Progress report #2: Granny Square Blanket

Another from the "why the hell haven't I finished this?" pile - my 70s style granny square blanket! The downside of having a date-stamped blog is that it's blatantly obvious how little I've achieved since my last post about this back on Monday 20 April. Oh dear.

Are you sure I wasn't alive in the 70s?

I went with a chocolate brown, mustard yellow and bright orange for my granny square - it was going to be lots of little squares joined together but I decided to do it this way instead (just getting bigger and bigger)... does it still count?

>> If you're inclined to crochet the odd granny square yourself, join Meet Me At Mike's A Granny A Day Til The End O May!

Baby blanket squares

With the Easter long weekend came an abundance of chocolate... and knitting/crochet! I actually can't take credit for these cute little crocheted squares - a friend of mine is making them for a baby blanket.

My own upcoming projects are:
1. An olive green scarf using vegan yarn (for my boy)
2. A fair isle beret (for myself)
3. A pair of fingerless mittens (for a friend)
4. The green velvet cushions (for my kitchen)

Vegan yarn

Found this divinely soft "Down to Earth" yarn on sale at Spotlight the other day - it's 70% bamboo and 30% cotton (which means 0% wool). Haven't decided what I'll make with it yet but it'll be perfect for the vegan knitting group suggested on Vegan and Vintage!

The green beret

I'm still working on the perfect beret pattern (having finished one, then unsuccessfully trying to make a better one). I'm using leftover wool from the K2TOG [knit TWO Together] project, although I still have my sale stash (the good stuff) ready in the wings for when I conquer the pattern... soon!

Seeing double

From a bright blue beginning, then watching it grow in circles, to a finished beret... I've almost finished version 2.0, but it hasn't quite turned out as I hoped - it's too small! I'm out of the blue wool so I'll have to just leave it as is, but as "The Year of No Excuses" it's back to the drawing board to give it another go.

Sale shopping

I was in the city yesterday and saw a sign that said Knitting Yarn Sale in the Clegs window. Naturally I walked straight in, and came out with an assortment of cream, grey and blue wool. I'm going to attempt sets of fingerless mittens and matching berets!

Hello two thousand and nine!

Happy New Year everyone! I'm looking forward to 2009, and sticking to my new year's resolutions this time. I finished crocheting the blue beret but not 100% happy with it so have started creating version 2.0 (if it works out I'll post the pattern). I'm also wearing my gorgeous new cardigan and a favourite necklace today. So far, this year is grand!

Going in circles

I managed to muck up the pattern for this blue crocheted beret and am now making it up as I go, doing increasing circles of double crochet. At some point I'll need to start decreasing, then maybe knit around the bottom, since it's not getting a brim. If it turns out to be at all wearable I'll post the pattern - fingers and toes crossed because I love this colour and can't wait to wear it!

>> The wool was only $1 at the Camberwell Market. Yes, really!

A bright blue beginning

After getting the hang of granny squares, I'm now embarking on something circular in the form of a blue crocheted beret! Yes, it's altogether the wrong season for it but the on-again-off-again rain makes me think anything and everything is possible. My cute little red fingerless mittens might even come out again... I'm still so proud of those.

Golden Hands

1. Golden Hands (Part 16; 2nd ed), 2. Golden Hands (Part 12; 2nd ed), 3. Golden Hands (Part 11; 2nd ed), 4. Golden Hands (Part 8; 2nd ed), 5. Golden Hands (Part 7; 4th ed), 6. Golden Hands (Part 4), 7. Golden Hands (Part 4; 2nd ed), 8. Golden Hands (Part 14; 2nd ed), 9. Golden Hands (Part 9; 2nd ed)

My flickr set is growing - this time I've been photographing the Golden Hands magazines given to me by a friend a few weeks ago. They're brilliant - full of knitting, sewing, crochet and other crafty projects... Less photographing and more doing is in order very soon!

>> Nothing to report on my desk this week, and I won't try to make something up this time! Oh, and the link to make mosaic images is here.

A set of squares

YouTube is full of inspiration - I learnt how to crochet edges for my granny squares thanks to this video, and am almost up to joining them all together. Look how far they've come!

On my desk

Still going with the granny squares... they're actually quite quick to do now, but I keep forgetting to go back to them. Could be taking on too many projects at once. I have a problem with that. The red wool is almost finished, so I'm going to use grey & black around the edges, then to join. It's mostly for practice - I'm hoping to do a huge Afghan blanket next.

>> I like being part of Kootoyoo's "On my desk" theme, despite most weeks posting about things that take place entirely elsewhere... like the couch :)

On my desk

On my desk today was the rest of this red wool - I'm trying to crochet as many granny squares as I can out of it, obviously still going... haven't decided how I'll use them all. Any ideas?

>> In other news, this is my 101st post, and it's my birthday (well, as of midnight), and I'm not going to work tomorrow! All good things.

A square

A crocheted granny square for your viewing pleasure. Lots more coming...

A red square

This one is pretty dodgy but I had to put my leftover red wool to good use, and learn how to make granny squares, thus 'two birds, one stone'. As a vegetarian, I obviously do not condone stoning birds. Is there another saying that means the same thing?

Two photos, one click.

Two prints, one stamp.

Two needles, one thread.

...not quite as simple, huh.

A pair!

Probably the fastest project I've done so far! I can't take credit for the pattern, but I might make some modifications next time (like longer down the arms). Although this version I managed to make both mittens from one 50g ball of wool! Amazing.

>> Granny squares are coming next, I found some inspiration today...

Granny Square on Wikipedia
As usual, wikipedia comes through with the goods (simple explanation).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granny_square

Green Granny Square Blanket on Instructables
A huge project, can't imagine how long it must have taken.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Green-Granny-Square-Blanket/

Crafts on MarthaStewart.com
Worth a look for the miniature squares!
http://www.marthastewart.com/article/granny-squares

A hop, skip & a jump

Today I bought more wool: deepish red for fingerless mittens, and black/white for another scarf in a new pattern, inspired by Lady Melbourne. I'm getting a little ahead of myself with 3 knitting projects at once, but I like the variety! ...and won't start any others (for now). There's more maths involved than I thought - like gauges, counting, needle sizes & different weights of wool. Hopefully soon I'll be able to design my own clothes! Ahem. First I'll keep learning the stitches...

>> My place in the Ravelry queue has moved up to #3611.