I’m going to go out on a limb here & suggest that we ALL have been making stuff.
Did you perhaps notice the dyeing of wool?? Why yes, yes I am dipping my toes into a new endeavor. It’s frigging wonderful too!!
That was my first try…I’ll update you when I finish the next batch😘
🎄Happy Holidays All You Fabulous Hookers🎄
I promised you the pattern for The Chunk a few weeks ago, and I am here to deliver.
I have finally finished it, and we love, LOVE, LURVE this blanket.
I’ve been working on this idea for a couple of years, just letting it percolate because I wasn’t really sure of the details. I knew I wanted a bed-sized blanket in white or cream. I knew I wanted it to be thick & squishy. I knew NOT what pattern to use. I knew NOT what super bulky yarn to use. Did I try several? Oh heck yeah, I tried and frogged lots. And then lots more. And then ignored the urge for some months. But it kept nagging at me. I wanted a fisherman’s sweater for my bed. The inspiration pieces from designers on Pinterest I could find were great, but they were all knitted.
When I gave up on the fisherman’s sweater look with complicated cables in a super bulky yarn, it finally clicked for me. If I wanted a simple and classic monochromatic afghan, I needed a simple stitch pattern. Instead of reinventing the wheel, I looked back at my favorite patterns from the past. Lo and behold, I realized the Dreamy Layers Afghan from back in 2011 could rock a single color with a nice pebbley, nubby texture. At that time, I had only bought 8 of the massive Bernat Blanket Yarn skeins I thought I needed. Little did I know it would take double that! In the end, you can make it whatever size that works for you, but I’m not gonna lie ~ it’s really awesome to have it basically end up king-sized on a queen-sized bed.
Expensive? Yes.
Also. Totally. Worth. It.
the chunk afghan pattern::
C2C:: this is a corner to corner blanket worked in 1 piece and makes the piece a square
16 skeins of Bernat Big Ball Blanket (10.5 oz/220 yd, so 3520 total yardage) ~ it’s super bulky chenille and cloud-soft. ****note:: Yes, I said 16 for king-sized, so this is a very expensive blanket to make. I used JoAnn’s coupons to purchase my yarn over a period of several weeks and brown-bagged my lunch to justify it. I wanted this blanket whatever it took. Any even number of skeins will do if you wish to make it smaller****
“N” hook
****note:: no I cannot afford Furls hooks, but if you like my lime green hook, Hobby Lobby has these acrylic & ergonomic large hooks that look & perform much like those from the luxury brand****
row 1:: ch2, in 2nd ch from hook make hdc, sc, hdc; ch 1 and turn
row 2:: inc in 1st stitch (hdc, sc), hdc in next stitch, inc in last stitch (sc, hdc), ch 1 and turn
row 3:: inc in 1st stitch (hdc, sc), hdc, sc, hdc, inc in last stitch (sc, hdc), ch 1 and turn
row 4 – center of blanket:: inc in 1st stitch (hdc, sc), repeat *hdc, sc, hdc, sc, hdc* across to last stitch inc of (sc, hdc), ch 1 turn
****note:: I used 8 skeins to get to the center (and widest point) of my blanket, then I began the decreases with skein #9****
At your desired widest point *this is where you can make the over-all size larger if desired by continuing the increases or begin the decreasing in a similar manner to the increase rows – decrease the 1st 2 stitches and the last 2 stitches tog*
center row – opposite corner:: dec 1st 2 stitches (sc 2 tog), repeat *sc, hdc, sc* across to last 2 stiches (sc 2 tog) ch 1 and turn (make sure to stitch all 3 stitches tog on final row)
I’m completely smitten with The Chunk paired with my Amazing Technicolor Dreamghan. And now, with these 2 in the done column, my bed is complete and we can handle whatever cold this winter has to offer. I say, bring it on old man winter!
Thanks so much for stopping by & if you should decide to make The Chunk, please do come back to share your FO!
Many years ago, I found a pattern in a magazine for some DIY Adirondack chairs and it was true love. I was pining for a pair of them and my Dad was looking for a project to fill his non-golfing hours during the winter days of his retirement. So it was decided that after Christmas that year, he would begin the project for me, his favorite daughter. (Nevermind that I am his ONLY daughter. I prefer to go down in history as his favorite.)
Then life happened, as it often does.
I got diagnosed with cancer. He got diagnosed with cancer. We commiserated and spent our time trying to live normal lives while battling the big C. The chairs dropped completely off of our radar.
Fast forward to this year, and my lovely friend Martha knew I still wanted those chairs. She also knew that Frankie was not the woodworking type of guy. She enlisted the help of her retired husband Don to bring my chairs to life.
