2012 Crochet Corner

[dcompton]

SABLE alert. Too right!

[dcompton]

The long promised pics have arrived! These are the last three projects.

20 Point Calliope.JPG
Mostly Cool Spikes.JPG
12 Point.JPG

Also my embarrassing stash pics. I really do have more than our Joann's. This is the part I can see. I have a trunk with some Caron One Pound. Since I can't see it, I pretend it's not really there. A crafter's head in the sand.

Stash.JPG
Bits.JPG

[frugalfranny]

Nice projects dcomp..........very pretty! Nice colors!

Are these all going for donations?

[dcompton]

FF - yes. I don't keep anything. The square one will go to a hospice, the two baby blankets to the same hospital.

I could kick myself. Deciding it was time to be grown up and responsible, I had been working on the boring lavender one. Suddenly I came to a group of 4 dc's that should have been 5. It was 5, about four or five rows down. So I spent the rest of tea time ripping back. It couldn't have been on an interesting pattern. Oh, no. The lavender one. Figures. I like solid color afghans, but I really get tired of working on them. I must have the attention span of a five year old.

[dcompton]

Oddles and oodles of new yarn!

JA had Bernat Baby Sport, the great big skeins, on closeout for 4.97. I showed no self-restraint at all. I bought some. Then I had to go out later in the day and I bought more. It will be shocking when I have to pay off the CC bill in a week and a half, but what a deal!

I started a baby blanket with a variegated and it looked awful with the pattern, so I just went through my 280 Shell Pattern book, or whatever it's called, and found a great one.

Confession time. When I decided I wanted to learn to knit, several centuries ago, my mom suggested a scarf. I picked out a sport yarn. She advised me to begin with a worsted weight, but when to mothers ever know more than teenagers? She was SO right. I was slow since I was just learning, and add to that the smaller needles and the fineness of the yarn, it felt like I had knitted for years and had about 3" to show for it. Project abandoned. Got the yarn she knew I needed.

All these many, many years I have avoided baby weight yarn - this child had been badly burned. But I've decided to make baby blankets instead of lapghans for a while, and many of my patterns call for it. I decided to suck it up and try it. I am in love with it. I first used Bernat's baby jacquards doubled with Pound of Love - that doesn't count at all. But then I started the afghan with this new Bernat Baby Sport and it is wonderful yarn. JA is the only place I can get it locally, so that's why I stocked up. If I buy on line, I use my one allowed coupon code for free shipping, and so would never get it anywhere near that price. I just wish they had had more colors. I avoided pink, not my favorite, but I may pick one up if there are any left.

The clerk said probably it meant they would not have it again anymore but added that it might also be just a packaging change coming out. If that's it, I will feel a little silly when it's on the shelf again, but this was a really good deal.

And now I am no longer intimidated by a whole class of yarn. Maybe I've just learned a little more patience in 45 years. I should hope so!

[frugalfranny]

I don't NEED to buy any more yarn in this lifetime, whatever the color.

I think I have more than Joann's.

Especially when you add the trunk full of Caron One Pound. My stash is a disgrace. No self-discipline in craft stores at all.

Then.................I guess we don't need to read this post at all.................or pay any attention to it.......right?

LOVE IT DCOMP..............you are probably the ONLY person that I know FOR SURE has less discipline than I do!!!

[ladytoysdream]

Regarding close out yarns at JA.
I really like the Bernat yarns. I have made several adult hats in the 4 ply recently. I just got 2 big skeins of the baby yarn secondhand from a garage sale. I may have to make some baby hats.

I started going through a stack of old craft magazines the last few days, and came across a ad for Red Heart yarn. If I remember, it said they had 85 colors. I seriously doubt they are anywhere near that today. A couple of colors I look for are not available anymore. One they quit making 5 yrs ago, that I found out during a call to the Red Heart factory.

I guess what I am trying to say is....if you are making a good size project, make sure you have enough yarn in the same color code, to finish it. You may be frustrated in your search to find more.

[dcompton]

Dye lots can be a pain. I also picked up some clearance yarn at Michael's, their baby yarn in the "dots" pattern. It was five skeins over 3 very different dye lots. But for once, it's ok. I'm going to make a baby blanket with it that starts from the center out, and I can use the variations in the dye lots as shading. It actually looks like it will be an interesting experiment.

[dcompton]

I am manically happy - I FINISHED the lavender baby blanket. Not only was it a boring stitch after a while, but I really didn't like the shade, RHSS Pale Plum.

Even better, I FINALLY mastered the reverse sc, crab stitch. I had long wanted to use this for afghan edging, but after about a foot I would think "the heck with this!" and figure out something else. It was just so slow and awkward. But today I finally got the knack of it and found the rhythm of the stitch. It was silly to be buffaloed for so long by this, but I just never persevered with it. I noticed after a time I was holding my hook a little differently too, higher up than usual, and that made it easier for some reason. Anyway, this is a stitch I will use often now for projects that don't seem to need much border or anything fancy.

A good day all around in crochet land.

ETA - pic coming soon.

[dcompton]

Here's the lavender baby blanket. On my monitor is looks a dismal gray. Stupid cameras and computers! It's a climbing shell stitch. If I were ever to do it again, I think I would only use 3 or 4 dc's between shell groups, and more shells. Right now, that seems unlikely, but it was as much the color as the pattern that put me off.

[renmerc446]

I haven't been doing as much crocheting over the past couple of weeks between the hot weather and starting a new job. That and I'm prepping for some canning I want to do once my cukes and tomatoes start really coming in. Then again, I had a lot of time while looking for a new job so I'm going to take a bit of a break. Not totally stop since I'm used to doing it while watching TV but mainly not worry about how much less stuff I get done in the next few weeks until I reestablish my schedule around my job. On one hand, I've been good about avoiding yarn stores. On the other, I've just spent a lot on canning stuff. Good thing about that is that most of the canning equipment can be reused like the pots and the jars themselves. I did have a stock pot but it wasn't wide enough to do multiples quart jars at the same time.

[dcompton]

Renmerc - you are officially excused - for a while. Everyone needs a break now and then. Good luck with the canning. If I were doing that, I would be too exhausted to crochet!

[renmerc446]

LOL... I haven't totally stopped working my crocheting projects. It's just going to take me longer to get things done.

[frugalfranny]

LOL... I haven't totally stopped working my crocheting projects. It's just going to take me longer to get things done.

And BESIDES.........it is more important to have food in the cupboard.............have fun canning. It is a lot of work but the TASTE of the goodies is all worth it............ENJOY!!

[dcompton]

Here's the spiderweb baby blanket. This is definitely going to be a go-to pattern for my baby blankets and lapghans. This one is 5 blocks high. For a lapghan, 7 would be a bit short, 8 would be a bit long, so it would need some modification.

Lemon Spiderweb.JPG