Finishing a WIP is just plain satisfying. Nothing like making that last stitch on the round, or the border, of a WIP and knowing you're done. Especially if that WIP has haunted, um, sat around for a bit.
Two WIPs are happily folded and available for use now, and one is receiving some much needed attention.
This small lap robe is one I haven't featured on my blog before because quite honestly I had forgotten about it. Yup, it's been that long. I was rummaging through the current WIP projects looking for a yarn color and discovered it quietly waiting for some attention.
I pulled it out and started working on it as an away-from-home project. The pattern was enjoyable, although I couldn't quite memorize the pattern and had to refer to the first few stitches of every row throughout the entire lap robe. I likely won't stitch this one up again.
Details: Red Heart Pattern LW3973 Rainbow View Throw. Yarn - I Love This Yarn in colors Forest, High Sierra Ombre and Light Taupe.
This next one I started as a mood afghan in 2014, but the block size as prohibitive as a daily block. It was put away until earlier this year when I had a plan to redo the afghan. I was doing well until life began getting hectic.... alas, it's finished!
I used the flat braid joining method. I had originally joined with a slip stitch every so often, but I didn't like the gaps that method left. Since I was ripping the blocks apart, I changed my mind and am much happier with this join. It's a bit fussy, but the finished product is worth it!
I used Red Heart and I Love This Yarn for the blocks.
I could've never finished this as my mood blanket. Each block takes almost two hours to complete. The pattern is beautiful, and can be made to different sizes. It's Arches by Dayna's Crochet.
This has now become a WIP, I'm sad to say. It's the CAL from Zooty Owl. I am time challenged, and was doing okay in keeping up.... until the block strips weren't the same length.
There was some stress in life, and I just didn't want to deal with it. When I went to pick it up, still didn't want to deal with it. Luckily, I didn't have to! A fellow crocheter helped me with joining the naughty uneven strips!
So I'm working on the blocks to finish joining the parts together. the colors are absolutely beautiful in my living room and go perfectly with my curtains. All yarn is I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby.... so very soft!
I'm excited to continue this trend... but I've started another CAL. This is from Sandra at Cherry Heart. I'm already behind, but it's okay with me. Details in an upcoming post!
Enjoy the fall weather. Curl up with your crochet project when the weather isn't so nice outside!
Happy on the Hook!
Gwenhywfar
I find myself way behind in posting here, but not from a lack of trying. Internet has been lacking at my house, and recently absent entirely. I've resorted to using my phone as a hot spot, and I'm not sure when things will improve.
As the weather has started to improve outside, my mood and energy levels are improving as well. I've begun the spring cleaning - inside and out! It feels good to clean out the flowerbeds and rake up the debris from the winter, and I suppose even sore muscles are a positive sign of spring!
I've accomplished several little projects around the house, and oh does that feel good. To get those little nagging projects that I've put off for so long done is just so rewarding! The squeaky door doesn't squeak anymore, and the desk organizer is put together. Light bulbs are changed, shower curtain changed, carpet cleaning in process.
First of all, I apologize for the photos. Weather has not cooperated and sunshine is lacking. The couple of days we did have sunshine, I was outside in the yard and didn't even get close to the crochet hook or think of taking photos... so the color is a bit off. The redo of the mood blanket is progressing, albeit not as fast as I would want. The joining method I chose is taking a bit longer than I had hoped, and the squares are not all the same size. I'm using the flat braid join, but I do like how they are going together. It will be beautiful when it's done, and will be a relief when it's done as well!
I needed a break from working on WIPs so I picked up a quick little project - the Little Spring Mandala from Made in K-Town by Barbara Smith. I love this pattern - it's ease in working up, the subtle changes in pattern and how quickly I can finish it!
The next project my crochet group decided to work on is for a neo-natal intensive care unit (NICU). Each of us will crochet items the unit has listed on its wish list - blankets, hats, booties, gowns as well as gather other items for families who end up spending time there such as journals, stuffed animals, tissue packs, disposable cameras, puzzles ISudokku, crosswords) baby/children's books), hand/foot molds), candles/lighters), etc.
We've crocheted three or four small blankets to date, plus started on some booties. The list also has dimensions for plain white memory boxes for families to decorate.
I've enjoyed working on the blanket. The size is small and easy to carry. And the reason touches my heart.
For more information, visit the website here.
Until next time, and hopefully better Internet service!
Happy on the Hook!
Gwenhywfar
Another project finished! This one is a cuddly laprobe using Lion Brand Homespun yarn in Colonial, Windsor and Baroque.
I started it to use up the Homespun yarn, and to have a cuddle blanket for the couch. I still have quite a bit of Homespun yarn to use up, but this was a good stashbuster!
It worked up beautifully, and was such an easy pattern - one row of single crochets, one row of double crochets in each color.
The border is a 5-double crochet shell pattern with 7 double crochets in the corners.
It turned out just lovely! I used a size M hook, and the finished product has nice drape and feel.
I've moved on to another WIP, one started at the beginning of 2014. It was the first go at a mood blanket. I knew it was going to be big, so I planned it for a queen-sized bed - 11 blocks across with the blocks measuring nearly 12 inches. The pattern is just beautiful, but each block took about two hours to complete. Needless to say, I didn't get very far - about two and a half rows done before the WIP was silently hidden away...
I took the squares apart, no minor task since I couldn't find where I tucked ends, and found I had exactly 24 squares. I laid them out into a 4x6 square laprobe, alternating plain and variegated evenly.
I'm using a join-as-you-go method, and it's going together quite quickly. I'm using an H hook, and it's everything I can do to not spend every waking moment working on this WIP. I never thought this project would see completion!
The other project in the works is the reorganization of the yarn room. It started with tackling a room I haven't set foot in for two years - long story. Needless to say that room has been cleared out, cleaned, carpeted and repurposed. The items put in that room cleared out another room I now call the yarn room. All the yarn is in one room, organized by color in totes. All the crochet books and magazines are on a bookcase in the room along with all my WIPs. I even have a file cabinet for the loose leaf patterns. So very excited!
Happy on the Hook!
Gwenhywfar
2014 was definitely a year of mandalas for me. As I created the collage, I was pleasantly surprised how much I really did accomplish. I tackled several projects I had never done before - mandalas, fingerless mittens and coasters. But most of all, the afghan is by far my favorite.
As I review the last year in crochet, I look back and think what the year was like. I spent a good deal of time crocheting on my Blankets for Barracks Soldiers afghan, and it's almost done. We're nearing the time to ship the blankets off. It looks like we'll have 4 from our group of three crocheters and one that was just donated today. I've picked up a few WIPs and work on them off and on - I've found I like to have a couple on the hook at the same time to keep from getting bored. I've spent a good deal of time looking at patterns in 2014, and not just ordinary patterns. These are ones that will challenge my abilities and skills, learning new techniques and stitches.
Before I get into that, just a quick peek at my Christmas this year...
This was a special Christmas for me and my family. My mother and I cooked three Christmas dinners for family. We love cooking side by side, and each of these meals had nearly completely all new recipes - another love for both of us. This Christmas was spent celebrating with family and sharing laughs. Shortly after one family dinner, a cousin accepted a marriage proposal.
In my own home, each Christmas decoration has a special meaning. Most were made by my father, mother or myself. Some were passed down from my grandparents. Some were given as gifts. Growing up, my family would always give gifts we made and a good number were Christmas decorations. My father's skill in the wood shop were phenomenal. My mother continues her talents with paper crafting, sewing, crocheting, crafting, quilting and more. I so strive to be like her.
Dad's woodwork is shown above - the reindeer, the tree and the gingerbread family in front of the clock. Below is a combination of both parents - the cloth angel is mom's and the wooden one is dad's. Mom created the nativity scene. Underneath the tree are packages created on Cricut, a paper laser cutting machine.
My tree is the most precious this year. I haven't put up a tree larger than the one you see in the above photo since I've been in this house, mostly because of the fur monsters. This year I decided to try it and see.
The tree is in the same place as my grandparents had it when they lived in this house. As I was decorating it, I was filled with memories of Christmas Day with them as a child and I could feel their spirits fill the house. Some of the ornaments are hiding in this photo, but they are the old painted glass ornaments. I also have some ornaments my grandparents hung on their tree as well.
It was this tree that got me to making crocheted snowflakes this year, by the way....
Now back to new patterns and WIPs. Of course, as I was looking through massive amounts of patterns this year there are those normal afghan, doily, scarf and shawl patterns. But I have found some with unique stitches and uses of colors that I am anxious to get started on. I am hesitant to dig out a new pattern, however, looking at this:
You guessed it - WIPs! From the top left: Mood blanket, temperature blanket, Blankets for Barracks Soldiers, baby blanket, Stitch-Cation and lap robe. I have kept current on tracking my mood and temperatures for 2014, so I can pick that project up at any time - really! The Blankets for Barracks Soldiers is almost done. The baby blanket, well, I don't like the pattern so I'm not sure what to do there. The Stitch-Cation came at a bad time when I was horribly busy, and I didn't want to fight squares that weren't the same size. The lap robe is meant to pick up when I just want to relax, and it's nearly done. So all in all, not too bad.
Good thing I'm okay with that list, because I am starting a new project - the 2015 Moogly Afghan Crochet-Along (CAL)! I have chosen my colors using I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby:
Sagey Tweed, Cranberry, Cream and Dark Olive.
A new pattern will be released every two weeks on Thursday, for a total of 24 12-inch blocks by the end of the year.
The month of December is for joining and borders.
The best part is the author of the Moogly blog has recruited 24 crochet bloggers to design the 24 blocks for the year, which will guarantee that the blocks will always be free and available for the CAL.
The schedule is as follows:
January 8 & 22
February 5 & 19
March 5 & 19
April 2 & 16 & 30
May 14 & 28
June 11 & 25
July 9 & 23
August 6 & 20
September 3 & 17
October 1 & 15 & 29
November 12 & 25
More information is available at mooglyblog.com/2015-moogly-afghan-crochet-along with additional information at mooglyblog.com/2015-cal-block-1.
Here's to ringing in a New Year, full of hope and yarn!
Happy on the Hook!
Gwenhywfar
I actually had a productive weekend, even though it was a busy one. I'm caught up on my temperature blanket, pictured above, and I'm very happy with the minor adjustments I made to the Riley Flower Square Motif. The colors are working together quite well, although once again I've adjusted the color scheme for that as well.
The idea of a temperature blanket came from a group on Facebook. It's really been a lot of fun tracking the highs and lows each day. The nuances of temperature changes each day is fascinating, how the temperature can jump around within a day and how in the summer it stays hot well into the evening (in our part of the United States anyway) is all intriguing. I am a bit frustrated though, that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Weather Service's website where I obtain my temperatures stopped posting information on Aug. 1 at 7:40 p.m.
Since I am at a stopping point on the temperature blanket and will have to wait for the local newspaper to come out on Thursday for the temperatures, I turned my attention to my mood blanket. I had initially began working on the centers with the intent of 'catching up' from January 1. Well, we're in August, and I'm just starting, so that's not going to work. So I decided to start in July like I did with the Temperature Blanket.
I came across the mention of a mood blanket in someone else's blog at the beginning of the year. I did some research and found a group on Facebook dedicated to those who were committed to the Crochet Mood Blanket 2014 Crochet Along.
First, select your moods. Then select the colors that best represent the moods. For my blanket, the inside of the block is the mood.
My moods are content, relaxed, happy, blessed, productive, busy, tired, stressed, bleh, overwhelmed, migraine, energetic, excited, confident, frustrated and bad day.
Then, you can either do a block every day or choose a block pattern that has multiple rows and do a row a day for a block a week. I am doing a block a week.
Some crocheters/knitters are doing rows per day/week. The choices are infinite!
This has been a good exercise for me. It's helped me to see how my moods change, and how long my moods stay the same. As with the temperature blanket, I've been tracking my moods since the beginning of 2014.
