Ripple Goodness

It's been a while since I have finished a blanket for Handmade Hugs. So I started this one during the last week of December.

The ripple pattern always goes by so fast.

I did four rows of each colour, all in medium weight yarn from donate yarn or yarn from my own stash.

I worked on it while binge-watching the Mindy Project on Netflix. I love that show! I love Mindy! And Danny!

It was finished on Jan. 1 - my first FO of 2017!

Stash bust

Spring has come and gone, and I tried to do some spring cleaning, really I did! I started with my yarn stash. Oh boy.

WHO has this much yarn? Well, me. And this isn't even all of it. BUT I cleaned it out and got rid of a lot. In fact, last week, I dropped off two HUGE bags of yarn for Handmade Hugs - it's funny, because I usually pick up yarn from them! But someone else can make use of it, instead of it just sitting shoved in the back of my closet. I also dropped off two finished blankets for them, the green granny and the granny stripe blanket.

I also took the time to organize the yarn that I kept in a nice fashion. I have 2 big clear plastic bins, filled with beautiful yarn. As well as a couple of smaller containers. It's a huge improvement - now I can find like colours and weights. Wheee, yarn!

Granny Stripe Blanket done

Here it is, all done: 

I used all kinds of medium weight yarn that I got from Handmade Hugs, plus a few from my own stash.

The aqua edging is a bit lighter in weight, but tied everything together nicely.

It's 51 x 41 inches - I think that's big enough for a twin size blanket. I'm sad to see this one go, it's so colourful and happy, I had a lot of fun making it!

Shamrock Granny all done

I finished another blanket, the green granny one I was working on.

I love how it turned out!

It's so nice for spring, with all those lovely shades of green.

I'll call it the Shamrock Granny :)

Even More Stripes

And the stripes go on...

I hope I have enough for a twin sized blanket. I have the width but not quite the length I want. 

More Stripes

I've made some more progress on my granny stripe blanket, see?

The hardest part is deciding what colour should come next, and seeing if I have enough for 3 lines of it.

But it's coming together nicely!

Boxes o' Yarn

Every so often I go on to Craig's List and see if there is yarn for sale. I know I have a lot of yarn, but I want MORE yarn. ALL THE YARN!

Well I found a posting for yarn and fabric. A man had cleaned out his mom's stash and was selling a whole bunch of balls for about 50 cents a piece. The only catch was you had to take the whole box. Um, no problem.

Me and my husband drove out to his place on a rainy, rainy night. We picked up 4 boxes for $80. WHEEEEE!!!

These are only a few shots of the yarn. Mostly acrylics but wow, is there ever a lot of it! 

I'm thinking of starting my own little operation for Handmade Hugs. I discovered them back in 2013 and have been making stuff for them ever since - mostly blankets. I can teach others how to knit and crochet, and we can all make blankets together. I have enough yarn to start me up, now I just need to find the time. 

Green progress

More on this greenie.

Getting there…!

Starting Stripe

I got a little stripey this past weekend, by starting on a granny stripe blanket. I have a bunch of medium weight yarn from Handmade Hugs - I hope it's enough to make a blanket. I'm changing colour every three rows and weaving in ends as I go, so there's less bits to deal with at the end.

Spring grannies

I have started another blanket with some of the yarn my hubby picked up from Handmade Hugs. I couldn't go over this time, so he sent a bag of finished blankets and picked up more yarn for me. What a guy!

I don't have much of this yarn, but I love the shades of green they gave me. It makes me think of spring, which is a welcome thought since we've had a lot of rain lately. But it'll make the spring grasses grow :)

White and pink blanket

Here's another blanket I made for Handmade Hugs.

The white is a thick, fluffy yarn by Bernat, and the trim is a nice soft HOT pink! It's very warm and larger than the other lap blankets I have made. I think it turned out nicely.

Orange Blanket done

Over a year ago, I posted about the wool winder I got. I used it to wind up some vintage yarn I picked up from Handmade Hugs.

Then I started making up squares. I had a lot of help from Pinterest. Because Pinterest is da best!

I had a stack of them done for awhile, but didn't put them all together...

until last weekend. This one is HUGE, a lot bigger than the other blankets I've made. It's a bit itchy because it's pure wool, but it's SO warm! It will go into the pile to deliver to Handmade Hugs. Whee, another one done :)

Another Blanket

I finished another blanket for Handmade Hugs Society.

It's a lovely, soft mohair/acrylic/nylon blend.

Brown, with a splash of hot pink!

It ended up being quite large for a lap blanket.

I love the way it turned out, especially the scalloped edge. I'll put it in the delivery pile for the next time I'm over on the island.

Ripple Blanket

The last time I went to pick up yarn from Handmade Hugs, I got three bags of worsted weight yarn in burgundy, green and blue.

So I started this ripple blanket. I love this pattern, it goes so fast!

Christmas with the Kings

We hopped over to the island for a couple days to visit the Kings. The hubby has his show to do, so we couldn't get over for Christmas. No matter, we went a couple days before. I took the time to drop off these loom blankets for Handmade Hugs, which I finished a few weeks ago.

And I picked up more yarn from the yarn lady!

My in-laws always have lovely touches around their house, like this single bud in an egg cup:

And this happy snowman and his nutcracker buddy:

And they served us a lovely, tasty Christmas dinner! It was a quick visit, but we're so glad we got a chance to hop over and see them. Merry Christmas!

Progress

I'm making some progress on these loom blankets. Not quite blankets yet, more like strips made from yummy, fluffy yarn.

I don't know what the final design will be like, but it sure is cozy so far!

Some loom blankets

I decided to start working on this big bag of yarn I got from Handmade Hugs last month.

I've decided to knit long panels on the loom. This is discontinued yarn, somewhere in between 4-5 bulky. So it makes for nice, fluffy, cozy material when two strands are held together.

The panels are long enough for a lap blanket or child blanket, but not long enough for a big adult blanket.

Hmmm, mixed stripes or solid-coloured blankets? I'll have to decide how to piece them together when they're all done.