baby afghan

I have been busy this past month. The main project that I've been working on is a baby afghan.

This is an interesting afghan in many ways. In my search for the pattern I found out that it has been published a few places under two different names. The pattern, by Terry Kimbrough, was published in the book Vanna's Afghans A to Z which I've had for years. It is called Whispers of White. It was also published under the name Welcome Home in other publications.


You can also find it in the books Terry mentions on her Ravelry page:
Leisure Arts #2853 Our Best Baby Afghans
Leisure Arts #3267 The Best of Terry Kimbrough Baby Afghans
Leisure Arts #1422 Rock-a-Bye Wraps to Crochet

You can purchase the individual Welcome Home pattern on Leisure Arts web site as a digital download. That is what I did and then I realized I already had it in the Vanna book under the Whispers of White name.

The other interesting thing is that there is an error in the scallops part of the pattern in every place I've located it. heh It's a tiny error - well, at least to me it is an error - but it sure confused me. Once I got that figured out, it wasn't difficult at all. The body of the afghan was very easy to do.

Here is a closeup of the scallops, before and after edging was added. Scallops are made individually. In other words, you finish off each scallop.

So here's the deal about the scallops. In this row I think there is a missing ch-1.

As published:
Row 2: Ch 3, slip st in end of next row, turn; 9 dc in ch-5 sp, slip st in end of next row: 10 dc
In my opinion, it should be:
Row 2: Ch 3, slip st in end of next row, ch 1, turn; 9 dc in ch-5 sp, slip st in end of next row: 10 dc

You can turn and then ch-1 if you prefer (which I do).

[Update: I contacted Leisure Arts and they say there is no error. The pattern stands as is. My opinion is still that you need that ch-1, but you should try it with and without and use the one that pleases you.]

This makes a difference because if you don't ch-1 then you have a strand that crosses over.

The chains are in the other rows, but is missing in that one. Rows 1 and 2 use a ch-1. Rows 3 and 4 use a ch-2. 

Things to be aware of in this pattern. Not errors, just things that might confuse.
At the end of Row 1 you do NOT slip stitch. You move right on to Row 2 where you chain 3 and then do the slip stitch thing. This is important because if you add a "slip stitch in end of next row"right there you will be missing a "next" on the last row.

Note that it says the ch-3 counts as a stitch. That includes those that appear to be lying down. :-)

Because I wasn't paying attention, I finished off after the last one where it says do not finish off. LOL It makes no difference, however. I just joined and followed the rest of the instructions. Note that you DO finish off after all the other scallops. Each scallop is made individually. Yes, you have to sew in all those ends.

One thing I might mention. At the corners you are working (sc, ch 3, sc, ch 3, sc). I wasn't clear what was actually considered the corner. There is a dip where the ribbon will go on the sides. Is that the "corner"? In the end I think it should have been there on the sides but I haven't added the ribbon yet so I'm still not sure. (My ribbon hasn't come in yet.)

The pattern calls for an F hook. I used a G hook. This made my afghan a bit longer than it say so I will need more ribbon than it calls for.

I used Knit Picks Brava Sport yarn in Sky blue. I ordered five skeins and used every bit of them for the body of the afghan. I ordered two more for the scallops, but one was enough. 

I had a problem with the skein. I cut out a whole bunch of fuzzy spots and knots. Mostly fuzzy spots.  This skein was the same dye lot as the others. On the others I did cut out a few but not nearly as many as on this skein. Fortunately, I wound the skein before starting and caught all but one of them that way.

Here's a sampling of the fuzzies. Maybe some people would not have cut them out, but I did.

This is what I ended up with after cutting out the pieces. I wound it by hand because I have to feel the bits that are thick or knotted. If I do it with the machine, I miss them.

I did write to Knit Picks and they quickly replied that they were sorry and would replace the defective skein. Kudos to Knit Picks! It just struck me as funny that only the one skein (so far) was troublesome. I have four more skeins in that dye lot. I rewound one of the others and had to cut out only one section. Very strange.

