365 Days Handmade

Making life a better place, one day at a time


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Week 15/52: A New Crocheted Blanket Because I Could Not Resist

Last week Saturday, my cousin Joy texted me a photo of a blanket she was crocheting.  She thought she’d screwed up the pattern and wanted to know if her blanket could be fixed.  It looked salvageable to me.  I texted her back to give some encouragement.  I also was curious to see the original pattern.  She sent me the link to check it out.  It was called the As-We-Go Stripey Blanket and once I saw the original post and photos of the completed blanket, I wanted to try my hand at crocheting one for myself.

Even though I was in the middle of about five different WIPs, I had to start this new afghan right away.  On Sunday afternoon, I’d completed this much:

4.16.2016a

And by the end of the week, I’d gotten this far:

4.16.2016

I’m using the Attic 24 Sunny Color pack because I started this project in Ventura, and that’s the only yarn I had with me.  It’s been fun to follow the crochet-along instructions, but to be honest, I am not happy with the pairing of this particular pattern with this particular color palette.  At this point, though, I’ve put in too much time and color changes to start unraveling the whole thing.

I guess I’ll just have to finish it and start a new one using a different color palette.

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Week 14/52: A Bunch of New Projects and No Photos of Them

Yesterday after I got off work, I drove straight down to Ventura, and then this morning Sean and I headed out to L.A. for my annual eye doctor appointment.  Even though we no longer live in L.A., I’ve kept the same eye doctor over the last 12 years because she is the best optometrist.  Our appointments are usually about an hour long, and it’s more like a pleasant visit with a friend I only see once a year.  In addition to completing a thorough eye exam and answering all of my questions, she always takes the time to chat with me.  She remembers details like the fact that my husband and I have jobs that are 150 miles apart and that we commute back and forth between two homes and that we are childfree by choice.  She chose not to have any children herself and completely understands our decision.

Anyway, I brought a sock to knit during today’s drive to L.A., but I forgot to take any photos of my progress.  I also forgot to take photos of the three different scarf/wrap things that I’d been working on all week, and I left them all at our house in Morro Bay.  Luckily, my cousin J texted me a photo to show that she received the Golden State Warriors socks that I’d knitted for her.  So here is a photo of that:

4.9.2015a

Also, while Sean and I were leaving my eye doctor’s office, I saw this place and had to take a photo:

4.9.2015b

How hot is it?

I’ll post photos of my other projects next time, I promise.


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Week 13/52: One Finished Pair of Socks and One New Project

4.2.2106

I finished knitting my cousin J’s Golden State Warrior Socks and right away got started on another knitted piece.

4.2016

This is a chevron pattern that I got from the book Mason-Dixon Knitting.  The pattern is meant for a linen hand towel, but I thought it would work well for a nice wide scarf, too.

The yarn is Noro Silk Garden Sock Yarn (40% lamb’s wool, 25% silk, 25% nylon, 10% kid mohair).  After spending so much time crocheting with acrylic over the last few months, I felt like getting into some of my fancy yarn stash, which I almost never use.  Last year I posted an entry to reveal my shamefully abundant yarn stash, and I have to admit that since then I’ve barely made a dent in it.  (It also didn’t help that I bought more yarn over the last few months.)  So this year I am going to try to use up more of the fancy stuff, and hey, maybe by December I’ll have a nice little pile of handmade Christmas gifts ready to be wrapped and delivered.


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Week 12/52: The Granny Stripe Blanket, Finished

3.26.2016a

I started crocheting this blanket in January, I think.  I purchased the yarn online from Wool Warehouse; it was the Attic 24 Original Stylecraft Special DK yarn pack.

3.26.2016b

The thing about following a pattern that’s already laid out for me is that I don’t have to think.  I can just sit with my hook and yarn, zone out, and fall into the rhythm of crochet, which can go by very quickly.  This is a particularly soothing activity when I’ve spent all day in prison being a psychologist and need to unwind.

