Basket of Joy, Refilled

Check this out

No, that's not mine.  It's called the Realta Afghan and it was designed by one of my fellow crocheters on Ravelry, The Gingerbread Lady.  When I first saw it, I kind of forgot to breathe!  My face got closer and closer to the monitor as I tried to analyze it's construction and stitches.  Then I sighed (loudly) closed the browser, and moved on to more practical thoughts, because an afghan like this takes a looonnnnng time to crochet.

That was probably two months ago.   But I've secretly been pulling up this photo and going breathless over it on a regular basis.  And then it hit me - who cares if making one would take a looonnnnggg time!  It's November 15th, which means we could have several feet of snow on the ground, like, any second now, and I really don't have anywhere to be until Spring. 

And so the Basket of Joy was refilled! 

This is truly a clever afghan design.  It starts out with a rainbow assortment of colors (I'm using 12 colors), which are laid out in a color wheel.  What really makes this pop is that each octagon is made using colors that touch on the wheel.  I never woulda thought of that.

I envision this wonderfully cheerful, colorful afghan to work on all winter long.  The snow will fall peacefully and the kids will play happily by the fire pick fights with each other through the cold depths of winter as cabin fever sets in.

Three motifs done.....a billion to go.

Scary Things

Remember the list of goals I wrote about back in August?  The first item on the list was Learn to Insert an Invisible Zipper.  Cross that bad boy off the list because I've done two of these zippers now (disclaimer: The first one was a test on some scrap fabric.  Only once did I insert the zipper into an actual garment.  The zipper is crooked, but it IS functional and the dress is wearable so I'm calling it a success.)

Today I need to be even braver.  I'm making a party dress.  Out of slippery satin.  With an invisible zipper. 

Yikes.