GAAA--Judy Sumner Square, Part 1

I started on the Judy Sumner square for The Great American Aran Afghan. When I was reading what others had written about this square on Ravelry and in blogs, I discovered that some really, really did not like the spider on this square and had decided not to use the square in their afghan at all or else had decided to leave the spider out or substitute something else, like a flower.

While I can totally relate to not liking spiders, I decided to knit the square as written because my admiration for Judy Sumner's imaginative design apparently is greater than my loathing of spiders. I think the 3-D aspect of the square with not only the spider, but the other bugs and the leafy vines is a marvel.

For this afghan, the book only gives one gauge for the whole afghan as kind of a guide instead of a gauge for each individual square. When I swatched for that gauge, I ended up with size 6 needles, so that's what I'm using here.

My Birthday Goodies!

It was my birthday a few weeks ago, and I got some really awesome gifts. Some were in the form of cash and gift certificates, so I waited until the orders came in, and then I finally got around to taking pictures of everything. Above is my super-duper true daylight crafting lamp. It has two flexible arms--one with a clamp to hold a pattern (in this case, the Great North American Afghan book) and one with a magnifying glass on the end. When not in use I keep the magnifying glass protected and covered with the little white fabric bag that came with it. This lamp and magnifying glass have been life-savers for me to be able to work on Husband's Flag Kippah.This is my new MP3 player and case. It's been great fun to finally be able to listen to knitting podcasts on the go. Mostly I've been listening in the car during the commute to and from town on my weekly shopping trips. My 14-year-old daughter, who usually accompanies me, is not so thrilled with the podcast listening as I am.
I've also been able to enjoy some new music. I've wanted Ted Pearce's 'Hallelu Et Adonai' since it first came out, and now I finally have it!
My other new CD is Simon and Garfunkel 'Live 1969' with all my faves, like 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' and 'The Boxer'.
I've been intrigued with the Stained Glass Afghan on the cover of this book for some time now, so I'm very happy to finally have it in hand. There are some other great afghans in it, too, but that cover afghan is for sure something I have to make when I get all the current afghans in progress finished.
I joined a CAL group on Ravelry that is doing all of the squares in this '200 Blocks' book by Jan Eaton. I haven't yet crocheted any of the squares, but I have the yarn I want to use ready to go. I'm planning to make afghans for my granddaughters with these squares. Another group on Ravelry that I'm a member of is the Read~Knit~Cook group. I'm way behind on the reading selections, but at least now I have them. These are the first three in a series of knitting-themed cozy mysteries by Maggie Sefton.

This knitting-themed romance is also a selection for the Read~Knit~Cook group. And I'm looking forward to indulging myself with the gardenia-scented toiletries and candle I received.
These are the first couple of books in another knitting-themed cozy mystery series for the Read~Knit~Cook group. These are by Mary Kruger.
As far as I know these first two books in a knitting-themed series by Debbie Macomber are not yet a selection for any of the book groups I belong to, but I thought I'd try them out anyway. I've read a couple of her earlier books and liked her as an author, so hopefully I'll enjoy these, too.

It'll be some time before I can read any of these new books since I'm still reading Here Be Dragons, a selection for the Ravelry Book Club group that is 700 pages long. I haven't even completed 200 pages yet!I also got this order of goodies from Frugal Knitting Haus: a pattern book for baby and toddler dresses, size L, M, N and P crochet hooks of the Crystallites type, two cable needles and a row counter.

Many, many thank-yous to all my loved ones who blessed me with this bounty of things that bring me such joy!

Ravelry CAL Afghan 6

With less than two days left before the next month's CAL block pattern is announced, it looks like I've only managed to get four of these nine afghans caught up this month.

This is the one I call Afghan 6, and like all of these nine CAL afghans, it is being crocheted with Red Heart Super Saver yarn.

The colors used for this Afghan 6 are Cherry Chip, Baby Pink, Magenta and Coffee.
It is destined for one of my adult daughters who claims pink as her favorite color, as do the majority of my daughters. So, not an easy thing figuring out enough different pink color combos.


After I got caught up on these squares, I started designing my The Friday Night Knitting Club afghan square for My Reading Afghan since I finished reading the book a couple nights ago. I'm almost finished knitting it up, so picture and pattern hopefully will soon be forthcoming.


Next on the list is to sew together the completed 23-inch squares (they are so giant compared to these 12-inch squares!) for the Pineapple Square Afghan. Once that is done, all that will be left to complete that afghan will be crocheting the border.


Also, every night Husband is asking me if his Flag Kippah is finished yet, even though he can plainly see that it is still only about a 3 or 4-inch circle right now. I just can't crochet with that little hook and black thread for very long at a time even with perfect light and magnification!


Once those things are done, I'll go back to the Ravelry CAL Afghans and continue playing catch-up, beginning with Afghan 7. I think I got three of the afghans caught up in March and now four in April, so maybe I'll be able to get five of them caught up in May.


