2009 Finished Projects

It's become my yearly tradition to post these project mosaics (see 2008 and 2007). So here is my 2009 project mosaic:

You'll notice that I ramped up the knitting projects considerably this
year...all I can say is that knitting has been a great stress reliever
(ahem!).

I'm looking forward to turning 2010 into a "use my stash" year and I've got plenty of projects to keep me busy. I'll be staying away from retail stores in 2010 and unsubscribing myself from email sales blasts to keep the temptation at bay. Wish me luck!

granny square afghan

I finished up this granny afghan that I started last April just in time to give to my friend and her new little baby boy.

I'm pretty sure this is one of my oldest wips. I'm very happy to be able to cross it off the never-ending crafting to do list. And, this just goes to show that starting projects without a recipient in mind will almost always become useful in the long run!

The afghan is 38 inches square and is made with a combination of Red Heart Soft Yarn and Bernat Satin Solids. See all the details on ravelry here.

Isar Scarf

I fell in love with this Colinette Jitterbug at a yarn store this past winter and had to have it. I had originally planned on making a Clapotis with the yarn. The yarn pools really splotchy in the Clapotis I saw made with this colorway, so I changed plans and made this scarf instead.

It's a crochet project and I can only officially crochet granny squares, so it was a bit tricky starting this scarf. Once I got the hang of things and figured out the pattern, it was really simple to make. This scarf is actually similar to the granny square because it only uses double crochet and chain stitches.

I think that I might only crochet scarves from now on. This was a quick project and really ate up the yarn at an alarming rate...a great stash buster!

Pattern: Isar Scarf by Julia Visconsin
Yarn: Colinette Jitterbug, Toscana - 2 skeins
Hook: 4.0 mm (G)
Rav link

2008 Finished Projects

In keeping with last year's tradition, here's a mosaic of the projects that I completed in 2008. Although I was busy with school for half of the year, I still managed to complete a lot of projects.

And, what's on tap for this year? I've been stocking up on some yarn for knitting projects, so I hope to finish a few sweaters and my zig zag afghan, and learn how to do stranded/fair isle color work. I've found that knitting and embroidery are the two most compatible projects with my school and work schedule, so look for lots more of those projects in 2009.

Happy New Year!

baby gifts

My friend and knitting/crochet buddy, Janie, is expecting a girl this December. She always teases me about preferring to make baby projects rather than having my own baby, so I had to be sure to make a few different baby projects to live up to her expectations. Her shower was on Sunday, so now I'm able to share the projects I've been working on for her for the past few months.

A baby afghan (yarn and pattern here)

Appliqued onesies

Bibs (pattern here)

crochet and knit progress

I'm still on that dish cloth kick! This time I switched it up with a new pattern. The chinese waves dishcloth (free pattern found here).

I guess I'm similar to Amy in that we're both one trick ponies when it comes to crochet! I had originally tried to learn the soft waves ripple pattern, but I just could concentrate hard enough to figure it out...so another granny square it is! This time, I'm sewing in the ends as a go and making one large square instead of 80 smaller squares.

And...we officially have a tulip border! I'm afraid that these blooms are almost spent. But, it's been a delight to come home to these flowers every day!

2007 projects

I saw this idea for a finished object mosaic on Oiyi's blog. It's a fun/scary way to look at how much time/money/work I spent on crafting this year...eeks!

I'm not sure I'll have as much crafting time next year as I did this year, but I'm hoping to do some more knitting (bigger projects like a sweater and a tote bag), finish up some older quilts that are still wips (this one and a college t-shirt quilt that I started back in 2002), and work on some more bags and purses. And I'm also looking forward to using up the various stashes I've accumulated during the year and I'm looking forward to using and making the craft books I've bought in the last year.

no more granny squares

I have finally finished this never-ending granny square afghan! I'm so glad to be able to cross another project off my to-do list. Plus, I've been wanting to make an afghan like this for at least 8 years and have had just about everyone under the sun try to teach me basic square construction, so it feels great to have a finished project that can actually be used!

I had originally intended to make this 8 blocks by 10 blocks, but after lining the blocks up side by side I realized that I'd need to make some extra blocks to increase it to 9 x 12. Well, after starting the additional blocks, I ran out of yarn and was only able to finish an additional 18, so the final size is 9 blocks by 11 blocks (52 in x 64 in). The sizing is a little wonky because my gauge change about halfway through the project. Actually, I had to re-crochet the outer round of about 20 squares because they were way too big in comparison with the other squares. This helped to make the square sizes more uniform but contributed to the crookedness of the whole project In Jon's words: Aren't afghans supposed to be crooked? Thanks, Jon!

This is my first and probably only crochet project for quite a while. I've found crochet to one of the only craft projects that really agitates my left wrist, and I had to limit my time on this due to pain, so I'm not sure I'll be able to do another large scale project any time soon. Because of this, I ended up sewing the squares together instead of using the single crochet method. I'm happy with how the afghan came together and the sewing was much easier on my wrists!

