LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!!

I present to you...............................................................................

THE GRANNY SQUARE AFGHAN!!!!!

But wait, what was that?  OHHHHHHH, you wanted to see it UNFOLDED??  Why didn't you say so???  Without further delay and ado and procrastination, here is.......

But before I show you, I want to tell you how much I really love how this afghan turned out.  Every time I see it, I kind of squeal inside (yes, squeal) and go, "It's so gorgeous, it makes me happy!"  And--

Oh, what's that?  

Hurry UP?!

WELL!  Just be that way then!  

Fine!

TA-DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!

There's it all laid out.  Here's it with special effects:

Oohh, Black and White Focal Point!  :P  More pictures?

Here you go, and that's all you're going to get now!  

Anyway, about the afghan (which is being called Amzi's Garden at this point) ::  I really love how the edging worked out, with the rows of pink, yellow, etc.  The Small People call them "Polka Dots" and I call it (much more sophisticatedly) "Stained Glass."  And those just result from the ordinary Granny Square technique!  Is it Awesome, or Is. It. Awesome??

Aaaaaaaand here are the Leftovers ::

Shock of shocks, because I usually don't buy enough yarn, and end up frantically trying to make it last out through another row.  So, having Remnants is a new business for me!  *feels special*

The blanket lives on my bed now, and was very nice and warm last night in the chilly bits (which there were, because I'm wussy sometimes) and hace juego [[goes with]] with my comforter very nicely.  

How about some *gasp* NUMBERS?  

• Weight :: A Whopping 2.5 lbs!  
• Dimensions :: About 50 inches by 60 inches, which passes the Blanket Test, which is as follows:  *checklist* Blanket must be 1) Wide enough to spread sideways over several laps and still reach the feet of the Big People, 2) Long enough to cover a person lengthwise in bed when it's cold out, 3) Wide enough to reach the ground/bed on either side when lying with knees upright in Book-Reading Position.
• Yarn :: Lionbrand Homespun Yarn (*gasp* BOUGHT back in this post)
• Tudor 2 skeins 
• Waterfall 2 skeins
• Florida Keys Green 1 skein
• Barrington 4 skeins
• Boston Rose I think, 1 skein
• Golden 1 skein
• Hook :: Size K US
• Time ::  Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Several episodes of American Idol?  *cheesy grin*
• Satisfaction ::  100% :)

So There You Have It!  Before I leave you, here's a picture, involving that jar from that post.  This is the "fingerprint" of the blanket :: that is, the clippings from all the darned ends, arranged neatly in a rainbow order by Yours Truly who is in love with the rainbow order.

I have a fun idea for tomorroz [[Amziism :: tomorrow, misspelled on purpose, also see todaz]] post, so come back soon!  

AMZi x x x x x

Blocking Mainly

My whole life is measured by Sundays.  I live for Sundays, just surviving from one Sunday to the next, and then looking back on the last Sunday and saying, One More Week Down!  Two years ago, my light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel was the weekend.  "Just have to make it to the weekend, and then I'll be okay!"  Last year, I only had to make it to Thursday, and from there on out things were easier.  Now, I say, "I just have to make it to Spanish class, and then the end is in sight!"  Sad?  Perhaps.  But I'm managing all right. :)  


And of course, Sundays help.  Since I work on Saturdays, Sunday is my one REAL R&R day, my one day to do enjoyable things and hang around.  Church is always lovely, just a grand time to refresh the heart and check in with friends and have a stretch of God-time, which I don't often get all in a row during the week.  And then Sunday afternoons, the most unproductive few hours of my week, are so nice, involving books, writing, tea (LOTS of tea), etc. etc.  


Anyhow, I did get a few (awful grungy) pictures last night, when I had a block pinned out on the board.  I'm at the tail end of blocking these sets of four now, just pinned the last one out actually.  I've never blocked anything before, so this was new and I was a little wary.  But it's very muchly Worth It.  It changes it somehow, makes it less lumpy and more polished.  Ah well.  


My method does not include soap or detergent or starch or anything.  Just plain old water.  I use a generic spray bottle with the nozzle twisted to almost-closed, to get a (fairly) light, even spray.  