I've also made some squares and cradles but will save those for another post.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

temperature afghan

I have completed another temperature afghan. I know - surprise! It is a surprise for my daughter.

If you are interested in making one, I have complete information as to how to get your info into a Word document in the temperature scarf post. If you don't want to go to all that trouble, just get the info from Wunderground and either write it down or work from the computer. You could also take a screen shot. There are ways around it. I enjoy the process so I took the long road. :-)

If you're looking for the seed stitch (moss, linen or whatever) pattern I used, you can find it in this post.

Finished size of this ghan is about 44" x 73".

The yarn used was Knit Picks Brava Sport. Most of it was leftover from the other two afghans. The only yarn I bought was the canary (see post ranting about Etsy experience). The reason I had to buy that one was my own fault. I thought I had enough and turned out I'd mistaken two skeins of caution for the canary in the poor lighting in my closet. If I'd realized my error I could have used the caution instead of the canary but oh well, that's how it goes. I was able to get 25 rows to a skein using a G hook and the KPBS yarn with a foundation chain of 226.

Colors are:
30s Mulberry
40s Wine
50s Solstice Heather
60s Tranquil
70-72 Cornflower
73-79Marina
80-85 Canary
86-89 Paprika
90 Persimmon
91 Seashell
93-99 Red






I put a little different edging on this one to differentiate it from the boys' ghans. First round is the (sc, ch 1, sk 1) edging. Then I added a (sc, ch 2, 2 dc, sk) pattern around. The skip is whatever looks right. It does wave a little bit and I redid one section because it was too much in my opinion. I'm pleased with it overall now. You can see the edging in this photo of the afghan folded over to show the difference in seasons. The 80s begin in April and continue through the beginning of October.

I didn't have quite as much trouble with cutting out knots because I rolled most of the skeins ahead of time. I missed a few but not many. This also impacted how I worked the rows. If I ended up with a small ball due to having to cut out a knot or thick/thin spot, then I kept that aside for when I needed that color for only one row. All in all, it worked out with a lot less frustration for me.

I continued to use my stitch markers at the beginning and end of each row and to mark the end of a month in case I needed to go back there for some reason. I believe this prevented me from messing up and having to rip since I'm usually doing something else while crocheting. I think this was a time saver.

So that's three temperature afghans and I'm done with those for a while. I find the preparation process fun but would prefer to hand off the actual crocheting to someone else. LOL That said, I'm happy to be able to say I made them and happy the receipients will have this reminder of their birth year.

After completing the afghan, I washed it, then snipped the little bits that sneak out. With this many tails to sew in, that's bound to happen.

Next up, more cradles and some placemats.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

nameghans

Crocheting seems to have fallen by the wayside lately. Though I haven't been as focused on it as I usually am, I have not completely abandoned crochet. I have been working on the name afghans for my grandchildren. You may remember that I was considering taking apart my first grandson's name afghan in order to add my second grandson's name. I even made two separate afghans with both names which I shared in another post while trying to decide what to do.

Well, I did decide. What I decided was to make a completely separate afghan for grandson #2 with his name and keep the first afghan as it was.

Here is the one I just finished.

Both ghans are exactly the same size - 38" x 39". Each name took one full skein. The letters were made individually and then sewn together. Some names required a couple of "blanks" so the stripes would all be the same size. Each individual letter was edged in single crochet, then the entire piece was edged with (sc, ch 2, 2 dc, sk 2) It's an edging I use pretty often. As I went to start the edging I couldn't find the hook I intended to use (and had been using recently) and had to substitute. It still came out okay I think. I still haven't found that hook. LOL

As to the yarns, I've lost most of the labels. They are all either Knit Picks Brava Sport or Deramores Stylecraft Special DK. Here's what I think they are. KPBS Almond for the edging (that is correct because it was purchased especially for this ghan), SSDK Burgundy, KPBS Cobblestone Heather, KPBS Brindle, SSDK Khaki. I had two skeins of the green and brown so those names use the same yarn. I only had one skein of the red and grey.

