Creative Explorations

Finished Blanket :)

2009-09-30T20:04:00.003-04:00

I am surprised that I never posted about this blanket yet, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised since I never really posted much about anything.

Anyway, this blanket has been in the making for over two years! It is one of those projects that I would pick up, work on a large chunk of it, and then put it away for several months before taking it back out to work on again.

I finally finally finished it a few weeks ago while on a little vacation with my bf.
Here he is sleeping under it when it was almost-finished:

This blanket had an interesting beginning. Once upon a time, it didn't start out as a blanket. I crocheted a skirt in a similar fashion with lots and lots of stripes. Then I crocheted a belt for the skirt. The problem was that the belt was way too big and thick and bulky to actually be worn. So then it decided to become a blanket instead.

The blanket is made entirely of individual rows of acrylic yarn, with a size K hook. Some colors of yarn have only one row in the entire blanket, other colors are repeated over and over again.

Originally I was supposed to use up some of my acrylic-yarn stash, but I'm fairly sure that after buying a bunch more yarn for this blanket I now have more yarn than I started with. Oh darn, guess I will have to make more things.

Hello Again

2009-09-27T00:41:00.003-04:00

Wow, it has been quite a long while since I posted here. That is a little sad, actually. The absence doesn't mean I haven't been playing with yarn, though! I may make a few separate posts about things to break it up a little. (although I think there are only two main projects that I really want to post.

Recently I have been feeling very much re-inspired to work on my projects, and to start new things, but unfortunately this coincides with the start of my classes for the semester, and classes and homework must take precedence.

First up: Here is a little giraffe I crocheted as a birthday present for my bf Chris. His birthday is in May, so this is an old project, but definitely one that should have been posted here!

He looked pretty funny with only one horn on his head, so I took a picture:

I also took some pictures of the finished giraffe of course:

His little mohawk was my favorite part to make:

I found the pattern for him via Ravelry. It is here: http://www.coatsandclark.com/Crafts/Crochet/Projects/BabyChild/WR1729+Little+Crochet+Giraffe.htm I made mine with Lion Brand Vanna's Choice yarns.

Ambitious much?

2009-01-18T14:14:00.002-05:00

I currently have several projects I am in the middle of, including two afghans. The first of which I started probably two or more years ago but have taken several long hiatuses from. The second I started last spring and it is very close to being done. :)

Anyway instead of working on either of these afghans or any of my numerous other WIPs, I am browsing knitting and crochet patterns online. In particular I am looking at afghan patterns. I think I can restrain myself from starting any new afghans until at least the granny square one is finished, though.

An abundance of scarves

2009-01-01T23:04:00.003-05:00

Picture-heavy post to make up for my absence?

I have knit several scarves recently. Three for Christmas presents, and one for Tim which I started a while ago and finished at some point in early November, I think.

Tim's scarf:

Angel Hair yarn, size 15 needles, chunky rib of p3, k4, p3, k4, etc.
For the most part I am happy with this scarf, although the way I bound off makes it kind of flare at one end, which bugs me. However, Tim told me I couldn't take it back from him to "fix" that, so I guess it is just a part of the scarf's personality.

Sherri's scarf:

Jo-Ann Sensations Rainbow Boucle yarn, crocheted, size J hook, worked lengthwise with lots and lots of increases, on both sides of the chain (worked around it rather than going back and forth.)
This scarf is perfect for Sherri and I like it because she loves it, but it's not a style I would make for myself!

Amanda's scarf:

Jo-Ann Sensations Rainbow Classic yarn, size 10 1/2 needles, garter stitch with some patterning: occasional rows of purling instead of knitting, and occasional rows of yarn overs after every stitch, which were all dropped on the next row.
I think this is my favorite of the four scarves, although I kind of wish I had made it just a bit longer.

Brooke's scarf:

Acrylic yarn, granny squares, alternating rainbow on the outside with black on the outside.
This scarf was inspired by the blanket I am making. I was sewing together the squares for that and had a strip of them sewn together, and my sister stole it and started wearing it as a scarf. :)

Because cooking is art, too

2008-10-13T21:50:00.006-04:00

It's been a month since I last wrote in here. Clearly I lack the discipline of "real" bloggers.

My voodoo doll is nearly done, and I hope to send it out by the end of this week. (The goal is to get it to my partner by Halloween.)

Last weekend Tim and I went apple picking, and tonight I baked a delicious apple pie with some of the apples.

I picked mostly Cortland, because that is what my mother always picked when we went apple picking, and what she used for pies, etc.

This weekend I was visiting Tim and I cooked an apple crisp. My pie tonight is basically the same thing, but with a crust.

I love that I made the whole thing from scratch and without even looking at a recipe. That is my favorite kind of cooking.

