Jacob's Ladder progress

More progress on the Jacob's Ladder.

Let's review. I'm using Red Heart Super Saver yarn and an I hook. I have 10 cable sections. I actually meant to have 14 but I messed up. I am not sure how I did that because my foundation chain came out right. *scratches head* Anyway there are 10.

Here is what I've done thus far before I made the cables. The size here is about 59" x 32". I probably stretched it out a little more than yesterday when it measured 58 1/2". It's very pliable at this stage with all the chain sections. The length is 32" here.

Then I worked the "ladders".

The width is now 42". The length is still 32". That is not surprising since you have double crochets along each row which gives you the height. If anything was lost it was made up by the hdc row which catches the top chain loop to make the last cable ladder.

So I lost 17" of of 59" (approx). Let's just say close to a third to a make it easy.

The ghan is not going to BE that size, of course, because I still will be adding at least one more section with my mom's first name. I might also add another section with her last name if I have enough yarn. I am hoping one skein will be enough for one strip. We'll see.

So that's it for today's update. I hope to finish this project by Wednesday because I am going to see my mom Thursday and would like to bring it to her then.


Happy crocheting!
Sandie

Jacob's Ladder wip

I thought I'd update on the Jacob's Ladder afghan wip to replace my mom's lost one. I've done 10 cable sections - well, what will be cable sections when they're done. So far, as you can see I have green, yellow, claret, red, off white and am working on brown. I have two skeins of buff fleck and I think I will use that for the name sections.

This section is about 58 1/2" wide at this point. It will be less wide after the cables are made. It is about 27" in length but I'm not finished adding to it and also the name sections will add quite a bit to the finished ghan.

Just for reference, I am using an I hook.


More on that as I get more accomplished.

In other news, the other day I got curious about how long I've been a member of CGOA (Crochet Guild of America). I wrote to them and the office was kind enough to check for me. They don't have a lot of paper records before 2004 but they did find a member list from 1996 that had my name on it, so I was a member since at least that year. Since the organization was founded (according to their Facebook page) in 1994, I was there during its early days. I was surprised, but pleased to find out I've had such a long association with this great organization.

Crochet Cabana has been around since 1997 so we are close in age to the national organization. :-)


Happy crocheting!
Sandie

Jacob's Ladder

A while back I made an afghan for my mom to use at the nursing home. You can see it here or here. Well, it has been "misplaced". It was picked up to be washed and wasn't returned. They are supposed to be looking for it, but in case it doesn't turn up again, I decided to make her another one and put her name right on it in a manner similar to the way I made the Austinghan.  I've come a long way since the Austinghan in terms of my understanding the filet crochet process. :-) That was the project from hell at the time, but today I would be able to proceed better. Progress.

Anyway, I wanted to do this new ghan in the same style as the first one since she seemed to like it. That one was done in the Jacob's Ladder technique. I will be using yarn that I have on hand so I started with a hunter green and then grabbed this yellow, which is a tad bright. Okay, it's very bright, but her eyesight is very bad so this bright color might do well. I have read that seniors generally are able to enjoy bright colors more because of their poor eyesight.

I am always amazed at how wide the Jacob's Ladder is when you are working it and how much it shrinks after you work the cable loops. The photo above shows it laid out on my sofa which is about 86" long. I didn't actually measure the ghan at this point. The next color I am using is claret. I will probably have some blue, white, and red in it at some point as I know I have those colors. Not sure what color I will do the name in yet. Each section will not be the same length.

If you are interested in how to do the Jacob's Ladder I have videos at the YouTube Channel.

I've put aside the spiders for the time being as I don't have enough Vanna's Choice to finish it now. It's not on a deadline so timing is not as crucial.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

more spiders

Everywhere I look I see the spider stitch now that I'm aware of it. LOL I have been working on my own scarf pattern, as requested. I've completed a scarf, which is actually going to be part of an afghan. I've decided to make strips using the spider stitch and join them together into an afghan. Each strip could be a scarf by itself.

These pieces are not edged, but you can see the edging I'm going to use in this picture of a previous spider scarf. It's one round of sc followed by a round of what I call faux picot.

I should have the pattern finished soon. I will probably leave it rather open ended as to size. Scarves can be made any size and in a pattern of this type you can just do as few or as many spiders as you want to. If you are locked into a particular size, then I will have a guideline I think will help.


Happy crocheting!
Sandie

interview, spider stitch projects

I was pleased to be interviewed by Marie Segares of Underground Crafter recently. It was so much fun to relive the beginnings of Crochet Cabana and share with you all. Thanks for the interview, Marie.

You can all read it at http://undergroundcrafter.com/blog/2012/02/21/interview-with-sandie-petit-founder-of-crochet-cabana/  . If you are interested in taking a class to increase your skills, you might like to visit her blog post which lists various class opportunities. I did!

What's on my hook? Yo-yos! I've made over 400 of them so far with the leftover  yarn balls hanging around here - we need a name for those leftovers. Skeinettes? Think that will catch on? LOL These are for a project my daughter wants to tackle. (She's sewing in the tails!) I have hundreds more to make, but this is mindless work. Nice break.

I also plan to work on some of the squares in the Chain Reaction afghan. I have the DVD and the print copy as well as the three extra squares.

Remember the spider scarves I did for Special Olympics? I didn't think anyone else called this stitch by the name spider, but come to find out there are several projects using this stitch. I didn't find another scarf though! heh [edit: Okay, I did a search on Ravelry and there were scarves there with the name spider or similar. Not just like this one though that I saw.]

So here are some items I found that also uses spider stitch or spider lace. The projects are different, but the premise is the same, with "legs" (generally not 8) and a "body" in the center.

First, this spider bag pattern. Pretty neat! It is worked with thin cotton yarn and a steel hook 2.5mm. She has a chart up. For the life of me, I couldn't get the pdf file of the chart to load, but it worked fine on my daughter's computer. I am perplexed by that. I will hopefully figure it out. I probably need to update my pdf reader. I have a tendency to ignore those "you need to update now" messages. LOL

Here is Mario Melino's Crochet Beach Skirt.

Here is a beautiful Spider Stitch Wrap (or Shawl).Thank you to Ravelry as I was able to find the pattern at Caron International. Surprisingly, Caron doesn't have a search on their site that I could find.

About.com has what they call Spider Lace. It is created differently than the Spiders I use but still very pretty and useful technique.

They also have this Spiderweb cowl. Some people don't like cowls, but I find them interesting. I don't generally like anything close around my neck, but if you make the cowl loose fitting, I think it can work and this is certainly a pretty pattern. I am thinking if you use a sport or light weight, soft yarn it would feel nice around the throat.

If you enjoy making clothing, here is a Spider stitch cardigan. The pattern is not online but in an older Interweave magazine from April 2007. You can see the details at Interweave here.  Maybe you can find an archive copy somewhere.

That's all I found. If you find another spider stitch project, preferably that includes a pattern or link, holler out and I'll add it.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie