Sometimes I Can Be

... a total and complete idiot! I have spent the past several days reposting 3 1/2 years worth of photos to my Ravelry account. Why? Well, I was getting annoying emails from Flickr on a regular basis. Since I no longer use my Flickr account, I decided to delete it last week. Ummmmm completely slipped my mind that until recently I was uploading photos to my Ravelry projects from the Flickr account. Every photo I had was replaced with a horrible Flickr "this photo is currently unavailable" graphic! This little project did force me to clean up and organize the photos on my computer, so all was not lost; however, I do not want to do anything like this any time in the near future. What a pain in the butt!

I have been working so much on finishing up my WIPs, I was beginning to come down with a slight case of startitis. In an attempt to head it off at the pass, I allowed myself to knit up a cute dishcloth. 1 project complete for March!



I have only worked on the first of my March blocks for the 2011 Block A Month Afghan. I will work on the others this weekend. This is about the time of year I got behind on last year's afghan. Really going to put effort into not letting that happen this year.



I have completed all the pieces for Paul's Daring jacket. Didn't get a photo of the sleeves, but since they don't have cabling on them, you aren't missing much. I got a zipper today and plan on sewing it in and finishing the jacket this weekend.






Cast on a cardigan for Max and quickly got the elephants complete. This shouldn't take too much longer to finish up. I can have this done in a couple of days if I put my mind to it. I plan on having it done by next weekend. Just need to find the perfect buttons for it.



Finished section 6 of the Babette blanket and got it sewed on this afternoon. I've been working on section 7 this evening and should have it finished tomorrow. Hoping to have this afghan finished this month.

Put the last couple of rounds on Paul's hat last night. Another project finished! Back down to 24 projects in some semblance of completeness.



I have been concentrating quite a bit on the Leaf T. Just about finished with the knitting on the main body. The pattern calls for rolled edges at the hemline, neckline, and sleeves, but I really don't care for that look on me. Maybe the rolled edge on the hemline if it was tunic length and a really drapey yarn, but I digress. I will be adding ribbing to all the edges to make the T a bit more structured.

I've also been putting some time into the Babette blanket. Here it is with section 4 added.




Last night I crocheted the pieces for section 5, and tonight I added it to the main piece. This is working up pretty quickly even with each section becoming bigger.



My goal is to finish the Leaf T before February is over. I have already chosen my projects to concentrate on next month too. I am hoping to have the Babette blanket done, and I've decided to pull out the Apres Surf Hoodie and finally finish it up. It's coming up on the right time of year to get a lot of wear out of it.

Happy Valentine's Day

Yesterday I put the final touches on my 2010 Block A Month Afghan. It's a bit, ok a lot more than a bit, bigger than your normal afghan. I went a bit overboard on the borders. Once I added borders to each of the blocks and seamed them together, I should have called it a day, but I had just received Nicky Epstein's book crochet border book and I couldn't leave well enough alone. I do like the additional border I added.



And now it fits quite comfortably on a king sized bed without looking too small.



I finished Paul' gloves last Wednesday and am just now getting around to posting a photo. These were so much more fun to work on than the brown and red ones.



Now, I'm working on a hat for Paul. This is the watchcap from the book "Knits Men Want". There are quite a few patterns in that book I intend to make. Just about everything with the exception of the fingerless mitts. Paul wouldn't be caught dead in those.

Modular Mania

This weekend I pulled out one of the WIPs left over from 2010 and started working on it again. Below is a photo of the finished pieces so far. I cringe every time I think about weaving in all those ends. This is going to become the Koigu skirt from the Fall 2005 issue of Vogue Knitting. I am not making the floor length version as I don't think I would wear that very often. I will only be making 4 of the 6 rows of hexagons. Each row consists of 9 hexagons, so I'm just shy of 1/2 done with the pieces. Tonight I started joining the first row of hexagons and did a bit of weaving in of ends.



I've become completely obsessed with the sock yarn blanket. I have to force myself to put it away and work on other more pressing projects. I added my first large square last night. Lots of ends in this project too, but I've been weaving them in every so often on this one, so it's not as out of control as the skirt.



It's 14 squares wide, which so far seems to be a good width. I have a lot (read several baskets full) of sock yarn scraps, so this will keep me busy for some time to come.



I dug around in the stash and found yarn appropriate for the new glove pattern Paul picked out. Paul approved of the colors so I worked on the cuff of one when he was out of town. Texted him a photo of it to make sure he still liked it, and once he agreed that he did indeed still like the colors and pattern, I got down to business. Last night I finished the first glove to the point where the fingers will be added. Today I finished the second to the same point. Adding fingers to gloves is not my favorite thing to do, so work will slow on these now. I am hoping to add one finger every day and have these done in another week or so.



Did a bit of crochet this week too. Finished section 3 of the Babette blanket and got it seamed to the main piece. I've also finished a few of the pieces for section 4 and hope to have that finished up and added to the main piece next week.

Ice Storms

When I woke up this morning, it was already 9AM!! Paul checked out the weather this morning and decided not to chance going in to work today so he let me sleep in. It's even worse tonight. We've lost 1/2 a tree in our backyard. It came pretty close to hitting power lines and our garage, but we got lucky. Limbs are hanging really low in the front, and we keep hearing the creaking as the ice weighs them down. I'm afraid we haven't lost the last of the limbs in this storm. The rain is still coming down and ice is falling on the roof and sliding down into the front yard. The sound is awful. At least it's starting to warm up some so the ice will melt.

Snow days are good for getting tons of crafting done.

