It's the same old story-- I got sidetracked and a few days away from the blog turned into weeks. And that Month of Craft Photos thing? Ha ha ha... Well, I guess I can always pick up where I left off. :o)
In the meantime, I've still been making things. I finished two large-scale secret projects, which I'd love to chatter about, but they have to stay secret until Christmas. In the meantime, here are a few other projects that I can talk about...
(If you want more details about any of these items or the patterns I used, check out my Ravelry projects. If you don't have a Ravelry account, you can get one for free, and it's so worth signing up. If you're still not interested in joining, just ask in the comments; I'll try to get back to you, even though I am the worst about reading and responding to comments.)
I made a few covers for throw pillows.
One of them is kind of... meh:
But I like these other two (if I do say so myself):
Then there were a couple of simple doilies. I wanted to use up some size 3 thread that I accidentally bought, thinking it was size 10. (It was part of an order I placed online. No big deal, since only one ball was the wrong size, but I really prefer size 10.)
I went on a scrubber-making mission, briefly. I like the speed of this tried-and-true crochet pattern...
...but I also tried out a knitting pattern for a very similar scrubber. I like the looks of this "Tribble" pattern, but it takes me much longer to make these, compared to crocheting the others.
I made another crochet mesh "grocery bag" in cotton. (This time around was much easier, since I started with the re-write of the pattern.) It's not much to look at, but I hope it will be useful. I gave it to one of my sisters as an extra on her birthday, but I have lots more cotton, so I may make a few more to have around the house.
I started crocheting a small shawl (Leaflines Shawlette) that is currently in testing over at the Crochet Shoulder Wrappers group on Ravelry. I like the flowing cables in the photos of the project sample, but I'm concerned that my version may be coming out too small. As a shawlette, it's on the smaller side to begin with, and I don't have any use for a kid-sized wool-cashmere blend shawl... I may try to add some rows to extend the length... or rip it back and go up a couple of hook sizes. I'm still not sure. (What is it with me and shawls? I have yet to finish Multnomah, to my shame.)
Feeling liberated from the pressure of those two large-scale secret projects, I decided to pick up where I left off with another large project-- the "A-Gypsying We'll Go" afghan... which is what I'm calling my blanket made up of African Flower / Paperweight Granny motifs. I've made a lot of progress, but I think I still need/want about fifty more motifs... plus possibly half-motifs to even out the sides-- and I've yet to put the final (join-as-you-go) round on any but the very first one. (g) So, yeah, I'll be busy with that one for a while.
Here are the stacks of motifs, as of a couple of days ago:
And of course, because I didn't have enough crochet and knitting projects already in progress, I promptly found a crochet-along (CAL) for a sampler afghan made up of 12 different participants' favorite 12" squares. This will be my first CAL and my first sampler afghan. I'm several squares behind most of the group, but that's ok. They only reveal a new square every two weeks, so I should be able to catch up, if I don't get too side-tracked.
For my sampler, I'm using only pinks and purples from my stash, because I have lots more pink/purple than I "need". This is going to be an extremely girly afghan, color-wise. (g)
Here's my first square:
It's Priscilla Hewitt's Amber Waves (with a few extra rounds, the details of which are on my Ravelry project page). I had some trouble with the square not wanting to flatten out, but I think it'll be better once it's attached to the other squares and washed.
I'm looking forward to seeing how the rest of the squares turn out... and how hard it will be to get them to match in size... and how difficult it will be to join them. Getting them the same size and evenly joined has been the main thing discouraging me from a mix-and-match sampler afghan, in the past, and I'm still a little concerned-- but hey, it's just a blanket. (g) I'm sure it'll be fine.
So, that's what I've been up to, lately. :o)
In the meantime, I've still been making things. I finished two large-scale secret projects, which I'd love to chatter about, but they have to stay secret until Christmas. In the meantime, here are a few other projects that I can talk about...
(If you want more details about any of these items or the patterns I used, check out my Ravelry projects. If you don't have a Ravelry account, you can get one for free, and it's so worth signing up. If you're still not interested in joining, just ask in the comments; I'll try to get back to you, even though I am the worst about reading and responding to comments.)
I made a few covers for throw pillows.
One of them is kind of... meh:
But I like these other two (if I do say so myself):
Then there were a couple of simple doilies. I wanted to use up some size 3 thread that I accidentally bought, thinking it was size 10. (It was part of an order I placed online. No big deal, since only one ball was the wrong size, but I really prefer size 10.)
I went on a scrubber-making mission, briefly. I like the speed of this tried-and-true crochet pattern...
...but I also tried out a knitting pattern for a very similar scrubber. I like the looks of this "Tribble" pattern, but it takes me much longer to make these, compared to crocheting the others.
I made another crochet mesh "grocery bag" in cotton. (This time around was much easier, since I started with the re-write of the pattern.) It's not much to look at, but I hope it will be useful. I gave it to one of my sisters as an extra on her birthday, but I have lots more cotton, so I may make a few more to have around the house.
I started crocheting a small shawl (Leaflines Shawlette) that is currently in testing over at the Crochet Shoulder Wrappers group on Ravelry. I like the flowing cables in the photos of the project sample, but I'm concerned that my version may be coming out too small. As a shawlette, it's on the smaller side to begin with, and I don't have any use for a kid-sized wool-cashmere blend shawl... I may try to add some rows to extend the length... or rip it back and go up a couple of hook sizes. I'm still not sure. (What is it with me and shawls? I have yet to finish Multnomah, to my shame.)
Feeling liberated from the pressure of those two large-scale secret projects, I decided to pick up where I left off with another large project-- the "A-Gypsying We'll Go" afghan... which is what I'm calling my blanket made up of African Flower / Paperweight Granny motifs. I've made a lot of progress, but I think I still need/want about fifty more motifs... plus possibly half-motifs to even out the sides-- and I've yet to put the final (join-as-you-go) round on any but the very first one. (g) So, yeah, I'll be busy with that one for a while.
Here are the stacks of motifs, as of a couple of days ago:
And of course, because I didn't have enough crochet and knitting projects already in progress, I promptly found a crochet-along (CAL) for a sampler afghan made up of 12 different participants' favorite 12" squares. This will be my first CAL and my first sampler afghan. I'm several squares behind most of the group, but that's ok. They only reveal a new square every two weeks, so I should be able to catch up, if I don't get too side-tracked.
For my sampler, I'm using only pinks and purples from my stash, because I have lots more pink/purple than I "need". This is going to be an extremely girly afghan, color-wise. (g)
Here's my first square:
It's Priscilla Hewitt's Amber Waves (with a few extra rounds, the details of which are on my Ravelry project page). I had some trouble with the square not wanting to flatten out, but I think it'll be better once it's attached to the other squares and washed.
I'm looking forward to seeing how the rest of the squares turn out... and how hard it will be to get them to match in size... and how difficult it will be to join them. Getting them the same size and evenly joined has been the main thing discouraging me from a mix-and-match sampler afghan, in the past, and I'm still a little concerned-- but hey, it's just a blanket. (g) I'm sure it'll be fine.
So, that's what I've been up to, lately. :o)