I love working on name afghans and other filet projects of all kinds. I hope to get back to the filet dish/wash cloths I was making a while back and I have yarn coming in for bulky scarves.

I actually gave away all the small balls of yarn and even some full skeins that I felt I would never use. I wanted the room for other things. That said, I still have a couple of bins filled with yarn and projects. The yarn is mostly leftover from Doctor Who scarves.

So what am I doing with the time I used to spend on crochet? I've been doing adult coloring. I was gifted Jenean Morrison's 2016 coloring calendar book and have been enjoying working on that. I also am in a family coloring group where we post a picture once a week from the same book. That is a lot of fun as even though they are the same picture, the coloring is so different on each one. Just as in crochet, coloring takes supplies which cost money. Both also allow one to use whatever creativity skills one has. You can see some of my coloring sheets at Crafty Corral.

That's all for today.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

Rocketghan almost complete

The rocketghan is *this close* to being done. This project was begun end of September 2015. Let's say it's taken about 3 1/2 months. The yo-yos, antennae and mouth still need to be added. I will add a picture to this post when it's finished.

Here are the details on this ghan.

First I needed a pattern, of course, and this was provided in a chart made by my daughter. 

Then I decided on the pattern I wanted for the squares. They had to be rather small to get a proper picture and not make the ghan too large since it is for a child. I decided to use three rounds of the  crossed stitch square (see Crochet Cabana pattern page under Kate Smith), but you could use regular granny squares just as easily. Eventually the pattern will be up at Crochet Cabana, but it may be a while.

More often than I liked, I would be working on a round and then run into a knot in the yarn. Rather than have two additional strands to sew in, I abandoned that square and put it aside. If this happens to you, my suggestion is to NOT throw those incomplete squares away. I used the yarn to sew together the odd squares that I could not assemble with one of the long strands. That way I didn't have to use more of the skein itself. Always thrifty with yarn.

I made all the Red, Sunshine, Peapod, Silver and Cobblestone Heather squares first and assembled those, sewing in as many tails as I could as I went. I also made the yo-yos. I then started on the Asphalt Heather (black) squares, using them first to complete the rocket itself, then assembling around the rocket for the finished look.

Another option would be to make all the squares first, then assemble them row by row or column by column in proper order. In some ways I wish I would have done that, but since I didn't have all my yarn when I began, this is how it worked out.

Tip: Be sure to join squares with one of the colors in the squares. I made a mistake in a couple of spots where I used, for example, a green strand I had lying there to join black and red squares. This shows more and I regret doing that. I should have used red or black to join those two squares. In one spot I was able to snip the inappropriate color and replace it.

There will still be lots and lots of tails to sew in, but by working on them throughout the project instead of leaving them all until the end, you'll get breaks and it won't be so overwhelming. I tried to sew all my center tails in before assembly. It still took me a week to sew them all in.

Size: 38" x 65"

Materials:
G hook, sport yarn as below (for reference I got 27 squares out of one skein of Silver)
1 skein Knit Picks Brava Sport Peapod (green)
1 skein Knit Picks Brave Sport Cobblestone Heather (dk grey)
1 skein Knit Picks Brava Sport Silver (lt grey)
8 skeins Knit Picks Brava Sport Asphalt Heather (black)
1 skein Knit Picks Brava Sport Red
1 skein Stylecraft Special DK Sunshine or Knit Picks Brava Sport Caution (yellow/orange)
1 skein Knit Picks Brava Sport Canary (you could use the Sunshine/Caution to make the yo-yos if you like, eliminating the Canary)
about 7 yards of royal blue (enough for a yo-yo with an extra long tail for sewing onto afghan)
about 7 yards of purple (enough for a yo-yo with an extra long tail for sewing onto afghan)

Number of squares needed (leave a long tail at least 16" for assembly)
There are 286 total squares - 13 rows by 22 columns.
4 Sunshine or Caution
10 Peapod
17 Red
18 Cobblestone Heather
54 Silver
183 Asphalt Heather (286 - 103 colored squares)

Number of yo-yos needed
(A YO-YO is 16 dc worked into the ring with no chains between them. To see if I have enough worsted weight yarn, I wrap yarn loosely around a 12" ruler 8 times (in other words 8 12" lengths or 8 feet, that means front and back of the ruler - once around - is 2 lengths). Don't stretch it. Just loosely wind around the length of the ruler. This will to some degree depend on the yarn.)

