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

Mandalas for Marinke

At the end of June in 2015, a young lady named Marinke Slump (nicknamed Wink) lost her fight with depression and passed away. Her death led to an outpouring of grief and sadness, dare I say throughout the world. She was well known through her crochet blog and patterns. Her death was a shock but brought about an awareness of mental illness that had not perhaps been felt before.

Marinke's blog is still active. I think her sister periodically posts.

One person chose a very special way to honor Marinke and bring awareness to the plight of those suffering from depression. Kathryn Vercillo of Crochet Concupiscence put out a call for crocheted mandalas in Wink's honor. The effort is called Mandalas for Marinke. Little did she know the response would be so great.

Who is Kathryn Vercillo? You can read about her here.

You can also support Kathryn's work financially if you are so inclined. Refer to her Patreon page and this update for more information.

Here is Wink's story for Kathryn's book Crochet Saved My Life.

If you'd like to see all the articles written about the different mandala submissions, you can find them here.

I recently contacted Kathryn to get an update on the project, which entailed putting out a book of pictures of all the mandalas and an art display of the mandalas themselves.

Here is the update, directly from Kathryn.

Both the book and the art show are slated for 2017 after some unexpected delays that were caused by receiving a surprisingly large number of submissions. This is a wonderful thing, of course, and it just led to some changes in the format of both the show and the book. In short ...

- The book is completely written and almost all layout is complete. I have been waiting to publish until I get photos of all of the mandalas in one space together as I believe that has the most powerful visual impact. I have found it difficult to secure a large enough space to layout all of the mandalas in one place for photographing. I am still working on this although I've found some workarounds that I can implement if the full photo does not come through. The book is to be published in advance of the early summer anniversary of Marinke's death. A notice will be sent as soon as I have a specific publication date. 

- I really wanted to keep all of the mandalas together for one cohesive art show. I completely underestimated how difficult it is to find a space to host a full exhibition. The few spaces available in San Francisco are prohibitively expensive, so I've been looking into varied options (hosting it elsewhere, with a few options available in Tucson, AZ to start, and separating the work into smaller pieces for exhibition in different spaces). I have two meetings in the next month for possibilities - one with a hospital to hang pieces locally and another with an amazing performance art troupe that may be interested in incorporating them into a mental health themed performance. So it's all still being worked out; the art world moves much more slowly than I knew but it's happening step by step.

There are a couple of other things of note regarding Marinke. Her sister-in-law Christina created an afghan pattern with Marinke's standard mandala patterns. You can find the afghan pattern here and here. The second article contains a few interesting little tidbits to go along with the mandala posts. It's a gorgeous afghan. A great way to honor Wink's memory.

This CAL is the last thing Marinke was working on in the crochet world. The CAL is long over but the patterns are still up and I imagine you can still buy the yarn. The complete CAL is available as a pdf. The only U.S. outlet I saw listed was Paradise Fibers, but I also saw Deramores listed (U.K.) and I've ordered from them several times. They are quick and efficient. Sometimes there is even free shipping if you purchase a certain amount. Of course, you can download the patterns and use whatever yarn you wish.

IMPORTANT: Note that the instructions for the CAL use UK terms, not US terms.

And listed in reverse in case you're trying to translate the patterns from Scheepjes.
UK      =       US
sl st (slip stitch) = sl
ch (chain) = ch
dc (double crochet) = sc
htr (half treble) = hdc
tr (treble) = dc
dtr (double treble) = tr
ttr (triple treble) = dtr
quad tr (quadruple treble) = ttr

There is a  Facebook group for the CAL. I don't know if people are still working on it as I'm not a member but the group still exists.

This is the CAL afghan as pictured on Scheepjes web site. They offer three different color palettes.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

heart afghan

I am back to the purple heart squares afghan. 

The square pattern is the nursery hearts pattern by Leisure Arts. It's a very popular pattern and one I've used many times. You can currently purchase it at Leisure Arts web site for $5.99 as a digital download. I decided to put half the squares right side up and the other half facing down so it can be turned either way.
I am using Baby Bee Sweet Delights Sugarplum (purple) and BBSD Charming. It's a #3 light weight yarn so I'm using a G hook.  

I've edged 24 squares in green - 12 sugarplum and 12 charming - and assembled them. I have begun sewing in the tails which are cleverly hidden in the picture. :-) I left long tails on the green edging for assembly. That was tricky because I had to make sure the tail came out in the right place since half of them were to be assembled upside down. I succeeded in most cases.

