I'm Ready to Ripple

Hi, I'm a newbie to the ripple-along and to crocheting as well. I've been so inspired by the beautiful blankets that I've seen here. I thought it might be fun to add my own foray into rippling, though I'm just starting. Anyway here it is.If you're interested in the details, I've written about my blanket/WIP in my blog .I'm planning on posting updates both here and there in the future.

A Ripple in My Future

For a look into the ripples of my past see my blog post here.

Onward to the ripples of the future. All the yarn was in the house by Friday afternoon! Talk about fast service. Wow! These are the colors that made the cut. I'm thinking they will make a very cool blanket for soon-to-be College Dude to wrap up in while he's studying. And a shot of the progress so far~~as of just a few minutes ago. I'm picking the colors pretty much at random. Although I do reserve the right to refuse the color picked if it is too close to the previous one in the line-up. Each stripe is three rows of one color. The blanket will be made up of three 3-row repeats of each color. Each stripe is 1.5 inches deep. There are 17 colors, so the resulting length should be right around 76 inches--perfect for my 6'2" son. Stay tuned for further updates on my ripple obsession.

Ripple Skirt All Done!
Happy Monday Ripple Along friends! I finally finished my skirt. Today is 68 degrees in NYC and just cool enough to wear my knitted piece comfortably. Dawn, thank you so much for inviting me ripple along! I had a really good time crocheting and looking at other people's beautiful projects.

I ♥ My Finished Ripple

It's done! I love my afghan. I had a lot of fun crocheting it. Started with random rows of color, did a two color repeat in the center, then repeated the colors of the first half in reverse. Here are the vitals:

Yarn: Red Heart Soft with a bit of ancient unkown yarn thrown in.
Dimensions: 56 x 72"
Pattern: Easy Ripple Afghan
Modifications: Started with Chain 162





It's been a lof of fun and Ripple Two, The Sequel, is already in the works, in my head. I'll need to buy yarn this time since I don't have enough of any similar weight yarn to make another.

Started my ripple for real!

Well, I was originally planning to work on an afghan in the Susan's Easy Ripple Afghan pattern, but from looking at everyone's photos here on the site of their Soft Waves ripples, I decided the other day to order a copy of Jan Eaton's book (which happened to be on sale at the web site I was browsing at the time). And happily (shockingly) it arrived Saturday, so I got started trying to see if I could do it -- here it is next to my Easy Ripple swatch:



Considering that's only the third bit of crocheting I've ever done (and the largest), and I have recently mastered the advanced technique of "actually reading the pattern all the way through before starting," I was feeling pretty slick about it. So I picked up my "real" yarn (which I got about two weeks ago), put on a DVD and started stitching. I chained 219 (216 +3) for a 150 cm wide 'ghan (at least, according to my swatch; we'll see how reality works out). Fortunately, the swatch served to work out pretty much all the kinks I had with the pattern (once I figured out I stopped coming up short of stitches when I actually did the 2 dc at the end of the row...), and so in six rows of afghan crocheted in front of the TV, no major mistakes. Yet. Yay. :)

There's only one problem...



The colors I picked, which I thought would look so nice ... kinda look like I am crocheting Independence Day bunting. (I also have a skein of violet, but I didn't make it that far today.) Yikes. On the bright side, though (?!), I underestimated how much yarn I am going to need. On the Easy Ripple afghan pattern, it said 36 ounces, which is about what I bought. I have 7 6oz skeins, three of which have good-sized dents in them which make me think I'm only going to get 8 to 10 rows per skein. With my gauge, 2 rows measure 2.5 cm or 1 inch (which is really convenient, may I just note), so that's 87.5 cm/35 inches... aka "way too short." So, I guess I need to buy more yarn. Which will let me choose more colors, since I'm not really scared of the color changes anymore. So, at least I can ditch the "crocheted just for the presidential debates!" look, hopefully.

And one amusing side note: I have bad wrists due to both typing professionally and a bad break on one side a few years ago (plus a bad wrench on the other), and so I can really only do certain things for a limited amount of time before they start being painful. It seems that crochet aggravates my hands differently than knitting, so that means -- if my hands get tired of knitting, I can just start crocheting, and vice versa. Hah. I win! :-)

Oh, and just because he snuck into the photo above, apparently using his supernatural knowledge that, somewhere, a picture was being taken (a picture with NO CATS!) - in case you missed him, my cat, Tiger:

It's Warm!

Restful Saturday
Originally uploaded by kpwerker.

Three stripes completed this weekend, amidst work, housecleaning, and a lovely, restful Saturday afternoon. The blanket is just large enough to cover me toes to shoulders widthwise - when it's completed it'll be much longer; for now, its length is just wide enough. How's that for disorienting?

Below is another shot just for kicks. On the right, you can see the orange stripe I've lamented. More stripes have tamed it, though, so I don't hate it as much anymore. I'm sure I'll grow to love it, eventually.

It's Done!

He's going to be able to sleep under it tonight.

Stats: Caron Simply Soft (6 oz. skein 315 yds), 13 balls -- 3 each of dark sage, lime, and bright blue, 2 each of dark red and country blue. Size H hook. Pattern: Double Crochet Chevrons from Jan Eaton's Encyclopedia of Crochet Techniques. Finished dimensions: 60" wide by 76" long. I crocheted two rows of each color, and had 65 stripes (so 130 actual rows). I estimate it took about an hour for each color change, and about an ounce of yarn for each.

He really loves it, particularly the lime green and bright blue.

I'm so excited to finish such a big project. I only learned to crochet in March, so this seems like quite an accomplishment. I'm already planning a round baby ripple in a rainbow of Caron Simply Soft Brites for my next one. . .

more ripple graffiti!

I've been crocheting some more ripples. And since last night was a Masquerade night they're now up on the streets of Stockholm.

they're a bit tricky to sew on

trying our very best to fit the ripples together

it's worth the effort

and they look even better in daylight


As much as we love crocheted ripples, we're doing our best to be a bit variated. Right now we're very much into dressing statues. We'd also like to try knitting some ripples - any tips for a nice and easy ripple knit pattern?

I'm here!

I'm here at last... I started rippling a couple of weeks ago after seeing some amazing ripples over here! I'm following the 'Soft Waves' pattern, using Rowan Classic - Bamboo Soft yarn and a 4.5mm crochet hook. I love the softness of the yarn and the stitch definition that it gives - it's like cotton only much softer. I don't know how long it will take me to complete my blanket, but I won't be finishing it as quickly as some of you guys!

Here's how far I've got...

And this is an earlier photo (in terrible lighting) of just 4 stripes, curled up like a flower!

Keep rippling everybody...

Done!

Yes. I've finished my baby ripple. I'm actually sad to be finished so soon. But don't worry, I'll be back very soon. I've already started a ripple pillow cover for a couch pillow. And I have big plans for a ripple throw made of stash yarn.



Keep rippling, everyone! (And check out my new blog.)

the end of the ugly ripple

Woohoo! It's done. I'm out of yarn and not a minute too soon. I'm SO ready for a pretty ripple. (Well I have to admit - it's not nearly as ugly as I thought it would be...)


Now I'm ready to make some yarn choices. What yarn are you all using?
I'd love something soft but not too pricey.

I call it a ripple :-)

Okay, my blanket got too big to be moved around (it's 90" x 30" now -ooo, that means I'm 1/3 done!), so it is staying in my office, and I needed a kitchen project. I had seen a project done from the book One Skein (the round bag, done by Knitterly Things) so I got the book. On paging through this just jumped out and grabbed me, and I had just bought a skein of Patons SWS 'cause I just love the colors, and now I have Ripple-y Serendipity

It's all your fault!

Hello, my name is Carina and I blame each and everyone of you for making me absolutely obsessed with this here ripple thing. Just so you know! But I must also thank you, because I think seeing all these wonderful ripples is what finally made me learn to crochet. I have been trying for a-g-e-s! But then about 2 months ago, on one of many attempts, something finally clicked and I could do it!

Last Friday I finally got my hands on some proper yarn (until then I'd been using tapestry wool) and got started on my ripple blanket. It's the Soft Wave pattern, I'm using seven colours of Artic wool (from Danish brand Grønhøj Garn) on an Aero hook 4. I work the same sequence of colours, but to break it up a bit, I started with to rows in one colour, the next two rows are two different colours. So a full repeat of this makes 28 rows.