3.26.2016d

One thing I did differently from the pattern, though, was the border.  I substituted a scalloped edging instead.

3.26.2016e

Overall, I think it turned out well.  Crocheting this particular style of blanket was such an enjoyable and satisfying project that I’m already planning to make another one.

3.26.2016c


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Socks (Because I Can’t Think of Any Original Titles for This Blog Post)

I forgot how much I enjoyed knitting socks.  I’d been spending the last couple of months engrossed with my crocheted afghans, and then I got a request from my beloved cousin J for another pair of socks.  She was genuinely fond of the previous pairs I’d made for her, so I was more than happy to cast on and start knitting.

Here is the progress on J’s socks:

3.13.2016b

The yarn is a hand-dyed merino wool that I had purchased off Etsy.  It was the only skein of yarn that I’d ever purchased off Etsy, but once I started knitting that first sock, I thought, Damn, this is pretty cool hand-dyed yarn that an independent U.S. seller spent some time making.  I have got to buy more hand-dyed sock yarn and support the small businesses.

I went online and found two more skeins that I liked.  I ordered them and just a few days later, they arrived.  I wound them into yarn cakes and in the process, my fingers just itched to start knitting with the new yarn.  So I started this one:

3.13.2016

I am trying to keep myself from starting a third sock with the other skein of yarn (it’s a wool-cashmere blend!), but I may not be able to resist.


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Week 10/52: New ‘do

I was going to share photos of this week’s sock progress (one finished sock and two new ones on the needles!), but I spent five hours at the hair salon this afternoon, and then Sean and I had An Event to attend, and by the time we got home this evening, it was too late to take any good sock photos for the blog.

I did, however, take Before and After photos of my hair, so I figure I’ll share those, instead.

The big deal about today’s ‘do is that I’d spent the last two years growing out my hair and keeping my natural haircolor.  My original plan was to cut off 12 inches and donate it to Locks of Love.  As my hair got longer, though, I realized that I really didn’t want to part with it.  Also, I was informed by friends on social media that Locks of Love charges for the wigs that they make out of donated hair.  That’s when I definitely decided not to cut my hair and to go ahead and chemically treat it.

So I went from this, this morning:

3.12.2016a

to this, this afternoon:

3.12.2016b

And tomorrow I’ll share photos of my socks, I promise.


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Week 9/52: First Sock of 2016

Last year, I was all about knitting socks.  I don’t even know how many pairs I completed (but they’re all tagged under Socks if you have any interest in checking them out).

This weekend, Sean and I are making a short trip up north to visit with some family, which means several hours in the car on the 101.  I wanted to bring a project with me to pass the time, but any one of my WIP crocheted afghans would be too unwieldy in the passenger seat.  This is where sock knitting becomes an especially useful hobby.

With about 8 hours of driving ahead of us, this sock should be done by Monday.

3.5.2016


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Week 8/52: New Project

I was really trying to stick to just one project and not start another one until I finished the granny stripe blanket.  I couldn’t do it.  This week I started knitting a new sock, and then I began crocheting a new afghan.  It’s the Attic 24 Cottage Blanket yarn pack and pattern.

You’ll notice that I didn’t take the time to weave in those tail ends.  Old habits die hard.

2.27.2016


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Week 7/52: Cherimoya Progress

I’ve added a few more rows to the granny stripe afghan, but I don’t want to bore you with more of the same crocheted afghan photos this week.  Instead I’ll give you an update on another (sort of) handmade project that I started last year.

Remember my cherimoya seedlings that I grew from the seeds that I’d saved after eating the fruit?

They’d gotten to the point where it was time to separate them into their own little containers.

2.20.2016

I’m still kind of amazed that I managed to grow these little plants from seeds.  I usually manage to kill even the most basic indoor houseplant.  If I can get these little guys to outgrow their containers and actually strong enough to plant in our backyard, that will be a huge accomplishment.  I’ll keep you posted.