10 Canary (or Sunshine/Caution)
2  peapod
2 red
2 blue
2 purple


Assemble squares as per chart.

Assemble yo-yos as per chart. Here is a picture showing approximate placement before being sewn on.

Mouth: fashion mouth with a long single strand of black yarn
Antennae: fashion antennae per picture with 2 long strands of peapod

Edging is 3 rounds. First round is single crochet with asphalt heather. Where the corners met, I worked one single crochet in each corner and one in the join. Second round is single crochet worked in silver. At the corners I worked the modified sc3tog, which is basically a 2 sc decrease.

Here are the detailed instructions on the edging.

Modified sc3tog: Insert hook in next st, yarn over and pull through st but not loop on hook, insert in next st, yarn over and pull through st (3 loops on hook), insert hook in next st, yarn over and pull through st (4 loops on hook), yarn over and pull through 2 loops (3 loops on hook), yarn over and pull through all three remaining loops 

Edging:
Round 1: Using asphalt heather, single crochet around, working (sc, hdc, sc) in corners. At side joins, work 1 sc in each corner space and 1 in the join. Join with sl st to beg sc.

Round 2: Join silver in any corner space. Work (sc, hdc, sc) in this and every corner. Work sc around. At joins between squares work the modified sc3tog. This will give you a li le bit of a puffy spot. Join with sl st to beg sc.

Note: I chose silver but you can use any of the colors for Round 2. My reasoning was that silver would blend into the night sky best...?


Round 3: Join asphalt heather, single crochet around, working (sc, hdc, sc) in corners. Join with a sl st to beg sc. 

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

nameghans

I thought I had posted this, but apparently I started it and didn't finish it. So here is a two-in-one post.

The narrow nameghan was completed a couple weeks ago. The finished size is about 25"  x 54". Long and skinny. :-) The picture shows the afghan folded over so it is about a third wider than it looks.

The yarn used is
Knit Picks Brava Sport Paprika (rust)
Knit Picks Brava Sport Walnut (brown)
Knit Picks Brava Sport Sienna (brown)
Knit Picks Brava Sport Brindle (brown)
Stylecraft Special DK Lipstick (red)
Stylecraft Special DK Khaki (green)
Stylecraft Special DK Plum (purple)
Hayfield shade 0792 Moss Green
Knit Picks Brava Sport Almond (cream) for edging

Each strip is edged in one round of single crochet in the same color as the strip, then edged again in almond, also in single crochet. I left a very long tail in the almond which was used for whipstitch assembly in back loops. The border around the entire afghan is (sc, ch 2, 2 dc, sk 2).

Though I wish it would be wider, I'm please with the resulting look. It actually works quite nicely as a shawl.

I also just finished a second one-piece where I made the individual strips a bit wider. My foundation chain was 137 (67 columns). After edging it ended up 36" x 38 1/2", a nice lapghan size. 

Yarn used was all DK or sport that I had on hand. I am not sure about the maroonish color but the others are

Knit Picks Brava Sport Walnut (brown at the top)
Knit Picks Brava Sport Persimmon (peachish second stripe)
Hayfield shade 0792 Moss Green (after the maroon)
Stylecraft Special DK Lipstick (red)
Knit Picks Brava Sport Sienna (brown FAMILY stripe)

Each stripe has a name in filet. I colored them out in the photo.

