations.  This new book feels much different because there isn’t really any humor, although there is some irony.  Also, there are many points of view to follow, which is a little confusing sometimes.  I think it’s well written but it’s such a different kind of book than what I would usually read.

That’s all for today.  I’ll probably have an update on the shawl soon, and my Stylecraft Special DK should arrive within the next week or so.  Thanks for stopping by!

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crochet shawl: complete!

October 16, 2012 by 10 Comments

ta-da!

I finished the crocheted shawl in 3 days, crocheting for hours each day.  It took a surprisingly long time once I got to the longer rows.

Sorry that picture is a little blurry — it was hard to hold my phone steady and far enough away to get the whole shawl in the frame.

The pattern is $6, which, after making the shawl, seems like a lot… While it took a long time, it was pretty repetitive and easy.  Oh well.  Now I have a shawl big enough to wrap around my neck comfortably!  And even though the yarn was all leftover from other projects I think the colors are great!  I can’t wait until it gets cold enough here for me to wear it!

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back to crochet: following the neon trend

October 12, 2012 by 5 Comments

It’s been about 21 days since I even touched a hook, but this yarn was just calling to me:

color’s a little off

It’s Aslan Trends Royal Alpaca yarn, and it is definitely tied for the softest yarn I’ve ever used.  It’s 100% Royal Alpaca wool (220 yds), and it’s worth the $18.50 I paid for at the LYS.  Because of the price, though, I only got one skein, and with just one my options were limited.  With yarn this nice, though, I had to make something wearable.  Neons have had a resurgence of popularity this year, and while at first I thought it was a horrible resurrection of 1980s style, I was pleasantly surprised to see it done tastefully in many instances.  Well, as tasteful as you can get with neon.  Anyway, I thought about making fingerless gloves, but I decided on a hat.  I know I have tons of hats, but I didn’t have a chartreuse one!

this is probably the most accurate portrayal of the real color that I got

As you see, I have a little leftover.  I don’t want to waste it; any ideas of what to do with that smaller amount?

Of course I have to show the hat to you on (although the lighting in my apartment at night is awful):

It’s made in-the-round with hdc, and the edging is sc with the last row sl st.  Hdc is probably my favorite stitch for hats and scarves.  Simple, quick pattern.  I honestly made it a little big because I was terrified of making it too tight or short, which happens with my hats sometimes, even though I was trying it on as I went. I hope it doesn’t stretch too much, but if it does I’ll just roll up the edge — the yarn was too expensive and the hat too soft and pretty not to wear.

I’m sure that since it’s alpaca it will be nice and warm, so I’ll take it on my Christmas trip to England.  Man, my suitcase is going to be full of knitted and crocheted items — I just can’t stop making things for the occasion!

Soon I’ll be introducing another crochet project with you — I’m just waiting for something in the mail.  As soon as it gets here I’ll share with you what I’ll be doing next.  It could take as long as a couple of weeks to get here, though.  Hopefully not.

That’s it for today, thanks for stopping by!  Let me know what you think I should do with the leftovers.

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