Four years ago, I crocheted some edging on a few yards of linen and made myself a beach blanket. I have loved that thing ever since. It’s just the right mix of utilitarian and fancy for me (and for the beach). It has held up suprisingly well. The crochet bit has gotten skrunchy and soft from all the washings. The photos below are from when I made it and today. (more…)

It’s not all wine and finished projects in these parts. Trust me there are plenty of half done–half assedly done–things shoved in various corners of my studio. This afghan is not destined for one of those corners (I hope). It is actually coming along quite nicely.  I fell in love with this vintage afghan that Miss Rachel from Smile and Wave picked up at her local thrift. I had been looking around for crochet patterns I could use to make a blanket for my son, but nothing seemed right until that blue number popped up. A commenter on pinterest pointed me to a pattern on ravelry called the Vintage Fan Ripple Stitch Pattern, which turned out to be exactly the same as the original afghan. I went out and bought a bunch of yarn the next day.

I liked all the blues in Rachel’s blanket, so I stuck with that and threw some gray in for good measure. Ravelry came to the rescue again when I ran out of the light blue yarn I was using. The heathered light blue was by Berroco Vintage, which I had in my stash, and when I went back to my local yarn store for more they were all out. After a look on the interwebs, I discovered Berroco didn’t even make that colorway anymore. Luckily there was someone on ravelry who had two skeins of it for sale! I don’t know why the two rows of light blues look different in the photo–trust me they are not. Oh also there are more nerdy crochet details on ravelry. 

The other half done project is not coming along as nicely. The first time I made the Wiksten Tank it was nice, but it was a smidge small.  So I cut a medium this time. Well turns out the first one wasn’t small, it was just that the material I used didn’t have any give to it. The medium is too big everywhere and if I try to take the sides in, the wide set straps make me look, umm, beefy.  I can’t shove it in the corner because this fabric was expensive as hell. So here’s my plan: I’m going to cut this tank apart, cut the small from it (a little lower down), and then add a band of color to the bottom. What do you think? I picked up some navy linen that I think will work. I’m hoping it won’t look hackneyed.

-a wooden serving tray with a lovely yellow cottage on it. My daughter said, “Is that where Laura [of Little House in the Prarie] lives?”

-a fantastic wool blanket. I got this a while back, but hey! it’s 50 degrees, so we’re still using it! I’m not complaining–this is my kind of summer. Awesome things to do everywhere, but none of that hot ass weather that goes a long with it.

-a ridiculously analog computer. It’s hilarious, how could I pass it up?

-and this bad boy came off the curb. A metal basket for who know what, but it fits our books perfectly. And it’s awesome.

Get anything good from the thrift store recently?