Annie's Lace Afghan (a Mary Maxim Exclusive Pattern)

This is the afghan when I had gotten about 3/4 of the way done.

This is how it looked after I had to rip most of it out because there was a mistake that was affecting the entire piece.

May 9, 2013

This is a pattern from a kit I originally purchased from Mary Maxim.  http://www.marymaxim.com/annie-s-lace-throw-2.html

I made one in the yarn that came with the kit which was Mary Maxim Starlette yarn in Coral.  You could choose the color of the yarn from all the colors available for Starlette yarn.  Since I had several Caron One Pound skeins of a color called Claret, I decided to make another since I now had the pattern.   I had gotten about 3/4 of the way through the pattern when I started to notice that the ends were not right.  What you do in this pattern is, once the center motif is done (bottom photo) you make 4 corner sections so now it is more square.  Then on opposing sides, you add several more rows and now the piece becomes rectangular.  That's where I had the problem.  It somehow looked like the stitches were shrinking as if I had a decrease somewhere.  I couldn't figure out what I had done but there was no way to fix it unless I just ripped it out to a certain point and started again.

This is a pattern that may have won a contest for Mary Maxim and sometimes people who write these patterns leave out things that some of us may need, like how many stitches you should have after completing a certain section.  When I made the first afghan, I wrote those numbers in myself but not everywhere.  There is a lot of counting that needs to be done while working on this pattern but I like it so much, I'm going to give it another go.  I'll post more later.

This is how the center looked after I added the 4 corners.

May 13, 2013

 

This is how the afghan looks now after I added the end panels.  It is now rectangular and I'm working on the edging that goes around the entire afghan.  It is still a bit ripply after I had to make some tweaks to the pattern.  I didn't have as much of a problem with the first one I made when I got the kit and the Mary Maxim Starlette yarn.  Since I am working with Caron One Pound yarn, it is a bit stiffer and doesn't seem to have as much "give" to it and that may be the reason I've been having problems.  I will probably end up blocking this one.

Here's a different view of the afghan.

May 17, 2013

Finished this afghan last night.  It's finished size is 64" long x 48" wide.  Came out a bit bigger than the last one I made but I think that's because I used a different yarn.  Both are #4 worsted weight yarns but the first afghan I made with the kit was made with Mary Maxim Starlette yarn.  This was made with Caron One Pound yarn in Claret.  I think I used a total of 3 skeins for a total of 48 ounces or 2,436 yards.

 

 

Honeydew Knit Afghan

MAY 9, 2013

Here is my latest finished project.  It is a knitted afghan done using 2 strands of yarn together and using a #13 circular knitting needle.  I used Red Heart Super Saver yarn in the color Honeydew.  I used a total of 6 skeins (7oz/364 yds) each.  The pattern came from an old Bernat pattern book from 1968 that I bought off eBay.  It was called A Bouquet of Bernat Afghans to knit and crochet in beautiful "Berella"  Book 160.  It was pattern #2135-160.

The pattern called for a border done in a crochet shell pattern which I didn't think would look right so I just did the first row as 1sc in each stitch around, working 3 sc in each corner.  Then, for the 2nd round, I did a reverse single crochet (or rolled border).  The border came out a bit "wavy" so I'll have to steam it or, if I have to, rip the border and redo with less stitches.  The pattern does not state how many stitches you need to go around on the 1st round so I may have too many, thus the wavy look.  My finished afghan size is 46" x 54".

New Simply Soft Party

April 11, 2013

Just entered to win 3 skeins of Caron Simply Soft Party in Black.  I know Simply Soft is a very soft yarn but the added sparkle would make a lovely shawl for evening.  Please enter and see if you can win.

http://www.allfreecrochetafghanpatterns.com/sweeps/Caron-Simply-Soft-Party-Yarn-Black-Sparkle-Giveaway

Ocean Waves Afghan Challenge

April 1, 2013

Started the Ocean Waves April Afghan Challenge sponsored by the Crochet Crowd on Facebook and at http://www.thecrochetcrowd.com/home.html

The afghan is a free download from Red Heart Yarns.  I'm doing the size to make a bedspread for a full/double size bed.  I have until May 15 to finish in order to be entered into the random drawing for a bag of goodies from Red Heart Yarns so, I better get a move up.  I'll update as I am able to.

April 14, 2013

Just finished the 5th pattern repeat, only 7 more to go.  This is so big, it's becoming difficult to handle.  Should be large enough for my full/double bed.

April 16, 2013

Well, I am half way through this challenge.  60 rows down and 60 more to go.  Right now, afghan/bedspread measures 49" from top to bottom and 89" from side to side, which includes an overhang of about 17 1/2" on each side.  I need to make a total of 120 rows of this pattern but, if I have enough yarn, will add more for extra length.  I have 21 waves going across.

April 28, 2013

Finished my bedspread today.  Final measurements for the Full/Double size is 89" wide x 99" long.  Used 4 skeins each of 5 different colors of Red Heart Super Saver yarn.  Think it turned out great but would think twice about doing another one of these or something even larger.  It's too difficult to turn after each row.

New Bucket List Project-Circles inside of Squares

 April 6, 2013

 I saw this blanket on several Facebook pages and found a tutorial on how to make the circle within the square.  This is so colorful but I'm sure you really must stay with the white background for the best look.  I'm working on an Ocean Waves Afghan Challenge for The Crochet Crowd right now so this would have to be on the back burner for right now.  I also read that you need 15 skeins of white yarn but not familiar with the yarn that was being used so I don't know how that translates to yards.  And that's just the white, there are all these other colors and the creator states that she uses 3 shades of each color so that translates to a lot of yarn.

I needed to add these photos to remind myself how to put this together if and why I try to make this.  It also helps to figure out how many colors I would need.



http://madebydo.blogspot.nl/2013/02/large-circles-in-square-tutorial.html

Starburst Baby Blanket

March 26, 2013

Made this Starburst Baby Blanket over the weekend using leftover yarn.  I used I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby in Linen for the center and Grape for the edging.  The nice part is you can make this any size you want.  I found the pattern at:  http://www.creativejewishmom.com/2012/11/crocheted-starburst-baby-blanket.html

Lovely Lace in Aquamarine

This pattern is from a Leisure Arts book #3695 called Crochet Heirloom Afghans.

March 21, 2013

This is my next project which I started last night.  It's called Lovely Lace and it's a pattern from an old Leisure Arts pattern book.  It will be an adult-sized afghan that will make a beautiful gift for any mom on Mother's Day.  It is a simple pattern with a 2 row repeat but a very lacy edging.  I am using Herrschner's Worsted 8 yarn in the color Aquamarine.

April 6, 2013

Well, I don't know what happened here but after reaching a length of 46" and beginning to start the border, I happened to fold this piece in half and saw that it was running to one side.  I counted correctly and had the correct number of shells worked on every for but cannot figure out for the life of me what went wrong.  This has never happened before so, since there was really no way to fix it, I had to rip out 42" until I'm back to what I started with in the above photo.  Just couldn't leave it like this.  I'm putting this away as I work on my Ocean Waves Afghan challenge.