Bed of Roses Blanket... *Still* a Work in Progress

In the midst of all my obsessive love over the Sunburst Granny Blanket, I thought I'd revisit the never-forgotten, never-finished, never-ending Bed of Roses Blanket. I started this back in September and my hopes were that I'd finish it up by Christmas as a triumphant "Happy Christmas to ME!" present. But, no. I'm now going to consider it a miracle if this blanket is done before my birthday (the end of May, if you're curious. Don't bother with presents, money or cards: just send yarn). And honestly, I'll be delighted if it's done within a year of it's original start date. 

Honestly, I don't have that much left to go...

I can whole heartedly recommend this yarn.... for other projects. I just didn't realize what I was getting into with this blanket. It's extremely silky and luxurious, which is pretty much exactly what I'm going for. But not exactly easy to work with, so almost not worth the trouble. Almost. :) 

Yes, that's a tool box being used as a dresser. And yes, that's a nerf gun on top.
We're either super cool or super lame.
I haven't decided yet.

You can read up on the Bed of Roses origins right HERE and also my poor attempts to stay focused on it HERE. Sadly, the entire second post was about me not paying attention to this beautiful-but-boring (yeah, I said it) blankie.  And what happened after that? The Not-That-Ugly Stash Bustin' Blankie. The Baby Blanket. The Berry Beautiful Blanket. And those are just the blankets. There's a whole list of good stuff tagged under "Finished" but I'm leaving off there.

As of Today, the stats of the blanket go something like this:

There are 8 squares across and I'm 2 squares into the 6th row. I have all of my flowers made for that row, I just have to turn them into squares and join-as-I-go. It's my intention to make this blanket 8 squares across and 8 rows deep, but we'll see. I may poop out at 7 rows deep (likely) and throw a border on it. I have a tendency to see a glimmer of hope at the end and say "good enough!" and then I'm done.

...like this blog post.

Good enough!!

***

www.purplechaircrochet.etsy.com

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Wanna See?? (WIP)

Part of the reason my blog posts have been lacking is due to the fact that my WIPs (Work In Progress) are all orders for Christmas gifts. I don't actually know *who*, for sure, is reading my blog consistently (well, some I know, -- Hi Granma! Love you!), so I just avoid putting any pictures up of commissioned-for-Christmas orders. All these orders have kept me B-u-S-y! which is an awesome thing, but not for the ol' blog. 

So, I'm pleased to show you an excessive amount of pictures (15, so you don't have to count) of my current WIP. This is a baby blanket commissioned by my cousin for her baby-girl, due technically any day but expected at the end of this month. It's inspired from my Bed of Roses blanket, but I'm alternating Granny Squares in to add some more...

COLOR! 

Is this yarn familiar? ;)

Found this old metal strainer at the Goodwill for $2. It's the perfect width and depth for fruit, so that's what were *were* using it for. But when I started this blanket last night I realized I needed it for my yarn. Now I have no place for my apples, avocado, banana and tangerines. But, it's all done in the name of Crochet. 

Using the Join-As-You-Go method, check out a great tutorial by Attic24

Yum. 

Can't wait to show off the FINISHED BLANKET!

Hope you all have a fantastic day!!

Crochet ADD (WIP)

The other day I was reading an interview with Etsy's featured seller: Roots and Feathers when I saw this picture:

Image courtesy of rootsandfeathers

Okay, so I actually saw the picture first *then* read the interview (I scan the pictures first to judge if it's something I want to read). Aside from l.o.v.i.n.g her style, I really started coveting that perfect little granny-square throw draped over her chair. Gorgeous! And, being me, I started to mentally calculate how much yarn I'd need and whether I should use cotton or wool.

But, NO!
I cut the musings short, I fought the temptation to be excessive. I already *have* a blanket project.

Remember this one? It's my "Bed of Roses" blankie. It's growing and growing....

...and looking gorgeous on my bed.

I've made some tweaks to the size. 8 squares wide and 11 deep. I've also finished up a skein of each color and can now tell you that 1 skein of my red goes toward 11 roses, and 1 skein of my silver goes toward 16 squares.

In short: I'm going to need more yarn. Oh, drat. ;)

Like my stash basket? Me too. Here's the free pattern, available from the Purl bee.
I love their website, gorgeous colors!

I love my rosie blanket. And I'm trying to remind myself of that when faced with temptation to put it on hold (ie, ditch it) to make a different blanket that I'll likely end up ditching. I must break the Crochet-ADD cycle!

Focus!

Blah!

A Bed of Roses (WIP)

Today, I have no beautiful Etsy crochet to show you. Sorry. I promise I'll have something adorable tomorrow and it includes a poll which is always fun.

I just had to share something of my own making this time. And it's not a new pattern for my shop. This is something just for me. A Christmas gift to myself....

It is...a... 

BEAUtiful blanket!! Or, well, 2 squares of what will become a beautiful blanket!

I'm very, Very excited about the colors! All two of them, haha :) The yarn of choice is Naturally Caron's Claret (for the red) and Misty Taupe for the grey (it's more silver than Caron's website shows).

I think I'm going to need 7 or 8 skeins, if I did my math right. More on the numbers in a moment though.

This lovely afghan will be done in the join-as-you-go method. This was my first ever attempt and I'm kicking myself for not ever trying it before. Prior to this I'd been slip-stitching my sides together across (urg) and from this point on I'll never be doing that again!!

Doesn't that look wonderful? Initially I though the gaps would be a problem, until I realized that A) a granny square is covered in gaps B) the slip stitch holds it together snugly so it's only visible if you're playing tug-of-war with the thing and C) is an acceptable trade-off for the ease, joy and quickness of using the method.

So, the numbers...
I want my blanket to be 50"x50". Each square is 4.5" across (using a 5.5mm hook), so I'll need 11 rows down and across plus a simple not-yet-decided-on border. That's 121 squares. At half an hour per square (when my kids are awake that is about 60 hours of crochet time. Marvelous.

As for how much yarn I'll need, I'm pretty terrible at this calculation. I have my trusty Yarn Requirements pamphlet and (to spare you the arithmetic) the final number my calculator showed was 7, as in 7-skeins-of-yarn. I bought 5 : 3 taupe and 2 claret, so Oh Darn, I need to buy more yarn. An extra skein of each. Or maybe...2 just to be on the safe side? I do need to create a border... maybe 2 taupe and 1 claret...? I'm so terrible at this game.

I'll be sure to continue to show it coming along. My goal is to have it done by Christmas. A nice, repetitive,  gorgeous Work in Progress!!

(Will the pattern be available in my Etsy shop? Umm, perhaps. If The People demand it. To be determined...)