Final Layout for the CAL - pre-seaming

So, the final layout is out for the CAL.  I'm not sure how I feel about it.  So, I figured out an alternate layout - and then asked the husband what he thought.

Anyhow, here is what the afghan will look like when laid out as in the official layout:

ooooh!  aaaah!

And here is how I want to lay it out:

Seriously?  How'd you get in here?

Just kidding!  That's my cat enjoying "his" new blanket.  Here's a REAL picture of how the "stripey" layout looks:

So, here's the deal.  I like this layout, but it needs a couple changes.  1. The white clue #1 square needs to be red.  2. the pink clue #1 square needs to be green (according to the husband.)  He says that the green is a nice offset for the red and it goes well with the white too - thus, it should replace the pink since the pink is not a good offset for the red.  My argument is that the blanket is symmetrical with the pink and the green clue #1 squares where they are.

Oh my @#$! That hurt!

Ever have one of those mornings?  Of course you have.  Everyone has.  Well, I was happily going about my business this morning when the alarms bells in my pain sensor went off and said "look at your finger, you idiot" and there was a pin sticking out of it.  So, I did what any normal person would do and I shook my hand thinking it would come out on its own (I haven't had my coffee yet.  I know, stupid) and that just hurt more, so I pulled the stick pin out of my finger and looked at it thought "gee, for something that made no mark and isn't even bleeding, that sure hurt" and continued about my business.  Now apparently I bled all over whatever square I was working on at the time (adds character, right?) as I looked down and my finger that was fine is now just a smudge of blood.  Awesome.  Time for coffee.

Anyhow, so the whole reason I am playing with stick pins, which is something I rarely do, for obvious reasons, is that our mystery CAL is over - sort of.  It's not over, but this past week's clue was the last of square making.  We still have blocking, sewing up, and adding a border.  I heard a rumour that this CAL was supposed to last 15 weeks and be done near the end of May (ish) and we're only just finished week 6.  Anyhow, my guess is that next week, we'll have to block our squares - so I started blocking last night - and it went great!  Thus, this morning, my motivation to keep the progress at a high level, resulting in the stick-pin-blood-smudged-squares.  :(

This morning's progress!

Last night's progress.

On a positive note, I can't see the blood on the squares, so I must have got it all over one of the red ones! hahahaha!

Right, so I am a delinquent blogger / CALer.  I seem to give you two clues at a time because I don't finish one before the weekend is over and then I work my butt off to make sure I have two for the next weekend.  

So, clue #5 - every "square" in this CAL is so interesting and different - and then there's this clue.  It took me forever to finish it because I just wasn't interested.  Introducing - GRANNY SQUARE OCTAGONS!  I must admit, it's a cool / super easy technique that was used to turn a granny square into an octagon, but I still find I have very little interest in it.  I'm assuming it'll look great in the finished product.

mmm... granny squares

And, clue #6 - This square is G.O.R.G.E.O.U.S!  I had so much fun making this piece -even if on Friday I was JUST getting my first finished one done.  I had a hard time with this clue because I'm a little fussy and I didn't like how the inside of the circle was done, so I altered that and then I had an issue with the join from round 6 to round 7, so I changed that too.  The Bernat CAL forums were a ton of help for the ideas for slight edits to the pattern.

worsted weight doily for the win!

In other random news, I have been a very very bad yarn addict this past month.  My bank account is going to be mad at me for it, but I am super excited for all this yarn to show up on my doorstep!  

First, Facebook told me there was a yarn store that was having a grab bag sale because the couple who own the store are getting married.  How exciting!  So, I checked out the grab bags and thought - yeah, for $22 I can get me some chocolate brown yarn in small quantities for "testing out" and see if I like it.  I got an email from Yarns of Italy a couple days ago to say that my yarn has shipped, so now I'm anxiously awaiting it to show up at my door.  

THEN, Mary Maxim, who has ridiculously expensive shipping, sent me an email to say that they were having a 3-day free shipping (when you order $70+ of merch online) sale.  I just happened to have a list of stuff I wanted from them and I was really contemplating buying it all as a prezzie to myself for a nice bonus this year.   So I pared my list down to the three things I wanted the most, picked some gorgeous colours, got myself just over $70 and sent in my order.  But they don't tell me when my product has shipped... and it takes forever to get to me for some reason.  I'm less anxiously awaiting the arrival of this yarn, but it'll be coming soon enough!  AND!  Everything I bought was for making myself cardigans.  I'm stoked.  :D

My stash is growing by the week.  ooops.

Up to date on the CAL - Clue #3 and Clue #4

Well, I've been quite ill this week, with no more energy than to get up, get dressed (sometimes) and crochet or read a book, so I got caught up with the Crochet Along.  Not that I was really all that behind.  I think I finished off clue #3 the Sunday before the clue #4 came out, so I'm still pulling off getting each clue done before the next one comes out, just not always before the weekend so that I have time to write about it.

Okay, clue #3 - more octagons!  This time in green (contrast C) and the red that is my MC.  Some people think the middle motif looks like a snowflake - I think it looks like a sun!

Anyhow, my blanket colours are great, but they really don't work without the contrast D colour.  I'm so glad that clue #4 was itty bitty popcorn stitch squares in contrast D... they're pretty fantastic and are currently stealing the show from the rest of the squares (ouch!).

omg.  These are sooo cute.  :)

On another note, I'm finding that my pink octagons with the flowers in the middle are much bigger than everything else.  This is because I was crocheting very loose.  I don't tend to do that, which is why I sized up my hook in the first place, so I should really pull them apart and redo them with the right (see also "the same") tension - like the rest of my squares... *sigh*  oh well.  :)  Everyone was so worried about their gauge that I got caught up in it.  I don't find it's really a big deal as long as you stick to the directions - AND you make a test swatch - which I did - and it was awesome.  So, I shouldn't have worried. 

Here's all my pieces to date!

Popcorn squares steal the show, right?

Clue #2!!

Okay, so I did finish my in-the-meantime-socks this time (and started a new pair) but the pictures are on my blackberry - it's dead - as are all the batteries in my house... you can imagine how detrimental this is to taking pictures of finished work.  Oh well, just gives me more to post about later.

So... clue #2 of the Mystery Crochet Along!

This one took MUCH longer than the last and I only finished our 6 "squares" (octagons this time) last night!  It took me a full 4 evenings (well, what time I had of those evenings) to finish these squares.  Last time it took me two evenings.  Bigger clue.  Good times!

My MC - Incense - oooOOOoooh

Contrast A - Bitter Rose

Anyhow, it would seem that my gauge is quite different between my MC (Incense) and my Contrast A (Bitter Rose).  I'm thinking this is because I wasn't really paying attention when I did the MC and thus, crocheted the same way I always do, whereas I was focusing on being loose for the Contrast A colour.  Woops.  Oh well, I guess I'm going to have to block these (actually, it's really really looking like that!)

These are all the squares finished to date (less a little red one)

Clue #1 Complete

Well, I didn't quite get finished my "in the mean time" socks yet, but they're awfully close.  Those will have to come later

So, instead I'll just post about the crochet along!

The first clue came out on Wednesday (awesome!) and I got 10 of the 12 squares done on Wednesday night and finished the last 2 last night.  The squares are more circular than square, but apparently this is ok and they will be more circular when everything is put together... sure... sounds good to me...

Score... love the colours so much.

My gauge swatch!  Had to size up the hook because I crochet tight.

First square!  (ahem - circle!)

The complete first clue!  Woo hoo!

So, this morning I went to Michael's to help pick up yarn for a friend's project.  She's decided to do the KAL, so I hope that will be awesome.  She picked such an amazing colour palette... :)  Hers is going to be Chocolate brown, navy blue, cream, goldenrod, and a really deep purple (with red tones to it!).
And of course, I can't sit by and watch when there is a yarn purchasing trip to be made (as evidenced by the recent stop at Gina Brown's that resulted in some beautiful merino sock yarn being purchased), so I picked up a purple, navy and light grey with which to make a blanket for my sister... but shhh!  don't tell her!

My cat thinks my CAL square is a toy... awwww!

2012 Mystery Crochet Along

So, Bernat is having a mystery crochet-along / mystery knit-along.  This sounds like so much fun, so I decided I would try it.  Knitting a bunch of squares and then sewing them together didn't sound like too much fun to me, and I crochet faster, so I picked the CAL afghan.  :)  (If you want to join me, you have to sign up for the bernat forum - no idea why)

I picked myself out some purdy colours and then I ordered them and sat patiently ("Did I get a package today?  How about today?  No?  Today?") and waited for them to show up at my doorstep.

My husband brought the package to dinner with his family last night when it showed up (squeeee!) coz he thought I'd be sooooo excited that I couldn't stand that all my brand-spanking new yarn was at home and I wasn't!

But I wasn't QUITE that bad.... I cracked into the box this morning and LOVE the colours I picked.  I am a huge fan of red, so my mystery afghan is going to have a red base - and lots of purdy floral colours - Beautiful Things is definitely the Waverly palette I picked - Coz I'm a sucker for reds / pinks - especially together!

Beautiful!  I totally have a couch-full of yarn!

First clue doesn't come out until mid-February, so I'm going to be im-patiently waiting for that too...

Thankfully, I have a really pretty sock pattern to work on until then!