The "too hot" doily

Hi Blog,

It's been so hot here on the Central Coast of NSW, Australia lately that I haven't been able to work on my favourite ripple blanket.

One day last week it got to 41 degrees celcius (106 farenheit), and I just couldn't take it anymore! But I couldn't give up my crocheting either, so I pulled out some thread (Size 20 Twilley's verigated) and a small Boye hook (1.5mm) and started on a doily out of my Pineapple Doily Book.

This is the third doily I've made from this book, and I'm pleased to say there are no errors in this pattern! I'm wishing I didn't make it in verigated thread though, because it takes away from the pattern I think.

I did enjoy making this doily though, and it took 2 balls of thread to make it, which helps with my Stashbusting score in the Crochetville CAL. I had been very bad and ordered 20 balls of yarn from a craft co-op that my sister belongs to, along with an new set of tunisian crochet hooks. 20 balls of wool put my stashbusting score at -40!!!!! Now I'll be -36, which means I'm slowly redeeming myself.

One good thing is the fact that its slightly cooler here at the moment. So I can now work on my ripple again. I'm really enjoying it, I just wish it would go quicker so I can move onto one of the other progects I've got planned!

Things I want to start:

* A knitted jumper (I've never done this, and would love to try)

* Crocheted socks

* Hexagon motif baby afghan

* Some bookmarks

* An afghan for my mother (not sure of the style yet)

* A crochet scarf.

That's quite the list I want to start! Good thing is though, I have the yarn for all but one of those projects. The only thing I need to get is yarn for my mother's afghan, as I'd like to make hers in a lavender colour, given lavender is her favourite scent, and flower.

Anyway, back to it!

Mandy

Keep on rippling!

Hi Blog

I thought I would take a few stat's on the progress of my Crochetville CAL. I finally measured it's width and found that it's 290cm wide! Almost 3 metres! I'd not actually measured it's width before this. I also timed myself, and found it takes me 45 mins to do one row, and I'm up to row 122, that means I've spent 91.5 hours on this afghan! Amazing, especially seeing as though it's not even half way done. I started out with 450 chains, and am using a 5.5mm hook. See pictures below, it's so wide, I can't even fit the whole width in the camera shot.

A New Rug for my Lounge

Hi Blog

It's been a while since I've written and that's because we've had such a hectic Christmas. DH's kids came to stay for 9 days which left us in total chaos! Not to mention leaving us broke, I can't believe how much those kids can eat.

One of the main outcomes of their visit though, was me deciding that I needed to make a rug to cover our new lounge suite. A couple of months ago we splurged out on a new suede suite and it's a lovely taupe colour. Within a couple of hours of the kids being here, they'd gone swimming in the pool, then plopped themselves on the lounge completely soaking wet with chlorine water! I hit the roof! As a result, for the rest of the visit, I had blankets over the lounge to protect it. The ones I had were crocheted (by me years ago), but they didn't go with the colours of the room at all.

So I took myself off to spotlight during their stocktake sale and purchased 40 skeins, in two colours, of new yarn. The yarn is Moda Vera 'mandorla united'. It's a 55% merino 45% acrylic blend. It has a tension of 12 stitches x 12 rows to make a 10cm square. Recommended needle 7-8mm. I bought colour 53 and 51, both dyelot 1. It's a lovely soft yarn, but very chunky.

I asked DH for his opinion on how I should make the rug, and he had been really impressed with the blanket I had made for Dad, with that patchwork affect. So, rather than crochet the rug (which I had really wanted to do), I began knitting it. I'm using 20 stitches per row, and squares of 30 rows each (giving about a 19cm square). I'm using a standard moss/seed stich. Knit 1, purl 1 to end of row, turn, purl 1, knit 1 to end.

It's knitting up quickly, but I'm still dividing my time between that and my ripple CAL from crochetville.

Last night I also made another Crochet Australia purchase. I couldn't help myself. I bought:

- 5.5mm Brittany Crochet Hook

- 4.5mm Clover Aluminium (Arthritic PEN style) Crochet Hook

- Ultimate Book of Scrap Afghans booklet

- New Wave Ripples booklet

I'm so hopeless. DH is going to wonder what on earth I need all this stuff for. I've been dying to try the Arthritic hook, my hands hurt when I crochet so I'm hoping this will help. And the Brittany hooks are just beautiful! I love wooden hooks.

I'm trying to be good with my eating too. DH and I are so desperatley trying for a baby, and my insulin resistance isn't helping our cause. So if I can promise to eat better, than hopefully I'll get somewhere quicker. Also, I would love to loose another 20 kilo's or so. I wouldn't recognise myself. I've done it before, I'm sure I can do it again. I just must be strict with myself!

Take Care

Mandy

My Ripple CAL Progress

Hi Blog

I've taken some updated pictures of the progress I've made for my ripple CAL, at the Crochetville website. The pictures are a bit grainy, because they're taken at night in a poorly lit room, but you get the idea.

You can't gauge the size of the afghan from the photo's. I had it draped over a queen size bed, however, there was heaps laying across the floor where it's far to wide for the bed.

I've also started a knitted project to protect my new sofa set, but I'll take pictures of that later.

Mandy