Backing up a bit

Okay, so in the last entry I was counting all the afghans (donation) that I had started. The real details are that I still have a few that are in process.

Tonight I photoed the almost conclusion of the latest cotton-ease blanket that I had shared earlier:I used a free pattern from Lionbrand website called, Crochet Shell Stitch Baby Blanket. I used Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in 3 of the discontinued colors with a chain of 110 stitches to create a 30 inch width. Pretty, huh?

 

 

 

And here’s a detail shot of the borders:

Good work, yes? Now do you want to see the WHOLE truth? It’s a bit graphic, so those with a delicate constitution might want to peek through fingers or such.

 

 

Sadly, this is one of the gory details of the ugly underbelly of multiple color crochet projects. I thought I could crochet over the ends when I was doing the borders, but that was a big no-go; too lumpy, so I just worked around them and now I am stuck with weaving them in. Last night I wove in some of the pink ends; I am doing them color by color so as to have a small sense of accomplishment, cause let’s face it, this is the not-so-pretty part of finishing a project, and anything to make it tolerable is something on the plus side.

Tonight I decided to tackle another not totally finished blanket project. Another free pattern, this one the Baby Blocks Throw on the Lionbrand.com website too. I had finished crocheting all 16 squares (the pattern had just 12), but I hadn’t sewn or crocheted them together because I hadn’t decided which to do, sew or crochet. Sewing won out but here is a photo before said sewing.

 

Now I am working on some crocheted border(s) all around, even though the pattern didn’t direct any. Without borders the blanket feels unfinished. I am not sure how it will end up.

And last but not least there is another blanket that is still in process. This one is taking longer because it is both knit (and a knit blanket takes longer) and a shadow/illusion one at that, which means following a chart = slooooooooow.

This is from another free pattern but this one I found on Ravelry.

It is the Star Illusion Blanket. I actually have more done rows, but the photo didn’t show much more than this earlier photo.

That’s all for now. Hope you USA folks have a great 4th and YEAH! to a long weekend!

~ Peace

On the 10th but

I finished another blanket. The free pattern is a free one from the Project Linus website, it is called sideways shell baby afghan (aka newbie shell afghan). There are a lot of similar patterns out there in internet land, if you google box stitch you will see a bunch of them. This one is done with a fixed chain length and done as rows, most of the patterns are diagonal versions where you can decide when to start decreasing. I can see how that would be good if you have a limited amount of yarn.

Having said that – I did have a limited amount of yarn but decided that I wanted to plan it out as I go and take a chance. I had 6 balls of another bunch of discontinued baby yarn in my stash. I figured it would be enough for the main part of the blanket. Then I went and lost a ball of yarn – probably when I was out and about searching for a 2nd type to coordinate, or maybe when I was out having coffee with other knitters. Anyway, it all ended up okay, and the blanket is big enough, being 40 x 45 inches or so.

Here is a close-up too:

I started up another, so this makes my 10th blanket for Project Little Lambs. Ten blankets was my goal. But even if I finish this 10th blanket I won’t be done because I am still knitting on the illusion star blanket, and I need to sew granny squares and do a border on the 6th(?) one too. But here is what I have done so far on the latest when I took the photo:

Another eye-popping one, eh? I am trying to use up my stash of cotton-ease (discontinued colors). I will probably finish off the turquoise, but will have plenty left of the pink and purple and bits of other colors too. I might have enough to do another hexagon – who knows?

~ Peace

Really done now

I finished tucking in the ends. Whew! That was a lot of work. I think it looks so much better with those nasty bits tamed, and the half-hexagon motifs there and all.

This child sized blanket is about 34 x 38 inches. It was made with some of the discontinued colors of cotton-ease. I used a bit of one skein of each of the colors: red, turquoise, navy, orange and yellow. I think I used about 3-4 skeins of white (can’t really remember). All of the colors where from my stash, but I ended up needing more white, so I picked up more white for another future project.

The right and left sides where the half-hexs are inserted kind of pooch out a bit, but I don’t think anyone but another crocheter would mind. I decided to go without borders too. Borders made it look odd.

I started on a knitted afghan using more stash yarn. I will post that once it looks like something other than a puny cast on and a few rows.

~ Peace

Just can’t wait

Can’t wait until I am entirely done with this project. Had to get it out into the blog and Ravelry world. Tonight I finished most of the work on my 1st child’s blanket for Project Little Lambs.

Anyway, here is what I have done so far:

Just tonight I finished doing the last rows on full hexagons, and started working on the half-hexagons. It took many attempts until I was happy with the half-hexagon. It isn’t perfect, but it will do and I think it will look better after I crochet on a border. I have to figure out what color(s) to use for that too. But basically, it is looking pretty good if I do say so myself. I hope to finish this one up some time tomorrow, and then I will post a better photo and some of the details – yarn amounts used and such.

I may do another hexagon blanket using some of the other discontinued cotton-ease colors: pink, lt blue, purple – perhaps white again, but maybe not as the main color. So more later…

Peace

From Ripples to Squares to Hexagons

Still feeling the love for afghans/blankets. I finished all the 35 squares of my sisters Starry Night. So now I have both that afghan and the strips of Retina Burn to sew together. But I am just not in the mood for that kind of finishing work.

I have had it on my mind to do a hexagon afghan/blanket ever since I saw so many beautiful ones in the hexagon love group on Flickr and within the granny square’s group on Ravelry. I have had a big bag of Vanna’s Choice yarn in muted rainbow (chakra) colors waiting for the perfect afghan (blanket) pattern. Decided that doing it up in stripes ala ripple would be too – too – something or other. Hexagons out of a circle seems to fit seeing that I want them to represent chakras for my Reiki Healing area.

So I decided to just try my hand at doing up one from really eyeballing the many versions I have seen. I did a test using a bit of my stash of cotton-ease (discontinued colors).

I am really liking it! So much so that even though this is just a test, and my primary focus will be doing up the chakra (rainbow) colored one, I must Must MUST do one up using my cotton-ease stash too. For a gift or for another blanket for ME!

Here is the first hexagon done up using the Vanna’s Choice yarn:

My plan is to use 3 colors without any repeats, for example: red/orange/yellow, red/orange/green, etc. and then use the beige in all of the hexagons.

That means I will have 210 unique 3-color combinations! I am hoping that that the beige outters will help unify the afghan and keep it from looking too rainbow bright. I haven’t decided how to arrange them, so that means that I will have to hold off on doing the beige part until I am finished with all the 3-color circles because the outer bit is done joining them together. Cool!

Peace!