Yarn Along...

Yarn I had been waiting for came in over the weekend and I put aside the blanket I was working on to start a new one.  It's a blanket for a friend and that's all I can post about that for now. But here's a picture that shows some of the detail:

I think it's similar to a block-stitch pattern (made of triple crochets), but it's more delicate than any block pattern blanket I've seen.  What I especially love about this pattern is the beautiful finished edges it creates.  Curves along the top and bottom and those pretty points along the side.

The pattern was found in the book Weekend Afghans by Jean Leinhauser (ISBN:  0806964863).  This book is an oldy, with a collection of knit and crochet patterns, but I've marked at least 6 afghans I hope to make.  This is the second time I've made this one - I like it so much.

I'm using Deborah Norville's Everyday yarn in the color Orchid, and can I just gush for a minute about how wonderfully soft this acrylic yarn is?  Soft, soft, soft, soft soft!  It's also antipill and I can say (from another blanket I've made from this yarn) that it came out of the wash even softer than it went in, and looking amazing.  It may be too early to tell just how anti-pill this yarn is, but it did not fuzz.  At all.  It truly looked just like new after washing.  I hope to make many more things with this yarn.  Certainly anything that needs to be easy care, but also anything I might use acrylic for.

The color range of Deborah Norville's Everyday yarn is decent and the price is great if you get it on sale (I've never paid more than $3.00/skein).  In case anyone is familiar with Willow Wash, this is a very comparable yarn.  In fact, having both in my stash I have plans to combine colors from both Willow Wash and the Everyday yarn in a project and I'm sure I won't be able to tell the difference between the feel of the yarns.  I'll officially report on that once I actually try it.  ;^)  To tell the truth, I've wondered if the same mill creates both of these yarns - they are so similar.  Would appreciate any information about that if anyone knows.

I am still enjoying reading From the Kitchen of Half Truth, but have also been perusing some crochet pattern books this week.  I went on a binge and checked out a bunch from the library recently,  Not that I needed any more ideas, but the eye candy is wonderful.

Check out (and join, if you like) the other yarn along posts at Small Things where Ginny hosts this weekly yarny extravaganza.  The talent of knitters and crocheters who participate is inspiring.

Yarn Along...

Browsing the web and casually looking for like-minded folks who are pursuing creative endeavors (particularly yarny endeavors), I came upon Small Things' Yarn Along.  A bunch of talented yarn lovers link up to Ginny's weekly Yarn-Along and share what they're knitting or crocheting.   And what they are reading.  Terrific!  Two of my favorite things.

I'm currently crocheting an Arrowhead Striped Blanket.   And one of the books I'm reading is  From the Kitchen of Half Truth by Maria Goodin.

First the blanket:
I'm really liking how simple the pattern is, yet it produces a lovely arrow-shaped stitch (that, frankly, doesn't betray its simplicity). I used yarns from my stash (Vanna's Choice in the colors, Taupe and Linen, and Lion Brand's Heartland yarn in Grand Canyon).  I do like how these colors are working together - even though I can't manage to even edit a picture close to the true colors (it actually has some yellow tone to it).  Oddly, enough, that crochet hook is exactly that color of gold. 

A note on the yarn: I needed to buy some additional Heartland yarn and I found some at my local Walmart. It sells for 3.99/skein. At first glance that is a bargain compared to the 5.99 it sells for at Hobby Lobby (though when I bought it there, I'm sure I used a 40% off coupon). Well, once I started crocheting with the Walmart Heartland, it became apparent that the $5.99 skein and the $3.99 skein were not equal.

I haven't separated out the plied strands to see exactly where the difference happens (whether it's in the number of strands, or the thickness of each ply), but it is clear that the Walmart Heartland is, overall, thinner and maybe more splitty than the Hobby Lobby Heartland I had in my stash. It's not obvious in the finished project, but it is obvious in the crocheting and in the size of the skein after crocheting the same number of rows from the two different skeins. It's not enough to cause me to return the rest of the Walmart yarn, but I'll probably think twice before buying it again.  From here on out, I'll likely choose to purchase the $5.99 skeins when they go on sale or I have a coupon (which makes it a bargain), and skip the $3.99 skeins that only look like a bargain.

Back to the pattern:  While it's labeled an Intermediate pattern, I honestly think if a person can crochet double and triple crochet stitches, they can do this.  

The front of the blanket (see the fun arrows?)  I love the texture!

And on the back there's a sort of grid pattern.  Because these are behind the slanted triple crochet stitch, the effect is almost like a bobble.  Almost a bobble, but not quite.  I really like the back, too, for its textural effect.

