WIP Wednesday 10.04.19

Current WIP count: 5

Havana is pretty addictive, I spent most of my weekend working on it and now I’m into the third section.

This one is similar to the first section, but just different enough to keep me interested. Plus it turns out I really like turquoise and orange together. Who knew!

Roses for Grandma has kind of gone back a step, as I decided I wanted a rectangular blanket rather than a square so I’ll have to make some more roses.

On the plus side that makes the layout a little simpler. I mainly have pink and purple roses, but there are four in different colours plus my forget-me-not square, so with a 5×4 layout I can have one ‘different’ square in each row. Now I’ve got a rough layout I can start joining them together.

I really need some slightly smaller projects. Maybe I’ll dive in to sock knitting at last, although with my knitting speed that might not help me get a finish anytime soon!

What’s everyone else working on? Let me know in the comments!

Hannah

xXx

March Review 2019

Yes I’m a bit late with this, but hands up who’s surprised. Nobody? Okay, let’s get on with it!

The Lego blanket took over a lot of March, and I don’t just mean on my blog. I made those bricks at choir, during my lunch break, in bed, while walking, in a pub, in the bath, on a train, basically every moment I was awake and not using my hands for something else.

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I will crochet, anywhere,  Any table, any chair  On the sofa, on the train,  In the bath, in the rain,  Open cafe, empty booth,  Anybody's house will do,  Sitting in a passenger seat,  In the cupboard, on the street –  Anywhere! I don't care!  I will crochet anywhere. (Adapted from Cats Sleep Anywhere by Eleanor Farjeon)

A post shared by Hannah Thorley (@quietwater_craft) on Mar 13, 2019 at 2:53pm PDT

It was totally worth it to see my Dad’s reaction when he opened it.

Aside from that I didn’t get much finished; most of my WIP list is big projects that are going to take weeks, if not months, of work. There was progress on Roses for Grandma

And Havana

And Flax Light

But the only other FO was my mothers day card.

I did pick up a new hobby though when I tried and instantly fell in love with needle felting.

So even though my WIP list didn’t change much at all, I had a really busy, productive month and ended up with a few makes that I’m super proud of. I’m not sure anything will ever top my Lego blanket!

In April I’m hoping to start joining Roses for Grandma together, and do some more needle felting to make sure my bunny wasn’t just beginner’s luck. It would be good to finish off my dragon amigurumi as well, but we’ll see.

How was your March? Any exciting plans for April? Let me know in the comments!

Hannah

xXx

WIP Wednesday 03.04.19

Current WIP count: 5

The next section of Havana is a bit more complicated so I’m having to pay attention more when working on it.

I’m really enjoying the colours for this part. They make me think of super heroes.

It’s been weeks and weeks since I did anything on the dragon amigurumi, so I figured it was time to get back to it. I’m deviating from the pattern a little, but who can blame me? It calls for making the feet, foot pads and claws separately and then sewing all these fiddly little bits together. Sack that for a laugh!

I was hoping to use the pattern for snorlax from Christmas 2017, because I loved his little feet and they were pretty simple to make, with NO sewing. But that blog no longer exists so I’m just trying to remember it as best I can. Wish me luck.

Cute little Snorlax foot

Flax Light has become my travel project, but as I’m on the straight knit bit I won’t post photos again until something interesting happens.

So that’s my WIPs this week. What’s everyone else working on? Let me know in the comments!

Hannah

xXx

WIP Wednesday 27.03.19

Current WIP count: 4

Now the Lego blanket is finished I can get back to my other WIPs, which have been sadly neglected over the last few weeks.

It took a few tries to work out which hook size I used for my Havana, but I got there eventually and now I’m right back into it.

With my Flax Light I managed to get the sleeve stitches onto some waste yarn (a new experience for me) and cast on additional stitches for the sleeves (also new to me), so now I’m at the great part where I just knit and knit and knit until it’s the length I want.

I like jumpers long enough to cover my hips so it’s probably going to take a while, but there’s no deadline so that’s okay.

I spent the journey back from seeing my parents on Roses for Grandma so now I have more squares finished, although in serious need of blocking.

It’s funny, I’ve been working on this blanket for almost a year, blindly following the pattern with each square and not really understanding the construction. Then on Sunday for some reason it just suddenly clicked, and I could see which stitch is meant to go where. I don’t need the pattern any more because I ‘get’ it.

I’ve no idea why it took me so long to get to that point, or what made it clear all of a sudden, but I’m running with it!

Of course mothers day is just around the corner so I’m working on a little something for that too.

It feels so good to get some variety in my makes again, there’s no way I could stick with just one project at a time forever.

What’s everyone else working on? Have you ever had that AHA moment with a pattern? Let me know in the comments!

Hannah

xXx

WIP Wednesday 13.02.19

Current WIP count: 4

Has everyone heard of the Havana CAL by Tinna Thorudottir Thorvaldar (what an excellent name)? It’s been aaaaall over social media since starting in October so you might have seen some even if you didn’t know what they were.

I was my usual organised self and started my Havana yesterday, after choosing my yarn at the weekend. Four months after the CAL started. Although that’s actually better than every other CAL I’ve planned to join, because I never started any of them!

Havana uses the mosaic crochet technique (I have no idea why it’s called that), which can produce some pretty interesting patterns. This is a new technique to me but really easy to pick up so I’ve been whizzing along with it, and I’ve already got the first part of the pattern memorised.

I decided to make it a stash-buster project to use up some of the enormous box of cotton yarn I bought over a year ago. These are the colours I’ve chosen, because I can never resist a rainbow.

And this is how I’m pairing them together for the different sections.

In my head it looks like starting at opposite ends of the rainbow and moving inward to meet in the middle, but we’ll see how it turns out in real life.

My Havana will be smaller than Tinna’s, as the pattern calls for worsted weight yarn and I’m using DK. I may also drop some repeats/sections as I go along. I like big blankets as much as the next person, but I do have limits, and the hugenormous original is just a bit too much for me.

I’ve also been working pretty solidly on the Flax Light jumper, although my knitting is so slow that there’s not massive progress to show.

I finally made it past the ribbing and I’ve decided that k1p1 ribbing is my least favourite thing ever. So much faffing about moving the yarn backwards and forwards. But now I’m on to simple increase rounds with a couple of purl sections so it’s plain sailing for a while.

It takes a stronger will than mine to resist the lure of a new project, so those two have been hogging my attention all week. I am utterly determined to have some Roses for Grandma progress by next week!

What’s everyone working on? Has anyone else got certain neglected WIPs making them feel guilty? Let me know in the comments!

Hannah

xXx