Saturday, June 30, 2012

Stylin' Ripple Ta Dah!

Hello everyone,
 I finally bordered the Stylin' Ripple. I finished the body of the blanket about a month ago and couldn't decide what kind of border I wanted. I have to admit that I was also distracted by several other projects and the fact that we are moving. Carole is back with One-A-Day and that has gotten me focused again. I love that group. Here is the big reveal.
There is something seriously wrong with my camera and I will contact Kodak later. I have only had it 6 months. There are strange lines running through the photos. I hope everyone can see past that. Back to the blanket. I ended up going with a simple border. SC around on the first row. On the outer edge I did SC on the sides.
I used SC for the top and bottom with picot stitches on the peaks.
This blanket was made with Stylecraft yarn. I got the yarn at the end of November and waited months for just the perfect blanket. I am proud of this blanket. I came up with the design and pattern on my own. I went back and forth on color placement and ended up only using some of the colors from the Attic24 pack that Deramores offers. I had to order more yarn to match the colors for the second half. I now have a huge stash of Stylecraft in greens and yellows and some blues. Don't worry I will come up with something for that. I was also really happy and surprised that the pillow I made for the family room in our new home, matches the blanket very nicely.
That pillow is 3' by 4'. You can imagine how big the blanket is. Our couch is over 7 ' long. I think the blanket is about 6 1/2' long and over 5' wide. My tape measures are all packed.  We are starting our move tomorrow and our computers and televisions will all be shut down for a couple of days. Cable is coming on Tuesday to hook us back up. I don't think I will be posting for the rest of the week. Maybe Wednesday. Last time they hooked us up they came for the appointment and had to come back at a later time with different equipment. Hopefully we will be back online by Tuesday night, but you can't count on the cable companies. I hope everyone has a great week. I am super excited to get moved and will post photos as soon as we get a little settled in. I have made progress on my Granny Love blanket too, I will save that for when I am able to do another Tuesday's Tallies post. Talk to everyone soon. :)

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Tuesday's Tallies-Granny Love

 



 

Hello,

 Tuesday again! These squares are saving my sanity right now. We move on Sunday and Monday and right now we are living in utter chaos. Almost over. Every night, before I go to bed, I sit down for a few minutes to wind down from packing. I usually crochet during this time. Here are my results for the week.
There are 20 squares and really nowhere to take a photo. Lol. What a mess.
There will be 360 squares when finished. As I have been packing I have pulled all the worsted wt. yarn I have. It will all go in this blanket, except for browns and blacks.
I measured this on my bed and there will be 18 strips of 20 squares.
One strip down, 17 to go. This blanket will replace the Grandala blanket, I love all the colors together. The only yarn I have purchased for this is the cream for joining. I am using an H hook and joining as I go. With that method it is going a lot faster than the Grandala blanket did. That one took 6 months. I don't think this will take as long. I hope for it to be ready by the time we get cool weather.
 Carole has set up a link for everyone who is participating in One-A-Day. Go check out her blog and see what everyone is working on. Talk to you all soon. :)

Monday, June 25, 2012

Crochet Bowl and Bag Patterns

Hello,
 I hope everyone is having a great start to the week. I am ready for our big move this coming weekend. Can't wait actually. Here are the patterns for the bowl and little bag. The first one is for the bag. It was super easy. The yarn was dk wt. and I used a 4m hook.
To begin I chained 38. Starting in second ch from hook sc (US) across. 37 sts.
Round 1: ch 1, hdc in next 37 sc, working into the bottom of base, hdc into the bottom of the 37 sc, sl st to first dc: 74 hdc.
Continue in this way until you have 18 rounds, or as tall as you want the bag. When I got to the top I fastened off and wove the ends in to the inside of the bag. If you want to line the bag then cut a pc. of fabric about 1/2 in. wider and longer than the bag. Making a 1/2 in. seam  on three sides. You will then have a little bag to fit into the crochet bag. My finished pc. was 8 inches. I bought a 9 inch zipper and hand sewed it to the lining first, making sure that the inside of the lining was the pretty part.
Then put the lining with the zipper in the bag and hand sew the crochet bag to the edge of the zipper. If your bag, lining and zipper are all the same color you don't have to worry about making perfect stitches. I went around twice so that it would be really strong.
 If you have any questions about this one leave me a comment and I will do my best to help. Hope this little pattern makes sense.
 The bowl was even easier, it has no lining. Lol.
For the bowl I used dk wt. yarn and a 4m hook.
To start make a sliding ring.
Round 1: ch 1, 6 sc in ring, sl st to first sc. (6 sts.)
Round 2: ch 1, 2 sc in each sc around, sl st to first sc. (12 sts.)
Round 3: ch 1, sc in first sc, 2 sc in next sc, sl st to first sc. (18 sts.)
Continue in this way, increasing by 6 sts. in ea. round until you have 18 rounds and 108 sts.
EXAMPLE Round 4 st. pattern is sc in first sc, sc in next sc, 2 sc in next sc. (24 sts.)
Round 18 would be sc in first 16 sts, 2 sc in next sc. (108 sts)
For the next round sc in back loops only (this makes a little edge for the bowl.
Round 20: sc in ea. st. around. (108 sts.)
Continue in this way until you get to 35 rows.
To finish I then sl. st. around and then wove in the end into the inside of the bowl.
Again, if you have any questions let me know. I know I am not the best pattern writer.
I hope you enjoy these patterns, I had fun making these little things. I will talk to everyone tomorrow for Tuesday's Tallies.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Sunday Update and Two Ta Dahs

Hello everyone,
 We have had a super busy week. We went to an amusement park on Tuesday, there was hardly anyone there. I couldn't believe how uncrowded it was. It was great, we didn't have to wait more than 10 minutes for even the busiest rides. Autumn had a little friend come with us and we had the best time.
We had already been on two water rides and were looking a little worse for wear. Lots of fun though. By the way, his nose is not that big. Lol. This is my untalented photo taking. Here is a photo of the girls.
Aren't they cute! We were there the whole day. It was so hot, we have been having 95 degree days for a few weeks now. Perfect for a day at Adventureland.
 When we got home it was back to packing. Our house is a complete disaster right now. There is no other way to do it though.
When had a few minutes at the end of each day I worked on some projects. My friend, Tracy, sent me some really nice hand-dyed cotton. I have been trying to figure out what to make with it. I wanted something that was just to show how pretty the yarn is. I came up with a pattern for a bowl for the first hank of yarn.
I filled it with candy and gave it to my boss. I take care of her baby all day and she takes care of Autumn all day. They are doing a really nice summer program and they take the older kids at the daycare on field trips every day of the work week. It is really fun for Autumn.  I love taking care of Heather's baby too.
For Autumn's other teacher I made this little bag. Tracy sent me this yarn too.
I lined it with some leftover batik fabric and I put a zipper in it.
I will put some candy in this too and give it to her tomorrow morning. I also worked on my Japanese Flower Scarf. I can't wait to wear this in the Fall.
I still have a lot of flowers to make, but it is really fun project. I love this one because the balls of yarn are really small and I have the entire project in a small bag that goes with me everywhere.
 I don't know what is wrong with my camera. The last few photos were all taken this morning and there are lines going through everything. I changed the batteries, but it didn't matter. I just got this at Christmas time. It shouldn't be malfunctioning already.
 That is about all for this week. I am working on a new blanket and working on edging my Granny Ripple. I will post those on Tuesday's Tallies. Have a great Sunday!

P.S. If anyone wants to know how to make the bowl or little bag, let me know and I will post a tutorial for them.