Keeping Up With Blossom & Buds

 Hi all -

I hope everyone is doing well! I'm out on my deck right now enjoying the beautiful weather under my new Rapid Shelter. Loving the shelter, but they were definitely right when they said that you should have two people to put it up! It wasn't easy, but I got it up by myself!! I had to get some sort of shelter because my big tree that provides shade to my deck came down in our recent storms. My deck is south-facing and gets a LOT of sunshine in the summer so you need some sort of shade in order to enjoy it. We're not expecting any big winds in the next couple of days so I should be able to leave the shelter up for a while rather than taking it down after each use. Phew! I put cinderblocks around each leg and have ordered some long straps so I can strap them to the top corner supports for more security in smaller winds. Hopefully I've covered all of my bases!

I've continued to work on my Blossom & Buds crochet blanket designed by Lindsey Newns. I've finished this week's pattern and am ready for the next part tomorrow:

Blossom & Buds

We just have two more "logs" and then some borders, so I'm guessing we'll be done in a couple of weeks. I've really liked timing of the pattern parts and am really enjoying the different stitches and the bright colors!

I've also made some more progress on my Summer Blossom Mandala designed by Rohn Strong:

Summer Blossom Mandala

It's hard to see my progress when comparing with my previous photo, but I have added five or six more rounds to the blanket. The rounds are getting longer (up to 272 stitches now), so they take a bit more time. But at least it means fewer ends to weave in! The most difficult part of this blanket for me is the pattern. It's a bit sloppy so there are some details left out. Part of that is because this pattern is meant for intermediate crocheters and some of it is just sloppiness. For example, in several places I've come across where it says to "repeat from *", but the * is missing. This type of mistake isn't a big deal, but there are others that require a bit more thought on my part to figure out what is really meant. But now that I know there are omissions and mistakes, I can figure out what I'm expected to do because I know the problem might be the pattern rather than me.

Finally, I fixed the problem with my Festival of Stitches shawl designed by Lisa Hannes:

Festival of Stitches

I figured out why I made the mistake in the first place. The pattern has you carrying the caramel yarn up the edge as you make the stripes in the first section. I assumed you would carry it up to the next section as well so assumed the pattern would continue on that side. But, instead, the designer went to the other side after the center section, expecting you to cut the yarn and restart it with this section. So I switched the order of the sections in the pattern and used the correct chart for this side so I wouldn't have to make those extra unneeded ends to weave in. So I'm back on track now!

That's all for now. I hope everyone is continuing to enjoy the spring weather!

Nancy

Blanket Progress

 Hi all - 

Spring is really here and we're really enjoying the nice weather! I mentioned last time that we visited family in Kansas City and Grace got hurt again. She got her stitches out on Tuesday and her wound is looking great! Funny thing, yesterday she got tangled in some barbed wire on our walk. She was completely fine, but the T-shirt she was wearing to protect her scab was ripped to pieces. This is funny because it seems that she can handle anything in the mountains, but as soon as she gets into the "dangers" of suburbia, she gets hurt! I think I might have to wrap her in bubble wrap on our next visit! (I did pull up all of the barbed wire and brought it home. I will put it in the trash as soon as I get a heavy duty wire cutter so I can cut it up to make sure it won't hurt the trash guy when he puts it in the truck. We walk in National Forest so it's okay for me to clean that up.) But on to the crafting....

I've continued to keep up with my Blossom & Buds crochet blanket designed by Lindsey Newns.  Last week's pattern installment had us add the tulip panels shown on the top and left sides in this photo:

Blossom & Buds

This week we are adding another couple of flower panels. I've started the first one here:

Blossom & Buds next panel

These flowers are pretty cool because they are created while crocheting the panel rather than being made separately and appliqued to the panel. There are three rows of flowers on each panel, so I have a ways to go with this week's pattern installment. But I'll still get it done before the next part of the pattern drops on Tuesday.

