Aran afghan throw - complete

The Aran afghan throw taught me a few things.

1 - How to read a pattern (Aran afghan throw - Free pattern from JoAnns)

2 - Bobble stitch

3 - Front and back post double crochet (not a big fan yet)

4 - Creator's control of design alteration :D

I used Red Heart super saver yarns:  

3.5 skeins of Cafe Latte, 

3.5 skeins of Coffee Cafe,

3 skeins of Real Teal.  

Each skein = 7oz/198g ; 364 yards.  TOTAL yardage:  ~ 3640 yards.  WOW!  I think that's a lot, right??  (And that DOES include the fringe).

Hook size J/10 - 6mm

Non-blocked finished size:  45" x 64" (not including the fringe).

I didn't follow the pattern completely.  I started altering after the first two stripes (on left).  For the next two stripe sections, I replaced the bobbles with treble-crochet (or is it triple-crochet?) stitches.  Oh yeah...another thing I learned is that there is a different between US pattern lingo and most other places.  

I brought the bobbles back in in the middle section, but I spaced them out every 3 single crochets, and built them up more (5 yarn-overs vs 3).    And then reflective-symmetry took me back to the other side.

As a last-minute idea, I added some fringe to this afghan.  And WOWZERS....did it make a difference! 

 I was running low on the teal, so I cut the yarn and organized it into equal-sized piles.  I had enough to do one fringe with each blue strip.....

:\

Eh.....

Wasn't liking it.  NOR was I interested in going out to purchase another skein of the yarn.

So, with a little bit more of design leisure, I mixed in some coffee and tan, thinned out the teal into two sections each, and v'iola.  I much more appealing fringe outline.

SO

Yes, I already have the next project lined up :D

Breaking with a Granny Square

Over at Slugs on the Refrigerator (what a funny name, right??), a Crochet Camp is being hosted.  I didn't care to spend my time with the first project last week; it wasn't to my liking.  Plus, I also knew the basics of single crochet and all that jazz.

But week 2; we are asked to make a Granny Square.  This seems to be one of those patterns in crochet as the 4-patch is in quilting;  everyone makes at least one, and oodles more :)   

I grabbed some yarn that Cailtyn had leftover from her summer school crochet class, and had a go at the pattern.  I had been watching many youtube videos on this too, so I already had a good idea of how to work the pattern.  Her pattern had a few different steps than some I've watched, but I followed it anyway to the letter.  Cute lil' guy.

When I wasn't looking, Candace tried out the partial new afghan.  Making good headway; I'd love to be able to finish this baby up today, but that would be a VERY lofty goal.

There was a cuddle bug moment last night on the couch while watching the Avengers after an evening swim at Caitlyn's softball end-of-season party.  July 23 today.  This SERIOUSLY is the fastest summer I've ever lived through.  I think it has much todo with the fact that everything outside is "behind" in harvesting.  At this time last year, I was neck deep in beans and done with the raspberries.  Now, the beans don't even have blossoms yet, and the raspberries are reaching their first picking stage.  June was also PACKED with softball every night, making the days and weeks zoom by trying to fit everything in.

There is still lots of summer left, and once summer school is over this week, I am hoping things slow down a bit for the month of August before school starts up again.  I mean...come on!  I just found crochet and have so many patterns flying around in my head.  There will never be enough time in this life to do all of the projects I want to do.  That goes for ALL things, not just crochet!

One day at a time, I suppose.  And today....  a little pea picking; some raspberries, and ... crochet.

Happy Tuesday

"So where does this rank on your obsession scale?"

asks Paul, as I lazily crocheted away on Candace's Aron throw last night...

LOL!    DUH!

Candace's Aran throw is now half finished;  3 days in.  I've worked through 1092 yards already, using Red Heart Super Saver yarns.  I simply need to say....I don't know if I'll use this yarn again for such a big project.  It's coarse to work with.  :{  It's scratchy, and just ..... hurts....after hours on end of continue crochet.  But I still am holding faith that it'll soften after it gets washed.  Does yarn have a 'sizing' agent added to it, similar to fabric, to keep it stiffer while working with it???  

We shipped Cassie off, safe and sound.  She is SUPER DUPER DUPER excited about the week!!!!!!! I met her roommate briefly before shipping back out for the two-hour drive home.  She seems like the sweetest lil' thing!  AND, I'm patting myself on the back!  I held off the tears!!! LOL.  I felt them coming on;  NO CLUE why!  Stupid hormones we mothers need to deal with.

Alrighty.  Candace and Cailtlyn have been dropped off at summer school. Paul is off to work.   Laundry is underway.  Dishes are done.  Animals are catered to.  Garden given a walk-through.  So, I plan to sit with some more crochet for a few hours, keeping up with laundry at the same time.  Later on after summer school, the girls and I plan to pick our first batch of raspberries and make some jam, all before heading out for Caitlyn's softball end-of-season party at 6:00 tonight.

Happy Monday!

