Double Crochet Cluster Stitch

I don't have much to show for myself this morning. I spent much of yesterday trying out various new-to-me stitch patterns, trying to start a preemie blanket that I can crochet up fairly quickly. Something with no color changes, that will have minimal ends to tie in at the end, that sort of thing. Well, nothing worked quite right for a preemie blanket, so I might have to fall back on some tried and true stitch patterns. I also looked through the 200 Ripple Stitch Pattern book before I went to bed (and then dreamed about grannies and ripples all night), and there are a couple of possibilities in there. So I will keep trying to get something started.

In the meantime, however, I decided that the double crochet cluster stitch did have possibilities for a baby blanket, even if it is too open for a preemie blanket. (Hospitals like preemie blankets to be worked in fairly dense stitch patterns, because lacy patterns can get tangled up with the hospital equipment.) I had a feeling that a row of regular dc and then a row of clusters would look really nice. I didn't get much done on it, but I am pleased with the result.

The yarn is from Joann's Sensations line and is called Rainbow Classic. It is 100% acrylic, but it looks and feels like brushed mohair. The label suggested a P hook, and I thought that sounded like a great idea! So not only is this soft, soft, soft, it should grow fast, fast, fast!

I did also have a thought about that preemie blanket I was trying to design, so I want to get back to that and rework one section. I just don't want you to think I have forgotten about it!

I realized this morning that I have a staff meeting tomorrow morning, so I won't be back to post until Wednesday. Wish me luck with those preemie blankets! Hopefully I will have some progress to share by then. And if any of you have made preemie blankets and have a favorite stitch or pattern, please feel free to share. I would love some new ideas!

Another Finishing Day!

I had a very good day off yesterday, and I can't believe how much I accomplished! I love having one Friday off a month. As far as I am concerned, it is a day to myself, to do things I want to do. And I made the most of yesterday, that's for sure!

First off, I went to Weight Watchers and got good news again. I seem to have a pattern of losing a little bit for 2-3 weeks and then having a really good weight loss the next week. Well, yesterday was my day for a good weight loss, and sure enough, I lost 2.6 lbs last week. My official total is now 18.8 lbs. Reaching 20 lbs is my first big goal, so I am going to try to be very focused this week and lose the last 1.2 lbs. My body might not cooperate, but I am willing to try.

I ran some errands in the morning, including finally getting my purple baby blanket turned in to my local Project Linus coordinator. It feels good to have that finally donated. Then I came home and settled in to some crafting. That's when yesterday turned into a finishing day.

First up, I finished up 2 more squares for WUA, bringing my total to 5. I also finished up a second square for VA Tech, although I still need to weave in the ends.
Then I decided that I would finish my green and orange hat & scarf set so that I could use the rest of the orange for another WUA square.

I am really pleased with the way the scarf turned out. I decided to use extended stitches, so the orange rows are esc and the green rows are edc. The scarf is soft and drapey. I am not so pleased with the fringe, but at this point it will keep a child's neck warm, so this set is in the done pile. (To recap, the orange is Red Heart Soft and the green is Plymouth Encore, and I used a K hook for the scarf. The hat pattern is found here.)

Not bad for one day. I am adding to the monthly total over at Crafting for a Cause, and I am adding to my own total as well. However, I realized that I am still about a month behind in reaching my total of 100 items for charity this year. The afghan squares help a lot, but still I need to get busy! And I promise, next week I will get back to the preemie afghans.

My Bad, Or I Guess I Have Enough Stash!

Yesterday, with visions of blankets playing in my head, I decided to dig around in my stash to see what colors I could put together. I found some larger skeins of yarn that I can use for single color blankets, and lots of smaller skeins. I pulled out some partial skeins for WUA squares. However, much to my chagrin, I also discovered that I already have multiple skeins of just about every color of Simply Soft that I had just ordered from Joanns.com, including the mango that I have been anxiously awaiting. Oops! That will teach me to place orders online without looking first! I did manage to order 2 colors of SS Brites that I didn't already have - lime green and watermelon - as well as 2 skeins of the new Lion Brand CottonEase in taupe. I am contemplating using the CE for another Shoop Shoop capelet, done correctly this time.