I don't have a board or anything fancy, just a collapsed cardboard shipping crate with a clean car-washing towel folded up on top of it.  My pins are long rust-resistant sewing pins, with big colorful heads that are prettyful. :)


The first set-of-four-squares Big Square that I blocked out was really wonky, but crochet is pretty forgiving, and it looks fine now.  I found that pinning the first corner down so the block sort of nests in the corner really helps with getting the edges straight (see above picture).  Then I use a long sewing ruler, and measure out my corners so that they're 16 inches apart and more or less in a square-like position.  Then I lay the ruler along two corner pins, gently tug 

and pull the edges out to the ruler, and pin them down.  Do that on all four sides, spray down with water, with extra spritz on the edges where the pins are, until it's fairly wet all over but not soaked.  Then I let it dry.  It usually takes only a few hours, because I have my board laying in front of a door and beneath a ceiling fan.  Lots of air circulation, which is good.  


Oh, oh, oh, and BEFORE all of this blocking business, I joined these 4 squares together using the join as you go method from Attic24, on the fifth round of the Warm Colors blocks.  It.  Is.  Marvelous.  SO much easier than after-the-fact assembly, yarn-conserving, speedy, etc.  I'm THRILLED with it.  I will NEVER stitch my Grannies together again!


There is another method of blocking, where you actually soak the item, lay down on a table or ironing board covered with an old towel, and iron it on a low setting, to set it.  I don't like how flat this makes the work (crochet is chunky and twisty for a reason, peoples!) but I did use it on this project:

Fiber Arts homework = a smallish sweater, made with a sock monkey in mind, but I don't actually OWN the sock monkey, so I had this toy horsey model it for me. :)  I blocked the main body part of the sweater before I stitched in the sleeves, and it worked well enough.  At least it cut down on the curly-edges problem.  But still, wouldn't use this for crochet.  And I'm always afraid the iron will melt the yarn.  


Because, yes, I'm cheap, and I buy whatever I can get for the cheapest, including acrylics and synthetics.  Sorry y'all.  Beggars can't be choosers, they say!!  :)  I make do.  It's the color that counts, in my eyes.  


Anyhow, long informative post.  Ending....NOW!  :)  Enjoy the rest of your weekend, while it lasts!  Although the Brits reading this are probably already at the end of theirs. :)

AMZi x x x x x

A Few Updates

Hey y'all!

Hope you're having a nice day, with lots of sunshine.  Boy, I'll tell you, sunshine does me in!  I'm cool with all kinds of weather, really, I adore fog and rain, and thunderstorms, and snow, and even that peculiar grey November sky with the black tree branches against it... but you keep the sun Behind Closed Doors for too long and I go BONKERS.  ComPLETEly batty.  So, this sunshine's come Just In Time and Life Is Good once again!

Icicles all gone!  They were little lumps yesterday, not meriting a picture, but here's the branch bare for reference.  Now we start coaxing it into bud and flower and leaf.... It is a charming twig, pressed up against the window like it is, trying to come inside with me.  We'll be seeing more of him.  :)  This tree is a redbud, though more of a white-bud, if you see what I mean, and it puts out these vivid green little scaly buds, and then blossoms into tiny white flowers that the house sparrows love to chew up and spit out (????).  Ah well.  It's a nice tree--the only suitable climbing tree available!

Check this out :: Told you I was fast!

The Warm-Colors set of squares is finished.  I like how the green will tie between the Warm Colors and the Cool Colors in the finished blanket.

*HUGE GASP!*  Did you hear that???  *claps hands over mouth*  How unceremonious!  The Granny Secret is OUT!!!  Yes, yes, I confess.  I am working on a Granny Square Blanket.  These Warm Color squares and the Cool Color squares will be cobbled together into a sort of--what I call--"Windowpanes" pattern.  Two of each to a larger block.  You might be able to see this if you click on the paper in that other post and look at it full size.

Let's put the two sets of squares together and see how they get along, shall we?

Well, I like them.  I think they're jolly.  And that's Something, because I've never made an afghan before with colors that I like and choose myself.  I've been restricted strictly to Scrap Afghans.  And though they're still crochetery and ergo Lovely, they are not Amzi.  Know what I mean?  Anyhow!  In joining these to each other, I will be putting another edging round the pinkish ones, and in the course of that row, joining as I go courtesy of Attic24's Brilliance.  Possible problem though :: my Granny technique is slightly different from Lucy's, but we'll all hope for the best and frog [[rip out crochet]] when we don't get it. :)  I remain optimistic.

