My Ocean Star

I apologize for the long break. Life stepped in, and the blog had to take a backseat for a little while.

My boyfriend dropped this one on me a little over a month ago.

Chromium Star Blanket by Laura Lynn Hanks

He found this gorgeous rainbow version(right) posted on the internet and wanted one for our bedroom. It only took him a few minutes to convince me that I absolutely had to make it. I apparently think my Carpel Tunnel isn’t bad enough yet, so I agreed. We have a king size bed..... A king size! Oh heavens what am I getting myself in to....

Creator's Post on Reddit

We currently have blue in our bedroom. Lots of shades of blue. He decided after we moved in together, that we were going to shift over to green. Go figure.

Anyways, it's been over 2 years since I moved in, and no changes have been made. This is likely because I'm horribly gloriously stubborn and haven't found any greens that I like, so I've come to the conclusion that we will never decide on one color for the bedroom. Because of this, we went with a green and blue combination for the afghan.

So, after work that very day, we were on our way to Joann's to pick up yarn. He actually (*I let him*) picked out all the colors again, with the agreement that I would choose the order.

Here are the colors we chose, in order of utilization:

Dark Sage
Sage
Soft Green
Aqua Mint
Pagoda
Ocean
Dark Country Blue
Country Blue
Light Country Blue
Soft Blue

Starting with the Dk Sage and working my way out to the Soft Blue and then reverse.

All are Caron Simply Soft. I purchased 2 skeins of each color, but will likely need more for the outer green rows. I won’t know til I get there. Joann’s did not have the Country Blue, so I had to go to Michael’s for that one, as I didn’t like the jump from Dk Country Blue to Lt Country Blue.

This is a very easy pattern, and the result is very cool.

I changed the start a bit using a Magic Ring, then expansion row, and picking up the pattern a bit in row three, then completely in row four. I wanted the center to stand out a bit, so I did 5 rows of the Dk sage before the black row. I went with 3 rows of color with a row of black between each color.

Each black row in my version has the 5DC peak. Then the 3-rows of color have the 7DC peak as indicated in the pattern.

Currently finishing up row 36, with well over 500 stitches to the row. Be prepared, it gets monotonous. At least it’s easy to do while watching TV or pick up for a couple minutes here and there between other tasks.
 
Unfortunately, I foresee this as one of those projects that gets tossed to the side.

My intention is to pick up some little projects here and there to keep my enthusiasm for this gigantic mass of yarn from going stale.

We'll see!  Enjoy!

Granny Squares

(***Tip for attaching traditional Granny Squares while making them, included at the bottom.***)

Yes, even though I am clearly not done with the new afghan for the couch, I'm already planning my next project.

I mentioned previously, I get bored easily, so monotonous projects tend to take me months, while small or ever changing stuff I can get done in a day or few depending on the size of the project.


I'm considering a new granny square. I spent the last week flipping through thousands of images of granny squares or variations thereof. Some are more detailed than others, which of course has made me now desperately want to start one.

Problem. Granny squares are insanely repetitive, and then there's the part about sewing all the pieces together. Ug.....

The last granny square I started, was 5 years ago. 256 pieces in 4 colors. I made all the pieces. I sewed 18 of them together, and the rest sit in grocery bags at the bottom of a box. I found out about 2 years after making all the pieces, that there's an easier way to attach them. I'll include this little tip a bit later. So, spend countless hours sewing them all together and tucking all the ends? Or maybe throw them out and start over? Make 4 scarves, or any number of random other projects? Meh, alone they sit at the bottom of a box.

So how about spicing up the granny squares? 100 different patterns? Perhaps. Still though, sewing them all together is very frustrating, as is tucking 200+ ends.

Then looking at pictures like those posted below, makes me want to grab every scrap of yarn I have and get started.

By zigeunerfliede on Flickr

By peterp on Flickr

By Judith*Green on Flickr

Meme-Rose.blogspot.com

We'll see what I decide to do in the coming weeks.

On to joining:

There are many different ways to join pieces. I'm sure I've tried all of them. The easiest way to join traditional granny squares that I've found, is to join them while you make them.

1) Complete one square(Square A).
2) When beginning the final row of your 2nd square(Square B), line up with A.
3) Proceed with the pattern normally up to the first corner. Complete your three DC, ch 1.
4) Complete a sl st in the ch 1 corner sp on A, ch 1, continue with 3 DC to finish out your corner on B. Your corners should now be connected with a sl st.
5) 3 DC in next ch 1 sp on B, this should bring you to the next ch 1 space on A. Instead of ch 1, sl st to ch 1 on A, then ch 1, and then 3DC in next ch 1 space on B. Continue in pattern to corner.
6) Repeat steps 3 and 4, and continue with remainder of row.

The above steps will join Squares A, B, and C. When joining square D to complete a 4-square granny square, in the middle, you'll want to sl st in to the corner for both squares B and C. This will help to hold the entire set together.

In text this process can be very confusing. Sometimes it's just easier to see it in pictures. I found this pictorial walk-through from Sarah London Textiles to be incredibly helpful: How To Join Granny Squares

Happy hooking!