Just as in the one above afghan, each strip of this one was edged in the same color with a round of single crochet and then an additional round of single crochet in almond, leaving a long tail for assembly. When all strips were assembled, I edged with a round of (sc, ch 2, 2 dc, sk 2) round.

I ordered additional almond skeins and also skeins of a different neutral color - Camel Heather - to see which I like best, with the thought of adding a name to the original lapghan.

I also will start back to work on the picture afghan I was working on. I had started making black squares when I got sidetracked with names. Truthfully, filet is my thing at the moment so I enjoyed the distraction. I will be making more dishcloths in filet soon. 

I am also sorely tempted by Knit Pick's Learn to Knit Club. I have tried knitting a number of times but it hasn't taken yet. :-) At the least I can get three dishcloths out of the kit if I decide to do it. If I can't pick up the knitting, I can always make them in crochet. ;-)

That's all for now.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

Robotghan complete

I actually worked on this blog a few days ago but was waiting to get the pattern up at the web site and then forgot to come back and post the blog. LOL

So... The robotghan is done! 

Daughter and I collaborated on this project. Of course, she designed the pattern so that was the first and most important part. Then she sewed on the "extras" - the eyes, mouth etc. 

I made and assembled the squares and did the edging.

The details posted earlier are slightly altered as I actually did measurement and countings and such.

Of course, I didn't follow the original chart (do I EVER work a pattern as it's designed? LOL), so daughter revised the chart for me and it looks really cool. The pattern is available at Crochet Cabana (under Kate Smith) and will be at Ravelry later on. The details here are included in the pattern.

I used a G hook throughout.

The squares are 3 rounds and came out about 3" (7.62 cm according to Google). They will appear slightly smaller after assembly. Leave a very long tail, about 15", for assembly. You will still have to sew in the remainder but you won't have to join additional yarn for assembly. Believe me, you will have plenty enough tails to sew in! 

I suggest sewing the center tails in as you go as you will appreciate it at the end. It's hard to go round and round with a full afghan in your lap. With regard to using the adjustable ring, make sure you go around that area a few times when sewing in tails and perhaps even up a round, to make sure it doesn't come undone in the wash. It ends up a very small area after you close up the hole and you want enough tail woven there to keep it from unraveling.

You can, of course, use larger squares if you want a larger afghan. Grandson is going to be 2 so I didn't want it TOO large. Remember it will be rectangular and the wider you make it, the longer it will also be unless you decide you want a short, stocky robot. 

Materials:
G hook
Knit Picks Brava Sport Silver (light grey)
Knit Picks Brava Sport Celestial (blue)
Stylecraft Special DK Graphite (dark grey)
Stylecraft Special DK Sunshine (yellow, almost orange)

The robot uses
38 light grey squares
23 dark grey squares
60 yellow squares
110 blue squares
18 yo-yos

I began each yo-yo with an adjustable ring and there are 16 dc in center. You can find info on yo-yos at Crochet Cabana with a video.

Because the squares are whipstitched together, it adds virtually no width or length to the squares. In fact, I found it made the squares slightly smaller so that even after assembly and the edging was added, the size was about 39" x 69". (13 squares x 23 squares)

The robot itself was 50" tall and about 20 1/2" across at the feet.

There were, as I have said before, a lot of tails to weave in. This was not too difficult, just time consuming. It took me three days to get them all done. Bits of caution on that point ... Not to make too much bulk under any one spot, you may want to weave some tails vertically and some horizontally and some even diagonally or in multiple directions. Try not to go back over the same area such that you pull out what you've already done. 

Here is a picture of the back of the ghan. If you look closely you can see tiny bits where the yo yos were sewn on and the tails woven in. This is unavoidable unless you use blues and greys for the yo-yos. I liked the bits of color. If you work carefully you can reduce the show-through. We used some worsted yo-yos that were already made which were a little thicker than the DK of the main afghan, for convenience.

I'm thinking if you make the yo-yos in thin yarn there will be smaller threads to sew in and you could maybe hide them better. Just a thought. Overall, however, there is very little showing.

