Crafting for a Cause

Until about two weeks ago, I'd never crocheted for charity before, but I came across a post on reddit that just broke my heart and I felt compelled to help out the person who posted. Her friend's mom was recently diagnosed with cancer for the fourth time. To try and give her some strength and love, the poster, u/tryingforadinosaur, asked the r/crochet community to send her granny squares so that she can make a blanket for her friend's mom.

Since I got all of Sharon's yarn stash in December, I haven't really known what to do with most of the yarn since there's only one or two skeins of each color. This project was perfect, though, because I didn't need much yarn for each square and it allowed me to destash some in the process.

In all honestly, I intended to take pictures of all the finished squares before I packaged them and sent them off to Utah, but somehow I forgot and here we are. My best guess is that I sent something like twenty or more squares off to u/tryingforadinosaur and I'm really proud of myself for being involved with this project. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's not like I'm pounding my chest and yelling about it from the mountain tops, but I do feel good about the entire thing and I really hope that she gets enough squares to make her friend's blanket. It'd be great if she could send us pictures of it when she gets done, but I'm not sure that that will happen and thusly I'm not getting my hopes up. Either way, all is well and I was glad to be a part of the process.

The Scrapghan is Making a Come Back!

I started going back to my knit and crochet group about a month ago and since then I've been crocheting nearly everyday (meaning that my cross stitches and cards have taken a back seat, but whatever.)

As a result of all this crocheting, I've been going through a lot of the scrap yarn that was given to me by a coworker before she retired. Truth be told, I'm still trying to get through it all to untangle and organize it, but I'm most of the way done and I've been crocheting up granny squares and granny's daughter squares (GDs) like a fiend. The extra scraps that are six inches long or more but aren't long enough to become GDs are then put into my scrap yarn container to be tied together later and added to my super scrapghan.

This is what the balls look like when I have enough to wind together and add to my blanket. I intentionally leave the knot tails wild so that they stick out all over the place as I crochet. The effect is pretty cool and I love the fact that this blanket will truly be one of a kind. The yarn has come from previous projects and friends and there's tons of memories interwoven with the yarn.

Off and on, I've been working on my scrapghan since January 2012. The project gets worked on when I'm actively crocheting, but until recently I haven't really been working on projects. With me going back to Sassy Stitchers, though, progress is imminent on this project. This last ball that I added made the blanket at least four inches longer and I'm over half way done with the entire thing, so I'm pretty happy with it all. Now if I can just get all my UFOs done and make space in my craft area for different things other than yarn, I will be very, very happy.

Link to my Scrapghan project entry on Ravelry

SO's Blanket: Complete!

As you may know, SO and I have been together for over five years. When we first started dating, I was only a crocheter and spent countless hours on his couch crocheting blankets for others. When I finally got around to starting his blanket around Thanksgiving 2011, I think the blanket went through four froggings and a plethora of pattern ideas before I finally settled on just a simple giant granny square like the one I had been working on for myself.

It's funny because I distinctly remember dragging this blanket around with me on a regular basis for the first few months that I worked on it and once it got too big, my progress on it really began to come to a standstill because I was rarely home between work and school. In total it took me almost four years to get SO's Blanket done, but he absolutely loves it, so it was worth all the time, all the yarn (almost four miles of it!), all the carpal tunnel issues were worth it. It now lovingly lives on SO's Queen Size bed as shown below and I just got word that he "had the best night's rest he's had in months" because of it!

Pattern: 10,000 Memories Afghan

10,000 Memories

Pattern by Bob Crochets

Materials Required

• Crochet Hook (I use a 4.0mm G Hook)

• Yarn for motifs (<2m per motif)

• Yarn for joining and border

Motif Instructions
If you are familiar with granny squares, this is just a one-round version--very simple. Ch 5, sl st tog. Ch 3 (this counts as your first dc), in loop 2dc, ch 2, *3 dc, ch 2* 3 times. Join at top of Ch 3. Weave in ends.

A whole lot of motifs ready to be joined.

Joining Your Afghan
A few notes before starting:

• I find it quite helpful to look at each square as having four sides of a "1-3-1 pattern." There's 1 chain, 3 double crochets, and 1 more chain on each side of the motif.

• You'll be joining this blanket in a step pattern from right to left as you move upward. I find that it helps to keep this in mind as you read through the directions and join your work.

Step One
Take two motifs, right sides facing eachother. Put hook through both loops of motifs' first chain stitches in the 1-3-1 pattern [Image 1]. Attach joining color [Image 2].

Image 1: Hook in first two loops of motifs.

Image 2: Attach joining color to motifs.

Step Two
Slip stitch  in first chain space of 1-3-1 pattern. (When starting a new row, this will be the same stitch where you attach your joining color to your work.)

Step Three
In back loops only, slip stitch in the side's three double crochets [Image 3].

Image 3: Hook in back loops of DC only.

Image 3: Hook in back loops of DC only.

Step Four 
In both loops of next Ch 1 stitch, slip stitch [Image 4].

Image 4: Hook in both loops of chain stitch.

Step Five
Pick up another motif and place it right-side facing down/in where the next "step" of the stairs should be [Image 5]. To join, repeat Steps 1-4 [Image 6].

Image 5: Placement of next motif.

Image 6: Step One demonstrated on next motif.

Step Six
Repeat Steps 1-5 until you reach the end of the row. You will be joining up the right side of a square, then across the top of it, then up the right side of the next square, and then over the top of it, always moving from bottom right to top left until you reach the end of the row. You'll be performing Steps 2-5 twice for each square--once going up and once going across--except for when you join to the first and last squares of each row. See Step Nine for more detailed photographs.