I don't know if anyone else experiences this, but I go from not liking a certain colour so much to thinking it's what makes the whole thing come together. At other times I don't like any of the colours at all, and at others again, I love it all to bits! Isn't that funny?

This is a scarf I'm also working on (plus it was my practice ripple!), for this I'm using different bits of tapestry wool. I was really happy that I practised the ripple first, being a newbie crocheter and all, because then it felt familiar when it came to starting the blanket. So I really recommend that for any other newbies! :-)

My first ripple

This is every shade of purple I could find in Caron SS. Even though the top one looks like blue, it is "Iris" (almost blue to me). I was going to go with wide stripes of 6 rows and only 2 colors, as you can see from the beginning but changed plans midstream and got carried away. I couldn't bear to rip it out (again). So I will put a matching 6 rows at the end.

Pattern: #169 Malibu (200 Ripple Stitch Patterns)

Caron SS and H hook.

To the exclusion of nearly everything else...

I have been rippling for about 3 weeks now. Nearly everything else including housework on my needles/hooks has taken a back seat to this.No matter. The weather will soon become too hot to work on this unless I find a friend with a walk-in cooler...

Hello Ripple-Along Friends,
I took some time off from my ripple skirt. Work and home have been kind of busy. I started working on it on the subway again for past couple of days and I think I'm finally done! I am weaving in the ends tonight and have came up with a way to wear it with a little flare. Will post picture soon. Have a great weekend!

Soft Waves Question

I began a small SW ripple last night and it looks like it's working out well but something is puzzling me and I don't want to go any further till I make sure I'm doing this correctly. Naturally, I knew just where to pop in for help. :)

I cast on 63 chains (multiple of 12 plus 3). However, when I come to the end of the row (each row is the same at the end), it says: 'ending last rep with 2 dc into 3rd of ch 3, turn. I've been doing the row from the * to * but I end up doing 'dc into each of next 3 dc, [dc2tog] twice, 1 dc into each of next 3 dc , but at this point at the end I only have room for the last 2 dc into 3rd ch of ch 3.

So, what happens to the [2 dc into next dc twice] because I have no room for that so I go from 1 dc into the next 3 dc right into 'ending with' and have to skip the above bracketed instructions. I hope this is clear and not too muddied up to understand.

The blanket looks good but I can't help thinking that I shouldn't be skipping the last part of the directions in row 3.....can you help?

Thanks, Laura

happy to ripple with you

My book arrived yesterday; the one with the soft waves pattern. And I have crochet hooks, finally. Just need to find yarn so I can begin this ripple along that I've been jazzed about for weeks and weeks. Oh, and I need to learn to crochet, too. That's key, dontcha think? Have loved watching all your projects grow and lengthen and ripple along!

Done!

My baby blanket is done, only a few days after my niece arrived. It wasn't my bad timing, she was 3 weeks early, but I did hope to have it ready. As it was, I sat in the waiting-room at the hospital working on it.

I'd love to start another one straight away; I'm sure I'll be back soon with more ripples!

It's all in DK machine-washable wool, done on a 4 mm hook, and I'm afraid I don't know what the pattern is officially called, as I found it in quite an old book, simply titled 'Ripple'.

It really seems there is no end in sight!

A friend of mine has moved to Germany for the next 7 months, just for the fun of it! i wanted to make her a prayer shawl for her to have while she was there. i started this ministry at my church about 1 year ago. usually we knit but this time i decided i would ripple...just to mix things up a bit! i really like how it is coming out but it is just so SLOWWW!!! i have dreams of other projects (including another ripple or two!), but i really don't want to start another project until i get this one done! arg! here is what i have so far! i started with a big secction of red then 7 rows of navy, 5 rows of red, 6 rows of navy, 5 rows of red, 5 rows of navy, 5 rows of red, 4 rows of navy, 5 rows of red, 3 rows of navy, 5 rows of red, 2 rows or navy, 5 rows of red, 1 row of navy then 5 rows of red then back up....i realy like it...just want it to be finished!
Oh well! i will keep you all posted! Ripple -on!