The finishing touch was the edging. I worked all rounds in single crochet, using (sc, hdc, sc) in corners. The first round is blue and the second yellow, with the final round also in blue. I have more details in the actual pattern.

I think it looks great! Grandson saw it briefly and loved it! I had to sneak it out again to finish the edging and hold for his birthday in a couple of weeks.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

Robot Afghan almost done

I am repeating this info to have everything all together. Last I blogged, I had planned not to put additional squares but rather work around with dc. I changed my mind after I looked at it. I had almost enough yellow squares to go all the way around which would mean I didn't have to make as many blue ones so I decided to go that way. (I had started making yellow squares while waiting for the blue and grey yarn to come in and had made way more than I needed for the original pattern.)

The squares are 3 rounds of daughter's cross-stitch square and come out about 3" square. The pattern can be found at Crochet Cabana under Kate Smith. I left a very long tail, about 15", for assembly. You still have to sew in the remainder but you won't have to join additional yarn for assembly.

You can, of course, you use larger squares if you want a larger afghan. Grandson is going to be 2 so I didn't want it TOO large. Remember to consider that it will be rectangular and the wider you make it, the longer it will also be. 

The yarn is Knit Picks Brava Sport Silver (light grey) and Celestial (blue) and Stylecraft Special DK graphite (dark grey) and Sunshine (yellow, almost orange).

The robot uses 38 light grey squares, 23 dark grey squares, 60 yellow squares and 110 blue squares.

After I sew the tails in, if I have time, I plan to do a round of single crochet to even out all the edges. I hope to have enough blue yarn to do this.

Because the squares are whipstitched together, it adds virtually no width or length to the squares. The size before any additional edging is approximately 39" x 69". (13 squares x 23 squares)

Daughter and I are considering whether to add eyes and mouth to the face.

Next time you should see a finished robot! I have about 3 more weeks to work on it.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

robot afghan wip

As you may recall, I was unable to crochet at all for about a month and then limited use of hand for a couple weeks after that. I am now almost fully able to crochet without pain so I've been slowly working on an afghan for my grandson. His birthday is coming up and he loves robots. His mom made up a chart for me.

 I was able to make a few squares a day for a while. I started putting them together and I've now got the robot portion of it done. It will pop out better once the edging is completed I think.

Because there are literally hundreds of tails to sew in for these small squares, I have decided to try a "regular" edging around the robot itself even though I have all the yellow squares already done and a few more of the blue completed. LOL You know how I hate sewing in those tails! I may add the other squares later if I have time. Not being able to crochet for a while messed up my timing.

Because of the nature of the robot it would naturally turn out longer than wide. I'm thinking I may add more rows to the sides first and then go around the entire thing. Still in the thinking stage at this point.

The squares are 3 rounds of daughter's cross-stitch square. At first I left a long tail 3x the width of the square but found that was not enough as it left only a short strand after assembling the squares. (If Lily Chin can leave small tails I can make do with these, eh?), so for the rest I left a very long tail, about 4x the size of the square. That is what I recommend using for assembly. You still have to sew in the remainder but it stops you from having to join additional yarn for assembly.

The squares are approximately 3". (If you want a larger afghan you can use larger squares but measure carefully. Remember I still have sides to do on this one.) Grandson is going to be 2 so I didn't want it TOO large. 

The yarn is Knit Picks Brava Sport Silver (light grey) and Celestial (blue) and Stylecraft Special DK graphite (dark grey). The yellow, if I end up using it, is Stylecraft Special DK Sunshine, very bright, almost orange.

The robot itself is now about 21" x 51". I didn't actually measure but given each square is 3" that should be about right. The robot uses 38 light grey squares, 23 dark grey squares and 57 blue squares if I counted correctly.

