scrap blanket: FO

I don't crochet many toys anymore, I actually closed my shop at the beginning of the year and got rid of all the toys and blankets that I had left over. I'm not sure what exactly made me cut it out of my life so drastically but it has made me feel better not having any of it around anymore. I may go back to selling at some point though because I do still love to crocheting for other people. I do know that I want to crochet with yarn that is not acrylic, I've started to not enjoy the feeling of it and the fact that it will pill so quickly sometimes.

I decided that I wanted to get my acrylic stash out of here too. Even though I said I didn't want anymore blankets made out of acrylic yarn, I had no idea what else I could do with the amount of yarn I had in my stash. So, I started a blanket! Hah. My kids do love all the blankets that we have here though, so I know that it's going to get tons of use. I started this one in January and finished it last week.


I used a v-stitch pattern found on this blog for this big blanket. I crocheted strips of the pattern that I later crocheted together, I started with white stripes alternating with color. I ran really low on white after the first two strips, so for the last two, I just did all color. I am really happy with how it looks all joined up. The finished size of the blanket is 65X56", a good snuggling size.


The blanket used up over 2500 yards of yarn! I still had some yarn left after I finished it and it was probably enough yarn to crochet another strip but there there were only a few colors that had decent amounts for a row or two. It would have bored me too much to keep using the same colors over and over, so I decided to join what was left into a big magic ball. I joined all the yarn with the russian join method. I'm not sure what I will end up making with it, possibly a big toy.

I now have an empty drawer that used to be overflowing with yarn, it feels really great to have it all cleared out. Although now I just want to buy more yarn to fill it up again! That seems to always be the way it goes when it comes to yarn. I hope you're all having a great weekend and that you didn't get as much snow as we got here!

right now on hooks & needles (& upcoming)

crochet

Sometime last year I figured out that I really don't enjoy the feel of acrylic blankets anymore. I don't hate them but they're just not so nice on my hands. My kids still love them and use them, so all the blankets I've crocheted in the past have nothing to fear! I'm also thinking of crocheting toys using something else soon too, so I have a big stash of acrylic just sitting in the closet that I need to do something about.


So, of course, I started a blanket! It was really the only thing I could think of to quickly use the stash up, although it doesn't seem like it's made a huge dent yet. I'm crocheting a V-Stitch blanket, using Le Monde De Sucrette's pattern. I'm crocheting different width sections and will be joining them up, either while crocheting or after... I haven't gotten that far yet. I have lots of white and off white yarn, so I'm alternating rows with those colors. So far, I'm liking the look of it. I've finished one section, it's going to be a big blanket, it measures from my feet to my shoulders.

knit

I'm knitting a cover for a hot water bottle, something I've wanted to have for quite a long time. I'm knitting it using some Woolike yarn I had bought last year, I'm holding three strands of yarn. It's making a really nice fabric. The pattern I'm using is free and can be found here. Since I don't have a lot of needles yet, I'm only using one needle size, so I upped the stitch count a little.


Not too long ago, I added to my Scrappy Hue Shift blanket. I still see this as a very long term project, I'm out of sock yarn to use again. I think I'll let it sit for a couple months, so I can get at least more than 2 squares added before stashing it again.


upcoming

I gathered up supplies to cross stitch this design from Satsuma Street. I'm hoping to find some time to start soon, it's been on my list for quite some time!


Besides the cross stitch, I have my February socks to get started on next week. I'm surprised I made it all the way to now without just ripping a brown bag open to knit some socks, I've been craving some sock knitting. Over the weekend, I'll be picking my bag out.

I hope you have a great weekend!

Scrappy Hue Shift - knit blanket WIP

I've really been bitten by the knitting bug, I love knitting with sock yarn! I started knitting a scrappy sock yarn blanket, I'm using the Scrappy Hue Shift pattern, I had to buy the pattern because at some point I want to make that gorgeous blanket. For now, I'm doing a scrappy version. You can find lots of free versions of mitered squares on Ravelry.

I was inspired by Jesse's blanket and Jacey's blanket, they've been posting progress on instagram! It didn't take me too long to jump on board as well.



I'm using size 2.75 needles for my squares and joining them as I go, it's explained in the pattern I'm using how to do this. I'll be using left over sock yarns and mini skeins to make it. I've been knitting this blanket everywhere, I just can't get enough!






