Monday, November 26, 2007

Twin rainbow ripples


Both blankets together
Originally uploaded by charlottenarunsky
I posted the bright rainbow ripple a few weeks ago, and now have finally finished the pastel version. These are for a friend of mine who had boy/girls twins last week (ok, so I'm a little late!). I wanted to give her a gift that would reflect the non identical, and yet twin, nature of her babies. I hope she loves them!

Sunday, November 25, 2007

My Sister's Rippler

I'm at the halfway mark with my sister's ripple! I better get my butt in gear since this is a Christmas present for her and the hubby!!


Sister's afghan

Saturday, November 24, 2007

vintage ripples

Hi everyone. Been a while since I posted, or even read this blog, but I thought I'd post this pic:


It is from a vintage crochet magazine I just got from Ebay. Cracks me up, that lady in her ripple skirt (isn't she elegant standing like that?!) Oh, actually, I think these ripples are knit.


This other pic is the cover of a knitting book I bought on Ebay. Made with Noro yarn, it makes an incredibly gorgeous coat, doncha think?

Ciao!

Thursday, November 22, 2007

the ripple scarf - extended!


I finally admitted to myself that the grey ripple scarf was too short and i wasn't going to enjoy wearing it, so after some counting of waves and rows and weighing of leftover wool and some calculations I came to the conclusion that I could add 5 more waves in the opposite colours! Of course I never wrote down what size hook I used for the base chain and rest of scarf so I had to try out a few different sizes, it didn't help that i lent some of my hooks to friends who are starting on the granny squares! is it just me or is the 1st row into the chain a real pain!? in the end i got satisfactory gauge and from there it was a doddle. the seaming isn't perfect, but the way I wear the scarf you can't see the seam, you just see the pink end peeking out from underneath the grey and i have to say i love it! I even got a few compliments on it!

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Rippling on ...

Well, I've been out of the loop for a while. Helping a friend clean house (she's selling) (See more about it in my blog) and translating and working and ... well, there hasn't been a whole lot of time left for crocheting, let alone blogging about it. But lately I've made a bit of progress. It now measures: 140 x 160 cm (which is about 55" x 63")


But here's the progress of my ripple blanket. I'm not sure whether I'm going to keep it or give it away as a Christmas Gift. Still debating :)

I've also got a Secret Swap in progress over at Granny-Along. Anyone who would like to join are welcome to do so. Check for more info by clicking the links.

Monday, November 19, 2007

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)

Monday, November 12, 2007

Sam's Afghan

The afghan that I was working on, that is for the fellow resident where my mom currently is, has been completed for several weeks. I've only recently been able to get back on the internet with a computer with the speed that could handle all the work I wanted to do. So now I can start posting pictures about such things as my completed crochet projects.

Here is Sam's Afghan, done in Blues and Yellow, a color included to honor the bananas over which this man and my 2 year old son bonded. :-)

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Green/orange/black zigzag done!




I finished my son's bright + black afghan a couple of weeks ago, and finally got around to taking a picture of it to post here. My son likes it, and it's just the right size for his twin bed. I loved working on this, and I even learned a new crochet stitch, reverse slipstitch, which I used on the second row of the edging. Now I'm going to plan a ripple in more subdued colors for the den. I'm getting lots of good ideas and inspiration from this site. Go ripplers!

Monday, November 5, 2007

Vanna-ghan Finished!

I finished the Vanna-ghan several weeks ago. Our son Phillip and his fiancee were here this weekend and I gave it to them to take back to Wyoming. It's probably too heavy for an Alabama winter but should help keep them toasty warm. It was fun to make, and the kids love it.

Head to Wal-Mart

Red Heart has a free project sheet available at Wal-Mart for a ripple bag. I'd scan it in and share it, but the computer with the scanner attached needs a new video card. It appears to be a messenger type bag. Pretty cool I have to say. If you need a copy, let me know!

Saturday, November 3, 2007

I finished my Storm Clouds ripple!

I need to get a pic of it today sometime and post it. It turned out great and I'd love to make another one with different colors. I loved these colors, but doing the same one 2 times is just not me. lol

HDing here!!

Here it is!

I kept forgetting to get batteries for my camera, so I snagged dh's camera and got a pic. Dd is holding it (being Kilroy) and she is just over 5' 9".

This is a wedding gift for a friend's dd.




Hubby ripple completed

I finished the hubby's black and grey ripple last night. I'll post a picture here as soon as I can get one. I'm pretty proud of it. It's just short (about an inch and a half) of seven feet. In order to get it to be at least seven feet, I would have had to repeat the grey and black one more time and that would have made it approximately 7' 4". I thought that was a little too long and unwieldly, so I stopped just short of seven feet.

I have to say that I think it looks great. I know that I wasn't really thrilled about working entirely in black and grey, but I think it really looks sharp. Be on the lookout for a picture!

Also, if you could all take a look at my blog http://squintsquad.blogspot.com and look at the post titled "Looking for help" I'd really appreciate it. I'd like to make a very special toy for my daughter and could use some opinions/help/advice. Thanks in advance.

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

My Ripple of Many Colors is Complete!


