Current Crochet...

I have reached a bit of a dead end with my Giant Granny Afghan - originally I wanted to use each colour 4 times making it 96 rows in total (and then probably add 4 more to round it up to 100 for number neatness) but when I started doing the 4th row in each colour I realised that I didn't have enough yarn left in most colours.

 

Currently the blanket is 74 rows long and pretty huge (it's on my king-sized bed here for an idea of scale) so I'm not totally sure what to do with it, leave it as it is or buy more yarn to get it up to the 100 I was aiming for?

 

I am beginning to wonder if maybe 100 rows is a little excessive, if it was for the bed then maybe not as the afghan doesn't currently come all the way down to the bottom of the bed or right up to the top of the pillows but it's intended for use on the sofa when watching TV and it's definitely big enough for that at the size it is currently.

 

At the moment the plan is to use up the leftover Stylecraft yarn doing a smaller ripple blanket (post on that coming up soon, I hope) and then see how I feel after that about ordering more of the same colours.

 

In other news the blanket I made for my niece's first birthday has been delivered and was very well received, she was rubbing her face on it and wearing it as a cape within minutes of seeing it, which seems to me like she likes it. :D

Giant Granny Stripe Afghan Progress

I'm still crocheting away at my massive granny afghan project, I'm up to 48 rows now, that's every colour twice.  At the moment I am aiming for every colour 4 times, so 98 rows, although I will probably have to add on an extra two to even out the number, 98 just doesn't feel like a good number.

It's coming along nicely and it's large enough now that it cover me while I am working and keeps me cosy, not really necessary at the moment as the weather is lovely and warm!

There are still some small issues with the level of 'help' James wants to give though, he can be pretty tricky to work around. ;)

It's looking pretty good, and I have to admit when I see it all laid out like this I do wonder whether it needs to be twice the size it is now, I think I'll do another one of each colour and see how I feel then, although I don't suppose a GIANT granny afghan can ever really be too big, can it?

Crochet Progress

Progress on my giant blanket is slow, mostly because it takes an age to do even one row it's so big!  I'm up to 28 rows now so I've started using the colours for a second time, I'm struggling with being random, I can't quite bring myself to just pull a ball of yarn out of the bag and use it so some thought is going into which to use next while still trying to be a bit random.  I think if I were to do it again I would maybe pick less colours or stick to more of a theme because it really does look a bit unmatching and clashy at the moment with so many colours in it.

It's impossible to take a picture of it fully laid out without moving furniture as it's so long, these pictures are it folded into quarters, so it's 4 times as wide as it looks in the photos which is pretty big, I think I might have got a bit carried away with my foundation chain but at least when it's done (which may be some time yet) it will be plenty big!

James was a bit annoyed that I tried to use a crochet hook to show scale, apparently that's his job.

I have also started another blanket, this one is to be a gift for a little girl - ideally to be used in a buggy - so it's much smaller than my giant blanket and in different colours.  I didn't want to go for anything too girly or pink so I chose purple, lilac, cream, turquoise and teal.

I only started it about a week ago and haven't had much time to work on it yet but I'm hoping it'll be ready in time for the birthday deadline in a couple of months time.

I'm pretty pleased with how it's working out so far, I just hope I've made the initial chain long enough and that it doesn't end up the size of a tea towel! :)  It is faster to do rows on though so I'm hoping when I get a bit more time it should work up nice and fast.

Giant Granny Afghan Progress

I thought I'd post some progress pictures of my giant granny afghan that I am currently working on, it's going better than expected and I'm finding it quite addictive.  The first few rows were a bit of a pain with all the counting and then trying to make sure I was crocheting in the chain properly but after the first row or two of granny stitch it gets much easier.

 

 

I was planning on using 20 different colours but I had some left over yarn from my last project so I decided to just add that in too, so currently there will be 24 colours in the blanket, all in a random (ish) pattern.  I'm almost at the stage where I have used each colour once, just a few more rows to go.

 

As per usual, the moment I lay the blanket down my glamorous assistant climbs onto it and makes a bed, which is very cute but not so great when I am trying to add to the damn thing. 

 

I'm pleased with how the blanket is progressing so far, it doesn't look too wonky - although my original chain was obviously a bit tighter than the rest of my work so in future I think I really need to concentrate on keeping my stitches loose to begin with so they match the length of my work at later stages rather than seeming a bit tighter, and therefor shorter.

 

At the moment it's looking more like a giant scarf than a blanket.  I'm a little worried about what will happen with the colours when I start to use them twice, I had intended for it to be totally random but I struggle with random so there has been some thought put into which colours to use next so far and I'm not quite sure what to do when I use the colours for a second time.

 

This is the blanket folded into quarters and you can see it measures around 50cm, which means fully extended it's around 2m wide.  To make it the right shape (sort of rectangular, sort of bed shaped) it'll need to be a good bit longer than that but I'm not quite sure how long, I think the amount of yarn I have may dictate the final size rather than any real planning.

 

I'm very proud of how it's looking so far and I've been putting quite a lot of time and effort into it, I just hope I can keep it up long enough to get it finished at some point this year!

My First Finished Blanket

Another crochet related post today, to show you the first official project that I have finished.  Despite it not being perfect I am pretty proud of this little blanket.

 

It gave me the chance to try blocking (which as I understand it makes your blanket a nice regular shape and not all wonky like they can be when you first finish them).

 

I pinned mine to the table in the kitchen using a bath sheet and some little berry pins, then gave a it a quick going over with a steam iron, not actually touching the blanket, just getting the steam into it.

 

Once it was dry it did seem to be a better shape and the edges were a good bit straighter, as usual it was impossible to get a picture without my helper being involved.  He seems to think everything I crochet is his and doesn't like to let any of it out of his sight for too long.  Unfortunately for him this blanket is destined for someone else, I may have to sneak it out of the house when he's not watching.

 

Now that one is done I can concentrate properly on my giant granny afghan, updates of my progress to follow...

My New Project - Crochet!

This is slightly different from my usual beauty related posts but I thought I would add it in anyway since it's another of the things I like to do in my spare time and I'd like to try and keep track of my progress as the project goes on.

Recently I have started crocheting again, I've done a bit in the past but never really stuck with it or made anything proper, I just tended to crochet granny squares for the cat to sit on.  This time I was inspired by the gorgeous granny stripe afghan on Attic24's blog, you can see it here, and decided that I would have a go at doing a proper project.  Look how pretty it is!

I found an amazing step by step tutorial on East Crochet Pattern's blog and decided to follow that as it was a bit more step by step than the pattern given on Attic24's blog which is ideal for me as a relative beginner. 

First up I decided to try out a smaller test blanket to see how I got on with it, I used some super cheap acrylic yarn from Poundland (it works out at 3 balls for £2) and here's my progress so far.

Not too bad, if I do say so myself.  James seems to approve.  The colours aren't exactly the best but I didn't want to spend lots of yarn until I was sure I could follow the pattern and also complete something, hence the cheap stuff (which is actually not too bad to work with) and the slightly 'interesting' colour selection.

With my first mini blanket going well I decided to bite the bullet and order the yarn for my large granny afghan.  I checked out quite a few places online and discovered Wool Warehouse, they had the Stylecraft Special Dk yarn, which most people seemed to use for the project, at just £1.69 for 100g which I thought was a pretty good deal and there was the added bonus of free P&P if you spent over £25 which I would do by the time I got enough yarn.

After agonising for ages over what colours to pick I finally decided on my selection and put in my order, I had to phone Wool Warehouse with a query first and they were super helpful which was nice and made me feel more confident about ordering.  I put my order in yesterday afternoon and the yarn arrived this morning, I couldn't be more pleased; super fast service!  They also added in a little free gift of some knitters needles for getting rid of all the annoying ends on a project which I thought was a lovely touch.

I'm so pleased with the colours, they look lovely and bright together and I can't wait to get started on my blanket, I'm hoping to make it at least double bed sized so progress could be quite slow and ideally I'd like to finish the smaller one before I start on the new one.  Look out for future updates on how I get on...

Do any of you knit or crochet?  What are you working on?