If I can keep up that pace, I can hopefully get all nine completed by the end of the year. Well, maybe at least all the squares finished, if not all the joining and borders.

On the TV front, both of the contestants I got randomly paired up with in the Ravelry pools got eliminated from the competition last week--Carly Smithson from American Idol and Marlee Matlin from Dancing With The Stars.

Marlee wasn't a big surprise. I was actually amazed she did as well as she did and lasted as long as she did.

I didn't expect Carly to win American Idol, but I did expect her to last longer than she did. She's certainly a much better singer than at least two of the singers left, namely Brooke and Jason, but oh well.

Ravelry CAL Afghan 5

This is the third of these block-a-month afghans I've managed to get caught up on this month.

The yarn is Red Heart Super Saver in Bay Print, Linen, Country Blue and Windsor Blue. I like the way these colors work together.

There are not too many days left in the month, so I don't know if I'll get a fourth afghan caught up or not.

I'm also working on the Pineapple Square Afghan and a kippah Husband wants me to design, so it may take another month or two before I can get caught up on all nine of these block-a-month afghans.

I'm also hoping to join in another CAL (Crochet-A-Long) making the blocks in the 200 Crochet Blocks book by Jan Eaton.

Those blocks are supposed to be 6-inch blocks, so half the size of these 12-inch blocks. I'd like to make an afghan for each of my granddaughters with those smaller blocks.

In the meantime I enjoy looking at pictures of everyone else's blocks in both of these Ravelry CAL groups.

It's really inspiring to see all the different ways a single pattern can turn out with all the different color combinations and different ways of putting them together.

I'm getting close to finishing the Pineapple Square Afghan. All the squares are done, so only the sewing together and crocheting of the border yet to go. Can't wait to see how it turns out when it's all done.

NatCroMo Freeform CAL

March was National Crochet Month, so on Ravelry there was a group celebrating this, and part of the celebration was a guided freeform CAL (Crochet-A-Long).

We had daily instructions during the whole month (thank you, Kaet!) which were potentially unique to each crocheter, so it was lots of fun seeing how different everyone's projects were turning out.

To get an idea of how the instructions worked, here are some examples--

"March 1 instructions: Throw a single die and chain that number using your favourite hook and the brightest available yarn. (ch a number between 1 and 6)" (I think I got a 6.)

"March 12 instructions:
Please measure the length of your hair in centimetres, and do that many back post trebles, in a new yarn." (I ended up having to do 98 of these.)

"March 17 instructions: Using a smaller hook, make a ruffled section across a number of stitches based on the number of yarns currently in your project. Put two double crochets in each stitch, and do the same number of rows (still with 2dc in each stitch) as stitches you are originally working across."

It was at this point (when I completed the big bright yellow ruffle) that Husband dubbed my project 'The Fish', and it stayed looking pretty fish-like until the bitter end.

I was really faithful to the instructions, no matter how many of a stitch I ended up having to do, until I got to the very last day--

"March 31 instructions: Using your favourite hook, take the average age in your household and do that many corkscrew fringes."

Turns out the average age in my household is 26.8, and I just couldn't take doing 27 of those corkscrews, so I stopped at 5 (the number of people in my household) instead.

It was a lot of fun doing this project because the kids got to be directly involved. Each time there was a yarn change, they took turns picking the next color. They also got to take turns doing the dice throwing, playing card picking, coin flipping, measuring and counting of things, timing of speed trials, etc.

Here is the thread with the daily instructions on Ravelry:

http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/party-crochet-month-on-ravelry/117443/1-25

The daily instructions are also available on Kaet's blog:

http://kaet.wordpress.com/natcromo-freeform-cal-pattern/

Those on Ravelry can see pictures of how the NatCroMo freeform projects turned out here:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/natcromo-freeform-game-cal-pattern/people

So, what to do with 'The Fish'? Table centerpiece? Wall decor? Extra-large shower scrubbie? Welcome mat? Yard flag? Wind sock? Potholder/Hot pad? Cat bed? Seat cover? Pull toy? Fancy scarf? Clown tie? Hat/Hair accessory? Furniture duster? Shark bait? Story of Jonah teaching aid? Coaster for punch bowl? Premie baby blanket?

I've seen some beautiful freeform crochet projects, but this sure isn't one of them!

For fun, we can compare it to my bettas--

Hey! Maybe that's a good use for it--a doily for my betta tank to sit on.

It's probably most likely that I'll end up unraveling it and knitting the yarn into my Mindless Knitting, TV Watching, Scrap User-Upper Afghan.

Happy NatCroMo everybody!

Ravelry CAL Afghan 8

This afghan was originally named Ravelry CAL Afghan 3, but I've changed it to 8 because I found another colorway I'm using for Afghan 3, which I think is perfect for the recipient of Afghan 3. I ended up adding two more recipients, thus two more afghans using these squares, for a total of nine Ravelry CAL Afghans now in progress.

