Lattice Square Afghan

I received the squares for this afghan from a "secret buddy" and I can't really tell you about the squares themselves except they're very interesting and I have yet to run across the pattern. So I didn't completely make this afghan, however, I did assemble it and crocheted the border and all of that is the pain in the ass part, right? I used a joining technique found in the Braids for Baby afghan pattern from Mile-A-Minute Afghans by Leisure Arts. I've used this join a couple of times now and it's the best of all things --solid and decorative-- I love it!!

The edging pattern is:
Round 1: sc evenly around blanket, working 3 sc in each corner.
Round 2: *dc, ch 1, skip 1 st repeat from *around blanket, working 2 dc, ch 2, 2 dc in each corner.
Round 3: *dc in each dc and ch 1 space, repeat from * around blanket, working 2 dc, ch 2, 2 dc in each corner.
Round 4: *ch 3 and 2 dc in same stitch, skip 2 stitches, sl st in next stitch, repeat from * around blanket, working ch 3 and 2 dc, sl st, ch 3 and 2 dc in each corner.

This afghan and the Autumn Glory afghan are going to be donated to Victory Junction, a summer camp for children with chronic medical conditions or serious illnesses. At the end of their camping experience each child gets to take home a hand-made afghan and a hand-made teddy bear. My niece was a camp counselor there for a summer and told me about how the campers love their blankets and bears. I just had to make a contribution and hope to make more.

My Ravelry project page for Lattice Square Afghan.

Autumn Glory

This afgahn was made for a donation to Victory Junction -- a summer camp for children with chronic medical conditions or serious illnesses.

The pattern is called Autumn Glory and can be found in "101 Easy Scrap Crochet Projects" published by House of White Birches and edited by Laura Scott.

My finished size is 35" x 44"
The original pattern uses black as the main color to tie in all the scrap colors but I wanted to brighten it up, so I used Red Heart Super Saver - Aran Fleck. In addition to swapping the main color I also made the following adjustments:

Because this blanket will be given to a child I decreased the overall size. I began by chaining 121 instead of 163 (I still used a K hook).

The double triple crochet shells for the boarder did not work for me so I reverted to a simple shell of 7 dc's. The pattern for the border thus became: *shell (7 dc's in the same st), skip 3 stitchs, repeat from star around and adjust the number of stitches skipped, if necessary, in order to work a shell in each corner. I also put 3 sc's in each corner.

My Ravelry project page for Autumn Glory.

Teatime Elegance

I love patterns with texture and this is an interesting one that caught my eye. I was a little unsure the first time I did a panel and worked all those double triple crochets (that's one loooooong stitch!) but everything worked up easily and I enjoyed crocheting this afghan. I was also concerned about the area where the green border is worked around the center shells -- it looks like a weak spot in the structure -- but this afghan has seen a lot of use because it is big and remarkable warm (even with the open work center) and so far there has been no damage or repairs. In fact, I'll soon be making another because Laura has requested this one as her "going off to college blanket".

Notes:

Teatime Elegance from "Mile-A-Minute Afghans" by Leisure Arts.

Used J hook (instead of listed I hook)

Measures: 52" x 74" (this was measured after a few years stretch and the fact that I moved up one hook size -the size listed with the pattern is 44" x 66")

Red Heart Super Saver Yarn - I don't have the exact color name but I did use a lighter green. Bone and Lt. Rose are the other two colors.

Because this afghan is big and fairly heavy I slipstitched rather than whipstitched the panels together, a sturdier joining that I prefer to use when I can.

My Ravelry project page for Teatime Elegance.

Plarn Gift Bag - Valentines 2008

Plarn: Yarn made from plastic bags.

I finally got around to making and crocheting with plarn. The push to try it came while I was writing a paper for a consumer textiles class about using yarn from recycled materials. Plarn has been around for awhile and been made from newspaper and bread bags but the real explosion of its use came with plastic grocery bags.

Making plarn is pretty straight forward and easy. I followed the instructions over at Marlo's Crochet Corner for cutting the bags and once I had a few nice sized balls I started experimenting. I've been working on a design for another bag project (details to come!) and so this small bag just evolved. Personally, I think it's one of the cutest things I seen or done and the timing was perfect to be this years Valentine!

Plarn Gift Bag Pattern

#31 Jeff Burton

Here is my latest Nascar associated project. It's a washcloth with the #31 of my sister's (the source of my assimilation into the racing world) favorite driver --Jeff Burton.

This pattern is from Woodhill Design Knits and patterns for most numbers of the different drivers are available.

Specs:
#7 needles
Lily's Sugar'n Cream - Hot Orange

That's it!! It's an easy, fast, fun and no hassles pattern.

My other Nascar related projects have been beaded bracelets in the colors of our favorite drivers and a checkered flag afghan.

BTW - My sister is a league bowler and uses this as a wipe cloth for her bowling ball. Other bowlers have noticed and and admired it. Can't ask for more than that.

My Ravelry project page for #31 Jeff Burton.

One Skein Scarf

Writing up journal and blog entries just doesn't seem to produce the same feeling of satisfaction or sense of accomplishment that creating and making things does so I'm trying to catch up my blog about a lot of projects I've finished the past few months but haven't written about.

This is another skinny scarf for my daughter Sarah's collection (see: *K2, P2 *across, K1, Skinny Scarf - Boucle and Skinny Scarf - Homespun

An easy peasy, pattern from the book Stitch 'N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker. Unfortunately, that's the only pattern from the book that really caught my eye.

I worked the scarf in TLC Amore yarn. I LOVE this yarn! I designed my wristwarmers and a hat (patterns I haven't written up or posted yet -- but coming!!) using this yarn and I try to use it when ever I can. It's on my list of projects to work up a Heart Silhouettes square with this yarn and see how that works.

My Ravelry project page for One Skein Scarf.

Glittens

Glitten: A fingerless glove with a retractable mitten, as worn by anyone who wants to stay warm and still grab stuff. (www.urbandictionary.com)

Yep, that's me! My favorite glitten pattern is from Sirdar's pattern leaflet #9445. There are patterns for two needle mittens, gloves. fingerless gloves and glittens in sizes for children, women and men -- a choice of everything in one leaflet!

I've just finished making two pairs. One pair (the grey) for me and one pair (the turquoise) for my daughter Sarah. I splurged on yarn and bought Jo Sharp's Silkroad DK Tweed (85% wool, 10% silk, 5% cashmere)

Here are my notes:

1) The pattern makes the glittens by adjusting the fingerless glove pattern. However I wanted full mittens when the flap was over the fingers and this pattern didn't close the thumb so I adjusted the pattern by following the full glove pattern for knitting a thumb.

2) I like long cuffs so I added 2 rows to the wrist between the cuff and the thumb gusset. This worked well for Sarah's glittens but I think the next time I make them for me I'll add at least 4 more rows between the cuff and thumb gusset and an additional 1/2" on the cuff.

3) These patterns are worked with two needles so there are seams. However, I did not follow the instructions by binding the mitt top off and sewing a seam. Instead I grafted the final row to make a smooth top to the mitten. I purled two stitches together in the final row of the mitt(to get down to an even # of stitches) and divided the stitches onto two needles and grafted. A very nice top for the mitten!

4) I have had 100% success from the great grafting instructions found in the book Sweater Workshop by Jacqueline Fee.

My Ravelry project page for Glittens.