CAL Afghan 2012

Hello blog world! Its already the new year. I apologise for it being so quiet from this end over the past month, but that seems to be what happens around this season. Lots of lovely family time, and fun in the sun. But we're almost settling back down to normality now, big miss 5 year old starts preschool next week, and even hubby has returned to work this week after 4 weeks off. But my hooks have not been idle. Ive got soo many blankets on the go that I think I should share, another collection of photos of unfinished projects!!

These first pictures are of 2 blankets Im making from the same pattern. And that is one that Ive shared before in the post Vintage Baby Blanket. I love this pattern, can you tell? The first is for a little girl who will join the family this year, and the 2nd is a blanket I started, just for the fun of it, which Halle has claimed for herself.

with a close-up below



Then Im working on a gorgeous thick baby boy blanket, the stitch is called basket weave.. which is a pretty apt description!

Chewing into a lot more yarn than I expected, so will need another ball to finish this one off.

But Im sure you may be wondering what my title means.. what is a CAL? Well that is my New Years Resolution of sorts. CAL stands for Crochet-ALong. Basically its a group of crocheters all working on the same project so we can share tips, ideas and show off our finished work. This CAL that I have joined for 2012 will run for the whole year. Each month a pattern (or two) will be chosen by the group, so by the end of the year each person will have enough squares made up to build a whole blanket. I originally planned on making 24 squares (2 per month). But since then decided that 30 over the whole year would make for a better sized afghan. So some months I will be working on 3 squares. Here are my January squares:

blocking and almost ready to be packed away to await the completion on the other 27!

All the other details are over here on Ravelry

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So thats it for now.

Emma

Update from Henrietta

Hello Again yes I am still here I just forget to take pics of my finished projects and when I think about it again I have already given it away! This one is special thou I really wanted to make my own baptism blanket for bubs number 3! I asked Emma to teach my so we came up with this pattern and she should me how to do the middle! I enjoyed it very much and did it almost every evening until the middle was big enough! Now for the border I went back to Emma and we were trying to figure out how do it becasue as you know she is left handed,, while I am right handed,, so for her to teach me would of been very difficult. So the friend that she is she offered to finish it off!! And what a beautiful job she did! I absolutely loved it and just had to share with you all! If the bubs is a boy we can put some blue ribbon in the border and a girl some pink ribbon! so happy that its done and thanx again so much Emma! I can't wait until my next project just waiting for my sis in Canada to have her bubs! then I can start on something for her! I am also sewing another blanket for my sister in canada and my friend Sharelle is helping me make some receiving blankets for bubs!!! So I have been very spoiled lately! Thanx Sharelle!!!!!!!! Until next time!!!! Henrietta

The border that Emma did to finish the blanket! Sorry I am not as organized as the other ladies and don't know where we got the pattern or the border from!!! sorry

The finished product!!!! Just love it!

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Emma here, just editing to add a link to the patterns for Jodi. The bulk was crocheted in V-stitch which you can find a pattern to here, then it was finished with the border from this pattern. So a bit of a mish mash of two patterns! Hope that helps.

Vintage Baby Blanket

So before getting too far into my Japanese Flower Scarf  I thought I would put a bit of time aside today to do the finishing touches to my last project!

This started as a simple destashing exercise. Ive got crates full of yarn that will need to be used one day, so in order to make a tiny dent in the collection I made this baby blanket. To be honest the colour combo is not my idea. I found inspiration over on ravelry, this beautiful baby babette blanket really had me drooling.(Sorry, I think maybe only fellow ravelers may be able to access this link.)
Sure, I know my interpretation of that colour palette kind of missed the mark, but there's something about that dusty pink, mixed with a dash of burgandy, mustard yellow and teal that really made my fingers itch!! And remember I was destashing, so had to make do with the colours I had!! I still am confident I achieved some level of 'vintageness' which was really what I was aiming for. The pattern that I used really lent to the look aswell, it can be purchased here. Yes, I know, I didnt want to spend money on the right colour yarn, but was happy to do so with the pattern. But Im planning to use this one again! I would just love a throw made in black and white... and so my to-do list grows!!

Miss H loved to watch this one grow, she would get excited about each new colour added, stating that infact this was the best stripe in the whole blanket! So much so that I had almost decided to give it to her as a dolls blanket. This was coupled with the realisation that the kind of colours that appeal to one person doesn't do anything for the next. I'd almost started to see it as a psychadelic zigzaggy disaster myself!! But two lovely people (you know who you are!) renewed my interest in it and I decided to put that last little bit of effort into it and finish it off.

