Not your Grandma's Ripple

When I was growing up, anyone who knew anyone who crocheted seemed to have a "Ripple Afghan" over the back of their couch.

In my family, it was a pink and blue ripple afghan made by my grandmother.

It seemed almost like a rite of passage in the crochet world to attempt a ripple pattern.  It was even showing up in a few of the Prayer Shawls being crocheted by the women in my Prayer Shawl Ministry.  I particularly liked this one, done by Paula,  using a gray yarn with silver flecks:

I decided to give the ripple pattern a try, and chose this Summer Sonata shawl from the Lion Brand website:

I made mine using a teal colored yarn.  There are only two rows to this pattern, but you have to count carefully to get the peaks and valleys of the ripples to line up.

Here is the finished shawl.  My mother requested a prayer shawl from me to give to a friend who just had back surgery, and this one will be going to her.

Today, I think that the pattern I affectionately refer to as a "ripple", would now be called a "chevron".

Unravel the Stars

Over the Holiday weekend, I started up a new crochet project.  It's called the "Cowl-Shawl" and it was in the book "Quick and Simple Crochet Scarves".

Pretty cute, right? I started with a ball of very soft dark turquoise yarn, and jumped in.  There were 2 new stitches that I had to learn.  The first was called a  "Linked Double Crochet", and the second was called a "Star Stitch".  With the help of some YouTube videos, I got the hang of it, and started with the pattern:

The pattern starts from the bottom of the button band and works up from there.  I thought it seemed a little small, so I went up a hook size and started again.

After the second time through, I realized that this "cowl-shawl" was going to be an intense project, that is, it was not something I could breezily work on while holding a conversation, or watching TV.    I decided to start over using a neutral colored yarn so that I could get lots of wear out of it after all that work.  Here is how it looked in the new yarn color:

The Star Stitch rows were a challenge to figure out at first.  You insert the crochet hook into five different spots and draw up a loop:

Next, you draw the yarn through all six loops on the hook:

And lastly, you chain 1 to complete the bottom half of the star.

The top half of the star is created on the return row:

Things were going pretty well, until I reached the point where the cowl portion began to take shape:

I couldn't quite visualize how this was all going to turn out in the end.  For one thing, being a left handed crocheter, my increases were on the opposite side. (I didn't want to end up with a cowl that might possible have to be worn "wrong side out".)  Secondly, there was no photo or diagram in the pattern that showed what the finished piece looked like when laid flat.  (There was just this photo for reference, and much of the cowl-shawl was hidden under the model's hair:)

Finally, my hand was beginning to ache when making the star stitch rows.  I think that having to continually pull the yarn through 6 loops required just enough of an extra pull that it was overworking my fingers. It seemed like a good idea to avoid the extra workout.  With 3 strikes against it, I decided that this pattern was just not for me.  I pulled it all out.

No problem.  I already have my next pattern in mind.  I have a new pattern book that I am eager to try.  It is called "100 Quick and Easy Crochet Stitches:

The book is filled with lots of pretty swatches, each with a picture and the directions to make the pattern:

A little math is all it will take to figure out how many pattern repeats I will need to get the width of a prayer shawl.  As you can tell from the multitude of pink post-its at the top of the pages, I have found lots of inspirations!

So, the "Cowl-Shawl" is not going to happen, but I did learn a couple of cool new stitches, and it kept this crochet  "hooker" out of trouble all weekend.  :-)

Ruffling my feathers

I was looking for a quick take-along project to work on while visiting my Dad in rehab and I thought a scarf might be just the thing.  I came across this pattern modelled by the lovely and talented Vanna White:

The pattern is actually pretty neat in that it is created with just 5 long rows from side to side rather than from top to bottom.

A quick look at the yarn selection offered at my local craft store and I found this pretty jewel tone variagated yarn:

I started the project on a Monday

and found myself crocheting madly at every opportunity.

Before I knew it,  I had completed the scarf and couldn't wait to see how it looked with my purple coat.

But.....

When I put the scarf around my neck, I felt more like this:

I guess if you're a queen, or a celebrated game show hostess you can rock the ruffled scarf.  But for me, I'm just not feeling it.

February 14th already?

I can't believe it's Valentine's Day already!  It seems like New Year's was just last week. 

A quick recap of what I've been up to since my last post:

We had some work done on the house in the time leading up to the holidays, and I had to pack up my sewing room for a bit.

Christmas came and went with all the flurry of celebration and preparation.  We played host for our family gathering this year, and had a grand time.

In January, my father took a fall and fractured a rib and 4 vertebrae, so much of my time lately has been spent in hospital rooms and then at the rehab hospital.  Fortunately, Dad is on the mend and will be back home soon.





One crafty project that I finished is a crocheted doily that I had been working on for a while.

The pattern was a freebie called "pinwheel doily" that I found here.   Although it called for white crochet cotton, but the pinwheel center reminded me of a poinsettia so I decided to make it in red and use it for Christmas.  Of course, being red, it doubles as a Valentine's decoration too.

I don't actually decorate too much for Valentine's day because I like to keep around some of the Christmas decor even after Christmas. For example, this pitcher and flowers and the little snowman are still on my mantle:

  This looks like "winter" to me, not just "Christmas" and I like to think the red can cover for Valentine's Day too.

Happy Valentine's Day!

By hook or by crook

Like so many quilter/crafters, I like to have something to do while watching TV with the family.  In the past that has been either a hand quilting project, or a crochet project. 







Imagine the following scene:   the family gathered together, dishes done, the aroma of a sweetly scented candle, a handwork project to do while settled into a cozy recliner chair and ...
(*screech of brakes*) Toby?!  No way!  It just hasn't worked out  for me to be able to  do any handwork with him around.

   Last night,  I realized that he has finally gotten to the point where he settles down in one spot, mostly on somebody's lap, but sometimes on the floor. Last night was one of the "floor" nights, so  I stealthily got out the crochet thread and hook and started working on making a snowflake.   I had about an hour to get something done before he woke up from his dozing state and decided Mom's lap would be so much more comfy than the floor, and I gave in to his puppy eyes and let him up.   Yeah, he's spoiled, but at least I had a little something to show in the way of progress by the end of the night, and those velvety soft ears are hard to resist, even if they do come attached to a 30 pound dog.

Shown in the photo are snowflakes I made last year.

That 70's Show: the fashion episode

I'm at a crossroads right now with my quilting.  I can't decide what I want to work on next.  There are so many possibilities, I can't seem to get started on anything.  I've been flipping through the books on my shelf and I came across an old pattern book that someone (who shall literally remain nameless)  gave me when she heard that I had taken up crochet.  It's the Woman's Day "Crochet Showcase", from 1979.  


With the word "showcase" in the title, one expects some cutting edge fashions, and this book did not disappoint.

A gladiator inspired vest with capped sleeves that resemble battle attire.


Katrina thought this funky vest was great fun, until she tried to put her coat on over it.

A stylin' bikini with cute matching ruffled bonnet to show that a girl can be sexy and innocent at the same time.

Louise wondered why all of a sudden all the boys wanted to take her swimming.

I've always wondered what you were supposed to wear underneath these lacy camisole tops.

I'm so rich and sophisticated that no one dares to tell me that my top has lots of little holes in it.



A little jumper that only Rainbow Brite would want to wear.

Even at  3 years old,  Bonnie knew that all the kids were going to make fun of her when she wore this to preschool.

The crocheted wedding gown was a lovely idea, and the finished product might have been beautiful in the right surroundings, but who paired it with the alien headdress?

Sweet Sara was so very  touched by her Nana's grand gesture, but when it came time to wear it with the headpiece Nana picked to go with it, she couldn't bring herself to make eye contact with anyone in the wedding party.

Had to include this one, not because the fashion was funny but because I think this is an early example of supermodel Beverly Johnson's work.  Isn't that her?  Shows what talent she has that she can make patchwork pockets look chic.  I actually think this design has merit,(Hello! hand warmers!) but maybe that's just the quilter in me talking.