week two

 I mentioned before I'm participating in the mystery lapghan - I have one design due out in September, and I'm also trying to crochetalong - this afghan, and the around the bases cal as well. I'm hoping to manage a few lapghans so I can donate them to my local nursing home, so I'm making extras of the squares when I have time, and adding a few of my own as well.



So after the first two weeks, with six squares released, I've added to my pile:




 

posy wheels- my favorite color combos of the bunch

more posies - not sure I like the solid version (which I changed up a bit, using fpdc instead of a regular dc as written)

borderline squares - I liked this one

I have not done today's square yet - on my list of things to do today!

I also managed to stitch up on my own

quad color square - one of my other stand-by favorite squares I often make as "fillers" for my charity afghans

Next up: two squares of my own design. The pattern is in testing - it's a sideways/bias stitch square afghan worked in 'seed' stitch (though the particular stitch has many different names in the crochet community) - the pattern will be released shortly. The directions include making the pattern in any size, using any weight of yarn in any gauge, and you can make anything from these little squares, to a full size, rectangular afghan

Friday FO

Not much to report on this week!

I finished my scarf - no photos & it's already given away - but I did manage to finish the mitten's for Jon's grandmother.


Unfortunately she now wants a matching hat & I don't have any more of this yarn, so I casted on another pair of mittens using the same pattern but a different yarn / color, so I'll have to muddle through another pair of mittens before I start the hat - she wants a slouchy beret type of hat.

I'm happy to knit a set for her, though!

My other FO is Scrunchies for Alzheimer's! If you follow me on instagram I've been talking about these a lot lately.

Anyone who knows me or knows my family, know that we are passionate about raising money and awareness for Alzheimer’s -  Disease - last year we raised over $10,000 (I think closer to $13,000) , through a variety of methods, including some of my patterns, the Alzheimer’s blanket I design, make & raffle off, etc. I think this is the fifth or sixth year I've done a blanket and we've been doing fundraising for longer than that.

This is one of my new ideas for this year - we’re planning on selling at a few flea markets this year & my parents started selling at a co-op, so I am making bunches of scrunchies & 100% of the money goes to Alzheimers.

The plainer ones are $2 & the fancier ones - fun fur, ribbon, etc will be $3.00. I’ll most likely make some beaded ones - no idea on a price for those.

Around the Twist afghan- - Friday FO

If you follow me on Instagram (I'm anastaciaknits) then you'll have noticed a lot of photos of this afghan. This has been a long pending design of mine - it's a crochet version of my Around the Twist afghan.

This version doesn't look much like the original knit, I'll grant you that, but it's still based on the original, Around the Twist quilt design.


I had long planned a crochet version of the afghan, but just never got around to it. I didn't know how I wanted to tackle it - I have a stack of swatches of versions of the square - some all single crochet, or single crochet through the back loops only, some seed stitch or linen stitch or, well, you get the idea.


The more I messed with it, the more unhappy I was.



So I left the idea alone for a while, worked on a bunch of other ideas, did some magazine designs, but would lay awake at night, thinking about this quilt pattern that I started obsessing over years ago.
I finally decided not to copy the knit version I designed, but to just copy the quilt idea - once I got to that point, then I felt more comfortable with running with the stitch pattern, and I quickly decided upon using a granny square for the center, and using the "granny stripe" pattern to do the corners.


So I made a stack of squares - after messing with the proportions for a bit - (with more swatches everywhere to drive my husband nuts) - and it sat... for months - through the busy working in the garden every single waking minute when I'm not at work summer, through the crazy canning every section I get because my garden exploded fall, til the even more insane it's CHRISTMAS time & I work in retail STILL winter.... because I didn't know how I wanted to join the squares. I picked up the squares, tried every variation of joining under the sun, I swear, and wasn't happy with any of them.

I really wanted to do the continuous join as you go method, but it's not a joining method for beginners...

I don't know if all designers worry about things like this, but most of my designs are geared towards beginner crocheters - they are also designed for people who just want to make something easy, without a lot of fussing. I love crazy complicated designs - but honestly, I rarely actually want to make something like that, I just want to knit or crochet and enjoy every second of it.... so I try to think of things like joining methods and how to word something.

I finally just decided on the continuous join method, decided to join with chain two spaces and not chain one spaces (as with a traditional granny square), and ran with it.

So here's my finished afghan in all its glory.

What do you think?

Friday FO: marina cowl and cuffs

I actually finished and photographed these items months ago, in September of last year. The photos were shared on Ravelry, the pattern put up for testing, and then... well... Christmas happened.

 I work in retail, and it always always is busier and crazier and more exhausting them I remember it being in previous years - and I've worked in retail a long, long time!


So today I share two items I made using my Marina Cowl pattern, which I'll be publishing on Sunday (and if you are just reading this now, the link will take you to the pattern).


The pattern comes in two formats - a traditionally written pattern, for worsted weight yarn, for a cowl in two sizes, or a template / recipe for making whatever you want, in whatever yarn you want!



The cowl photographed here - in white - was using the pattern as written, for the smaller size.

I also used the pattern to make a pair of fingerless gloves - no shaping on these, just a straight tube.


I know - not everyone's cup of tea, but I actually really like this type of fingerless glove because they are so fast to make, and use such a small amount of yarn!

If and when the gloves are getting in my way of work (which happens all the time) I can just pull my thumb out of the whole & wear it as a cuff and I'm still gonna be warmer than not having them on at all.

You can see here I'm wearing them as cuffs, not as fingerless gloves.
Link Up: That DIY party

I Heart Naptime

Friday FO

I made these back in December and am just getting around to photographing them :) I'm always so slow! First, just a quick, "granny stripe" scarf




and a pile





of my granny square shawl (free pattern on Ravelry).

and a close up




Everything was added to my donation pile.


















Linking up to:
fan-tastic-hook-20

Friday FO

Just a quickie drive by post - this is my advent calendar scarf from December. It was knitted in December, it was finished in December, I just never managed to share a photo!

It was not easy to take a photo of a long sampler scarf!

Friday FO

I managed to finish something!


This is a quick little lapghan (donated to the nursing home already) using some of my Alzheimer's squares.
 

 100% of the sales goes towards Alzheimer's Research - I pay for all ravelry / paypal fees, so the whole $5 gets donated.

 

Friday FO

Every GREAT once in a while, I get to actually make something just for fun - and even less rarely, sometimes I actually get to make something for ME.

Today's FO is one such example... I knitted a shawl, just for fun, just for me, using one of my favorite designer's patterns... Robin by Lee Meredith.

I stashbusted, and used Caron's Simply Soft for all 3 colors.

The shawl came out huge, it's bright, and I just love love love it. It'll be my hang-out-in-front-of-the-bonfire shawl, where I won't have to worry if it gets dirty because it's machine washable, and the goodness of garter stitch means it doesn't need any blocking (other than the steam blocking it got when I finished, that is). It's the perfect end-of-the-day chilly night shawl... 

made April 29-May 2