Thanks Dawn! and....

Susan/ZenKnit here.... Just want to thank Dawn for keeping us all together. Applause!!!

Hopefully my stepping in will be a seamless thing. Just like you all here, I LOVE ripples. So much so that I have another one to show you.

Today I finished another blanket for Project Little Lambs. This one is just like the blues and greens one I previously shared, that being, the pattern warm waves from the 200 Ripple Stitches book. Again, a chain of 120 to start.

At first I just started crocheting in colors that I thought looked nice together, but then decided to do a series of repeating patterns. I think it looks nice, so much so that it will be hard to part with this one. It has a lot of loving energy in it.

~ Peace
Susan/ZenKnit

Ripple in Greens and Blues

Used the pattern warm waves from 200 Ripple Stitch Patterns. More details on my blog, ZenKnit

~ Peace

My Last Ripple

Here is my last ripple for 2007 - that I have planned, anyway. I finally purchased the yarn I needed to finish (another) brother's ripple for Christmas 2007. It didn't take too long to finish. Here it is:



This is from the Leisure Arts pamphlet, Rippling Effects. I used TLC Cotton-Plus yarn. This pamphlet has some materials errors. Email me if you need the details.

All I have do now is weave in the ends of this one and a few others, then wait to clean and wrap them for giving. I still have a granny square afghan to make for my sister, and other non-ripple gifts for family and friends.

It has been great sharing my creations with you all. 2007 will always be remembered by me as The Year of the Ripple.

Peace!
Susan (aka ZenKnit)

My Latest Ripple

Here is a photo of the latest:



The colors aren't quite right in the photo. It is a very nice blend in person. Here is a blurry shot with a better view of the colors:



Ack! That still isn't quite right. It really is very nice looking in person. I wasn't really thrilled with it at first, and ended up tearing a good chunk out and re-working the width (it was toooooooo biiiiiiiggggggg) and changing up the order of the colors, because the variegated was just blending too much into the dark brown. The dark brown is called coffee, the lighter brown is cafe, the variegated is earth and sky, and the white is either aran or soft white. I don't have them right here so I am just guessing.

Three repeats out of a total of 6. I thought I could get away with 5 repeats, but I think it will be just a bit short. I don't know if I will have enough yarn. I calculated it thinking that the instructions were right, and they aren't. The stitches are right, but I am wondering if there was just a silly person doing the yardage because this is the 2nd time that the 2nd color of 2 patterns was off. Thankfully, the 2nd color is one of those "no dye lot" sort, and I think I can get it local vs. having to order it online. I still haven't ordered more yarn for the red, white, blue and tan afghan. I need to do that!

Tomorrow starts a pretty busy week; I may not get a lot of time to crochet. It is also my birthday on Friday and I have celebrations planned on Friday and Saturday. I will tell you more about that when I can.

Have a great week! I know I will.

Peace,
Susan (aka ZenKnit)

SSDD

afghan for dad - up and down

Same Stuff Different Day, so far it has been SSSA - same stitches same afghan, as I am still working on the Waterfall afghan. I decided to purchase 2 more skeins of the navy Palette yarn so there is more to come. But what I still need to decide is if I am going to continue it to make it wider vs. longer. Or perhaps I should just make it big enough to be used either way.



I think I like it with the zigzags going in that "slimming" way - that being up and down, vs. side-to-side:

If I don’t change my mind again, that means the length (the up and down way) will be about 49-51 inches. They stretch and I can’t seem to get a really accurate measurement. That will be okay since dad is a shortie like me. So far the width is about 40 inches.

I haven’t decided if I will make sure that the color repeat is complete across, because I may not have enough yarn (even with the 2) to make it complete in that way. But I figure it will not really matter much because it is so visually ziggy that I don’t think anyone will notice, as long as I have one dark blue stripe at the end. Please tell me what you think - up and down, side to side, make it big enough for either and do I need to make sure the color repeats are complete?




For now that I will need to chill on continuing Waterfall until the new yarn arrives so I can see if it matches. And that means I need to start on a new afghan. Cool!

I have the yarn for the last 2 afghans (besides my sister’s, which is still in process).

Both of these are from the Leisure Arts book, Rippling Effects. I had used one of the patterns a long time ago for some baby afghans I did for great-nieces and great-nephews. All of the patterns (16) are very pretty. It was hard to decide!

Peace!
Susan (aka ZenKnit)

Onward!

I started up an afghan for my Dad for his Christmas gift. I decided that although a washable item would be really, really, nice, I wanted to do something that was warm and light and just hang the washing factor. So I went with KnitPicks fingering weight 100% wool yarn. The yarn is called Palette and what I used for my Peggle afghan.

I decided to do blues, with navy being the dominant color. Here it is:



This is another pattern from the 200 Ripple Stitch Patterns book, number 148 called Waterfall. Nice pattern with no errors. Unfortunately, I did a gauge swatch using one of the blues, instead of the navy. The navy is thinner, and I am finding whatever yarn you use to start really sets the size tone for the whole project. I was trying for 45 inches wide, and it is 51. Ooooooooops. That means I should order another ball of the navy. That might be tricky, because I purchased it back in July. I have an email into KnitPicks to see if they still have that lot number. I may need to call tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

Peace,
Susan (aka ZenKnit)

I'm finished with August

I'm finished with August. The afghan for August that is. And it is only the 6th! Whoo!

Here is Storm Clouds:



The pattern is Storm Clouds (#63) from 200 Ripple Stitch Patterns, by Jan Eaton. I used 3 colors of Red Heart Super Saver. Black, Grey Heather and a beige with brown, grey and black flecks called Aran Fleck. The black came in 7 oz skeins, the grey and fleck in 5 oz skeins. I used a full 2 skeins and about half of a 3rd skein for the grey and aran fleck, and only a bit of the 3rd skein of black. I think I might have been able to get by with only 2 skeins of the black had I not started over and then needed longer tails for connecting. Here is a better shot of the colors:



I did 12 repeats of the 3 colors, plus an extra 2 rows of black to kind of balance it out (it started with black). Used a size J hook and it worked out to be about 46 x 68.5 inches. I thought it would be about 51, but I guess it sucked up a bit. If I were to do this pattern again, I would have the ends have 2 bunches before the turn chain instead of the 3 as it directs in the instructions. Here is a detail shot of the edge and where I went wrong (in my mind).



But it is just one of those preference things, although it would have meant not having to buy 3 more skeins = cheaper, it would have been a bit more narrow. It is meant to be a one person afghan, so it works very well. Guinevere has already give it her 4 paw approval.

Onward to the next afghan. I will share the plans as soon as they are ready.

Peace!
Susan (aka ZenKnit)

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)

Still on target

I am still (somewhat) on target for my one afghan a month plans. Even though I am working on 2 afghans this month, the super secret ripple (can't post it to my regular blog) is about half done:



Ripple in our high school colors using Wool Ease. Very soft!

This other knitted feather and fan is about 1/6 done.



100 Afghans to Knit and Crochet, by Jean Leinhauser and Rita Weiss. A very good book! This one is knit, so I thought I would start on it this month, even though it is really the one I planned to do in July. This one is done in Caron yarn; 4 huge skeins (2 of each color) and even though I am a good way into it, I still have this much yarn left:



My Wednesday buddies were giggling at how huge the skeins are. Kind of freakish huge like the monster zucchini on Aunt Purl’s Blog. But just mock away "guys" because you will not be laughing when you see how nice this baby turns out.

I am using a feather and fan pattern from the 100 Afghans book I previously mentioned. I started out using the size ? needles that were suggested, but I didn’t like the density of the resulting fabric so I upsized a lot and am doing it on US 10 1/2s instead. Better flow.

Nothing much more to share, except that we are into the sweaty head session here at my home. When I sweat, it is all in my lower back and my huge noggin. If I don’t dry my hair after washing it, it will never dry. If I dry it then there is at least some chance that I will have a few minutes of dry hair in the day. Sometimes I can actually squeegee (using my fingers, not an actual tool) water out of my hair. Gross, huh?

Peace!
Susan (aka ZenKnit)

June's Afghan, a Ripple, Has Been Started

I am keeping on track for an afghan a month (crocheted, or knitted) so that I have enough for each family member. June's afghan is a ripple for one of my 6 brothers. This one is in Lionbrand Woolease (soft!) with a J hook and using Strata from 200 Ripple Stitch Patterns. I had started this exact color sequence in the stitch pattern called Lavender Fields, but didn't like the holey gaps that come from skipping stitches. And, the pattern was full of errors - easy enough to figure out and correct, but I just didn't like it. I decided it wasn't worth sucking it up for a full afghan's worth, so I tore it out.

