Restless knitter....

I don't know if it's just the seasons changing but I can't seem to settle on knitting any projects at the moment. I have a few WIP's that are so close to being finished that a little push would see them done and dusted but still they languish, hidden in their little bags - nice, patterned and stripey bags - but languishing all the same.

What I really feel like doing is starting a cosy blanket or something similar to my crocheted ripple blanket from a few years ago. But something new and challenging that will also be snuggly to knit and keep my legs warm! My first thoughts were crocheting a hexagon blanket in mad, bright colours like this or this or this after coming across attic24's blog site recently - crochet heaven! How didn't I know she existed until now? I've spent quite a bit of time reading her blog backwards - as you do:-) - and she is scarily so like me in so many things. Her choice of bags, colour, bags, flowers - big bright dahlias, did I mention bags? It is uncanny. She also talks about her brain being in a tangle - Oh yes, I can totally relate to that one!! Anyway! Getting sidetracked:-) She also does a great how-to tutorial for joining hexagons as you go so you don't have the huge piecing together headache at the end. You can go direct to it here.

Another project I've been pondering is making a pouffe or pouf depending on how you call it. A total luxury to sit on or rest my feet on while I'm knitting in the evenings. I've been thinking about this for a while and my initial idea was to use strips of fabric like this image I found. I've had it so long I don't actually remember where I found it now but its lovely! I still have quite a few strips of fabric I haven't used for my large stripey quilt so this is a possibility.

But then I saw these knitted pouffes over on Pickles blog. She has designed several using different stitches and sizes. They are pretty much knitted as one long strip gathered or ruched at the ends - which works being a chunky knit. If I were piecing fabric strips, the shaping may be quite fiddly - unless anyone out there knows a quick and easy method that would be robust enough?

And then I found this lovely fabric and crocheted pouffe by Eclecticgipsy - yum! You can see more of her work on her flickr site here as well as on Ravelry.

I think I must be in a crochet frame of mind! But it does look fun, bright and cheerful:-) And maybe that is why I'm drawn to two bright colourful projects now the nights are beginning to draw in and there is a coolness in the air. That reminds me I'll have to hunt out some warm knitted jumpers and boots soon. We're due a temperature drop here in the UK over the next few days. Brrr!

Right! Time to start that crocheted blanket!

Creature comforts!

Just a quick update on my ripple blanket. As you can see, nothing much is happening - but I think it passes the snuggability test! I only have about maybe 20 rows to complete of this full king size throw but it seems to be more a matter of can I actually retrieve it to finish?

* starring the little black cat from next door....

UPDATE: my computer at home has bitten the dust , just up and went kapoot on me, dead as a doornail, so I'll try and get back to you as soon as possible. Fingers crossed it's fixable but not holding out much hope. I think the CPU has gone........

Rippling along

 
I've been crocheting away on my ripple blanket for a while now. It's a bit of a mammoth project - a wavy chevrons crochet pattern to fit a king sized bed! I used a random stripe generator for the pattern and change colour every two rows. If you want someone to do all the hard work for you, it's an excellent way to make a stripey pattern. You can choose your colour palette and the thicknesses of the stripes. The permutations are endless and it is addictive! - you'll wonder where the night has gone once you start playing!

I usually like the randomness of choosing colours as I go along, but its a new gadget - and has to be tried! I do find myself saying"I wouldn't have put those colours next to each other" and "the pink came around again fast..." BUT I do like the way it makes you push that safety zone a little. It would be a good project to use up the small balls left in your stash but I felt since I was investing so much time in this project, it deserved a bit more effort on my part as I will look at it when its done and think "I should have just got another ball of magenta. That one odd stripe stands out like a sore thumb!" And it will bug me every time I look at it. I know it. It's happened before....

The pattern is adapted from Soft Waves by Jan Eaton. If you want a direct link to the book at amazon click on the book cover.I've linked to the amazon.com  page as you can see inside the book on this one - a certain soft waves pattern is featured so you can have a good look if you're thinking of trying this pattern out yourself.

So, my blanket is now over halfway and climbing slowly towards the pillows! Once you get going, you can watch tv and depending how fast - and confident - you are, you can get about 3 or 4 rows done during a film. I average about 30 - 45mins per row but I do end up making a few mistakes when I'm not concentrating. This may seem painstaking but it is my 'doing something when I'm watching tv ' project so I don't mind. And each row does have over 500 stitches - I lost count but the repeat is there so -hey! I'm not the perfectionist I once was. Now it's "can I be bothered ripping back two rows? Nah! no-one will notice that little mistake!!  If it's for me, then 'no'. If I were to sell it? Rip, rip, rip. rip..........

Getting there....

Any visual progress on the ripple can be seen on my flickr page. You can also click on the flickr link on the top right of the page if you like. There is  a group 'ripplealong' if you want to see other ripples or if you want to take part in a group. There is also a group set of photos on flickr which you can access from the ripplealong site.

Anyway, the ripple is calling and I feel another few rows needing to be crocheted. "Are you sitting comfortably? (munchies, good film, yarn at the ready), then we'll begin........."