Ripple Afghan Status Report

This is the start of the afghan, the first row.  It's a foundation chain with double stitches as the first row.  You can sort-of see the ripple pattern, which is caused by way the stitches are made.  Also visible in the top of the picture is part of my knee, and a beagle foot!

This is the same afghan, but now it's up to 24 rows.  The tails are still visible, I won't weave them back into the body until I'm through.  Which will be whenever I decide it's long enough, but won't be any time soon!

I'm really pleased with the way it's turning out.  I'll post updates on it again.

Fleece Scarf

(I didn't realize that the picture wasn't really clear when we took it.)

Anyway.  This is Otter's latest sewing project.  It's a fleece scarf.  She made it for BF's Christmas present.  It's about 58" long, she was aiming for 60 - 65" but the day we went to buy the fleece happened to be the day that the store had fleece on sale for 50% off, and the pickings were slim.  It's a nice chocolate brown color, about 5 - 6" wide.  I think it will be really warm.

Otter made the pattern up herself out of some thin posterboard we have, then she got busy with the sewing machine.  It took her a couple of hours, start to finish.  The end seam is hand sewn.

Soft Colors Scarf

This is the second of the two gift projects I made.  This one was for Toadles' wife.

Her favorite color is purple, but I made a couple of solid purple things for her previously.  I wanted something that included purple but had other colors as well and I wanted soft, feminine colors for her.  This is actually yarn sold for baby projects, but it worked wonderfully for this.  It is a very soft yarn.  Lavender, yellow, blue, pink and white are the colors in this.

It's triple stitch on a foundation chain.  This is my "standard" scarf pattern, but it's one of my favorite patterns to make.  It's very quick and easy, as well as a whole lot of fun.  5 rows of triple stitch, it was a fast scarf to make.  I made it in a couple of hours.

A closer picture of the stitches.  Sorry it's a little blurry!

Fall Colors Scarf

This is one of the two projects that I've recently done but not posted, although I have mentioned that I made a couple of items for gifts.  Here's the first one:

This was a gift for Bill's mom.  It is all horizontal single stitch.  It's some of the yarn I bought on clearance after lusting after it for months.  This took about 1 1/2 skeins, single stitch looks wonderful and is very dense but it uses more yarn for larger projects.

I really love these colors.  They remind me of Fall leaves.

Here's a closer shot of the stitches.  I don't remember how many rows, but there were a lot.  Probably around 20.  It took me most of one day to make this.

More Crochet Throw Pillows

These are the latest pillows.  These are all for the living room, the couch and loveseat are brown leather so I went with brown shades.  They are all granny squares, triple stitch and are the same on both sides.  They were fun and used some of the stash.  But I still have plenty of yarn!

They are white pillow forms that have a fabric cover sewn on.  The two lighter ones have a tan color, the other two have a darker brown fabric.

I have another throw pillow planned, it's going to be in camo yarn and will be for the bed.  It will be the same shade as the previous camo pillow but a different stitch entirely.  Soon, but not yet.  It's one of my projects for when I get frustrated at the length of time the afghan is taking and need a quicker project.  I have started the afghan but won't post pictures yet.  I will have a series of pictures for it, in various stages of construction.

Marble Scarf

I found this yarn in San Antonio last summer, when I was visiting Froggy.  At the time, I was thinking that it might make a good scarf but it was such a fantastic yarn that I bought it without really knowing what I wanted to make.  It was $13 for the skein, which is a little higher than some yarns but in the grand scheme of yarn-related things, it's not a bad price.  It was a larger ball and in colors that I don't normally wear - oranges & pinks mostly, with some blue, lavender and cream colors.  But it was very soft and fluffy and I knew it was coming home with me as soon as I saw it.  I have since seen the brand in the local yarn specialty store, but they don't have a large selection of it and didn't have any colors I really liked.  Yesterday, I finally made up my mind and decided that yes, it was going to be a scarf.  I made it in one day, it took me a couple of hours and my shoulders & hands are still sore and cramped - but it was so worth it!  I haven't fringed the ends and I'm not sure that I'm going to.  I still have plenty of this yarn left.

This is the yarn, after I made the scarf.  It's hard to tell the size, but there is still quite a bit left.  Sorry that it's blurry, it's also on the brown leather couch so it might not look as bright as it actually is.

It's the "standard" size I make, about 60" long.  5 rows, triple stitch.

A close-up of the stitches, again sorry it's blurry!

The yarn is by James C. Brett.  Brett uses a number as opposed to a color name, this one is MC4.  Brett is based in Yorkshire, as in England.  I'm not sure, but I think the yarn is a relatively new yarn to this country.  Or at least I haven't seen it before.  I found it in SA months before I ever saw it in my area.

The specific style is Marble, chunky weight.  It's 100% acrylic, but it feels like silk.  It's about the softest yarn I've ever found that doesn't cost an arm and a leg and works well with crochet, although I think it's probably intended for knitting.  It's machine washable, which is nice since some yarns just don't work in the washing machine.  It's lovely and I'm seriously considering using it for the afghan I have planned for the (very) near future.

Black & White Crocheted Scarf

 A while back, the middle of the summer actually, Otter asked me to make her another scarf.  After several trips to look at yarn, she finally decided on black & white.  But she wanted sideways stripes instead of lengthwise.  I started the scarf and then realized that I'd forgotten to count stitches and after several rows of black & white color changes, I wound up frogging the entire thing and starting over.  And this time, I made sure that my rows were al lthe same size!  It was a pretty basic mistake, but it meant that Bill's blanket would be getting some black & white yarn on it since I now had several pieces of black & white yarn in varying but small sizes.  Here's the finished result of the second attempt:

Close up of the stitches.  There are 15 across and it's 3 rows of each color.  Well, it was supposed to be - a few of the sets are actually more than three rows because I wasn't paying attention!

This picture was taken before I got finished tailing it.  Tailing means that all the little end tails are woven back into the body of the piece so that they don't show.  Tailing sometimes takes longer than the actual work to make the piece, especially with small sections like this.

A slightly better close up of the stitches.  It's all single stitch which is fast and easy, but smaller.  Otter didn't want fringe on this one.  I enjoyed making it, but I prefer the lengthwise, triple stitch scarf that I usually make.  Just because it's easier!  But I did enjoy this one and I'm pleased with how it turned out.  Once I got my brain engaged, that is.