Moving on!

In case you havent noticed this blog has gone a little quiet - theres a reason for this.

It has moved you can now find it at:


crochet-crazy.com!

OMG OMG !! New wool colour chart

Amazingly, its only late April, but the new colour chart promised back in Jan has finally come out. I can now go about working out my colours for patterns and get ordering the truck load of wool I guess I will order (I dont ever tend to order a little, that and from where I order you order in packs of 10 of 100g wool, so, to give you an idea, an average blanket say around 6ft bt 4ft or so, is around 15 balls of wool ... But of course if you need 6 colours, you end up buying at least 60 balls of wool.... that and then I worry I wont have enough so would buy 2 lots of any colour I think is going to be more than say 8 balls of wool just in case I needed 12.. Estimating wool is the hardest thing I think. Especially if you have a main colour last thing you want is to run out and get a different batch and it looks horrid.

Not forgotten!

OK, you may have noticed Ive been a little quiet, life has been twisting and turning like a twisty turning thing.

I havent forgotten the blanket list, the new wool list isnt out, and Ive been very distracted.  Sorry

Blanket completed

I meant to post I had finished my blanket, I will make sure I take a pic and upload it. I need to sew the ends, but it is finished. Go me!

Liz blanket - update

I just remembered, I took a pic of my blanket this morning, and havent posted it yet.
So, here it is:

PS - Sorry for the dog under the blanket, he didnt want to move !

Saved by the postie

Im glad to report that my emergency paying on ebay for wool has arrived - so I now have 15 more spare balls of the colour I was short on. I should (I hope) have enough to finish now.

Its growing well, Im now near the top of the 3rd diamond row,  Im finding it harder to crochet with my wool in a bag, as well as 4 big furry faces wanting to assist, much as I love them their idea of "assist" really isnt assisting, lying on it, drooling on it, distracting me coz they want to hug, go out, eat, play, hug, play, did I mention hug? its almost like one of those comical things where each time you put a toe in the bath the phone rings or something.

Id do a picture, but its another bout of playtime, and I want some lunch so maybe later!

Read here and not on facebook? Find me there http://www.facebook.com/LizKimber  keep in touch.

My blanket so far

OK, so I have realised I seriously dont count well when it comes to wool and blankets, I either buy 20 too many thinking its going to take like 50 to make a blanket or I start out with like 25, and realise I need 20 more.. what gives?

Anyway, heres my blanket so far:

Counting the costs..

I wish I had enough money to give up working and crochet for a living - much as I stuff up and its annoying occasionally nothing like the stress of being at work.

But and heres the issue:

A 6ft by 4ft blanket, costs only around 14 odd pounds to buy the wool.

However, if you then take into account hours worked, at minimum wage, 5.80 an hour, if I can do one in roughly 2 weeks and the hours Im putting in thats gotta be somewhere around 50-60 hours a week, err thats 290 per blanket, + wool. so, if you say between 300 and 350 pounds, would anyone seriously pay that much for a blanket?? I doubt it..

Thus why I guess I cant ever give up work to crochet.

Moving on!

So, progress is very slow, this is not aided by 1 small factor.

Someone keeps sleeping on it!

My wool problem

As you can see, far too many balls of wool and somewhere to keep them safe, and stopping them from tangling

First pic.

Well, this time last week, my blanket didnt look much different, in fact, arguably I would have to do a lot to explain just how undifferent it is, but in short, the stitch I missed was gone  back to and found. The pale joiners are now 2 stitches wider, and so now add up. Sad part is, if I hadnt lost that stitch a while back Id only have had to go back 2 rows..

For those astute, yes this is the same pattern as the one I did for me before, but this time the diamonds are the darker brown not gold and the "background" is all the pale brown, oh and technically each of those diamonds forming the bigger diamond is 1 bigger, it was a 6x6 now its 7x7. As its done on slightly smaller hook, the blankets no bigger but, it is slightly thicker.

