Crochet Granny Blanket

After finally finishing my ripple blanket, my fingers got itchy for another long-term crochet project.  Many great options presented themselves, a bobble blanket maybe chief among them, but I had a lot of yarn left over from the ripple that I felt like needed to be used.  On the other hand, I didn't want to make something in exactly the same color way, so I ADDED to the yarn collection I was trying to use up (there is a twisted logic in there somewhere, I hope:) by purchasing all the rest of the solid colors in the I Love This Cotton yarn that is sold by Hobby Lobby.

Completed squares so far

Now some of these colors are not necessarily beautiful, and some of the colors are very similar to other colors, and Hobby Lobby doesn't sell some of the colors I wish they would (like raspberry, apricot, pumpkin, a silver gray, watermelon), so it is not readily apparent that all these colors are going to play nicely together.  (Since I began this project, they have added a color, "Apple Green," which I am happy about).  However, I felt sorry for the ugly colors.  Attributing hurt feelings to inanimate objects is a trait that I share with my oldest son.  Usually I root this feeling out with some strong common sense arguments, but not this time.  I did feel downright greedy buying ALL the colors, but the skeins are only $2.66 each when on sale, so that's not too bad, is it?

Anyway, my inspiration blanket is Kristen's summer cottage blanket.  If you love beautiful crochet and knitting -- among other things -- then you will love her blog, aptly named Cozy Things.  I don't really imagine that mine will end up looking quite as lovely as that, especially not with the colors I am using, but I am making it like hers, and will use her directions to join the squares when I get to that part.


For the granny square itself, I followed Jacquie's instructions here, on her blog Bunny Mummy, which is another very happy and helpful crochet site.  It's an 11-round granny square, changing colors each round. The colors are random, and once I use a color I don't reuse it until all the other colors have been used.  That forces me to pick the colors that are not on the 'favorites' list.  There is no master plan, I just start with a color and then the next is chosen, and then the next..... Each square is a 'surprise' when it is finished, which adds to the pleasure and anticipation for me.

Yes, it's a little psychedelic

When I have enough squares, I will use a single color to make a final round around each square, and that will hopefully unify the blanket.  My daughter is very doubtful about how this is going to turn out:  it looks too great-grandmother-y for her.  Maybe that is why I like it.  As I make this blanket, I feel a connection to the women (including my great-grandmother) who have made similar objects before me.  I understand what they were thinking as they looked in their yarn bag and thought, "I'll choose THIS color," or "I'll just shut my eyes and pull a color out."  No overanalyzing the color scheme here, just relaxing and letting the blanket design itself, in a way.

The only bad things are: 1) it is not super portable, since you have to drag around ALL those colors of yarn and 2) this:

Lots and lots of ends that will have to be woven in.  I try to save those for mindless TV watching, or for long phone conversations.  That way I can get something done without having to devote a lot of brain power to it.

It will be a good while before this is done, maybe not until next winter.  But I have a totally unreasonable fear of running out of things to do, and I certainly don't have to fear that as long as I have projects like this to keep me busy.

A Birthday Present and a New Project

I was out of town for a couple of weeks visiting family, and look what greeted me when I got home:

I love the fabrics and the big velvety ribbon

a birthday present from my friend Elizabeth of Mrs Thomasina Tittlemouse fame.  My birthday was a couple of months ago, and little did I know that someone was working on a gift for me :)

It is a crochet hook roll and inside was tucked a raspberry colored crochet hook:

I wasted no time filling it with all my crochet paraphernalia.  Everything fits beautifully -- hooks, scissors, stitch markers, yarn needles, even the pattern for my current project.

The little flap folds down to keep everything safe -- no falling out of the top.

Mrs T, thank you from the bottom of my heart:)  Truly one of the best parts of blogging is making new  friends from around the world.

I wanted to take a little break from blanket-making and venture into some new territory (for me).  Here is the beginning of my new project -- a free crochet tote pattern on ravelry.  (Note:  if you decide to make this tote, follow the corrections listed.  Otherwise, your square will not turn out -- ask me how I know).  I saw a multi-colored tote that I really loved, so I am trying for a similar effect with this self-striping yarn.

Bernat Mosaic Yarn -- Optimist Colorway

While this is a smaller project - only 16 squares - it's a good skill builder for me: joining squares together, making straps, lining a crocheted bag.  It is also a great travel project, and I'm happy to learn a new block.

I love these colors, but if you want to see similar blocks worked up in a very different -- but beautiful -- color way, go visit little cotton rabbits, where she is making up a blanket.

Hope your summer is filled with fun projects!

Crochet Ripple Blanket Ta-Da

approximately 66 inches by 58 inches

This past week I finally finished my crochet ripple blanket that I started back in October.  It is my first ever crochet blanket and I love it.

The pattern is Lucy's neat ripple.  If you have never crocheted a blanket, you might want to try this pattern.  Many, many people have made it -- there's lots of visual inspiration out there.

