Sunday, July 26, 2009

Motivation fail.

Man, it was kind of a crazy week. I had a ton of running around outside of the house to do, and as a a result had very little motivation to do anything productive when I was actually at home. So, not only did I not get any cleaning in my house done this week (boo), I also didn't touch a crochet project, sigh.

Though I guess it's for the best that I don't have any new projects to show you because at the moment I wouldn't be able to...that's right, our wireless router died this week so I have no internet on my laptop. I have to share a computer with my husband now to get on the internet until we get a new one. I know, I know, life is so hard. But my point is that I don't have any of my photos or the software for my camera installed on this computer (yet), so no pictures to show y'all even if there was something to report.

But, I am hoping to approach this new week with a much better motivational mindset. As far as crochet goes I want to make burp cloths to match the blanket I finished up last week--I think I can get at least four out of the yarn I have left. I also want to make myself a couple of pairs of house socks. But before I do any of those things my first project is to actually do an inventory/reorg of my current stash and crochet tools. It's kind of gotten out of control and I have a feeling I will thank myself in a month or two if I get it back to some semblance of organization now, when I have the time and attention span.

So that's where I am at the moment. Two weeks until my mom comes to town, and then (theoretically) one more week after that until the baby gets here. I am excited! It should be fun times.

I hope you all are doing well. Have a wonderful week! Fingers crossed that next week I can have some actual progress to show you!

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Done and done.

Boy am I beat! We had our baby shower today, and even as small as it was, it took a lot out of me. But it was a lot of fun and I am super thankful to my friends for throwing it and to everyone who came or sent along gifts. Good times.

But, now I am sitting at my computer uploading pictures, and I happen to also have pictures of my completed blanket, since I finished it last night! So, I thought I'd go ahead and do my post today, since tomorrow is looking to be another crazy time. Oh man, down to four weeks to go and the days are filling up fast. Hopefully August 16th will get here before I know it!

Anyway, I digress. Finshed blanket!

Here is a shot of all of the completed squares successfully assembled:


Here is a closeup so you get a better idea of the texture:


Here is the finished object, complete with border:

And, finally, here is a closer look at the border. It kind of mirrors the pattern in the squares a little, though it is hard to see in the photo:


I have enough yarn left over I believe I am going to try to make some matching burp cloths to go with the blanket. So that will probably be my project for this week (perfect for carrying along while I am doing all of my running around). After that I want to go through and organize my stash and start making a "scrap" afghan, made of granny squares using up all of my scrap yarn and such.

Hope everyone is doing well. Have a super week!

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Progress report.

Well, I am pleased to report that I am clocking along quite nicely on the baby blanket I am working on at the moment.

I have 42 of the 48 squares finished. I plan to get the remaining 6 done today, hopefully, and then this week get them assembled and start on the border. There's finally a mattress and bedding in my baby's crib so I think getting this blanket done will be a nice final embellishment.

I've even got some photos so you can see how it's shaping up.

Here is one of a single square:


It's a little hard to see in the photo but these squares have a nice texture to them that I think gives the blanket a little bit of a "fancy" feel.

The squares are pieced together in alternating directions to further enhance the texture. That will look something like this:


And here's the pile of finished squares, waiting for the rest of their comrades and then assembly:


I feel as if I have been rather productive this past week, it's nice. I really do intend to try to get the whole thing at least assembled this coming week, but it is going to be a very busy few days, so we shall see.

Also, there probably won't be a post next weekend because we've got the baby shower on Saturday and a baby-related class at the hospital for most of the day Sunday. So the next post will definitely have shots of the finished project either way, I suppose.

Anyhoo, I hope you all are doing well. Have a wonderful week!

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Plodding along.

Well, my plan to switch projects seems to have worked pretty well. I am 14 squares into my baby blanket, and hope to get another 6-8 done today. We'll see how long my hand holds out!

As expected, the squares are turning out to be much smaller than in the original pattern. My pre-project estimate that it would only take 20 squares to make a baby blanket was a little optimistic it turns out. 20 squares at the normal size, sure. But as it is, it looks like it will take the full 48 called for in the pattern to get a full sized baby blanket.

That's okay though, because I still have more than enough yarn (due, of course, to the squares coming out so small). Also, this means that when I do the border I won't have to play around with numbers, I can just follow the directions to the letter, yay!

I am looking to be well on track to have this blanket finished by the end of July at the latest.

Yesterday I took a break from my project to do a few little odds and ends. I added some pockets to my water bottle holder so that it can also hold my phone, a house key, and chapstick. I finally had to cave in and get some gym shorts to wear on my daily walks due to the lovely Texas heat, even in the early morning. Unfortunately, I managed to buy shorts without pockets and didn't realize it until I got home, so, upgrade to water bottle holder. I didn't take any pictures of that because it's a little sloppy, but I was just going for functional, so it will work.

I also made my sister's swap square for July. I really liked the pattern she picked and am pretty excited about how the square turned out. I hope she enjoys it as much. She just moved this past week, so she'll have a nice happy package arriving at her new home. That will be fun.

Speaking of swap squares, here are the June squares.

Mine:



My sister's:


I picked the pattern for the squares from the Triangles Afghan and as you can see on mine, I followed the pattern pretty much by the letter. My sister, however, wasn't feeling the triangle look and so she decided to get creative. I am not sure how she came up with what she did, but I think it looks really awesome. I am getting very excited about how this blanket is going to look once it's finished.

Well, that's all I've got for this week. Next week I'll have some photos of the blanket in progress for you.

Have a great week all!