I played around with what kind of layout I wanted for the 2011 Block a Month Afghan and worked on some filler 6" squares.









Then it was time to work up the February squares. I did both of the 12" squares and 4 of the 6". (and another limb just cracked - Paul has run outside in his jammies to check for damage lol)









And after all that work, I have the first of 4 big squares that will become my blanket. Along with 4 of these, I will also have 4 rectangles consisting of 2 12" squares with 2 6" squares between them.




LOL the "on-the-scene" weather reporter just mentioned that there was 1/2" of ice on the trees and that's why twigs were cracking. Dude! Whole trees are falling in my neighborhood!

Last night I worked on the Babette Blanket some more. I finished sections 1 and 2, then seamed them together. I've gotten most of the pieces for section 3 finished now. Just need to seam them together then attach them to the main piece.










I tried to work on Paul's gloves last night too, but I really didn't like them. Paul agreed that the pattern wasn't working up well and although the yarn wasn't thick enough used single, it was definitely too thick used doubled. The glove is now in the frog pile and I plan to order appropriate yarn this week to make gloves in a new pattern Paul has picked out.

Year of the blankie

2011 is quickly becoming the year of the blankie. I have so many started and so many more in my queue, it's not funny. All of them are made in pieces which seems to be giving me a bit of "finished object" satisfaction. This may be why they are all calling my name, and why I'm enjoying them so much.

I finished the last of the 2010 Block a Month squares and have added a border to all the 6" squares. It will take another week or so to get the borders added to the 12" blocks, and then the seaming can commence.















Amanda and I got together again this weekend. This time with the hubsters. We had a great time. Lunch at an italian restaurant, then crafting at the bookstore. While there I spied Crochet on the Edge and I think I'm going to pick it up and find nice borders to add to my finished afghans.

Even though I didn't keep up with the 2010 group and made most of my blocks this month, I enjoyed making them so much I joined the 2008 and 2009 groups so I can make those afghans too. What is wrong with me?

Finished up a couple more squares for the Chain Reaction afghan this weekend too. I need to spend some time on this one in February. I have 9 more squares to finish up ... hopefully before the next Interweave Crochet hits the newstands.






I finally caved. Amanda mentioned the Babette Blanket one too many times and I couldn't resist anymore. I decided to try out Vanna's Choice yarn for this one, instead of the Simply Soft I usually use for afghans. It's not horrible, but I really do prefer the Simply Soft.

I made several of the 2 round squares before my better sense got hold of me, so I'll have to figure out which is which when it comes time to add them to the afghan. I wasn't thinking about the construction of this project when I started. Now I'm doing it the logical way. Make section 1 first (duh!). I now plan to seam the pieces together for each section and seam the sections together as they are complete. Will save lots of frustration later when I'm faced with a gazillion pieces to be sewn together.



Worked on Paul's gloves a bit this afternoon too. The pinkie finger is just about ready to be closed up. I need to put all these blankies aside and finish these up before it gets too warm to wear them.

Busy Week

It has been a super busy week! Working late, starting back to the gym, snowstorms .... all things that are getting in the way of my knitting/crocheting. I wonder if I can get coordinated enough to knit while running on the treadmill ... hmmmmmm.

Even with all this stuff going on, I did manage to get a few more squares done for last year's afghan. Twelve more to go. Changed my mind on adding a 4th color to the mix, and decided to use the dark brown to add a 2 round border on each block, then add several rounds to border the entire afghan once the blocks are sewn together.









Met Amanda last night for some craft time and worked up a few strips for a Chain Reaction afghan block. Still have 7 more strips to make then a border to add to get this one finished up. I'm hoping to have all 15 of the already published blocks complete before the next issue of Interweave Crochet hits the stands.



This weekend I'll be getting back to knitting and setting the crochet aside for a bit. I really want to get Paul's gloves and sweater finished so he can use them before it gets warm this year.

Amanda has me really itching to start yet another project. Another afghan to be exact. I spied the Babette Blanket in an old issue of Interweave Crochet and showed it to her last night. Hopefully I can have enough discipline not to order the yarn and start that until I get some of these other projects completed. Making good progress of several of them, but don't have any more finished yet.

A Definite Theme

I'm noticing a definite theme to my crafting lately. I've got the crochet bug but good. Finished up 5 more 2010 Block a Month squares this weekend. Still have 15 more to get done, but at the rate I've been going, I should have this project complete in another couple of weeks!















Next on the list of projects I want to complete are Paul's sweater and the Chain Reaction afghan. Crossing my fingers that this renewed interest in my WIPs continues and I don't get bitten by the startitis bug anytime soon.

I'm a crochet demon

There has been quite a bit of progress on crochet blocks the past couple of days. I finished 3 for the Chain Reaction afghan. Really liking the color choices on this one.









Also finished a couple more for the 2010 Block A Month afghan. Still in a crochet mood, so I plan to work up several more of these this weekend. I really want to get this finished during February so I can concentrate on the other 2 I have in the works. Started thinking about if I want to use another color to border all the squares and the finished afghan. Considering perhaps a burnt orange color.






Got a photo finally of the fair isle sock I started earlier this month. I'm going to start it over though, as it is obvious now that it will be too big for me using the size 2s called for in the pattern. I love the yarn I'm using for these. Trying out some of the Cascade sock yarn. It is so soft and squishy.



Quite a bit of progress on Paul's sweater. I'm just about ready to start the armhole shaping. At the rate I'm knitting this, he'll be able to wear it this year yet!



No significant progress on the cross stitch, although I have worked on it.