I Adore Adara

Seems I have a bit of an obsessive personality (yes I am still playing Dragon Age). Not only on games, but on yarn and or patterns. I like to think of it as a "variation on a theme" rather than true obsession.

Elann has this lovely marled cotton/linen aran weight yarn called Adara. I love this yarn. I've used it twice and bought a whole bunch last year when they had full bag sales. I now own every color except one. I even bought 2 more bags of Waterfall (which is what I used for my favorite Sitcom Chic. Love that sweater!)

So when my friend Julie started a Radiate, I figured that the Adara would be perfect. It is! However, I started it in Teaberry. I only had 10 skeins of the Teaberry (full bag sale, remember). On top of that while I know I had bought 10 skeins, I only had 7 in it's bag. Hmmmm. So I stopped working on it (and I sent a PM to a member of Ravelry that had 5 skeins of it in the same dye lot. Sadly, she never got back to me). I eventually located all 10 skeins, but in the meantime I cast it on again:


In green! That's the Fern colorway and I love it! I really like the way the slip stitch pattern works with the marled yarn and it's perfect cut scene knitting. I'm already thinking of other yarns I want to try this pattern with (we'll see how it actually looks on me before I start a third. Promise.).

The irony is that it looks like I'm only going to need 10 skeins. So I may end up with two of these sweaters in Adara. One in Teaberry and one in Fern. Yay for minor obsession issues!

A-Z Sampler Afghan

So it took me less than two weeks to make this afghan. I think the seaming/border took me as long as the blocks themselves. I blame the heat, as I had to do the seaming and border in small spurts.

Let's do the project stats:

Pattern: Crochet A to Z Sampler Afghan by Darla Sims

Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver Flecks

Changes to the pattern: none (huh? nope, other than not paying attention the the block layout, I followed the pattern as written. Shocking).

Problems with the pattern: none. Considering my mediocre crochet skills, I was able to figure out all the patterns.

Overall impressions: this was a fun project to make (less than two weeks is a good indication that it kept me interested), and overall, I'm happy with it. As I've said before, my bigget issue with crochet sampler afghans is the variety in density in the different squares. I think of this more as a decorative afghan than a true snuggling afghan. However, I'm willing to bet that it will see some nap time. So we'll give it a thumbs up.

Well, so I guess that's really my first completed project of 2010. Eeeks (okay I did finish a sweater for Matt back in January, but the bulk of the knitting on that was done in 2009). Now if I can just stay on track on any of the other 30 projects started and or abandoned maybe I'll get something else done this year.

Afghans in Summer

The A-Z Sampler Crochet afghan is almost done. I've completed the blocks and I've sewn them all together. Haven't woven in a single end yet. Plus I still need to do the border.

It's late July, with typical late July weather. Upper 80's (not bad... considering the mid 90's we've been dealing with) and high humidity. Yes, we do have central air and yes it is still on... but the idea of having that afghan on my lap to weave in ends and do a border... feels soooo wrong.

So while there's lots of advantages of doing sampler blocks for afghans in the summer (small, fast, and fun), there are a couple of disadvantages. Weather being a big one. Of course I could just wait until fall, but I want to get SOMETHING finished this year!

The other thing I'm not thrilled about with sampler afghans is the variety in density. You get this with both knit and crochet, but it always seems worse with crochet. I have some super dense blocks and other blocks that are very open and lacey. It's the nature of the beast, and some designers are better than others at the balance. This one isn't bad, but there are still some pretty large swings in density. Of course I try to offset them with placement (lacey next to dense) as much as I can. Overall, I know it'll be fine and I'm overly obessing right now.

I'm pretty happy with this project so far (and FYI: I did order 2 more skeins of the yarn, but it doesn't look like I'll need them. I can't tell you how many times I've done that!). It went SUPER fast. Hopefully will have it done tomorrow. Stay tuned for pictures!

Short Attention Span

I'm obviously not very focused on much (other than Dragon Age... but that's a whole other issue). I've been flitting between projects, casting on new things. Ripping old and new project (as a matter of fact I think there's been more unknitting than actual knitting lately... as well as crochet).

So what's the solution? Especially when I don't knit socks?

A Sampler Afghan of course!


One of the many sampler afghan patterns that I have collected over the years (and I'm always looking for more!) This is an Annie's Attic crochet pattern won from Ebay several years ago. 30 block based on the alphabet (with 30 blocks, four of them are just basic stitches).

I'm on a roll. I have 13 blocks done (obviously need some ends woven in and some blocking) and I even had to rip an entire block and re do it (gauge issues). I forgot that I love doing these samplers so much and for some reason this one is moving very quickly. The size of the blocks help: no large sweater sitting in my lap during this hot steamy summer (and it is a VERY hot steamy summer).

I am no master crocheter (as the last couple weeks attempts at some other crochet projects that have since been frogged have proved), but I do enjoy playing around with the different stitches. At some point, maybe I'll even be able to translate these into something other than just afhgan blocks (but then... can you really have too many afghans? no, of course not, cause Project Linus ALWAYS needs them!)

So while the reviews of Dragon Age may have complained about long load screens, I see it as "crochet time"! It's all about time management folks!

The TLC Cotton Ribby is getting there! I decided to finish it up, as I needed the size 7 needles to continue on with the Denim Lace Basic Hoodie.

As the photo shows, I went with the scoop neck. I'll double the neckband to reinforce the fake double style.

Ironically, I decided on the this fake double pullover look due to my concern about not having enough of the multicolored yarn. I have plenty left over. However, I am soooo glad I decided to do it this way, as the entire sleeves would've had those spiralling color issues (and the 2" or so that I do have I can live with).

So I have some ends to weave in plus the double neckband then I'll get back to the denim lace basic hoodie.

I must confess that I have worked on a lot of other projects since I last posted... and all were frogged. I always seem to get into a crochet groove in the heat of summer, yet everything I tried was a complete disaster. My crochet skills (especially with garments) are iffy at best. I think I'll stick to crochet afghans and leave the clothing to knitting.

Meanwhile... the whole Dragon Age addiction has not really ended. I'm still spending a lot of time with this game. I've tried other games (Bioshock 2 was a HUGE disappointment), but I feel like I'm just putting in time on them and Dragon Age ends up back into the Xbox 360. Oh well, the cutscenes do make quality knitting time!