greetingarts

un-thrilling granny

Finished the second baby blanket (remember the first one?) out of the three that were requested.  This one is just a giant granny square with a scallop border.  Worsted weight wool, G hook, alternating white and pink randomly.  I was in such a rush to finish, I didn't get a photo of the whole thing, or measure it (maybe 36" square?), or do any blocking.  Don't talk to me about deadlines... 

The border was made by doing a row of single crochet all the way around the blanket with 3 single crochets in each corner, then I think I skipped two stitches, did 5 double crochets in the next single crochet, something like that.  Sorry I can't be more specific, I didn't take any notes or log any info in Ravelry, and now it's gone and I can't check to see what I did.  Oh well, I'll just have to experiment next time, if I do it again.  But that might not ever happen, because this blanket really didn't thrill me.  Kind of a "just-get-it-done" project.

Now I'm on the third blanket, a knitted one, and it's killin' me!  Hope to be finished and have it out of my house by Friday.  I need to move on!

April showers May drizzle

I finished Kris Knits' April KAL the day she posted the last clue, in time to encounter some May drizzle this week.  Gray skies and gasp! precipitation! for two days, then it's supposed to be in the 80s again on Thursday.  Weird, but I'll take it. 

much appreciated

I made dozens and dozens (didn't really count) of miniature crepe paper roses for the teachers' luncheon last Wednesday, using this cute video and other folded ribbon rose techniques.  I bought the same dollar store streamers, every color they had except for blue (though Jessie really wanted me to make some blue roses).  I used nearly an entire roll each of red, white, pink and yellow, and one and a half rolls of green.  Almost every teacher and staff member commented on them and wanted to know how they were made, and I think they realized the time and effort that was invested in making them.  It made me feel so nice that they were so well received. 

I found some assorted jam, salsa and baby food jars, wrapped them in tissue paper and tied a ribbon around the lip, and put in as many miniature paper roses as would fit.  Along with real cut roses and other potted plants, they lined the center of each row of tables.

You'd feel appreciated, wouldn't you?

five really fast

For Teacher Appreciation Day last Tuesday, I had five gifts to make and I got them done in less than an hour.  Only three made it into the photo, but you get the idea.

4" x 6" acrylic frames, great scrapbooking cardstock (yes, it's still the same stack but I'm starting to run low) cut to size, some ribbon and colorful 3"x3" Post-It notes, and there you go.  Super simple, but still useful for the teachers, I think, and lets them know how much we truly do appreciate them.  The girls wrote notes on the first sheet of Post-It's and signed their names before giving them out.  Jessie had two, and Rebecca gave one to each of her teachers, past and present.  Her current teacher also got little treats each day of the week.  By the time both girls are in school and in the upper grades, I'm going to have to make like a dozen things all at once!  Hmmm.  Better start collecting ideas.

neopolitan ripple - crocheted baby blanket pattern

 
Look what I've been working on for a commissioned project!  Ooh, doesn't that sounds so fancy?  Actually, a parent from Rebecca's school asked if she could pay me to make three baby blankets for her sister.  But "commissioned" sounds so much more important, doesn't it?  This is the first, I finished it a couple of weeks ago and am now working on the second, which is knitted, and Dodger blue.  But first I wanted to write up the pattern - I think it's my first (aside from the flowers I did way back when)!

Aside from the colors, I was given complete artistic license.  Which, sometimes, is harder than just being asked to make a certain pattern.  So, after fussing about for way too long looking online for different baby blanket patterns, and then messing around with different stitch patterns, I finally came up with this crocheted ripple pattern that gives a nice, soft wave.  After I wrote this up, I did a little searching online and I found that the Neat Ripple Pattern by Attic 24 is the same stitch I came up with.  And there are probably at least a dozen or so others already posted, but since this did develop from my own hands and brain, I think it's okay for me to post this for anyone who wants to make their own Neopolitan Ripple blanket.  You can also find the details here on Ravelry.

My blanket measures 36" x 36".  No blocking, because I used Caron Simply Soft, a worsted weight 100% acrylic yarn, so it would be easy care for the new mommy.  The chosen colors were Chocolate, Strawberry and Vanilla.  Oh, I mean Chocolate, Pink and Off White.  I used 2 skeins of each color, but didn't use very much of the second skien of each.

G (4mm) hook 

Gauge: approximately 20 sts and 8 rows = 4” x 4”.

Start by chaining 171 stitches across. The pattern repeat is 14, plus 3 extra for the turning chain, which counts as a double crochet.  I wish I could have used a foundation chain, but I don't know how to do that when there are decreases and increases in the first row... (Alice, is that even possible?)

Row 1: Dc in 4th chain from hook. *Dc in next 4 sts, decrease 2x, dc in next 4 sts, 2 dc in each of next 2 sts,* repeat from * to * across the row, ending with 2 dc in last st.

Row 2: Chain 3, turn.  This counts as the first dc of the row.  Dc in same st (you now have  2 dc). *Dc in each of next 4 sts, decrease 2x, dc in next 4 sts, 2 dc in each of next 2 sts,* repeat from * to * across row, ending with 2 dc in last st.

Repeat Row 2 until blanket measures 36” or desired length, fasten off.

Edited on July 17, 2010 to add: When I say to decrease 2x, I mean to decrease twice in a row, thereby turning 4 stitches into 2.  I've also rewritten a little bit of the pattern to make it clearer, hopefully.  Oh, and it might help you to know that dc stands for double crochet in American terminology.

 
For my blanket, I worked 2 rows of each color, starting with Off White, then Pink, then Chocolate, then going back to Off White.  I will definitely do this again in random colors and maybe experiment with different stripe widths. 

If you find any mistakes, please let me know and I'll try to fix it right away.  Hope you like it, if you make one be sure and leave a comment with a link - I'd love to see.