Bad Ripple Mistress, no cookies for me.

Excuses, heartfelt excuses to you all. I've been negligent. I've been bad. I promise to do better.

However...I do have a finished ripple to show off, so I guess I'm not all that bad...the round ripple is no longer languishing:
And it's even getting a little pre-gifting love:
If I can tear it away from the old dog, it shall be a Christmas giftie for my littlest. Love how it turned out,and the Fantasy Naturale was a treat to work with...truly light and lofty cotton.

Promise to get to the languishing "please let me join the blog" requests asap. Of course asap is sort of not so asap when there are puking small people in the house, but you know, it's on my radar. Keep gently nudging me and I shall catch you all eventually! Thanks for your patience.

Bacon Ripples?

Must see ripple treasure hunt site of the day:

TWiNKiE CHAN!

Hunt down the bacon and eggs scarf. Yep, I kid you not. So fabulous. The most innovative use of ripples I have seen to date.

I once again have been a lax Ripple Mistress, but there's been chaos on the home front lately that I won't pain you with, you can hunt through my blog if you really want to know why I now jump at slight noises and can't seem to sleep.

Am still working on the site improvements. They should roll in gradually, so keep those peepers peeped!

Happy rippling all!

Dawn

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.)

I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaack!

Whoo Hoo!

I just caught up on invites...gulp, I think so, truly I do! We've got 116 active members and another 30ish in the wings. What fun! With so many of us, please remember to put your name or handle in the label field of your posts so we can stalk project progress.

Am bracing myself to frog the round ripple this evening and restart. Need to pick up the big blanket again now that I've come to terms with NOT being random. That will mean buying more yarn of course...shhhhhhhhhhhhhh. No reason the hubby needs to know, right? Also have plans for a felted ripple bag bouncing about my head...lurking Lamb's Pride is begging to join in the fun. Not quite sure why, as I have yet to actually finish anything...but that's what starting a new project is for, right? Let's hear it for procrastination!

As I have no yarny ripple progress to share, thought I'd give you a peek of the "soft waves" I was dealing with last week....

Indian Rocks Beach just outside of Tampa...just loverly, yes? Now there's a thought...mutating those colors and proportions into a beach blanket....oh good yarn gods, somebody stop me!

I'm going away for a bit, but here's a game for you!

Howdy Ripplers!

In the name of the almighty family vacation, I head off to parts warmer than Minnesota today. That means things from my end are going to be a tad slow. I will make note of that in the sidebar, asking anyone that needs something to leave a comment with their email address. I won't be able to get my home email while I'm frolicking in the south, but will be able to hopefully pop into the blog a few times.

So. That's that.

But I have an idea.

I was popping about some blogs like I haven't had the chance to since all this ripplyness started. And guess what? Ripples are EVERYWHERE. Really. There are stories all over of crafters picking up the hooks and kicking back with the ripples. My heart went pitter pat, as it usually does, when I clicked into the Yarn Pirate's blog to oggle me some yarn...and found her rippling!!! **GASP** Turns out she crocheted as a child and all the ripply goodness has brought her back to it now. HOW FUN IS THAT?!?!?!

FUN.

And it got me thinking. And sometimes that's good, and sometimes that's bad, but hey I think this is one of the former. What say you to a RIPPLE TREASURE HUNT? Venture out to find the ripple, wherever it might be living on the web. And bring your treasures back here to share with all. Label your posts with "treasure hunt" pretty please, and most likely toss that into the title somehow too. Don't go stealing pictures now, but give us links to blogs or Flickrs or whatever. THIS IS GOING TO BE SO FUN!!!

And one more request from the ether...when you give updates about your projects, can you include your yarn choices and hook/needle sizes? Inquiring ripplers want to know!

So, I'm off my dears. Will check in when I can. Happy Rippling!

Dawn

Let's Play Nice People!

Oh please! I have enough third party mediation happening with my kids, I surely don't need it here too. This is where I play. This is where we all play. Let's play nice.

There's a bit o' controversy stirred up by some one that has opted to leave nasty "anonymous" comments to a recent post by teabird, a loverly gal from down under whom Maven chose to invite to our ripple-along. The problem seems to be that she's a KNITTER. Not a crochet hook in sight. *GASP*

Would you be surprised to know she came clean to me when she asked for an invitation? "The more the merrier" I replied and happily invited her to bring her knitting on board. Which she did in the form of her beautifious scarf.

And then "Anonymous" gets all territorial. And snippy.

Come now. IT'S THE SAME THING JUST IN DIFFERENT STITCHES! Increasing for peaks, decreasing for valleys. I for one welcome the chance to learn something new and perhaps be inspired by it. Let's face it, not everyone's project suits everyone else's own personal style or taste. Skip over it, be supportive, be happy that they're making something they love. But don't be nasty.

Enough. I don't want to have to convince you. I SHOULDN"T have to do that.

So, I have made the decision to restrict comments to registered users. That way, if you're going to be mean, you're going to have to be accountable for your words. No hiding behind "anonymous".