And you know what? Im keeping it! That means Ive got a boy and girl baby blanket all ready and waiting, and Im only 14 weeks pregnant! I can already tell now this baby is going to be living in a wonderful world of wooly knots, regardless of its gender!

So, back to that flower scarf I go!

xx Em

A neat little discovery

Hello blog world, another check-in from me. I would like to share with you all this new pattern that Im working on. Im barely 10% of the way into this one but this pattern has really tickled my fancy so Im sharing it with you before completion. Go take the time to look at this lovely little find. What's so special about it you may ask? Well, the way its presented, a crumpled up piece of paper out of a mystery book, written in another language (Japanese) is just a start! Its almost feels like Ive stumbled across some long lost pattern that was dug out of some dark, dusty attic somewhere in Japan. As lovely as that sounds, it may be far from the truth. It could be just as probable that the page was ripped out of a popular library book, and shoved into someone's pocket.. but doesnt the first idea sound much more romantic? Although, be sure Im in no way suggesting that the supplier of this scanned copy is a library book ripper!! lol!

Second reason I love this is because Ive really taken to charted patterns lately, they really work for me! Sometimes the written ones can become confusing with the different ways individuals speak and interpret the many crocheting terms. But with the charted pattern Ive yet to come across a deviation, every one of them follow the same basic principles, it crosses language barriers! And there's no need to work out if they are talking in Aus/UK or US terms!

But there's still more! This pattern has opened up to me a whole new world of crocheting. I know I haven't been in the craft for long, but never before have I worked without starting with some form of foundation chain, (or loop) and never ever before have I attempted to crochet backwards! But this is what the pattern requires you to do. Its amazing how habitual it has become in just 2 years to turn my work after every row, I feel like Im fighting every instinct not to do so at the end of these rows. And then it feels so foreign to work the following row (in my case) from right to left..

The added challenge for me ofcourse is that I have to read this pattern back to front aswell. Yes, being a lefty adds to the complications! It means I make a mirror image to what these pictures show. This is most noticable in when making booties or the like, if there's a pattern for a right bootie, it'll end up being a left bootie for me! In this particular case the chart shows the work being made in a zigzag fashion starting from left to right then back to left. Im working right to left then back to right. It almost makes me dizzy!

So all in all, after much gushing I guess what Im trying to say is, its with work like this that I feel like Im making art, not just crafting! :) And as the author mentioned over on her blog 'I love the engineering on this pattern. What looks like a hundred little flower motifs is actually crocheted all in one piece. Fabulous!'

xx Emma

Oh and PS, Im making this scarf for my lovely neighbour as a belated birthday present. Hope she loves it just as much as I do!

Sharing a bit of blog love!

Well I was greeted with some nice news this morning, my Giant Doily Rug has been featured over on this lovely blog. What a treat! Im glad there are so many people that love my rug, I do too!

Baby Waves update

Hello all, just a quick post to share with you all my little 'ta-daa' moment. The blanket is finished! Ended up with an odd number of 81 rows. Popped 4 rounds of sc around and finished it off with a picot edging. A blocking in the gorgeous sun today and its all ready to pack away for a special little boy in the not too distant future.. maybe its our turn to have one?!? Other details are on this post.
Have a good one!!

xx Em

Giant Doily Rug

Two posts in one day!! I thought I would share with you another finished job, its taken a long time (like 6 months!!) from start to finish. Anyone who has been over to our place within that time frame would have seen this project in various stages of construction.

And here it is finally completed. Our giant doily floor rug.

A 15mm hook was needed for this project and the inspiration came from here. The woman made her rug without a hook!!! The cord I used was actually 10mm cotton piping from the upholstery place where I used to work. I started with a reel that was given to me when I bought my industrial sewing machine from them, but that didnt quite make it large enough for my liking, so another reel was purchased to complete this. I would say approx 900m was used for this rug. Here are a few more shots while it was a work in progress:

 

Here it is completed and having a soak in napisan for a couple of days.

I needed to get the wheelbarrow in to get it out, once it was soaking,

it was impossible to carry on my own!

It then spent a day out on the trampoline to dry,

only then did it make its way back inside.

And a couple more shots of the FO!

That's all for today!!!

xx Emma