Throwback Thursday

I'd be safe and warm, if I was in L.A. 

(The Mamas and the Papas)

Almost one year ago today I was in Los Angeles, California celebrating a friend's birthday.  In between the partying and museums, I managed to sneak in a visit to a yarn store.  Lucky for me, our Airbnb was about three blocks away from a fabulous LYS, The Altered Stitch.

Have a quick look around:


Although I wanted to buy the whole store, lucky for me, they had a sidewalk sale where they had beautiful yarn marked all the way down to a dollar.  $50 bought me some gorgeous skeins and an issue of Vogue Knitting.

I bought four skeins of Hachito by Mirasol Yarns.  It's an 80% wool, 20% nylon superwash merino wool blend.

I'm not sure what the colorways are, but they're gorgeous aren't they? I'm not sure what to make, but a quick search on Ravelry yielded some ideas that I'll share on this weekend's Showcase. 

Next I bought two skeins of Delicious Yarns Taffy in Butter Cream, a creamy white superwash merino with splotches of pink and brown.  They're from Valley Village, California, the area where we were. Yay for local yarns!

And then I found two skeins of 100% silk from India, Duke by Silkindian.  It was originally $29.75, and I scored them both for $5.

It was an adorable store, and I highly recommend it.  I hope to return there, and to Los Angeles sometime in 2017.

WIP Wednesday

To know me is to know that I love traditional granny squares.

I will make them out of any yarn and any size, from a delightful sprinkling of granny daughters backed in black to my dad's blanket I recently finished that's going back in the WIP pile, more on that later.

To know me is to also know that I have amassed quite a substantial stash over the years, one that I really want to try and work through.  A large portion of this stash is worsted weight acrylic, machine washable squeaks-as-it-passes-over-the-steel-hook goodness.  I had decided I would make a large blanket out of it, a large crazy-colored stash-busting blanket inspired by the one my mom had made a year ago, four round traditional grannies bordered in white sized to generously fit a queen sized bed which had diminished the acrylic stash quite a bit but there was still a good amount left.  I didn't know if I wanted to do something like that and stick with simple granny squares, or maybe try my hand at African flowers or another motif, or maybe make a Weekender Blanket. (I love hexagons!)  But then one day I had the Idea and went with it, and it's turned out amazingly.

The Plan was:

1. simple four round granny squares, each round a different color
2. join-as-you-go (JAYGO), with no black or white bordering color in between
3. completely random, assigning each skein a number and using a random number generator to determine the order

I got all my yarn together, threw out some mystery trash yarn, yellow, green, and some doubles, and was left with 18 colors of what I now see, 42 blocks in, are shades of pink, purple, and blue, along with neutrals. (White, black, browns.) 

I just can't stop taking pictures of it.

I've been working on it every day, managing a few rows on Christmas presents. (I even picked up the knitting needles yesterday.)

It's been a dream to work on.  Mindless crochet, each block a different random color combination.  The only complaint I have are those ends.  Each block has 8 (?) ends to weave in, multiplied by 42 blocks so far that's... *sighs* ... it's even worse when I think of the number.  So Weaving Day's going to be a pain.  But it sure is a fun way to get rid of my stash! 

~

In Formerly FO Now WIP News, I was browsing through Ice Yarns today, looking for a nice yarn to make a friend an blanket when I spied something familiar:

Could it be?

YES IT IS!

This was the yarn I used for my dad's blanket, the Bamboo Yarn Magic previously believed to be extinct, apparently alive and well!  It's now living under the name Wool Bamboo Light but all the stats seem the same, so lucky me! I'm going to buy a pack, frog the border, and back into the WIP stack it goes! I'm so happy, now that blanket is definitely going to be the size I want! Silly IceYarns. 

Miscellaneous Monday

Hello!

Have you figured out the Plan I've created for this blog yet?  It's daily features!  Now I'll have a schedule that will hopefully keep me blogging and keep my interest, and hopefully this third (fourth?) incarnation of OnePinkHippo won't fade after a few weeks.  Just as a refresher, let's go over the daily features in detail:

• Miscellaneous Monday ▸ Mondays are going to be whatever I want! It's my free day.  I'll still stick with crafty things, but it's basically my day to post about whatever I want, including life in general.
• Tuesday ▸ Tuesdays are off days; Tuesdays are regroup days.  We all have weekends, we all have days off, and I'll need a day off from yakking about myself, and to plan future posts. 
• Work In Progress (WIP) Wednesday ▸ Where I talk about my current WIPs, always plural, because I have a bad habit of starting projects and leaving them languishing about my house in various stages of completion.  This is going to get a little tricky because it's Holiday Crafting Season, so some Wednesdays might be Close Up Shots of Christmas presents, depending on who reads this blog.
• Throwback Thursday ▸ Where we go back in the past 11 years I've been knitting and crocheting and take a look at the crazy (I'm looking at you, first amigurumi rabbit I stuffed too much), beautiful, and well-loved items I've made over the years, as well as those items I've given as gifts to people I've lost touch with.  
• Finished Object (FO) Friday ▸ Where we look at my most recent Finished Objects.  FO Friday might not always happen because I might not always have an FO, but we'll see how this works out.
• Showcase Saturday and Sunday ▸ And the weekend is for the Showcase!  The Showcase is where I share knits and crochets from around the web.  Saturday will be for crochet items, Sunday will be for knit items.  

I'm excited about these features, and excited to be blogging again.  And thank you all very much for reading!

Showcase Sunday

Fall Leaves | Carrie Forrest Dweller Duvall (Forrest Dweller "The Handmade Homemaker")

Pumpkin and a Pattern  | Bobbi Lewin (Bobbi's Art)

Showcase Saturday

On Saturdays and Sundays, I'll be showcasing my favorite knits and crochets from around the web, crochet on Saturday, knitting on Sunday.  Enjoy! xo

Crocodile Stitch "Dragonscale Fluffy Gloves" | Tahara (Thane's Prayers)

Autumn Glow Fingerless Mitts | Jennifer Dickerson (Fiber Flux)

Fall Maple Leaves | Michelle (The Painted Hinge) 

Finished Object (FO) Friday

Granny Square Afghan
Yarn: Ice Yarns Bamboo Wool Magic in Green; Lion Brand Vanna's Choice in Black
Hook: 5.00 mm (H)
Made for: my dad, for Christmas
Started: September 06, 2016
Finished: September 22, 2016
Notes:  This was a fun project.  The yarn was great! It was very nice using a yarn that wasn't acrylic and didn't squeak on the hook.  It produced a lovely drapey fabric.  Even though it's a bit smaller than I hoped, I'm still happy with it.  I didn't buy enough yarn, and unfortunately the yarn has been discontinued.  I hope my dad will like it, and that he gets a lot of use out of it.  (I also hope he doesn't read this!)

Throwback Thursday: First

For my first Throwback Thursday, I've decided to go back to my first post on Blogspot ever, and see what was the first project I posted.

Way back in November 2007, I posted this hat I had made for my boyfriend at the time:

Not too bad for my first crochet hat! I was especially excited about it because it was my first hat that actually came out to be a wearable hat, and didn't turn out looking like a yarmulke or sombrero.  Funny thing is, I have no recollection of this hat.  I don't even know where this pattern is from. (Stich 'n Bitch Crochet, maybe?)  It's pre-Ravelry, and I was just too excited to have made a hat to write down too many details.  I think the yarn is Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick though.  Something nice and bulky I could find for cheap at Michaels.

As for now, I'm not too partial to crocheting hats.  They still come out looking like buckets, so I usually knit them, even if that means I have three or four going on at the same time.