Rippling

And now, a little peek at what goes with me to my Happy Place.

The Ripple Dance

After a couple projects that tested my skill and patience, I must have wanted something dreamy to crochet. What better than a ripple? Exactly!

I bought this lovely assortment of playful yarns from WEBS quite awhile ago and just never really decided what to do with it.
First, it was a ripple,
then a granny square blanket,
and for awhile, it was going to be a granny stripe blanket.
I even entertained the Lace & Bobbles pattern, aka Stitch Sampler by Jean Holzman.
Coming, full circle…..it’s a ripple, specifically Lucy of Attic24′s Neat Ripple. All ripples are so similar and Lucy’s inspiration came from Jan Eaton’s Soft Waves (#8 in her book). The repeats are different 14 and 12 respectively, fwiw.

A discussion on the Lucy group on Ravelry brought about the dance….The Ripple Dance, if you will.

Another trick to this pattern is the rhythm – the dance! Each row starts with the V – the 2 US dc…so here we go…

1 & 2….1 2 3 4…1 & 2 decrease…1 2 3 4…1 & 2 and 1 & 2 increase…1 2 3 4…1 & 2 decrease…..

…and so it goes to the end with a final 1 & 2

It is the rhythm that makes ripples so addictive and enjoyable. My own little yarny high going on….all legal and good for the spirit. What makes me so happy with this particular ripple is the color….so MUCH color that it is a feast. I can’t wait to wrap myself in this blanket!
I admit that rippling can get boring in its simplicity, but the color changes come just fast enough and I look forward to standing over my box of yarns and picking the next color to work. Yes, I’ve gone completely wild and gone random with my color choices! OH!

The Details:
Chain 227 (224 + 3 turning chain) for a 60″ wide blanket
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash Wool
Hook: H (because its my favorite)
No dance shoes required.

Children don’t stop dancing
Believe you can fly
Away…away
~~Creed~~

Felted Yarnbag

I am NOT going to admit how long ago I started this, nor how long ago it should have been gifted. This is another Lisa Gentry Yarn Bag, but I made this one huge. I wanted to felt it to tighten up the stitches so the goods can’t slip through and I still wanted it to be big. Well, that it is. I think I placed 6 skeins in there without stuffing and still had room for more yarn or the project du jour and the necessary accoutrements.

Yarn: Lion Brand Lion Wool Prints – Majestic Mountain
Hook: H

More Yarn Bags – Felted & Finished

   

pre-felted

Originally uploaded by ravelSher

Two more yarn bags using Lisa Gentry’s Yarn Bag pattern.

The first picture is the pre-felted photo of both bags.

Yarn – Paton’s Classic Wool

on the left is called Harvest

on the right is called Palais

I hook for both bags.

I am felting the first bag right now and will post pictures when they’re finished.

Bags are felted and drying. I followed the instructions on Paton’s website. – How To Felt Instructions. I have a front-loader washing machine and no idea how hot the water gets.

For the Palais bag: I used the normal cycle/hot for 15 minutes then switched it to cold rinse and spin which ran for 15 minutes. It was not felted nearly enough. I ran it through again on heavy duty/hot for 15 minutes then about 20 minutes of cold. I don’t know if it needs that long of a rinse and spin, but that’s how long my machines sets itself for. It is very felted and I really like it, even though I lost a lot of the size. It will make a great lunch bag.

For the Harvest bag: I used the heavy duty/hot cycle and completely forgot about it and it ran the full 50 minute cycle. I was most irritated with myself. Anyway, it still wasn’t felted to my satisfaction, so I ran it through again for 15 minutes (set my handy-dandy timer and attached it to myself, this time) then ran it through the cold rinse & spin cycle. It’s perfect.

I wasn’t sure how to dry them, so I sort of rigged it by using a couple vases and a coffee thermos.

I’ll get the final pictures up tomorrow after they are completely dry.

Felted Bags -

The Harvest bag could have been felted more but I didn’t want to lose any more size.
The Palais bag felted beautifully and I wish it showed it better in the picture. The handles wanted to roll on this one, so I just rolled them up tighter and squeezed them every once in awhile while it was drying.

The only thing I don’t like is how the yarn swirled, pooled or whatever the right term is for that.  Despite that, I am quite happy with my first felting project.

 

After trying on the Palais bag, The Hub would now like a felted cap.  He looked like a Mongolian soldier…be afraid, be very afraid.  LOL!  sorry, no pics