Liz Blanket

So, following the revalation that I had majorly stuffed up my blanket, I sat down and reworked back to the place where I had lost a stitch - which was half way through the first big diamond, on top of that, I then spent a couple of days working out how in heck I had got it so wrong. Turns out, I cant count, on my design, I knew what I had meant (and I swear I had counted so carefully) but, I had got it wrong and I had placed the joiners in the wrong place. As a result, this is why it wasnt working out - as when I came to do it for real, its much easier to see, and so, now I have adjusted my design and continue on.

Just a shame nearly a week later I havent caught up with where I was!

Wool tidy.

OK, my crochet has been rapidly driving me mad, at most in this pattern I will have 21 balls of wool on the go. Now, while thats a bucket load of ends and colour swapping, this isnt the problem, the problem really is 21 balls of wool rolling round the floor with dogs wanting to "help" and the wool gets mucky coz the dog hair (no matter how much you hoover) and I want to create something to hold my wool.

Now, there are wool tidys on the market, most of course hold 1 ball of wool. I have seen 1 that holds 3, but, realistically thats so no use to me, nearly everything i make requires multiple colours on the same row.

Now I had some ideas..

Now, as I think about it the area for each ball needs to be at least 7 -8 inches tall, and probably 4-5 in diameter, the bottom doesnt need to be hugely firm, but it would need to be heavy enough that any slight tugging wouldnt lift it. the tops need to be individually removable as lifting it with like 30 balls of wool going through it would be a pain.. The material would need to be non abrasive so most cloth/felt/etc would be out as it would help the wool prevent turning.

So, one theory I had was a box shape - nice and practical to make, and having diamond shaped dividors, either in cardboard or some shineyish cloth this would be reasonably simple to make but at the same time... May not be hugely efficient, plus, the issue of the "lids" comes to mind

The second theory I had was more revolving round cardboard tubes with plastic lids each end, the top lid with a hole and joining them in a kinda V shape around a pole so you can have a number of balls say 6 per row or  something but wouldnt take a lot of space.. Problem is it wouldnt be very easy to make or carry.

I just need something to organise upto 30 balls of wool (so smaller items which hold say 5 or 10 could work but they would have to be small enough they dont take up the size of my couch) where I can replace/fiddle with any individual ball without it rolling around - I dont have a wool winder, so all british balls of wool you have to work from outside in, which makes it harder to put the balls into a smaller space as they need rolling space.

Ideas would be hugely welcome - its driving me insane.

My new blanket

OK, so I started my blanket Im about 46 rows in. I got to the end of the first set of brown diamonds, went to check the spacing again as it looked a bit uneven to find, it is. How in hell have I done that? Im so annoyed. I cant see how Ive ended up out of line, there isnt the space required. Before I pull it all apart, swear and curse like a navvy and possibly even give up, I need to find where Ive gone wrong, if its coz Ive designed it wrong, I will be mad, coz thats always a possibility given I was changing the pattern, if I have counted wrong, I dont see how it seems according to my design I have the right number of stitches between the diamonds at the widest points, so how can it not add up now? The diamonds are right, only thing can be the connectors, and frankly they are simple enough that shouldnt be possible.Grr something isnt right and I dont get it.. So annoyed.

Plans - 3

I think this is the last one I promised to do

Martin Collins

Plans - 2

As Ive mentioned a few times, I intend to redo my blanket with darker diamonds, something like this

First set of plans

So

As promised I have been doing some preliminary plans for my next bunch of blankets

Peter Morgan

Sue Morgan

Gregory Morgan

Charlie Morgan

A pulley! (Dont know if its Leanne or Hannah!)

Vicki Williams

So, I still have a couple to work on prelims for but, if you're one of the above listed victims please EMAIL me (dont reply here, EMAIL) for ideas, corrections or changes.. You also need to consider the generic background colour you would want.

Jons blanket - completed

Jon should be happy to hear I have finished sewing the ends of his blanket - I get a huge amount of joy of designing and crochetting blankets but for some reason the sewing in of the ends really really gets me, Ive done some blankets that had a lot of ends, the end sewing almost wrecks the blanket for me, however, Im now setting down to design the next bunch of patterns Im going to make.

