the Akamai Knitter

Back in February I bought a bunch of yarn.

Since then it’s morphed into this.

It’s my very first Log Cabin Blanket.  It’s for my mother and it’s in her favorite sports team colors. Both the Duke Blue Devils and Dallas Cowboys have basically the same team colors, which makes life pretty easy when you’re dressing up to cheer for your team at game time.

I’m having so much fun with this project! The mindless garter stitch is the perfect relaxation remedy when I’m done working with my seed beads or my wire projects.  And by a happy coincidence, blue is my favorite color.

I also love the yarn, Berroco Comfort. Yes it’s a man-made “acrylic”, but it’s so super soft and so easy to work with. I love the fact that you can throw it in the washing machine and for all that? I love the price too.

It’s just too bad that I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve had a chance to knit in the past two weeks.

Ah well, it’s not going anywhere and it’s not like a blanket is an absolute necessity in Hawaii. ;-P

Part of the reason I haven’t been knitting? I’ve been making these.

Don’t look too closely, some of them aren’t perfect as I’m still learning how to use resin. I’ll most likely put the imperfect pendants up for sale at a discounted price in the coming days.

Look! Kitty!

That’s the first photo in a series. Stay tuned for more.

Happy Wednesday, folks! I find Wednesdays the hardest day to get through. How about you?

Soon after I finished the Blue Sand Ripple Afghan, I realized the madness of ripple mania had not abated. So I started another the very next day.

This was originally meant to be my first ripple, but I simply could not wait for the yarn to arrive. I have to admit to a certain disappointment once the yarn came though. The sage or light green you see is a bit too bright for my taste. I was really hoping for a sage green like this and not something like mint chocolate chip.

I decided to go ahead and see how the mint green worked with the other colours anyway. Today was the first day I really laid it out on my bed to see how it all worked out. When I see it with all the other colours, the lighter green doesn’t annoy me like it does all by its lonesome.

I’m using the same pattern as I did with the last blanket. It’s wonderfully relaxing and a treat to knit while watching television. The yarn is Caron Simply Soft. I probably should have mentioned that sooner rather then later. As far as acrylics go, it’s a good deal. It’s inexpensive with minimal squeak and soft to the touch.

The best part of it all is that the ripple is not losing any of its magical force. I’m still deeply enthralled by the process. So much so that I already have some yarn lined up for a third blanket and I have succumbed to the lure of the book 200 Ripple Stitch Patterns. I should be having a good mail day coming up soon.
I do feel slightly insane with this mad love of blankets while there’s all this hot weather going on, but I figure you gotta follow your bliss. Anyway, isn’t that what fans and air conditioners are for?

PS Did you know Woodland Woolworks is having a 2-day sock yarn sale? It’s on for today and tomorrow and it’s 20% off on all their sock yarn. Gah. There goes my budget. It goes *splat!*

Thoughts…

There’s still no change in my Uncle Randy’s status and I’m really worried about my Auntie Karen. I want to knit her a shawl, but I’m still deciding on what pattern to use. It’s hard being so far away from them all. All I can do is let go and let God as they say.

There seems to be a lot of sadness in the atmosphere of knitblogia. My friend Susie recently lost her dog Wolfie and my friend Jen just lost her darling bunny Clover. I really grew attached to Susie’s Wolfie through her blog and I was so upset by his sudden passing. I’ll also miss visiting Jen’s house and seeing little Clover playing with Jen’s other bunny Munchie. Our pets are so special to us. They don’t just seem to be a part of the family, they are a part of our family.

I do take comfort in the fact that knitters are such a wonderful well of support. I don’t know what I’d do without the support of all the wonderful friends that I’ve made here. Before I forget, Jen also graduated from college this past Sunday, so if you get a chance get on over there and give her a little love. On to the ripples…

Ripples…

Last week Thursday I was able to finish off the Blue Sand Ripple afghan. I just didn’t have the energy to take pictures and what not till today though. The same goes for some other projects I have going on, but I’ll catch up soon.

Pattern: Susan B’s Easy Ripple Afghan

Yarn: Various acrylics, mostly Red Heart

Hook size: I

Started: 5/5/07

Finished: 5/11/07

Dimensions: 60″ long and 45″ wide

Even though I ran out of the variegated yarn so the blanket turned out a little smaller then I had envisioned, but it turned out to be the perfect size for cuddling while watching TV. I’m really pleased with the way the colour scheme worked out. Although Red Heart is squeaky and harsh, I do like the colours they have.

One of the yarns that I was able to use was Patons Canadiana and I really liked working with it. They also have some great colours available so I’m planning on another afghan in this yarn sometime in the future. It might be awhile as I’ve already started another ripple in Caron Simply Soft and the Canadiana is a bit more expensive then the yarns of lesser quality.

With all this ripple fever going on, I’ve been mightily tempted to buy the book 200 Ripple Stitches. Unfortunately that would put too much of a crimp in my budget this month, so I’ll probably wait till next month.

Yes, the ripple has got me good, but I sure ain’t complaining.

PS That’s Onyx hanging out in her corner of the bed with her teddy bear.

I was up until 2am with Ripple Fever and awake again at 6:30am. This is what I have to show for it.

I know it doesn’t look like much, but I didn’t get home until around 11:30pm. So there wasn’t a lot of concentrated rippling going on. I’ve decided to name the afghan Blue Sands. I’m not sure why, it just kind of came to me.

I’m also not sure how I like the way the colour scheme is going, but I don’t have enough of the variegated yarn to work through the whole blanket so I had to improvise with a quick trip to the local Ben Franklin Crafts store.

I ended up spending about $20 for enough yarn to finish the blanket. At least I hope it’s enough to finish it! I got the tried and true squeaky Red Heart. I figure that it will not only be durable, but extremely easy to take care of. Which is not something to sneeze at when there are 3 cats in the house.

Despite my colour scheme misgivings, I’m utterly in love with the ripples. It’s just so much fun to see them take shape and I do really love the colours. I just really hope that they come together at some point.

The reason why I came home rather late (for me) last night was that I went to dinner and a movie. I saw Spider-Man 3. I’m not sure if it was because of the kids in the back of me that had to utter “loser” and “retard” every 5 minutes (what find upstanding citizens these young boys will grow up to be) or the young family in front with the toddler and baby, but I had a really hard time focusing on the movie and keeping up an interest in the characters. Did anyone else catch this flick? What’s your take on it? If you don’t want to spoil it for the rest of the folks feel free to email me at opal AT akamaiknitter DOT com.

I actually enjoyed watching the Girls Next Door with my friend Jen more then I did the movie. Now does that speak more for my taste or for the quality of said movie? Ack. Don’t answer that! I’m hoping it was just because of the distracting qualities of the theater crowd.

One last thing, say hello to someone new in blogland, Aim over at Bumpy Doink!

As hard as I tried to escape the ripple madness, I finally reached my tipping point sometime last night. I’m not sure exactly what set me off, but I do know that certain persons, who I shall not name outright, were contributing factors. (Okay, so maybe I did.)

I thought to just order some yarn and use the intervening time between the time I ordered it to the time it arrives to work on my other projects. But no. I tossed and turned in bed last night thinking of ripples. Obsessing about ripples. I had to have some yarn in my stash for a small ripple project right?

I finally remembered a bag of some oddballs that’s awaiting charity pick-up. I found three colours that seemed to go together. I found a pattern. I dug out a crochet hook and at 2am I was off to ripple! Now I haven’t crocheted in a couple of years, but once I got started I was wondering why I had kept away for so long.

All sorts of old memories popped up as I my hook dipped in and out. The one I treasure most is of my mother’s mother, my Popo, crocheting afghans in front of the television set. She never used a pattern but she always managed to produce intricate patterns with multiple colours. I was always fascinated and amazed by her skill. Popo wasn’t the one who taught me how to crochet, but I do like to think that I’m carrying on her tradition of needlework in the family.