Fish Blanket

I've been working steadily on putting the Fish Blanket together.

 All the vertical stripes are done and now it's just a matter of crocheting the horizontal stripes.

 Still a few rows to go, but mostly done.  A border will need to be added as the ends do not line up as neatly as I had hoped.   I'm not quite sure what type of border this needs or even what color.

 My favorite fish.  I love the fun and happy color of this one!

 The back of this blanket along with the book I am currently reading.  I am almost done with it and have enjoyed it immensely so far.

A close up of how this method of attaching pieces together looks on the back.   Kind of reminds me of Frankenstein!

Look over at Tamis's and Ginny's for more yarny type fun.

One-A-Day Progress

This week was fairly productive. Doesn't hurt that we had an extra AP Chem tutoring session (those are 1 1/2 hours each) and we also went to the beach where I got some fabulous knitting time in. What could be better that spending time running in and out of the waves with the kids and then sitting for a bit knitting?? Not much!

My 7 hexies - a couple of them are a little "special".

Love this one! Will be making more of these in different color combinations.

I tried something new with these. The one on the left is knit intarsia like where I actually knit the green and orange stitches with the background stitches. The hexi on the right is done with duplicate stitch. I can't figure out why they are so differently shaped - the one on the right is the right shape, but you can see the one on the left is way skinnier and taller. What happened??
I like the duplicate stitch a bit better because it sits on top of the stitches and therefore produces a more 3-D like picture. It was not as fiddly as I thought it was going to be and actually took the same amount of time as the other one.
This one was way fiddly - with the threads constantly twisting and tangling in the back. Still it did not take as long as I thought - approximately 50% more time that just a regular hexi.
Naked needles :o( This is the first time in a few years that there have been no fish on these needles. They have served me well (and will again in the future). I am happy that I am done knitting the fish, but a little sad also. How crazy is that?!! I hope someone understands me because my husband thinks I am bonkers.
The last 5 fish - I will organize the last 5 rows needed probably this week and continue to crochet them together. Now......to border or not to border that is the question
The required 7 mini grannies for the teddy bear afghan. These whip up so quickly it is almost embarrassing that I am including them in my one-a-day projects.

This was the kite afghan as it stood last week.

This is where it is at now. I kind of had a problem stopping at just 7 kites! It is almost wide enough now so a few more on the outsides and then I will just keep building.

I just love some of the colors - That magenta, orange and white one is a favorite

as well as this crazy green and purple one.

I just knit this big one last night. They are the equivalent of about 4 of the regular kites so they take a bit of time.

Well, I'm off to make lunches for the kidlets to take to school. Have fun today!

Tuesday Tallies

The class quilts are done and hanging in the classrooms until later this week when I take them down and bring them to be hung at the auction site. It seems as if everyone likes them, so I am hopeful we can bring in some good money - we need so many things at the school.

Here are the next 7 hexies. If you look closely, there are 2 that are smaller than the rest. As I was trying to make some of those cute hexies from charts that clever people have designed, I realized that I have been making my puffs two rows less than they should be! ARRGH!! I am not going to re-do all the ones I have already made - I am hoping that I can kind of "wing it" when I am sewing them together. Notice the striped one up there, you will see more of those to come. Also, I think I am going to try some Mario Bros Characters soon. This is the perfect project to learn new skills!
The next 7 fish. Only 5 more to knit *sigh*. Yes, I am glad to see this project nearing it's end, but somehow I think I am going to miss knitting fish. Crazy, I know!
I didn't have time to sew all the squares from the last couple of weeks into the next section, but I did knit 7 squares for the third section. I don't think I will ever get tired of these. They make up so quickly, if I let myself I think I could be done with the crochet in a week or so!
This blanket is quite clever in it's construction. Instead of knitting up tons of little kites and then sewing them together, you pick up the sides of two previously knitted kites and knit up just like you have started a new one.

The kites with the stitch markers laying on them are the new kites, I have 6 regular ones and then started one big one at the top. These kites are becoming an addiction! I love to see the new ones "growing" out of the blanket.

There is one big mistake though - the directions said to start with a provisional cast-on, but since (in true form for me) I hadn't really read the pattern through and couldn't imagine why you might need this type of cast-on (and I don't know how to do that kind of cast-on yet), I just went ahead and used a long tail cast-on. Well.......you need the live stitches provided by the provisional cast-on at the edges to make an I-cord edging. The next "free" squares I make, I will make with the provisional cast-on and I will hope that just picking up and knitting some stitches at the edge of what I already have will be "good enough".

The original pattern can be found here and was made with sock yarn. Mine is being made from cotton so hopefully will go a bit faster, but will not have as many kites.

One-a-Day

I barely managed to meet my one-a-day requirements this week. Been feverishly working on getting the second class quilt complete - still not done. It should be done in the next few days :o)

7 hexies - so far this is my favorite yarn because of the patterns it makes all by itself.

7 fish - only 12 more to go and then I don't need to knit anymore!! WAHOO!!

10 squares - I only needed these ten to finish up the next section and I couldn't stop until they were done :o)

Only 5 kites this week

Someone turned 14 and requested a special cake - my double chocolate bundt cake. I poured melted chocolate into the heart sections.

She's so big and capable!! Do you see the ironing board and fabric in the background? These have taken up residence in my dining room for the last several weeks. I bet my hubby will be glad when these things go home and we can have our dining room back!!
7yo and one of his good friends from down the street. Notice the handle bar mustache he drew on his face to emulate his cousin who used to have a real one!!

See you all next time :o)

Tuesday Tallies

I am excited to be a part of "Tuesday Tallies" or "One-a-Day" as it's also called.

7 more hexies - I think maybe next week I will show a picture of the bowl they are all in - it's getting pretty full now :o)
More fish- I am getting to the end now - my next picture of this project will probably not be of fish, but of some of them sewn together. I am hoping it goes quickly!
More squares for the gingerbread bear blanket - almost enough to make the next section - I can hardly wait!!
THEN....because I have wanted to do these for a long time - I started another one-a-day. Kites to also sew into a blanket :o) These are super easy and super quick - although not quite as quick as the crochet squares for the gingerbread bear blanket.

More one-a-day goodness here!

Tuesday Tallies

It's Tuesday once again! This week I barely squeaked under the wire with my one-a-days. I have been working on two class quilts and that seems to be taking up quite a bit of my time.

7 more hexi puffs

7 more fish - I absolutely adore the wild yellow, orange, and green ones!

7 more mini grannies - I am almost at the point where I can sew the next section together and then attach it to the first, but that will wait for a while.

I am not sure I will make my next Tuesday Tallies - I must work on these quilts and get them ready for the auction. Only time will tell......

Lots of Tuesday Tallies over at Gingerbread Girls' place :o)

Lovely Weekend

Sunday was just beautiful weather wise. It was so warm and sunny. Unfortunately, oldest daughter had to study - what better place to study than outside!! Warm, sunny weather makes AP Chem much more palatable!!

Studying and beading.

Reading - her VERY favorite past time!

I was cleaning and working on a class quilt to be auctioned off at our school auction. The kids came in and dragged me outside to be with them. Boy am I glad I went!! It was so very relaxing to just sit and crochet at the little table they brought out there for me. Hanging out with the girls in the sun was the best thing I could have done! Laundry, dishes, floors, and fabric cutting could all wait..... These was R.E.L.A.X.I.N.G. to be done :o)
Working between beading and writing a story. She said her ideas come to her more freely whens she is working on something else. Like mother, like daughter :o)

More Chem - poor girl

7 more hexis - 28 in all

7 more fish. Last week I laid them all out on the table. Well, not all of them, there were too many. I started arranging them in rows and discovered that I now have 140 fish. Only 40 more to knit less these 7. WOO HOO!!! If I keep up with these Tuesday Tallies, I could be done with the knitting in about 6 more weeks- I just can't believe it!
7 more bear pieces :o) Eyes, nose, parts of ears and face. I had a really hard time with that nose and it is not done as the pattern calls for. I just couldn't figure it out. After a few hours and more rip outs than I could count, I just fudged it and made my own nose square. I might go back in the future and try to make it again, but for now I am happy with this one.

Head on over to Carole's for more Tuesday Tallies.

Tuesday Tallies

Another week has flown by - It is amazing to me how quickly time seems to be moving lately. I think having these weekly check-ins (and deadlines :o) is helping that feeling right along :o)

7 more hexies - 28 total

7 more fish - ?? total - I need to get that all sorted so I can put some of them together.

7 small grannies - these are for the bear itself - I think I will tackle the eye grannies for this week.

For more "One-a-day Project Tuesday Tallies" head on over to Gingerbread Girl.

Tuesday Tallies

It is Tuesday once again, and I have faithfully made up my one a day project pieces. I am really loving this way of working (for a whole two weeks now!). When I am done with 7 of one project, I move on to the next and when I am done with all three of my projects, I am free to work on something else. I finished my required pieces two days ago and pulled out the granny stripe afghan from Attic24 and began working on that. Amazingly enough, there was not as much left to do as I thought - weave in the ends and put a border around it - really not that much! I'm not quite sure why it wound up banished to a box?? But without further ado, I present today's tallies:

7 more fish. I think I will start sewing these guys together soon - I have more than 100 of them so far.

7 more hexi puffs - 14 altogether

7 tiny granny squares - 14 altogether - my plan is to sew this together in panels so the next square up for next week will by a two color square. Half one color and half the other. I'm not quite sure how this will work out, but I will fiddle around with the instructions for a bit.

As always, take a look over at Carole's blog for more Tuesday tallies.