WIP - Handspun Blanket

 So, I've been spinning and dying fiber for almost ten years now! Which means I've gather a whole lot of small skeins, leftover balls, and other sundry bits of handspun yarn. It's been given it's own special bin, and it was starting to overflow. Handspun is precious, yaknow?

 So I've been making granny squares with the leftovers! It's a perfect way to use it up - I can simply use different sized hooks for different weights of yarn, I make the largest square that I can from a given skein of yarn, and the extras become mixed color squares as granny intended.

 So far I have worked thru about half the bin. I have observed that I have a lot of purple, blue, and green yarns. I like nice chunky yarns, but some have been thin enough that I decided to ply them before crocheting! I've got a variety of sizes, and I'm looking forward to laying them all out to piece together...

Strangely enough, the bin is still over full... Hooray for "scrap" yarn!

WIP - Handsome and Handspun

My yarn stash, as always, overfloweth. After another year of spinzilla, my bin of handspun was getting rather tight! I have always sold the majority of my handspun yarns, but over the last few years there have been a number of small experimental skeins, special purchased fibers, and the leftover small skeins from a big batch that's been divvied up.

And so, I have decided to create a blanket using up all my handspun bits! Some are a true mini-skein or a wee ball, some are simply an orphaned skein with no other plans. All of them are being crocheted into the biggest square they will make (Well, no bigger than 12" or so, extras become little squares.) and will become a blanket! I've got two sizes of hook on hand, and anything too small gets doubled up to make a good thick fabric.

I'll update when I've got a big enough pile to lay out and begin piecing, in the meantime the bin of yarn is becoming a bin full of squares, and I'm realizing that I've got some favored colors...

WIP - Dragon Boats and Baby Blankets

I decided to start the New Year with a sweater project - and epic sweater project.

The Viking Boat pattern has seen many iterations over the years, but  it always seemed a little dumpy to me. I have a bias against drop sleeves ( get it? Bias? Haha..ha... ok it was bad.) I noted a version of the project, that was fitted! A raveler had incorporated designs from other patterns, color changing yarns, and a Led Zeppelin quote. In other words, she made it AWESOME.

So I set out to recreate the feat. I got many skeins of yarn from the sale bin, this is Tracie from Imperial Ranch, and each skein is never-ending! I first had to find a yoke pattern for a comfy shaping, and re-chart the dragon boat. The original is hand-scratched x's on a grid, headache city. Both patterns turned out to be entirely in Norwegian... but since I was only concerned with the charts it was OK. I've picked out a few more patterns to complete the bottom, and charted the Elder Futhark runes to add more Old Norse flair!

And then... I will have to knit the sleeves. *Scream of despair *

I've also been distracting myself with a pair of baby blankets. Last year I started a year long afghan class, with a new crochet pattern each month. I, needless to say, fell behind in my crochet. I picked out my 10 favorite patterns, and made 5 iterations of each, all in different colors of green. I'm now divvying them up into two piles, to create two different baby blankets, one trimmed in bright yellow, and one in sage grey.

When I started this project I was simply planning ahead, assuming abstractly that I would need baby blankets eventually. Now there are two alien parasites gestating, so I have to stop slacking and get them done...

What are you working on?

I'm a Granny... Square Maker!

 After at least a month of crochet I finally turned a pile of random yarns into a pile of random squares. Fifty of them to be exact. Which gave me a huge sense of accomplishment, followed by the crushing realization that I need to assemble them to actually have a blanket. (Can't we teach the baby to do that itself?)

 I first had to find a properly neutral yarn to tie it all together,  the Sweet Grape from Malabrigo won out as the best choice. Then I edged each square in single crochet.

I laid out the squares in piles of five, trying not to clump similar colors too much. I'm just a little OCD, so it's best for me to not plan everything too closely, that way madness lies..

Then all the strips are stitched together...

Tadaaa! All those random brights and lovely purples blended into a wildly colored blanket. I expect I will use the rest of the Grape yarn to trim the outer edge in a double crochet or such.

Of course, just after taking this photo I spotted one last pile of five squares, the cat had been sleeping on them for a few days. So glad I didn't trim the blanket yet...

What's the biggest thing you've ever crocheted or knitted?