Honestly, the only really difficult part of following this pattern is remembering which side of the blanket I'm working on. Not that that's particularly hard (as you can see, the front and the back look completely different from each other), but it's such no-brainer of a stitch (once I got it down) I sometimes forget which side I'm working on and it can be a row or two before I catch the mistake. Argh!  I don't know how many times I've caught an arrow on the back and had to rip out a row or more.  I started this blanket a week and a half ago, and I'm sure I'd have been nearly finished by now if I didn't keep doing that. Sigh. I must pay closer attention.  Or at least check each row carefully before proceeding to the next.

And the book?  I'm about 1/3 of the way through it, and to tell you the truth...I didn't think I was going to like this when I first started reading it.   It starts out with just a bunch of silliness that sounds like a child's make-believe story.  Not what I was looking for.  But it didn't take reading much beyond the first chapter before I was hooked.  And realized that the silliness and even feeling frustrated by it are important.  So don't let it put you off.  Meg goes home to help care for her dying mother (who, at times, seems more alive than anyone) and Meg's nonsensical past begins to take on a new charm.  And I'm beginning to believe all that nonsense at the beginning may all come clear before the story is fully told.   Honestly, when I sit myself down, it's hard to decide whether to read or crochet!  Again, I'm only part-way through the book, but so far I think I recommend it as an interesting read.

Crocheted Cowboy Booties

I had a little secret.  A couple months ago I crocheted a baby gift for a young friend, but since her baby shower wasn't until this month I wasn't able to show what I was making until now.    Here's what I was working on back in February:

I used this pattern from Crochet Crowd, but eliminated the little "heel".  For styling these, I want to give credit to Kim at The Little Red Farmhouse for originally creating these booties with all the details, but she has removed the post where she featured these.  I do see elsewhere on her blog that finished booties are available for purchase, though. 

The details were a bit fiddly and having no pattern available I had to figure everything out (everything but the booties themselves).  The strap was easy enough, but I found a star pattern online and adapted it for the stars on the sides and the half-spur.   Did I say these were a bit fiddly?  They were fiddly to the extreme - oh my - but it was satisfying to figure out.  And I was really pleased with the end result. 

The baby shower was in another state so I wasn't able to attend easily.  I packaged them up with some pretty pink burp cloths, tied up the girly box with a luscious pink ribbon, and off they went.

I know it looks like a simple gift, but every stitch was made imagining the mother-to-be's delight.  And I heard they were a hit.  I don't suppose it gets much better than that.  ;^)



Ocean Swells Afghan

I had great intentions of making my mother- and father-in-law a crocheted blanket for Christmas.  I wanted it to be special.  After giving it thought and looking at many pictures of crocheted blankets, I found the perfect pattern (in a book I did not own, but I found on amazon).  I decided I wanted it to be done in a neutral color and silver seemed to be a great idea.  But for some reason the perfect shade of silver kept eluding me.  Finally I took a chance on a shade in KnitPicks Brava.  I ordered the yarn and in early December it came.   Plenty of time, I thought.

The stitch pattern is called Ocean Swells and the book it is found in is:  Crochet: The Complete Guide by Jane Davis. ISBN: 9780896896970.  This is a book of stitch patterns (not patterns of finished objects), so figuring out how to get the stitch pattern into a full size afghan took some thinking and some calculating, then finally crocheting, and ripping out, and crocheting again.  At last, I got it down.  It was exciting to watch it grow.

Well...as it turns out, December is a terrible time to begin a large crochet project of a new pattern.  Especially if the pattern is the least bit challenging.  Especially if you want to give it as a Christmas gift.  But I gave it all I had.  For weeks, I crocheted.  And ripped out mistakes.  And crocheted some more.  It was, I think, less than a week before Christmas when I finally realized that I could crochet every free hour I had and I was not going to be able to complete this blanket in time.  So I quit.

Well...I didn't exactly quit, but I freed myself of the expectation that I would finish in time for Christmas.  I took it slower and enjoyed the process instead of frantically crocheting my fingers off.  And I enjoyed that last week before Christmas - promising never again to put off starting such a large project until December.

I finished it after the New Year and decided that it would instead, make a great birthday gift for my mother-in-law. Good thing I had let go of the idea of it being a Christmas gift, because much to my dismay it needed blocking when it was finished.  I've never before had to block an afghan so I don't know whether it was the Brava yarn or the pattern that make this afghan not lay smoothly.   While I've blocked small objects, blocking a blanket was new to me.  And of course, I procrastinated.  Once I bit the bullet, though, it wasn't so hard.  It was just big.  And blocking did the trick.  YAY!

 

Yes, I know it's not laid out smooth in the picture, and the pretty top and bottom edges don't show, but blocking really opened up this, almost, lacy pattern.   Someday, maybe, I think I'll try this pattern in another yarn to see if it behaves differently.

Finally, it was ready to go and I'm happy to say it was a hit!

Happy Birthday, Mom B!

 

The Vikings Are Coming...

No more beard envy