Flowers, Continued

I've still been working hard on the flower manufacturing. In a Babette, the squares you'll need the most of is small squares, so I've been trying to focus on making tiny squares.

New squares:


The small one on the far left is made with all new blues. I've got a spreadsheet going, to make sure I have something resembling a uniform distribution (I'd discovered I was using "delft" a lot more than I'd thought). So, I've had to name the blues something descriptive, which I could remember. Some of the tags on my older blue yarn have long since disappeared, so I created new names. I am able to use the tagged name of the yarn on the new blues, which worked for "robin" and "aqua," but the third was "Cadet." If someone told you a color was "cadet," would you know it was a shade of blue? After discussing it with hubby, who suggested "Soldier Uniform Blue," we went with "Atlantic." It's a grayish blue, like the color of the ocean. Sort of.

At one point during the month, hubby inadvertently took my modified pattern for the baby squares to work. So, with only the original pattern to work with, I decided to make another "different" square. For the most part, my squares have blue for the center, petals, and border, with a white background. I decided to make another all blue square, for fun.

All the different squares are below: I think the white petals photograph better, but I like the blue, blue ones better in real life.


Of course, none of the ends are woven in yet. Hubby will be home all next week and sedentary. I told him that he could work on weaving in ends, but he just laughed...

For the record, the shades of blue I've got going are:
Atlantic
Aqua
Baby**
Dark*
Delft
Denim*
Grey*
Navy
Robin
Royal
Turquoise
Varigated
White

* Out of this yarn
** Crazy thick yarn

From Birds to Daisies!

It's been awhile. When I last left you, I had finished backgrounding the birds, and was starting to think about putting them together. Which was where I hit a bit of a brick wall. Not only do I have to figure out HOW to sew these things together, they are all wonky-shaped.

So, then I decided to work on my daisy afghan. See, it's made of squares that you put together. I still would have to figure out how to sew them together, but at least the squares would make figuring it out easier, right? Only, I haven't enough squares yet...

Thus, I'm making more daisy squares. See, it's not unrelated to my birdie afghan!

A further complication: I decided to make this afghan in the "Babette" style, ie squares of different sizes. I had gotten frustrated with this before, in trying to figure out how to arrange the squares together. I'd tried to come up with a plan, which would then tell me how many squares of what sizes I needed to make. But, that was too frustrating, so I just decided to make squares.

Enough words, let's get to the pictures!
The above picture is the standard square, which in my world ranges from 6.75 in to 8 in.

Above, is the oversize squares, ranging from 9 in to 9.5 in. The square on the bottom right has had a row added to the center, and two additional rows to the petals. And is crocheted uber-tightly (why?) The square on the bottom left uses an uber-thick yarn for the petals. I had to keep redoing this, I just couldn't crochet loosely! I ended up switching between needles, to a fat one for the petals, and something more normal for the white, which is why the petal tips appear to go right to the border. Probably could have added an extra row of white on this one.


Lastly, the smalls and minis. Smalls range from 5.5 in to 6.5in, and the minis are 3.75 in to 4.25 in.

I'm still debating on the minis. I think the six petals look better (aren't crocheted deathly tight), but then they're different from the rest of the daisies. The minis are made by converting all dc (in the center, flower, and background rows coinciding with petal rows) to sc. The background rows after the flower is finished is left the same. Some final squaring off also occurs in the border round.

The small on the bottom right is on the verge of not getting used. I had modified the pattern to make it smaller, but the petals are too skinny on it for my tastes. Not when using a finer yarn (the varigated and royal blue) work just as well, and maintain a consistent pattern.


Just in case you doubted the size variability.

Last Bird Wrap

Last of the birds was backgrounded. Now it'll be time to think about how to put these together!

Today's Programming is Brought to You By.... A Wrinkly Bird

After a two month hiatus, I came back to the bird afghan. Actually, I found another pattern that I want to make, but I have to finish something first!! And you can tell it's been awhile, I've forgotten tricks to make the bird lie flat! This one is quite wrinkly. Oh, well.

Just one more bird to go! And, HEY! Somebody didn't weave in his ends!! I hate weaving in ends. I tried to get hubby to do it, he volunteered to rotate laundry instead. Booo!

Big Bird?

I was trying to decide how many blue stitches to put in between his beak, so I was moving the beak up and down. Seemed like he was talking to me, so I started squawking back at him. Hubby may think I'm a bit crazy... This bird also has really long legs, so he shall be referred to as Big Bird.

And what happened to spring? Last weekend was just a warm fluke! So sad!

Whooah, we're halfway there!

La-la-la-la! We'll make it, I swear! Whooah! (my favorite Bon Jovi song. Whoooa!)



Three birdies have been "backgrounded" and three more to go. And then I have to put them together, but anyway. First thing's first!

Note to self: One standard skein (6 oz) of Simply Soft does the background for about 2.5 birds. So, I'd need a bit less than three to do the background on six birds. Plus the middle connecting bit. I bought four, so we'll see how far that goes.

With the advent of Spring-like weather, I imagine that progress on the afghan will go slower. I've the usual outdoor chores that come from having a lot of land and two horses at home, but now we've got Super Garden (it's going to be THREE times as big as last years! Whoooa!) And hubby has declared that two horses do not make sufficient manure. So, can I get another one? Pretty please?!

Birdie Numero Dos!

Here is birdie number two. This one, I tried to crochet in concentric rings, in alternating rows of double and single crochet. I think it turned out pretty good! The birds are getting quite large, this is going to be a big blanket! Not some little bitty baby afghan!

Birds in the Sky

Well, that picture didn't turn out so great. I promise, the background is a light baby blue, not white/cream. It is undeniably blue!

Anyway, we finally picked up some light blue for the background. Snow is still around, by the way. Melt, already!!

This part is where is really starts getting freeform. The pattern is just, use any stitch you want (even made up stitches) and fill in around the bird, until you have a nice blob shape, that will be easy (or at least, easier) to attach the other pieces to. As a result, it's quite difficult to get to lay flat. It's mostly pretty good, except for the wings. Oh well.

Baby Bird?

The guilty yarn eater.

So, I attempted to make a baby bird, with my "blue sock yarn." Turns out, it's a "aqua ombre" I Love This Cotton yarn. More green than blue, really. I used a smaller needle with it, and the head still turned out the same size as the other bird heads. To make matters worse, this was a yarn that Puzzle (my hubby's sheltie) had munched on, forcing me to cut some strands out, and join new strands on.

The question now is, do I want a seventh bird, or a baby bird? I've already had to use a blue/green in another bird, so the lack of blue-ness doesn't bother me so much. But I'd thought a baby bird would be cute! Maybe if I don't give him an eye? And maybe no legs? Or would that just look like a demented bird? (Definitely not doing this on a red background, even though that contrast would look nice...) I've done some sketches, but I'm just not feeling it.

I thought I could at least be productive and weave in more ends, but that's just no fun. So I'll just stew for awhile.

Last of the Birds

I finished the last two birds (of the six main ones). Now I'm just weaving in all those dreaded ends!

I haven't decided yet what to do on the "bonus" creature. Baby multi-blue bird or a worm? I could try making them, and see how they turn out!

More birds!

We've got a ton of snow, roads are closed, as is work! Hurrah! So, time for more birds!

I've got a mix of yarns here. Some Red Heart, some Lion Brand Jiffy, and some Vanna's Choice. Red Heart is definitely my least favorite. It just feels yucky!

I don't have yarn for the background yet. It seems that most people who have made this use white for the background. I'd really rather some other color. Most of my birds are blue, so I'm not sure how a blue sky background would look. I did find one person who use a baby blue for the background, with one blue bird (others were purple, red, and green). I think it looks pretty good. So, plan is to find a light baby blue for the background! Whenever it stops snowing, that is!

And, are my birds getting bigger?

I originally had six blues, but I'm running dangerously low on one of the blues (the gray blue). I have some of the blue/green left from my sampler that I could use for the wings on one of the birds. I decided that since I'm down a color, I won't do bird inverses (torquiose bird with navy wings/tail and a navy bird with torquiose wings/tail).

Most of the blues are leftovers from other projects. The gray blue was from a sheep afghan, the colonial from a LEGO mini-fig afghan, the navy from a Penn State scarf, the royal from a heart afghan, and the delft was leftover from some Special Olympics scarfs that I made. That's some yarn stash busting!

Plan:
1. Torquiose w/Navy
2. Royal w/Delft
3. Gray w/Colonial
4. Navy w/Royal
5. Colonial w/Torquiose
6. Delft w/Green

I've got one blue multi-colored from a sock project. But none of my socks are turning out right. It's a thinner yarn, maybe it would make a cute baby bird? Or maybe I should make a worm? First things first, make the six birds! Two more to go.

BONUS: They've closed work for tomorrow, too. So I should be able to get the last two birds done. Then I can decide what "bonus" critters to add.

Time for Some Bluebirds!

Can I have some friends?

I'm out of yarn for the sampler afghan, and instead of running into town, I started working on another afghan that's been hibbernating for awhile. I'd made a neon torquiose bird for a freeform afghan (and wove the ends in, amazing!) He seemed pretty lonely, so I started working on some more birds to keep him company. I've got a fairly good stash of blue yarn (it's supposed to be for a Babbette daisy afghan, which is also hibbernating...)

Concentric, Alternating Circles Square

I asked hubby to pick out another square from my list for me to make. He picked out this one, found here. It looks pretty cool.

I had to go back to work, so it's been awhile since I made a square for this project, and now I'm running out of yarn! Time to run to the store!

Wonky Square Square

This is hubby's favorite. Found here.

Another Cable Square

I made this scarf last year as a Christmas present. I added some stitches on either side to bring it to 7" wide. Pattern is available here. It curls a lot!

Horse Square, Take Two

This is an adaptation of an MC Esher print, as created here. I cut it down to fit a 25 by 25 square. I also had to recreate my own chart in two colors, in the colors I was using, otherwise, I'd keep losing my place. I think the horses are hard to see initially, but I really like it. This one will get added to the sampler. I'm still not sure how I feel about the previous horse square.

Horse Square

I used the grid found here. I added some extra space all around to make it a 7" square. But I don't think I like it. It looks more like the Democrat donkey than a horse. Or, it's a horse with a very sad tail! Maybe I won't use this one in the afghan.