I love the random stripe look.  Each small section has its own color personality......

and yet the blanket as a whole fits together.

My blanket is certainly not perfect.  The ending width is wider than the beginning width.  At first I was crocheting too tightly, plus I made the foundation chain too tight.  Learn from me and make that foundation chain very loose.  Hopefully, these kind of issues will lessen as I become more experienced.  And I don't think anyone will notice when they are curled up in it.  

You can see how my earlier rows (top) are tighter than my later rows (bottom).  The foundation chain is the royal blue in the middle.

I used 16 different colors of I Love This Cotton yarn from Hobby Lobby.  All the colors are together in a shoebox here.  There are 67 double rows, four of each color plus three colors got an extra row.  It took a little over one skein of yarn, so I had to purchase two of each color.  Needless to say, I have tons of yarn left over, but that is fine with me -- it just gives me that much of a head start on another blanket:)

The cotton has a good weight and feels great across your legs.  The color changes kept it fun.  I arranged the 16 colors in different ways for each round, for the most part not duplicating any combination.

Making this blanket was such an enjoyable process, and I think staying warm underneath it will be just as pleasurable!

Crochet Pleasures

I am still working on my ripple blanket (a la Attic24).  I am getting close to the end, so close that I will not allow myself to start any more crochet projects, no matter how small, until this is done.

The weight of the cotton feels so good resting upon your lap or your legs.  One of the great pleasures of crochet is that you can lie in bed and work on it ;)

Trying to Be Square

I find that I have become quite addicted to crocheting dishcloths, and I have to restrain myself even now from starting another one when I have so many other projects that have been started and are waiting patiently to be finished.  I think it is the lack of pressure from the dishcloths and  how quickly they are completed.  Also I love learning new stitches.  And they are small and portable.  Such stress relief!  Ahh, dishcloths have much to recommend them!

However, they also have their issues -- at least where I'm concerned -- and keeping them square is at the top of that list.  I'm still working on that.  The problems for me intensify when adding the borders.  Crochet is a bit of a free-wheeling craft and can be somewhat subjective (add a stitch where it needs one), and where it needs one is sometimes up to you to figure out.

All of the following are made from the Big Book of Dishcloths.  You can see my earlier efforts here.

I don't normally associate dishcloths with purple, but I love it here.  I like this pattern and can think of other uses for it.

#29

This one gave me a chance to practice using two colors at once.  The pattern as written turned out HUGE and I made it narrower, which made it the proper size but somehow it doesn't look as good.  My borders are still a little wonky here.  I think this pattern would be really pretty on a blanket.

#77

On this dishcloth I used self-striping yarn.  For some reason I have a lot of this particular color way.  I like how the yarn showed the pattern off, but there was no instruction on how to even off the zigzaggy sides.  I scoured the internet but was unsuccessful in finding help there as well.  It seems that people just make it up as they go along.  Which is what I did, with passable but not stellar results.  If you know how to do this, let me know!

#54

There are 99 dishcloth patterns in this book, and I am NOT committing to making one of each (although the idea does cross my mind from time to time).  I am taking a less pressured approach and picking at random which one I want to try next.  I have to confess I already have a pattern chosen to crochet up with some red yarn.  BUT I am trying to save it for a summer road trip.  Right now I need to finish some WIPs, and for once my weekend looks fairly free of commitments.  Now to get off the computer and actually sew.....or quilt.......or crochet.......

Dishcloths

Right now I have several LARGE works-in-progress going on, and the finish line for them still looks very far off in the distance.  So I like to break it up with some smaller, more immediate gratification projects -- like crocheting dishcloths:) 

There are many, many ways of making these, but I like a little variety, so I got The Big Book of Dishcloths, which has 99 different patterns (what's amazing is that this is not nearly an exhaustive list -- you can still find plenty of others on the internet and elsewhere).

This is a very straightforward, no frills kind of book.  The photographs of the stitches are in black and white, stitch explanations are brief but sufficient even for me -- a fairly new crocheter -- to follow.  There is an element of surprise to it because stitched up in 3-D looks a little different from the 2-D photos.  Below is a page from the book:

And here is #80 all stitched up:

#80

I enjoy the book because it gives me the chance to try lots of different stitches and techniques on a smaller scale.  There is no difficulty rating so I just pick and choose ones that I think I can do and am interested in doing.  This is one of the first ones I did:

#12

Here are some more. The bottom two are recently done and haven't been through the wash yet.  Unfortunately it looks like I'm getting worse at keeping them square.

#21

Part of my problem is making the foundation chain too tight.  I think I actually crochet a little loose, so I  have to exaggerate the foundation chain.  My other BIG problem is putting an edging on.  In this picture below I think I did too many stitches on the left side.  

#83

This last one was so crooked even I didn't want to use it.  I unravelled the whole thing and redid it from scratch.  It's a lot better now although one of the corners is still stretched out.