This was my very very first-ever doily made, involving teeny tiny crochet hook and teeny tiny thread and a big, beautiful pattern book.  Since then, I've made many, and enjoy them immensely.  But wait.  There is a downside to prolific crafting...  I am faced with The Situation:

I have many many many pretty doilies...and not enough Surface Area to display them on!!!

So I moved that one out to the hall table, where Padre (who apparently has not yet noticed the, oh, five or six of these scattered around) discovers it and proceeds to GUSH.  Seriously. I must say it DID make me pretty happy!  So I showed him the others (which are all much better than that one) and he suggested that I might frame one or all of them, and so solve The Situation.  I'm not exactly sure...  If anybody out there is reading this (then <3 <3 <3 to you) please comment and tell me what you think.  I have an issue with sticking crochetery into a glass (prison) picture frame, but it does sound nice....  With a dark background, they'd really pop!

Ah well.  I've been informed Cambridge is "completely superior in every way" to Oxford.  Eh?  We'll just have to see!  May have to take that up with Whoever's In Charge of such matters and see just exactly where I'd like to go.  Think of it :: a Yank in her junior year studying Across The Pond.  Can you beat it??

So long mates!  Must run now!
AMZi x x x x x x

More Crochetery...And Socks

Afternoon, folks!  

Want to see what I've been doing?  Here's a lovely picture.  I'd spend all my time right there on that seat if I could...  Alas, Real Life often intrudes, you know. 

And the fact is, I haven't even been working on that towering (not really) pile of Grannies, because I've been commissioned for a project for MY Real Granny.  She just got a new phone, and wanted a lime-green case to go with it.  I've been making iPod cases forever, so this is easy-peasy, right?  And it was.  Quite enjoyable.  And GREEN besides!

There's a little kind of button-loop thingie that crosses the open end (see picture) and it wraps around this tiny white flower.  The flower is a lovely little number designed by Lucy at Attic 24, where you can find the tutorial/pattern with VERY helpful pics if you're not used to working in rounds.  And apologies, Lucy, but white is all I had (yarn's sparse these days) and if I make more flowers THEY WILL HAVE COLOR!  ;)  


Work on the Granny Secret is progressing rapidly (due mainly to nights of American Idol watching, which I CAN'T do with my fingers still!).  Be on the lookout for pictureful clues and status updates!  This project is a lot of fun to work on, but I feel like it's a Morning Project.  One that I work up a little in the pale hours, 6:30-7:00am ish, before the day really gets up and running (and I go chasing after it like a loony...).   I will say, however, that Granny Squares are a perfect way to start the day.


But Hullo Hullo Hullo what's all this???  

A Boring old Ordinary Grey Sock?  How dull and drab!  How un-jolly and lack of exciting!  But wait!  *points* Did you see that??

Can it be???  

Yessss!!  It is!  Secret red hearts that nobody knows about!  Just you, me, and the socks!  Shhhhhhh!  It makes me happy to know they're there.  Kind of like, yes, you think I'm sane and collected, but you don't know about what's on the tops of my socks!  *insert evil laugh*  Go out and get yourself some silly socks.  It'll make you smile to put them on.  And think of it this way: they're SO much easier to match up properly in the laundry!


And while I'm dishing out orders, go open your window and take a deep breath.  Notice the SMELL?  So funny that Winter can smell in its own way, same as Spring or Summer!  Now think about your fantastic olfactory system, that takes those volatile [[airborne]] molecules and whooshes them up to the glands in your nose, which can translate THAT code into <3 <3 <3 <3 in your fantastic brain!  (Said brain should be boggled by the glory of this by now)  Days like this I walk outside and breathe and just think, "Almighty God, you made all of this for ME?"  So thank Him.  :)  That also makes me happy.


Oh, and I wanted to say a big Thank You to all of you lovely folks who have commented on my posts and read my *gasp* BLOG.  I already feel so welcome!  Thank You All!!


AMZi x x x x 

*Hands Over Mouth*

MmmmmMMMMMmmmMMM!!!  I can't!  I can't!  I give up!  Uncle!

*takes hands off mouth*

I WAS planning on only posting once a day.  One long, rambling post is plenty for just 24 hrs, right?  And three days into *gasp* BLOGGING is pretty early to be ditching my own rules...but....

But, but, but, I can't wait!

*collects self*  I have control.  I am measured and scientific and...a big rotten liar.  But I won't tell you much.  I will only say this :: I am not at ALL ashamed of spending $29 even on this.  (And if it comes to that, I'm not at all ashamed of spending $1 on that doughnut either.)  What you ask?  Shhhhhhhhhh, it's part of the Granny Secret!

There, I made it Extra Large.  Feast Your Eyes.  Ain't ya jealous?  This is Lionbrand Homespun yarn :: Gee-Or-Geous Sooooooft and Fluffy Yarn.  SO lovely to work up.  I use a size K US hook (personal favorite).  Two Warnings though:  I don't recommend this for a beginner because 1) it's hard to tell by looking at where you are and where you're going.  Use this yarn after your fingers know what they're doing, and don't need your eyes' help anymore.  And 2) it falls apart rather easily.  Hard to pull it through the loops cleanly on the first try.  A real splitter.  But it's SO pretty.  Worth it, right?  Of.  Course.

And this is why.
You're dying to know, right?
*laughter*
A while longer, just a day or two.
I promise, I work fast.
I mean, quickly.
And I'm a stickler for grammar to boot.
Check back soon!
I solemnly promise I will whip this up and show it to you ASAP. [[which means Acting Smart And Persnickety, right?]]
And I will keep that promise better than I kept my promise about random photographs and about posting only once a day.

Promise.

x x x x x

Okay, I Lied.

More pictures!  I'm addicted to this photography business!  Anyhow, (hopefully) a quick-ish post today before I dash out.  Just a few things, mainly crochet-related, needing sharing. :)

I am in a crochetery phase at present.  I do knit, and enjoy it immensely (will have to put up pics of my knitted lobster, Cid, sometime) but I remain loyal to the Banner of Hooking!  I learned crochet first, for one thing, when I was about 7, and that does a lot to bias you, apparently. But I do think crochet has some advantages over knitting.  Faster (at least for me), easier to put down and pick back up (without losing a dozen stitches), easier to correct mistakes, and the general work-as-you-go, see-as-you-go nature.  I create with crochet.  With knitting, I follow patterns and hope it'll come out in the end!  When I crochet, I call it "sculpting," because as I go, I can see where I am, and adjust accordingly.  When I make a change, the results are almost immediately visible.  Makes it a lot easier, when I'm doing wonky shapes such as teapots and teacups and various food items.  (Yes, I crochet food.  Not my fault!  I needed it to go with the crochet teaset that I made!  Want to see pics of that?  Just holler and I'll do a page on the Stringy Foodstuffs.)

Hmmm, that sounded like a spiel.  Now that I've bored you to sleep, let's put some pictures up that might make up for it.  Or at least lessen my deficit!

First off, here's the status of those icicles from yesterday.  We've had pretty full-on sun, but they're clinging tenaciously!  I want them to go away!  Get warm!  Get green!  Grow leaves, twig!  But they are pretty while they're here.

Anyhow, I promised crochet.  And while the granny squares have been bumped off to the side (waiting to go get more yarn) I have some little projects.  It's the month of birthdays here: two Small People and one Big Person have birthdays in quick succession.  Presents?

That bit of blue in the corner is actually the edge of the OTHER Small Person's slipper, but that one's knitting.  What you DON'T see in this picture is said Small Person walking into the room without knocking, and me scrambling to shove everything behind me under the bed before they look!!  Timing, timing....


Want to see something horrendous?  Of course you do!

Ouch!  Isn't it frightful?  I love the granny squares, obviously, but what a color!  And look at that collar, and those cuffs!  This is from an old little pattern booklet, full of these outdated pictures.  Here's a granny shawl:

Meeehhh.  I'm not so into fringes.  A few tassels, I can handle, but on a garment?  Ah well.  Something to be said for the little booklet, because I THINK there's a gem in here.

I love it.  Granny squares.  Nine patch.  Green, too!  Is it not the sweetest?  Or maybe I'm just weird... :)

Also got to look through an ancient book of doily patterns.  I love doilies, and have made many (will show you those too sometime), but some of those just didn't cut it in my eyes.  I like Old Things a lot, but they have to be a certain type, a certain feel.  Ah well.  I think I prefer taking the Old Things, and the Old techniques, but making something fresher and newer and less...frumpy?  Maybe that's the word.  Ah well.  Still like the bag. :P

Last but not least, here's a few pictures of this lovely old jar I just acquired!  I love jars, of all sizes, types, you name it.  Get this--You can put things in them!!  Can you beat it???  Ah well.  Wanna see?

But that's not all!  Nooooo, look!!!

An old old old sticker!  In such nice shape!  It's SO lovely!  Sorry if you don't share me love of jars and them old label bits, but you have to admit, receiving the price of this jar of whatever-it-was in Purple Ink is pretty dang awesome.  What?  You say it isn't?  It's just strange?  Lame?  Psshhh.  *fingers in ears*

Loving how *gasp* BLOGGING has made  me keep a weather eye out for lovely things.  Makes my days so much nicer to be noticing all of these things.  So much harder to get mad and crabby...and tea helps when all else fails. :)

I didn't say Hello properly, but I'll say Goodbye!

GOODBYE!
AMZi

On Just About Everything...

Hey y'all!  Or wouldst thou prefer: "Salutatory Expostulations"?  See, see, I told you so!  Hey Y'all don't sound so bad now, eh?

I've been putting this off all day, making myself wait, just for the joy of anticipation.  I'll have you know right now this is floating my boat.  If you think I'm too weird for you, bail out now.  But I am so enjoying looking around and snapping pictures and finding these things that make me happy and might do the same for you!  :)  So I had so many ideas of what to *gasp* BLOG about, aaaaaand so I ended up with a big long list of just about everything.  I'm putting some things off.  They deserve posts of their own.  But this is a cobbling mis-match of loopy bits.  Get used to it. :)

How 'bout that!!  There just HAPPENS to be this tree outside my window, and it just HAPPENS to have this branch that thinks it'd like to become part OF my window, and that little branchy bit just HAPPENS to have the biggest icicles of the entire tree!  Shloop--up go the blinds--Bang--up goes the window--*grunt grunt grunt*--the screen is frozz [[Amziism=frozen/cold]] shut...  Keep working at it, and snap up goes the screen and (thoroughly frigid) I snap two pictures.  I love this one--if you look close, there's gorgeous fiddly bits at the base of the ice.

And there is ice elsewhere as well!  I actually wanted to go get pictures around 8:07 in the morning, when the ice was thicker and the trees out back looked like they were growing glitter...but I had places to go and people to see and violins to play (well, just one).  But this consolation picture later in the morning is still pretty cool.  Look at the shiny spots at the tips of the branches!

But I was snapping this morning around 7, when there was hardly any light to see by.  Look, look, look at this!!  This makes me so happy!  Seaglass = the most amazing stuff ever!  Lined up on the windowsill?  With pebbles in between?  AAAAHH!  <3 that speckled stone.  My favorite one.

And this is my tea.  Black tea, though not so black, because this is the third cup I've made out of one teabag.  Yes, I'm cheap.  No, I don't care.  Yes, you may thumb your nose if you're so inclined.  For a Yank, I drink an insane amount of this stuff.  You can see a bit of the shine from the camera in the reflection of the tea there.  And sticking out is my own personal tea spoon.  Can you beat it?

I don't use tea cups, though they're often gorgeous, because... well... my excuse is, I have big hands (I kid you not, have gone through most of life looking like I'm wearing rakes instead of arms) and I can't wrap them around a teensy tea cup to get warm.  Either that, or I'm just greedy....

And finally, to wrap up a really boring and lengthy post (I promise random photos won't be half so ubiquitous in future), here are my two favorite pics of the day!  Number one: I like because of the reflection in the glass ball, and the patches of light and shadow on the snow.  Number two: I like because as the granny squares radiate from the center, so does the color.  The real life squares are colored all the way through.

Granny squares you say?  Hmm?  What are they for?  That's My Little Secret, isn't it now?  Mum's the word!  At LEAST till tomorrow!

Valedictions, (I mean, So Long, mates!)
AMZi x x x