A fine finish to 2017...

It's the last day of 2017 and I'm so happy to have finished a project that's been languishing now for several months.

My Lost In Time Shawl/scarf is finally blocked, tassled, and ends woven in:

I'm mostly pleased with it, but I'm tempted to regret my tassels.  Not that I made tassels, but that I used all the colors in my scarf in the tassels.  They look a little clown-like to me.

And what's up with all those uneven ends?!?   I've trimmed these things at least a half a dozen times.  But then I take a picture and they're shaggy again.   And  maybe they're too long?  I don't know.  I can always trim them up (again), but I don't really know what size (length) of tassel looks best on a shawl like this.  I'm open to suggestions.

One thing I'm very pleased with is how I finished off the edges:

Basically, I followed the instructions for the border, but when I made the picots, I caught that stitch in the back of the corresponding stitch in the last row of the shawl itself (catching up, also, the chain-5 in the first row of the border.  None of that will be clear unless you're making the shawl for yourself.  I'm just making note of this for myself to remember in the future, and for anyone else who may be curious how I did that.  Basically, it eliminates the dangling border that the pattern creates.

I want to make another one of these - the pattern is that easy.  But next time I want to use a self-striping yarn (like Red Heart Unforgettable, or Lion Brand's Mandala yarn).  Or...  this shawl is beautiful done in a single color, too.  Mine above is made using Stylecraft Batik.  I love the stonewashed look of this yarn and the easy care of 80% acrylic and 20% wool fibers.

I won't be making it again too soon, though.  I've got my sights set on some other projects.  I have more projects that have also been languishing, and I'm hosting a CAL in the Our Happy CAL Place on Ravelry in January where the theme is Pillows.   So it looks like I'll be making a pillow here shortly...   I'm thinking of using the first two weeks of the Elements blanket to make a pillow.

To see what other YOPpers are up to, visit our group on Ravelry.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Getting back to a special shawl...

Unlike so many of my crafting buddies, I didn't make a single Christmas gift this year (and at this point have no intention to), so this upcoming week I think I'll focus on trying to finish my Lost in Time Shawl/Scarf.   That is, between any days I may be called to work and any Christmas preparations I may find myself busy with.  I'm hoping for a quiet week of cleaning, cooking and crocheting.  Not necessarily in that order.  😉

I haven't touched this project for months now and I'm afraid I'm going to have become reacquainted with the pattern.  If I remember correctly, though,  it is nearly finished and maybe only needs the final round crocheted and some tassels added (I think I want tassels) and I should be done.   As long as I like the size, it doesn't need blocking.  I don't know if most people block theirs because they want it to be larger, or if other yarns didn't behave as nicely as this yarn did for me.  The yarn I'm using is Stylecraft Batik.  I love it.

I have a new (purple) coat on its way to me.  I'm hoping to have this scarf finished soon and, assuming my new coat fits, I'm hoping it's chilly enough to wear it and and this scarf for Christmas.  Merry Christmas to me!  😊

And on that note, I doubt that I'll be in here next weekend (seeing as Sunday is Christmas Eve, that will be a busy day I think) so today let me say Merry Christmas to you!  Hopefully, I'll be back by New Year's Eve and can show this pretty scarf complete and tasseled.  

To see what other Yoppers are up to, visit our group on Ravelry.

Welcome, June...

It's been a beautiful transition into June here in Indiana. All my crocheting this week was spent on two long-term projects, but only one is worth taking a picture of.  While I'm being terribly slow at making progress, when I do find time to work on my Lost in Time Shawl, I love it.  Very much.

Here is what it looks like today:

After I do one more repeat of the popcorn and ruffle rows I'm going to take stock and see if blocking it will make the ends long enough to wrap this around my neck kerchief-style.  I envision wearing this as a scarf with a winter coat so I don't need it as large as a shawl.  The problem is it's a pretty perfect triangle and the side "wings" really need to be longer than the center point if it's going to drape around my neck.    I'm also now seeing the point of the tassels in the original design go beyond aesthetics.   While they are pretty and add a trendy flair, I really I thought I'd forgo tassels (as they seemed a bit fussy for my tastes).  But I can see that tassels on the outer corners will help give a bit more length to that edge as well.  So maybe I'll go trendy with this after all.