I've finished 21 squares now. I'm planning on knitting 25 square sections and then stitching them together, so that I can keep this as a very portable project. And of course this will most likely be a long term project, I'm not sure how many squares I need to finish it.

lacy hexagon throw FO

Good morning! I have my finished lacy hexagon throw to share that I finished last weekend. It's not a huge blanket but it fits nicely in the corner of my couch. I love seeing it sitting there, I'm so glad that I found and picked up this project again.


Each hexagon is the size of my outstretched hand, the throw ended up 43" in diameter. When figuring out the layout, I started in the center, so the throw ended up in the shape of a big hexagon. I finished each hexagon off with 4dcs in each chain space and I joined them as I went.


To border the throw, I decided to attempt to straighten the sides. It ended up with a bit of a curve but I really like how it looks and you can't really tell after I did the edging. The edging is a v-stitch with a picot in the center in each, they look like little diamonds, it's so pretty!


some blanket info:
color inspiration from this colour crush post found on Emma Lamb's blog
hexagon chart found here
yarn: KnitPicks Cotlin DK in surf, celery, cerise, pomegranate and linen
hook: G(4mm)

happy weekend!

This weekend, I plan on finishing up my lacy hexagon blanket. I've joined all the hexagons into what I think will be the finished size, I'm having a hard time just making a decision! It will be finished this weekend though.


I had planned on doing a craft show at the end of this month, so I was crocheting new toys, some still aren't finished. I ended up having to back out, so there are new toys up in the shop! They feel very spring like to me! You can find my shop here.


Hope you all have a great weekend!

lacy hexagon blanket WIP

I've gotten a start on spring cleaning recently, not something I normally do just for this time of year but dust and clutter have been getting under my skin, so I'm doing it all right now! I was cleaning out my closet that holds my yarn and projects (and tons of other crap) and I found these lacy hexagons that I started last October.


Last September, there was a colour crush post on Emma Lamb's blog with pictures of Bluebellgray rugs. Right away I knew I would make a blanket out of the colors from this palette.

I went to the KnitPicks website and picked out colors to match as best I could. I chose to use Cotlin DK. The colors I picked out are surf, celery, cerise, pomegranate and linen. I think I got the colors to match really close! I'm going to be edging all the hexagons in the linen color.


I chose to make this lacy hexagon blanket after seeing this beautiful blanket! I don't think my blanket will have as deep of a border though, I don't think I bought enough of the linen for that unfortunately. I'm using the chart from this blog post to make my hexagons.

I'm really close to joining all these pretties! I think I may have a pretty lacy blanket by next week.

no more mood blanket

In the first week of this month, I decided I was done with my mood blanket. It's unfinished and will stay that way for awhile.


I really loved crocheting this square though! It's called the "Not in the Middle" Granny, I love the look of it. I really need to plan out another project using it in the future!

The reason I decided to be done with my mood blanket is that it was just depressing me to make those squares to match my moods. When I started, I thought I would really like seeing my moods every day and I thought it might be nice to see how I might change during the year. There weren't too many "bad days" in there but honestly, some of those "tired" and "meh" days could easily have been bad days, I didn't really want to admit that and put it out there.

I feel better already putting this aside though. I do still love seeing everyone else's mood blankets, so I won't stop eyeing those up!

mood blanket: week 2

January 6: tired
January 7: tired
January 8: bad day
January 9: bad day
January 10: annoyed
January 11: annoyed
January 12: stressed

Not the best week mood-wise, luckily I picked some nice colors for these moods. While I was cleaning my glasses, they fell apart, so I've been living in a blurry world this past week, I'm not sure when I'll even get around to getting new ones. It's made for a sleepy, unfun week. I think maybe that's where those moods really came from. I'm hoping next week will be happier.

2014 crochet mood blanket: week 1

Week one of the mood blanket is done! I plan on sharing my squares every Monday. I'm liking how it's looking already but I think it's going to look even better when I get to the second row.



I've decided that the grape color will stand for annoyed as well as stressed/angry, it's a good fit I think. I was definitely pretty annoyed with things for those two days.

January 1: happy/good day
January 2: tired
January 3: annoyed
January 4: annoyed
January 5: meh/boring day

Hope you're all having a great day and are staying warm!

2014 Crochet Mood Blanket

Happy New Year! It's crazy that we're already at the start of a new year again. I'm happy to leave 2013 behind and start fresh, I kind of let last year get away from me blog-wise but I'm going to try to do some more consistent blogging this year.

