WIP Wednesday: What was I thinking?

That't what I'm calling this, this thing that someday will be a blanket, a lap blanket.  Right now it's about the size of a large doily.

What was I thinking?


 Because what was I thinking about when I started a new blanket  knit with sock yarn on 3.25mm / US 3 needles?  When I still need to weave in the ends on this mother of a blanket?



See ends



My Crazy Blanket, as I fondly call it, fits my queen size bed.  It's made of wool so maybe I don't need to weave in the ends.  I can consider it extra insulation.  Right?  If I do weave in the ends there are several.  Let's see.  It's 18 mitered squares by 18 mitered squares. So I knit 324 mitered squares over the past two years.  So with an average of 2 ends per square that's 648 ends to weave in.  But wait there is more!  Some of the squares have more than one color. So lets add an extra 10%. So there are about 712 ends to weave in.  So if I did 2 a day starting now I could be done by the end of the year.  Yah, right a girl can dream.

Not to say that I don't love my big warm Crazy Blanket.  I do. I love that it's made from leftover stash yarn, yarn I dyed myself some of it with natural dyes and some of it with acid dyes and some with food coloring, my handspun, and yarn I inherited from my mom's enormous stash. So it's a bit of a fiber journal that keeps me warm on a cold winter night.

So What Was I Thinking will be similar.  I'm using up leftover yarn knitting socks and even some sock yarn I don't want to knit socks with.  I have some undyed sock yarn that I just might dye to add to it to.  Quite a bit of it is left over of my mom's sock yarn scraps.  My mom knit lots of socks.

So that's my WIP (Work in Progress) what's yours?

Dyein' to Dye

I've been yearning to dye for for a few weeks now. Finally there has been a break in the cooking and cleaning to get some dyein' done.

I started by getting the dyes ready. Then washing up some of the bags I wanted to dye.

I wanted to make an Eye of Jupiter Bag inspired by the Eye of Jupiter painting and symbols from Battlestar Galactica.






I'm such a geek. The bag along with 180 plus yards of handspun will be a prize for the Ravelry BSG Games in July.

While the bag was dyeing I started on some of my handspun yarn.


This is merino/silk single about 500 yards plus. I went for a medium dark teals green color. I'm pretty happy with how the color separated in the dyeing.



I started with 1% stock solution and added 5 teaspoons blue and 2 teaspoons yellow and 100ml of vinegar in the water before I added the dye. Got the temp up to 180 deg for one hour then let it cool for a few more before rinsing and hanging to dry.



I can't wait to hook this up into a lovely shawl.

Then next day I started snagged some of my Knit Pick Worsted Weight Bare Wool and mixed up a redish color, 5 teaspoons red and 2 teaspoons blue, 100ml vinegar added to the water then added the dye.



Fiber peeps call this Raspberry Sherbet. I think it's a good name for it. I'm going to take half of it and over-dye it to get something a bit more burgundy or purple. This yarn will find it's way into my Crazy Blanket which I have done a wee bit more on since I last shared.



I really like this square with the stripes.

Crazy Blanket

I started My Crazy Blanket in October 2009. I'm only using yarn leftovers or yarn I have dyed myself and the bits of handspun that's the right weight. I'm trying not worry about colors and and any particular sequence. This is very hard for my symmetry and color coding tendency. I'm not all that patient either.



My first go around was a fail as some of the yarns were too bulky so it came out kinds of wavy. I was trying to go with the flow but just couldn't manage it. So I started over.



Phew, much better.



This is where I was in December of 2009. Oddly enough just as it start warming up I've been motivated to work on it some. I picked it up again at the ned of april I have completed a few more blocks.



Even though long term projects are hard for me, I'm considering a similar blanket with sock weight yarn. See what I mean. Crazy!

Finished Objects Friday

I've been busy.

I finished this baby blanket for my neice who likes frogs:






Specs:
The frog motif is by crochetroo who sells patterns on etsy.
Several Colors of Red Heart Soft and and I/5.0mm hook.
I wip stitched squares together and like how that looks.


Another pair of mittens, this ime they are for me.


Specs:
US 5 /3.75 mm circ needle to do magic loop
House Mitten Pattern from Charmed knits
Lambs Pride worsted in Chianti

Felted mittens for me too.


Specs
Double Cuff pattern from Knit One, Felt Too.

Patons wool in purple for the felting part
US 11 needles

Lambs Pride in turquoise for the cuffs and needle felted curlies. I which I had knitted the cuff a bit longer so it would go under the coat, without that there is a bit of a draft. The sure keep my hands warm. I did about 3 inches so I might do 6inches next time.

Frog tree alpaca in lavender and rowan silk spray in pinks used to crochet flowers that are needle felted on to the mittens.



Specs
My very first finsihed knit cables project and the first time I knit bobbles too. It turned out pretty good but I will need to work on my tension when doing cables.
Hat pattern from Charmed Knits
Knit Picks Andean Silk - 2 skeins - I love this yarn it is so soft!
US 8/ 5.0mm

Funks and Fiber Fun

I'm in a funk not much of a fiber funk as I have been busy along that front.

I've been working on this lapghan from Jan Eaton's 200 Crochet Blocks. I used el cheap Read Heart Super Saver 'cause in my house easy washing is necessary and an I/5.5mm hook. The book recommends dk weight yarn and i want to make one in dk some day. It would be more delicate.



I've been working on it for a month or so. I've had the darndest time figuring out how to join it. I have sewn and crochet and unsewn and ripped out may ways and finally settle on what you see here. I still not entirely pleased with the result but it is growing on me.



Joining squares challenges my desire for perfection and they don't sew up neatly like quilt blocks. So I'm learning to appreciate that.

I've made up a few more thread grannies as well.


There is something so therapeutic in this basic square. I need therapeutic lately. I am in a funk. I 'm trying find my way out of it. The sunshine is sure helping but still I am not inspired in parts of my life I want to be inspired. I'm inspired to the point of overwhelm fiberwise. I want to learn how to spin and knit! I have a crochet pattern library that is insane. Where will ever find the time???

I love it all. At the same time I am in a rut, my kids are calling for me and I'm not answering like I think I should. They aren't being ignored but I'm not all there either. I need to find some some kind of balance but that's not the right word. Well, now I have said it I hope that makes it real and reminds myself to get working all parts of my life not just the fiber part.

Using up what you have

I'm trying to use only what I have on hand this month in honor of the use what you have group here. I have not quite succeeded in not buying anything at all but I have not done too badly. I've had lots of novelty yarn in my stash for some time which I thought I would use in my freeform crochet creations but decided I really didn't like the looks of it, after all. I really like the looks of crochet stitches and simple fibers. The roughness of some wools or the smooth sheen of mercerized cottons. These fibers really show off the stitches, novelty yarns do not.


In Progress

So I was about to clear all this yarn out but couldn't quite do so, being a fiber addict and all. I tried one more time to come up with something I could make that would be easy to do with all this yarn. So with an N hook and about 10 or more small skeins I made this Lapghan, an afghan just big enough to over your lap when staying warm in a chair while reading or watching a good movie.


All finished

I did a basic linear granny stitch, clusters of double crochet in between the dc clusters. I think it tuned out rather good, if I did say so myself and I like it, despite my distaste for the novelty yarn. I don't think I will go out of my way to make something like this again but if some novelty yarn falls into my lap again so to speak I could probably work up the energy to make another.


Someone else likes it too

It took me about two days to make. I even had to frog back several rows because I had accidentally added an extra cluster of stitches. I almost left it but could not stand seeing the unevenness. Yet I did decide to cut some corners by knotting the ends (knotting ends is considered by some very bad form) instead of weaving them in. Then I added fringe as you can see.

Thanks for looking.

Afghan - It's all done

This cold weather has me more excited to work on this afghan. So over the last few days I've slip stitched the last of the squares together and added the border too. Most of the ends have been woven in save a few stragglers. I hate weaving in ends.


Almost done here, just one more panel to add.


Here is all finished, all 5'4"x 3'6" of it.

I'm used the Supernova 12inch square designed by Chris Simon. You can get the pattern here. Some of the blocks are much larger than the others. Hence the waviness of the border. It was was lesson in gauge and keeping track of the correct hook. I used an H hook for most blocks but might have used a J hook too. I made it with Caron Simply Soft in Raspberry but I didn't keep track of how much I used.



I slip stitched the squares together. I really like how that turned out and framed the each square.



I had grand ideas for the border but gave up on them after the first round. So the border is a simple mesh pattern with a single crochet to finished off. Overall I am pleased with it despite it's failings. It is my very first afghan after all. Despite it's less than perfect nature, it will keep me and the kids warm snuggling on the couch to read or watch movies.

Soft Purple Baby Blanket

Last night I finished a baby blanket I was making for my dd but is now for one of my dh's co-workers who just had a little baby girl. I hope they like it.

Here's a picture of it and a close up of the stitch I used:





I love the softness of Caron Simply Soft yarn and the fun texture such a simple stitch gave the blanket.

I have had some requests for the pattern for this blanket. So, I worked out a written and symbol pattern so you can make the blanket any size you want.

Materials:
H hook (or hook best suited to yarn you are using)
Needle to weave in ends
I used ww Caron Simply Soft but any weight yarn should do. You will likely need to increase or decrease the foundation chain to make a blanket the size you want.

I needed (I think because I did not keep close track) 2-7oz skeins of each color to make my blanket. I made a xtra large baby blanket.

You can make it all one color or more than one color. I changed colors every 8 rows.

stiches used: dc, frdc
changing colors

Foundation Row: chain any odd number

First Row:
dc in the 3rd chain from the hook; dc to the end (should end with and even number of stitches.)

NOTE: this is different than your usual for dc (usually with dc you go in to the 4rth chain from the hook, just pointing this out because it's not an error.) Your turning chain will be ch2 instead of ch3.

Second Row:
Ch2. Turn. *fpdc , dc across* repeat *to* ending with a fpdc around the last stitch.

Repeat the Second Row as many times as necessary so the baby blanket is the lenght you want.

Another note:
I wrote the wrong shorthand or another form of the shorthand
rfdc =fpdc