I know I've said this before, but I highly recommend the pattern.  Simple and well written (even if a tad awkward translated into English, it's very easy to understand what the designer is saying).  And the yarn I'm using is so nice. It's dk-weight Stylecraft Batik (an 80% acrylic, 20% wool blend).  It's very soft to work with, and should be easy-enough to take care of.  I have found the place most likely for me to find this at a good price is Deramores.   I just bought some more skeins, in fact, because it was 30% off for a few weeks last month.  I bought more without a plan for its use, but after working with it, I can see it would be nice for scarves, shawls, sweaters, baby hats, baby blankets...  all sorts of things.  I look forward to using it again.

The only other thing that saw hook-time was a large corner-to-corner blanket I've been working on since the first of April.   I had to purchase yet another "last-skein" of yarn this past week to finish this and now I'm finally starting the border.  I'd love to get this finished this week and at that point it will be worth taking a picture of.  Hopefully.  At the moment, it's just a big beige rectangle.   A picture of it today would look identical to the picture I took months ago, except that it's larger.  If this is ever going to be interesting enough to take a picture of it again, it will be the border that will make it so. We'll see soon, I hope.

This year's Year of Projects ends later this month, with Sunday, June 25th being our final wrap-up post for the year.  While some YOPPERS follow a different time table, our group officially begins each new YOP year the first week in July and we run through the last week in June of the following year.    If crafting and blogging sounds appealing to you, please consider yourself invited to join us.  Everyone comes up with their own list of goals, dreams, inspirations for crafting (typically knitting and crocheting, but some other crafts find their way into our posts), and then blog throughout the year about what we are making.  We're a small group of bloggers who find inspiration in blogging and seeing what other YOPers are up to.  We are somewhat diverse (in lifestyles, and in crafts) and it's the most encouraging bunch of folks I think I've met online.   Check out our group on Ravelry and consider joining us if the idea appeals.

Do overs...

If you check back to last week you'll possibly notice that I have changed up my Lost In Time Shawl/Scarf.

At first I was just going to rip back a bit to fix what, to me, felt like a too-wide section of teal where I had left off.  But for some reason as I ripped back, I kept ending up with a spot at the end of each row where I couldn't just pick up the yarn and start crocheting from.  It was weird and it didn't make any sense to me, but it kept happening.   It was like I was ripping the rows out backwards.  But how could I do that?

Anyway, at some point I had ripped back so far, and because I was never quite settled over the bright green popcorn stitches early on, it started to make more sense to just start this thing over.   So I did. And I've gotta say... this second try feels better to me.

I also decided to reign in my color choices - from something like eight or nine colors to just five colors.  That was a relief, as well.  While I love the riotous shawls some have made from this pattern, too many colors to figure out just made me nervous I came to realize.   With fewer colors, I was able to write out a plan for the placement of those colors - except that I've already goofed up that plan.  In the end, though, I don't think the color placement plan needs to be set in stone, but it can still serve as a guideline of sorts.  So, we'll see how I like this scarf as it progresses from here. 

I know there's really nothing exactly new here, except that I brought you into my process a bit.

Speaking of processes...

A few weeks ago I started crocheting a Corner to Corner blanket - thinking I was going to make it as simple as possible - basically, all one color, with an interesting (contrasting) border, perhaps.  Well... turns out I am really good at taking a simple-as-can-be project and making it a most complicated one.

Somehow the 10 or so skeins of yarn I had on hand to make this blanket with came from about six different dye lots.  What was I thinking?!?   Clearly I wasn't thinking at all.  I know better than to buy yarn from different dye lots - thinking I'm going to put them together in the same project.  That is never a good idea.  But none the wiser (to the fact that I had different dye lots) I just dived right in to making this blanket - all the pretty skeins of yarn looked the same to me in the basket.  And then it came time to add a second skein to my work.  And the difference was glaring.  One skein had a gray cast and one had a definite beige cast.

Sigh.