If you are brave enough to work all the squares on the chart as it is, you will need 32 yellow squares and a bunch more blue. I'll count it out for you on the post showing the completed afghan - don't expect that any time soon but I am hoping by mid October.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

Mothers_Day

My daughter is always making things for other people for Christmas and birthdays. I thought that this year for Mother's Day I would make her something. I'm not as clever as she is, but this is what I came  up with.

This name lapghan is about 38" x 39 1/2", not quite square. Each letter was made individually and then sewn together. I did it that way since the names are not of equal length and I thought it would be easier to make them come out even. I ended each piece with a long strand which I used to sew them together.

The colors I used were Hayfield Bonus DK Extra Value shade 0792 Moss Green and Shade 0766 Pumpkin, Stylecraft Special DK Copper, Currant, Plum and Mocha (edging), Knit Picks Brava Sport Paprika. 1 skein each color.

The edging is one round of single crochet in Mocha around each strip, and then one round single crochet around entire ghan. The last round is (sc, ch 2, 2 dc, sk 2) around. I finagled with the skip to get my corner stitch in the right place. :-)

Now case in point, daughter gave to ME for Mother's Day these beautiful bookmarkers. I could never do such delicate work myself. I've already used the little angel one.

The patterns are at Ravelry.
Suzie's Little Angel Bookmark by Suzetta Williams
Butterfly Bookmarks by Anna Pakura
Cross bookmarks by Rainbow Junkie

Her family also made a donation in my honor to supply expectant mothers in Rwanda, Malawi, Haiti and Lesotho with new, sterile medical equipment and childbirth kits.What a wonderful thing to do. Making a difference in a very special way.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

Doctor Who Season 14 dc scarf

Now that I remembered about it, I finished up that Season 14 scarf. I sewn in all the tails in one night and put the fringe on today.

Details:
Yarn: 
Stylecraft Special DK Copper, Khaki, Burgundy, Graphite, and Almond
Knit Picks Brava Sport Brindle
Hayfield Bonus DK Extra Value Shade 0766 Pumpkin

Size 8 1/2" x 114" (9 1/2') including fringe

Stitches: ch 37 for 35 double crochets across. 

Hook: G

I cut my thumb the other day so haven't been doing any actual crocheting. That won't stop me for long though. :-)

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

Doctor Who scarves

Two Doctor Who Season 12 crocheted scarves are completed. Here is a pic of them before tails were sewn in and fringe/tassels added.

Details:
658 rows per scarf for a total of 1316 rows.
23030 stitches (35 per row) for each scarf for a total of 46060 stitches.
53 stripes of color per scarf for a total of 106 stripes done.

Just as a matter of curiosity I timed myself working a row and it took about 90 seconds. So 987 minutes per scarf or 1974 minutes for both. That is 16.45 hours per scarf or almost 33 hours of work for both scarves (if worked continuously and if I did my math correctly). So if you wanted to make one of these and you had only say a weekend to make it, you could do it if you worked really hard at it. :-)

Remember you have to sew all those tails in and add the fringe too. The fringe will straighten that curly section. Let's say add 3 hours for that. I don't know how long it took. (BTW, there were in the area of 100 tails on EACH scarf!) I watched several episodes of Smallville while I took care of those things. ;-)

Let's estimate then that it took about 20 hours per scarf or 40 hours for two.

If one were to purchase one of these scarves at the minimum hourly wage ($7.25) it would cost $145 per scarf or $290 for two scarves, not counting materials. 

Material cost was $20.83 for yarn plus shipping/handling for one scarf. Let's conservatively say that shipping was about 6. So materials and labor would amount to approximately $172 for one scarf and $317 for two.

To summarize - for one scarf, about 8" wide - 20 hours @ $7.25 plus $27 for materials = $172.

Why am I telling you all this? Well, because people balk at paying over $200 for a custom made Doctor Who scarf, not to mention prices for other handmade items. By breaking it down, you can see that you are not getting fleeced. This is actually what it costs to make these items.

I might also mention that this scarf is a bit more than half the width of the actual 4th Doctor scarf so these figures are conservative if you were to hire out a screen accurate scarf. I also did not use the more expensive wool, but rather used a medium priced acrylic yarn.

Both scarves are exactly the same in color. 

Yarn used was:
Stylecraft Special DK Burgundy
Stylecraft Special DK Camel
Sirdar Hayfield Bonus DK Pumpkin
Stylecraft Special DK Copper
Knit Picks Brava Sport Cobblestone Heather
Stylecraft Special DK Khaki
Knit Picks Brava Sport Brindle

If you are working a scarf all these colors are good but I would suggest replacing Cobblestone Heather with Stylecraft Special DK Graphite. The heather works but the original was not heathered.

Each scarf used 1 skein of the above colors for the body. Fringe uses quite a bit of yarn, but I was able to do 9 "tassels" on each end with the leftover from the two scarves. The original scarf had 12 but it was also wider.

I used a G hook and single crochet throughout, starting with a chain of 36. The finished width is about 8". (Original scarf was more in the 10-12" range and knitted). As always with yarn, even with the same manufacturer the thickness is not exactly the same which makes them work up slightly different.

Gauge is approx. 5 sc rows in 1".

The first two stripes of the first scarf were worked February 21. Then I had to wait for yarn. I really consider them begun February 28. They were completed as in picture 1 (with tails dangling) on Thursday, 3-12-2015 with fringe attached last night (March 15, 2015). That said, it really took 2 weeks working my little fingers steadily each day. That's pretty quick! I amazed even myself, but I did want to get these out quickly and I like having a goal in mind when I'm working.

Both scarves in my hall

Measurement was 11'5" relaxed, 11'7" stretched

Laid out on sofa

Closeup

I'm pretty happy with the way these two turned out. Next up, I'm going to use the rest of my yarn to make a double crochet Season 14 version. After that, I hope to make a Season 15 - which I've never done - probably using Vanna's Choice yarn since it's readily available, but we'll see how it goes.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

Doctor Who baby afghan 1

 One Doctor Who baby afghan... done!

You will remember that this is a complete scarf pattern using the inches knit pattern at doctorwhoscarf.com . However, it is not worked to the inch scale but rather uses the number of inches noted to work 4 rows to each inch. In other words, if the notation was 3" then I worked 12 rows (3 x 4), for 6 inches I'd work 24 rows (6 x 4) but the respective bits would not measure 3" or 6".

I used a G hook and single crochet for all rows. The strips have a sc edging around and are joined with a whipstitch. The outer edging is (sc, ch 2, 2 dc, sk 2) all around.

Each strip is 174 rows.

Yarn - 1 skein each though I didn't use the full skeins ...
Purple - Stylecraft Special DK Burgundy
Camel -  Stylecraft Special DK Camel
Mustard - Big Value shade 671 (thinner than rest)
Rust - Stylecraft Special DK Copper
Grey - Stylecraft Special DK Graphite
Greenish Brown - Stylecraft Special DK Khaki
Bronze - Knit Picks Brava sport Sienna (too dark, not enough red) 

To give a bit more explanation ....

The pattern starts with a chain of 35 in the burgundy at the lower left in the picture. I worked to the third camel stripe, but didn't finish that stripe. I ended the first strip a few rows in (5, I think). For the second strip, I had to work backwards. So I began with graphite (bottom center in the picture) and ended with the finish of the camel stripe at the top. That way the camel stripes were next to one another and continued the "scarf" pattern. Then for the last strip I began by finishing the graphite section (lower right) which was at the bottom of my 2nd scarf strip.

It needed a bit of thought. I would have preferred not to edge the strips, but in the end I decided to do it. It breaks up the flow of the strips some, but I think it works okay for the overall look.

Here's the picture of the WIP showing the flow.

The finished size of the strip baby afghan is about 26" x 38". I would have liked it a bit wider. One possibility for another ghan would be to work wider strips, say perhaps a ch 50 or 60.

The one piece Who scarf-afghan is almost complete as well. I am also working on a simple dc scarf for something different.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie