How very refreshing

I finished the Refreshing throw this weekend!

Yay! My January Afghan is done!

Tied in the last ends of the border on Sunday night and then spent the rest of the evening relaxing. It was odd having a few hours in the evening without a crochet hook in my hand.

The afghan is so soft and snuggly feeling and it feels heavy. It seems likes it's heavier than what the un-crocheted skeins would weigh. It can't technically, but it does feel like that. I think it's as large as I would want to go using Simply Soft.

The finished size is 49" X 55". Not quite the size of a bed, but plenty big enough for curling up on a sofa.

I made the afghan 6 squares by 7, so 42 squares total.  Each 6 ounce skien makes 8 squares, so I made  2 extra of the off-white and used the extra on the skien for going around each square in a single crochet border, that way when I joined them together with the off white it would not show through between the different colours.

After joining, I did a row of off-white single crochet around, 3 rows of hdc, 1 row sc off-white, then off-white - Rnd 2 of border as written in RH pattern.

I'm quite happy and proud of it. Not sure what I'm going to do with it yet, but for now I'm happy enough knowing it's complete.

About this Afghan

• 24.5 hrs to complete squares
• 10 hours to join / border

----------------------------------

• 35 hrs total

Caron Simply Soft Yarn

• 2 sage
• 1 orchid
• 1 Plum Wine
• 1 Robin's Egg
• 2 Off-White

Approximately 6.5 skeins to complete.
Approximately 38 oz

An Afghan A Month

An afghan a month!

Ok, I might be a bit crazy, but I think this will work and is completely doable. I hope, although I had a moment of sheer panic that I was taking on more than I could handle...then realized I hadn't actually posted anything and made it all official like...but guess what I'm doing now...ACK!

My goal is to finish one afghan a month. That's all. No limit that it has to be started and finished in the same month. Some afghans are quick and easy and some might take a few months to finish.

The reason I think it will work for me, is because I can work on a few different ones at the same time.

I lean toward afghans that are piece projects and not one huge affair, so it's easier to set a goal to finish a square or two here and there and it keeps me from getting bored with the same old thing.

Currently I have four afghan projects on the go and few more lined up that I'm itching to start!

• Refreshing Throw (98% complete - just need to finish the border)
• Daisy Afghan (90% complete - just need to join/border)
• Log Cabin Throw (5%)
• Moogly Cal (1 square in!)
• Aran Nosegay Afghan (have yarn)
• Stained Glass Window Afghan (Simply Amazing!)
• Spanish Tiles (have to see if I can find this pattern)
• Sunflower Afghan

That's almost a year of afghans already! So totally doable. I have a few more afghans in mind, but haven't settled on the patterns yet. I know I want to do a skull afghan. I purchased the pattern already because I have someone in mind that I wanted to make it for. I just haven't gotten around to starting it yet.

Also, I wanted to do the Color Revolution (10% complete), using the same squares as the Refreshing Throw. I'm just not sure about it now. It may be too big and heavy for Caron Simply Soft yarn. We'll see, it might end up being another Refreshing Throw or a baby size / car blanket.

I really like the colors of the Country Fresh Blanket and I go back and forth on wanting to do it. I do want to try a sampler type of blanket, but the blanket itself isn't really my style. Too country... I'll keep it in the running. If I don't find something else I'd rather do, I'll let it back in.

Ok, I need to go crochet, because that is a LOT of work ahead of me and there are other projects I want to do besides afghans!

TTYL!

Refreshing Throw

I've been working on the Refreshing Throw afghan for a while now.  Not steadily that's for sure. It comes and goes, but overall it went fast when I did work on it. I've finally got to the point of joining all the squares! SO...figured I'd post the progress so far.

I have to admit, this is my favorite square so far. I thought I would get bored of making them, but not yet, and I have plans to use the pattern in another afghan too. Must be love!

I wanted to use the colors that Red Heart shows for the throw, but like yarn companies always do, they've discontinued making the yarn they recommend... how sad. I decided to go with Caron Simply Soft since the colors seem similar and I had them on hand. I just hope it's sturdy enough for the size of the afghan when put together.  It is nice to work with  - except the off white...it's very splitty.

 

I finished the initial squares and then, because I didn't want my joining yarn color to show through to the front, I decided to sc around each square. That way the joining yarn would match and be invisible against all the squares. I had 1 skein left and wasn't sure I would make it around all the squares, but I did with a tiny bit left!

At first I wasn't sure I liked the sc border around the squares, because I really do like the look of the original throw from Red Heart, but the more I see it the more it grows on me. I think I will love it when it all comes together with an outside border.  :) I can't wait until my yarn order gets here from Herrschners so I can finish this.
 

It looks more difficult than it is, and yes, round 3 and round 5 each had a moment of WTF when I read the instructions.

I'm not 100% sure I did round 3 correctly for the very first dc, but I can't see anything wrong when I look at the finished squares...which is good because it's a bit late in the game for ripping anything out. It's as good as it's going to get :)

Denim style granny square afghan

When I first decided to learn to crochet, I purchased a large amount of Red Heart Comfort yarn from Wal-Mart. It's a great price at $9.99 for 16 oz, it's a very thick and sturdy yarn - it doesn't split very easily, and perfect for learning with.  It is coarse and rough, but it fitted my needs.

Go big or go home...I can't jump into something like a dishcloth to learn, I have to jump into something I want right away. To heck with knowing what I'm actually doing! Now later, I love little projects like wash cloths also ...and I am just as proud of them, but back to this story....

My first attempt was going to be a simple queen sized afghan using a dc 3 ch1 on one row, sc ch 3, on the next. It all was going great and I learned a few things. 

1. The length of the starting chain will not be the final width...things stretch...like used underwear.
2. As a beginner, it's REALLY REALLY easy to add extra stitches without realizing it...without realizing how really really too late it is. 

I never finished the blanket. It ended up wide enough for a King sized bed and was slowly expanding over each row! I had about 4 feet in length. So I cut my losses and now I have a funny sized 7 or so  foot X 4 foot blanket that is perfect for camping ;)

Now, a year or so later, I came across a pattern for DenimStyle afghan by Bernat.

What can be easier than Granny squares? Well single colour squares, but I figured this pattern would work up quick regardless, and it does.

The pattern calls for a 5.00 mm hook, so I used a 6mm. I'm a bit wild and crazy like that :)

I knew I was going to run out of dark brown, so I focused on making the squares that used the most brown first and then slowly built up adding across a row from there.  I ended up with a 3 X 5 large square pattern with each large square = between 10.5 to 11 inches square.

Unblocked DenimStyle afghan

The original pattern is 5 X 7 squares with each large square measuring 9"X9" (small ones 4.5"X4.5")

Throw: 45 x 63 ins [114.5 x 159.5 cm]     Pillow: 14 x 14 ins [35.5 x 35.5 cm]

Mine ended up being 32 X 53 inches on the inside. I then added a row of 2 tone granny's on the bottom and single colour granny's on the side, bordered by 1 row sc, 1 row hdc in tan, and then a row of hdc in the cream (COL:3132), which brought it out to be about 40 X 61 inches finished.

 

I chose not to weave in the ends and just did simple knots on the backside to keep things secure. I figure the blanket is perfect for camping and will hold up better to abuse that way, so I didn't want to spend a lot of time on it. 

All in all, I'm pretty happy with it and it's a lot more useful like this than as a few large 16oz skeins in my closet.

A take on Granny's Attic for Chico

While making the Granny's attic Afghan for Gina, I initially just tried the yarn I had on hand. But I didn't like that they were different thicknesses and it caused the squares to become a bit wonky, especially when I mixed Bernat Premium on one half and Red Heart With Love on the other, so I decided not to use them in her afghan.

They were perfect to make  a small blanket for Mr. Wonderful though. Almost, I had 15 squares, so I just made one more to make a 4X4 square afghan. Finished, it's about 34" X 34".

I added a white double crochet border and did a join as you go method around the squares.  You can really see the size difference with the red/pink and the dark green/light green squares in the second row from the bottom.

Although not quite my style, I still think it's quite pretty and the white border really stands out.  

There is an extra black row around each square since I had one black row done on most of the squares before deciding to do join as you go, so the black is doubled up, but I don't think Chico will mind too much.

If the rain holds up, I'll have a lot more time in the evenings to finish off Gina's afghan since I won't want to be outside so much.

All the little blocks in a row - Granny's Attic Update

I finished all of 48 squares!  Yay Me! 2/3rds done! Around 20 or so squares in to it, I was thinking that I needed to make more than the pattern indicated and that 48 would make quite a small afghan, but now that I see them all together, I think it's a good amount. Probably a single bed size - definitely larger than what I thought of as a 'throw'. While I was doing the squares I decided I wanted to do a join as you go method of connecting them...which is going to add another round of black to each one. I'm just not a huge fan of sewing blocks together.  Bigger is better anyways ;)

Right now they are all in individual rows of color - it made it easier for me to keep track of how many of the each square I had. Some evenings I just got bored of working with a certain color, so I'd change it up to another color before having all 6 squares of the same color done. Is that weird?.

It makes me feel all happy inside looking at them now - even though I'm dreading sewing in the tails...but it can't be helped. Each square has about 24 tails to knot and weave in. So many tails...

I am really drawn to the blue color on the far left end and the yellow white color blocks. Oddly I don't really like blue as a color and would never pick that as my color choice. They seem so much more vibrant than the other colors, although I think once they are randomly rearranged it will make the other colors stand out more also.  Haha - randomly rearranging, it doesn't sound so random anymore :)

There were other test blocks that I scrapped from this project because I didn't like the mix of yarn weights, color combinations, or gauge. I started out crocheting a few blocks a bit too tightly.

Now that I have all the scrapped ones together I think they look really pretty in a random pattern. And honestly, this really is random, I pinned them up where there was room. Not too say they will stay that way when I go to put them together.

For me, I love how bright the orange blocks stand out. 

I think I will make a couple more different color blocks - made the green one last night -  and make enough for a lap afghan (4X6 methinks).  I don't know what else I will use the squares for and I have enough half finished projects to deal with as it is. I'll either give it to my mom or perhaps cute little Chico will need a blanket of his own.

There is no time like the weekend for starting on tail tying and wet blocking squares. Guess if I get started and block as I finish tying then perhaps I won't have every flat surface in the house overrun with squares. Haha, I'm sure that will still happen, but I can hope!

Granny's Attic 18 squares and counting

I'm 18 squares mostly done since my last update just over a week ago.  Sure, the pic shows 20, but I think the two on the right are going to be history.

I'm not feeling the grey and white. I like this combination, but I don't want another 6 squares with a white half, so I'll replace that with a green square combo.

The tan and creme I do like, but I'm not liking the yarn for this project. I don't know what brand it is, but it has a different feel than the RedHeart. Dyana had left it here. She used it to make me an awesome beautiful scarf.  So, I'll use the tan/aran yarn I have for Jace's Hex afghan.

In actuality, I've made 26 squares so far, but I'm not happy with 8 of them. A few had a mix of Bernat Premium and Red Heart With Love and it made the squares a bit uneven.

Also, a couple of colour choices just didn't work for me, so I dropped them - Grey/Creme, Yellow/Creme, Red/Bubblegum, and HotPink/Bubblegum.

Granny's Attic update

I'm 10 squares in to the Granny's Attic afghan now and I think it will be a great looking afghan when complete.

I've figured out a way to make the squares in a way that I'm happy with.

I change colour in the diagonal corners in the ch2. One chain is one color and the second chain is the second colour.  Repeat. I have to start one colour mid row so that there is a chain in the corner to switch colours with, but I don't mind.  I find it leaves a cleaner look, the first squares where I followed the pattern and had ch2 in the same colour peaked through the stitches, and for me, that's very annoying.

There are 48 squares in the afghan, so the colour combinations will be repeated - but I need to get a few more colours - perhaps some green.

Grannys Attic for Gina

I have a love hate relationship with this afghan!

I love the design and colours, it reminds me of stained glass, but I really hate the amount of tail ends to deal with! It's like baking, I love making the food but I don't want to do the cleanup :)

I knot and weave in the ends. Some people only weave in the ends, but that makes me a bit worried. Little tails start to show with daily wear, washing, drying, finger plucking etc, and I don't want to look at something I've made or something I love and find a big hole where some stitches have been pulled out. I'd rather have a knot (or a tonne of knots) and feel secure in knowing my project can handle being loved. Sure, some tail ends will show, but they can easily be woven in again…it's not so easy to fix a hole.

The first square of this afghan was a bit frustrating, it would of been SO MUCH EASIER had they explained why they were switching colours where they do, but they don't, so I'll tell you why I think and what eased my frustration.

It seems easier to do the following 3 dc, 2 ch, 3 dc, 2 ch switch colour 3 dc, 2 ch, 3 dc, 2 ch, sl st closed, BUT…this is what I think - the reason they don't do this is because the slip stitch to close makes it almost impossible to insert the hook into the chain for the the next round of dc's.   Maybe I don't slip stitch correctly or too perhaps too tightly, but I'm happy with my reasoning.  Still not so happy with the amount of tails though!

Hexagon Afghan for Jace

I love this pattern and love the colours, there are so many choices for doing this afghan pattern and each combination makes it look so different! I found this on Ravelry - It's Attic24's Hexagon How-To pattern. It links to her website.  She also explains the join-as-you-go method of connecting the hexagons.

So many people have done this project that I took inspiration from their colour choices. I decided to make this one for my grandson Jace, but somewhere along the line I'll be making a grey version for myself.

There are 5 colours - I used a combination of Red Heart 'With Love' and Bernat Premium.  The Bernat is thinner and lighter than the Red Heart, but I didn't realize it when I first started. I think it will still work out fine though.  I also used a 4.25 mm Boye Hook.

25 Hexagons

I modified the pattern a bit and did 3 double crochets instead of the clusters, it was easier to crochet without paying attention! I love the look and don't think it changes much from Attic24's pattern.

I finished attaching all the hexagons I had originally made, so for now, this quilt is on the back burner, at least for a few days since I have 3 on the go right now.

I think I have a bit of OCD - now that this one is complete (all the circles are now attached as hexagons) I can complete the next quilt up until it's parts are done and so on. Once I've caught up on all 3, I can then start making all the circles again for this one!

52 hexagons

Red Heart - Tan (1308)
Red Heart - Iced Aqua (1502)
Red Heart - Aran (1303)
Red Heart - Chocolate (1321)
Bernat Premium -  Dark Grey Heather (58003)

There is no dye lot for the Red Heart, but not sure on the Bernat - have to check that (but it's a bit late now!)

Jolly Rancher afghan

It reminds me of Jolly Rancher candies in their packages - which is why I call it my Jolly Rancher Afghan.

I'm not in love with this, but I might end up liking it.  Once I get it lapghan size, I'll decide if I want to attach the squares in a different manner than just corner to corner.  Not undo what I've done…I attached as I went, so I'd have to unravel all the white down to the candies again…uh uh, no way.

It's a great way to use up yarn. The centre circles require 2 coffee table lengths (of my square table) to make. There isn't much else you can do with that length - and 3 lengths for the white outside. Technically I'm using yarn from the skien since I don't have any more scraps long enough and I don't have patience to sit around waiting for enough scraps to get this made! That would be a whole lot of other projects and a whole lot of really long tails just to keep working on this one.

I crochet slowly unless I'm rocking along a long row of stitches, so each candy centre takes me about 3.5 minutes. Great little on the go projects when you don't have any time. It's probably the same, or less to do the white.

Hrmm. I think I'm using a 4.25mm hook, guess I'll have to check that out again when I start putting more together!