I used Vanna's choic acrylic yarn on this. Unfortunately, about halfway through the project I discovered my preference to merino wool, so at times it was just a bear to work with. On the whole, it's a great acrylic yarn, though and was great to work with...very soft, not too much splitting and no knots within the ball of yarn. I used about 19 balls of yarn (170 yards each). 2 each of the 6 colors included and 7 of the main color, so the project cost about $50 total. A great price considering how long this project helped to occupy me.

Our little kitties have taken a liking to this afghan, so they've been kneading away at it and in turn pulling out all of my sewn in ends. Oh, well! I guess they get to enjoy it too.

Now it's back to the regularly scheduled knitting and stitchette-making!

Ula's Umbrella and Granny Squares

I'm still cranking away at these stitchettes for my patchwork quilt. This time I finished up Ula's Umbrella from the Spring collection.

And, I have been cranking away at these granny squares here and there. Luckily, they get a few hours of my attention every Thursday night at my knit/crochet group so the project has been progressing at a steady pace. I am finished with about half of the squares for the afghan and only have to add the last round to the other half and single crochet them together (oh, and I also need to sew the ends in...ugh!). Here's to hoping this holiday weekend will give me some extra time to finish this project up (or maybe I'm just in denial about how long this is actually going to take...)

weekend update

Well, the quilt is coming along slowly but surely. I finished sewing the top together last Monday and basted it on Tuesday. We had a pretty busy weekend, so I was only able to get a few rows here and there done. I'm really hoping to finish up the quilting tonight, so that I can move on to hand stitching on the binding (my first try at this technique)

I'm cranking away at the granny squares. I've almost finished round three on all of my squares. Just two more rounds to go after that and I can get to the sewing in the ends and stitching together part of the afghan. I must say that I've been getting pretty speedy at whipping these things out. It helps that I gave my wrist a break and let it heal before starting these again. We watched Blood Diamond on Saturday while I was working on these. I was glad to be distracted crocheting at times during the film because it got quite gruesome and bloddy at points. Jon and I are on an Africa kick right now...learning about all of these crazy civil rights and civil war movements that have happened under our radar in the past 10 year. First it was Hotel Rwanda, then The Last King of Scotland, and now Blood Diamond. Some pretty corrupt stuff going on!

And...the "Rebekah is not so smart" moment of the weekend: I was trying to take our A/C unit out of the living room window. Key word: trying. I opened the window planning to catch the machine, but I was a bit to slow. It bounced off the window sill and fell to the ground and rolled a few times. I shrieked in horror just as the mailman walked across our lawn to witness what I had just done. Boy, was I embarrassed. Jon and I had a good laugh over my mistake after the fact. And no, I'm not planning on seeing if the A/C unit still works until next summer. Ignorance is bliss, right?!?

Finally, my little sister, Rachel, is not so little anymore. She turns 18 today! Man, everyone in my family is getting so old! We're celebrating her birthday by taking her and her boyfriend to Chicago this weekend. I'm excited to show them around the city...it's been a few years since I've been back to visit.

fall

I am so excited that fall has finally arrived! We were able to enjoy the beautiful colors up north at my aunt and uncle's lake house...seriously...is this not the most gorgeouse bedroom window view?

We had a little weekend getaway with two of my college roommates and their husbands' this weekend...lots of good food, laughter, paddleboating and Settlers of Catan playing. It was great to get away.

And, as a special treat, I got to drive my new car up north. I ordered this car over a month ago and it arrived on Wednesday, just in time for our trip. A car that gets 40mpg is a nice tool to have when gas prices are so high! Now, Jon and I have matching cars. A four door Yaris sedan for me and a two door Yaris hatchback for him. Matching glasses and matching cars...we definitely spend too much time together!

I was able to get lots of hooking done this weekend on my granny square afghan. I tired out my wrist while I was fiendishly working, so I'm taking a bit of a break from crochet this week.

In the meantime, I started cutting out the strips for my handkerchief corners quilt. I'm almost ready to assemble the squares...just have to finish trimming the strips and cut out the white squares for the center.

jumping on the granny square train

I cannot tell you how many times I have started and stopped a granny square project in the last 10 years! My aunt, Dani, and friends, Harriet and Kate, have taught me how to crochet and make granny squares multiple times. I’ve picked out the yarn to make an entire afghan and then just given up on the project months later. The Salvation Army has received all of my yarn and crochet donations over the years each time after I’ve abandoned ship.

This time, I’ve decided, things are going to be different. I’m actually going to finish this afghan! So I've jumped on the granny-along train that lots of craft bloggers joined months ago.

I went into Michaels last week to buy a cake pan for Jon’s birthday on Wednesday to no avail and came out instead with a bag of yarn and some cute crochet hooks. After a few trial run squares that looked pretty scrappy, I stocked up on the library’s collection of crochet how-to books and realized that I was doing the double crochet completely wrong. Thank goodness for how-to books and online video tutorials!

I’ve been catching up on podcasts and enjoying the breeze coming into our living room this afternoon while hooking these squares. I didn’t realize this when I picked out the yarn, but the five colors that I chose (cream will be the border around all the squares) are all colors that we have painted rooms in our house or used as accent colors in each room, so this should be a pretty versatile afghan when it’s finished.