Rose Marchen - My Blanket

 

Here is my finished blanket!  The pattern I used is one I semi-created, I call it "The Giant Granny Square".  All I did was use the pattern for a granny square, but then kept going!  The finished dimensions are 64"x64".  Just the rights size for me!

The End is Near!

 Well my fellow blanket crafters, it is Sunday, February 28th.  Only a few more hours until midnight and the closing of NaBlCroKniMo.  Congratulations on participating!

I hope that none of you have been panicking if you haven't gotten anywhere near the pre-set dimensions of 81" x 64".  If you have, hurrah for you!  You are totally amazing.  If you haven't, don't worry about it.  As this is a debut event, I was still and am still figuring out how everything would work.  At the time I created the guidelines, I didn't even know if it was possible to make an afgan that big in only 28 days. 

So tomorrow, leave a comment on your respective profiles and share with everyone how far you got, if you finished your blanket, and if you haven't finished how big you plan on making it.  If you've finished, please do take a photo of it and share it with us!  You can upload your photos to the internet using tinypic.com, a free image hosting site and then post the link in a comment so I can put the picture in a post.
Also, please leave any comments and feedback, including if you'd want to do this again next year.

I hope you all had fun!

Knitting Quotes

Knitting is very conducive to thought.  It is nice to knit a while, put down the needles, write a while, then take up the sock again.  ~Dorothy Day


I like making a piece of string into something I can wear.  ~Author Unknown

 
Knitting is a boon for those of us who are easily bored.  I take my knitting everywhere to take the edge off of moments that would otherwise drive me stark raving mad.  ~Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, At Knit's End:  Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much

There is no right way to knit; there is no wrong way to knit.  So if anybody kindly tells you that what you are doing is "wrong," don't take umbrage; they mean well.  Smile submissively, and listen, keeping your disagreement on an entirely mental level.  They may be right, in this particular case, and even if not, they may drop off pieces of information which will come in very handy if you file them away carefully in your brain for future reference.  ~Elizabeth Zimmerman
 

Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn't hurt the untroubled spirit, either.  ~Elizabeth Zimmerman

 
   

Did You Know?

• The Name "Crochet" comes from the word "crochet" meaning hook in the French language
• The popularity of crochet faded at the beginning of the twentieth century decline of lace as a clothing and household embellishment.
• The Granny Square was originally published by the Weldon company in London, as a pattern to use up leftover yarn.
• How old is crochet? No one really knows but it may have been shepherds who first used bits of wool shed by sheep to make thread and fashiohed small wood branches into hooks to keep themselves warm.
• it is believed that the first form of crocheting was actually done with your fingers instead of a hook? 
• Crochet is proven to improve your logic skills, math skills and overall hand-eye co-ordination.

Taken from Associated Content and The Colorful Bee

And So It Begins!

 

NaBlCroKniMo has officially begun!  For those who have signed up, start crocheting/knitting!  For those who haven't, it isn't to late!  Feel free to join in any time this month.

To keep us entertained while working on our blankets, I shall be working on putting together a music playlist for us to listen to.  If you have any song suggestions, let me know and I'll add them!  (Please note though that I will not include the song if it is inappropriate or contains swearing.)

Participants - Rose

Screen Name: Rose Marchen

Crocheting or Knitting: Crocheting

Years of Experience: About three, I think.

Name of Pattern:  Gigantic Granny Square

Designer: Myself


Fun Fact about yourself: I co-created this event and run the blog!