...and I've changed the blog description too.

Comments? Feel free to leave them here and we'll discuss. Or pop me an email and we can do so without the whole blog watching.

NEW clickable buttons!!!

Hip-hip-hooray for Megan!!!

Our resident html/java expert has us up and running with new, improved clickable button capability! Want clickable ripple buttons on your blog? Follow this:

1) Check out the sidebar. Under each button you'll find a box of text. Copy it.

2) If you've a blog on blogger, go to your template tab. Choose to "add an element" to your sidebar section. A window will pop up. Choose the "html/java" option. Paste the text you copied into the big box. Save it in both the pop up window and on the template page.

3) Viola, it should work! Now run to Megan's blog and leave her hugs and cookies!

If you don't have a blogger blog, I'm assuming there is somewhere similar on your blog's template that you can use the code, I just don't know where. If you can't figure it out, ask Megan, I bet she can tell you!

Patterns from bowiechick...

...soon to be rippler. She's lurking and plotting and came across these she wanted to share:

http://www.michaels.com/art/online/projectsheet?pid=e03056&categoryid=29

http://www.michaels.com/art/online/projectsheet?pid=24220&categoryid=29

...and since i've had a slew of new rippler requests today, i thought to get them out of hiding in the comments post haste!

FYI, our ranks are 65 at the moment, but we have close to 20 outstanding invites! Once again, if you'd like to join and haven't yet done so, please leave a comment WITH YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS or send it to me at: kyogadawn at visi dot com.

A note to lurkers and want to be invited-ers

I know you're out there, I've seen your comments and gotten your emails! I have, really, really, really. It's just that sometimes you get stuck in my spam filter, and *blush* I'm not always the greatest at getting to it daily. I throw myself and my three kids on your mercy. Have patience with me! Keep them coming, and I promise I will get you invited and your comments posted as soon as is humanly possible for this at home mom.

...and if you are waiting on an invite, please let me know. There are about 15 outstanding/unaccepted invites that have been sent out in the past few weeks. If you're waiting on one, check your spam. It comes from Blogger and it may be lurking. If not, pop me another note and we'll try, try again. :)

Dawn, your ever-loving ripple mistress

Button, button, who's got the button?

We do, we do! Not only do we have one button, we have 2!

Thanks to Kim:

...and Kara:


My eternal thanks for accomplishing feats of rippledom beyond my meager,photoshop deprived technical skills. Now go snag 'em baby!

And so it begins...

WOW, is it good to be back crocheting. Not that it's been that long, but most of the last month and a half has been consumed with learning to knit. My brain goes to a totally different place with this, and double WOW, are my muscles A LOT less tense. Sooooooooooothing.

I'm off to a good start. Decided on the lattice chevron pattern out of Donna Kooler's Encyclopedia of Crochet. As I mentioned, I'm hoping the open work will be accommodating of the differing yarns I have to work with. The edges may be a bit rough,but I'm OK with that. I'm using a K hook, Boye aluminum if you need to know or care. So far I've worked up one ball of the Pehuen cotton, a scrap of Classic Elite Encore and now have some plain ole cream kitchen cotton hooking up. Since I'm a hopelessly lost color combiner, the stuff I pulled out of my stash is all blues, browns, creams to coordinate with the Pehuen. That way it really doesn't matter how it comes together, it should all work.

And oh yeah, if you want to ripple along, drop me your email at :

kyogadawn visi com

and I'll send you info on how to join the blog.

The Backstory

This be about giving credit where it is sooooooooo due. The ripple-along grew from Kim's recent post to her blog on CrochetMe. Go see Alicia's "most gorgeous ripple afghan ever" says she. So, off I go. You should too. Now. Go here, to the Ripple Issues post on her blog Posie Gets Cozy.

Cool eh?

That's her fab creation at right. She's "The Musee". See, when I emailed here with this idea, begging to link to her page and use her image, she gently directed to the one that set HER on the ripply path, her friend Jane at Yarnstorm. (again, fab creation at right) Now run to see HER post: on the crest of a wave. COME ON people, who doesn't want one after seeing THAT? Ripplish perfection in fabulous yarn no less! There is no doubt the gal has some mean color-combining skillz. Dare to dream. So she wins the muse-y crown for kicking it all off, even though she didn't know it at the time.

I threw a comment to Kim, linked on my blog, she threw back. There was some whining about perhaps not having the appropriate materials in one's stash. She blessedly talked me out of the "progressive" idea...oh the depths of despair at having to send the ripply cozy comfort packing...SHUDDER! And the loss of all the mindless, soothing rippling...DOUBLE SHUDDER! Weak moment I guess. Thanks to Kim for bringing me back to my senses.

...and she then she threw in the "no end in sight" concept and it clicked into place. No need to have a large stock o yarn on hand...it grows as you go. Start with what you got and progress along with those great odd balls on clearance at the LYS, the to die for scraps and skeins left over from the perfect project, the frog pond hiding behind the living room chair....you get the idea. Now go diving and get hooking!