I can't post this to my regular site because this particular brother visits my website and will know it is for him.

I finished the May afghan; a non-ripple one for my mom. I think it turned out very nice.



Peace!

Susan (aka ZenKnit)

Finished another ripple

I finished another ripple. My first one was in fingering weight yarn and huge, this one was worsted weight (Red Heart) and more lap sized. Here it is:



I think it turned out nice, and is now my cat Guinevere's favorite nap spots. Because of that napping, I have decided not to wash it (soften it up) until just before the gifting.

I am onto another crocheted afghan anon ripple type. If you want to see photos of that and some other projects just meet me over at my main blog.

Peace!
Susan (aka ZenKnit)

Getting a big head start on Christmas

Remember that I mentioned that I planned on making afghans for my family for Christmas? I ordered enough for 3 because that is all my budget would allow at the time. Then I had to wait for the yarn to arrive, so I started up a knitted non-ripple afghan. If you want to check it out, visit my ZenKnit blog.

The yarn for the afghans arrived and I decided to do a crochet non-ripple that looked nice from a book I checked out from a library. It turned out that the yarn was just too stiff for that pattern. I ripped it out and started up a ripple. Which I secretly desired to do anyway. Red Heart Super Saver yarn in pale yellow, cornmeal and country blue. About 52 inches wide. I decided to do a repeat of 3 colors, so that I could evenly use the 3 skeins of each color. I wanted to switch it up a bit so that it wouldn't be boring for me to crochet.

I am going to just keep on going until I run out of yarn. So far that might mean a very big afghan because I haven't run out of yarn from the 1st of 3 skeins (in each color) yet.



Ripples in worsted weight sure go fast! I saw comments on another post that said that Red Heart softens up after washing. Knowing that makes me very happy. I think the colors are bright and cheery and I hope the family member who gets it is happy with it too. Or that they aren't but they keep it to themselves *grin*.

Peace,
Susan (aka ZenKnit)

Ta-da!

Here she is:



Details:
72" by 84" (approx, she keeps moving, you know how wiggly children are). Exactly as planned. I wish she was a bit bigger, but it is too late now.

Yarn: KnitPicks.com fingering weight Palette, 100% wool. I used 22 different colors out of the 30 total colors they have. I didn't buy black and any of the browns, except for the color Fawn, which I put in because it looked like a dark orange to me. 1 skein each of blush, petal, peach, apricot, orange, fawn, lemon, yellow, grass, green, pool, blue, lilac, purple, tan, twig, cream and white. 2 skeins each of red, sunlight, mint and sky. Each skein was used for 3 stripes (each stripe being 2 rows).

Crochet Hook: Started with a 4/E and switched to a 5/F without making any difference in the stitch size, done for better ease of crocheting because the yarn is a splity 2-ply.

Pattern: Soft Waves from the 200 Ripple Stitch Patterns, edited by Jan Eaton. I did 24 repeats across and 84 stripes, each stripe being 2 rows.

Plan or random: A planned random. I had to make sure that the colors were somewhat evenly distributed, so I created a plan on paper by just plopping in each color so that it would be somewhere within the 1/3, 2/3, 3/3 sections. After crocheting the first 15 rows I realized I had a blob of pastels:



Not wanting that to happen again, I started making changes as I went. Lots of changes:







I think the colors work together okay, even though there are so many. I find myself really liking how each section kind of creates a story of color. If you want to see even more photos of sections of Peggle, be sure to visit my Flickr photos.

I have a bit of yarn left:



Along the way I figured that each stripe (2 rows) used up about 16 gm of yarn. I could weigh the remainder and see what I have, but I can't find my scale right now. Okay, so I know where it is but just don't want to trek upstairs.

I am in the midst of planning more sedate afghans for Christmas gifts. Some knit, some crochet. My sister Chaachi is helping me with the colors. I ordered yarn for 3 so far, and while I wait I will be knitting another afghan for myself - out of the discontinued colors of Cotton-Ease. Squares of 2 colors each in a small riot of bright colors - pink, red, blues, white, yellow, orange, etc.

Peace!