I'm so pumped.....I finally completed my cotton ripple after what seemed a very long time. It really wasn't all that long since I started this in early June, so 4 months, but it just seemed as though I was usually working on just this one project. I used Mission Falls 1824 cotton and an I hook and did the colors at random just choosing which ones I thought were complimentary to their neighbor. I used the pattern from the Family Circle Easy Crochet magazine, the Fall 2006 issue. I haven't blocked it yet so it's not completely widened or straightened yet but it will measure somewhere around 40"x 70" once it's blocked.

I did enjoy crocheting this very much, as it worked up light, airy, and yet still warm and toasty, which was a pleasant surprise for a cotton ghan. This would be the perfect afghan for those who are allergic to wools and perhaps don't care for acrylics. So, what do all of you wonderful fellow crocheters think?

Monday, October 29, 2007

Hubby ripple

Just a quick update. The hubby's grey and black ripple is about 5 1/2 feet now. It's got to be 6 to cover him, but I plan to keep working as long as the yarn holds out. Tonight is the night our group gets together, so maybe I can con someone into taking a picture for me. I still have two full skeins of the grey yarn that I haven't touched, so I should be good for at least 6 1/2 feet if not 7. 7 would be ideal because then he would have plenty to tuck under his feet.

The reason for my speed crocheting? The hubby is having total knee replacement on Thursday and would like to cuddle with this when he gets home. Think of me working hard!

Thursday, October 25, 2007

When You Least Expect It


The other night at Knit Knite, I was happily chugging away on my ripple afghan when I started to dawn on me that I had a very small amount of the yarn I was working with left. I crocheted a few more inches and then finally admitted that I would not have enough pink to finish out that row of the ripple. That's when it also dawned on me that as it was my fourth stripe of that color, I wouldn't have enough of any color to finish an entire stripe since they've all been used three times as well. That meant either buying 17 more balls of Cascade 220 Superwash, making this the most expensive blanket I've ever owned, or it meant that my blanket was done. Which do you think I chose?
I'M DONE, Y'ALL!!
Final dimensions are 67" long x 50" wide, when I originally was planning on 67" wide x 70" long. This, of course means that my ripples are rippling vertically instead of the typical horizontal ripplage. I have to say I am completely fine with this.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Log Cabin Fever

I did it. I took the jump. http://logcabinfever.blogspot.com/ is now up and running. Currently it has nothing. But if you want to sign up to post, the email address is listed there. Send me an email and I'll get your invitation sent out!

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Fishing for info

I spoke to Dawn about this already and got her permission to post here. I'd like to try and get a head count of people who might be interested in a log cabin along blog. I don't want to start up something that only Leah and I are interested in. But if the interest is there, I just might do it. Or maybe I can talk Leah into helping me out with it. Do I have any takers?

One More Down

Here is a another completed afghan for my Christmas 2007 project.

crocheted ripple afghan for my brother

This is the Golden Harvest design from the Leisure Arts pamplet, Rippling Effects. 4 colors of Red Heart Super Saver and a size I hook. I modified the pattern for a narrower width, and less rows in each dark brown section. It is a nice stitch, alternating rows of crocheted Vs and then a row of single crochet. It is nice and lacy, but still substantial.

I am down to really needing to order yarns to complete another brother's afghan, and then get back to the squares for my sister's. Since sister's afghan is too fiddly to do while I am with other people talking and such, I plan to take my completed afghans out for a spin - to stitch in ends and show them off.

I am also planning another afghan for myself - a chakra colored one (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet) done up using the new Vanna White yarn. The colors are nice - not clownish and the yarn is really soft. I am going to use it in my Reiki healing work. After that, who knows?

Peace! Susan (aka ZenKnit)

Monday, October 22, 2007

Storm Clouds update

I am working specifically on this as I want to finish it by this weekend. This was as of the 20th (Sat). It is a wedding gift for a friend's dd. She is getting married mid-November, so I want to mail it out next week latest.

It is about 2/3 done at this point. TFL!

*clickable pic*




Back in black...and grey

Wanted to update everyone on the progress of my ripple. I'm still without a photo, but I'm working like a maniac on the hubby's ripple. It's all done in black and grey, double crochet, working in the back of each stitch (not sure what to call it, but I know it's not the back of the post) to create texture and to ensure that I can easily work while watching TV and not have to count. I said it before in my comments, and it bears repeating, it's like crocheting in Pleasantville. I'm seriously waiting for Reece Witherspoon to come along!

The reason I'm working so frantically is that we got news the hubby would be having total knee replacement surgery in the next couple of weeks. He'd love to have it to curl up with when he gets home from the hospital. So, it's gained at least a foot in the last couple of days. I'm almost to 4 feet and I'm trying to get to 6, possibly 7 feet. We'll see how long the grey yarn holds out. I usually work with Red Heart and buy stuff that has no dye lot. But this grey does. So I bought Wal-Mart out of the grey in the dye lot I needed. Anyway, check back here for frequent updates. And hopefully a pic! And I'm so inspired by Leah's log cabin that I may try that one next. Leah, what do you say to a Log Cabin Along Blog?