Blanket Mania Part 1: Ripples

My favorite thing to make, whether knit or crochet, is blankets. Lately, though, my love of blankets has reached a level of mania right under my mania of Harry Potter. Unfortunately, living in Arizona makes blanket-making an uncomfortable venture, but it doesn't seem to stop me from making blanket after blanket. I always have an afghan in progress, whatever else I may be working on. I like all kinds of blankets, all sizes, all colors, all patterns.

So as the first installment, I will discuss the Ripple. I have made other ripples before, as published on this post. I have also mentioned that the Ripple was one of my grandma's favorite things to crochet and has now become one of my favorites.

Using Jan Eaton's book 200 Ripple Stitches--the epitome of Ripple sources, in essence, the Rippler's Bible--I made an lapghan a couple of weeks ago that is now one of my all-time favorite blankets.

I used the Pink Ripple pattern and added a wavy edging all the way around. I never thought of the Ripple as being a edging sort of blanket, but this edging turned out to be perfect for the blanket. In fact, I'm not sure it would be my favorite if not for the edging.

The Pink Ripple pattern gives the afghan a nice, airy feeling. I can sleep with this afghan on my bed during the summertime without getting overheated.
I used a size K crochet hook for this ripple, which seems to be my favorite hook size for ripples lately. I like how fast the blankets make up when I use a larger hook.
I am also working on a ripple in a variegated yarn to donate to Project Linus. I didn't want to have to use another color, so I altered the Soft Waves pattern to give it texture. I crochet in the back loops only of each row to give it depth without altering the pattern significantly. It makes the rows stand out without taking away from the color of the yarn. For this blanket I am using a size I crochet hook, so a few smaller from my normal Ripple hook size. The yarn is so soft and lightweight that I can still stand to have it on my lap during the summer.

More blankets to come on my blog here.

Back to crocheting!

Smoking on these ripples

Rippling along, faster than the speed of -er-, whatever. I guess I am trying to say that I am ahead of schedule. I finished the June/July afghan. Here it is in all its eggplant and multi glory.



Here is another view, I don't know if the first or this one is a better representation of the color. Purple is sure one hard color to get right on a photo and on a screen:



Not being content to just wait out the last days of the month without a project going, I decided to start on the August afghan.



This one is another from the 200 Ripple Stitch Patterns book. A straight granny stitch type called Storm Clouds. I just happened to pick storm cloud colors too. Black, grey heather and a beige with black, grey and brown flecks. So far everyone agrees that it is masculine looking. I am already about 1/3 done after only about 3 days, or is it 4? Anyway, this one is definitely fast, and I think I can safely say that I will be able to finish it in a month. I am making this one narrow, only 51 inches across. I will probably do 12-14 repeats, so it will be 60 inches long at least.

Peace!
Susan (aka ZenKnit)

...and now, a word from our sponsor.

I'm back!

I bet you all thought I fell off the planet.

In actuality I fell hopelessly into summer's thrall. All 3 kiddos home all the time and I have about 3 seconds of computer time daily. Just enough to keep up with invites, scan the comments and new posts and pop onto Ravelry if I'm lucky.

As you can tell, that means the promised blog improvements have been sorely neglected.

I have some exciting news though.

We have a new Ripple Mistress of Magic. Welcome Megan to the NEIS Ripple-Along admin team! She'll be helping with page design, link upkeep, and other general handy type things. If you have links for ripple patterns, online crochet tutorials, or yourself, pop her an email at: cheersmurf (AT) gmail (DOT) com. (y'all know you have to replace the AT with "@" and the DOT with ".", right?) We're hoping to get the NEIS Ripplers page up and running soon, so we can actually check out everyone's sites and other good works. Particularly if you are not keeping a Blogger based blog, pop Megan a note letting us know where we can find you.

As to my ripple progress...the blankets are hopelessly stalled. Even with AC, they are much, much too warm to be getting on with, or lug around. However, have been working on a new ripple for




and it's turning out just grand:

The pattern has to be posted first to the SOS-along, but will share it when I can. More pictures soon too.

...and just why does my ripple need to be portable?


It's likely the last summer my parents will have a pool, so we're taking advantage every chance we get. Big ripples, not synonymous with poolside fun. Ripple socks, on the other hand, poolside perfection.

Have fun, stay cool, and keep those ripples coming!

Your loving HRM, Dawn