Year of Projects, Year 2: Decisions

 This post contains affiliate links.

This week,  I auditioned six more motifs for my mom’s milestone birthday blanket.  I made each sample with stash yarn, and I’m happy to report that I’m almost to the bottom of one of my plastic yarn tubs!

This is my version of Duckbill Dalliance by Margaret MacInnis.  I like this motif a lot, but I don’t think I will be using it for my mom’s bedspread.

I found this great motif, M-6, in a vintage crochet book I have, Crochet and Creative Design by Annette Feldman.  I bought this book after interviewing Kathryn from Crochet Concupiscence.  I made my version in a self-striping yarn.  I love it, but it is definitely too openwork for a full bedspread.

Then I moved on to Afghan #9 by Valerie Vandergriff from Contest Favorites Afghan Squares. Because I plan to donate this square to charity, I made it 12″ so my version includes a few extra rounds.  This motif is definitely in the running for my mom’s bedspread.

And finally, I had to try out the Monet Pineapple, one of my all-time favorite motifs.  This was designed by Janie Herrin and appears in 100 Afghans to Knit & Crochet.  I also added a few rounds to my version.  This brings my charity square total up to 14 out of my YOP2 goal of 52!

At this point, I was ready to make a decision.  (Ok, I wasn’t actually ready to make the decision, but I was ready to stop making more samples!)  But then, I got an email from my sister.  You see, I had sent her the link to the Pinterest board of patterns I set up a few weeks ago, and she just got around to reading it this week.  Naturally, she thought two patterns that I hadn’t even tried yet were the perfect choices for my mom’s bedspread, so I made samples of those, too!

This is the Lacy Square Motif by Crochet Atelier.  (Side note: This is the first time I followed an entire pattern on my Kindle Fire.  It wasn’t as horrible as I thought it would be, and I saved some printer ink and recycled paper!)  If I were to use this motif, I would adjust the center part of the pattern so that the circle and the petals were a bit smaller – I suspect that my chains are much larger than those of the designer.

This is the Super Cable Aran Spiral Bedspread by Flora Yang.  This pattern might also need a little adjustment if I were to use it for the final project.

My plan now is to send pictures of all the possible motifs to my sister for a final decision.  Then I will purchase the yarn and get started.

And that brings me to my next set of decisions.  You may recall that one of my YOP2 goals is to participate in the 2012 Ravellenic Games.  The kick off is the opening ceremony of the Olympics on Friday at 4 p.m. Eastern time.  There are a few things that I need to do before then:

  • Choose a sock pattern.  My main goal is to complete my first pair of knit socks during the Ravellenic Games.  I think I’ll be using the Austermann Step Sock yarn I received in the July Goodie Box Swap.  These will be entered in the sock put event.

    The yarn, along with DPNs and patterns that were included in the swap.
  • Make (at least one) gauge swatch.  I want to make sure I have the right needles available before casting on Friday.
  • Decide if I’ll be entering the modular relay.  If so, I’ll need to decide whether I’ll be competing with charity squares or motifs for my mom’s bedspread or motifs for a scrap blanket for me.  (That’s right, I want to make even more blankets!)  I will need to declare a number of motifs, which will naturally be based on the project I’m working on for this competition.
  • Choose a team (or teams).  This has been the toughest part for me.  Normally, I would enter a crochet-focused team, like Team Crochet, but that seems strange if my main project is knitting.  (Although, apparently, I can enter more than one team.)  If anyone reading is also participating in the Ravellenic Games, do you have any team suggestions for me?
Suddenly, I’m feeling very tired ;).  I may also try and make another stash yarn hat to cross-compete in the Hat Dash, Holiday Hurdles, and Synchronized Stash Busting events.  I can just decide to do this as I go along, so there is no stress about this possibility.  I should hopefully have some great updates for next week’s post!
For more Year of Projects posts, visit Come Blog-a-Long on Ravelry.

Leave a Comment

Subscribe to the newsletter to get my secrets and access to the subscriber vault!

5 Secrets for Improving Your Crochet Skills