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.