I'm participating in a crochet-a-long through instagram this year to make a crochet mood blanket, you can find a lot of info about it through @mummy_stacey's profile. You can participate any way that you like, I'm going to be making a square for every single day this year, four days will end up being the border. Each day I'll be making a square that shows what mood I'm feeling.




off white: border color, grey: tired, rose: hormonal, deep sea: happy/good day, teal: sad/bad day, seafoam: meh/bored, grape: stressed/angry
I'm using Red Heart Soft yarns. People seem to either hate or love Red Heart yarn, I think that's because people think of only the scratchy Super Saver. I'm a person who would have said I hated it until I came across this stuff, it's super soft and comes in so many pretty colors. Except yellow or maybe my store just doesn't carry that? I think I picked out some good colors that will make a pretty blanket!

For my square, I'm using a pattern called Not in the Middle Granny. I'm bordering each day in off white, I'll be joining the squares as I go. I'm using a 3.75 hook, so my squares are 3 inches. In the end I'll have a 18X20 square blanket, with 4 border rows.




This is my first square! It's a good day for me, a good way to start the year, I hope I'll see lots of these days scattered in there. I'm really excited to see how this blanket looks at the end of this year, I have a feeling I will be going through some crazy emotions. Last year was pretty rough on me, I struggled with my depression, my own fault really, I don't take care of myself but this year I've decided I need to get myself feeling better, it's a priority now. I feel weird that I actually put that sentence out there, my blog has become very non personal in the last few years, mainly because I haven't wanted to admit the very thing I just did. But, I have now. I promise I won't be bombarding you with my crazy feelings all year long!

I hope you all had a great holiday season with your loved ones!

summer stash busting granny

Between being distracted by cute new patterns, I am still working on my summer stash busting. My big granny square blanket has now grown to 12 squares. It's big but I want it bigger and I still have yarn to use, so it should end up being 4X4 squares. After that I should be able to call it done.


The other day when we went to the park, I rolled it up and dragged it with us to get some pictures. My son decided to lay down on it, so I got some cute ones of him too. The sun was pretty bright, so I only got eyes closed shots, looks like he's sleepy. They were the best shots of the day.


Have a great weekend!

summer of stash busting granny blanket & yarn along

My stash busting granny square blanket has grown a lot! I'm still having loads of fun crocheting this, I think I could even be done with it before the end of the month. I'm going to make it four by four squares big, I still have plenty of yarn left to do it. The color selection is getting a little limited which is a good thing, I'm actually getting through the stash!


Besides the stash busting crochet, I've been doing some reading again. I think I'm still going through a bit of a funk with it though, I'm taking a lot longer to get through books right now, even when it's a really good one!

I finally finished The Infernal Devices trilogy. The last book was really good, it wrapped everything up so well. And it was nice to get to the end and know that I actually finished and won't have to wait another year for the next!

I recently finished Catherine McKenzie's newest book Hidden, I enjoyed it, it kept me guessing throughout. The book is out right now in Canada and is being released in the US in the spring of next year. If you read this one, don't forget to read the epilogue.

And I just started Neanderthal Seeks Human: A Smart Romance, I haven't gotten anywhere in it yet so I don't have anything much to say yet. There is a knitting circle in it though.

I'm sharing here today:

Summer of Stash Busting!

This summer I'm going to try to do some stash busting. I definitely do not have a huge stash but it's pretty big and starting to take over a little bit too much in the small space I have for it. I'm going to try not to buy too much new yarn until I get a good handle on what I've got already. So, I won't be using up all of what I've got, just a good portion of it.


First up is a big granny square blanket. I've already started on this one and I am loving it! I'm making 15 round granny squares and am joining them as I go. I'm using my Loops & Threads Impeccable Solids in this blanket, it's a soft acrylic yarn, I use it for all my toys.


I'm picking my colors out at random, I only change what I've pulled out if the color doesn't look okay. So far I am having lots of fun working on this, it's really growing fast. Fun projects equal quick end results! I can't wait! I'm going to make this blanket 4 by 4 square if I have enough yarn to pull it off.

I have more projects in mind for my Summer of Stash Busting that I can't wait to start working on. I've got some fun yarn that's been sitting here for too long waiting to get used. I'll be using the hashtag #summerstashbusting on instagram if you want to join in or just follow the fun!

it's a keeper

The last time I posted about my sampler blocks, I wasn't completely sure about this one but Karen pointed out a mistake I had made. Yep, I still make mistakes. I ripped out stitches and fixed the problem, it now lays perfectly flat and square, it's definitely a keeper now!