I'm naming her Peggle

I am naming my ghan-child Peggle. You know about Peggle, don't you?



Peggle (the game) is very addicting and as you can see, colorful. Just like my baby girl ghan child.

Here is my baby so far:



I may be done after this weekend. If the weather stays like this (cold and wet) I am pretty sure there will nothing much better to do than to keep crocheting on it her Peggle until she is done.

I did the best I could to get a crane shot by laying her on the floor next to the stairs. But then I had to crop the photo so that it wouldn't take up the entire screen.

Not sure if the colors are appearing quite right, because frankly after you look at something so wildly colorful, everything looks kind of odd.

Peace,
Susan (aka ZenKnit)

50 of 84

50 stripes done out of a planned 84. I may need a crane to photo it next time as I won't be able to get far enough up to get all the stripes in after this. I guess I will cross that bridge when I come to it. My bag of yarn is very puny now.

Almost Halfway

A few strips shy of being half done on my funky granny knock your eyes out what was she thinking afghan/bed thing.

Here she is in all her nouveau vintage splendor:





Just after I took the photos I added a few more stripes. Then I started to get claw hand, so I decided to start weaving in the ends. I have all the ends (sans the beginning and the last stripe) woven in. The edge looks good on that side. Humble opinion and all that.

I know that some of the colors are in the "only a mother could love them" color way, but I am the momma on this one, and I love my freakishly weird blanket child.

Peace,

So far

So far I have 20 stripes done on my ripple afghan. Here it is:



What do you think?

I only have a few new colors to introduce, then you and I will see more of the same. Already there are doubles of some colors - those balls of yarn that I had purchased 2 balls instead of 1 (1 ball = 3 stripes, 2 balls = 6 stripes). I think it will give the eye something to rest on. Most of the doubled colors are the palest of each group of colors pink through red, blues, greens, yellows, but I have 4 colors of orange into brown and white into tan, so I didn’t double up there. I chose the red to double instead of the pink, because I like red.

I went up to a bigger crochet hook (5/F) and it is working much better as the hook on the 4/E was too small with the yarn being so splity. I am still getting the same gauge so that is really good too.

Peace!
Susan / ZenKnit

Comfortable

I was thinking about my ripple afghan and how nicely homey/homely it is. Each color seems to stand out, especially when there is only one row. Then with two rows it starts to blend. It is almost like magic. Maybe it is because I become accustomed to them after a bit, and then they aren't so jarring after all. Then the process starts all over again with the next new color. Life as afghan. *grin*

I love all the colors so much that I can't bring myself to just carry along the few I will be working with - they have to be all together in a big baglady bag, or like a traveling circus.



After I had a few stripes done I realized that I am recreating a yet-to-be-created-planned-but-not-even-started quilt done up in 30s/40s prints.



I am really loving it!

Peace,
Susan (aka ZenKnit)

My Turn; Me Too!

Today my yarn arrived! I am really cheap when it comes to having things shipped, so I have to "be okay" with sometimes sloooooooooow delivery because slow=cheap. Sometimes slow=free, and that is a really good reason to be patient. Anticipation and all that stuff.

Anyway, the yarn for my ripple-along is from Knitpicks.com. 22 different colors of their 100% wool, fingering weight yarn named Palette. Because I am making such a large size, I thought that a fingering weight yarn would be best. I am doing a soft ripples afghan in 23 colors (I already had 2 skeins of one yarn in my stash). Five colors will be used six times, the rest will be used three times each (one little ball will give me 6 rows/3 stripes!). That is a total of 168 rows, 84 2-row stripes. It will be 24 repeats of the pattern, and approximately 72 inches by 84 inches; big enough to cover the top of my queen-sized bed with a little bit of on each side and on the bottom. All for a steal at $51.74... plus another paltry $3.98 for the two skeins I already had but that hardly counts because it is from stash *grin*. Still, a queen-sized afghan for under $60 - whoa!

Here are my colors:



and one sheet of my 3 sheet plan for the stripes/rows:



I am trying hard not to think about how unwieldly it will become. It will probably be an "at home" project after a certain stage. I guess I will find out. No rush on this one either, but from reading most of the posts here I can see that many of you are really ripping along on yours.

So many beautiful ripple afghans, thanks for the inspiration!

Peace,
Susan aka ZenKnit