The filling is a mixture of sliced apples (with the peels left on), sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.

I chose to make only a 'bottom' crust, and instead of leaving it pie shaped I tucked it up around the top, creating kind of a lumpy bulbous shape. It didn't cover the apples entirely, so I also made a crumb topping to fill in the hole on top. (brown sugar, butter, flour, cinnamon, and oats)

Unfortunately, none of my camera batteries are charged, so I only have this blurry cellphone pic to share with you:

I will try to remember to get some better photos of the partially-eaten pie tomorrow when I get home from work and my batteries are all charged and everything.

I also am planning to try to write more often, too. I definitely will make a post (with photos!) when the voodoo doll is finished. And I still need to take and post some photos of Tim's scarf (which is also close to done.)

Squares, squares, everywhere

2008-09-13T07:28:00.003-04:00

In May I started my job at the daycare. I don't drive, so it was a bus ride to and from work every day. Somtime in late may or early June I started a bus project. Granny squares.

The basic granny square is so simple and easy, yet there is so much you can do with it! Variations on the colors you are using, plus sooo many variations on how you can make it. (Some of them much less simple.) And they can also be put together to make anything from afghans and scarves to bags and hats and sweaters. I am making an afghan.

I love the book "200 Crochet Blocks" by Jan Eaton - it has some really neat varieties of squares, in all levels of difficulty.

But, anyway... These squares that I am making are all the basic granny square design, using a variety of colors.

I chose granny squares mostly for their portability. You only need to bring one ball of yarn and your crochet hook and you're ready to go... No lugging around the entire afghan. It's a project that can fit right in your purse and go anywhere with you. Ideal for something you're carrying on the bus every day.
At night I empty the completed squares into a bag in my apartment, switch out the balls of yarn in my bag, and I'm ready to go for the next day.

I'm up to about 160 squares, which is probably about a third of the total I plan to make for this blanket. (I want a big snuggly blanket!!) And I've lost my crochet hook. It is an "I" hook, which is not one I usually use, and... I only had one of them. So until I get a chance to go buy a new one I am unable to keep making squares. At this rate the blanket won't be ready until next summer!

Voodoo Challenge

2008-09-07T08:44:00.001-04:00

Long ago I joined a site called Ravelry. If this were a real blog with other knitters as readers I wouldn't have to explain what Ravelry is, buuut...
Ravelry is basically an online community for knitters and crocheters. You get to make a profile, and you can post any knitting or crocheting projects you are working on or have finished or think that maybe someday in twenty years you might possibly get started on. You can post all kinds of photos of your projects. You can keep track of your yarn stash, and what sizes of knitting needles and crochet hooks you own. Etc., etc. You can look at other peoples profiles and send them messages and comment on their projects and mark there projects as something you might make some day.
And there are groups. There are any kind of knitting and crocheting groups you can imagine, and if you can't find a group for something, you can make it.
I am in a group called Silly String and one of the things the creator of this group does is to post crocheting challenges. This basically involves her posting some theme or idea or item or whatever, and anyone who wants can join in and use this theme to inspire their own creativity. The current one, and the first that I've joined, is a swap-challenge which means that on top of the original theme you are assigned a partner. Your partner tells you some element or color or other trait that further defines the challenge for you, and you then use this to create the object. At the end, you send this customized creation to your partner.

So, the challenge that I have just joined is a Halloween challenge (we are supposed to aim to get the finished item to our partner by Halloween.)
Voodoo dolls. That is the basic challenge, and then we were asked to each describe an element that we would like included in our voodoo doll to personalize it.

The person I am partnered with requested that I include a pencil - either within the doll, or somehow incorporated into the outside of the doll, in order to help her unblock her creativity for drawing. :)
I am very excited about this challenge and I think it is going to be a lot of fun.

I have been browsing photos of traditional voodoo dolls, and they all seem so rough and coarse and just... make-shift. Made of a lot of found objects, and not very realistic.... I think I am going to crochet the main body of the doll with some kind of twine or hemp string or something. This would maintain the roughness of the idea... A voodoo doll ought not be cute and cuddly. Especially not a Halloween voodoo doll! The rough twine would certainly banish any opportunity of it accidentally becoming cuddly. The face will take some fiddling, I think. I will most likely use buttons of some sort for eyes.
I'm all about the buttons.

Hello!

2008-09-07T00:23:00.000-04:00

Welcome to my new blog!! I am new to blogging, and slightly intimidated by it, but I think this will be a good opportunity for me to challenge myself and keep myself on track with my artwork and creativity. I have a tendency to get distracted.

It is late, and this is basically just a hello post and an opportunity for me to see how things will look on the blog and make it easier to fiddle with looks, so I won't actually go into any real blogging with this post, but.... hi!