If it's April, it must be hooking time

Not that kind of hooking, gutter mind. This kind of hooking:

Once again, I am participating in the spring Potholder Swap run on Ravelry. This time around, I've challenged myself by using slightly thinner yarn (sportweight vs. last year's DK weight) and a pattern that uses some new techniques.

The pattern I'm using is the Crochet Flower Pot Stand by Lindervrouw, using the English translation of the original Dutch pattern from rubyredeclectic.blogspot.com. I made a few changes to stay within the swap designated size, so instead of working 10 rounds, I'm only doing 9, and they're coming out at about 7.5 in across.

I've gotten 4 out of the 6 sides done - since the potholders need to be double thickness, I'm making both sides the same. I actually have done five sides, but somehow I managed to make the second purple/green version with 16 petals instead of 15. No idea how that happened, but there you go. Thankfully I've got enough yarn to make another one, so I'll keep the mutant one for myself.

Next up on my list of WIPs to finish off this week: ummm...maybe the grosgrain ribbon backing for my Unravel sweater so I can actually wear the damn thing would be a good plan?

Crochet-ing along

Life is pretty busy at the moment, and I'm trying to squeeze in a little bit of yarn play here and there among the other, far-less appealing commitments that need to be tended to. I've found that the crocheted squares I'm doing for a blanket for Dev are the perfect little amuse-bouche at the end of a long day.

I find myself whizzing through a bunch of centers, and then doing the alpaca edgings on three or four at a time - it feels very productive to all of a sudden have four new finished squares at the end of an evening!

Once those two are done, I'll have 26 finished squares. I figured out last week, however, that in order to make a more-or-less twin sized blanket, I need (gulp) 120 squares. Ouch! I'm either going to have to start buying All The Mini-Skeins, or accept that it is not likely that it will be done by Christmas.

I had some other crocheted items appear in my life this past week - my new Potholders!

The patterns (from top left and going clockwise) are: Fudge by Jan Eaton, DROPS Extra 0-843, and the Wool Eater Blanket by Sarah London. I love them, and plan to hang them in a place of honor in my office instead of using them - they're way too pretty! This swap was lots of fun, and I'm looking forward to taking part again next spring. 

FO: Ripples

I finished H's Ripple Blanket while at Wonderwool last weekend. I love it.

Pattern: Neat Ripple Pattern (Rav link) by Lucy at attic24, which is really more of a recipe then a pattern FYI
Yarn: baby melter acrylic FTW! Aka: Jarol Heritage DK, which is actually 55% wool/25% acrylic/20% nylon, and very nice to use. 270 yds/100g skeins, less the one each of navy, pale blue, teal, turquoise, red, chartreusey-green and royal blue.
Hook: US G/4.00 mm
Start/finish: 1 March - 26 April 2013
Comments/mods: since this is a recipe and not a flat out pattern, I had to do a bit of (ehem) swatching to get the size I wanted. I did a little practice swatch (also usefull for practicing decreases, which I hadn't done before) and figured out how many stitches I needed for approximately 24 inches wide (answer: 90). Then it was non-stop ripple action for a couple of weeks.

I didn't want a set striping pattern, so I grabbed the colors (mostly) randomly. I say mostly because I tried to space out stripes of the same color a little bit...

I ended up doing seven stripes of each color, which took approximately three quarters of the 100 gr ball. Total yardage used for this, therefore, was approximately 1400 yds. Finished measurements after a trip through the washer and dryer: 30 inches wide by 32 inches long. Due to the wool content, it did felt slightly in the dryer, but it came out nice and thick and cushy.

Done just in time to go off to baby H this weekend. Now I need to figure out what to do with all the leftovers (color block baby sweater anyone?).

Sidetracked

Hello! Long time, no blog! It's been a crazy week, I tell you, absolutely crazy.

Let's start off with last Friday - I spent the morning at Wool House. If you haven't heard of Wool House yet, please head over to the Campaign for Wool's website and take a look. In short: massive, glorious exhibition of wool in all it's various guises and forms, from on the hoof to on the wall, or the chair, or the back. I spent two mornings in the last week demonstrating spinning for the visitors to the exhibit, and on Friday I ended up in a video with Allison. So if you have any interest in hearing/seeing me in virtual person, take a look.

Spending two mornings spinning was a fantastic opportunity to get a whack load of sampling done for Porpoise Fur.

I'll share more details on those samples on the PF blog over the next week. And I have a grand post on Wool House planned, with pictures and details and lots of wool goodness for tomorrow. Today, I want to share the cutest face in the world:

Pattern: amigurumi walrus by Aeron Aanstoos
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Top (long since discontinued), 160 yds/4 oz skein in brown, about a third of a skein.
Hook: US G/4.0 mm
Start/finish: 19 Feb - 20 March 2013.
Comments/mods: first off, I'm totally embarrassed that it took me a month (a month!!!) to finish this thing. In real time, I could have been done in a week and a half, which is how long the crocheting took me. Then I faffed about not putting it together for another week, then I pretended that I didn't need to get embroidery floss to do the eyes, etc, etc, etc. Finally last night, while the girls were doing their homework, I took the 4 min to finish the eyes, and this morning I wrapped it up and it's waiting by the front door to go to the post office. #craftyauntiefail


The pattern was absolutely fantastic - clear instructions, lots of pictures to illustrate the assembly, and very easy to follow. This designer has a bunch of other absolutely adorable toy patterns (yes Sarah, including a narwhal!), and I will definitely be doing more of her designs. If nothing else, I need a porpoise...

Baby blankets, as far as the eye can see

Since my secret baby blanket has now touched down in Houston, I can share the vast number of pictures I took before I entrusted it to the vagaries of the mail service.


Pattern: Granny Stripes, by Lucy of Attic24
Yarn: Patons UK 100% Cotton DK, 230 yds/100 gr skein, less then one skein each of white, red, brown, turquoise, green and yellow.
Hook: US G/4.0 mm
Start/finish: 25 January - 7 February 2013
Comments/Modifications: This is my first crochet project bigger then a potholder, so I spent a fair bit of time trolling the web for reasonably straightforward baby blanket patterns. Lucy's blog is chock full of clear tutorials, beautiful photography and so much enthusiasm that I'm a bit surprised I haven't burned my knitting needles in effigy. (OK, maybe not that last bit, but it's a great blog.) Since her tutorial was much more a recipe then a straight pattern, I had to do a bit of swatching and planning of the color sequence.

I ended up working six repeats of the following color sequence - white, yellow, red, green, brown and blue - and then added one more white stripe to make a bit more symmetrical. I also wanted to some kind of border, so I picked up stitches all the way around the edge and worked a border with a stripe of each color in half-double crochet (or double crochet if we want to stay true to the UK terminology). The final blanket was approximately 26 inches wide by 36 inches long.

At each corner I chained stitches to bridge the gap, increasing one stitch at each corner on each subsequent row. I probably could have done more chain stitches, or done increases in the stitches from the previous round - this treatment resulted in corners that don't lie perfectly flat. In fact, the whole border ripples laong the edges, proof positive that my crochet gauge is probably not that consistent yet.

I loved doing this blanket. It was quick, relatively straightforward for this beginning crocheter, and I'm really pleased with the results. As is the impending new mom, which is the most important thing!

I sent it off to Houston along with a Peapod Cardigan I knitted a while back but hadn't found an ideal model for yet.

And the best news? Now that I've finished my second crocheted baby blanket, I'm well into my third.

That was my beginning on Friday night, and now I've got 15 16 stripes done. Total. Crochet. Addiction.