Aran throw progress and Cassie off to camp

It's a Slow Stitch Sunday over at Kathy's blog, and I'm getting some time in to the Aran throw before the day has to completely get started. 

As promised, I stopped crocheting the bobbles after the first two colors, and replaced those with triple-crochet stitches.  It makes the color bands a bit larger; growing the afghan a bit quicker, and much less frustrating.  The bobbles certainly ARE adorable, and they will return on the 'other side' as I near the finish line to keep some symmetry.  

And ohh......that Judy L!  She's been posting about yarn lately.  Being such a newbie to yarn, and already feeling the difference between the Caron Simply Soft I used in Slanted Shells and the Red Heart Super Saver yarns I'm using now, I started doing some self-educating on yarn weights and such...

At least now I know what WPI stands for!  But what still gets me..... BOTH the Simply Soft and the Super Saver yarns are "4/Medium", but they feel so different.  The Red Heart Super Saver clearly says "worsted" on the label;  the Simply Soft doesn't.  Does that mean it's a different type of 4/Medium yarn ???  The feel between the two is SO DIFFERENT.  The Super Saver feels so coarse as compared to Simply Soft.  Hm.  Am I missing something else?  Judy D (in WA) gave me some reassurance that the Red Heart will soften after I wash it.  Maybe 4/Medium yarns differ brand-to-brand just like 100% cotton differs.  You quilters know what I mean!  There are some cottons that feel soooooo lovely, and others that feel nearly like sand paper!

Anyway..... my yarn education (and Judy L) lead me to Ravelry.com.

Oh!

Dear!!!

People talk about Pinterest.  Psht!!!!!  For a newbie to yarn/crochet projects.......Oh Lordy!  Ravelry takes addictions to a whole new level!  LOL

And now that Caitlyn has had her time with the Slanted Shells, a new project is in the early stages for her.  I'm not sure if you can follow the link unless you are a Ravelry member, but here's a potential project for her:  Super Fast and Easy throw.  Gotta love that name, right??  LOL

I have another hour and half before I really have to get the day moving.  Cassie is scheduled for a week long Science and Technology camp for girls entering 7th grade.  The camp is two hours away, so we'll need to leave by 11:00 to get her to registration by 1-2PM.  She's excited!  This will be her first extended length camp away from home.

I'm hoping your Sunday is enjoyable and relaxing!

What a difference 16 days can make & yarn help!

My sister asked me what time I woke up.  

5:00AM everyday (almost) for the past three weeks.  I wake up to the alarm in order to wake up Cassie for her 6AM strawberry picking job.  I'm usually arriving back home by 6:10 to start my day.  Blogging, reading email and crocheting have been my early morning hours routine.  Love it!

And.....

It's a GORGEOUS morning out there today!  The heat has broken even more than yesterday.  So, for those of you on the East coast.....relief is coming!  62 degrees at the 5AM alarm.  The sun crested our neck of the woods around 5:45.... and I had a perfect opportunity for taking updated pictures of the garden that we all worked so diligently on yesterday.  Despite the HOT temps this past week, the rain we received a week ago, combined with the warm temps..... wonders for everything in the garden!

Garden (left) - July 4

Garden (left) - July 20

Garden (right) - July 4

Garden (right) - July 20

Paul, Caitlyn, Candace and myself spent the morning hours yesterday cleaning up everything in the garden.  In addition to the plants, the weeds also took off during this past week!

Inspired by Cassie's strawberry-picking method of pay, Paul and I came up with some "work incentive" for the other two as well.  For each row of corn they weed, they would receive $1.00.  We really aren't choosing to do so based on bribery.  There are parents who give out allowances;  we don't.  I don't think we'll ever start, either.  However, we are very open to 'paying per duty' -- and for the girls to learn a work ethic and to realize they can't simply get paid for doing nothing.  OR for doing a poor job.  Now, sure..sure..sure.  There's the argument that they will only be completing jobs with the sole purpose of earning money.  Well... is that really a bad thing?

For instance, Candace was a GO-GETTER yesterday, outweeding Caitlyn 2-to-1.  She completed 4 rows where Caitlyn only did 2.  Candace weeded her rows clean, where Caitlyn needed to go back and reweed some areas of hers.  Sure, there were tears by Caitlyn....and she may hate weeding forever because of this.  BUT, when the dough was dished out to the girls later in the afternoon, I kinda wonder if Caitlyn regretted not doing a better job, seeing Candace earning more than her.

Anyway... I know there are PROs and CONs about paying kids for working in a garden that they themselves will reap the food benefits from... but.  I'm hoping they learn the PROs of getting paid :)

And in the end, all but 3 rows of corn were weeded.  Works for me.

And they were all smiles when they could pick some early peapods...

and raspberries.

Enjoying her raspberries, Candace couldn't believe the size of some of our tomato plants already!  Almost as tall as her.  And they are growing beautifully!  All 18 in the main garden have oodles of blossoms and many tomatoes growing already.  The 14 in the upper garden are also in full bloom, but no tomatoes yet.