The present size is about 34" x 48". 

Now here's the dilemma. I have 5 more squares made, ready to be edged and I have the yarn to do that and an edging around the entire afghan. That would make it approximately 42" x 48", more squarish. However, I don't have any more Sugarplum so I'd have to wait to get more of that if the local Hobby Lobby has some. On the other hand the size it is now is not a bad size for a crib afghan.

What to do oh what to do.

Well, I'll do what I always do. Put it aside until I decide and work on something else.

The something else will be a small doll blanket to go with the alphabet afghan. It will be the numbers 1-9. Problem there is that I don't have any more pumpkin and very little teal. I have plenty of peach and enough of the aqua and sky to make squares so it depends on how it goes. I may not put all the colors in the dollyghan.

I also now have the yarn (except for freesia - I will probably substitute another color since there are only a few rows of that) for the temperature afghan. That will be started soon.

As some may have heard, we've had an unexpected death in the family (in-laws). Prayers appreciated for the family.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

temperature afghan

For a while now, I've had in the back of my mind to do a temperature afghans. Well, the time has come. I've done some research and some figuring and have a few ideas of how I want to go about it.

Before I start, here are some links that might be useful if you want to embark on this mission as well.

Firstly, if you want to work on an afghan based on temperatures from a past year, have no fear. There is a way to do that. Consult Wunderground's history database. Choose custom and give the range of date from January 1 to December 31 of the year you've chosen. If you're going to work in the current year, then you just have to wait and see what temperature the day brings. :-)

Here are a few sites with information on temperature afghans. I'm sure there are many more, but these are the ones I consulted.

Michael Sellick's The Crochet Crowd http://thecrochetcrowd.com/crochet-temperature-afghans/

Margaret McClaren's Stitching in the Woods
http://stitchinginthewoods.mclarenfamilycrafts.com/2015/12/10/temperature-blanket-crochet/

Yarn Inspirations http://blog.yarnspirations.com/crochet-temperature-afghans/ 

Each of these give pattern suggestions. Keep in mind, however, that if you are doing daily rows for a year, you will have 365 rows. That's a lot of rows. That is probably the reason it is said most people use single crochet for their afghans.

That said, I had a couple of other ideas for this afghan.

An afghan pattern noted on Facebook says that 9 rows = 4" in her pattern. If we take that as true for this particular pattern, then your afghan would be about 13 feet long. That's pretty long. That pattern is not in single crochet. However, I was looking at my own patterns and I have a similar shell pattern that is worked in columns. I think if one divides up the rows into four columns you could get a manageable size even with 365 rows. That will entail some figuring, however.

Here's what I'm thinking - and I have not done any actual swatches to verify yet. If I work 91 rows about 10" wide, four of those would give me a piece about 40-45" wide and the same length.

Another option I am considering is to use a seed stitch (also called moss stitch and linen stitch). I'm thinking probably three columns in that case and making them wider.

Years ago (2005 apparently), I made several afghans using the seed stitch option. This stitch is worked (sc, ch 1, sk 1). Then on the next row you work your sc into the chain space. It is a multiple of 2. Rows begin and end with a sc in my pattern.

Here's an example of one. It is a scrap afghan, NOT a temperature afghan.

In looking back at the pattern I wrote up, I do give possible number of rows as an option. This is using an I hook and worsted weight yarn.
160 rows = 40”
201 rows = 50”
250 rows = 62”
300 rows = 75”

I also noted that 9 rows = 2". If that works out to be true, then you could conceivably get an afghan about 81" long (almost 7 feet). That is long but much shorter than 13 feet! That is not even breaking it up into columns but working single column rows.

Given I can figure all the above out and decide on a pattern, the next step is colors.

The link above gives a temperature gauge and is available as a pdf file. You may or may not want to use the suggested colors. You  may also want to change the range of temperatures on the gauge depending on where you live and what temperatures you can expect to have throughout your year. Of course if you are working from a past year, you have all the data already so you can have a look and see what will work for you.

In my backyard we have a long period of hot temperatures. We can get cold here too, but it is generally for a short period of time and sporadic. The high is rarely very cold though the low can be. It should make for an interesting afghan though.

Your warmer colors are yellow, yellow-orange, orange, red-orange, red, and red-violet and everything in between those colors.

Your cooler colors are violet, blue-violet, blue, blue-green, green, and yellow-green and everything in between those colors.

