365 days

Day 4 – Mitered Memory Blanket

stargrace July 16, 2018 1Comment

So I completed the first ‘goal’ of my mitered memory blanket – a 3×3 square. 9 squares total. Then I had to make a decision. I could continue adding to it, making it larger and larger until it’s the size I want – or – I could start on a second 3×3 piece, and then crochet them together with a border around it.

I decided to go with the second choice for a few reasons. Number one, I don’t have a ton of different colours of sock yarn scraps, and I’m bound to repeat colours each 3×3 block. If I break those blocks up into chunks with a black border separating each section I think this will help combat the repetitiveness.

I also just think it will look neat. So instead of being one giant blanket of smaller squares, it will be small squares within squares within a square blanket… teehee. Next step is to begin a second 3×3 – then I can practice crocheting the two together and see how it looks.

Day 3 – Mitered Memory Blanket

stargrace July 15, 2018 0Comment

I love the yellow swatch in the blanket – and the whole thing is starting to feel so soft and comfortable! I am hoping to complete at least one tile a day, but I know that’s a pretty optimistic goal. Still, I’m not doing too shabby!

Day 2 – Fingerless Gloves

stargrace July 14, 2018 0Comment

I’m beta testing some amazing yarn which I’ll get into in another post – but I wanted to show off how awesome the cables look, neat and defined. I’m knitting a pair of fingerless gloves (my first) and have learned a few new terms.

LC (left cross) and RC (right cross)

These are cable terms, at least for this pattern here at Purl soho (which happens to be free if someone else wants to give them a knit). They’re not particularly complicated terms, but I’m used to doing cables with a simple C6F or C6B and I’ve never encountered these stitches before. Once I’m done 2 rounds of cables it’ll be onto the thumbs – sigh. Gussets. The bane of my existence. We shall see how that goes.

I also had a quick refresher course in M1L and M1R (make one left, make one right) but seemed to pick it up without too much issue. Hopefully these gloves turn out, because the yarn is just yummy and I can’t wait to wear them!

Inspired – Day 1

stargrace July 13, 2018 2Comments

I love inspiration. It motivates me to be a better person, to try harder, and to not give up when things get difficult (which they always do). My inspiration this week comes from a very special blog where the writer has been posting just about every single day for a year about her creative endeavors. I am pretty sure I won’t be able to post every day or even do something creative every day (especially since Wednesday I’m expecting my daughter to arrive) BUT that doesn’t mean I’m not still motivated, and that I wouldn’t love to at least try.

I figured it was fitting since this ends her first year that it marks the beginning of my first one. So let’s consider this day one, and see where we end up. Hopefully we get some neat creative things done along the way – but if not, that’s OK too. Remember the goal here is to challenge myself and to inspire and motivate myself to keep up, not to berate myself if I fall behind or have a few days where the creative juices are just not flowing.

For today I’m starting off with a square on my mitered memory blanket. I’m up to 7 now and it’s starting to feel more like a piece of cloth rather than just weird squares of yarn. It’s soft and squishy, and as I knit it I imagine Llama Bean or Nugette taking it to college with them to keep warm and remind them of home. It doesn’t LOOK like much right now, it will require blocking and a boarder (and to be much larger, of course) but I can see it in my mind. Each square tells a story. Not all of the yarn came from my stash, either. A lot was donated through a christmas exchange (if you’ve got spare fingering yarn you want to donate it takes less than 25 grams to make a square, just drop me a message here or on twitter and we can see about an exchange!) that I’m very grateful for. Some squares tell my story of learning to knit socks, staying up late working on baby clothes, or just trying to de-stress from the day. Other squares tell the stories from other people. That’s what I love about projects like this. Plus you can never have too many home made blankets…