Sew I See!

I am still working on the afghan.   This thing will never end.  It would've been done a while ago, if I'd put in enough time on it, but since I haven't... it isn't.  I'm ready to start the final round, though.  Tonight!  I've found (my opinion of) the perfect border, in someone else's photos of her own hexagon afghan.  (The photos are here , at a very pretty blog named Once Upon a Pink Moon.)  I love the way her finished afghan looks-- and the bobble border does, as she says, give it a vintage feel.  (P.S. I, too, love the vintage feel.)  The only problem is that Robin (the blogger) doesn't link to or mention a pattern-- and I don't want to ask and wait on the chance that she'll see my question and be able to point me to a pattern.  She could well have made it up, for all I know.  I've looked on Ravelry and googled it.  There are bobble border patterns out there, but none that look (to me, at least) exactly like the Perfect One.  Wel

I'm in the home stretch on the Gypsying afghan.  Just ten more hexagons to join... Then forty ends to weave (because I haven't yet woven in the ends from the last ten I joined)... Then ten half-hexies to crochet... And all those ends to weave... Then deciding what border I want... And crocheting that ... And weaving in those tails... And washing and drying and photographing it. Hm. Maybe this isn't the home stretch, after all. I have developed a severe case of Want This Thing Finished NOW, yet I seem to have trouble putting in the time to actually work on the thing. In the time I "wasted" typing this post, I could have secured half a dozen loose ends.  ;o)

I added some more motifs to the Gypsying afghan, over the weekend, and this afternoon I laid it out on the bed where I could look at it.  Placing the still unattached motifs beside it, I think I've worked out how many more rows/columns I need to add.  (Two of each.)  Then I'll have to look at it again and give it a test run.  ;o)  I want it to be at least long enough to stretch out under.  Once it's long enough, I'll fill in the big gaps with half-hexies.  Then there's the border to consider... I have to say, I'm very pleased with it, so far.  I only wish I were closer to being finished.  We've definitely reached the point (which I encounter in just about every project) where I want it done so I can move on to something else.  This almost always happens-- even when I enjoy the process.  I'm impatient to start something new. - - - - - - - Speaking of next projects... I think I've decided to go ahead and frog that beret.  I had a single

One of my resolutions at the beginning of the year was to get my Ravelry queue under control.  This morning I took a couple of steps in the right direction. I deleted a few items from the queue-- things I'd either already made or had changed my mind about-- but I left most of them in place.  There are still 316 items in queue.  (g)  I've decided that a huge queue is not a problem. Most of the patterns are there only as "possibilities".  I'd like to knit at least a couple pair of fingerless mitts, for example, so whenever I find a pattern that appeals to me, I add it to the queue.  There's no way I'll knit all of the nineteen mitt patterns currently in queue, but until I make the final decision of which pattern(s) to use, I don't want to forget about or lose track of any of them.  So there they stay! I hadn't realized until recently that your queue on Ravelry can be organized into tabs, just like your projects.  I've now categorized mine i

I still haven't taken all the photos I've been meaning to, but I snapped a few the other day.  First up, that's my Thick & Quick Ribbed Cowl . It took pretty much a whole skein of Loops & Threads Charisma and was a super-simple pattern, so long as you know how to purl and knit in the round.  Bulky yarn yields fast results, and even though my project notes make it seem like this took a while, the actual knitting time wasn't much.  It was a fun, mindless knitting project-- just what I needed.  I did deviate from the pattern in a few ways: First, I switched down to a smaller size of needles, because using the suggested needles was making a fabric that felt too loose for something that's supposed to be warm. Second, because I wanted to be sure I had enough yarn, I changed the sections of "knit only" from six rounds down to five. Third, when I came to the pattern's end and still had quite a bit of yarn left, I decided to add another f

No photos today.  Maybe tomorrow.  :o) I'm still working on the Gypsying afghan.  You may have noticed that it's taking a while.  (g)  It's still a joyful project, though, so let it take as long as it will! - - - - - - - Over the weekend, I put in some knitting time on that Thick & Quick Ribbed Cowl that I cast-on for on New Year's Day.  When I got to the point that the pattern tells you to bind off, I still had about 30 grams of yarn left, out of a 100 gram skein.  (This was partly because I used smaller needles and partly because I worked only five-- rather than six-- rounds for each of the knit-only sections.  Maybe I'm a tight knitter, too; I'm really not sure...)  I hated to have that much yarn left over (with no plan in mind for its future use)-- and I thought the cowl could do with some extra height-- so I'm knitting another 5 rounds knit-only and 5 rounds ribbing before binding off.  I hope I'll have enough.  It'll be annoying if I

Here's the second of the crochet book reviews I wrote but never published.  It wasn't finished, so I've completed it, now.  (In other words, the opinions expressed are quite up to date. (g)) - - - - - - - Last time I wrote a review, it was for Edie Eckman's (first) book of crochet motifs ( Beyond the Square ).  Today, I'm here to write a little about her book of crochet edgings-- Around the Corner Crochet Borders. It's very similar in format to the motif book.  Each border (numbered, not named) has a "symbol crochet" chart to go along with the written instructions.  This is great for everyone-- people who like written patterns, people who like diagram patterns, and people who are familiar with one type of presentation but want to learn the other.  The charts make most of this book accessible to any crocheter.  Whether you use US or UK crochet terminology, the symbols are the same.  Even if someone can't read English at all, s/he could sti

