october

Phew; it’s been a little while since I’ve posted! (*blush*) I haven’t even truthfully been that busy or anything, so what the heck?

As you’ve probably noticed, it is October already (!!) … and I am actually enjoying the cooler weather for the most part. Usually I find fall a bit depressing, at least when it rains tons and the leaves all turn brownish. Just not really my thing. However– I love love love wearing rain boots, so… it kind of evens out. Mine are blue, with birds on them. But I sort of fell for these:

… as well as numerous ones I saw in the Cath Kidston catalogue (which miraculously got delivered to me, even though I don’t live in the UK! Woo!)

And then there’s jackets– I do love jackets. So I’ve also recently become obsessed with the idea of a yellow coat. Maybe it was this-

And I definitely spent some time examining one in the Sears Wish Catalogue last night. Not sure if it has something to do with the fact that I highlighted my hair, but I’m loving yellow for fall.

I’ve been regularly feeding my British magazine obsession, mostly with Country Living UK (where the above two photos were from), but also House Beautiful UK, and Coast.

We’re a bit behind on UK issues in Canada, but I managed to score the October House Beautiful the other day in the Coles in our teeny mall!

Also I’ve been working on a new crochet project– another (yes!) Ripple Blanket!

I realize I only just completed the previous ripple, but my hands were aching for the soothing repetition of rippling, and I found myself wanting a nice woolly fall project that I didn’t have to think too much about. This time I’m trying out Lucy’s Neat Ripple pattern, and I like how the ripples are a bit softer than in my last blanket. The grey yarns are from my stash; I was meaning to make a boy sweater with it, because of the amount I had, but I couldn’t face sweater knitting just now, and I decided to use the yarn up on something I’d enjoy. It’s subtle, but I do like it.

I have a new favourite tv show- well, it hasn’t taken the place of 30 Rock (which premieres tonight! Yaaaay!!), but it’s come close. It’s The Office (US version). But no spoilers please! I’m only on Season 4 (they’re  currently airing Season 6), because I borrowed the dvds and am watching every episode in order so I don’t get spoiled by watching the new episodes. Hello? Awesome show. Just amazingly funny. I love it.

I have my heart set on a “The Office wall calendar” that we’ve seen at the mall bookstore. I saw the (unrelated) movie Office Space months ago, and it has a gift set you can buy that comes with an actual replica of the red Swingline stapler from the movie. I also want that, haha. Imagine using it at work.

ripples of happiness

The Ripple Blankie is complete! Started in January (really??) and recently spurred on to completion with a Ravelry Crochet-Along, this blanket has been a long time coming.

Here it is on the (new!) couch:

Ah… lovely soft cotton. I already mentioned that I was using up odds and ends of Bernat Handicrafter cotton, and that I ended up having to purchase more (well, the pound bag only cost $5) as I seem to have this problem with estimating the size of project I can complete with an amount of yarn.

Once I finished the last ball of the cream colour, I did two rows of blue (using my unravelled-as-I-went Lace Ribbon scarf, which did not warrant keeping) and called it a day.

It’s much narrower than it is tall, and can fit lengthwise across the double bed perfectly, just hanging over either end. I think it will come in handy during cooler nights to warm our feet, as well as on the couch for marathon movie sessions.

Oh, and Leela loves it as well…

Things I have learned while working on this project:

1. Crocheting is sooo much easier to rip back than knitting. I’ve only been crocheting since the beginning of the year, but wow have I ever had an easy time ripping it back. I must have done the first few rows of this Easy Ripple five times before getting the stitch pattern right. And every time I ripped back, I marvelled at the ease and neatness of it.
2. Mistakes happen, but are easily masked by the large size of a blanket. My stitch count was seldom consistent (I can’t stand counting stitches row by row!) but the overall effect is still impressive. I let myself get into the relaxing rhythm of rippling, and whenever I noticed I had extra stitches (or not enough) between repeats, I’d just decrease one (or two or three!), or add one in, as needed.
3. Never underestimate the amount of yarn needed for a blanket. When I started this, I was overly confident that the two 400 g rather large balls of cotton I had would be more than enough. Then I found myself unravelling previous (unsuccessful) projects and buying new yarn to finish it.
4. I like that with crochet, every row has the potential to be your bind-off row. When you aren’t sure how many rows you can finish with the amount of yarn you have left, it’s nice that you don’t have to start a specific bind-off row (as you do with knitting)– each row itself is neatly finished as you go! Miraculous!
5. I will be making more ripple blankets in the future– just have to go out and buy more yarn… hmm…

I’ll leave off with a close-up shot of the lovely stitch definition!

ripply update

So, the ripple blanket progresses:

Currently, I have about one and two-thirds of a skein of yarn left to knit with, and the blanket almost stetches across the end of the bed. It’s likely destined to become a cozy foot-warming sort of throw, for times when  it’s too hot for a duvet but too chilly for just the bedsheets. Since it’s cotton, it should be a nice summer-weight blanket, and I may even use it for snuggling on the couch in the evening. It’s made entirely with various colours of  Bernat worsted-weight Handicrafter Cotton, and a 4.0mm* hook.

I may progress a bit more tonight; it’s awfully thunderstorm-y and I have laundry to look forward to, so some crochet time might be in order, I think!

—————————————————————————————————————————————————-

*As I mentioned,  I started this blanket ages ago– January, to be precise. About a month ago when I picked it up again, I couldn’t remember what hook I’d been using, so I grabbed the nearest one- a 4.5mm, and rippled away. It was only after using up the rest of that skein of cotton and more that I realized the stitches looked a teeny bit looser than those at the beginning of the blanket. It then occurred to me that I should be using a 4.0mm hook, which I intend to finish off the blanket with.

PS- I finished that last sentence with a preposition on purpose. Sometimes “with which I intend to finish” just gives off the wrong tone. Ah, grammatical rules.