FO Friday!

Happy Friday all :) In Manitoba, we're kicking off a long weekend with Louis Riel Day falling on this coming Monday, and after a cold and dreary 2018, I think everyone deserves an extra day to stay safe and warm indoors!

Of course that means I've been fairly productive with my yarncrafting. I managed to finish off my Summer Mist Throw...despite my cat Maid Marian's best efforts...

There she is just DARING me to remove it from my yarn Raskog and get to work. I didn't win that battle, but I did win the war eventually haha. Here it is!

Turned out kinda nice, no? This sucker came out to be around 6 feet by 6 feet and my husband and I don't have to fight much for a piece of it during couch time - there's plenty for us both! In case you wanted to reproduce this colour way, I used Loops and Threads Impeccable in Aran, Heather, and Navy and Vanna's Choice in Dusty Green. When I got to the border, instead of alternating rows of single crochet, I did a row of single crochet in Aran, then a row of half double crochet in the back loops using Navy, then a row of double crochets in the back loops in Heather. For the last row I used Dusty Green and did a row of single crochets in the back loops.

And now that it's all done, I've got nothing but time to work on new projects! Stay tuned next weekend when I FINALLY unveil my completed Done in Love pullover. Plus I've been working on a clothing design on my own...keep your fingers crossed that I can work this sucker out! You can bet I'll share the pattern if it does!

Have a great weekend! I gotta turn my attentions to the 3rd period of the Jets game so ta ta for now :)

New Lookbook! Patons Warm Minimalism

Now a brand under the umbrella of Yarnspirations, Patons has some lovely patterns for its yarn, and this lookbook delivers a variety of home projects with a general theme of "cozy up and keep it simple."

Crochet Crunch Stitch Pillow
I like the look of this pillow and the stitch pattern looks simple enough to memorize. I'm never sure about wooden buttons (or any buttons, for that matter) on a pillow, but they look pretty.

Cross Roads Cable Knit Blanket
Gorgeous cables make this blanket stand out, and the straight portions promise a bit of a break from solid cables - both for the eye, and for your hands.

Seed Stitch Knit Pillow
What can you say about seed stitch? Classic and simple, this pattern largely relies on colour to carry it through to distinction.

Knit Herringbone Pillow
This is my personal favourite in the collection; I'm a sucker for herringbone and I immediately checked the yarn gauge to see if I could do this one at home. However, this pillow is MASSIVE (24" square) and I'm unlikely to need something that big on the couch, so suffice to say I'll be working out a smaller count.

Wedge It Crochet Blanket
Interestingly enough, this blanket looks almost exactly like a Purl Soho free pattern, aside from being crochet and not using short rows. I like the look of the design though.

Irish Moss Knit Floor Pillow
Hmmm, more moss? Moss stitch is very similar to seed stitch, so this one kind of seems like a repeat, albeit a giant version of the seed stitch pillows.

Corner Dip Stripe Crochet Afghan
A classic design that uses tassels to stand out just a bit. The border also keeps the blanket from being too simple, and I like corner to corner designs. Anyone want to tell me what makes this one blanket an afghan? I need a yarncraft dictionary!

Knit Shadowbox Blanket
Probably the most complex design in the bunch, I love the look of this since I always enjoy sneaky optic tricks. I'd love to see this one in all kinds of colours; it'd be especially beautiful in monochrome, I think!

Little Dots Will Do Ya Crochet Blanket
This one's a touch too quaint for me, though I like the dot motif. I think if you did it with just the dots and omitted the puff stitch, it might be a little less busy on the eye, and more in line with the minimalist motif.

Tap In Crochet Tapestry
Hard pass. This does nothing for me, but I could see it becoming a lot more fun with different yarn choices and maybe some funky stitches - kind of sampler style.

Crochet Marled Chair Pad
I'm not against chair pads but these don't look like loads of fun. Maybe a pretty quick knit, which would be a redeeming feature. However, they don't seem to have any way to anchor them to chairs, and sliding chair pads are no good at all.

Knit Plant Cozies
Once again, hard pass. While this might be a good place to practice new stitches, I don't have house plants and if I did, I think I'd just rather paint the pots than have something like a wool cozy that would get dirty, wet, and dusty.

Kaeleigh's stand out patterns:
Favourite pattern: Herringbone Knit Pillow
Gotta make it for myself: Shadowbox Knit Blanket
Makes me wish I did more crochet: Crochet Crunch Stitch Pillow
No thank you, please: Tie between the Tap In Crochet Tapestry and Knit Plant Cozies - home accessories like that just don't do it for me.

Bernice's stand out patterns:
Favourite pattern: Cross Roads Cable Knit Blanket
Gotta make it for myself: Wedge It Crochet Blanket
Makes me wish I did more knitting: Knit Shadowbox Blanket
No thank you, please: Crochet Marled Chair Pad - WTF? That's a falling off a chair accident waiting to happen. 

Frog-it Friday

For as many days of the week, there are yarncraft terms that provide a catchy alliteration. And more, as demonstrated by my title - usually this would be Finished Object (FO) Friday and Bernice can provide that for you lovely folks later on, but for me, it's froggin' time.

I've been showing a few shots of a new design I've been working on for a while: it's an orange sweater with grey trim, and the orange is my own hand-dyed worsted. I was pretty sure I had the whole thing on lock and went full steam ahead over the month of December. At long last, last week I'd finished the front and I seamed the shoulders, all ready to try it on and do the sleeves.
But.
I looked like a dumpy pumpkin with leaf mold when I stood in front of the mirror.
I hated the grey at the top. I hated the pattern. I hated the shape, most of all. Why hadn't I done a split hem? Why didn't I do the pattern in the style of a gansey - where the embellishments are mostly just on the yoke and not in the body?
It's possible blocking would've eased out some of the poofiness of the body. But why keep going on it when I already don't like it at all?

So it's back to the drawing board for me, but I'm not actually as mad as I should maybe be. Perhaps I'm mellowing out after frogging so much lately. Or just encouraged to come up with something better after such a short time? Who knows. Either way, I'm spending the next few hours sketching hem lines, thinking about shoulders, and finally, casting on to give it all another go. And in the meantime (because why have one WIP when you can have like, eight?), I'm also going to put together a pattern for these fellows, which I made ages ago but never wrote down. I'm planning a knit one to match the original crochet, and once I get it right, I'll dye some yarn and whip up a few to hang out on my couch...or better yet, hang out somewhere high out of the reach of my greedy cats :P

Enjoy your weekend!