Rippley McRipplerson

I am so excited that I finally get to post. My camera has had some serious issues but I have been enjoying all the rad ripples while waiting to post. I have been rippling for about three weeks while watching Freaks and Geeks and Arrested Development (Seasons 1 & 2) over and over. My ripple is 300 stitches long and let’s be honest, I don’t know when the madness will be over. I believe the ripple lets you know when it is done; it is not in my hands.

Maudie Jane

New to the Ripple along

I was so excited to find this blog with all the beautiful ripple afghans. I made this baby round ripple last week. I am now working on a full size one now. Ripples are very addicting. In the 70's I made two of the single crochet ripple afghans. One in shades of yellow, orange & brown & one in greens & blue.

Rip, Rip, Ripple

And, so, I frogged it. It's interesting--I've put together quite a few afghans, and had no trouble with the color. But, I think the main difference was that I started from scratch, in the yarn store, saying "I need 3 colors." Starting from stash, and wanting as many colors as I could find? Well, I went a bit wacko, and it showed.

Here is my newly-frogged ripple. The yarn balls on the left are the two colors that really killed it. They are going totally away. They were too muted/frosty, for what should really be a mix of spring/warm/clear tones. I didn't like the Caron Light Country Blue from the moment I got it home, but my Random Color Picker insisted, so I went for it. The peach I will discuss below. On the right are (some of) the colors that will go back, in a slightly different order, plus the skein of lt. coral that will replace the peach:

Here is what I am still mulling. I went earlier today and found this light coral yarn. It is very similar in shade to the other yarn (which is a higher grade acrylic--Unger Utopia--that I borrowed from another project). However, when I lay the coral on top of the afghan-in-progress, it sparkles. The peach yarn just sits there, looking boring.

The light is a bit different in these photos, but you can still see how the Utopia looks in the granny square--nice contrast, and it appears as a dark orangy peach. I guess if I've learned anything from this process it's that the more color you work with, the trickier it becomes to keep the project, as a whole, in focus. You can very easily end up with a glaring mistake that doesn't show up until it becomes part of that whole. So, then, you rip, rip, rip-it. :)

My Ripple...Finally!! :)

Hello!! :) Here is my ripple so far. I'ts only about 2 foot accross so far but I'm getting there. It's a mother's day present so I know I have to finish it soon. lol It's made with RH Buff and a matching fun fur! Hope you like it. :)

Another new rippler here!

Hi everyone! I'm so happy to be rippling along with all of you talented people. I've enjoyed watching everyone's beautiful projects grow and evolve. My ripple has proven a challenge to photograph - the colors don't show quite right, and on top of that, one of the smaller, furrier members of my family has claimed it for hers and hers alone.

I'm using a pattern copied from one of my husband's grandmother's afghans - she didn't remember how she had made it, but after a few false starts, we managed to figure it out. It is made of some no-name cotton-blend yarn I found in Chinatown for next to nothing. I wanted a blanket that will add weight but not a lot of warmth to the twin bed in our guest room, so I've been working quite loosely. I'm pretty pleased with how it's turning out so far.

The colors reminded me of maple flowers, and now that they're coming together, the ripples are giving off a great seventies vibe. I'm thinking of finishing it with a fringe of little macramé owls - how fun would that be?

Again, I'd just like to say how happy I am to be part of this project! Go ripples go!

Swatch and Math Done

Whoo Hooo! Half my yarn arrived just hours after my initial post this morning. I've now crocheted my swatch (check off one of my May to-do items), and I wanted you guys to check my math.

I started with 49 stitches (multiple of 12 + 1) and crocheted 6 rows, not counting the initial chain. My swatch is 13.5 in wide and 3.12 inches deep. So I'm getting 0.28 in per stitch in width and 0.52 inches per row. I took the dimensions of the swatch and multiplied to get sq in= 42.12. Then I frogged all the work, less the chain, and measured~~came up with 35 yds. So, it took 35 yds to get 42.12 sq inches.

Then I did two sets of numbers (I'll just show the figuring I did for the larger set of numbers). For a blanket 60 x 72 I get 4320 sq in. Divide that by 42.12= approx 103. I took that and multiplied by 35 (the number of yds to make the 42.12 sq in) and get 3605 yds. (I ordered 17 skeins of 220 yds each which gives me 3740 yds of yarn.) Then I figured how many yards it would take to get 4 two row stripes from each color.