So, since it turned out that I did have the yarn I needed to make squares in memory of Virginia Tech, I got busy.
I found some really nice patterns here. This one is called Racing Stripes. I followed the pattern and used an I hook, but I will go down to an H with the next one. This square came out 12", but I had to skip a row or else it would have been too big. But talk about a quick project! I started the square about 11:00 yesterday morning, I worked my normal 7 hours, and then I finished the square last night while I caught up on 2 episodes of Lost.

I am also happy to report that I have just had a terrific week at work. The library has been relatively quiet this week, so I have been able to catch up on all the work that has been languishing for the last 2 months. The fact that I have 4 or 5 new volunteers who are now trained and working regular hours has helped tremendously, too. I have tomorrow off for Saturday, and for once I don't think I am going to be exhausted on my day off. So I have high hopes that I can accomplish something impressive this weekend!

Blanket Thoughts

I spent yesterday thinking that I would really like to go home and accomplish something last night, preferably involving finishing something. Unfortunately, I get home late on Tuesday nights, and after a leisurely dinner on the deck, I didn't have a long evening. So I worked on this blanket that has been hanging around for about a year (yes, another one - and there's still one more on the hook!).

Before I started, I measured the blanket and right now it is about 28" square. I didn't really intend for it to be 28" wide, but that's what it is. So I gave some thought to how long it should be. I had the idea to take a couple of standard blanket sizes and figure out the ratio between length and width. Well, for 24" X 36" and for 40" X 60", the ratio is 1.5 for both. So if I use that ratio, this blanket should be 42" long. I should have enough yarn, so I will keep going and see how I feel as it grows. Yarn is TLC Baby, stitch is the V stitch, and I am using a G hook on this one.

I've also been thinking more about blankets for 7-12 year olds. I found this pattern that I would like to try, possibly in a rainbow of colors randomly striped, a la the ripple. I also found another note I had made along the way that lists a child's blanket as 36" X 45", which sounds more doable than 40" X 60" ( a teen blanket on this note). I don't remember where those sizes came from, and I do wish blanket sizes were a bit more standardized. Too many choices can keep me from doing anything. And of course, if I do a granny-style afghan, it will be square and not rectangular, so I don't know why I am worrying about this, but that's just the way my brain works!

And finally, through Whip Up this morning, I found a yarn shop in Blacksburg, VA that is going to collect 8" X 8" squares to make afghans for the families of the VA Tech victims. They are looking for knitted or crocheted squares in maroon, burnt orange, white and black, made with nice, soft yarn. I have an order coming today from Joanns.com with all sorts of colors of Caron Simply Soft Brites, including mango and coconut, so that I can start some squares for Crafting for a Cause, so I may try to make some for the yarn shop as well.

I'm not entirely sure how this has happened, but blankets have taken over my life! I may as well go with this now, though, because come summer, blankets are going to be the last thing I will want to work on, with the possible exception of smaller sized squares.

Warm Up America Squares

So, as promised yesterday, today I will show you what little crafting did get done this past weekend. Please remember that I didn't have a lot of time for knitting and crocheting. I spent most of Saturday on the computer and most of Sunday out in the yard. However, with what time I did have, I worked on these little beauties:

Yes, I finally worked through my gauge issues and successfully made some perfectly sized 7" X 9" squares for Warm Up America! Looking back, I think that I had tried to make some squares for WUA when I first got interested in crafting for charity a few years back. Then, I really struggled to get the size right. Now, with quite a bit more experience under my belt, getting the size right really wasn't hard at all. These 3 were crocheted, the peach with Simply Soft and the red and blue with Wool Ease.

There was some knitting as well, although as you can see, it is going much more slowly:
I'm using Plymouth Encore for this square, left over from one of my Red Scarves, and the seed stitch. I promise I will get back to my preemie blankets and other projects soon, but these squares were perfect for a busy weekend.