So far, I only have three out of the nine all caught up with two January squares, two February squares and two March squares all completed.

I'm currently working on the new Afghan 3, for which I have to crochet all six squares to get caught up. I'm alternating working on those squares (one Dreamcatcher square finished so far!) and the squares for the Pineapple Square Afghan. Everything else is on the back burner for now.

I decided to make a new section in my left-hand column--Mini Book Reviews. I wasn't too keen on writing detailed reviews of the books I've read. The dread was somewhat like it used to be in school having to write book reports. But I do want to at least share a thumbs up/down for the books I read in case anyone wants to give them a try. I especially like sharing about books I enjoyed reading and a little bit about why I liked them to encourage others to read them.

Speaking of reading, I'm currently slogging my way through Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I got a volume from the library--The Complete Works of Lewis Carroll, and in this volume, Alice is the first selection and is only 132 pages long, but I have had to force myself to get through those measly 132 pages. I think I'm on 120-something, and I still loathe the thought of getting through those final few pages.

I don't know how this book became such a classic. I don't find Alice endearing and don't like any of the other characters, either. The whole thing is terribly boring. It reminds me of some of the reality TV shows lately--no one to root for and wearying nothing-really-happening episodes.

This is the selection for one of the reading groups I joined on Ravelry called "Knitting 19th Century Novels". For me, the 19th century evokes thoughts of Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and Mark Twain, among my favorite authors, but I'm all about trying new authors and books, so I thought it would be fun to read Alice. It's just not my cup of tea, though.

On the positive side, I do already have my knitting design for this book pictured in my head, and it will be fun translating it into a knitted block for what I'm now going to call my "Reading Afghan", since I now belong to more than one reading group.

I'm still awaiting the arrival of the copy of A Thousand Splendid Suns I purchased on eBay so I can get started reading that for my other reading group. The waiting list at the library was way too long! After that, the next 19th century novel selection is Around the World in 80 Days, and I'm hoping that will be a big improvement over Alice.

A kid funny: There was a Book Fair at the kids' school, and I asked them to look to see if they had A Thousand Splendid Suns there and for how much. One day, my 8 year old told me he had looked for that book I wanted--"Seven Thousand Rainbows"--and wasn't able to find it.

Diagonal Pattern Baby Blanket Completed

I finally finished the Diagonal Pattern Baby Blanket. As noted in a previous post, this yarn was originally used to knit a Prayer Shawl that got close to being finished, but then I decided it would be better to frog that and make a baby blanket instead.

The idea to make a baby blanket was encouraged by a post in the Afghans & Blankets group on Ravelry by wickedsplitty, where she said, "For baby blankets I’m a huge fan of (please don’t yell at me!) Red Heart Baby Clouds. For one thing, it’s machine washable and dryable. For another, babies love it. They just love it! I’ve made quite a few for the babies and grandbabies of friends and it always becomes the 'blankie of choice.' It’s super soft, pretty much hypoallergenic, and there’s just something about it that appeals to the babies."

Once finished, this blanket was sent to my youngest granddaughter for her first birthday. I hope she likes it as much as the recipients of wickedsplitty's blankets liked theirs.

As much as I liked the finished product, I did not like knitting with this Red Heart Baby Clouds yarn at all, and I imagine crocheting with it would be even worse. Maybe it's the way I knit or something, but it was always catching and splitting and binding up and sticking as I'd do a stitch, so it made the knitting pretty slow-going, and I like to go fast.

I have the same problem with Lion Brand Homespun, the yarn I'm using for the Homespun Leafy Border Afghan, which is one of the reasons why I don't like working on that afghan for long periods of time. These yarns are really nice and soft to the touch, but I doubt I'll be buying any more of them or looking to use any of them in the future.

I do have six skeins of Baby Clouds in my stash (really pretty colors, too!) that I will be using to make another baby blanket, this time in a striped mitered square pattern from Lion called Happy Baby Blanket ( http://cache.lionbrand.com/patterns/khs-happyBabyBlanket.html ), but after struggling through that, I'll probably be done with Baby Clouds forever.

Directions for the Diagonal Pattern Baby Blanket may be found here: http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/khs-diagonalBabyBlanket.html?noImages=

Instead of the Homespun and size 11 needles called for in the pattern, I used Red Heart Baby Clouds in 9008 Cotton Candy on size 15 needles. I also had to modify the pattern because I only had 4 skeins of this yarn, and I got to the end of the second skein (half of my yarn supply) when I only had 116 stitches on the needles. The pattern calls for increasing until there are 126 stitches on the needles and then start decreasing, but since that was half of my yarn already used up, that had to be the halfway point of the blanket, too, so I started decreasing at 116 instead of 126. That's one of the nice things about this pattern--being able to gauge the halfway point and make adjustment, if necessary, and the blanket still turns out properly proportioned.