Participants - Jo March

Screen Name: Jo March

Crocheting or Knitting: Crocheting (I knit too, but I'm afraid it would take too long, and I want to try my new crocheting skills! ;))

Years of Experience: With crocheting, only 2 months

Name of Pattern: Using the "Ripple Stitch" and customizing it to fit the proper size

Designer: Of the "Ripple Stitch": ? Of my specific blanket: me! ; )

Fun Fact about yourself: One of my New Years resolutions is to dress more like Rose Brier (that is, modest, feminine and rather flamboyant, though with my own specific flavor) and to do at least one "vintage Cor" thing a day. Don't know what I am talking about? Read "Waking Rose" by Regina Doman! ; )

Participants - Kathleen

Screen Name: Kathleen Pevensie

Crocheting or Knitting: Knitting

Years of Experience: two

Name of Pattern: Easy-knit afghan

Designer: Patrons Design Studio

Participants - Yaviel

Screen Name: Yaviel
Crocheting or Knitting: Crocheting
Years of experience: 4 I think
Name of Pattern: The nameless one
Designer: Moi
Interesting Fact About you: I was the co-creator!!!

Participants - Wendy

Screen Name: Wendy
Crocheting or Knitting: Knitting, definitely
Years of Experience: Around three, I think
Name of Pattern: pom-pom square blanket
Designer: my grandma ;)
Fun Fact about yourself: I once jumped off a flying helicopter to save a cat (ha, I wish ;-)

Fun Stuff for NaBlCroKniMo - Part 1

Only a few more days until the start of NaBlCroKniMo!  Are you almost ready?  Do you have your pattern, your yarn?  If you do, congratulations!  (Shhh!  Don't tell anyone, but if you've got both of those you're further along than I am!)

For some fun during NaBlCroKniMo, I thought it would be fun if we had profiles for participants, sort of like what they do at NaNoWriMo.  So what I'll need you do is fill out this little form and leave it for me in the comment box!

Screen Name:
Crocheting or Knitting:
Years of Experience:
Name of Pattern:
Designer:
Fun Fact about yourself (optional):

I'll put the above info into a little post, and that way fellow NaBl-er's can see who else is participating, how far along you are, encourage you and then you can keep us updated via-comments on how far along you are!


It's not too late to spread the word, so if you know someone who likes to knit and/or crochet, tell them about this blog!

Finding the Pattern - Knit

Yesterday I did a post with a few links to patterns for you crocheters out there.  Today I'm going to help all the knitters and post some links to a few afghan pattern libraries. 

http://www.knittingpatterncentral.com/directory/afghans.php

and

http://www.allcrafts.net/crochet/knitafghans.htm

Finding the Pattern - Crochet

As any crafter knows, a pattern is essential to the project.  It might be a pattern that your grandma gave you, a pattern you found online or even a pattern that you created yourself! 

To get you started in searching for the perfect pattern for NaBlCroKniMo, here are a couple of websites with lists of patterns.

http://www.allcrafts.net/crochet/afghans.htm

http://www.crochetpatterncentral.com/directory/afghans.php

Be sure to keep the size requirements in mind while you are searching!

Dimensions decided!

Attention all crocheters and knitters!  Please check the rules below as I have updated them.

What Does NaBlCroKniMo Involve?

Now for the big post... what does NaBlCroKniMo involve?

• NaBlCroKniMo will start at 12:00 AM February 1st, 2010
• It will end 12:00AM February 28th, 2010
• Blankets may be either knit or crocheted. 
• You may use any pattern, either an original pattern or a pattern you found.
• Blankets must have approximate dimensions of 83" x 61"
  

What is NaBlCroKniMo?

I do believe that a name like the one above requires a little bit of explanation.

NaBlCroKniMo stands for "National Blanket Crocheting/Knitting Month" and it stands for the month of February when people all over will be working on either Crocheting or Knitting a blanket. At least, I hope they will be. 

Back in December, after all of our friends were wrapping up NaNoWriMo and I did BloPoWriMo on a different blog of mine, my sisters and I were tossing around some ideas for fun month long challenges that we could do.  Of the three of us older girls, one of us knits and the other two crochet so crocheting or knitting a blanket was a natural idea for us to hit upon.  We also mutually agreed that winter (February to be specific) was the perfect time to be making a blanket.

And that is how NaBlCroKniMo was born.

But what exactly does NaBlCroKniMo entail?  Well, I'll get to that in my next post.