Square Heaven

The trouble with trebles is I have a death grip on the hook while making them. I doubt I could do this many treble clusters in one sitting without major hand cramps.

Trebles are not my favorite nor my best-looking stitch by any means…and then to cluster them together? Well, here is the end result of my effort. It is a stunning square in more skilled hands, but I think this came out OK.

Pattern: In Treble by Julie Yeager (available as a free Ravelry download)
Hook: H
Yarn: Pink Poodle/Vanna’s Choice Baby & White/RHSS

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Is this square not absolutely beautiful?? I can’t hardly believe that I made this. Originally I wanted to do this one in a gradient of yellow, orange, to brown or dk blue, but didn’t have the right colors, so went with a pinkish gradient instead.

There are trebles, double trebles to be exact, in this one, too, but just the long front post stitches that create the spikes, spokes, or rays, whatever you like to call them.

Pattern: Double Treble Burst Square by Amelia Beebe (find this one on Crochetville)
Hook: H
Yarn: center outward
ILTY buttercup
ILTY light peach
ILTY pink
Vanna’s Choice pink poodle
RH Soft fuchsia

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Tis a fun square to do! The designer, Melinda Miller, has a group on Ravelry that you might like to take a look at. (hint: her patterns are free for the month that it is featured as the block of the month CAL) Her patterns are versatile that allow for a lot of color play and appropriate for a nice span of skill levels.

Pattern: Tangeled Threads by Melinda Miller
Yarn: ILTY lt peach, VC pink poodle, and RHSS white
Hook: H

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OK, one more.

and a smaller 8″ version

These are Donna Kay Lacey patterns, whom also has a group on Ravelry and offers her patterns for free if you’re doing the monthly CAL. I love that! Her patterns are definitely more advanced and I’ve sent two of them into hibernation. She also hosts a guest designer for a mystery cal, such as the first square in this post.

Pattern: Lucky Charm by Donna Kay Lacey (linked to her Rav download pdf page)
Yarn: ILTY limelight, pink
RHSS Aran – kicking my butt for grabbing Aran instead of White
The 8″ is RHSS Watercolors and Lt Sage, plus the ILTY in Buttercup.

Would you believe I wasn’t going to do any CALs or Block-A-Month groups this year?? Now, I’m in 3 of them. The joys of playing with yarn!

more Christmas grannies

Christmas Grannies

It’s hard to take decent pictures lately with all this dreary weather. OF course, the dreary weather keeps me inside and playing with yarn and there’s nothing bad about that!
These are all made with the same I Love This Yarn by Hobby Lobby and an H hook.

Enough Love to Go Around

First up is Enough Love to Go Around by Penny Davidson. It is indeed quite beautiful and perfect for anything Christmas, but I must warn you, this pattern will likely test your patience. The original pattern is not easily followed, although I didn’t particularly find any of the rewrites much better. Looking closely at the photos of others’ squares helped, a LOT. I was not happy with the end result until I blocked it.

Anticipation

This square was part of a mystery CAL with this Ravelry group and the pattern is now posted for free. I must admit that there was a learning curve for me on this one and I had to rework several different areas to get it right. The surface crochet was worked with an I hook, otherwise the rest was worked with an H hook. It’s very detailed, pretty, 3D and will be a lovely addition to my Christmas afghan. This one is called Anticipation. The square would look much better with blocking and another round or two, but it is right at 12″. It won’t matter once it is joined though.

Cute as a Button

Now for something a little easier: Cute as a Button
This is another reliable pattern from Donna aka SmoothFox and there are plenty of pictures in the pattern to help. She is one of the first places I go when searching for square patterns.

Happy Hooking Ya’ll

2009 BAMCAL Afghan

Closeup 09 BAMCAL Afghan

Originally uploaded by ravelSher

Yes, that says 2009….what can I say. Assembly is not my strength.

If you’d like the individual patterns, you will find them throughout my blog. I believe most of the tags are correct and they should all come up.

You can also find them on the Ravelry group for this CAL. BAMCAL

BAMCAL & WIP progress

So it begins…..the Ravelry 2010 Block-A-Month Crochet-A-Long in my Christmasy colors. This year’s yarns are:
I Love This Yarn – aubergine, midgreen, and ivory.
I Love This Yarn – cranapple stripe (I fell in love with this yarn and had to have it….still lovin’ it)
I might even sneak in a bit of pink here and there, just for fun.

Not a very exciting square, but OK…especially in my beautiful cranapple yarn.

EZee-Vzee Granny Square by James Davis – this is an archived pattern, posted on Ravelry.
ILTY
H hook
Notes: Added a sc border to bring it up to 12″ and changed the joins so that they meet in the corner.
An easy & quick pattern to work.
Rounds of sc or hdc can be worked in to add heft, although surprisingly it’s not a terribly flimsy square.

This is a 6″ square that I crocheted just to be crocheting something and I grabbed the yarn closest to me…..go ahead, call me lazy. The shoe certainly fit that day! I like the square and colors, so I will probably keep making these 6″ squares in my patriotic colors and we’ll see where it goes.

Little Dahlia by Chris Simon – visit her website, YarnCrazy for the pattern
ILTY Ombre -Freedom
Vanna’s Choice – Colonial Blue
H Hook

Notes: Not the easiest or best written pattern for me. Not sure what my problem was because I generally find Chris Simon’s patterns some of the best.
No changes.

Oh yes…..that brings me to WIP progress. Let’s just say I’ll get back to ya on that, although I’m caught up on the BAMCAL and it’s only the 4th. teehee

GoodYarn News! I have a shipment on the way………… oops, laundry is beeping……

December Things

Hubby’s Patriotic Round Ripple

Just not quite big enough, but I have 4 days left, right?

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Handi Sani Holders

Aren’t they cute? Tis still the season, ya know…..the FLU season.
Directions can be found on my crochet hero’s Ravelry project page.

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Now about this next square.
First, I’d like to introduce you to my 2010 BAMCAL colors: ILTY mid-green, cranapple stripe, and antique white. Something red will join them, but I have to find just the right one.
Second, this is a striking square, especially fitting for the Christmas season, but beware, it’s a bit twisty. I know it’s not just me b/c I see the twistiness in other photos of this same square. So, I decided to venture into blocking. Made myself a right nice blocking pillow with a pillow form, some batting and some cheap white cloth. Oh, and some duct tape.

Here’s the “before” shot.

Here’s the “after” shot.

See the tremendous improvement in this disobedient square after it was properly blocked? LOL, nah, me neither! If you could see them IRL you might notice that there is a bit less twistiness, especially in/around the variegated yarn section, but I can’t say I was blown away by the results.

Pattern: Falling Star by Melinda Miller

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That brings me to this little troublemaker:

I would say this is a modified version of the Winter Rose by Julee Reeves. The overall effect of the lone winter rose in the snow is definitely going on here and it will be the center square for my 2009 BAMCAL afghan. The only other square I did so much frogging on this year was the Center Heart Square.

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Speaking of my 2009 BAMCAL afghan…the squares are ready for assembly. I will start that project after Christmas is over.

Merry Christmas – may you feel the Saviour’s love and wonder at His holiness this Christmas!