What’s on the Hook

I've had a few projects on the hook lately.  Some were frogged and discarded, other have made it on to WIP status.  Here's peek at what I've been working on:

Couch Blanket

I'm in love with this blanket.  I have tried three or four different variations, frogging it each time.  Now it's about half way done and I really like it! I'm hoping the rest goes quickly because I have a great idea for the border to work up.

Baby Blanket

This is such a sweet blanket.  The hearts make it perfect for a little newborn - wrapped in love.  You can find the pattern here and here.  The second link is the original pattern, and the first is a re-write of the pattern that I found easier to follow. I can't wait for this one to be wrapped around a little one!

New Soap Savers

I've been hard at work designing new products for the holidays! These are the first off the hook.  A bit smaller, more compact, and with tighter stitches.  I found that the old soap saver bags stretched a bit, so I'm hoping these won't as much. So far my tester is working beautifully! Once I have these all made and I'm satisfied with them, I'll be putting the other ones on sale, so watch my Etsy shop for those!

Pillows

I've been making these sweet little 12" pillows to sell.  They are the perfect accent pillow, and I've been making them with chunky yarn so they work up quickly.  This one will be another 12" one made with the scraps from the other three.   You can find the other pillows in my Etsy shop!

Color Me Lately

Lately I've been trying valiantly to reduce the number of works in progress I have sitting around the coffee table.  It started as a need to clean up the living room [my craft room is under siege at the moment by spare furniture from the bedroom. Anyone want a box spring?] and that blossomed into a need to clean out my work baskets. But I'm pleased to say that this has resulted in several new items going up in the shop, and some beautiful new works are being created [because of course I hated what I had started on months ago!].

Here's a peak at what's on the hook lately:

New Wedding Blanket

This is one that I have started over three times now. Nothing seemed to fit! Finally I stumbled upon a project I had started with this stitch, tried it out with these colors, and now I'm in love.

New Baby Blanket

This one isn't planned for anyone.  It's mostly a way to work on this new stitch, and so far I'm....eh about it.  I like the stitch and I like the color, but I'm not sure a whole blanket will work well.

New Pillow #1

I really like this one! Aside from some frustrations with miscounting every few rows, I really like this stitch pattern. It's made from my big store of scrap yarn, and I'm loving the color combos.

New Pillow #2

These squares were originally going to be a huge blanket for our bed, but I got bored. So I'm giving them new life as a pillow and I really like the way it's turning out! I'm excited to finish it up and get it all put together!

On Frogging

Oh frogging. There is something exhilarating about frogging a project and starting it over.  So soothing to be able to start it all over, get a fresh start. But let me explain.

What is frogging?

Frogging is the act of ripping out a project (get it? rip it rip it. ) and starting it again. Often this happens if I find a mistake in it somewhere, or if I want to change some part of it. Rarely do I rip out the whole project and start it again. Especially when the deadline is a month away!

But this time, I did.

Remember this hexagon blanket?

I liked it when I started it, but as I got to the point of putting it all together, it just didn't work. I tried to keep going on it, keep sticking to the vision I had at the start, but it just sat there in a corner. I didn't want to work on it at all. I would pick it up, do a hexagon, and then put it down again for a week. I realized that I was just trying to get it finished as quickly as possible. Not the way I wanted this project to go!

So I frogged it. Ripped out the whole thing. And  now it's becoming a new design that I like so much better!

The blocks are big, so the whole thing won't take too long to put together, meaning that I will be able to finish the blanket on time. And it will be easy to connect since it's all squares - no hexagons!

I'm now energized about the project - wanting to pick it up at all hours, not wanting to put it down again. I love this feeling! I can't wait for this project to be done to be able to see it all together.

On the Hook

As I shared last week, I've been pretty busy lately! But thankfully, the craziness has slowed down a bit, and I am able to get back to hooking up things I love! Here's a look at what's on my hook this week:

The first of this year's wedding blankets! I love the pattern I created for these hexies and the way the colors work together.

And because I can't just work on one project at a time, here's another!

Catching up on a crochet a day project! This started as a part of the crochet mood blanket, but quickly became just trying to do one square a day.  I'm only 60 some squares behind?

What's on your hook?

Cuddling Under Blankets

The eastern bit of the US has had a good bit of winter storms lately.  Although, in Virginia, we've had less snow than the rest but got a good helping of polar vortex to go with it.  It makes it really difficult to go to work when you have to bundle up in every layer possible just to walk to the bus! If only teleporting was invented yet... The good news is that I've had a lot of time to work on some crochet projects!

My crochet mood blanket is coming along nicely.  30 squares really makes it seem like a blanket and less like a bunch of squares stitched together! I'm really loving how the colors are coming together on that one.

The blanket for the guest room is also coming along.  This one I do in spurts because it's hard to keep my attention on just the two colors, over and over.  But I love the feel and weight of it.

My family came to visit this last weekend, and it made me realize how few blankets I actually had in the house! So I started on a new diagonal blanket, using up some of my medium weight yarn. I love the colors and how they seem to come together.

I've been working on the Moogly crochet along - my first square came out well, but the second one is a bit...ripple-y.  I think I have a few extra stitches in there that will require some puzzling out.  I've learned through this crochet along that I make really small, tight stitches! I've had to add a few rows to each just to make them come out the right size.

Finally, I've had time to work on items for my Etsy shop! I have some new soap saver bags and a few new face scrubbers to get photographed and written up for the shop.  I love how quickly these all work up - the only downside is then having to wait for the right light to photograph them!

Have you been working on anything new because of the weather?

New Projects!

I re-discovered how much I love to make blankets! I know, I know. I make a lot of blankets.  But I realized that I have never really made one for me! So I started thinking about what to make for me.  I decided to make a blanket for the guest bedroom.  It has really pretty red and white curtains, so I picked similar shades and got to work!

I love the colors.  At first, I was just going to leave them white-edged, but I really love the red around the outside. Especially, once they all got put together:

What new projects are you starting the new year off with?