Monday, May 28, 2007

Yeah I finished the Spiderman Afghan


I finished the Spiderman round ripple afghan for a friends grandson. I still have to do another for my youngest grandson. I got this pattern off the internet. I just love the ripple afghans.

The End of the Ocean

...of ripples!

I finally got the pictures of my finished Soft Waves Ripple off my camera!
It took me one week and one day to make this blanket for a friend of mine back at the end of April/beginning of May. In order to use up some of my scrap yarn, I used two main colors of three rows each, with one row of scrap yarn in between. That way, if I only had a little bit of something left, I only had to do one row with that color. The finished size came out to be approximately 40x60", perfect size for a lap blanket.
I really liked the way it came out and my friend was speechless when I gave it to her. I didn't know what her favorite colors were, so I picked something I knew I would like, and it was perfect. She teaches, so she keeps the blanket in her office to wrap up with when it gets cold in the building. I really liked the Soft Waves pattern a lot. I found the pattern to be easier to use with a larger size hook, which helps the project go really fast and makes the fabric drape really well. For this afghan, I used a size K, which seems to be my hook of choice right now because I made another ripple using size K that I also love, love, LOVE! I don't have pictures of that one finished, but it turned out beautifully, as a gift for myself (hey, I can't give all my ripples away!). I even put an edging around the finished piece, which I thought might not work, but ended up making the afghan absolutely perfect! Ripple afghans seem to be hard to put edges on; you have to find just the right one to balance the ripples in the body of the afghan.
So far, I have made three ripples to date, I am almost finished with my fourth ripple, and I have plans for another one already! There truly is no end in sight for my ripples!

Help, O Humble Ripplers


This is my first crochet project and I learned the stitches from the videos at www.nexstitch.com. I'm practicing swatches using the Soft Waves pattern, but my swatches keep coming out curved. At first I thought it was cause I was using too small of a hook. The top two were done with worsted weight yarn and 4.0mm hook. I then switched to a H8/5.0mm hook for the third swatch, and then to a I9/5.5mm for the bottom swatch. Now, I'm thinking the curve must not just be my gauge, but something else. Is this normal- will it straighten out as I go along? Have any of you had this?

Random Stripe Generator

Granted, I haven't added any new posts to my ripple 'ghan, because I've stalled work on it for a while. Will be able to post when the weather turns cooler in the fall. It's too big and heavy to work on during Spring and Summer.

Anyway...

I thought I'd share this link to a Random Stripe Generator. I think someone out there might find it a usefull tool in selecting colors for their next ripple.

Ripple 1 ,2, and 3 ?

This is the original ripple that I started. ripple #1
Ripple #2 using Manos Del Uraguay
And Ripple #3 Maybe...See I was teaching someone how to amke a ripple and it seemed like it would be easiest to just start one from the beggining, so here it is #3 it would have to be made using a variety of yarns because this yarn is hard to find and cost too much for a whole blanket.

I haven't seen many ripples that use a variety of yarns. I would need to vary my yarn gauges slightly because this is an odd yarn. It's slightly thicker then a worsted .
To get all the info on my 3 ripples you can check out my blog. I have more pictures there too.

Call Me Crazy.

Call me crazy. Call me obsessed. Both are accurate at this point. I started another ripple. The first is almost 50% complete. My son suggested that I make his girlfriend a ripple as her graduation present from us. Sounded like a good idea at the time. Yarn was purchased (Simple Soft in a mixture of Brites and regulars). Rippling commenced. Soft Waves pattern, in case you were wondering.You can read a few more details on my blog.