Show And Tell #27 - I Love These Colors!

Sorry for the delay! My computer decided to be a jerk. :/

Onto the show notes!



If you see Amy or me at the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival on Saturday, please come over and say, "hi." We'd be delighted to meet you!

Life

- I saw Cabaret on Sunday and OMG, it was so good! The story ends on a depressing sort of note, but the performance was excellent and the cast was great!

- The weekend before, we made the trip down south to visit with family and attend my cousin's baby shower. I delivered presents to my family that I'd been holding onto (like the hat I made for my mom and the KitKat hat I made for my niece). At the baby shower, I gave my cousin the baby blanket I made for the Expansion Baby Blanket video. I picked those colors out with her and her new little one in mind and she LOVES it. I'm glad I could make her happy and visit with everyone.

FO's

- Vintage Rose Potholder - pattern by Pammy Sue Scott -- I used a G 4.25 mm hook and some random cotton yarn. The white and red are Sugar N Creme and I think the green is I Love This Cotton.

WIPs

- Spinning got a little love this time. Fiber and spindle by Turtle Made.

- Blazing June cardigan by Cheryl Naimeth -- It's been a while since I showed this one and only have a few inches of progress to show you, but I love it! The yarn is Knit Picks Hawthorne in Blackbird and Slate. I'm using Chiaogoo interchangeables in the 3.75 mm (US 5) size. It's a bit too bag for the Fat Squirrel Fibers bag I'm using to house it.

- Mitts for me! -- I'm using Cascade 220 Superwash Sport in black and daffodil. I still haven't checked the needle size, but I want to say they're size 5 as well. The mitts are living in a SouthPaw Creations project bag.

- Basic socks also for me! -- I'm using Knit Picks Felici in Gummy Bear, 2.5 mm needles, and a Fat Squirrel Fibers sheepy bag to keep it all together. These will be a little longer than I usually make socks for me because I love these colors!!!

Buys

- Joann's had a sale plus a coupon so I bought beads and charms. Those pandas are so cute!

- I bought some Golden Snitch sweater pins from Little Tesoros Gifts and these are so freaking cute! I think I'll post a picture over on Instagram to show the detail.

Watched and Read

- We watched Keanu on Saturday and it was really funny! The cat was freaking adorable too!

- I'm reading the Key Trilogy by Nora Roberts. So far so good. Just some light reading to tide me over until a library hold comes in. :)

Show And Tell # 25 - New Pattern Equals YAY

The deadline approaches for the Birthday Craft-Along, so be sure to get your entries in over on the Crafting With Claudie Ravelry group before the end of this month for a chance to win 2 skeins of Knit Picks Felici in Candy Jar!

FO's

- Kaiya Mei hat by Jamie Hoffman -- I did this pattern as written including needle sizes. For the yarn, I used Red Heart Soft in White and Watercolors.

- KitKat Hat by Andre Sue Knits -- I used Red Heart Soft Watercolors and it pooled/flashed so interestingly! The way the colorway is formed and my tension made most of the body of the hat look like columns! I used the recommended needles, but I cast on 76 stitches.

- Expansion Baby Blanket by Crafting With Claudie -- Yep, that's me! I posted the tutorial/pattern last Monday so check it out for all the details. The pdf version should be on Ravelry in the near future!

WIPs

- Flaming June Cardigan by Cheryl Naimath --  I call this one Freezing January because that's when I started it. :) I am using Knit Picks Hawthorne in Blackbird and Slate and my US 5 3.75mm Chiaogoo interchangeable needles. It's living in my Fat Squirrel Fibers project bag. The stitch marker is from Sucre Sucre Miniatures.

- Still working on the cross-stitch pattern from RHT Embroidery. Platform 9 3/4 needle minder is from Delicious Threads.

Buys

- The Webs Anniversary sale got me! So I bought a 16 inch circular interchangeable Knitter's Pride Nova Platina set. I also had to pick up a skein of James C Brett Marble Chunky in Blue Violet/MC31 because it was on a heavy sale and Mingmow enabled me by showing off a skein she bought, haha! It did cause me to break one of my 2016 Crafty Goals, but I don't feel too bad about it!

- I also got some wonderful candles and smelly good things from Bubble and Geek.

Life

- I did a little work in the kitchen. I had to replace the bazillion year old caulk around the countertop and paint the backsplash and wall something other than the not-so-great color they've been since the previous owners made that (horrible) decision. Lesson -- after buying a house don't wait so long to make updates, haha. :)

- I finally decluttered the guest room. That is the place where things linger for years. So, I got to say goodbye to exciting things like my senior prom dress, picture frames, and curtains. Oh, and a LOT of extra hangers that were in the closet in there.

Media

- I caught up on Supernatural finally.

- The latest seasons of Archer and Bojack Horseman were finished (and enjoyed).

- Currently watching the second season of Salem.

- I forgot to mention that I listened to the Coldest Girl in Coldtown audiobook by Holly Black. I'll talk about that next time.

Expansion - Crochet Baby Blanket

Expansion Baby Blanket

I was inspired by some of those gorgeous and fun knitted miter square blankets out there being made from mini-skeins and scraps. Instead of doing small squares, I decided to just make one big one and break it up with different colors.

The Expansion Baby Blanket starts out small and works its way big giving you the ability to make this blanket any size you want! This pattern is very customizable. You can use whatever yarn you like in whatever color scheme you like. You can even change up the patterned rows!

If you'd rather have a pdf version, feel free to go to Ravelry and download now.

Pattern Notes

- The turning chain counts as a stitch in this pattern.

- If you find your chains are too loose, feel free to only ch 2 for the turning chain and/or increase section {2 dc, ch 3, 2 dc}.

- I recommend changing colors in the following way:  Start the final dc of the row before you are to change colors as normal. Yarn over, insert hook, yarn over, pull through, yarn over, pull through 2, yarn over with new color, pull through 2. Leaving a 5+ inch tail, cut old color and loosely tie the tails from new and old colors to be woven in later.

- If you want to double check your stitch count, closed rows should equal 4 times the row #.

- In the video tutorial, I refer to the rows as open or closed. Open rows are the ones containing ch 1 instructions. Closed rows are the ones where you dc across in each st and/or in the ch 1 sp.

Final Measurements

36" x 36"

Materials

- Yarn - 1000 yards of Caron Simply Soft [I used 2 ounces/ 100 yards of (Color A) Grey Heather, 7 ounces/ 350 yards of (Color B) White, and 11 ounces/ 550 yards of (Color C) Sunshine]
- H 5.00 mm Crochet Hook
- Measuring Tape
- Scissors
- Tapestry Needle

Gauge

After 6 rows of pattern, 3 1/8" / 8 cm.

Abbreviations

Ch = chain

Dc = double crochet stitch

St = stitch

Sp = space

Instructions

Row 1:  With Color A, ch 4; in 4th ch from hook {1 dc, ch 3, 2 dc}; ch 3; turn.

Row 2:  In next st, 1 dc; In ch 3 sp {2 dc, ch 3, 2 dc}; 1 dc in each st; ch 3; turn.

Row 3:  1 dc in next st and each st until ch 3 sp; in ch 3 sp {2 dc, ch 3, 2 dc}; 1 dc in each st; ch 3; turn.

Row 4:  Repeat Row 3.

Row 5:  1 dc in next st; *ch 1, skip 1, dc in next st*; repeat * - * until 1 st from ch 3 sp; in ch 3 sp {2 dc, ch 3, 2 dc}; repeat * - * until 1 st from end; dc in last st; ch 3, turn.

Row 6:  1 dc in next st and in each st and ch sp until ch 3 sp; in ch 3 sp {2 dc, ch 3, 2 dc}; 1 dc in each st and ch 1 sp; ch 3; turn.

Rows 7 - 9:  1 dc in next st and each st until ch 3 sp; in ch 3 sp {2 dc, ch 3, 2 dc}; 1 dc in each st; ch 3; turn.

Row 10:  1 dc in next st; *ch 1, skip 1, dc in next st*; repeat * - * until 1 st from ch 3 sp; in ch 3 sp {2 dc, ch 3, 2 dc}; repeat * - * until 1 st from end; dc in last st; ch 3, turn.

Row 11:  1 dc in next st and in each st and ch sp until ch 3 sp; in ch 3 sp {2 dc, ch 3, 2 dc}; 1 dc in each st and ch 1 sp; ch 3; turn.

Repeat Rows 7 - 11 3 more times. Change to Color B before finalizing last st.

Row 27:  1 dc in next st and each st until ch 3 sp; in ch 3 sp {2 dc, ch 3, 2 dc}; 1 dc in each st; ch 3; turn.

Row 28:  1 dc in next st and each st until ch 3 sp; in ch 3 sp {2 dc, ch 3, 2 dc}; 1 dc in each st; ch 3; turn.

Row 29:  1 dc in next st; *ch 1, skip 1, dc in next st*; repeat * - * until 1 st from ch 3 sp; in ch 3 sp {2 dc, ch 3, 2 dc}; repeat * - * until 1 st from end; dc in last st; ch 3, turn.

Row 30:  1 dc in next st and in each st and ch sp until ch 3 sp; in ch 3 sp {2 dc, ch 3, 2 dc}; 1 dc in each st and ch 1 sp; ch 3; turn.

Rows 31: 1 dc in next st and each st until ch 3 sp; in ch 3 sp {2 dc, ch 3, 2 dc}; 1 dc in each st; ch 3; turn.

Repeat Rows 28 - 31 5 more times. Change to Color C before finalizing last st.

Row 52:  1 dc in next st and each st until ch 3 sp; in ch 3 sp {2 dc, ch 3, 2 dc}; 1 dc in each st; ch 3; turn.

Row 53:  1 dc in next st; *ch 1, skip 1, dc in next st*; repeat * - * until 1 st from ch 3 sp; in ch 3 sp {2 dc, ch 3, 2 dc}; repeat * - * until 1 st from end; dc in last st; ch 3, turn.

Row 54:  1 dc in next st and in each st and ch sp until ch 3 sp; in ch 3 sp {2 dc, ch 3, 2 dc}; 1 dc in each st and ch 1 sp; ch 3; turn.

Row 55:  1 dc in next st and each st until ch 3 sp; in ch 3 sp {2 dc, ch 3, 2 dc}; 1 dc in each st; ch 3; turn.

Repeat Rows 53 - 55 7 more times. [Total 76 rows]

Bind off and weave in ends.