Off the Hook: Hopecake

This is a gift for a friend of mine who watched the election returns with me. In anticipation of the evening, I baked some "Obama cookies" that were based on a Snickerdoodle recipe but were iced with a loose approximation of Barack Obama's logo:



We joked about making cupcakes with the logo, which would either be "Hopecakes" or "Copecakes", depending on the election's outcome. So, based on a pattern from bittersweetblog.wordpress.com, I made the following "Hopecake" out of Red Heart Sport (in Cocoa, Ivory, Dutch Blue, and Heart Red).

On (and off) the Hook: Go Blue! Afghan

Have you ever wondered, "Could I make an entire afghan in 9 days?" Apparently, for me, that answer is yes. I started this afghan officially on July 4th and finished it yesterday. (Why the clarification of "officially", you might wonder? Well, I tried two other patterns and two other hook sizes before I finally settled on this pattern and hook size, which means I technically started the project on June 30.)

I used ~3500 yards of Numma Numma's Texas Toasty yarn in Blue Corn Masa; I doubled the yarn and used an 8mm "L" hook. (And yes, picking a hook size was a bit of a Goldilocks process: the N was too loose, the K was too tight, and the L was just right.) The pattern is Plain and Simple from Quick and Cozy Afghans; it's a pretty straightforward pattern to memorize and debug, and I just love the scalloped edges (which are sort of the inverse of each other-- see photos below).

My finished afghan is about 43" wide x 55" long. I increased the pattern widthwise by one repetition because I thought it wouldn't be wide enough. I haven't blocked it yet, but it looks like it'll grow quite a bit lengthwise when I do.

   

On the Hook: Mini-afghan (sampler!)

I did a lot of travelling in January and February, and I decided to use the time away from home living in hotel rooms to learn how to crochet. So I picked up a copy of Jan Eaton's 200 Crochet Blocks because it would give me a lot of different patterns with a lot of different kinds of stitches and techniques. It ended up being a great strategy-- I loved the book, and I loved seeing all of Eaton's different color and pattern combinations (she showed a lot of her blocks in multiple color combos, so even though there were 212 blocks, that's not 212 unique patterns.... but there was still way more than enough to keep me challenged).

Overview: I used Rowan Pure Wool DK in lots of different colors: white (snow #012), three different blues (glacier #005, marine #008, navy #011), three different pinks (tea rose #025, hyacinth #026, and hydrangea #027), two greens (avocado #019 and emerald #022), two oranges (honey #033 and spice #034), and red (kiss #036). Blocks are made using a F hook (4.0 mm) and ended up being 5.25" square.

I can't decide how much bigger I'm going to make this-- my original plan was to make it into a lap blanket to keep at my office, but it's a little thin (I totally should've doubled the yarn!) and I've since moved on to other projects. I've made 28 blocks so far, and I'm stitching them together as I go, so I'll probably just decide it's finished whenever I either run out of yarn or decide that there are no other blocks that I want to make!

Below is a sampling of some of the blocks I've made so far. These blocks are all square and have been blocked, but the angle makes them look not-so-square.

On the Hook: Green Afghan

This week's featured project is a wool afghan pattern from Quick and Cozy Afghans; the pattern is called Spring Throw but I've obviously picked not-so-springy colors for my version.

Overview: The pattern is crocheted in strips that are then stitched together, which makes it a surprisingly portable project despite its ultimate size. I'm using Ella Rae Classic in three colors, from darkest to lightest: Green Heather (#110), Moss (#16), and Light Green Heather (#109). Purchased at Knit Happens in Alexandria, VA. I'm using a smaller hook (G, or 4.5mm) than the pattern calls for, so each strip has more repetitions (96) than the pattern originally calls for.

Current status: I've finished and stitched together 7 strips; it's currently 24" wide and 54" long. It's a little bit shorter than I was hoping (whoops - should've checked my gauge!) so I'm planning on adding some kind of border either around the whole afghan or just across the short end to make it a little longer. A couple of ideas:
- two-color border
- afghan border
- shell path edging (I like this because it mirrors the pattern of the afghan, but I don't want it to compete)
- cathedral edge
- biscuit edge

Here's a close-up of what the corner looks like: