the story of the ugly ripple

I was sorting out my workroom,
the yarn tote runneth over,
everyone was rippling,
although I swore "not sober"...

So, long story short, I'm making a really ugly ripple blanket with my really ugly leftover yarn. Hopefully it'll keep someone who doesn't care about aesthetics warm this coming winter.

I started with the nicest colors,

but don't have enough, so I had to add in one of the uglier colors,

but there were some that I absolutely could not bring myself to incorporate.


Stay tuned for more...

Can't choose

Hi folks,

I learned to crochet a couple of weeks ago and yes, it's addictive.

I'm working on a blanket for myself which is more stripes than ripples:


And then there's the ripple blanket which is a gift for a friend. I'm on the third (and final!) version after having made it too small, twice. The first version (aka 'the scarf') is being ripped and I'll finish the second one for myself if I've got enough yarn left after the gift one is done.

The Resistance is Futile Ripple is finished.

It's all done. I've tested it on my children's bunk beds and it fits just fine. This one is for my son and I've already started one for my daughter. So I've gone from not wanting to do any ripples at all to having one finished and another on the way. It's like a metaphor for having children really.

No End In Sight, no how

our business picks up in the spring and summer, so I won't have much crochet time (waah!) but here is what I have so far, and I will have more sometime, I'm sure . . .

Peggy....

Hey I'm sorry I didn't respond to your comment earlier... I forget to check back on here for comments. I'm used to LJ emailing them to me...

If your still having problems with the Granny Chevron, email me at cheersmurf@gmail.com and I'd be happy to help you out. I tried to find an email address for you on your profile but didn't see one... so I will just go this route! I had alot of problems with the pattern to start with.. but it just took me sitting down and reading it SEVERAL times to get it.

Granny Chevron progress

Here is the latest picture of my ripple. All the colors are in now.. and I am starting to do the second set of colors. It is all still random except for my small rule, the colors in the 2nd repeat can not touch the same colors from the first. So like on the first repeat of colors, the yellow is next to the dark purple and rubine red... so on the 2nd repeat... the yellow can't touch either of those colors. Then the 3rd repeat can't touch any of the same colors as the 2nd set. And so on. That way the colors look a bit different on each section.

wavin' around

quick, quick, quick before i turn into dinner-making, end of day tantrum diffusing wonder mama!

i made a promise earlier, soooooooooo here's the round ripple i'm fudging along in a wave based on the wavey chevron in Donna Kooler's. again, working with "fantasy naturale" mercerized cotton. it's a bit more than worsted weight, less than bulky. using an "i" hook. the blues are not quite solids. some nice tones and great sheen you can't see here. loverly and light for cotton.

...and just look, it's not rumpled!

Need help lol

I am trying to reteach my self to crochet, so I can make these blankets. I am having a hard time lol. Are there any good resources that you guys can direct me to? I am making soft waves, on page 19 and storm clouds on page 47. Well I should say, I WANT to crochet these. I don't want to knit them....hmmm, lol

Thanks!
Adrienne

End In Sight!

i was late to work this morning because i had 2 more rows to go. 2 more rows that took what seemed to be FOREVER! the blanket is considerably smaller than i had planned it to be, more square then rectangular, mostly because i didn't have enough yarn. when i noticed that i wasn't getting the yardage that i had hoped, i weighed several skeins and realized that i was getting 15-20% less yarn by weight than indicated on the skein band. something to remember if i ever buy from this supplier again.

anyway, i'm done. pictures will follow.

Really, There's No End In Sight

Ripples
Originally uploaded by kpwerker.

My, it's been about forever and a day since I've posted here. And about as long since I've worked on my ripple. But that doesn't mean I don't still love it! I've added several stripes since I last posted; I'm at a point in the blanket where it's no fun to show off an update every few rows, though. So I guess I'll just challenge myself to take fun photos every so often. I just got a new camera I'm already addicted to, so that shouldn't be too hard.

I'm having a blast watching everyone's progress!

Reworking the blog

Hey all!

Now that I have a few projects off my plate, I'm thinking about taking a few minutes to rework the blog a bit. The sidebar is getting a bit unwieldy now that we have almost 175 ripplers. Here's what I'm thinking:

Make the members list it's own seperate page. I'd make a single post that links to everyone's profile and update it as we go. Since many of you don't have your main blog on Blogger, I would be happy to link to them as well if you get me the info. Then there would be one little section in the sidebar labeled "click here for the ripplers" or some such, and it would take you to a list on another page.

We need to clean up the labels. Labels are the things that basically let you sort through all of the blog posts by category. When you write a post, at the bottom right corner of the box, there is a blank for labels...put your tag in here and we can track the progress of your project by clicking on it as all of the posts you have written will come up. You could find all of my posts by clicking on the label that is my name. We're kind of awash, but I'm thinking for the purposes of this blog, limiting it to individuals and type of ripple might help?

I'll be adding a link section to online patterns. There's a label for posts with pattern links, but it seems pretty confusing to most. I'll break it out, perhaps with it's own page like the rippler list.

Old posts will be cached daily. We're a tad too prolific to keep it monthly...

Anything else you think would be helpful? You just let me know.

(pics of my blankets in a bit...have a soft waves round ripple working up quite nicely. takes a bit of fudging on the decreases, but i'm quite happy with it.)

ripple me too...................

Hello All...............after several starts..i think i finally have it............ I

can't watch The Soprano's while rippling i found out....I'm using up odds and ends of yarns with slightly different weights...Cascade to some Red heart & many many unknowns ............So far so good.....Great inspiration & tips from others newbie which i appreciate so much....but best of all............Its so much fun !Thanks Sydney

Why are they so hard to photograph? LOL

Please don't look under the chair!!! LOL

I took several photos of my afghan, trying to get the colors and the "feel" of it in picture form, but D A N G !! I just couldn't quite capture it. waaaaaaaaaah! That's okay, though...wouldn't want you all to be too jealous, anyway. ;) heehee

My collection of yarns has slowly been evolving, or devolving, depending on how you look at it. I have added several colors that I have either seen somewhere and liked, or have dyed myself. I am trying to keep a good stock of my favorites, my staples, being a grassy green, a lighter shade of that same green, a lavender, and that one variegated yarn that keeps showing up. I am hoping that by using those regularly throughout the afghan, plus adding in the other various colors as my heart desires, I will end up with an exciting, yet not all-over-the-place color scheme.

I did say I am hoping. LOL

--Deb

i ripple, too.

Hi, everyone! My name is Bobbie and I'm in Madison, Wisconsin. Until a few months ago, I hadn't crocheted since I was a kid, but I was inspired by Alicia Paulson's magnificent ripple afghan. After scoring a bunch of wool yarn from a Hancock Fabrics that was closing, I started my first vertical stripe afghan (thank you, Bella Dia):



After finishing that, I started my first ripple afghan. I'm using Susan B's Easy Ripple Afghan pattern, a size J hook, and a variety of blue, green, white, and purple yarns in cotton and wool. The cotton yarn is from Joann's and Hancock, but the wool is from a beautiful yarn shop here in Madison called Lakeside Fibers.



Happy rippling, everyone!

28% finished

This blanket is due on May 26th. From your ripple-iscious experience, do you think I can get it done? Maybe I should be working on it instead of blogging? Or Flickring? Or anything else?!

I've accomplished a bit more on my other blankets - that's right, i'm the one doing three at a time. Would you like to see?

An 1824 Cotton Ripple

Here is a ripple I started about 2 months ago and put aside in order to work on the shell afghan for my son's wedding. I'm happy to say I finished the latter and think I'll start working on this one again. I have lots of 1824 cotton in my stash so this will be a stash busting ripple while I'm at it...Yea!!! I have almost 2 full skeins of a buttery yellow so I think I'll make the strips a bit wider with the yellow color....what do you think?

We're Havin' a Heat Wave

Truly, a heat wave in the L.A. area at the very time that I am crocheting a giant afghan that sits in my lap and makes me too warm to begin with. Quelle surprise.

After working on it for less than a week, I have been through two rounds of each color. It reminds me of the Caribbean, not that I have ever been there. It measures about 13 1/2" so far. I figure I will make it about 6 1/2' in length so I am about 1/6 of the way there. I should have it finished by 2010.

Yee Ha!!!! Finished!!!!!!!

I can hardly tell you how excited I am to have finished this, my first big crochet project! I've learned SO much - how to read a pattern (if it's really basic!), that I love love love beautiful yarns in natural fibres (the nicest one I found was an alpaca/merino blend - heavenly soft and light. I'd also love to try cotton and silk.) and that it's really hard to keep going on Project One when you have started dreaming about Project Two!
I was so excited about sharing photos with you that I didn't straighten the ripple properly before I took the photo and couldn't wait for daylight, so these are horrible flashed shots (the greens that look like avocado in this shot are really lime and the darkest colours are navy and chocolate)...


... don't care - I'm in love :D

Especially with the edging. It took me quite a few attempts to get this to look the way I wanted it to, but the crocheting/frogging/crocheting/frogging cycle was worth it in the end. I love the hot pink/red combo and the scallops.

Thanks to everyone who is participating in this Ripple Along!! You have all been so inspiring and your beautiful afghans have kept me crocheting when I started to run out of steam. Thank you, thank you!!
Now it's back to quilts and my somewhat neglected blog :)

Five down, Four to go!

I just finished the last color of the fifth repeat (these pics were taken earlier in the day, it was so pretty today in Dallas).





My little sisters are spending the weekend with us, so I got my sis that is 11 to hold it so that I could get a total shot.


I'm still thinking I should do nine, but I will need to measure when it hits eight repeats. There is quite a bit of stretch and the heavier it gets the bigger it gets:) So will see.
I feel like I am getting crocheters elbow and wrist, I so don't want to poop out but it does make me realise why I switched to knitting more often than crochet. Anyways here are a few new pics, sorry to bore everyone with the same ripple just bigger...lol

Love seeing everyones ripple!

In the interest of sharing...

While I don't have much progress on my blanket to show (you can see an updated picture on my blog)--I thought I would share my newest craft/tech acquisition for those ripple fanatics who find themselves in situations where there isn't enough light to crochet:



This handy gadget is the The Crochet Lite by Clover in hook size H (all the sizes are different colors). I was looking to get a Clover comfort grip as sometimes my thin metal hook aches my hand--but then I found a whole page of these in a rainbow of colors and couldn't resist. It lights up well enough to stitch in the dark, though I find it best in dim light as it's almost too bright in the pitch dark and hurts my eyes! I'm not entirely fond of plastic hooks, I feel they slow my stitching down and this one is no different. So I'll alternate between this and my trusted metal hook depending on lighting conditions and how my hand is feeling. Too fun, I had to share!

Progress is Slow

Getting started:

Making some progress (with flash, excuse the shine):I'd like the finished size of this 'ghan to be about twin bed sized. My intention is to have it folded at the end of my DS's bed... when he upgrades to a "big boy bed." Since he's only 8mo I have plenty of time. LOL I started using a super low tech "random color generator"... scraps of paper with the colors written on them.

I'm not sure about the colors... I feel like I need some pink or orange in there but not sure if that will make it look too girly. Thoughts?

Pattern: Based on this pattern

Yarn: Mostly Red Heart Soft and some other scraps of softer acrylic


Cross-blogged at my blog! : )

rippled graffiti

Hi, I'm new here :) I'm a quite experienced (at least for my age I guess?) crocheter from Stockholm, Sweden. I've been admiring all of your lovely ripples since the start of this CAL. The last couple of weeks I've even made a few swatches myself. I love the ripple crochet. It's so pretty - yet easy to make. I also find ripples more amusing and variated to crochet than ordinary stripes.

I'm deeply impressed by your strive and patience - and by the beautiful results (afghans and other). However, I don't have that much yarn, and definitely not that much patience. So at the moment I will keep on crocheting my "swatches". They might not be big enough to cover a whole bed or to warm up cold legs and feet.

But they're more than enough for lamp posts, fences, and hand rails feeling naked or cold. Which comes in handy since I'm a member of the Masquerade crew (Swedish fans of Knitta). We already put up our first rippled tag:

(Slussen, Stockholm, Sweden)
My favourite pattern and colours on my favourite spot :) Look, it even matches the old blue metro! Now if there were only the old green trains as well...

Look for more yarn graffiti ripples in the streets of Stockholm. If you don't live nearby you can take a look at our blog or here at this lovely crochet along.

Thanks for having me here, this CAL will inspire me even more when I get to take part of it :)

Squeal!!

Hip Hip Hurray!!!!!! *jumps for joy* Sorry.
About a month and a half ago I put in a request at my local library that they get the 200 Ripple Afghan book, not actually expecting the to get it, or if they did that they wouldn't get it for some time. I got a call from the Library today! They bought one! And I get first borrowing of it!!! I am so excited I actually jumped up and down after I hung up the phone. I really can't afford one of my own, but at least I got the library to get one.
On to ripply goodness.
It has been a while since I posted, so I shall have to post before and current pictures.

This is before.

Everything but the light green and light yellow is Caron Simply Soft, the lt. yellow and lt. green are stash from a blanket I finished a LONG time ago.

This is current.

This is a close up of the ribby ripple. This take up soooo much yarn. The bright yellow is ONE skein of yarn. I am using a J hook for this one.

This is before. I have frogged this one down to the bright yellow.









This is current. I started a new ripple with the yellow I have been frogging, so I frog and crochet as I go. I am using a G hook for this one.

Thanks for putting up with me.
Tina from Book and Hook.

Updated: Why is it preview never shows how it will actually look?

Yay!!! I'm so excited

I was looking on the internet for some Red Heart Baby Yarn in sweet dreams because it wasn't at any of the craft store around where I am. I also was just looking for a linear pattern that I could use to add to the monster of a blanket that I had been working on. And it was just my luck that I came across this blog. I was really impressed by all the beautiful ripples but I was also intimated because I am sort of self taught so I really don't know all the technical stuff about crocheting, like the different stitches and what not. But this blog gave me the motivation to start reading up on crocheting and I have learned to read patterns which was one of the more important things that I needed to figure out. I wasn't going to start my ripple until I finished the giant blanket that I had been working on but the Red Heart yarn that I ordered took forever to come and I was bored over spring break so I went out and bought some Caron Simply Soft BRITES and that was that. Because school is getting really busy and I have midterms next week I haven't had much time to work on my ripple but it's coming along. I am using the soft waves pattern that I found on the blog and I have made a few mistakes but I decided not to frog because I had already done 9 to 12 rows before I realized that I had only done 4dc when I should have done 6 after a peak but it's not that noticeable and more toward the edge (I learned a valuable lesson: I can't crochet while I'm on the phone). My pattern is a simple rainbow with 2 rows of black between every 3 rows of color and besides that one mess-up, it's coming along really well and I already love it. Thanks again for inviting me...I am beyond excited

Off And Running...

After a few bad starts, I am slowly working toward my goal and heading into Ripple Bliss! This is #160 from the 200 Ripple stitches using leftover Knitpicks Shine worsted and an F hook. It is small because I think it will be a baby blanket.

My first ripple...

Well, I have been crocheting for about 5 years now, but I've never done a ripple blanket. Truthfully I never felt a strong pull towards the ripple...until now. I've been lurking on this sight everyday for a month now just salivating over all the beautiful ripples! So of course I had to do one myself. The greatest thing about it is that I didn't have to buy any yarn to do this ripple. (I probably will end up buying yarn, because I'm a yarn junkie, but I don't have to.) I had a bunch of Sinfonia mercerized cotton left over from a striped camisole top, and also a teeny bit of Rowan cotton from another top. Sinfonia cotton is one of my favorite cottons because you get a lot of yarn for a reasonable price. I live in Houston, so cotton yarn is sort of a necessity. There's just not much call for wool around here. But also, I love the way cotton yarn shows off the stitches. I'm using a size F hook and I'm picking the colors at random as I go, which is part of what makes this SO fun. It truly is addicting. This is going to be a baby blanket for one of the many friends of mine that are about to have or adopt a baby at any moment. I haven't picked an actual recipient yet. I just wanted to make the blanket!

The pattern is Soft Waves from 200 Ripple Stitch Patterns.
I started by chaining 132 which makes this blanket about 32 inches wide (so far.)

Still Rippling ... and Ripple 2 planning

Still loving my ripple :) I've made it through all 30 colors!!! and a few more rows as of last night ... this picture was yesterday morning.


And I received my yarn for my next ripple too!!! this one is going to be for our queen size bed :) I love pink! can ya tell??? Oh, the yarn is Cascade 220 Superwash.

~*~ Happy Rippling ~*~

Getting things done!

Ok, I NEVER post twice on my regular blog, not sure what is going on here, sorry it is happening! I finally got it together and have some rows done after frogging 3 times! I'm still doing the Easy Ripple by SusanB but I'm making my rows different sizes(anywhere from 1 to 4 per color). Coming up with enough yarn doesn't seem to be a problem any more. I found 3 balls of something that has lanolin in it(sale from Hobby Lobby) and a ball of Patons Canadiana to go with the Dark Horse Fantasy. Not sure how much I'll get to work on this in the next week or so, my grandfather is dying from renal failure and we'll have to travel for the funeral soon. I'm sure the afghan will come with me though, gotta have something to do while visiting with the relatives. In the meantime we're building a guinea pig cage from pvc pipes and 1/2 inch wire, a BIG cage, that needs to be done before we go out of town.

Anyway, it isn't as big as it looks, only about 38 inches across.

Some Progress

I thought it was about time I gave an update since it's nearly a fortnight since my last (first) post.

Many thanks to those who commented with ripple pattern suggestions, especially jess (who hopefully will read this as I don't know how else to reply to your comments). I read all the comments, followed some of your links, found a few other places to look. Then it was time to leave the house to road trip to chorus concerts and my husband had decided to back up his hard drive which meant I couldn't actually print anything to bring with me and had no time left to copy things down.

Not to be deterred I read through jess's comment again which explained the mechanics of rippling (I knew I should be able to work that out for myself but just hadn't been able to by myself). Then I collected up my yarn and hooks and once the baby was asleep made some swatches.

I didn't like the first attempt so much because of the holes and it didn't ripple in quite the way I was looking for. So I tried again and came up with a ripple I like. I believe it's actually almost the same as jess's improvised pattern except that I'm only doing dcs in 3 stitches between increases and decreases instead of 6.

Then I had to decide what size to make. I've taken the in-for-a-penny in-for-a-pound approach and decided to make a blanket big enough for our queen size bed (we could use more big blankets).

So I've been slowly working on the blanket for just over a week. I've been carrying it around with me and snatching a few moments to crochet where I can. In the car, reading at computer/watching TV, sitting on the floor/ground next to the baby when she's playing happily, sitting outside in the sunshine with baby napping in the stroller (my personal favourite).

I can't move too fast since I need to get more yarn. There are two more colours to introduce that I have on hand (a pale blue and a darker purple) but I also want to get a pale yellow and perhaps another blue too. I think I'm going to get a dark brown to edge the whole thing when it's done but am undecided about whether to get any brown for in amongst the ripples too. Either way I certainly will need to get more yarn soon.

I'm pretty pleased with the way the ripples are looking. I'm thinking that I should start using the random stripe generator others have mentioned since I'm otherwise liable to over think colour placement (which rather takes the joy out of it) or just repeat this first sequence over and over (which I don't want to do, I'd rather have it be a bit random even if I'm not using a big variety of colours).

Score one for the newbie!

Well, I managed to find someone who showed me how to crochet this past weekend, and now I'm off and running! Well, sort of. It's a practice swatch with stash yarns just to see if I can get the hang of it. So far, so good!



I'm using the Easy Ripple Afghan pattern that Molly suggested, and leftover Wool-Ease from ... actually, now that I think of it, it was left over from my first real knitting project, a Zeeby's Bag from SnB. So maybe this yarn has good starting-out karma. :) I crocheted most of this, except the chain to start it out and the first row while watching tonight's episode of "House." I guess, at that speed, it'll be a very slow afghan. :) I ordered some Caron Simply Soft in muted colors to match my navy easy chair -- I love looking at all of your beautiful ripples of many colors, but I decided that restraint was the better part of valor for starting out -- and hopefully it will arrive soon so I can start. In the meantime... maybe I'll make this swatch long enough for a cat blanket, since one of my cats refuses to sleep on my bed unless it's already covered with an afghan. Cats need ripples too!

Im a rippling

I must confess I have been knitting socks I finished my first sock yeah (check out my blog). I did get a bit bored and went back to my passion crochet and I started my rippling. In my previous post i was doing brown colors, i started to look at other ripples and fell in love with bright colors so I changed.
Here is a pic of my progress. It has been a beautiful weekend here in Sc.
It was real pretty we went to Finly park and it was gorgeous weather okay well have a rippling week .

kat

Hi y'all from the new rippler

I am enjoying your photos so much. Every one of them is just beautiful. I just got the Jan Eaton 200 RippleStitch Patterns and had a tough time picking one out. I really liked #94 Regatta. I liked the texture and overall look of it. So I tried it and what a disaster. Either the directions are horribly wrong or its me. I am wondering if anyone else attempted this one? I ripped it and now am inspired by the photos today of the granny chevron. I will start that tonight. Wish me Luck!
I am making this for my daughter ( a "Mommy" afghan) who is pregnant with twins. I just finished 2 baby blankets for the twins but not in ripple.

Addicted to ripples

Here it is, loosey goosey section included. You see, the rows on the left are much neater than those on the right. ARGH .. to rip or not to rip those rows ....

waves pattern

i dont know if anyone is allowed. but i figured i would ask. Right now i can't afford to buy any of the cool books with the gentle waves patterns. thats what i want to start on. I looked in the library and must always be out. i even checked 4 other nearby libraries. i'm so bummed. So if anyone has a chance could you email me the basics for a nice easy waves patterns.

Kimmiep621@aol.com or visit my blog kimmiep621

Going along

I'm rippling along using Mission Falls 1824 Wool. It's going well. However, my third and fourth color bands are looking loosey goosey. Any thoughts from anyone? I'm a crochet novice. I worked on it yesterday, put it down and came back. That's when the loosey thing occured. Maybe I'm slacking on my tension in an effort to spped things up?

Here are my colors.They are a bit brighter than they seem here.