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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puppy pullover complete!

November 4, 2012 by 8 Comments

I finished Zero’s sweater!  She looks sad in the pictures but it’s just because she doesn’t like getting her picture taken — she loves the actual sweater!

You might not can see it, but the tummy piece is red.  It’s a little snug around her arms but I’m sure it will stretch out as she wears it, and it’s not so tight as to make her uncomfortable.  Overall, a good fit, and I hope it stays nice looking for a long time.  She loves to play, so we’ll see.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

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Halloween blues

October 30, 2012 by 2 Comments

Are you doing anything for Halloween?  Everybody around me seems to be doing something fun, but I’m not going to any parties or dressing up or anything like they are.  My reasoning is mostly that I don’t have enough money to go spending on costume pieces (my limited wardrobe doesn’t have much to be creative with so I’d have to go out and buy things).  It’s a little sad to see everyone celebrating and getting so excited though, knowing that I’m not participating in the festivities.

However, I decided that I wanted to make a doggie sweater for my baby:

my boyfriend named her Zero after a character from the Megaman video game

So she at least can have a “costume!”  It’s finally getting cold here at night and we’ve got our windows open, so she could probably use something to get warm besides my legs.  I’m using the Essential Puppy Pullover pattern from “Knitting for Dogs,” which you can see the pattern for if you click on the “look inside!” button on the Ravelry page.  The top part of the pattern is just a rectangle, and here’s what I’ve got so far of that part:

I’m using the Berroco Vintage Chunky, which I wouldn’t normally use for a dog sweater but I have tons of it, so why not?

Haha, do you like my old Garfield pajamas?  I’ve had them since middle school.

Anyway, the sweater is going to be so cute, and I’m really excited to show you pictures of my baby girl wearing it.  She’s really good about wearing dog clothes so hopefully she’ll look happy in her picture, like she’s actually enjoying the sweater.  We’ll see.

Do you dress your pets in fashionable yarncrafted items during the cold months?

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first knitted bobbles!

October 28, 2012 by 3 Comments

 

I made this hat mostly today, using this pattern, called the Beanpole Beanie.  I’m calling mine the Sakura Beanie because it’s pink, not green.  I love the twists in the ribbing at the bottom of the hat.  Really I just love the whole thing.  It’s hard to see the bobble/lace pattern in pictures, but here’s the best closeup I could get:

 

The only thing I changed was that I didn’t add the little bit of icord at the top.

The hat was made with Berroco Vintage Chunky, although this pattern would definitely work with worsted yarn instead.  It’s just made to be thick and warm.

That’s all for today, thanks for stopping by!

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