Thursday, July 9, 2015

Mandala for Marinke

Today I completed a mandala designed by Marinke, who recently passed away - you can read her story online, links in a past post. You can read about the Mandalas for Marinke project here.

I decided to start with the 12 round standard mandala. It is actually almost done. I still have tails to sew in. This particular one makes a lot of tails as every round is a different color. The pattern is the standard working in the round, increasing each round by 12 for 12 rounds, then a pretty added edging. 

I'm not sure my own project is art show worthy, but I enjoyed making it.

Update: I forgot to mention the colors. This is Knit Picks Comfy Sport.
Yellow is Creme Brulee, Green is Honeydew, Pink is Flamingo, Cream is Ivory, The reddish purple is I think Lady Slipper (lost the wrapper), blue purple is Lilac Mist, Orange is Carrot. Blue is Sea Foam




I also had some leftover Red Heart Super Saver (some kind of pink), bought some white to go with it, and completed another ribbon afghan. I have no specific destination in mind for this but something always comes up so I'm sure it will get used.



Finished size is about 40" square. The edging is Red Heart with Love Berry Red. I used a round of single crochet followed by a round of (sc, ch 2, 2 dc, sk 2). 

I will probably make another mandala but I haven't decided on the pattern yet. I have several free and purchased ones saved.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

Monday, July 6, 2015

small ghan

 I finished putting together this small ghan I started a week or so ago. I had some leftover green yarn and bought a couple skeins of the white to finish it. The finished size is 26" x 34".

The pattern used is the cross-stitch square designed by my daughter which can be found on this page. It is one of my favorite patterns and I've made many, many of them.

I think the green is Red Heart, one of the sages. The white is Red Heart with Love white. I used two full skeins to make the 6 squares.

The squares are about 8". I assembled them with a whipstitch.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Sad news Marinke Wink

Many of you have probably already heard about the passing of Marinke Slump, known as Wink to the crochet world. She suffered from depression and ultimately was unable to combat it. Her sister posted a notice on Wink's blog A Creative Being with the news a few days ago (June 29).

Katherine of Crochet Concupiscence had corresponded with her in the past and posted a nice memorial to Wink which is how I learned the news. Katherine has begun a project in Wink's honor called Mandalas for Marinke, to bring awareness to the issue of depression. 

You do not have to work one of Wink's designs to participate but if you want to, you can find them on her Ravelry page. Many of the patterns are free designs. It looks like you can still purchase the ones that are for sale also though I would suggest if you want them you should do that soon as I do not know what her family is going to do with the shop.

You can also find Marinke's designs on her blog pattern page. In addition to that, she began a CAL called Scheepsjes in 2014 and the patterns for that can be found here. 

I'm sad to say that I did not know Marinke personally but am getting to know her through her work.  If you want to get to know the person who was Marinke, there is a Facebook page still up as of today and of course her creativity shines in her patterns.

My deepest sympathies go out to her family and friends and all of us in the crochet community who will miss her.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

Friday, July 3, 2015

Jacob's Ladder nameghan

I just finished a Jacob's Ladder ghan. Finished size is about 42" x 48". It is a bit stretchy though. :-)

I've made quite a few Jacob's Ladder afghans and quite a few name afghans, I even combined those two in a ghan for my mom some time ago. 

When I began this ghan I had no one in mind for it but by happy coincidence I used leftover yarns from a previous Who ghan, which are mostly fall colors. 

This particular ghan is going to my sis who has been ill recently. My sis enjoys fall colors so that worked out perfectly. 

I can't even tell you all the colors that are used though I think the rust color is paprika. There is some maroon, purple, grey, tan, colonial blue, gold, navy blue, white and one variegated woody color. Some were almost entire skeins and others were just a ball that gave me a few rows. The name section at the top is Red Heart Super Saver Cafe Latte. I used almost a full 7 oz. skein to work the name itself, an edging around it, a round of sc around the entire thing and then a round of (sc, ch 2, 2 dc, sk 2).

To make the Jacob's Ladder section, I chained 212 and worked a 10 dc, 10 chain, 10 dc pattern. On the last row I worked 8 chains. there are 10 ladder (cable) and 11 dc sections. When I worked the edging I worked 2 sc in the top loops of the ladder.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

Saturday, May 23, 2015

ribbon lapghan

Off my hook this week is a pink ribbon lapghan.


The picture does not show the color off well but the yarn is Red Heart baby pink. It's a pastel pink. 

The finished size is about 39 1/2" square. Each square is a bit over 12". I used an I hook for the body of the square and an H for the single crochet edging around each square. I left a very long tail, about 3 lengths of the square, to use for sewing the squares together. This worked out well. I sewed three across and then I used the leftover tail to sew the strips together.

The edging around the entire afghan is (sc, ch 2, 2 dc, sk 2) all the way around.

The pattern is my cancer ribbon afghan which can be found at Crochet Cabana and on Ravelry.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie