This is somewhat of a continuation on from my last post.
There’s an update about my maple leaf pattern, and also my dad’s gifts. And
then a few other things.
Before I go on to the next few projects to mention, I’ve
done a lot of stash building since I’ve last updated. I got lots of varieties
of Bernat Handicrafter; Creamsicle, Neptune, Over the Rainbow, Fruit Punch
ombre, and white. The white was one of those large skeins... 710 yards. That
should last for a while! There’s also some Bernat Supervalue in Lush (a
lime-ish green) and Black, some clearance Bernat Softee Chunky in Grey Heather,
and Patons Decor in Rich Country Blue. I also got the circular needles I needed
(but unfortunately only in 5 mm, not 4.5 mm... no one carried that long of
circulars with that small needle size!), as well as two sets of dpns (3.5 mm
and 5 mm), and a pair of Clover bamboo 5.5 mm straight needles.
As I mentioned in my last post, I also went to Michael’s to
get some red yarn, and was quite disappointed in the lack of variety. I ended
up with some Patons Canadiana in Cardinal red. It’s a very vibrant red, and
soft yarn too.
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| Left to right, in the order they were made |
Armed with some red yarn finally, I went back to the maple
leaf appliqué I’d made. I found that it’s quite different working with acrylic
yarn rather than cotton, even if they are both the same size. My first red
maple leaf’s pointy side parts looked too small, especially when compared to
the new bottom parts I’d come up with. So I added a few extra rows. The leaf
looked okay but not really like a maple leaf. Next I used my original pattern
(plus remade bottom parts) with some of that new white cotton Handicrafter
yarn. It turned out fine, with the pointy parts as they should be, but it
really needed some red for Canada. So using the last flower coaster I made as
inspiration, I took that red yarn and made a border with single crochets and
some slip stitches. In hindsight, I should have done single crochet for the top
pointy part (the biggest area that I used slip stitches instead for), but I’d
wanted it to retain it’s shape the most. Finally, I made one more attempt with
the red and my normal pattern. To make sure they points stayed sharp, I
bordered it with the white cotton yarn (this time single crocheting the border
on the top as well), and I must say I think it looks great! So great that I went back and put a white border on the first red leaf I made as well. I didn’t end up
giving them to the family that came over though. We got them Canada shirts
instead.
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| Left to right: Clue 2, Clue 3, Clue 4 |
More progress has been made on my 2010 KAL afghan. I’m now
working on square 2/3 of clue 4! This clue finally had a new technique for me,
Sl3. I think my Sl3’s are a bit too tight, and vary a bit across the squares,
but it’s not bad. The front of these clue 4 squares looks neat, but the back
looks really cool as well. When I was working on clue 3, the pattern said to do
3 repeats of the pattern and finish. I did just that, but when I got to the
last stitch, I realised that my square was much too short, and this pattern
wasn’t very stretchy height-wise! Comparing it to the previous pattern’s
squares, I decided that a fourth pattern repeat would be necessary... but I’d
already nearly finished the bind off row. Luckily, I hadn’t yet cut the yarn,
and I figured out how to tink the bind off. Looking back, I should have really
only done a half more of the pattern rather than a whole repeat, but I’m
counting on my other ones being kind of stretchy...
These clue 4 squares go pretty fast, but it’s just a bit
annoying to do the Sl3 all of the time. Hmm, I’d thought I was coming up to
some cabling soon (can you tell I want to try it!?), but that’s not actually
until clues 7 and 8! Clue 5 is lacy with ssk, yo and k2tog, and clue 6 is lacy
as well with Sl1 thrown in as well... it’s got quite the complicated-looking
instructions, although they’re nothing compared to the cabling instructions.
Wow!
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| Plain yellow square |
And if all of that wasn’t enough, I’ve actually been working
on another blanket! This one is crocheted, but also worked in squares and then
sewn together. I started it on June 22.
I’d been shopping with my mom at Zellers and found out that
all of their Bernat baby yarns were on sale. The Bernat Baby Coordinates caught
my eye with their soft colours and shiny threads, and it turned out that
smaller skeins and larger of the same yarn were the same price! On the label of
one of the smaller skeins I’d been holding, there was a pattern for a baby
blanket with stars on it, and I love stars, so I checked out how many skeins
you need for it. It said 2 MC, 1 A, 1B, with their suggested colours being
white, yellow and blue. I replaced blue with Iced Mint, and used Lemon Custard
for the yellow, and got the pattern online once I was home, since the larger
skeins had different patterns on their labels.
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| White star square made with 5mm hook |
I’m now hoping that the larger skeins will save me from
needing to buy more yarn! The gauge for the blanket is 6” for a square, (is
that 6”x6”? I suppose...). Using my 4.25
mm hook, my square turned out like 7.25”x6”. So now my squares** rectangles are
larger than called for, and therefore using more yarn. I’ve finished all 7 of
the plain yellow squares, and I haven’t yet done any of the 8 plain green
squares. I started the white star squares yesterday. There are 15 of those in
all, and so far I’ve done two. But I had a bit of an unhappy surprised when the
first star square was done... it was too small! I’m a little worried actually
that my gauge has become smaller (i.e. closer to what is normal gauge) for
crocheting... which would also mess up my green squares! For now though, I’m
working on the assumption that the star is what makes those squares smaller,
and made the second one with a 5 mm hook. It turned out to be perfectly in line
with the yellow squares I’ve done, which do vary a slight bit in size, but
nothing like so much variation as the squares of my first afghan had, and
nothing that blocking can’t fix! And for the first star square that was pretty tiny, I added a border to make it a bit bigger, and figure I will just stick that square in a corner. ;)
The star squares are fun to do, but it’s hard to do the
double crochets above where a hole for the star is, since it’s actually working
into the chain, especially now with the 5 mm hook. I’ve ended up using one of
my knitting needles to spear the spot in the chain I’m going to work though and
stretch it out a bit for the hook so that it’s easier going.
Things I learned:
- how to Sl3
- how to tink the bind off row
- how to crochet in the back loop only
- how to do the double chain stitch (dch)
- that cotton and acrylic yarns can act very differently