Currently, I’m in the process of making cushions with scrap yarn.
One down, one to go 🙂
My Dad would be so happy to know that they are now part of my world.
You know what they say about men & their vehicles when it comes to size, right? What I need to know is what it means when it comes to hookers & afghan size…
I’ve taken on another king-size afghan project that is currently running my life, and I’m not sure what my obsession is with massive blankets. A couple of years ago, you may remember the Amazing Technicolor Dreamghan that was my afghan to beat all mother of afghans…
well, take a peek at The Chunk.
And no, I’m not talking about Frankie (lucky dog is already down to his goal weight loss & that shot of his bicep it pretty hot…hmmm, where was I?…).
Oh, right…I’m about 3/4 of the way done with the chenille super bulky weight blanket he is reveling under. Our love for it is rivaling the wooly counterpart.
I’ll be sharing the details when it’s complete 🙂
Happy hooking!
Yes, you.
Y’all were supposed to remind me about the whole complicated amigurumi thing that drives me insane. After the AT-AT debacle, you promised to stop me before I accepted any special orders for complicated toys that pay me about 30 cents per hour. Ok fine, you didn’t promise…but dammit I wish you would have reminded me. We’ll just leave it at that.
Frigging adorable hedgehog with a very well written pattern, that you can find here.
While working on said adorable hedgehog, I became quite stabby…
If this were a gift for someone I love, well that would be a different story….
I am only charging a reasonable fee for the order and yet it took over 10 HOURS TO MAKE.
Not my idea of a winning business model…so once again I implore you to remind me that toys are not my thing. Thank you, that is all.
You may or may not have noticed that I’ve been taking a little breakity break from blogging. There were lots of reasons, lots of things to do, lots of changes to be made in my life.
The long story has way too many layers to bore y’all to tears with, so the short story it will be…
My father’s death 1 1/2 years ago was very difficult and I have been in a funk ever since. You can even see it in my blogging, or lack thereof. I was in a miserable place both personally and professionally. I changed jobs last summer and got my professional life in order to the point it no longer weighed down my personal life where I was attempting to deal with loss and sadness. (I’m apparently still queen-of-the-run-on-sentence)
This spring I decided I needed to *ahem* grow a pair and work on my personal life. I made a list, as one does when one is as OCD as I tend to be. I realized I needed to fix SO MUCH CRAP in my own head that the only way through it was to sprinkle in some rewards to myself or I would be overwhelmed. I didn’t want to get to a point that I’d give up, my Daddy would not approve…
I began my Personal Reboot Challenge with simple things each week building on the success of the previous week. Some things were easy, like ditching soda. Others were very flipping difficult, like working out every day and quitting smoking. I’m 3 months in and happy to report that I have completed the list, kept all the good habits and not reverted to the old bad ones! There were small rewards along the way…a Runza hamburger, fries & a Dr. Pepper (OMG ~ hated it after eating healthy for so long), and with the money I’d saved by not purchasing cigarettes I got fancy & expensive hand-dyed yarn, and a new set of crochet hooks. But the pièce de résistance was to finally make myself a studio space in my itty bitty house. It took a ton of work, and even organizing an 8-family garage sale, but I did it!
I have emptied out the basement living room, and I’m in the process of making myself at home in my very own studio.
Here are a couple of pics with my progress so far.
I still need to move 2 more of the white cabinets into my space, hang some art on the walls, and to find the right office chair…but I’m on my way.
Thanks for stopping by
&
Have a lovely day!
It started in October-ish…maybe. I’m not sure when really, but Alex’s girlfriend Hannah asked me this past fall to make her an afghan. She wanted sharp chevrons, all greys & blues & white, in totally random order, and about ‘this big’ gestures completed the order. I showed her a varied lot with every color of blue & grey that I had in the magical craft closet. Then I sent her off packing to the yarn store with her chosen scrap samples to pick up the loot necessary to approximately get her ‘this big’ blankie done. Of course my ball-park guess was wrong and we made 2 more trips for yarn…that’s my S.O.P. ~ guessing is not my forte.
I finally finished 3+ months later…fast afghans are not my forte either apparently.
The basics on the “Girlfriend Afghan”
“H” hook
Red Hart SS in white, grey heather, charcoal, and light blue
Vanna’s Choice in aqua
Chain 229
Dc 3 tog, dc 10, 5 dc, dc 10, dc 5 tog across to end, dc 3 tog, ch 2 turn
17 color stripes of 4 rows, with 2 rows of white in between each
Also, don’t mess with Hannah. Alex was given the evil eye for the minor infraction of not wanting his picture taken.