Sadly, we also had some bad news when walking around inspecting everything over.  The potato bugs have swarmed in in droves.  Six plants were completely infested; so infested that it would have taken oooodles of time to pick all of them off.  Therefore, Paul said to just leave them and that he would spray them once the wind was calmer.  Neither of us are big on spraying pesticides or herbicides, but he picked up an organic pesticide specific for potato bugs and we are hoping it'll do the trick.  Note: The weather calmed down nicely by 8:00 PM after our full day of garden and boating; the plants have been sprayed.

Going back to the raspberries for a moment..... OMGoodness!  The three rows we transplanted two years ago are LOADED with berries this year!!!  The four rows that were transplanted last year have some berries, but NOTHING like this.  We picked our handfuls of ripe berries.  I predict in this next week, full-swing berry picking will get underway.

Our Wisconsin grasshoppers must be in full reproduction phase too, because they were jumping all over the place in the raspberries.  I couldn't resist taking a picture, all the while thinking of Judy in TX and her monster grasshoppers!  Golly gee!  I don't know what I would do if I came across a grasshopper the size of the ones down by her.  This lil' guy pictured here could easily fit on a dime.

Other good news!  A few of Paul's tree grafts have budded nicely :)  He took a class on tree grafting earlier this spring, and as part of the class fee, students were give some rootstock and ..umm.... well, the tree-branchy-thingies that you graft onto the rootstock (I can't recall the technical term).  Four different apple tree varieties have successfully been grafted.  Yay.  It was an exciting moment to find this good fortune.

By noon, we were hanging up our garden tools for the day.  I. Was. Poooooped.  WAY more pooped than I had been in a long time.  Maybe these 11PM bedtimes and 5AM mornings finally caught up with me.  I certainly give credit to Cassie for working her long hours in the sun day-to-day!  6AM to noon most days, with some days going until 1 or 2PM in the afternoon;  all depending on how quickly the pickers reach the daily quart goal established by the owner.

By midafternoon, the girls were getting antsy and wanted to go boating.  Goofball Caitlyn here used her creativity and problem-solving skills to create some scuba gear.  She never did end up trying it out in the water.  I think she simply forgot once they all started jumping off the platform into the water, doing different twists, flips and turns.

And me...?  I crocheted.  And Paul read a magazine.

I have added the dark teal to the project.  And a silly story to tell...

This will be my first project where I'm reading off a pattern;  the other projects I've done were all created from watching videos on YouTube.

The pattern calls for making "bobbles" - little puffs of yarn.  Cute lil' things.  BUT, shortly after starting the bobble row, I started making the "err...ummm...is this right?" face.  I wasn't seeing any cute lil' puffs of yarn! :\

But I persevered...and when I went to turn the project for the next row of simple single crochets....

I saw the bobbles!!!  I didn't realize they were going to be on the other "right" side of the project and that I working on the "back" side.  Ha.  Learning loads of new stuff with this project.  This pattern is having me front and back post double-crochet, create bobbles, and to do a criss-cross as well.

HOWEVER.  This yarn....grrrr!  I certainly LOVE how easy it is to see all of my stitches, BUT, I'm not smiling very much on the bobble rows.  Having to pull through 7 loops, doing the best I can to keep the yarn loops loose...  it's just not happening all that easily.  It's not as 'flexible' as the Simply Soft by Caron I used on Slanted Shells.  And no where NEAR as soft.  Therefore, I'm changing the pattern from here on out.  No more bobbles until I get to the other side; I do like to keep some form of symmetry.   I really don't know if Candace will like snuggling with it as much as Slanted Shells if it stays this 'coarse.'   OH, and BTW, she stole Slanted Shells again to sleep with last night.  LOL.  Caitlyn has already called dibs on it for tonight.
So yeah.... knowing that this afghan may not be as soft, I am making a design call to remove the frustrations in order to keep my sanity.  I'm sure I'll try bobbles again... just not with this yarn.

Being so new to yarn, can any of you assure me that the Red Heart super saver worsted yarns will get softer over time?  After washing maybe?

Happy Saturday!

"Candace gets everything"

A new project is underway on the crochet hook -- Aran afghan throw - a free pattern courtesy of JoAnn fabrics.  It was in the running for my new project, along with Foolproof afghan and Bumpy Baby blanket.  I was leaning more towards the Bumpy Baby blanket, however when I asked Candace to help me pick out a yarn color, she couldn't decide.  In the end, she picked out three:  a dark brown, light brown (shown in picture), and a dark teal blue.  GORGEOUS colors!  So, due to the three colors, I thought the Aran pattern would work nicely switching out the colors.  And of course, Candace said..."Mom is making me a new blanket."

 

Ummmmm.........this picture taken just moments ago.  She "borrowed" the afghan from the couch last night to sleep with.  Stinker :D  As you can imagine, I'm one happy momma though.  

Today, the garden will be getting some much-needed attention.  But first, I'll spend some time with the Aran afghan before waking the house up.

Happy Friday everyone!