Finished.

So that Charity Blanket is finally finished...

Ends are sewn in, and the edging is done.

You know the way some projects just go ON and ON and ON and ON and you seriously start wondering if it is EVER coming to an end???

I enjoyed the pattern itself - a nice simple Granny Stripe - which made it an easy one to work on while watching TV, or supervising the kids at the park or the pool... or gossiping at a Crochet Meet.

I think that I was just SO incredibly bored with the colours, that I lost interest in it.



So here are the details:

Pattern:

• Granny Stripe Blanket, by Lucy of Attic24
• click here for FREE online pattern

Yarn:

• mostly 8plys, with a few 10 plys, and some doubled 4 plys...
• a variety of reclaimed yarns in navy, greys and cream

Hook:

• 4.0mm aluminium hook

Modifications:

1. First of all I skipped Row 1. Simply worked the pattern straight into the row of chains. Tried it the way the pattern was written, but prefer it my way.
2. Then instead of working 2 rows per colour, I changed at the end of every row. Just Because.
3. To finish off neatly, I worked 2 rounds in pattern, then turned my work and did a round of hdc in each st. The hdc gives it a nice firm edge.

Getting There.

Those ends are almost all sewn in... but I'll still need to crochet a border to finish the blanket off.

As always, I'm keeping my scraps!

Scary.

The main part of the blanket is finished, but look at ALL those ends to sew in!

Starting Over

Sometimes you just have to abandon a project.

If the love is not there, and it makes you miserable to work on... then LET IT GO...

The way that I see it, there's enough of the 'tough stuff' in life - and if crafting is your leisure time, then you should make a habit of enjoying it.

And I was not enjoying the Charity Blanket.

First the tension was all over the place, and I couldn't work out why...

Then the tension problems were solved (thanks Daphne) but I was still not liking it. It was an absoloute drag to work on. It was almost like with every stitch I was chanting "I hate it... I hate it... I hate it"

And even though it was "only for charity" I still wanted to love it!

So I made a decision...

R-I-P-P-I-T

And rip it I did.

Frog, frog, frog, frog, frog.

I've stared anew. Same colours, but making a granny stripe instead of a square. Only a small change, but I'm loving it now.

It feels right.

Tension Problems...

Do you ever have days where you just don't seem to be able to get it right?

Or maybe even weeks?

Frustrating isn't it?

Especially when we're talking about activities that you could usually do in your sleep - but for some reason, you just can't get your act together, no matter how many times you try.

For me, it's the HUMBLE GRANNY SQUARE.

Now I've made The Granny MANY times before, but this past week my efforts have been pathetic. I just can't get my tension right.

I'm supposed to be working on this knee rug for the Nursing Home, but it's doing my head in!

For some reason my tension is all over the place, and the 'squares' aren't sitting at all nicely...

Here's my first effort - I was really unhappy with the way that the greys were so loose compared with the rest of the work



Now the greys were slightly thicker yarns than the navy, so I thought that was the reason for the problems... but then I started a new square, ugh!



This next effort seems to get looser and looser with every round... regardless of which yarns I use!

Aaaarghhhhh!

A little bit of irregularity can be blocked out quite easily - but this is beyond help. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow...

My Little Helper

Actually, it's not really that helpful to have little fingers which get into EVERYTHING!

But she's so gorgeous that you just can't get mad with her...

And it's not her fault that she feels so drawn to fibre... it's genetic, isn't it?

Anyway, I'm working up a knee rug to help a friend who is organising some charity rugs for her local Nursing Home... Hello there Marie!

Hopefully I'll have a lot more progress to show you next week.

Enjoy your weekend - What are you up to?

revisiting the one-hour-scarf

Months and months ago I offered to help out with some charity scarves for Christmas...

Well, Christmas seemed such a long way off at the time... and then I got interested in other projects, and pushed the scarves to the back of my mind. All of a sudden it was time to think about handing them in... and I hadn't even started yet.

So I thought I'd just round up some of the scarves I have made recently, and use them... Only then I realised that I needed to send in MEN's scarves!

This is where the one-hour-scarf pattern definitely came in handy! I made a few modifications to the original pattern. Used 3 strands of yarn and an 8.0mm hook, starting out with 100 chain.

Click here for the original pattern

Are you familiar with that word game, where you have to change one letter in each row... until you have the new word? Maybe I'm not explaining it very well, but someone will know what I am talking about!

Anyway, to keep my interest in the scarves, I decided to play a colour game with myself. I chose three colours for the first scarf. Then removed one of those colours and added a new one for the second scarf. I kept changing just one colour each time, until I was back where I started.



Maybe a visual will help.

See on the top right I have burgundy/navy/green... then below that is burgundy/navy/blue... then below that is burgundy/khaki/blue... etc.

Yes, I'm easily amused... but it got me through those nine scarves, and I can finally get them off my conscience.