Archive for the ‘swap’ Category

Plan B

BOB didn’t go well (stupid rain) but that’s ok, because I had a backup plan!

These blankets are going to charity:
pink stripes Striking round ripple Peach Rainbow Round Ripple purple Fibonacci blanket (in progress)
(I should get a better picture of that purple one made at the show before I send it off…)

I’m going to make these three bigger and give them as Christmas gifts:
Pink Rainbow Round Ripple Yellow Rainbow Round Ripple 3way Tunisian

These are Christmas presents, and I’m keeping them as is:
Tetris pillows

And this one is MINE:
Settlers of Catan blanket

My current main project is a gift for someone who reads this blog, and I really don’t want to give the surprise away if I can help it, so pictures and updates will be made on Ravelry (where you need an account to see it). Don’t worry, once the Big Day has come and gone, I’ll post all of the gory details. ^_^

Now that BOB is over, I find myself with my own crafting time again, so I’m waffling around trying to decide what to do. I’ve joined a couple of swaps, I still need to make the June square in the CAL, and I’ve been itching to just make my way through my growing collection of motif books and make at least one of everything.

Of course, there’s still Christmas coming, and various birthdays left to think about. I’ve been hoping that Bernat Satin would go on sale for the last several months, but I haven’t seen it. If you do, could you please let me know? I’m planning on buying a LOT of it, not only because I’ll need it for some gifts, but also because it’s my go-to yarn for worsted weight acrylic and I’m starting to run low. It’s soft, works up well, and the colours are pretty nice.

Anticipated projects: at least one more Snowflake afghan, maybe the Hawaiian Flower afghan, more 3-way Tunisian, lots of hats and scarves, some geeky afghans, and of course, Dad’s Christmas present.

My work situation has changed and I suddenly find myself with a good chunk of crochet time. That time can only be spent working on a pattern I know really well, and that doesn’t have any tricky colour changes. The project I’ve been working on lately has recently become too large to do while I do my job, so I need a replacement project. For now, I’m prepping some scarves (doing the base chain and first row at home on several), and I’m thinking of doing some granny squares. Any thoughts on what else might work? Basically, anything I don’t have to look at too much, that can easily be done a couple of stitches at a time.

Finally, check out this Spiral Granny Square I made: click here.

BOB looks pretty in pink

Now presenting further progress on the inventory for Big On Bloor:

pink striped crocheted baby blanket

I took about a dozen pictures of this and not a single one caught the beautiful colours of this blanket. I suppose you’re all just going to have to come visit me at the show (and then buy this).

This blanket is also an excellent example of how wonderful that “no turning chain dc” technique is. Here is a close-up of the edge:

example of the no-turning-chain technique

Isn’t that amazing? If I look really, really closely, I still have a hard time telling which stitches are real double crochets, and which are the no-turning-chain stitches.

I’ve found it to make working in the round a bit easier, too. In the past, I had always had problems figuring out which chain in the beginning chain was the one I needed to make a join in. Using this no-turning-chain method, it’s pretty obvious where the join goes.

If you haven’t tried out this technique already, I urge you to do it. You won’t regret it!

I just realized the other day that I never posted pictures of the motifs I received from craftADDchick here on the blog. I’ve put them under the cut (Dad, if you’re reading this, don’t read any further on this post, please!)

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My apologies to those on dial-up

This past weekend Charles and I were at a book store after seeing a movie (we saw Knowing, I don’t recommend it) and I found a book full of useless information. Well, I’d disagree that it was all *useless*, but that’s beside the point. One of the entries was something about how, in some companies in Japan, it is usual for workers to dress up a dummy to look like their manager and then beat the effigy with sticks. Apparently this increases morale and efficiency.

This story popped into my head while I was at work yesterday. My boss looks a *lot* like Sylar from Heroes, so it wouldn’t be hard to find a large cardboard cut-out of him, but my boss isn’t the cause of my frustrations at work (one couldn’t hope for a cooler boss!). My frustrations are mostly with my work computer, specifically the crazy things the scanning software does sometimes. I won’t get into them, but anyone who has worked with any software ever can probably identify with how frustrating it can be!