There was no way I was going to buy more of this yarn to make this blanket.  I also didn't want a blanket that had big sections that were different from other sections, and I didn't really didn't want to give up on it either.  Fellow Yopper, Stefanie (finding herself working with different shades of the same color on her Pink Flamingo on the Lawn sweater), had inspired me to consider how to work with this sort of problem.  Stefanie simply alternated rows between the two different yarns and the end result is she has an interesting tonal thing going in her sweater.  The problem with the C2C stitch pattern is that alternating the different dye lots among different rows won't work so well because the rows aren't made of narrow knitted stitches that run across the fabric.  The rows in a C2C pattern are fat, chunky things that run on the diagonal.  The result I would get, alternating the skeins between the rows in this blanket, would not be as subtle, or interesting as Stefanie's sweater. 

So, rather than just switch back and forth every other row (which would be depressing enough), I decided that I would rip back and start over, this time interspersing sections of the darker yarn amongst the rows made up of the lighter yarn.  Randomly.  With no plan or real forethought. Hoping for something that looks kind of intentional in its randomness.

Can you see the variations in the colors?   Do the variations look random enough?

But, of course, this method means that I can't carry the yarn.  It means that every time I change the color I have to join yarns, snip,  and then do something with the ends.  I was dutifully weaving them in, until I thought, there's got to be a better way.   And don't you know.... there are a number of better ways. 

I searched and found the Braided Join.   And the Knotless Join.  I've known for some time there is a Magic Knot, but honestly...  I have trouble feeling confident that this would truly never come undone.  While I'm going to give the Braided Join more thought and practice, so far I've been having the most success using the Russian Join.    And I'm liking it so much that until I hear some horror stories about how any of these joins have come undone, I think I may try to use these kinds of joins when making blankets in the future - especially when adding yarn of the same color.  I don't suppose these methods work very well when joining a new color at the end of row - though I'm open to hearing if there are ways to join new colors at the ends/beginnings of rows without a lot of yarn weaving, or carrying yarns?   Really, I'd love to know if that's even possible.

To see what other Yoppers are up to, visit our group on Ravelry.

Easter Weekend...

I'm not sure what happened to my week, but there wasn't much crocheting or knitting except that
earlier in the week I joined The Other 11 Months Group on Ravely as they started a new CAL - The Lost In Time Shawl. The pattern is actually pretty simple, and is very well written. I highly recommend it.   Here is a progress picture of mine:

The sections that appear yellow-ish are really a lime green.  While the lime green is prettier than the yellow it is showing up as, I do kind of wish I hadn't made that "popcorn" row early on using it. It just feels so bright.  I don't regret it enough to rip back, so hopefully after I get some more length on this and more colors added, the lime green will not look so bright to me.

~~~~~

The weekend was busy with a Good Friday worship service, a birthday celebration, and then Easter Morning worship.  

Our Good Friday service is a combined service of 6 or 7 (at least) churches.  The church it's held in is an older country church that has a beautiful, large sanctuary.   It's a wonderful service - and to make it even better, we get to see people whose lives have intersected ours over the nearly 19 years we've lived here, but our paths have diverged for one reason or another.  It's almost like a homecoming - except that we're all meeting at a new place.

Then Saturday night we went out to eat at a unique place in Indianapolis.  Rook (with street-food inspired, Asian cuisine) is at the northeast edge of the Fountain Square area - an old, but revitalized part of Indy where pubs and restaurants and some non-food businesses line Virginia Avenue and apartment buildings are fitted in - sometimes above the eateries and sometimes angling down side streets.   It was a beautiful spring evening, with music and wonderful smells wafting out of various restaurants as we walked a bit.

Oldest son requested it as a place to have his birthday dinner and while there wasn't a thing on the menu any of us could recognize, we happily obliged.  It was a fun adventure food-wise.  Here am I with my oldest and youngest sons waiting outside for middle son and his girlfriend to arrive:

We're laughing at my husband who couldn't seem to figure out how to take a picture with my phone.

Or so we thought.  Unbeknownst to all of us, he was actually, accidentally snapping dozens and dozens of pictures.

We weren't going to get a clear picture from my phone camera if our lives depended on it, but I'll take a fuzzy, happy picture of laughter any day.

~~~~~

Then, this morning was Easter worship service at our church.  There's always an extra special joy on Resurrection Sunday - just as there should be.  This year we came home and I'm not doing anything else with my day except relaxing and posting this.  Normally, we get together with extended family, but no one else was making it happen, and I wasn't up to the task of making a big meal this year so we're doing the next best thing.  Resting.  Or maybe it's the best thing.  :)

To see what other Yoppers are up to, visit our group on Ravelry.