I am using the same pattern Zelna Olivier at Zooty Owls' Crafty Blog used for her Mood Blanket. I am using I Love This Yarn by Hobby Lobby for the entire afghan. So far, the colors I've selected are going together nicely, even the not-so-good moods!
Both daily afghans are very similar in design, it turns out. I will have to be very careful and not get the patterns mixed up! I am enjoying how both are working up, and knowing each is specific to me - one the temperatures of my hometown and the other my interpretation of my moods each day - will make these very special indeed. They may look somewhat haphazard, but they will be perfect!
Until next time...
Happy on the Hook!
Gwenhywfar
Greetings to my readers, fellow crocheters and just friends! This is a new adventure for me and I'm excited to share it with you. I have numerous hobbies - my family has never stuck with just one - but in the last couple of years crocheting has come to the forefront as a favorite.
I have a few WIPs in the basket(s), so I'll start my blogging experience by sharing these with you!
The first is one that I have to say, I really love.
This is the third pair of wrist warmers I've made for myself, the fourth pair I've made total. The pattern I used is a DROPS Design pattern and is linked on my Patterns I Adore page. These literally kept me warm this winter!
This particular pair I'm not making all the rounds of shells because I want them a bit shorter on my hand. That really is the beauty of the pattern - you can adjust the length to fit your style. I'm using Yarn Bee Soft Secret yarn.
Next, I have to admit that I'm addicted. Yup, the mandala craze has hit my house. I spent quite a bit of time looking for the right pattern to hook my first one, and I chose this Little Spring Mandala by Barbara Smith at Made in K-Town.
As you can see, the next set of yarns is picked out and ready to go! The two completed mandalas were made with four-ply worsted weight acrylic yarn. I read later that cotton yarn is a better choice because it won't "fuzz."
This is my mood blanket for 2014. Actually, it's the do-over. I started one in January, but the block was huge, and I mean huge. It took me an hour and a half to complete one block. Needless to say I didn't get very far. For those who may not know about the mood blanket idea, people assign colors to their moods and then crochet a block/row a day or week for their moods. The blankets can get to be rather large by the end of the year (52 or 365 blocks/rows), so some planning is in order.
I've spent half the year trying to find a pattern I liked. I finally found this one, which happens to be Zooty Owl's mood blanket pattern as well, and started crocheting like mad to catch up. I'm using I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby for the entire afghan, crocheting a block a day and joining as I go.
The completed block in the front was my test pattern to see if I liked how the block would look. The piles around it represent different moods:
Relaxed: Glacier, with Gelato Stripe as the joining color; Content: iced violet, spun sugar stripe joining; Migraine: gelato stripe, glacier joining; Energetic: turquoise, seaspray ombre joining; Loved/Blessed: grape, jazz stripe joining; Excited: medium blue, seaspray stripe joining; Confident: antique teal, agean stripe joining; Happy: periwinkle, sugarplum stripe joining; Productive: royal, peacock joining; Tired: seaspray ombre, turquoise joining; Angry: jazz stripe, grape joining; Bleh/Sick: agean stripe, antique teal joining; Stressed/Rough Day: spun sugar stripe, iced violet joining; Overwhelmed: seaspray stripe, medium blue joining; Busy: sugarplum stripe, periwinkle joining; Frustrated: peacock, royal joining; Down/Low/Bad Day: sherbets stripe, soft pink joining.
I'm excited to see how this looks with all the 'moods' put together. It's been interesting to track how I feel each day. I can see how the weather affects my mood, and how the stress of work comes home. Crocheting helps relieve the stress of daily life, so we can be thankful for that!
I would love to hear if you are doing a mood blanket! I'm hopeful I will keep with it until the end of the year.
Happy on the Hook!
Gwenhywfar
P.S.
For those wondering why I named my blog Thread 'n Fur... thread is for all the things crafty. Fur is for my two canines, Rosco and Rufus
because their fur gets on everything!
This has now become a WIP, I'm sad to say. It's the CAL from Zooty Owl. I am time challenged, and was doing okay in keeping up.... until the block strips weren't the same length.