I will talk more about my progress in the coming days.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

ribbonghan

My last crocheting hours have been spent working on a cancer ribbon awareness afghan. The pattern can be found at Crochet Cabana. 

I used Caron Natura yarn which is discontinued. I found some on Ebay. Although this is a No Dye Lot yarn, different skeins DO look different, so buyer beware if you're picking some up to finish a project. I was fortunate to find 11 skeins in one lot. I tried to buy 2 additional skeins but when they came in, they were not only different from the skeins I already had, but were different from one another. No worries. They will get used eventually, but I didn't want to use them for this ghan.

The ghan is 12 squares. Each square took one of the 3 ounce skeins with a small ball leftover. With the leftover balls I was able to get square #12 and do the edging. There are 6 ribbon squares and 6 plain squares. I left a long tail 4x the width of the square and used that to assemble with a whipstitch. I assembled the four rows first and then put the rows together. Edging is (sc, ch 2, 2 dc, sk 2).

This yarn is a little stiff when working but soften beautifully upon washing.

Each square is about 13 1/2" . With that in mind, I'm going to say it is about 40" x 54". I used almost all of the 33 ounces. If you're buying 3 ounce skeins, I would buy one skein for every square you want to make.

I used an I hook for the main body of the square and an H for the sc edging around each square.

It will be heading off to the recipient today.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

Ghans ghans and more ghans

Earlier in the year I made a name afghan for my daughter. As it happens, she is now expecting our second grandson. I was thinking I needed to add our new grandson's name to the afghan or create another afghan including him.

I started out deciding to make a new afghan, but rather than using individual letters as in the first one, I would make them one piece. Well, this was poorly thought out as the one piece names are much narrower than the individual lettered names. :-( I forgot to take into account that there would be twice the space between each letter than in the one piece. I don't know where my brain was that day. I could easily have added those stitches in. In any case I did two of each name as one piece. Then I borrowed the original afghan and noticed the difference in width.

What to do oh what to do. Well, those one piece names are made so I will probably assemble them and make an afghan out of them. I have some almond yarn to edge each name and put a border around the entire thing. I haven't started to do that yet. I could conceivably rip those back as I have enough of the same yarns to increase the width between letters I think. But you know, who would do that? LOL They are made. I really enjoy working filet pieces so it was not a hardship to do. It wouldn't even be a hardship to redo them really.

Now for the afghan that is already finished I am staring at it and wondering if I am able to take it apart without damaging it. I think it is possible. My concern is where the tails are sewn in on the border. I am crazy with sewing in tails and they could be anywhere. heh

I completed enough letters to make two names. BUT - you know there is always a but - I forgot to take into account that the names are not the same length. The longest name has 8 letters. The new name has 6 so while I had enough yarn to make 12 letters and three blanks. I need another blank. I THOUGHT I had another skein of Knit Picks Brindle, but alas I do not. So what to do, what to do. Ordering one skein with shipping and handling added seems impractical. Of course, I could always put those letters aside and make new letters with a different color and I may well do that.

I haven't decided yet what I'm going to do, but I will sew together the letters I do have because ... well, why not? LOL

I am also thinking if I completely started over I could order more yarn in different colors for each name. And well, who doesn't like to get new yarn to play with? LOL

I share this with you so you can see that although I have been crocheting for many, many years I still screw up more often than I might like to admit. LOL

I also am not finished the other afghan though I have completed most of the picture part. Can you guess?

Also I made a couple of dish/wash cloths and forgot to put up pics of them. These are still from the When Granny Meets Filet book which I totally love.

I also wanted to mention a cowl pattern that I found today. I like the idea of buttons and she has a full tutorial demonstrating how to make the cowl, add the buttons and her method of sewing in the tails. It is the Earth Fairy Button Cowl. You can find the text pattern with a link to the video tutorial here. It is also available on Ravelry but the Ravelry link sends you to this page anyway. :-)

That's all for now. I'll keep you guessing as to what I will eventually decide to do. *heading to Knit Picks to look at yarn* :-)

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

Jacob's Ladder

The Jacob's Ladder is finished.

Finished size is about 42" x 47".

Details: Foundation chain 212 with an I hook. I used a 10, 10, 10 pattern. 10 double crochets, 10 chains, 10 double crochets. The last two rows were 10, 8, 10.

