ripple update and a new tutorial

November 9, 2012 by 3 Comments

 

The blanket is not quite through all the colors being used twice, but it’s sufficiently large enough to warrant an update!  I’m having so much fun.  Since it’s not a super wide blanket I think I’m going to have some lovely leftovers — perhaps not enough for another adult sized blanket, but perhaps a baby blanket or some more winter wearables.

Also, I have a new tutorial up!  I’ve noticed that a lot of people leave their ends on blankets like this one until the very end, and it’s a huge pain to sew them all in.  The new tutorial is for the no-sew securing of ends.

click here for the no-sew ends tutorial

Thanks for stopping by!  Come back soon for more ripple-y updates and fun stuff!

Filed Under: announcements, crochet Tagged With: , , ,

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!

 

 

Filed Under: crochet Tagged With: , , ,

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!

Filed Under: crochet Tagged With: , , , ,

this past week: budgeting and stripes

September 10, 2012 by 10 Comments

Hello everyone!

It’s relaxing to be blogging right now after such a stressful week!  Let me tell you, I’ve had the worst kind of personal drama, my first week at my internship, a horrendous mistake in budgeting, trying to cook, and school.  I’ll skip over the personal drama and just mention that my internship is at a community mental health center, where I get to co-counsel people and help lead groups, etc. (it’s a very interesting place to intern, for sure).  My budgeting mistake left me with $200 less than I thought I’d have this month, which means groceries are going to be hard to come by towards the end of the month.  That definitely means no yarn this month, either.  My cooking skills are slowly but surely improving, with the help of my chef boyfriend, which is good, and school is, well, school.

Amidst all of this stuff going on, I have had a little time to crochet.  The Granny Ripple #1 is slowly coming along:

 

And again, while I’ve been crocheting, I’ve been listening to audiobooks.   Nothing I haven’t mentioned before, either.  The Dragonriders of Pern is just as good the… whichever go-round I’m on now.  It’s definitely after third.  Also, my boyfriend and I have been watching an anime called “One Piece,” which is a really long but really good TV series that we are marathon-ing online.

So that’s all my news for today.  Hopefully I’ll have more granny stripe progress soon.  Thanks for stopping by!

Filed Under: crochet Tagged With: , , , , ,

new project: granny stripe

September 4, 2012 by 6 Comments

I know I have quite a few projects to work on right now, but for most of them I am out of yarn.  The realization just hit me that my lack of yarn money is probably the main contributor to my lull in crafting recently (although I’m sure my apathy has played it’s part).  Since I do not have any money for yarn right now, I decided to make something with what I’ve got.  I realized that I have quite a stash of Caron Simply Soft (not my favorite yarn, but cheap):

The colors are a bit off, but you get the idea.  So I thought I’d try my hand at something I’ve not done before: a granny stripe blanket, particularly the one made famous by Lucy of Attic24.  I know the pattern is simple, but that’s OK with me because it looks so good!  Since some of these colors are basically scraps, however, I decided to change colors whenever I run out of the working one instead of changing them at the ends of the rows, thinking that it would produce a rag-rug type effect and produce a bigger blanket in the end.

I have run into two problems so far, though.  The first is that my foundation chain was so long that, while my blanket will definitely cover a double bed and maybe a queen, I might run out of yarn before I get there, even though that box is full of skeins.  The whole point of this was to not have to go buy more yarn, but I’ve already worked on the blanket enough that I don’t want to rip it out and start over.  The second problem is that some bands of color are significantly wider than others, and while I thought this would add charm, so far it just looks bleh:

In any case I plan to continue, because who knows, it might turn out great after all, and I might have enough yarn!  We’ll just have to see.  Honestly I don’t care that much, I’m just glad to be hooking again after that long hiatus.  If it doesn’t turn out good, maybe by that time I’ll have money to buy some yarn that I really want for something even more exciting.

As always, thanks for stopping by!  I’m headed off to work on it and watch a movie.  (I’m caught up on homework, hurray!)

Filed Under: crochet Tagged With: , , , ,
«Previous Page
Next Page»