On my commute home yesterday a Dilbert comic strip, running along the same lines, popped into my head. Given that it took me four hours of searching through the dilbert.com archives to find it, I’m not sure how I remembered it, exactly. Basically, Dilbert had a doll that looked like his boss sitting on top of his computer, and he’d smack it whenever the Pointy Haired Boss annoyed him. Again, my boss isn’t the problem, it’s the program!

Then it hit me! I needed an Abuse Cube. Something that would represent the software, with a different issue pictured on each side.

I started working on it as soon as I got home.

Take THAT!

More pictures of the cube and some motifs I received from one of my swap partners under the cut.
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More Motifs

My second swap partner, MareMare, received the motifs I sent her. If you’re curious, here they are, along with the patterns I used for them:

Haley’s Comet – from Crochet Stitch Motifs – 250 Stitches To Crochet, page 61:
Haley's Comet crochet motif

Mediterranean Circle – from Crochet Stitch Motifs – 250 Stitches To Crochet, page 209:
Mediterranean Circle crochet motif

Dream Weaver:
Dream Weaver crochet motif

Flower Petal Dishcloth and Potholder:
Flower Petal Dishcloth and Potholder crochet motif

Four round standard granny square (with Boa!) :
Granny square crochet motif with Boa yarn

Tunisian Short Row Dishcloth:
swirly hexagon

Star To Star – from Crochet Stitch Motifs – 250 Stitches To Crochet, page 214:
Star To Star crochet motif

Something with Substance

As my regular readers know, I recently participated in a swap on Craftster. It’s the Amazing Crochet Motif Swap organized by craftADDchick who, coincidentally, was also one of my partners.

She received her package today, so I can finally blog a bit about what I’ve been up to!

Snowflake II, from “Crochet Stitch Motifs: 250 Stitches to Crochet” p. 75
snowflake motif
This one measured in (shortest way) 4.5 inches.

Dream Weaver square
Dream Weaver square
8 inches

Summer Sun square
Summer Sun square
7.5 inches

Waldo’s Puzzle square
Waldo's Puzzle square
9.5 inches

The astute among you will notice that we’re now 4 motifs and 29.5 inches. The swap called for at least 5 motifs and at least 30 inches.

Naturally, I made this simple two-round granny square:
granny square
0.5 inches

Of course, craftADDchick is intending on using the motifs she receives to make a blanket, so I thought it best to send along another, more suitable motif:

Hawaiian Flower
Hawaiian Flower motif
3.5 inches

Someone might be getting a blanket of Hawaiian Flowers for Christmas this year… mum’s the word!

Here is the swap gallery if you want to see what everyone else got. ^_^

Don’t Do What Donny Don’t Does

I’ve been finishing up my swap stuff lately, and had a gig yesterday, so no pictures for you here today.

I’m hoping to get the next set of tutorials up tomorrow. In preparation, your homework is to go look at these examples of what not to make using what I’ve taught you.

On a cellular level, I’m really quite busy

I’ve been working hard on the swap I’m in, and I seem to have met the requirements for it this evening. The good news is, well, that’s good! The bad news is that it makes for bad blogging. Not only can I not show you what I’ve been working on, but I haven’t really been working on much else!

For those looking for the next crochet tutorial, you’re in luck! I got new batteries for my camera! No tutorial tonight (ok, so you’re not THAT lucky), but there is one coming, and soon. Next up is “chain stitch”, followed by “single crochet”.

There was a question in the comments the other day asking about the no-turning chain thing. Can it be done in the round? Yes. I’ve done it a few times now, but only just tonight have I tried it in a plain yarn that shows what’s going on:

green circle

You can sort of see the knot at the top of the circle (at 12 o’clock). The not-a-turning-chain stitch is the one just to the left of the knot.

Not too shabby!