Yarn used (some more than once):
Vanna's Choice Purple
Vanna's Choice Beige
Vanna's Choice Pink
Vanna's Choice White
I Love This Yarn Antique Teal
Red - not sure which yarn
Vanna's Choice Mustard,
I Love This Yarn Terra Cotta
I Love This Yarn Greybeard
I Love This Yarn Royal
Pink (might be Giggles)
I Love This Yarn Light Taupe
Knit Picks Cream

I would estimate that each 5 row stripe takes about two and a half ounces. That is VERY much an estimate. Most of the skeins were full skeins and I had some left over.

I used stitch markers to hold the ladder cables in place until I worked the edging.

The edging is I Love This Yarn Terra Cotta. It is one round of double crochet except for sc at the top ladder cable (where it goes up) and triple crochet at the bottom ladder section (where it dips down - you're working upside down remember).

If you don't know how to work the Jacob's Ladder pattern, I have videos at my YouTube Channel working an afghan and a scarf.

Beth Ham also has a wonderful video demonstrating this stitch (which I learned from her web site). There are 3 parts to Beth's video series. Beth uses dc for her edging as I do here. I think in my video I used hdc for the edging. Either works. It really depends on your tension which determines what you need to make your edging straight. I always enjoy Beth's videos and highly recommend them.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

Jacob's Ladder

The Jacob's Ladder throw is going well. Foundation chain was 212. I am working a 10 dc, 10 ch, 10 dc pattern.

The yarns I've used thus far as Vanna's Choice Purple, Vanna's Choice Beige, Vanna's Choice pink, Vanna's Choice White, I Love This Yarn Antique Teal ...

Here's a picture of a small portion as it stands now. As you know Jacob's Ladder is very wide before the ladders are worked. I did a wide first stripe, then am doing five rows of the mid-section colors since I don't know how much I will have of different colors. Then I plan to do a last wide section. We'll see how that works out. :-)

As I was pulling out different colors to use in this ghan I ran across a full skein of red yarn with no label. I started a row with it and was about a third of the way when I had to stop and cut out a section. Something told me I needed to take care with this skein. I decided to roll it up into balls first. This is the result. Each ball represents where I had to cut out either a knot or a thick section of yarn. Wild, huh?

It's almost getting too frustrating to crochet these days.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

Solas Caomh

Some time ago I posted a photo of the afghan my daughter made, the Solas Caomh. It's a beautiful cable baby afghan, very complex. I'm one proud Mom that she finished this. I started one and realized I would never enjoy the work as I would have to concentrate and not be able to do anything else while I worked, so I quit. She enjoys a challenge and persevered with this gorgeous result and was even able to hold a conversation while she worked. Oh to have my young brain again!

Now that pattern is available as part of a kit - three kits actually. You can find them here at Interweave Press (Crochet Me). The entry on that page has a slightly different name - Sojas Caomh rather than Solas Caomh, but if you click on an individual kit the name is correct. Google says that Solas Caomh means "gentle light", whereas Sojas means "soybeans" and caomh is not translated with that word. Guess you can't have gentle soybeans. heh Anyway, I wrote to them but the link should work regardless if you want to purchase the kit, or go to Ravelry and buy the pattern from Jodi Euchner for $5.50 and choose your own yarns. It takes 7 skeins of Brown Sheep cotton fleece according to the entry. The kit uses a different yarn for edging, but I personally like it one color.


Happy crocheting!
Sandie

alphabet afghan

Since I last popped in here I finished a scarf. It's plain dc. Finished size is about 8 1/2" x 66 1/2". The yarn is I Love This Yarn. I think it is the seablue tweed.

My next project - the Alphabet Baby Afghan - is in progress, but close to finishing. It is my own design.

I am making squares (really rectangles) with each one a letter of the alphabet in filet crochet. The alphabet is also my own design but nothing fancy, just a plain square alphabet. I am using ILTY again in pink, turquoise and a white tweed. You'd need 2 skeins of each.

Of course, as you can see from the picture I need just-this-much more turquoise. I used every bit of the other colors in this small ghan. I designed the pattern for a larger ghan as well but have not made one so I don't know how large it would come out to be.

I left long strands on each rectangle for assembly, but of course any assembly method would work. When I sit down to do it, I'll probably decide then how I want to join them.

I used ch 21 with an I hook for each rectangle and worked a single crochet edging around each square. The tail I left is 3 times the length of the piece.



Happy crocheting!
Sandie

Doctor Who baby lapghan

I have not been good about keeping the blog up these days. I am sorry about that. It was so busy for a while and these are quiet days. I guess I am grateful for the lull. :-)

I thought I'd update on the lapghan/baby afghan. I've finished two strips and begun the last one.

The basic pattern I am using was inspired by the "inches" pattern on DoctorWhoScarf . I did not measure inches. I just took the idea and chose to use 4 rows for every inch Gene listed, even though that was not going to be a physical inch in my strip. It gave me a guide to start which was very helpful. (Gene's pattern is for knitted scarves, fyi.)

The main thing to remember in making this particular afghan is that you have to follow the stripe pattern remembering that you are working "up" so to speak. I rewrote my pattern with that in mind. I'm not explaining that well. The pattern starts with the purple/burgundy. For my first strip I began there and worked through to a camel stripe. I didn't finish that stripe but ended the first strip there. For the second strip, I had to work backwards. So I began with graphite and ended with the finish of the camel stripe. 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 which was at the "bottom" of my 2nd scarf strip. It sounds complex when you read it but in reality it is obvious when you're working it.

Perhaps the picture can explain it better.

I have a few things in mind to try next. I want to make a one piece following the stripe pattern. The tricky thing with that will be to figure out how wide to make it so it looks right.

I also want to do one with double crochet. I have several ideas about how to do that.

I am enjoying working with the lighter weight yarn. I think it does justice to the pattern better than the worsted yarns. The smaller stitches, to me, are more closely in line with the knitted stitches. Of course, this particular yarn comes from the UK and mailing costs are much higher when buying from overseas. I lucked out with these skeins as they were had a free shipping offer at the time. I wouldn't hesitate to buy from Deramores again though. They were fast and accurate. The yarn is wonderful. No problems with it at all thus far.

You'll notice in the picture there is some turning at the corners. This will be fixed as the strips are joined together and an edging added.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

football ghan

Footballghan is done.

Finished size is approx 21 1/2" x 31 1/2".  This is smaller than the pattern says, but I knew it would be because I used a thinner yarn for a wee one. Surprisingly the #3 yarn was thinner than the #2 yarn. *perplexed look*. I used Baby Bee white and Knit Picks Brava Sport Sienna. I do love the Brava sport yarn. It works up nicely. The Baby Bee was fine too but, as I said, thinner.

I also didn't add an edging around it. It's a football. I didn't think it needed it and truthfully I am not particularly fond of working edging on single crochet because you have to fiddle with it to make sure it doesn't buckle (at least I do). That is in no way a problem with the pattern but rather with my crocheting.

The pattern is at Etsy here.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

football ghan

Who remembers that old Andy Griffith song "What it was was football"? It came to my mind as I was working on this baby afghan for a friend.

The pattern is one I purchased at Ravelry. It is the Football Baby Blanket by Doni Speigle. I am using thinner yarn and an H hook. I know it's just stripes and I could have figured it out myself, but for $4 she did all the figuring so why bother? *lazy*

The tricky part of this ghan is keeping your yarn from getting all tangled up when you change color. I could do this if I laid the yarns out properly but I was lying on the sofa watching TV *lazy again* so I kept having to untangle them. LOL

I generally try to keep any loose strands to the same side but these two stragglers got left behind. I actually don't have a lot of strands on this ghan so far as I'm carrying up the colors with a little bit of ingenuity. I haven't even had any problem bits in this Knit Picks Brava sport yarn or the Baby Bee Sweet Delight either. Remind me of that when I need more yarn. :-) I particularly like the Brava. I've got more of it for a Who scarf and I would not hesitate to buy more next time I'm in need.

This is really a mindless ghan once you get your first two bits of the threaded part done. It does take a bit of time since it's all sc but you could easily adapt this to dc as well.


Happy crocheting!
Sandie

heart afghan

I finished the heart afghan though not without some trials. I had intended this to be 4 squares x 4 squares, but I ran out of white edging yarn along the last column edging. What to do? I was using a continuous join so that limited my choices. I decided to go with a 3 x 4 instead. I ripped back one column and discarded those squares, then finished the edging with the white yarn. I think it came out well.

Details about where to find the pattern are in my previous post. It's a ch 34 and is worked over 16 rows with the first and last rows straight dc. Size is about 34" x 42". I used a cross-stitch join-as-you-go assembly.

I also finished another dishcloth using leftover scraps from the others. I will probably just keep this one as there were so many tails and cotton doesn't hold the tails in as well as other types of yarn. Not bad looking though.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie