Frayed at the Seams: November 2012

The front edges DO line up. I was standing crooked.

Finished up the non smoking jacket. It doesn't look exactly like what it set out to be, but it's a keeper anyway. :-) The post stitches give it some 3D texture, and I love the vertical stripe effect.

It was supposed to have a shawl collar and belt. But I didn't like the belt, and I didn't like how the collar hung open more than I wanted it to. So I added 6 buttons and made it a double-breasted jacket instead.

And the good news is I actually WROTE DOWN THE PATTERN this time! Sort of. It's in my own crochet shorthand and partially charted, but at least I can make it again sometime.

In other news, you may have heard about a recent small event called Hurricane Sandy. Well, one of my fellow Ravelers lives in a part of New York that was impacted, and she is collecting hand knit and crocheted items to distribute. I quickly whipped up a baby afghan to pop in the mail.

This pattern is a freebie, called Cerulean Harmony Throw, designed by Carrie Carpenter. If you're new to changing colors in crochet without cutting the yarn, this is an excellent pattern to learn the technique. I modified her pattern an eensy bit, and only did two rows of each color instead of three, like the pattern states.

Close up of the color changes. Work 4 double-crochets, then drop the yarn and switch to the other color. The unused yarn is carried along inside the stitch. Very clever.

So I made this afghan, and I like it very much. So much, that I decided to swap it with the one I made months ago for my BFF's baby girl, due this Friday. I had made her a rainbow stripe afghan because at the time, she didn't know the gender. Now that she knows she is having a girl, it makes more practical sense to give her this girly pink and purple sparkly thing, and to mail the gender-neutral rainbow stripe one to New York. It will find an appropriate home there, no doubt.

Rainbow Ripple baby afghan, for a Hurricane Sandy baby.

It's also germ-central around here. Both of my kids have been sick, and they have different ailments no less. So there isn't one icky bug in here, but two! I made an emergency trip to Walgreen's for antibacterial wipes and we're spraying down everything with Lysol. I do NOT want to spend Thanksgiving in bed with a bucket, thank you very much.

In between the fevers and chills, my son read a couple of the Ugly Guide books, based on the Ugly Dolls. Then he drew pictures of two of the critters from the books and asked if I could make him some new cuddly creatures. We rooted through the craft bucket for some fleece scraps and buttons, and whipped out these guys.