Charity Crocheting

A woman near by runs a little charity that collects blankets to donate to area hospices and senior's homes. I decided during a lull this summer to try using up some stash. I'd seen a lot of neat "corner to corner" (C2C) crocheted blankets and heard they were really fast to make. Maybe in a tiny baby size, LOL. It still took me a good chunk of time. Think about it--still need to cover the same area. I suppose I could use a slightly bigger crochet hook (I'm using the green one, LOL....maybe 5.5mm or 6.5mm).

First one, I opted to do a more masculine look because it seems there are always more things for the women.

I got started while visiting my parents at the end of the summer. I had a few trouble spots, but just needed to be a bit more mindful. 

 Date night at Movie in then Park.

 It ended up a smidge small so I did the border a few rounds of single crochet.

This blanket weighed in at 404gr, but I'm going to round up to 410gr because I weigh it after weaving in the ends and trimming. It might have even been more.

Before that one was finished I started another one (once it gets big, it's not a good travel project). This time I went girly.

 The pink is a lot brighter in real life. This one took longer because I got near the end and began to question how much white and purple I had. I had to go to Michaels' to get more and it just took awhile to combine having money, time, energy, and gas in the truck.

The pink is much brighter in real life. I couldn't get the same yarn in white (it's not white-white) but I think the one I got was close enough. The purple was very close. This one weighs in at 400gr.

The third one I started after they asked for larger blankets. I had just bought that large ball of cream yarn from the thrift store, so I went with a more masculine look again, pulling all the green and brown yarns out of my stash. I still have quite  a bit left! It's a lot bigger, and softened up the nicest when I washed (this is Red Heart; the pink/purple one was "Impeccable" (I think) and it's not as soft).

Ummm. Yeah, that's pretty crappy photo. Can't really see all the different shades of green and brown. Oh well. Trust me. It weighs in at 644gr, going to round up to 650gr. This really helps out my "yarn out" totals!

Yarn In:     1161gr
Yarn Out:    1460gr + 812gr = 2272gr
Balance:     1111gr OUT
Costs:    $31.39/311 days= $0.10/day

More Grey

This is a continuation of the last post, in a way. I like grey. It's a great neutral and many other colours look good with it and it's not as depressing as black. However, there can be issues with "warm" grey and "cool" grey, as evident when I was trying to choose a fabric for the back top part of the dress in the last post. I have a lot of prints with grey in it, which really helps this dilemma.

And then there's silver. Burn out velvet stripes. From Wal-Mart, many, many years ago. Probably about 11 years ago. We moved from Orangeville in August 2009 and Wal-Mart had stopped selling fabric a while before that, but I didn't start really buying fabric until 2006. So this was a great deal that I picked up between 2006 and 2008. It was less than $5 for a good size hunk, and then I picked up another hunk of it (it was pre-cut). I've petted it a lot, and finally last winter, made the chocolate truffle hat.    I decided I needed a grey "waterfall" cardi, for work. I had a lovely black lightweight cardi that I picked up at Value Village last year which I loved for work, but it seems to have wondered away. I don't have any suitable black, but I thought this grey would be nice as a starting point/muslin.

I asked around on the FB "Curvy Sewing Collective" group for a pattern that wouldn't be "too" overwhelming with fabric. Some of the patterns have dolman sleeves that add a lot of width, or are really long, or have a lot of fabric in the "waterfall" collar. Someone recommended the Swoon Patterns "Scarf Neck Cardigan".  And it's FREE!! This pattern looked like everything I wanted (though no pockets!).

I liked the princess seams, but at this time, I hadn't done a FBA on princess seams yet, so I just shortened the upper bodice and graded at the waist, I think. If I do it again, I'm doing a FBA. I also shortened it a fair bit, especially the sleeves (which  I had read were strangely long to begin with).

 I really liked this until I saw this photo. I think because the body length hits at the sleeve length, it adds to the visual width. I didn't want to look like I was wearing a too-big sweater, but this isn't the right length either.

 I do like the back length. The sleeve seam is a little off my shoulder, but I'm okay with that. If I had a shirt on, it would fit differently than the slip dress.

When I wear it, it feels like it pulls at my neck. I wasn't sure if I was feeling the back seam, or if something was going on (I'm really) sensitive to things on my neck. But seeing these photos, I see those vertical lines from armpit to neck. So, I need to add back that bit I had taken out. And even maybe add a bit of length at the neck edge.

I'm not sure what all disappoints me with this. I don't know if it's just the grey on grey, my hair, the length, or what. I should get another picture wearing it with a different outfit. I do want to love it and make more!