Raves

I have completed the rectangular shawl pattern made with Caron Cozi yarn. The pattern is here: Easy Shawl and as my pictures show, I didn't put the fringe on the ends. I simply finished the end the same way the beginning started, with dc's in each stitch and chain sp across. I tend to not like fringe on items anyway and especially with yarns like Cozi because it seems like a waste of yarn since it unravels so easily and the "fuzzy" part tends to come off the main thread without any provocation. Here are pictures:
A front view
The back
A closeup shot that gives you a good view of the colorway that runs through the yarn. This picture is a lot lighter than the yarn itself is, but it does a great job showing how the various colors are mingled throughout.

Since I always like to have small projects to occupy myself while I am working on larger projects. I usually have a scarf or square laying around. This square was completed while taking a short break from the Seraphina Shawl I'm working on at the moment. This square is a charity pattern and I asked for and received the pattern with the understanding that I would make a square and donate it to the organization that the designer had created the pattern for. Needless to say I put it off, tucking the pattern away in my archives and giving it very little thought. Even after I was "reminded" via a couple emails I just let the ball drop with it after reading the email. Shame on me!
So now, I've decided I've got this square done and while I'm working on the Seraphina Shawl project as I need to take breaks from the piece I'll start and complete this square in several colors and ship them all out to the charity organization. Sort of like paying interest on the time the pattern sat around collecting dust. I'm sure the lady who runs this charity could use all the squares she can get and so if I send in two or three or more that will more than make up for my laziness.

Now the Seraphina Shawl is my first and I am finding it fairly easy to work up. I put off working this shawl up because I had read so much about how confusing it was to work the pattern sequence so I'm pleased to find it isn't as confusing as some people make it. I did choose to make this first one with a ww acrylic yarn because if I had to frog it tends to take repeated frogging a lot better than some of the "fluffier" yarns in my stash. I thought once I had the pattern down then I'd consider what other yarns I could pull from my pile to use. I found one error in the pattern writing itself but I was able to correct that with little effort on my part. The only other problem is that because of the way the pattern is written up you don't get specific counts on the number of shell repeats per line. You end up repeating the same 4 line sequence over and over until the shawl is the size you want and so I found that I had to pay attention to my project or else I'd put a shell in where I was supposed to do a pattern increase. Just a little confusion, nothing I couldn't figure out after a round or two of ripping, lol! No pictures yet, but they will be forthcoming as I complete the project!

I do have to say, this year I was able to pick up some tomato plants from a fellow freecycler and had several survive and thrive. They're doing so well I just had to show them off. I know it's a bit of a late season for the tomatoes, and I'm getting my first fruits on the vine now and as you can imagine, driving myself insane with anticipation. Yummmyyyyy, fresh tomatoes in my salad,

BLT's, mmmmmmmm!


I'm actually quite pleased with the way these pictures turned out, they make my yard look WAYYYY prettier than it actually is! I have decided that if this effort pays off next year I may
enlarge my garden bed and plant peppers, onion and some lettuce to go along with the tomatoes. Salad fixin's for a summer treat. Of course I always get ahead of myself and start thinking of all sorts of things I can do, herbs, carrots, heck, melons, strawberries. But whoa, have to keep reminding myself I can only do a little bit of gardening, weeding, etc. because of my bad back so I have to pick and choose where things like that come into play. Tomatoes, peppers, lettuce and maybe a little onion. I will consider an herb bed but not in the middle of the garden, hmm, maybe in my front flower bed (where there aren't really many flowers anyway). It's a low light location so I'd have to do a bit of research on what I can plant there. I like the possibility of it though. Ah well, enough to do dealing with this season for now. Let next year take care of itself.

Hope you're all keeping cool in this weather. Until next post, happy crocheting people!

Details, Details

Since several people have asked me about the joining on this latest afghan I thought I would show some pictures that give a bit more detail of the stitching around my squares as well as the edging. It's quite simple really, just chains that join in the middle but it gives the afghan a beautifully lacey effect.

Here is a close up of four of the squares joined with a medallion in the center.


Two squares joined together and the edging of the entire afghan.


A close up of the edging that surrounds the entire afghan.
This was done with 5 rounds of chain three and the last round of chain 5.


Another close up of the edging that goes around the entire afghan.


A close up shot of the edging that surrounds each square.

This was a process of figuring things out as I went along. I started with the chain 5 edging around each square and just played around until I found a number that fit for the squares.
Since I was winging this I ended up not making allowances for the "center" of the chain 5 edging which left a hole in the center. I filled that hole with granny medallions that I stitched into the hole. I edged the entire afghan with chain 3's because the chain 5's I was using to do my square joining was going to create too much ruffle as the edging. I did 5 rows of the chain 3's and then went back to chain 5's for the last row of edging.

Summer Projects

A quick update to show off the completed afghan, plus a couple other projects I've finished up. I think this turned out even better than I thought it was going to. Of course this afghan was "winged"- I had some of the squares, hurried up and finished the others and then used a simple chain stitch to join them. I added some round medallions to the big holes between joinings (told you I was winging it) then did a chain trim around in the same yarn I used for the medallions.
I think I have a buyer for this afghan. She's supposed to pay me the 25th of this month and I'll be jumping for joy when I see the money. It's the first project I've ever tried to sell and the woman didn't even bat an eye at the price I quoted. Makes me think I should have quoted higher, lol! No, really if she's willing to pay what I asked for, I'm pleased as punch to sell it to her.

As you know, I was working on a freeform project with a boucle yarn. I showed a picture of the work in progress with my last post. I'm happy to say I finished that project and so here's a picture of the completed shrug I was working on in that lovely boucle yarn.


This last project is made with Cozi Sapphire yarn, using up leftover skeins I had in my stash. I think it turned out really pretty.


Currently on my hook is another Cozi yarn shawl, this one is a rectangular shape and I'm using the color Evening Jewels. It's a beautiful mix of black, dark blue, turquoise and purple. I've slowed my pace with projects a bit due to the heat of summer. I also have other projects working out in my yard that keep me from picking up the hook as much as I was. Still adding completed projects to my craft fair stash, just not at the fervent pace I was before.