Finished 8-color afgan

Woohoo! I finished the 8-Color Afghan last night - my first ever afghan and while I could have done a bit better joining the squares, it's not bad for my first one.

I'll be taking it to work to show some of the ladies and then will mail it to my Aunt Sharon over the weekend. Aunt Sharon always remembers my birthday and sends something at Christmas as well. I hope she enjoys using the afghan during these cold Chicago winters.

(Dar does happy dance!)

Shorah Y'all!

Arrrrrgh! Snow!

Over the weekend it was fairly warm, snow was melting nicely and this morning it was a bit windy but nothing bad. At work, I'm in the back "warehouse" so can't see out any windows. Jess and I decided to go out for lunch and hit a complete whiteout when we opened the door ... I need new tires very badly - no tread on snow/ice is not good.

Shorah Y'all!

Photos of 8-color afghan squares

I'm not quite finished with all the squares but I went ahead and finished one each of the last three squares so I could take pictures. Click on the images to view larger versions in my Picasa gallery. I'm quite proud of these squares and love the way the colors work together.

Square 1

Square 2

Square 3

Square 4

Square 5

Square 6

Square 7

Square 8

If I'm lucky, I'll have the rest of the squares done this weekend and can washing and blocking them and start sewing them together by next weekend. I'm thinking that this will make a great gift for my Aunt Sharon ...

Shorah Y'all!

Tangled Thread Project #1

Periodically I'll post a project that I've tried out and can recommend that others try as well. I'll try as much as possible to post free projects that I've found so they are easily found and won't cost you anything to get except for printing them out.

These will be posted as a Tangled Thread Project along with links to the project.

The first Tangled Thread Project is the Vanna's Choice 8-color Afghan which can be found online at JoAnn.com and is shown below. The pattern is suggested for an experienced crocheter but is really simple enough for an intermediate crocheter to make. The colors are so jewel-like and are gorgeous together. It works up fast (I can make four squares an evening) and the Vanna's Choice yarn is a joy to work with. I'll post some photos of the squares I've made as soon as I can.

Pattern correction:

From:

Rnd 4: Join C in any ch-3 sp, ch 3 (counts as dc), [1 dc, ch 3, 1 dc] into same sp, ...

To:

Rnd 4: Join C in any ch-3 sp, ch 3 (counts as dc), [1 dc, ch 3, 2 dc] into same sp, ...

Tips:

1. I found it easiest to crochet all four rosettes for each color set first, then the next color in the set, then the next color, etc. This allowed me to finish each color for a set before moving on to the next color.
2. When starting the center rosette, place the yarn end next to the chain loop and crochet over it as you go. This will automatically weave in the yarn end. Do not cut off the end of the yarn until after the rosette is completed and the other end yarn is woven in.
3. Once each rosette is completed, weave in the yarn end down through one of the petals and then through the center ring loops. Go the opposite direction that the beginning yarn end was crocheted into the loop, holding the first yarn end as needed to keep it from pulling. When you reach the point where you started the first treble crochet, go under a few more loops and tug lightly to close up the gap. Trim both yarn ends.
4. After completing row 3, weave in the beginning yarn end of row 2. Do not weave in the yarn end for row 3. Instead, hold it against the top of the row and crochet over it as you add row 4. Do the same for row 5.
5. When starting rows 4 and 5, start at the opposite side of where you ended the previous row. After joining the yarn, lay the yarn end for the current row along the top of the previous row and crochet over it as you go. When you get to the yarn end from the previous row, crochet over it as you go (tip 4 above). This will leave only the yarn end from row 5 to weave in with a needle. Suggest weaving in the end for row 5 in the opposite direction of the beginning yarn end.

Shorah Y'all!

More snow pics

More photos of the snow and icicles around our apartment building.

This is the snow pile next to our building from where the snow plows pushed the snow off the parking lot. My sister is standing next to it and she is about 5'2" tall.

These are some very artistic icicles hanging off the roof of our building. Our apartment is the one on the bottom.

I love the way the snow piles up on the branches of this tree although when it gets a bit warmer, I have to make sure my hood is up. The tree seems to know when someone is under it without a hood up. Brrrrrrr!!

More icicles on the building across the parking lot.

A bit different than Houston, eh?

Shorah Y'all!

Lotsa snow

We barely made it in to work today and really shouldn't have even tried but by the time I realized it, I was already halfway here. The roads and interstate are in terrible condition and I have no tread on my tires .... The snow is supposed to stop this afternoon and hopefully the snowplows will have been around to clear the roads. I only made it halfway into a parking spot before I hit too much snow and had to stop. So my car is sticking out into the driving area of the parking lot. The photo below is of the parking area in the front of the DAZ offices.



Shorah Y'all!

Of all things to happen ...

The Wool-Ease yarn I bought is the wrong kind! I needed the Chunky and they only had the Thick & Quick which I didn't realize until I got it home and started working with it. (sigh) Well, I know I can find some project to use it for ... maybe a dog sweater for Kaylee since we have to keep her fur short and Shih Tzus don't have a lot of body fat to keep them warm when outside. Kaylee loves to roll around on the beds and her fur gets so matted that the groomer has to almost shave her. Keeping her fur short helps some with that although she looks so cute with the long fur!

Anyway, I went to Jo-Anns after work yesterday and while they had the Chunky yarn, they did not have it in Grass, so I got two skeins each of Spice and Bluebell. So, instead of having a green wrap, I'll have a multi-colored one with three color rectangles.

