I am constantly surprised by the sheer quality of Art that there is available on the Interwebz; my own total lack of skill just makes my awe greater. I was searching for just the right depiction of XIX The Sun because of this post, to reflect the actual sun being out today, the topic of my post, the words on the Finished Object, and my satisfaction - and there it was, this beautiful fox created by ZackLoup. If you scroll through their other cards, one of my favorite creatures, the Wolf, features (as it does in their name) ... this is definitely a deck I'd back if it came up on Kickstarter. Thank you, ZackLoup.
I was looking for the perfect card to celebrate the completion of an overdue project - it was supposed to be a Christmas present for Titch, a popcorn 'word' blanket from designer Jody Pyott.
Yes, last Christmas, not the one before. Or the one before that. I only have one longterm UFO, and this wasn't it - I was derailed by a seasonal retail job which I loved, but the hours were tiring and left little time or energy for crochet.
Anyway. This project had Issues. Firstly, color choice - wanting several yellows that all needed to complement each other meant testing the customer service at the Wool Warehouse: the lovely lady who answered my call physically ran up to the actual warehouse to check that the colors I'd select would actually go together: and she was right.
Secondly, my first time working with Scheepjes Colorcrafter DK yarn - I'd wanted to try it for a while since it's arrival on my radar as it has a great color palette. It is soft, but I found it splitty to crochet with even with a larger hook than recommended. It does wash well so far.
Thirdly, I had gauge issues. Major ones. In a blanket like this one needs the blocks to be very uniform, and using a few different sizes of hook was necessary for me to achieve that. It also highlighted that I cannot handle row gauge: width was fine, height .... not so much. I'd chosen to make it in DK rather than Worsted or Aran, as I wanted a smaller FO than stated in the pattern - but because of the aforementioned row gauge it came out smaller than I wanted, which meant I needed more words, that I had to create the charts for myself ... uncharted territory, ha-ha. And it was also not the right size for Titch's new truck, a MAN rather than a Mercedes.
BTW, that's a whole other discussion. Suffice it to say, the MAN is more Melania than Michelle, rhinestone than diamond, cod roe than caviar. Her one redeeming feature is that she bears the name of a beautiful angel baby.
But I was too close to the finishing line to quit. Having plenty of yarn left meant I could add a generous border ... I completed it yesterday while watching Dwayne Johnson as Hercules: quite apt, don't we think ?
Having taken a forced break from the annual deep clean of the kids' rooms (I need Titch to do a bunch of stuff involving power tools and high things) I decided that it seemed perfectly rational to make an afghan/bedspread for Destructo Boy within a week and a half. Yes, for a full size single bed.
The kids are due back this Sunday. I know, you're quite right, it has about as much chance of success as Scott's merry little jaunt. I have reached the 'crochet or die' stage, and this is what I have to show so far:
Yeah, sorry about the eye-bleeding scream of color. It reflects the color scheme of his room, but that is not quite so in-your-face, I promise.
I had been looking for a pattern with colorwork ie. stripes, and not motifs/modular because of all the ends and sewing up.
I have since been brought to realize that stripes also involve many ends. Many, many ends. But I have come too far to go back, in the very restricted time I have left.
And speaking of which, I must abandon you for the moment to pursue my crazy unachievable goal ...
Over the summer I've been working on a blankey for DD, to go with her newly decorated bedroom: gods help her if she ever falls out of liking teal in all its shades and timbres: teal, aqua, duck egg, turquoise, petrol, to name just I few that I have used to change her room from an unfinished worn room in a rented house to a snug, personal and unique high-schooler's room (don't feel bad for Destructo Boy, his room was done too - our 1st foray into wallpaper).
I mentioned one of the things I liked about the Floreal Dreams pattern was that the creator Deanne Ramsay had clear instructions, including how to re-size easily: which I did, from a baby blanket to a blankey that fits a single bed. Also, for some reason it tickles me that the designer is Australian. No, I don't know why, it just does.
So I changed the original pinks to 3 shades of teal, plus white - Stylecraft Special DK 1708 Petrol, Cygnet DK 211 Aqua, Stylecraft Special DK 1034 Sherbet .... and ended up with this:
pattern detail
If I were to make this pattern in this size again, I think I might carry the colors up the side, as I am not a fan of weaving in eleventy billion ends (I didn't, I cheated and crocheted over them when doing the border). I'd also increase the border so it wasn't so narrow: perfectly in proportion for a baby blanket, but a big blankey needs a wider border. But I also didn't want to buy any more yarn, or run out with inches to go: over about 3 weeks, I used somewhere in the region of 4,441m/4,856yds ..... 14 - 16 balls. and this is what is left:
Otherwise known as a cushion-in-waiting. Pop FO Friday into a search engine and see what others have completed today ....
For the first time in my life, I am happy to see the end of summer. Normally, I dread winter, the misery of the cold, the damp and the dark. But this year I want to put the Summer of Death behind me: after my sister died in July, it seemed that there were deaths everywhere, both expected and not - Eduard Shevardnadze, James Garner, a friend lost her father, Robin Williams, Lauren Bacall, Dickie Attenborough, Steven Sotloff, Joan Rivers .... I am just content when I wake up, and there are no deaths on the news. So, trying not to dwell on my own loss, I was really happy to have the kids back from their summer in Kent with Nanny, and do some fun things with them, as well as kitting Mini Diva out for high school - she is now the same height as me (I am petite at 5'3'', I think), and she takes a size 6 shoe compared to my size 3. Cubs has restarted, both of them are doing rugby, and plans are underway for Destructo Boy's birthday next month, so already there is plenty going on. Continuing with my crochet jag, I have been wanting to make Destructo Boy a blankey, seeing as I made one for his sister. He would only peg his color choice to 'light red and dark red' - and of course, project gestation includes many quiet enjoyable hours surfing patterns on Ravelry. I was trying to avoid modular afghans/blankets, as I am not enthusiastic about having lots of ends to weave in, but I was really struck by a free pattern I found, available from Caron, called the Spirals Throw. Once more I wondered why we English have relatively few colorways available in decent acrylic-mix Aran-weight yarn, which is why one ends up using DK - so it'll use more yarn and take longer. But I like it so far:
That great workhorse yarn, Stylecraft Special DK in 1123 Claret and 1083 Pomegranate. At the same time, I had bought two other yarns that I thought were in the red spectrum:
We have 1132 Shrimp and 1246 Lipstick. I really want to use the Shrimp although really it is a coral-orange - I may have to find another dark red like the Claret for the right contrast. And then for the joining borders .... I wonder if there is a red ombre or jacquard DK somewhere ..... In the meanwhile, I must also contemplate whether I shall take part in NaKniSweMo this year .... catch up with what others have been up to at Tami's Amis ....
Just so's you know - I'm still here. And just so's you know I'm still alive, here's the proof:
I found a really pretty pattern for a baby blanket - Floreal Dreams, and it includes instructions for upsizing - always great when I don't have to do the math. Of course, you know Mini Diva won't tolerate any shade of pink, so I've adjusted it for the teals she likes: Stylecraft Special DK in 1708 Petrol, Cygnet DK in 211 Aqua, and Stylecraft Special DK in 1034 Sherbet. And white. I'm about halfway through right now, maybe, and when I've used up the yarns I have, that will be 11 balls. Eleven 100 gram balls with an average meterage of 290-ish metres. And it won't be finished - I'll have to buy more. But we won't tell Titch that.
