Ripplin' the Irish

A bit of Baileys in the coffee for St. Paddy's Day

"You've a fine steady hand, Lass!"

For crochet of course.  After a week off from my ripple blanket, I finished off the evenings with as many ripply  rows as I could fit.  Week 1 I managed to hook up my quota - Week 2 I traveled to New Orleans (photo post coming) - Week 3, I made my quota and a few more.  Find the previous posts about this ripple project HERE, HERE and HERE.

The blanket is now up to 66 rows.  I'm liking it.  But, with only 36 more rows on the proposal, I think I need to extend my original plan.  I could easily double the current size of this blanket - maybe even make it bigger.  So, I will stick with my original plan to hook on 20 more rows this week and 16 rows next... I will either add more weeks to my plan or crochet more rows in Weeks 4 & 5.  Either way, I think I might like to add a border to the blanket tho. the ripple doesn't really require one, it has a nice ripply edge and straight sides.  I'll leave that for a later decision.

Yesterday was St. Paddy's Day.  We put on a bit of Irish for the occasion.  I do have some Irish in my background - probably a lot more Scot but definitely some Irish.  I've never been to Ireland but it's fun to transport it back here for a festive day each March.

I dug some green clothes out of the closet for the day, searched out the claddagh ring my sister brought me back from a trip to Ireland and retired at the end of the night in some green flannel jammies and rainbow socks.

Unlike last year at this time when I was enjoying a sunny weekend in short sleeve shirts and sunglasses, the weather was brisk and windy and cold.  The Saturday morning running group found the perfect window of time for our run - 7:30am gave us just about the only time of the day that wasn't raining, sleeting or snowing.  It remained cold for Sunday which gave us the chance to enjoy an all day fire and a relaxing day.  I did find time for a jaunt around the neighborhood with the dog and my hubby who was taking his "puttin' on the Irish" very seriously.

I spent much of the lazy Sunday afternoon rippling rows between household duties, computer work, lesson planning and hanging out with the boys.

Yes boyS - plural.  Middle boy had his spring break from college this past week.  He left early Sunday morning to head back to the western part of the state.  Big boy's spring break is this week and after a bit of confusion with the Mega Bus boarding location, managed to transport himself into town Saturday night.  Little boy will have spring break the following week.

Strange way the weeks worked out, and only a very small window of time when all three were home together.

It was fun to have a fuller house and more people around the table for a few days.

After a quick bite at a local Irish pub for a sandwich, a few beers and a festive band strumming some lively Irish tunes, we rounded out the weekend with an annual watch of our favorite classic Irish tale, The Quiet Man.  Big boy watched the show with us - and hopefully enjoyed it.  He hadn't seen it before and he had to deal with two parents quoting all the lines before they came.  Of course the movie watching lent a bit more time for a last few rows of rippling before retiring for the night.

May you have warm words on a cold evening,
A full moon on a dark night,
And the road downhill all the way to your door. 

Onwards to spring for you - and off to do a spot of grocery shop and cake baking...hubby turns 49 today!

Ripple Along - Week 2

If you've been tuned into my blog for a few weeks, you know that I'm participating in the Ripple A Long crochet group organized by Melissa at One Crafty Mumma.  

Here are my previous posts about the project:  This and then this one.

Week 2 has just ended.  According to my self-proposed schedule, I was to have finished 30 rows in week 1 - which I did.  I figured ZERO rows week 2 since I spent the week in New Orleans - FUN.  I was right on par with that assumption as well.  Week 3 has me hooking on another 30 rows.  I've completed just 4 of those 30 but I feel pretty confident I can keep on track this week.

Here is my progress at the beginning of week 3.

Granny Patchwork Blanket Reveal

Here is the TA DAH moment for my Granny Patchwork Blanket.

And one a bit more full view.  The blanket is stretched out on my queen sized bed to give you a bit of an idea of its size.

This blanket project was made with Stitch Nation by Debbie Stoller a Bamboo Ewe yarn.  It's a worsted weight bamboo and wool.  The yarn is soft and warm.  The blanket is a decently heavy weight even though the granny patchwork is not a densely hooked blanket.  It was hooked with a size G.

The blanket has 110 square of 5 rounds in each granny square.  I used the JOIN AS YOU GO method as shown on Lucy's blog at Attic24.

For the finished edging, I had to use the remaining balls of wool that could make it all the way round the blanket so I didn't have a lot of design freedom.  There are several rows of granny stripe followed by a bit of a linen stitch in single crochet.  I didn't follow a specific pattern for the edging - just winged it as I thought the yarn would last.

The overall color pattern was as random as I could make it.  I tried not to have a pattern at all and tried to space colors randomly to give the blanket a bright color mix.  The colors I used were: Twilight, Mermaid, Buttercup, Eucalyptus, Geranium, Periwinkle, Mercury, and Sprout - 2 blues, 3 greens, a red, yellow and grey.  I just wanted something bright and happy to liven up my living room.  This blanket will hang out with us on the couches as we snuggle in the living room.

What you can't see on the photos above is.....

Now I don't feel quite so bad that I have started a new ripple blanket since the granny patchwork has gotten its due! See the RIPPLE BLANKET PROGRESS here.
There is still the matter of a few ends to weave in!  Happy blanket snuggling where you are!

Teeny Tiny Tea Light Tutorial Part 2

Okay - I'm sure by now you are ready to move on to the steps of creating a Teeny Tiny Tea Light Cozy.

If you don't know what a Tea Light Cozy is, check out THIS POST and then head over to Tea Light Tutorial Part 1 to get the details about the materials being used for this project.

The pattern is not difficult but if you are a complete beginner to crochet, working with a very thin yarn that doesn't have a lot of "give" may be a bit tough for you - so, consider making the cozy in a somewhat bigger yarn for practice and then trying it with the very thin carpet warp.

The pattern has 14 rounds.  This Part 2 tutorial takes you from Round 1 through Round 9.
This pattern is written using American crochet terms.

Abbreviations:
st - stitch
sk - skip
sl st - slip stitch
ch - chain
sc -single crochet (UK dc)
scblo - single crochet in back loops only (UK dcbl)
decr - decrease
dc - double crochet (UK tr)

Here we go:

First.  Begin the round as you would any motif worked in the round.  I prefer using the magic ring technique as I like the middle of the circle to be closed very tight and the magic ring is perfect for doing just that.  If you aren't familiar with the magic ring - just google Magic Ring or Magic Circle Crochet or Adjustable Ring (it has a lot of names).  There are a ton of tutorials and youtube videos for how to do it.  I admit when I was learning it- I had to view quite a many tutorial before I found one that made sense to me - so if you don't understand one explanation - hunt down another!

If you don't know or don't like the magic ring, simply chain 4 and join with a slip stitch to form a ring OR chain two and perform Round 1 in the 2nd chain from the hook (the latter of these probably being better in this instance).

Okay - moving on:

Round 1. ch 1, 6 sc in magic ring.  Join to first stitch with a sl st. (6 stitches)  With the carpet warp and the B-sized crochet hook, I got a measurement of about 1 cm after joining Round 1.

Round 2. ch 1, 2 sc in ea sc from round 1, sl st to join with first st. (12 stitches and ~3/4")

Round 3. ch 1, *sc in next sc then 2 sc in next sc.  Repeat from * around.  Sl st to join w/ first st. (18 stitches)

Round 4.  ch 1, *sc in next 2 sc then 2 sc in next st.  Repeat from * around.  Sl st to join w/ first st (24 st and 1.25")

Round 5. ch 1, *sc in next 3 sc then 2sc in next sc.  Repeat from * around.  Sl st to join w/ first st. (30 st and 1.5" or 4cm)

Round 6. ch 1, scblo in ea sc from Round 5 (30 st)

NOTE:  You will notice that going into the the back loop only causes your work to turn upwards slightly.  This is intentional.

Rounds 7 & 8.  ch 1, sc in ea st around.  join to first sc w/ sl st. (30 st)

Round 9.  ch 2 (counts as dc), dc in next sc and in all sc to end of round.  join w/ sl st. (30 st)

NOTE:  At the end of Round 9 your project should look like a little bowl.

Okay - go have a cup of tea and something lovely and sweet to eat and I'll be back as soon as I can with the final rounds of the Tea Light Cozy Tutorial!

Continue to Part 3

Ripple Gets Going

In Knit Picks fashion - the yarn made it here even earlier than expected.  In fact, I was out when the package was delivered and my hubby carried it in from the porch.  It was hours before I noticed it!~  But once I did, my box cutter leapt into action!  I'm so excited to get started on my Crochet A Long Ripple Blanket with Melissa at One Crafty Mumma.

The colors are JUST RIGHT.  Here's how they look:

The Brava acrylic yarn is soft and squishy.  I've lined it up in forwards and backwards color order by how it will appear in the blanket.  See this post HERE for my yarn and color planning.

Don't you love to just line up your yarn and perform a little happy dance when you see it just because it's so YUMMY?

Here the yarn is having a little sunbath in the window - beauteous don't you think?

Ok - now for the math and number details.

I'm using an H-sized hook (5mm) with Knit Picks Brava Acrylic worsted yarn.
I chained 185 stitches.
31 stitches is about 8.25" (worked in the ripple pattern)
2 rows is about 1.25" (worked in the ripple pattern)

My plan is to do 96 rows which is 4 repeats of my 24 row pattern.  I am changing color after every two rows.  2 rows of the brown color will be hooked between every bright color.  The bright colors will repeat in the same order on every 24 row pattern grouping.  My finished blanket should be about 4' X 5' or thereabouts.  I will add a border.  No border choices made as of yet.

The colors of yarn I have chosen are named thus:
Brown - Camel Heather
Pink - Fairy Tale
Yellow - Canary
Green - Peapod
Blue - Cornflower
Purple - Rouge
Red - Red

I am using the Neat Ripple Pattern from Lucy at Attic24.

Melissa is starting the CAL today (Feb 25th, 2013) and it's officially running 5 week.  My proposed hooky schedule is listed below.  There's still time to squeak in and join.  Let Melissa know so she can add you to the list.

Week 1 - 30 rows (16 so far.... more more more)
Week 2 - probably none : (  (traveling YAY)
Week 3 - 30 rows
Week 4 - 20 rows
Week 5 - 16 rows plus edging/border

Hoping your day is "rippling along!"