Aha! I found the book reviews I wrote for this blog-- only apparently I never hit the "Publish" button, so they've just been sitting in limbo all this time.  ("Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: 'It might have been!'"... (g)) I'll go ahead and post them, now, just so they won't have been written "for naught". ;o) - - - - - - - One of my Christmas gifts (back in 2010, I guess?!) was Edie Eckman's Beyond the Square Crochet Motifs .  I've really enjoyed reading and flipping my way through my copy.  Since it's not exactly a new title (published in 2008, I think), you may already know all about it.  If not, you'll find many reviews on Amazon (etc.).  However, I can't resist making my own little commentary, even if I am late to the party.  ;o) Things I like: Lots of motifs 144, according to the cover More than just squares Circles, hexagons, triangles, and "unexpected

The Swedish word for "pattern" is "m ö nster", which for some reason I have a very hard time remembering.  So whenever I happen across a Swedish craft blog with the word "m ö nster" in the title (or elsewhere), it always makes me do a double-take.  And then I laugh a little to myself... and think about a bilingual someone having a particularly difficult time with a Swedish crochet (virkning/virk) pattern and saying to herself, "That virkm önster is a real monster !"  (Only... I've never actually called a difficult pattern a "monster", myself, so why should anyone else?)  I think that the first thing that comes to mind when I see "virkm önster " is either a crocheted monster-shaped amigurumi or a person who is obsessed with crochet and hoards patterns, hooks, and yarn.  ("My bookshelves are overflowing with crochet pattern books and there's so much yarn stashed in my closet that I can't close the door!  I'

Just popping by briefly, today.  :o) I made as many more of the floral motifs as I could stand.  (I think it was about 44 or so.)  Now (as of yesterday evening) I'm back to joining them up again.  I'll probably need a few more to even things up-- as well as the half-hexies to fill in the large gaps. I've been thinking about it, and I believe I'll arrange the motifs so that the half-hexies go on the two shorter sides, with the zig-zaggy sides down the length.  I tend to like the zig-zagged sides... and anything that means making fewer of the half-hexies is good with me.  (g) In other crafty news-- --Did I ever mention on this blog that I was starting to crochet a hat?  (The "Elegant Hat" pattern.)  Well, that didn't exactly work out.  I ended up ripping most of it back, turning part of into a pot holder (yes, really), and putting the project on hold.  I still like the hat (again, when made large enough that it doesn't fit like a beanie)

I've started putting together my Paperweight Granny / African Flower motif afghan (aka the "A-Gypsying We'll Go" Afghan). After concentrating on crocheting just the "floral" part of the motifs and saving them up, I finally got enough of them collected to start joining them (I thought-- more on that in a moment). I'm using the join-as-you-go method and making the last round in a variety of shades of cream, ecru, and buff.  I'm trying to be random in the placement of both the "flower" colors and the different creams/ecrus-- which as you know means that it isn't really random at all.  They say that random is hard; I'm just doing my best and trying not to fuss too much over it. (Similarly, I decided a while ago that I don't care if every motif is unique for this blanket.  It's not easy making every motif different, when there are so many-- and who really cares, anyway?  If some are the same, that's fine.) The joi

This pattern caught my attention on Ravelry, yesterday:  "My Year in Temperatures" Scarf . The basic idea is that you assign different colors of yarn to various ranges of temperatures (as broad or narrow as you like), then you knit (or crochet) a row (or two) to represent the temperature of each day of the year.  By the end of the year, you have a whole, finished scarf representing the changing temperatures where you live. Some people are knitting/crocheting one for the current year, a day at a time.  Others are making one based on the year past or a year with some special significance-- such as someone's birth-year. I have to admit, this really appeals to the weather nerd in me-- and I'd also just be curious to see how it would turn out-- but I'm hesitant.  For one thing, I don't need more scarves.  (I'm sure I'm going to make more, anyway, but should this be one of them, when there are others that I'd probably find more visually appealing?

I'm off to a good start on at least a few of my "resolution-y" things.  *  I've copied Yarn Yuck's old content over to a new home on Tumblr.  (Next challenge:  Learn how to post to Tumblr. (g)  Seriously, though, that place feels like a foreign country to this Blogger-acclimated gal.)  It seemed like a good idea at the time-- a fresh start and possibly a better fit for the content and format.  We'll see... *  I'm blogging more often.  Well, for the past few days I've been blogging more, at least.  Don't count on me to blog every day or even every week, though, I'm afraid!  Well, maybe I can manage at least once a week. ( May be . ) *  I've started a new Project 365!  The photos are over on my Flickr photostream , and I'm also posting them to my "regular"/"personal" blog (which has degenerated into grumbles and politically-themed outbursts, so I won't link (g) even though you can obviously find it if you car

Continuing where my last post left off... I made a couple of doilies for Granny W. using a dusty rose thread that matches some of her decor. First, a pattern that I've used before (in blue, that time).  I found the chart online, and I don't  remember much about it.  I don't know its name-- don't know if it even has one-- but I call it "North Star" because it looks vaguely star-like to me.  It's fairly small and very simple, so long as you don't mind trebles.  Possibly it's meant to be made in large numbers and joined together to make a tablecloth or lacy bedspread?  The other doily was worked using the same ball of thread. (Actually, I made this one first, then worked up the smaller doily with the remnant.) It's a Patricia Kristoffersen design-- "Majestic" from her Masterpiece Doilies booklet. (There are a more photos of most of these projects on my Flickr photostream, by the way...) - - - - - - - A few years (