The Mutant

You'll be forgiven for thinking I've written this post before. I have, kind of. But in my last mutant post, it was very nearly finished and now it is properly finished.

Done.

Dusted.

Edged.

Sewn-in.

Finished!

I did take full-blanket shots, but it's a bit early for good light in the bedroom and it looks a lot like it did in my last post about it. Also, someone was in the way...

I've written about the challenges of bed-making before.

Anyway, it's finally done. It feels like it's been relatively quick but actually, it's been hanging around for a while. It certainly feels good to have finished it off properly.  You can see the progress posts here.

I lost count of the number of balls of yarn that went into it (40? 50?), so I tried to weigh it. I weighed the ripple blanket on my kitchen scales. No chance of doing that with this one. I tried to balance it on the bathroom scales to get a shot of it, but no dice: there's just too much of it. In the end, I weighed myself, then weighed myself with the blanket and took the first number from the second.

THIS BLANKET WEIGHS ALMOST A STONE!

And of course, I am writing this on what the met office expects to be the hottest day of the year so far.  Hmph!

I did think about maybe making some bed runners to take to Yarndale with me, but alas, this yarn is now discontinued. Gah! I have one ball left. What, I wonder, will it become...?

The Mutant: Progress

The Mutant blanket is marching on, but it has hit *that* point : it doesn't matter how much I crochet, it doesn't seem to grow.

It's become a bit of a delight to work on, especially in this cold weather. It's the warmest, snuggly-est project you can imagine. It's also a bit of a workout. It's certainly not as portable as crochet projects usually are - it weighs a TON!

I only have nine balls of cotton left. I don't think I want to buy any more, so I may be left with a slightly shorter-than-usual blanket. However, that nice holey pattern actually makes it quite stretchy, so it might not be too bad.

I was going to put an edge of DC all around it, but I think I might not. It might lose some of that stretch (and I don't have the yarn).

It's a challenge to photograph a big grey thing in February. Apologies for the odd light in the pics, but I had to point four different lights at it, as well as the light from two windows and some fairy lights just to get these!

The Mutant

A while ago, I started a blanket with some MASSIVE cotton yarn. Remember it?  Well, it hasn't moved on much since this photo:

I was swithering between an unbroken pattern and one broken up into stripes. I finally decided to go with the continuous pattern, but having made the decision, I just sat on it. Then last weekend, the storage heater upstairs in the cottage decided it wanted a little holiday (it magically started working again of it's own accord on the day someone came to look at it...). Shivering under the duvet with all my blankets and a hot water bottle (and both cats), my thoughts turned once again to this blanket. Then I placed a yarn order.

I wonder if another thirty balls will be enough...?

Dithering

I thought I'd share a bit more of the blanket I'm making with the mutant cotton.  I'm now on to my tenth ball of yarn and it has really grown.

I said in an earlier post that this was't a yarn for dithering with.  I should have known that saying something like that would bring on a crisis of crochet confidence. 

I love the gentle scallop-y holey look.  I really do.  But will it look ok as a whole blanket?  I just don't know.  Late last night I decided that what it needed was a bit of plain to break up the scallop-y bits and a ridge between each different bit of pattern.  I've made a start, can you see?

But then this morning I couldn't decide if this was the right thing to do.  I was going to work a few rows of htr after the ridge, then another ridge, then back to the scallops.  What do you think, dear reader?  Break it up or not?  To add to the pressure, this is my tenth ball of yarn and therefore the last in the pack.  I need to order more (I know, I've decided to wing it as far as dyelots are concerned), but that won't be until I put in another yarn order for the shop.

And typically, while I had it on the bed to photograph it, I had another dither and then this happened:

Honestly, nothing is safe when cat #1 fancies a nap.

Wippity WIP: Extremes

Apologies for the radio silence, but there has been a lot of crochet going on here at the moment.  Well, a lot of crochet planning, anyway.  The problem with a lot of planning, is it often means a lot of making, frogging, making, frogging, so I can crochet all evening and have nothing to show for it. I have managed to tease a little bit of order out of the chaos of pile after pile of crimped, frogged yarn though.  Wanna see?

First up is an experiment with some super-duper-über chunky cotton.

I can't decide whether to stock it.  It's Rico's Fashion Big Cotton (super chunky) and I really do like it, but it's not the easiest to work with.  I love working with cotton, it's probably my favourite yarn, but it does leave you with a splitty yarn and this is no exception.  If anything, being such a chunky yarn, it's even splittier and not for the faint-hearted!  You definitely need to know exactly what you're going to do with it, as the more you work it, the less manageable it becomes. When it's crocheted up though, it's gorgeous!

I'm aiming for a big blanket.  It's going to be a slow-burning project, but I'm ok with that.  I like to have a 'long-termer' bubbling away in the background.  As you can see, I have a bit of a way to go...

At the other end of the spectrum, I have made a start on Christmas.  Sorry.

The covered bauble in the picture is made using some Lyscordet I have leftover from last year, but there are coloured ones too for which I'm using Rico's Maxi crochet cotton.  It's the exact opposite to the chunky stuff above: mercerised, fine, not-at-all-splitty.  It's a delight to work with and I will definitely be stocking it, just as soon as I can sort out some images for it.

As I'm working on these projects pretty much side by side, it does mean that I frequently swap from this crochet hook...

To this one...

Like the title says, extreme!