I've a number to put together, and then work out what wool I need before I put in a monster order. I wish I was a little more decisive mind, I never can decide between landscape and portrait.. I have a set of 4 to do, and so far the first ones landscape but I dont think they would all look good landscape and Im unsure about doing a mix..

sigh.

Will post them when Im done!

Black hat done!

Well Im glad to report I completed the black hat, I of course forgot to take a photo before giving it to its new owner so I will try get one soon.

Da black hat!

Tonight - in evading sewing ends (as its the only bit I hate about crochetting pretty patterns) I started a new winter hat.

As per last time its the pattern you find at this site

But this time its black!

Jons blanket - crochet complete!

Once again I find myself apologising for the lack of updates along the way, however, by wee hours of sunday norning I had completed the crochet on Jons blanket. I had the border and end sewing todo. Well, I did the border, now I just got the ends to complete.. Hes how it came into being

So there you have it. Its about 5ft by 3.5ft.

Signed up for a magazine

I subscribed to http://www.insidecrochet.co.uk/ last year, it was a little disapointing but not hugely, so I have rescubscribed this year - although I swear Im missing an issue...

Ive now also signed up for this - http://www.theartofcrochet.com/ now this has potential to be darn expensive - if you read the small print - as it basically says each month they will send you 4 things at 2.99 each, however, with that much coming out Im hoping for some more stitch insight.

Yes, I am looking forward to the free gifts! I bet they are a bit small for some of the things I do, as even the simple one Im doing right now was over 20 balls of wool on the go, but much as I could probably make most of their throw blanket without the tutorials (not wishing to blow my own trumpet) I hope to pick up some new stitches and ideas, and I hope from the ads I saw that the cover more than just standard crochet, but also do fillet and tunisian crochet plus, I can show off some of the things Ive made on their website - this kinda appeals to me as I have a backlog of blankets planned for the coming year - Ive already warned my wool supplier that I want a new colour card as the last ones out of date and I intend to be ordering a LOT of wool. Last order was 1500 balls of wool, this is gonna be more - especially as I no longer have a husband to whine about how much wool I have (Although if he could kindly get his stuff out my "Wool" room I would appreciate it..)

The missing blanket

I mentioned a blanket I made for a christmas pressie but forgot to post a pic..

So, here you go!

Jonathans Blanket

OK, my deepest apologies for not posting the daily pics much over christmas. I did take them, so here they are

There, the last one is as it was this morning .. sorry again

New blanket - Day 1

So, I didnt announce whos blanket this was, but someone has correctly guessed by my hint that its a difficult colour to work with.

In short, black is a cow to work with en mas. Hence, I chose with this to do 5x5 blocks so I can keep track and not lose stitches, it also gives it a bit of texture which is fun, helps with counting too..

As you can see, Ive done around 15 rows there, so not much to see yet. This was the state at the end of 22nd Dec, (or first thing before starting 23rd)

Davids Blanket - COMPLETED!

I finished the crochet yesterday but sewed the ends and put the border (its just a securer layer of crochet round the edge) today. But, it is indeed complete!

Davids Blanket - Day 9

This is what the blanket looked like this morning

Davids Blanket - Day 7 + Day 8

Ok, Im sorry, Im such a slacker at posting these WIP pics up.

Day 7

Day 8

This sees some eyes!

Davids Blanket - Day 5 + Day 6!!

Above is Day 5

Below is Day 6

I forgot to post the pic for day 5 yesterday so hence have done it today.

Davids Blanket - Day 4

Ok so this should have been posted this morning - I did at least take the picture then..

I confess I didnt make the progress today I hoped, but, hey, I still progressed some. Im technically over half way now.

Davids Blanket - Day 3

Day 3, sees the end of the feet! Go me.

No class tonight, so I wonder how far I can get today?

Davids Blanket - Day 2

So, day 2, this is the result, not bad huh, as you can see, Im near the top of the feet!

Davids Blanket

So, Ive been quiet, actually I've made a blanket, I was just keeping pictures of it quiet as I dont want to show it in case the person whos presant it is sees it - would spoil the fun.

