Tuesday, March 6, 2007

here's my wiggle.

I've only been working on it a bit at a time so i've only gotten this far (which is surprising because it goes so fast!)
at first, i was a little worried about using different textures of yarn but now i kinda like it. the thicker yarn is a bit more raised and adds a little bit of something to it. i'm choosing my colors as i go so it will be just a little bit random. i'm looking at ends to be woven in on mine and well, one big *sigh*.
i'm working over them but there are skipped stitches so i don't want the yarn to wind up hanging out after watching. every one else's looks so darn neat and perty!
care to share the secret?

wishing the blankie was bigger so it would keep me warm

Hey all. I'm in Maine at the moment, visiting my sister for a week. The blankie has grown but I haven't figured out how to get pictures up on here from a different computer so you'll have to imagine: lots of light yellow, bright yellow, and a creamsicle orange that looks almost like pink next to all of it. There's a bit of the lime green and a dark purple for some pop. I started over after doing a little bit in SC's and being dissatisfied. Now it's half-doubles, a bigger hook, and so much softer! yay! photos to come soon...

best thing about maine is the proliferation of local yarn emporiums. Praying for some hermit-time to fully immerse myself in fibers. They know how to do wool up here.

anyone having weird issues with your edges, like when you get to the end of a row? Like it started with the wave going down, and now somehow the wave is on the crest? just curious, 'cause I'm not ripping it this time.

A Can of Worms

Ok, kids. There's a reason I spent the last three years tinkering on the internet. It's, um, obsession.

I'm finally feeling a lot better, and am consequently catching up on nearly two weeks' worth of neglected work. Yesterday was the first day since I started that I didn't touch my ripple.

But what did I do today? I read Alicia's blog, of course. And what's she spent the last few days making? Breathtaking granny squares. And what have I wanted to do with the yarn leftover from my ripple? Make granny squares, of course.

Won't you join in for some more trad crochet fun?

UPDATE (11pm, March 6): I've changed the link to the granny-along.

A gentle word about patterns...

I was hoping to not have to do this, but here we go.

We've received several comments asking for patterns from the 200 stitch book to be emailed directly to people. The material in the book is covered under copyright laws, so I have been choosing to not post those comments. I'm hoping you're understanding and respect that.

(I'm currently moderating comments to hopefully keep us spam-free, so anything from a non-member gets sent to me before being posted, so to this point I've caught them. However, anything from a blog member is posted without my review.)

Trust me when I say I totally understand not being able to run out and buy a new book every time you want to, but I would still ask you all to please respect copyrighted materials and the designers that work hard to provide them. However, there are plenty of resources online that I can and will be happy to share. I've added a new post label called "ripple pattern links", and here are a few to get started with:

easy ripple afghan

gentle ripple pattern

If y'all know of others, please post them and label them so they're easy to find.

Also, anyone out there interested in reviewing the books you're rippling out of? I'd love to see some posts of that sort too.

Comments and thoughts on this? Comment away, we'll discuss and debate.

Wishing you loads of rippling pleasure, Dawn the HRM.

Finished Baby Ripple


I never showed my finished baby blanket. I think this is going to our next grandbaby, due this summer. It was fun and relatively quick. I used mainly Bernat Softee Baby Yarn which is sport weight. A slightly large hook and my own loose tension made it extra soft and drapeable which is always something I try to achieve.

Purple Ripple Blanket


Hello everyone. I'm Jennie an english girl living in Sweden.

I started my ripple blanket awhile ago when I first saw Alicia's.
I haven't gotten very far on it as I usually only crochet while watching tv in the evenings.
This is my first ripple blanket, I still consider myself a newbie at crocheting.
The blanket is going in my pale purple bedroom, it's about 150cm wide
I figured I'd use up my purple & creamy coloured yarns, so I don't know how long it will be, if it's turns out being just a foot blanket that's fine by me :)

Yay!

So pleased to find a bunch of other people rippling happily along. This is my blanket attempt 2. I got a bit carried away with the first one and it was too wide for our king sized bed and just used up too much yarn per row. So after it had grown to about 10 inches I pulled it all apart and started again. This one is more of a twin sized blanket. Much better. And I am really using mostly scraps for it. I am a pure wool fiend, but I did have 2 balls of acrylic blend which I've hidden away in there. There is also some alpaca and alpaca/wool blend. I'm using all different weights of wool, so the ripples feel kind of bumpy too, and I'm not sticking to a two row per colour pattern either...it's just as the mood takes me and quite random. I am trying to stick to a colour palette though...it's mostly blues and greys with some punches of pinks, yellows and reds. I have some lovely sage green, but I am concerned that it will just be too many colours then. You may also notice that my ripples got a bit out of whack in the first 10 colour changes, but I don't think that it's too noticeable...and I am NOT starting again (again).. Looking forward to seeing everyone else's rippling as they progress.

Help with my Sample


Hello Everyone. Above is my small sample of the "Pink Wave" pattern in Jan Eaton's book "200 Ripple Stitch Patterns". It really is a lovely book. Since I have not crocheted for about 30 years or more, and have NEVER followed a crochet pattern, I have a few questions. As you can see from my sample, I did several multiples of my 17 chain +2 pattern. My concern is the bottom original chain row. As you can see it pulls very badly and seems much smaller than the above developing pattern. Do I just need to start my original chain row MUCH LOOSER???? I would appreciate any comments or suggestions.

Everyone's blankets are looking so wonderful and I can't wait to start, but wanted to be sure I had the technique and process down correctly. Also, I wanted the width to be about 74 inches, so plan to use my "stitches per inch" but make sure the final count is in my multiples of 17. Is that all correct??? How wonderful to have this resource available. Thanks so much.