The Homespun wrap I'm working on has also evolved. I decided to go ahead and use up the Homespun Baroque yarn in addition to the Nouveau yarn and will be alternating between the two colors. Since the Baroque is a purplish color, I'll probably give it to my sister Jessica after I'm done. It does get cold in the apartment even with the heat going and it will make a warm wrap for her.

Shorah Y'all!

Dr. Who Scarf

If you are a fan of Dr. Who, there's a site you might want to visit - http://www.doctorwhoscarf.com/ - where you'll find color charts and yarn recommendations for knitting your own Dr. Who scarf. Of course, if you crochet, you could make one as well. There are even photos of one of the real scarves along with color comparisons between it and one the guy made himself.

Am thinking that this might make a good project for my Ultimate Sweater Machine once I reduce my stash and allow myself to buy more yarn.

Shorah Y'all!

Wrap photos

The photos of the pale yellow socks are just too washed out so that will have to wait.

Below is a photo of part of the wrap made with the Grass Wool-Ease. It is 22.5" wide and when done will be around 60" long but is currently only 24" long.

I stopped by Michael's after work and bought four more skeins of the green for $5.99, a dollar cheaper than the regular price at Hobby Lobby which greatly surprised me.

The Homespun shawl is about 24" wide and will also be 60" long when completed. At only 8" long right now, I have a ways to go still.

Shorah Y'all!

Using up my stash

Finally found the Hobby Lobby south of Salt Lake City and found a knitting machine from Innovations that you crank the handle on. Had a 40% off coupon so decided to try it out. Still not sure if it's worth the effort though. I also found some Chunky Wool-Ease for $2.99 because they were messed up looking. Only two skeins were available for that price and I decided to make a shawl using a prayer shawl pattern I found at the prayer shawl site. Using a large crochet hook and each skein makes 12" of shawl so I still need 3 or 4 more skeins. When I ran out of the Wool-Ease, I pulled out some Lion Brand Homespun that I'd had for several years and started another shawl with it using the same size hook. The yarn is a bit more difficult to work with but so soft! I didn't finish the turquoise socks this weekend as I decided to start a shorter pair to see why the ankle section was a bit snug. I'll post photos of these new projects as soon as I can.

I have tons of yarn in boxes just waiting to be used so I'm determined to not buy more yarn (unless it's needed to finish a project) until I've used up some of what I have already. I have oodles of the Red Heart Classic Yellow and Star Brights Print yarn so have plenty to make blankies and sweaters for local charities.

Shorah Y'all!

A link and a soap box

A favorite link:

If you haven't visited I Can Has Cheezburger then you are truly missing out on an lolcat smorgasbord. You'll quickly become addicted so don't say I didn't warn you.

A pet peeve:

Faucets in bathrooms that are so close to the back of the sink that you keep hitting your hands against the sink ... why can't they make the faucets longer for better hygiene?

Shorah Y'all!

Sock and Granny Afghan

Last night I started on the second sock for Britney and hope to finish it before next Monday. The finished sock is shown below and I'm quite proud of it for my first crocheted sock ever.



So far I've completed five squares of my green granny square afghan using the Lion Brand Vanna's Choice yarn I mentioned in a previous post. The squares haven't been blocked yet but that will come later. I just love the color combination! Can you folks tell that green is my favorite color?



And now back to working on some of these projects ...

Shorah Y'all!

Photos of current projects

As promised, there are some photos of some of my current/recent projects.

I went on a granny square dishcloth binge although these are nice enough to use as washcloths. I gave away several to some neighbors for Christmas and they loved them. I used cotton yarn and a fairly large crochet hook.

The office can get quite cold, especially for those sitting near the front entrance so I made myself and my sister some wrist warmers. I usually wear a light pink pair made with fine worsted, but it is too light to photograph well and needs to be washed since I wear them constantly.

The images below show a green pair I made in a heavier worsted weight yarn. The pattern is from Ruthie's Crocheted Accessories booklet but I increased the length from the default 12 rows to 20 rows and added a second row at the top above the thumb opening. My next set will be for a coworker and then I'll work on making some gloves with no fingertips.

The following project is a either a lap blanket or wrap I'm making on a knitting loom. The pattern switches between a ribbed stitch and a reverse ribbed stitch which makes "holes" in the pattern. The detail below this image shows the pattern.

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I don't have photos yet of the green granny square afghan but I'll have one soon.

Shorah Y'all!

Almost two years ...

Well, it's been almost two years since I updated this blog and I must stop procrastinating about keeping it up!!!

I've been very busy this last year after leaving my job at Boeing, where I worked on the Space Station Program for 16.5 years and started working for DAZ 3D as their QA Manager. This meant a move from Houston to the Salt Lake City area in December of 2007. A few months ago, I wiggled my way out of the manager's position and am now happily ensconced as the lead technical writer where I get to write/update most of the software documentation. Talk about bliss!

I've also been hard at work with some crochet projects and a cross stitch project. I made some wrist warmers for myself and my sister and a coworker wants me to make her a pair as well. I'm also making a pair of socks for another coworker that are long enough to cover her knees. I've never made socks before but am quite proud of the results so far.

I also discovered the new Vanna's Choice yarn from Lion Brand and fell head over heels in love with the colors. I've started a granny square afghan using the honey, pea green, dusty green, and olive colors. Absolutely gorgeous!!!

I'll post some photos of the projects as soon as I can but I've lost the recharge cord for my camera ... I may have left it in Seattle ....

Shorah Y'all!