I want to put in another plug for Crafting For a Cause. I really am very excited to be part of this group, and they have already motivated me to get busy. In addition to finally making the WUA squares, I have also been in touch with my local Project Linus coordinator. I will be delivering the purple baby blanket to her this Friday, and I now know that there is a need in my area for blankets for 7-12 year olds. In looking around the internet, I am guessing that 40" x 60" would be a good size for that age group. So, over time, I will try to work on a few more blankets for them. Goodness knows I have the yarn in my stash to do it!

Worth Waiting For!

Definitely the first thing worth waiting for this weekend was the weather! Temps in the 70s and 80s, but no humidity. It was heaven! We don't get spring very often here in CT, but this weekend filled the bill. And I did accomplish quite a bit - housework done; laundry (like I have a choice!) done; yard work, well started at least and the patio furniture is now out (we even ate dinner outside last night); and guild newsletter, mostly done. Crafting, well not so much, but I will show you what I accomplished later in the week.

The second thing that was worth waiting for arrived in the mail on Saturday. Last November (I think) I signed up for the Knit Mitt Kit Swap. You might remember my efforts at felting while I was sick with the stomach virus in January. Well, my first partner checked in once with me and then disappeared. So eventually the swap organizers found me an "angel", and on Saturday I finally received my kit. And yes, it was worth waiting for!

The first thing that popped out of the kit was the book - Favorite Mittens by Robin Hansen. What an amazing book. It contains a wealth of information about traditional mitten patterns and techniques, many of which come from Maine (just about my most favorite place on earth).

The kit also contained Frog Tree Alpaca yarn in 3 beautiful colors, a set of beaded stitch markers, a Burt's Bees starter kit (which is good because my hands are still dry from the winter), and a bag of Hershey's chocolates (which have mysteriously disappeared already!). All of these goodies came in a beautiful bag with some quilting around the top. So I have to send out a big thank you to Valerie for completely spoiling me with this kit! Now I just need to pick out a pattern and start making myself some mittens for next winter.

Not Much Crafting Going On

I really haven't accomplished much in the past 2 days. This was Spring Break here in town, and work ran the gamut this week from extraordinarily busy to very quiet. One of my part timers was on vacation as well, so I worked alone on the desk more than usual and ended the week very tired. I am very happy to have a full weekend off to catch up.

I do have a couple of items to relate, though. I joined yet another community this week - Crafting for a Cause. One of their members joined 25 Things for Charity a week or so ago, and so I spent some time lurking on their sites. (They have a Live Journal community, too.) They seem like a fun, enthusiastic group, and I like that they count donated items as a community. I think it will really help me to feel like I am making a difference with my crafting, much the same way donating through my crochet guild does. Of course, this has given me a couple of other projects to work on! The group is collecting 7"X9" afghan squares for Warm Up America, as well as 12" squares in Virginia Tech's colors for afghans to be donated in memory of the victims. I have already gotten some maroon and yellow yarn to start some squares this weekend. I still have some gauge issues with the WUA squares, but I am determined to work through them and produce some perfectly sized squares.

So this means that I have the following projects to work on this weekend:

1. Weave in ends on the hat I made last weekend, and frog and rework the scarf to match. I have a really good idea for the scarf, and I can't wait to see if it works out!
2. Finish designing the crocheted preemie blanket, and work on designing a knitted version. Lacey's comment from yesterday has just sparked all kinds of ideas in my head. I don't design knitted items very often, though, so that one will probably take a little longer to put together.
3. Finish the granny square preemie blanket and start 1 or 2 more in an easier stitch that I can finish faster. While I'm at it, I should really finish the ripple preemie that I had started several weeks ago!
4. Work on afghan squares in 2 different sizes and a variety of colors.
5. Work on all the other WIPs I have going.

Oh yeah and do housework, yard work, laundry, and work on the next issue of the guild's newsletter! Luckily, I have no deadlines yet on any of the aforementioned projects, so I don't have to finish everything this weekend. So I will probably just work on whatever I feel like at any given moment. I'll let you know on Monday how successful I am!

One last thing - through the Granny Along I learned this morning that there is now going to be an ongoing Crochet Carnival. (A carnival is like an online magazine of exceptional blog posts.) I think this is just more proof that crochet is currently experiencing a real revival. I will have to look through some of my posts and see if I have anything to submit. Have a great weekend!