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Adding to the mystery

We’ve reached the next installment of the mystery afghan series. After the joining was done I checked the size. Big enough for our queen size bed? The answer was almost but not quite, and I had the solution on deck: a Greek Key patterned throw from Red Heart. I originally thought I’d do this in black and dark purple, but realized that would detract from the stained glass effect of the black joins. Since I had the most dark purple and dark gray leftover (albeit not quite enough gray, as it turned out), I did it in those colors and joined it with black.

Instead of a long foundation chain followed by a row of single crochet, I made 213 foundation single crochets to start. Otherwise I followed the pattern, save fixing one typo: In row 9, just before “repeat from * across” it says to dc 3 rows down and skip the next sc. In between those two instructions it should have you chain 2 (in place of the sc you’re skipping).

The pattern calls for you to chain 2 whenever you’re skipping 1 stitch. If I were starting over I would only chain 1. It’s likely the designer’s chains are tighter than mine and a single one puckered unattractively, but in my tension the two chains spread and make the key pattern serif instead of sans-serif, so to speak.

I made the second panel twice. The first time I joined all my leftover gray and still ran out with one long row left. Instead of continuing from that point with new gray yarn and a dozen tails to deal with, I decided to pull it out, and when I got back to the beginning purple I realized I’d joined that in the second row as well! Must have cut out a knot or frayed area. Anyway at that point it seemed worthwhile to start completely over. Once I got the new skein of gray I realized why I’d run out: it wasn’t enough for the panel! Barely – I ran out with maybe 10 stitches left – but man, that’s a yarn eater. I pulled back to the start of the row so the tails would be at the edge and used some of the previous leftovers to finish. Unfortunately the new skein was a vastly different dyelot than the previous, but in the not terribly bright light of the bedroom, hanging off the edge of the bed, it should be fine.

Since I’m down to just the border, here’s my leftover non-black yarn (plus all the ball bands, minus one small ball of light gray which hid in the bag). This is the remainder from 5 dark gray (Red Heart Classic Nickel), 3 light gray (RHC Silver), 5 light purple (RH With Love Lilac, double-sized skeins), and 4 dark purple (RHWL Violet, ditto). The pattern called for 3, 2, 9, and 7 single-size skeins of each color, respectively, so I used less than one additional skein of each color (not counting the extra gray for the extra panels).

In fact, if I’d omitted the extra panels and done the joins and border in two different colors, I believe I could have squeezed them out of the remaining yarn as well. That’s rather amazing because my afghan came out a third again the size predicted – the squares that said they would be 9″ came out 12″ – and I did not buy a third again the called-for yarn. My work must have much more extra air space than extra yarn.

I’ve begun the border but it is slow. I’ve now been working on this afghan fairly steadily for nearly seven months, though, so what’s another one or two?

Other People’s Patterns

My Christmas sewing this year was almost entirely from existing free patterns. I can recommend them, and have a few notes to share.

I made two pencil bags using a tutorial from craftlog.org, with some changes: I was using zippers with decorative tape, so I wanted them entirely on the outside, and I was limited to 7″ instead of 9″ length. I cut the fabrics (and lightweight interfacing because they were quilting cottons) 9″ by 11″ instead of 10″x12″ and sewed them down the 9″ sides, right sides together with interfacing on the wrong side of one, and with a half inch seam allowance. After pressing, I turned it right side out and pressed flat, with the lining fabric peeking just a tiny bit to the outside at each seam. The zipper took up the length of the seam – make sure you space the teeth a bit away from the fabric – and I ran two lines of topstitching down each tape. The second side is awkward, of course. From then on it’s just as in the original tutorial (well, without needing to trim the zipper tape), though you have to pin the open ends of the zipper tape close to each other on the backside of the pouch, and I attached my binding differently from hers. That’s a matter of taste and familiarity. I like to unfold the tape and line the smaller side up with the edge of the fabric, then stitch in the fold, and after wrapping the tape over the edge with the ends inside appropriately, stitch in the ditch on the front to secure the back of the binding.

The other item up there is a “spa scrubbie” from Flamingo Toes. I didn’t change the pattern at all, but doing the final topstitching I wish I would have hand-basted the turning opening closed first. I worried that pins would be bent in the sewing of it, but I wasn’t able to keep the edges lined up by hand and so had to go back and hand-sew afterward anyway. The terrycloth was a washcloth, which was just right size-wise (wide enough to gather up, long enough to trim off the smooth “stripes” parallel to one edge, but almost no other extra), and the other fabric was from a thermal shirt I couldn’t resist at the thrift store, but which turned out to be too small even to be a layering piece. Glad to put some of its cute owls to use.

The Christmas sewing not from a pattern amounted to two other things. First, cat toys: pillows with strips of fabric and lots of fresh catnip from the bulk spice aisle of the local co-op, with the ends closed at 90 degrees to each other, so to speak. One end has the side seam in a crease, and the other has the side seam halfway between creases. I’m told they’re quite popular and the first one was soaking wet a few hours after the kitties were given it.

Finally, with no photo because it’s not mine to share, a friend asked me to make texting gloves for another friend. He had wonderful lined leather gloves and conductive thread from Chica and Jo, and asked me to stitch the Triforce on the index fingers and thumbs. Turns out the Triforce is a terrific motif because it splits out into three regions that are relatively small, which gives you accuracy plus different spots to use for tapping versus pinching. I didn’t worry about making the interior of the stitching “messy” (as you’ll see in various tutorials) – when outlining the large triangle I stitched all the way across on the inside, but due to the fuzzy lining it wasn’t terribly noticeable. When we tested, though, that was ample contact to trigger the screen. Two tools were indispensable for the process: a large marker to act as a “darning egg,” keeping me from sewing through the lining of the opposite side of the finger, and a needle puller (small flower-shaped piece of rubber, like a jar opener), which I used to protect my finger when pushing and to grab the needle for pulling. Nice leather is both tough and grabby.

When next we meet it will be 2015! Enjoy your New Year’s Eve!

Mystery solved, part 2

The afghan is joined! It’s not done, but I have more to show.

Clue 6 took the 14 hexagon motifs and joined them into two long panels. This was a pain in the tuchus and revealed previously unnoticed stitching errors. Many many yards of yarn were pulled out. I think I managed to get it all worked out, though. I decided not to use black within the panels, largely because I couldn’t determine how to fit it in well.

Clue 8 was assembly and border. Here I did use black, to be the leading of a stained glass window. The joining was mostly “make a strip of grannies and add it to this edge.” I wanted to be clever with the joining and use fewer lengths of yarn, somehow going along the edge of the strip and pulling yarn out to do the granny-to-granny joins midstream, but upon further reflection I didn’t think I could do that without yarn tension mania, so I sucked it up and joined the grannies into strips with separate lengths of yarn. My join was single crochet in the back loops only (I intended to use the method of the flat slip stitch join, but spaced out and did it the usual way, which for sc is okay since it doesn’t roll to the front like sl st), and when I came to a crosswise seam end I slip stitched into it to avoid gaps in the black lines.

I’m not going to attempt a full-afghan photo until it’s actually done, so here are some detail shots of the joins to tide you over.

There are still shaggy ends because I’m not going to do the final clipping until the blanket is completed and washed. I will trim a bit, though, and/or weave the longest of the ends in a bit more so they don’t tangle in the wash.

With the border it will be long enough for the bed, but not quite wide enough (if it only needed to overhang one side instead of both, it would be enough). The next post (January?) will show you how I’m addressing that.