So, Ive started another new blanket now, and this one is for a friend called David. Who likes penguins, so, Im going to be making a "tux" penguin. Tux actually the linux penguin, but hes cute, and hes a penguin and he was easy to convert into a crochet pattern and it should look rather nice.

So, here it is after a day!

Not bad for a day huh ? in case you are confused, that would be his feet and bum.

My blankets crochet completed!

Here you have it, here is my blanket. I wish I had had a darker brown instead of the gold for the diamonds now, but, there you have it.

I would have done a better picture, but the dogs wouldnt get out the way. Once I have sewn the ends in, I will try for a better one.

Oh pants.

So,

Im off work, I have more time than ever, and given Maddies need for 24/7 watching, Im kinda stuck at home, so the crochet has taken a bit of a hit, eg, Im nearly finished. Only..

I stuffed up.

Attached is a picture - as you can see (as I kindly drew on it) I should have changed to the dark brown outside colour, not the pale brown inside, so I have to unpick an almighty bunch tomorrow, and then redo.. So annoyed..

Blanket update

So, its been a while, and I thought it time to post an update to my blanket.. Its grown a bit!

:)

Liz's bedspread update

Well, while Im not working away every spare moment on this blanket, its actually growing at a reasonable rate considering its size.

Its growing, see?

The bedspread has begun

When I originally saw the pic in a design book called "Blue Ribbon Afghans" I wanted it, just like the one in the book, but, frankly theres far too many colours, you'd need a bazillion colours, in the following picture you can make out that the diamons are divided into 3x3 diamonds, well, its the same design as the dad blanket, only bigger, so the original had 9 different colours in those 3x3 diamonds, where they crossed and went towards the centre and so on.. the colour list really was *LONG*

So, this is the simplified version. Ive texturised the 3x3 diamonds by using a purl stitch for one set and simple stitch for the others.. giving a subtle but nice effect

Well, I think so anyway! Btw, Im making this for me - or at least my spare room or as a huddle blanket or something.. I hope I love it as much when Im done.

Dads blanket - crochet complete!!

 

I havent sewen the ends, or gone round the colours in a black line like intended, and I may add a border, but, the initial crochet part is complete!

Tonight Dads blanket looks like...

Update on Dad's blanket

 

As Im likely to forget to update this later or in the morning - heres the current state of play with the blanket for my Dad!

The new blanket begins

So this is the pattern

 

and heres how far I've got! (Well its wider, but its not very tall.. so I zoomed in on a bit so you could see)

Next crochet blanket

So, with the completion of the blanket for Tim, my Dads blanket is the next one up for being done. You know the saddest part? Ive forgotten which colours I meant to use in which sections (DOH!) its been so long since I had to rework the order as various colours werent available, that Ive forgotten the decisions we made..

Darn it.

After that - Im hoping to do a GKR logo on a blanket, I have a good plan, I just need to decide how big I want to make it. I could do 2m square but at the same time thats a fair bit big... It would be fairly fiddly, and difficult to make like it looks right - will need to plan that one a bit.

I also want to make me a blanket - I dont have a picture one yet, and with some recent events in my life - I think doing a few more things for me is a good plan. I kinda wanted to do one like the evil twin or the one for my Dad as I really like the pattern, but, Im fairly sure by the time I get to the end of one for Dad I will be a little fed up with the pattern.. So, it probably needs some adjustment... :)

I also have a friend Id like to make a blanket for, but they need to decide colours and patterns and stuff, I guess I need to remind them to think about it!

The handover

So, today I handed Tim his blanket, he seemed to like it - this is good, Im glad him and his family got it before he left for Aus.  Dumb me forgot to sew one of my "Made by Liz" labels on it, so I gonna pop round and do that for him tomorrow. I hope then in many years to come someone will look at the blanket and see who made it and wonder what I was like.

Day 37!!!!!!!

So. While its not arguably "Finished", the crochet is finished just ends to sew in. Ends to sew in you say? Take a look at the 3rd picture closely, you'll see its turned over and there are lots of wooly ends where I had to change colours which now need sewing in ... this can be a painfully slow and dull process but..

I FINISHED!

 

 

Day 36

Nearing the end!!