I’ve made good progress on the Rail Fence and Friendship Star blocks … just a few more blocks to make and while I should have frogged the Feather and Fan scarf and started over with a different pattern, I started a new blanket instead. The scarf is just not draping well with the yarn/needle combination and luckily I haven’t gotten too far with it. I like the pattern so I will try it again later … maybe with some sock yarn.

• Pattern – Linen Stitch blanket – Pattern came with a BluPrint kit, haven’t been able to find it online.
• Hook size – I
• Yarn – Mandala Ombré – colorway Joy

This may be my new favorite yarn and I’m pretty sure I’m going to need an additional skein for this blanket so I ordered more, a lot more! I’ll cross my fingers and hope the dye lot is similar.

Yep, another finish!

• Pattern – Woodland Ripple – found free on Ravelry
• Yarn – Caron Big Cakes – colorway is Grape Jelly – approximately 2.75 skeins used
• Hook size – I
• Finished size is approximately 44 x 56 which is a nice lap size blanket for an adult or a good size for a child too.

Both this blanket and the quilt shown in the previous post will be donated.

More packing, some errands, and since I’d finished up in the sewing room … crochet and knitting to fill the remaining hours of the day. My Woodland Ripple is moving along quickly thanks to the Lightning game last night and the Tour de France tonight (we tape the race and watch it in the afternoon on weekends and in the evenings during the week). I love the texture of this ripple pattern and while it’s a little more involved than a simple ripple, it’s still very easy.

Since I want a smaller project to work on in the car, I also started a knit scarf.

• Pattern – Feather and Fan Scarf – found free on Ravelry.
• Yarn – LionBrand Heartland – colorway is Olympic
• Needles – size 9

Just like my fabric stash, my yarn stash is extensive … probably more than I’ll ever actually knit or crochet into finished projects but I love being able to dig through it and find yarn for a project and just get started! Both of these projects are from stash yarn.

I don’t know why this one took so long to knit but it’s finally done! This was a kit from BluPrint and while I love cotton yarn, this one was rather splitty and even worse had a ton of knots in it. The blanket just took 1 and a half skeins but I had lots of ends to weave in which was very disappointing. Not weaving ends in is one reason I like big skeins of yarn! This isn’t a large blanket but it’s perfect for throwing over the baby in the stroller or car seat.

• Pattern – Little Bundle Baby Blanket
• Needles – size 6
• Yarn – Spritely yarn Cotton Worsted – colorway Dusky Pink
• Size is about 33 inches square

This is the 3rd blanket finished since I’ve been home – 2 were already in progress and one was started and finished in the last few weeks – I’ve got to get some quilts and blankets donated while I’m in GA!

I told myself I wasn’t going to start another blanket until I finished the pink knit one but all I have left is to bind off and weave in the ends and that project is downstairs so I started a crochet blanket tonight.

• Pattern – Woodland Ripple – free from the Attic24 website.
• Hook – I
• Yarn – Caron Big Cakes – Colorway is Grape Jelly

So I actually liked making this one after I got over the multiple page pattern and it was a fairly easy 3 row repeat once the pattern was established. It is crocheted more loosely than I’d like but I had to watch my tension so the petals wouldn’t curl. Maybe a smaller hook would work if I decide to make another one but it is a soft, cozy blanket so I’m happy with the results. There are a couple other “shaped” blankets I’ve been eyeing and maybe I’ll go ahead and try one of them now that I know they’re not that complicated.

• Pattern – Spoke Flower Blanket – free on Ravelry
• Yarn – Lion Brand Mandala – colorway Wood Nymph
• Hook size – H

Yep, first we watched the Lightning win … now leading the series 3 – 1, and then we watched the first stage of the Tour de France. I am really surprised that the race is taking place this year but happy to be able to watch. Tour time = knitting time so I pulled out my long neglected pink blanket and got back to work. The petal crochet blanket is finished except for weaving the ends in so the timing is perfect.

You can see that Finn was groomed this week. Hopefully, it will be the last time this summer I have to have him cut so short.

I briefly thought about which of my knitting projects I should pull out to work on after finishing the pink blanket and then promptly started a new crochet blanket. And even worse, I chose something I actually need to count and pay attention to rather than a nice mindless project.

• Project – Spoke Petal Blanket – free on Ravelry
• Hook size – H
• Yarn – Lion Brand Mandala – colorway, Wood Nymph

I almost didn’t start this one … it’s a 14 page pattern and looks very complicated but like many crochet patterns, sometimes you just need to start working stitch by stitch and it all begins to make sense. Also, even though the bulk of the blanket will end up as a 3 row repeat, the pattern repeats for each petal so once you start a row and get the repeat in your head for that row, you just repeat it for the rest of the petals.

I’ve been looking at “shaped” blanket crochet patterns for a couple years but always decided I didn’t what to think that hard. Years ago I knit this Vortex Shawl and I figured it would be similar in the repeating sections and increasing and knew if I’d managed to make THIS, I could manage one of the crochet patterns.

Now that I’ve got it figured out, I need to work on it steadily so I don’t forget what I’m doing!

I finally finished this crochet blanket stitch Afghan. Not sure why it took so long except we were at Big Canoe for 8 weeks and I don’t seem to get as much crochet done there. I love this pattern with this yarn! I did a yellow one that I finished up in February and I’ve got blue yarn so you’ll see at least one more of them eventually.

• Pattern – Blanket Stitch Afghan – found free on Ravelry.
• Yarn – Lion Brand Ice Cream – Big Scoop. I used about 1 and 3/4 skeins.
• Hook size – H
• Afghan size – 41 x 58

For the last year or two I’ve been draping my afghans across the chair in my guest room to photograph them … unfortunately, I took that chair to Big Canoe so I’ll need to find another spot. For now the top of the dresser will do.