With the nice weather, I wanted to work on a project outside. I was having to juggle multiple balls of yarn at the same time on my currently active projects, so I took the opportunity to start yet another new project. I picked up my new kit for the Summer Blossom Mandala crochet blanket designed by Rohn Strong. This is one of the crochet blanket kits I recently purchased. Here is what I have so far:

Summer Blossom Mandala

This project has a lot of color changes, but so far always uses a single color at a time so it is perfect for working on outside! Because of all of the color changes, it also has a lot of ends to weave in. I'm weaving in all of the ends after every day or two of work to keep that chore manageable and to keep the ends from getting in the way. As the rounds get bigger, I'll be doing more work between the rounds so I won't have to keep weaving in so many ends. The yarn for this project is a 80/20 acrylic/wool mix. The wool adds a wonderful softness to the yarn and seems to reduce the splitting while I work, while still allowing the blanket to be put in the washer and dryer. I can see myself using this yarn for other blankets!

Finally, I've also made some progress on my Festival of Stitches shawl designed by Lisa Hannes. I finished the center triangle and started on one of the sides. Unfortunately, I had the center triangle pointing the wrong direction when determining which was the right side and which was the left. So, my side section is pointing in the wrong direction:

Festival of Stitches

The caramel piece on the side should be going straight out to the right instead of turning upwards, so I'll have to rip out that section and start that part again. I kept feeling like something was wrong while I was working on this section, but didn't realize until today what it was. Luckily, I didn't get really far on that section and because of the different colors of yarn I should be able to slide a needle into the side stitches of the center triangle and then easily rip out the side section stitches. But I'm saving that for another day....

Well, that's all for now.I have so many projects that I want to work on all of the time that it's hard to decide what I want to work on each day. I sure wish there were more hours in the day! But this is definitely a good problem to have!

Nancy

Started Blossom & Buds Blanket

 Hi all -

It's starting to feel like spring aournd here! The snow has melted, except a few spots where there were big piles from the roof or where the snow piles were especially large. It actually got up into the mid-60s today! How beautiful! We just got back from a week visiting the family. One of my nieces is just finishing her PA degree and had her white coat ceremony. I'm so proud of her!! In the ceremony, she was inducted into the national honor society, which requires a 3.8 GPA and being in the top 20% of your class. Did I mention how proud I am of her? The only down side to the trip was the Grace got injured again. It was the same injury as last time -- an open wound about the size of a nickel on her side. Not a big deal, but it was really hard on the dogs to not be able to play together! But we're home now and Grace is doing great and the stitches will come out next week.

Since my last post, I was able to start my Blossom & Buds crochet blanket designed by Lindsey Newns. I mentioned this blanket in my previous post. This is a free pattern that comes out in weekly installments. I've finished the first two installments:

Blossom & Buds

I have the third installment of the pattern so should get that finished this weekend, then I will get new installments each Wednesday until the blanket is finished. I'm enjoying working on this blanket and it's giving me the opportunity to try different stitches and techniques. The yarn is 100% acrylic and I have a love/hate relationship with it. Sometimes it feels soft comeing off the skein and sometimes it's a little scratchy and splitty. But it ends up feeling soft in the blanket and the blanket will be completely washable, so it's good in the end. Lion Brand yarn had a sale on kits a couple of weeks ago and I got my income tax refund, so I ordered 3 more crochet blanket kits to work on when this one is finished. They will have more stitches and techniques for me to try.

While waiting for the second installment of my crochet blanket, I also started a new knit shawl. It's the Festival of Stitches shawl designed by Lisa Hannes:

Festival of Stitches

This is going to be a really fun shawl to work on! As the name suggests, it has sections of different stitches to play with. I love shawls with stripes of color and a lot of different texture from different stitches!

I was also able to block my Filemot shawl that I shared in my previous post. I wanted to share a couple of pictures of the blocked shawl just because the blocking really opens up the stitches beautifully. Here is the full shawl:

Filemot

I decided to block the edges into points along the sides, but I could also have made those rounded. (Points were easier....) And the shawl naturally forms the curl at the end. Here is a close-up of the stitches to show the fern-like design:

Filemot close-up

The yarn, which is 80% wool, holds its shape really well after blocking!

That's all for now. I hope everyone is doing well!

Nancy