Step Seven
When you reach the end of a row, chain 1, cut joining color, and pull end through loop [Image 7].

Image 7: Chain 1 before cutting and pulling joining color through.

Step Eight
Optional: I like to begin crocheting my borders as I go. I find that it helps me manage all the yarn tails and allows me for the blanket to have much more strength as I work. If you decide to do this, single crochet up the straight (left) side of the blanket--five stitches per square--as you work each row. This process goes slowly, but I find it to be quite worthwhile.

Step Nine
Repeat Steps 1-8 until your blanket has reached your desired length. You will have a staircase of stairs instead of a square afghan. To square everything off, continue adding rows to the afghan via Steps 1-8, but make sure to start on top of the previous row's rightmost square instead of to its right. Also make sure to only crochet up to the desired height of your afghan or it will keep getting taller. See photographs below for additional information.

Front Side of afghan before "squaring up."

Back Side of afghan before "squaring up."

Close-up image of afghan's back side. It has an amazing texture!

Squaring Off Your Afghan
Below you will find more information about squaring off and completing your afghan. Each image below will walk you through the process, but if you need further information, please ask!

Placement of all squares before "squaring off":

 

Step 4 on third row, second square of afghan as you join over the top of last row's squares.

Step 2 on third row, second square of afghan as you join over the left-hand side of your square.

Step 1 on "Row 4," square one. Note that this row begins the "squaring off" process by starting on the top of the last row completed instead of to the right.

A finished piece that has been completely squared and tied off.

Step Ten
If you did not follow Step Eight, single crochet around the afghan. Add desired edging and you're done! (I prefer to use a simple double crochet border as shown below, but there are a lot of edging options that would look nice.)

Finished piece with a single crochet border.

My preferred edging method, as noted above.

Contact Information
If you have any questions about this pattern, find errors, or would simply like to contact me, please feel free to leave a comment below.

Crochet the Month Away: March Recap

Poor BCCD has taken a hit since last year. I'm behind on everything and I won't lie, I'm feeling pretty guilty about it. I graduate from Uni on May 16th and true to form, I have turned my life over to crafting in order to cope with all the stress.

I have always upheld my belief that I can juggle and be good at only three things at a time. Right now, I'm juggling work, school, crafting, half marathon training, and now graduation party planning. We're entering the "group project" phase of the semester next week, too. I don't know how I'm going to cope, but I seriously look forward to being a full-time employee again instead of a student, and employee, and a consistently nervous wreck.

Luckily, my work campus had last week off and this week my Uni is on break, so I have intentions of getting BCCD up to date as much as possible. (My current list of drafts is over 30 posts.) Even if I'm still behind, I'll be able to share progress on work's like Home Sweet Home Yoshi, SO's Blanket (which I will be finishing today) and my 10,000 Memories afghan which has been on hiatus for the last year or so. There's been a lot going on, and I can't wait to share it with you!

Hope that your March was as wonderful as mine!

Yarn Destashing Project: Potholders & Bags

I was all ready and excited to write about this great market bag I'd made over the course of the last few days in July, but last night I decided to rip the entire bag apart and start again because I was really unhappy with how it ended up turning out. Here's what my desk looked like last night after all of the carnage. I didn't even bother rewinding all the yarn back onto the spool. There was just a pile of yarn barf all over my desk.

  

As for the double-thick potholder I made that weekend, too. It's gone missing. I think it must be packed away in my dog sitting gear still, but I've been too lazy to look for it since it's been too hot for me to make soup anyway. (It's been >80F and 50-85% humidity for the last week here.) When I find it, you have my word I'll post it along with an image of my famous Zuppa Toscana.

(Man, I'm hungry now...)

Life, Work, and Companion Cubes

Well, things have been a bit hectic lately, but midterms are finally over and I think that I'll be able to get some more work done on Yoshi, soon.

My biggest two issues in terms of crafting have been time management and safely transporting my projects around with me during the week. Between work and classes (and applying for an amazing position that just came available at work this week), crafts haven't been at the top of my list. They've been toted along with me recently, but not much attention has been given to them, I'll admit.

I've always felt fortunate to have a boss who is also a fellow crafter. She has always been comfortable with me bringing my crafting with me to the office every day so long as all of the office's day-to-day tasks and special projects are completed. And I'm lucky that I can multitask while making our courtesy calls every afternoon, especially Friday. Here's how my week in crafting went: twenty-six  granny squares waiting to be tied and sewn in on my Companion Cube blanket.

Despite a hiatus, I've been able to get quite a bit of work done on this blanket since starting it last April. I've made 192/212 off-white squares and combined I only have 145 total squares left to make before I begin sewing. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

3 Years in the Making: SO's Blanket

My SO and I have been dating for four years in late February and the poor guy, I've promised him his own afghan since abut six months into our relationship. Almost three and a half years later, he's still without a blanket to call his own.

SO's blanket has undergone a lot of redesigns. At first I was going to make him a "sand dollar" style blanket, and then a ripple, then a granny square piece, and then and then and then. Finally, after about two years of fighting with the design, I settled on an old favorite: the giant granny square. This one hasn't been frogged.

And actually, it should be completed before the end of 2014 if I keep up with it at all. I'd like to get somewhere around 100-120 rounds when all is said and done and if I counted my rows correctly, I'm somewhere in the mid 70s range right now. Each side of the blanket currently takes an hour to complete, so four hours per round if I work diligently. It's a shame that winter is almost over because I'm not much of a large-project crocheter when it gets to be summertime in San Diego. Here's a picture of SO's blanket design. I basically recycled a pattern that I'd used on my own giant granny square blanket back in 2011.

When all is said and done, there should be over six miles worth of yarn in SO's blanket. Should keep him warm, right?