Crafty DOA Version 2.0

 Here's the new Crafty DOA Logo.  I've changed a few of the elements.  There was this wierd thing going on with the previous post about the logo where (for me) droves of people were looking at the dang thing.  Since we all know nobody read this S*&^, if there's some older post picking up speed, something is amiss.

Hmmm the Crafty DOA is hard to see.  Will fix on the next version.

 I've been actively crafting!  I'm doing a pink blanket with the squares bordered in pastel. Pink is my favorite, plus I have, no lie, an entire closet of pink yarn.  I placed them on an old hairpin lace blanket I made years ago for added charm.

 

Also on the hook is more yarn I'm trying to use up, that features a few varieties of Caron Baby Cakes Yarn.  I've got them set so you see how the colors unspool as you go, and I'm using a sea green for the join and borders.

 

 

I've been itching to do some embroidery for awhile, and this is the project I chose to come back to.  I got frustrated because the thread kept getting knotted up and I couldn't work on it at all.  The material is very thin, which doesn't help.  I think they are supposed to be tea towels, but I can't imagine they would dry a thing.  Still, the stitches are simple and I have a love of Mason Jars.  I tried working the letters this morning (b and e) with a short length of thread, pulling carefully, and I think it will be fine.  At least it is a start on the craft.

Crafty DOA: Completed! The Red Heart "I Love Pink" Blanket

 After many trials and tribulations, I joined together the squares of this blanket with a single crochet stitch, the added a single crochet border all around. It’s complete! You can see the flaws if you look, but I won’t be noticing them as I keep warm this winter.

Here’s a link to some of the problems, and you can see what the original pattern looks like.

 

https://librariandoa.blogspot.com/2022/02/when-it-takes-10-tries-to-get-pattern.html

Diagon Alley Blanket Complete!

 After making a baby blanket that was from regular yarn that may have been too heavy, I used some baby yarn I had on hand to make another tiny, lighter blanket. Long in the making, because that’s how I do things, the Diagon Alley blanket is complete as of today.

The blanket is named for the charming yarn it is made from. It is feathery soft and light, and would not weigh a baby down.  The border is Element L from Edie Eckman’s Every Which Way Crochet Borders, otherwise the design is mine. Who says I never finish anything?

A Real Live Finished Project

 I’m ending April with the completion of a baby blanket I started in February. I’m just that fast. I should have used baby yarn, but was so pleased to be making a pink blanket, I used my two prettiest colors. Caron One Pounder in Soft Pink for the main color, one border row of single crochet, and the scalloped edge row. For the centers, joining color and the second border row of single crochet I used Red Heart Super Saver Ombré Jazzy.

I made so many mistakes, agh. Luckily, the overall effect of the blanket is quite pretty, so I don’t think mom or baby will obsess over the mistakes.

Pink On Pause

 Instead of a cozy picture of my beagle wrapped in a completed I Love Pink Blanket, here it is, set aside in a bin for the nonce.

 Sometimes you have to walk away then come back fresh. I tried to join the squares four ways.

The stitch according to the directions, which was very loose and looked terrible. Maybe that’s why the original border is in black so the stitch definition isn’t so clear, and you go ack.

I tried half double crochet stitches. It looked more solidly held together, but again there was a Frankenstein’s monster look to the stitches.

Double crochet, worse yet.

Single crochet looked best and had the nicest look, but it still isn’t quite right.

I’ve picked up my long in the works Green Granny which just needs the squares joined and a border.

Never fear, no weekly updates on that afghan.  

Mondays revert to a hodge podge sort of posting like Wednesdays are.  

Should I complete the Pinkie, I'll have it here.  

Thanks for following the blanket progress :)

Red Heart I Love Pink Blanket Part 9

All squares are made but those last two that I finished need an edge.  I did find a layout I like, so progress indeed. The blanket seems small, but it will be cozy enough.

However, I am just not seeing how the assembly instructions work.

ASSEMBLY With right sides facing, arrange all squares as shown in Assembly Diagram on next page. Horizontal Join (right side): Holding first squares of Strips 1 and 2 with wrong side together and working through both thicknesses, join D with sc in first corner, **ch 2, sc in space between next 2 hdc and first 4-hdc group, *ch 4, sc in space between next two 4-hdc groups; repeat from * 4 times, ch 4, sc in space between last 4-hdc group and next 2 hdc, ch 2, sc in next corner**, ch 2, sc in first corner of next squares; repeat from ** to ** once. Fasten off. Repeat Horizontal Join to join remaining strips.

 So. What is a strip? These two, then go down?  This does not seem "horizontal".

Now this below looks horizontal, but does not seem to involve "the first squares of strip one and strip two."

 

How have I gotten this far, you ask?  Looking at the Yarnspirations site to look at the pattern and copy it here, I noticed a review! I'm certain it wasn't there when I started. It says it is " super easy".  I had a moment reading that, but it is true, once you decipher the instructions and are working on the pattern, it seems easy enough.  That deciphering though!

I'm going to do what got me through last time, just try to follow the pattern directions stitch by stitch.  Stay tuned for the gripping finale.

Red Heart I Love Pink Blanket #8

 I’ve only three squares left to put edging on, then it’s the dramatic assembly and a border.  I’m considering putting the darker colors at the outside and lights in the center. That’s likely not as pretty as a mixed pattern of shades. This may be one of those rare projects that I complete in less than a year (or longer).

Stay tuned!

Red Heart I Love Pink Blanket Part 7

 Only one square left, all of the edges, assembly and a border.  I did manage to lay the squares out in an initial pattern.  I think that may be the toughest part. Keeping a good mix of darks and lights, and no two of the same color next to each other. Best be careful they’re all right side up, too.

Red Heart I Love Pink Blanket Part 6

 I have made progress since last week. I’m on the second to last color, Light Raspberry.  The edging instructions were making me buggy, so I dove in on a few squares to see how it went. 

The essence of the instructions are to do a half double crochet in each stitch along the sides. On the top and bottom of each square, do a set of four half double crochets in the spaces created by the double crochet groups of four. If this is wrong, it will show up in the next step when I attempt to “assemble” the squares.

I’m pulling the Jazzy yarn from the center of the skein, and so far there’s no color change. It’s all very crimson.  Somewhere in the edges and borders, those lighter colors should appear.

Red Heart I Love Pink Blanket Part 5

Little progress this week, except I finished one Shocking Pink Square and half of the second one. I’m hoping to have all squares complete by next week, and have a start on the edging. 

Reading the directions, though, it is completely unclear if they want me to put half double crochets in the stitches or the spaces at the ends of each row. It may be neither. Decipher it and drop me a line, thanks!

I Love Pink Blanket Part 4

 I’m working on the sixth of eight colors which will comprise the loveliest pink blanket I’ve done.  Just two more colors after this, and the edging goes in. I find the directions for the edging to be a bit obscure. If I can’t figure it out, I’ve a whole book of blanket edgings to turn to.

I Love Pink Blanket Part 3

I meant to have at least two new squares done for this week, but no luck.  I have started my fourth color : Red Heart With Love Sweet Pink.  You can't tell here just how soft the color is, but it is sweet indeed. Next week more progress!

 

 

I Love Pink Blanket Part 2

 I’m working on my third color in the I Love Pink Blanket. It is so pretty and a pleasure to work on. I’m doing all of the squares first, then I’ll add the borders.

The colors so far are Baby Pink, Perfect Pink, and Pretty N Pink.

When It Takes 10 Tries To Get The Pattern Right

I mark and print out many patterns. Eventually, I try out some with new stitches that are slightly above my pay grade skill wise. Normally I’d give up, if there's too much trouble getting a good start, but sometimes, I like the pattern so much, I just keep trying. 

In the case of Red Heart Yarns I Love Pink Blanket, I was sure I could master the stitch, after watching several YouTube videos demonstrating the Crossed Double Crochet stitch, which the pattern uses. I knew I had yarn colors that would look nice with it. 

As it turned out, all of the videos have you working this stitch into another double crochet stitch. After several tries, I thought I had it right using a test swatch with Red Heart Retro Stripes Yarn.

Oops. Reading the pattern carefully, and writing it out longhand without the pattern abbreviations, I saw the Double Cross Stitch here is worked into a Space, not a stitch.

Try, try again, and in Baby Pink, I now have the pattern down.

The next step was to dig through my massive yarn stash for the required three pink shades plus a border color, which would never have been black as in the original.

Look at all of those pretty pinks!  Red Heart Super Saver Jazzy is a great choice for the border. It incorporates several of the shades I have.  Seeing all of these together, I want to use them all.  If I do two squares of each shade I have, I'm just one skein short of the sixteen squares.  Unless! I dug through a third time and I have a Caron One Pounder in Soft Pink that is absolutely compatible with the Super Saver Yarn.  Now I can do 2 squares of each of eight colors.  So mathematical!

I have more fun than you do, just sayin'.

https://www.yarnspirations.com/red-heart-i-love-pink-blanket/RHC0502-018295M.html

 

 

My Pink Shades:

Red Heart Super Saver

Baby Pink

Perfect Pink

Light Raspberry

Petal Pink

Shocking Pink

Pretty 'N Pink

Red Heart With Love 

Sweet Pink

 

Red Heart Super Saver Ombre 

Jazzy

Caron One Pounder

Soft Pink

Red Heart Patched Persuasion Throw

 I was collecting Red Heart Super Saver yarn for a bit trying to get all of the blue shades. I had in mind a “blues” blanket, which didn’t quite come together. Recently, I saw a pattern for the Red Heart Patched Persuasion blanket, and thought it would be pretty in blues. Luckily I have ten different shades of blue, as the pattern wants ten colors. 

Though I sometimes like the song, and sometimes I don’t, in my mind it’s now The Crystal Blue Persuasion throw. Here are my colors ( which includes a One Pounder Caron blue too pretty not to use and it’s compatible with Super Saver).

https://www.yarnspirations.com/red-heart-patched-persuasion-throw/RHC0502-016455M.html

Bernat All for One Crochet Blanket

Wouldn't this     https://www.yarnspirations.com/bernat-all-for-one-crochet-blanket/BRC0502-002031M.html

Look Nice In This:

Christmas Granny "In A Weekend" Progress

Progress is good!  I'm just finishing row 20 of 31 on my Granny Square blanket which has been in the works for several years, I think.  

I've learned so much since I started working on it.  One of the things that made it difficult was that my skeins of yarn didn't go very far, the larger my "square" got.  I had to change to a new skein of yarn in the middle of a row, sometimes more than once.  I struggled with that in my initial run.  Now it's  so simple to do, and I think I'll finish this one soon. 

No joining, no border, just those few more rows.  I weave in ends as I go, always, so that won't be there at the end.

Christmas Granny Afghan Ready to Join and Trim in Less Than A Year!

I found a note that showed I started my red, white and green Christmas Granny this January.  Here we are, in December and all I need to do is join the squares and add a border, then ready for Christmas.

 

Isn't it so festive already?

This Week I Liked...

Here's another weekly roundup!

I looked at Instagram, thinking if it had fun ideas and inspirations I might sign up.  Lots of the crafting blogs I follow have Instagram accounts.  They often say sometimes they post more regularly there because they can just take a few pictures, put them up without comment, and voila! content and updates.   It was started as an IOS phone photo sharing app, that's the intended audience.  I personally prefer to use a camera for pictures when I can, that I'd like to save.  So I think Instagram isn't for me at this time.

Pinterest!  Another site that comes up often when I'm searching for recipes, how-to-do-it information, and gardening ideas is Pinterest.  I thought because Facebook made me kill off my DOA account that Pinterest access was gone as well.  Ha, no, DOA lives!  I just never did anything with it.  Therefore, I'm willing to spend time finding things in my categories of interest, and use those things here in the future. Whoo hoo!

Onward.


Crafting

From the Cypress Textiles Blog, 8 Crochet Joining Methods for Square Motifs.  Believe it or not, I am approaching the point of joining on several projects, and these join methods can make a blanket look just that bit more beautiful.

The ever clever Polka Dot Chair has a timely post, More Than 25 Halloween Sewing Projects for those of you who can sew, or those who would like to get started with one of these projects.   I love the...

Witches Silhouette Pillow

...and the Black Cat Embroidered face pillow

From the Itsy Bits and Pieces blog, a post called Thrift The Look, where she and several other bloggers look at an inspiration photo from Country Living Magazine, then try to recreate it from thrift store finds that match the look and feel of the original.   Quite a fun idea.  Itsy Bitsy (can we call her that?) is very clever and has some artistic and crafting talents that make her effort pretty great.  She tells how she did it all.  This might inspire you to try to recreate something you see in a magazine.

The Original

Itsy's Re-creation

Cooking

My mom made wonderful Chicken and Dumplings, but very rarely.  I've tried recipes over the years, and the dumplings and I never meshed.  They were balls of weird dough, or the dough dispersed into a liquidy mess once dropped in with the chicken.  Very sad.   Two Peas and Their Pod have a tasty looking recipe I may try.

I've come to like Chicken Caesar salad while dining out (though last night I had one that was gross and bore no resemblance to any other I've had).   This recipe from The English Kitchen looks really nice.    https://theenglishkitchen.blogspot.com/2018/09/grilled-chicken-caesar-salad.html

She also posted a Maple Cake  that reminded me of a cake with a Brown Sugar Penuche frosting I used to make, but this seems richer and yet more delicate.  https://theenglishkitchen.blogspot.com/2018/09/maple-cake.html

I'm still craving chocolate cake, and may try this one next.  Another nice 8x8 pan recipe.

https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/king-arthur-flours-original-cake-pan-cake-recipe

Mystery

The wonderful Mystery blog The Rap Sheet has a list this week called Taking in the Sites.  It's his yearly list of the best mystery and crime blogs out there.   I have some of them on my blog list, and will be adding more to the Books and Authors section of my blogroll.



CrimeReads has many great reading lists.  This week I noted https://crimereads.com/mystery-in-the-age-of-empire/   

I always mean to read David Liss, and I love Lyndsay Faye.    I like other works by Robert McCammon.   Was unable to read The Alienist past the first few pages.     Anne Perry's The Cater Street Hangman is excellent.    I'll be most interested to look at some of the others.


 Beauty and Humor

Gardeners Two Women and a Hoe know their stuff.   I look like this with or without mascara.

https://www.facebook.com/TWOwomenANDaHOE/photos/a.254163565069/10156606813480070/?type=3&theater