60 inches wide x 4.16 inches deep= 249.6 sq in
249.6/42.12= approx 5.92
5.92 x 35 yds = need 207 yds per skein.

Each skein is supposed to have 220 yds, so there should be enough to get four 60 inch wide two stripe repeats from each skein.

You guys mind checking my math to see if I'm in the ballpark with this one? I'm cutting it close if I go with the 60 inch wide blanket. I may just work up one whole skein of the yarn to see exactly how many rows I can get out of it.

I don't want to start the actual blanket because all of the yarn isn't here yet, and I want to be able to randomly pull from all of the yarn for each stripe. I don't know how long I'll hold myself to that decision though.

I'm excited to get started, can you tell? ;o)

Edited to add: I did another two row swatch and weighed at the end of the 1st row and had 86 gm of yarn left--this included the foundation chain. At the end of the 2nd 192 stitch row--76 gm left. So right at 10 gm per row. I am so golden!!!! Now I'm considering doing 3 row stripes instead of 2 to make use of more of each skein of yarn.

Ripple Progress

The progress of AJ's "little-boy-first-big-bed" is coming along nicely. I had inherited a bag of yarn, plus bought a few, so for a mixed bag of colors I think it shaping up nicely. It's almost four feet long now, just need to add two feet more and I'm done. I have a baby blanket to start as soon as I'm finished with this--for my first great grand child...

I'm thinking about trying to knit a soft wave in the baby green and baby yellow colors, maybe some white.

This is so much fun--I just love doing it.

Late to the Party # 2!

So, here I am a bit confused with how to figure out how much yardage will be needed for the size afghan or lap-ghan I might need. I read Maryse's answer to Jen but I still have some questions for all of you math wizzes and talented crocheters. :)

I will be using a worsted weight yarn, so if each 2 row repeat took Maryse 40 yards of DK weight yarn, how would I figure out how much worsted the same two rows would take? Maybe I'm missing something here but how do you figure out how many yards you'll need to crochet a ripple, say, for a baby, about 32" wide by 40" long, just for an example?

Since Jan Eaton doesn't give any suggestions for hook size, gauge, etc. there is no 'jumping off point' from which to start a project other than past experience and trial and error. Maryse , you suggested crocheting a swatch, measure it and then frog it, and measure the amount of yarn you used for the square.....please forgive my mind drawing a blank here, but how?

I look forward to all the wonderful advice from the great people on this forum. You crochet such gorgeous ripples in the most magnificient colors, what an inspiration ( as well as 'crochet enablers', LOL) you are.

Cheers, Laura

Rippling the Night Away

Still loving my ripple!!! it's the perfect project for watching hockey!

~*~ Happy Rippling ~*~

Late to the Party

Once again, I am late to a party. After finding the Ripple Along the last week or so and being entranced by all the gorgeous ripples, I knew I had to go ahead with the promise to make my son a blanket/'ghan to take to college with him in the fall. So here I am ready to ripple, but stuck as the yarn is still making its way to me. I'll be using Cascade 220 Superwash. I've ordered 17 colors--one 220 yard skein of each. (Thank goodness for the anniversary sale at Webs--more than half is coming from there.)

I have a few questions before I get started and was wondering if you experienced ripplers could help me out?

1. I've been practicing the Soft Wave pattern and think I *may* have it down with a little fudging at the end of the row. Has anyone else had trouble with the pattern? I've been away from crocheting for ever so long, so maybe I'm missing something in the pattern~~misreading or the like.
2. How did you go about planning your ripple? I'm a knitter, so I know about swatching for things like sweaters, socks (yeah, right), etc., but am unsure about the process for a blanket. See, I'd like the ripple to be a minimum of 5 feet wide--wide enough that it will hang off the sides a bit on his twin bed, but he's tall--6'2", so I need a l...o....n...g blanket and am already worrying that 3740 yards isn't enough to give me what I need. How can I figure out approximately how many yards I would need to get the size blanket I want?
3. Random stripe generator or set pattern?

I'm looking forward to being able to start soon, meanwhile I must be happy to knit. You can check out my blog here.