#24

I enjoy making them but there's still a lot of room for improvement.  Any of you crocheters out there have any tips for me?

February Sum Up

February was a difficult month at my house.  Lots of health concerns, some mine, some others.  Lots of my time was occupied in worry, then trying to turn that worry into prayer.

I made a recommitment to being healthier, which for me -- right now, at least -- means exercising at least an hour a day.  I pulled out our trusty P90X workout DVDs (can you tell that I live in a male-dominated household?) and am now finished with the first three weeks.  So challenging (that's an understatement), but I do feel myself getting stronger and able to do more. However, it does eat into my creative time.

I'm also trying to eat lower on the glycemic scale.  I haven't gotten a cookbook on that yet but just checking things on line.  Basically trying to eat a higher protein breakfast, and finding ways to increase protein and fiber and decrease (but not totally eliminate) carbs.  It really hasn't been too bad.  And I found out I was very low on Vitamin D, so I am now taking a large supplement.  This shows me I don't  spend enough time outdoors, something else I need to work on.

I kept waiting for winter to arrive, but it never really came this year (unless it's hiding around the corner waiting to do a sneak attack in mid-March).  Instead, our winter was more like spring.  We've never had such green grass (although most likely by summer it will be turned back to brown).  The bad thing about no winter is that the bugs don't get a chance to die out, so I expect my fly-swatters will be getting a workout this spring and summer. (I have one friend who doesn't even own a fly-swatter.  Somehow flies know not to go in her house!)  But I have too many pets and too many people going in and out, in and out, all day and the insects (and sometimes geckos) wait by the doors for their opportunity!  Right now the insect of choice is the mayfly or mosquito hawk, which is harmless but somewhat annoying when they are everywhere:

Mosquito Hawk

The problem of spring (and fall, for that matter) in Texas is that it comes and goes so quickly that if you are not careful, you will miss it.  Mostly we just have 3 parts summer, 1 part winter.  Here are a few pictures of spring to remind me:

Blue skies

Underneath our live oak in the front yard

The golden rain tree is leafing out

Loropetalum blossoms

A rogue petunia that escaped from its pot

I didn't complete any projects in February, but I did work on some.

I'm still adding to my ripple blanket:

Getting closer to a finish

Working on a giant granny (surreptitiously):

Made with acrylic self-striping yarn

Got two or three more blocks done on the flower garden quilt:

Mostly completed while waiting for basketball games to start

I totally neglected my big quilt and MUST get back to it.

My daughter began a pompom blanket, which is very fun and feels SO soft and squishy!

She does not plan on sharing this :)

Even though I posted very little in February, I did read lots of your posts.  I found lots of encouragement there.  Sometimes good advice, sometimes a little mini-vacation as I visited some of you who live in such a different place than I, sometimes inspiration.  I still feel a little bit odd occupying the blogworld, but there are lots of good things about it, and number one is getting to know some kindred spirits :)

More Pillowcases

I made another set of pillowcases like the ones here.  This time I used #3 cotton crochet thread and a US size E crochet hook.  

I used a soft green polka dot for the back and a yellow rose for the front (I'm loving yellows right now).

A closer look at the edging:

A gratuitous crochet shot ;)

They are a belated gift for my mom.  I hope she likes them.  They sure were fun to make.

Crocheted Pillowcase Edgings

Yes, I spent a couple of months learning to crochet, even though I really didn't need another hobby.  Now I have been bitten by the crochet bug and I see MANY things I want to make.  YIKES!  But the whole reason I learned to crochet in the first place was because I saw THESE on Beata's blog -- SO BEAUTIFUL -- and I was overpowered with a desire to make them.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Cassie of YouGoGirl has a wonderful, clear tutorial on how to do this very thing!  If you haven't tried this yet, get over there and get started!  (Well, if you are like me and don't know how to crochet, do this first, THEN go to Cassie's tutorial.)

 Anyway, these pillows are my first attempt.

A close-up of the edge, where you can also see the contrasting pocket (which hides your actual pillow):

I made the back out of the contrasting fabric:

This is my second set, which I made for my daughter as a birthday gift.  I love those red roses on the yellow.

Here's her edging:

I took the pillows outside to try to get better lighting, but I'm not sure I did any better.  The top pillow shows the contrasting fabric:

The yarn I used on the edging was Sinfonia, a 100 percent mercerized cotton sports weight.  On the green pillowcases I used a size F crochet hook, but I thought the edging was a bit bulky, so on the yellow pillowcases I went down to a size E hook.  I also have some crochet thread size 3 that I may try next time. (And yes, there will be a next time -- I've already got the fabric.)

I have to tell you that these are very fun to make.  (And very fun to shop for.  Local quilt shops should be pushing pillowcase making.)

It is a pleasure to lay your head on these lovelies at the end of the day.  It is a distinct possibility that even your dreams will be sweeter ;)