The Big Finish

And it's finally done.  My biggest crochet project to date, an afghan (maybe lapghan) for my mom.  It didn't make it for her birthday (darned flowers and leaves) but it's all done.  I did the ends and fringe today and here are the final results.

Dennie's Irish Lace and Roses Afghan

Detail of flowers

It will be shipped out on Monday to my mom who has been waiting for it patiently.  I ended up telling her I was still working on something and she wormed the details out of me.  I just hope she likes it.

Next up, a baby quilt for the newest baby in the family.

Still working on...

the afghan for my mom. She already knows she's getting something and that it will be a belated gift, but she doesn't know what it is. I didn't think the leaves and flowers would take so long. But considering I haven't been able to work on it 24/7 that's what has happened. So, I'm moving along, I've got 44 flowers done, all of the leaves and I still have to do the last panel. Then I'll be attaching all 120 of the flowers and leaves. Whew!

Woo Hoo!!

I've finished the 6 hunter green panels for the Irish Lace and Roses afghan. Now on to the side trim that will join them.

After that I'll start on the actual roses and leaves once the sport weight SOFT white arrives. I mistakenly ordered off white instead and boy what a difference. Luckily my husband said why send it back, you know you'll use it at some point.

On to the loops!!

Irish Lace and Roses Afghan

I ran across a pattern called Irish Lace and Roses Afghan from Annie's Attic and fell in love with it. I decided to make it for my mother's birthday in September. It will be Hunter Green and Soft White so it goes with her bedroom colors. So far I've completed two of the panels and am close to finishing the third. It's a pretty easy repeat for the panels. They are each 110 rows long but they fly by. I still need to get the soft white in the sport weight to make the roses out of.

I really love the way they are joined, it looks like it's braided. Here's the progress so far.

Crocheting my little heart out

Believe it or not I have actually been busy. I have been doing a lot of crocheting.

First up is the baby blanket I did for a co-worker who is having a little boy. The pattern called for a size G hook, but I ended up moving up to an I to get the right gauge. I don't know if it's me or the patterns, but sometimes the gauge works and sometimes it doesn't. I used Bernat Baby Sport Yarn in Baby White and Baby Denim Marl and really liked it. Here's the finished item made from the Little Boy Blue afghan pattern which I believe is a Red Heart pattern. The only thing I didn't do was the embroidery on it, just ran out of time, but I still loved the outcome.

(ignore the dates, the camera wasn't set)

Next up was a quick blanket for a new baby girl for another co-worker. I used the Bernat Baby Sport again in Lavender and Baby White. The original pattern used one color throughout but I switched the edging to white. The ribbon around the edge is really nice.


I was really happy with the way they both came out and now I'm working on an afghan for my mom's birthday called Loop-n-Lace Irish Lace and Roses. It will be in Hunter Green and Soft White.

More to come!

Ravelry

I'm just now getting around to talking about Ravelry on my blog. Like many others I had no clue what it was. I just saw a lot of ladies chatting excitedly over being on the list and waiting for their invitation, so I headed over and did the same.

It took about a month and I got my invitation and am now a member under ChickMistress.

What can I say - I love the place. I can spend hours just looking at other peoples projects for inspiration. I've uploaded my yarn stash (nothing terribly exciting), done the same for my projects and I've joined three groups.

I love that I can be somewhat organized by using the site. It's wonderful. I've added a Ravelry button to the side bar that links you to Ravelry.

If you haven't joined, sign up for the invitation and come see what it's all about. There are a lot of beautiful items and patterns on this site and if that doesn't get your creative juices flowing, I don't know what will.