I haven't made any more squares since the last sampler blanket update, I probably won't again until I finish my projects with deadlines, I have 5 (all amigurumi) to get finished by the first week of May! I haven't even made a start on any of them, I better get moving!

sampler blocks 5 & 6

I'm still making blocks for my sampler blanket, I'm up to 6 squares now. These are the latest.


This block I'm not completely sold on. I actually really love it but the square is crazy wonky and doesn't lay flat at all. Maybe with some heavy blocking I can make it work but I'm not sure right now. For now this will stay a maybe square. The pattern is a free one called Granny Bobble Spiral.


This block is called Square in a Square, not a free pattern (boo!) but I didn't actually use the pattern to make the square, I looked at it to figure it out.


I hope you're having a good Thursday! Has spring sprung where you are yet? We're getting more snow today...

colour punch still growing

Still working on this one, I'm up to 49 squares, I think it's maybe 1/4 done. The yarn in my drawer doesn't seem to be shrinking much yet, so I've still got a long way to go.

sampler blanket blocks 3 & 4

I feel like I'm on a bit of a roll with this blanket, I'm so into this project right now. I've been browsing ravelry a lot (a lot) lately for new squares to add, I'm doing my best to find blocks that don't feel too girly. That is not very easy, there are a lot of flower squares out there! Not that I hate flower squares, I love them actually but I'm saving those for the next blanket, this blanket is for my boy.


The third block I crocheted is called Framed Cables, not free but it's cheap and worth the price in my opinion. I tested this one before it was released early last year. I have no idea where that square ended up but I liked the pattern when I made it, so I decided to make it again. I'm really happy with how this one looks. I made it first with the cables in blue but it wasn't showing up well, so I ripped it out and started over with green.


For the fourth block, I used the Ric Rac Motif pattern. Again, not a free pattern but I got this when Sarah London was doing one of her pdf sales. This is a pretty simple pattern too and if you're experienced, it would be easy to recreate.


I'm sure blocks 5 & 6 will be showing up here soon, if I can keep up my momentum!

Thanks for stopping by today!

sampler blanket

One of my crafty goals this year was to make at least one sampler blanket. A sampler blanket is a blanket made of all different types of squares. I got started with one square in January and then I pretty much forgot about it until this weekend and I decided to get a second square made. I didn't choose a colour scheme for the blanket when I started but I think all the colours in the first two squares are what I'm going to stick to.


The first square I crocheted is called 12" Granny (free pattern). Mine turned out 10 inches big but I think if I block it, it might end up close to 12 inches.


The second block I made is called Squaring the Big Circle (another free pattern!). This is probably my favorite of the two blocks I've made so far! It came to 10 inches as well.


I've already started working on my third square, I'm getting a bit hooked on this project so I don't think it's going to take me too long to get it finished.

Have a great day!

weekending

This weekend I plan on adding more squares to Colour Punch. It feels like it should be bigger than it is right now, it's 25 squares big so far, which isn't too bad I guess. I've been sewing in the ends often, so there are none that need sewing right now, that's a huge bonus, there will be no leaving this sitting in the closet because of too many ends. I think I can still manage to get this done in time for summer. I have a lot of cotton left to use up!


Yesterday I said I needed to get pictures of my owl potholders that I never shared and I actually remembered to do it. Here they are! They hang in my front "hall" area. When I took apart my granny hoot tea cozy, I made them backs, so they could actually be taken off the wall and used since they are double thick. But, I like them hanging as decoration more, so they'll probably just stay on the wall. The pattern for this can be found here.

colour punch!

I have a pretty crazy amount of cotton in my stash, I just can't resist buying it especially when it's on sale! I really expected to be using it more because I was very into making potholders last year . But, I haven't made a potholder since May 2012! I can't believe it's been that long, I just don't have the desire to be constantly making them right now. So, the cotton stash has gotten a bit out of control. Most of the cotton I have is Bernat Handicrafter, there's a little bit of Loops & Threads Cotton Club mixed in too.


I've decided to try to use it up by making a big colourful blanket! I'm calling it Colour Punch. I'm using the Grandala Square pattern for it. I love it so far, though there is one square I already don't love (I'm not pointing it out or I will hate it!) but I think it will blend in after more squares are added. I'm expecting that it will be done before summer, I hope anyway, I think it will be a fun blanket to drag around during the holidays.