Black Olive Is: In The Loop

Scrap!

Sometimes you just need to scrap everything and just start over. 

I was obsessing so much over colors and patterns for this (my first) crochet blanket, that it got to a point where I realized I was trying to force the yarn and colors to be something they are not. I love the motif and was so eager to just get going, that I compromised. Cotton really wasn't the right choice for a blanket and those colors weren't vibrant enough for what I had in mind. Also, there were just too many colors and trying to work them all into a pattern where each combination gave enough weight to each color was making me nuts!

So, very much like what I do when I'm struggling with trying to make a design concept work when it clearly isn't working –– I scrapped everything and started over.

As expected, I was able to pick yarn, colors, crochet motif combinations and work them all into a pleasing blanket pattern in about two hours. 

It's annoying, but sometimes you just have to go through the process to really figure out what it is you need to do to make things click.

So here is what I came up with:

I found a nice merino/acrylic blend from a trip to Michael's a while back. I know. It's Michael's. But I loved these colors and the yarn is soft and washable. 

I crocheted some swatches and settled on three color combos (only one is shown).

I then pulled out the graph paper and worked out how to arrange them into some kind of pattern, counted out the amount of squares for each motif and figured out approximate dimensions.
 
Done and DONE.

Now I can relax (I think) and just enjoy the process.

Going Monochromatic On Your Ass

As you can see below, I've been not only trying to figure out how to make these swatches look better, but I've also been obsessing over color schemes –– playing with different combos of the same colors and trying to break out of my tendency to go monochromatic on this blanket's ass. However, I'm digging the Brownish Green, Blue and Tan combos with white centers from the first batch. 

I don't know. We'll see. I think I'm over-analyzing – which I am wont to do. :) I'm obsessing over whether to make the orange appear in the same position each time, or if I should move it around to the big, small circles in some kind of pattern, OR if I should just play and throw caution to the wind.

Really, I just want to settle on some kind of plan and focus on the crochet.

Below are my very first circle and square motif. Not too shabby for my first circle, eh? Haha.

 

 

In other news, I had a very nice birthday dinner Friday night, complete with some VERY thoughtful "Paula-esque" gifts. Below you'll see photos of some Hello Kitty knitting needles and stitch markers from Kristin, a Momiji doll from Victoria and a fabulous Orla Kiely notebook from Grumperina!

I absolutely love these little treasures!

 

 

 

 

 

 Thanks everyone!
 

Becoming A Hooker

From birth to about age 10, it seems I have always been cloaked in some sort of crocheted item. One look into the family photo albums and it's obvious that someone had an obsession with the hook.

That someone was my Grandmother.

Back then –– being a first gen kid –– I was struggling to fit into American culture and wearing crocheted items was NOT the way to blend in. Consequently, I developed a sort of bipolar relationship with crochet –– disparaging it one minute and asking for afghans the next.

In 2003, I jumped on the knitting bandwagon, much to the chagrin of my Granny. She'd hoped to teach me the ways of the hook, but I was so addicted to knitting, that crochet held no appeal. Up until recently, I've never had the urge to take up crochet. 

What changed?

Well, a few things. One, my interest was peaked before my Grandmother passed away when I purchased the first copy of Interweave Crochet. I'd purchased it for her, but as we went through it, I was amazed at the patterns and techniques. These were not the patterns of the 70's, these were items I wouldn't mind wearing or making. Two, for the past three years, I've gotten into a bit of a slump with knitting. I wanted a new challenge. So, after catching up with my knitting blogs and noticing that a lot of my peeps had taken up the hook and were churning out some great FOs, I decided to give it a try.

Coincidentally, I crocheted my first swatch a few days after the anniversary of my Granny's passing. I do regret being a latecomer and missing out on her tutelage, but in some strange way, crocheting gives me new insight into what she was about. I feel connected to her when I learn the familiar stitches that were the base of many of my childhood garments. Crocheting them brings back memories. 

Before she died, my Granny crocheted a few baby garments "just in case." I plan on posting some pictures of those garments and maybe a scan or two of me in full crocheted garb. I promise it'll be entertaining. In the meantime, here are a few pics of my very first practice swatches:

First swatch: You can see the wonkiness and the gaps in the corners. The gaps are actually supposed to be there but I didn't care for them, so I poured through some technique books and tried a few different ways of making corners.

 

Ssecond swatch: you can see the mess that is the center hole. I was knitting the chain too tightly. Also, this is my first attempt at a different corner.

 

Third swatch: you can see the center hole improvement and yet another corner treatment.

 

The plan is to make a blanket out of these practice swatches. I'm still figuring out color schemes, but I think I might just practice and experiment and make it a hodgepodge of my first attempts at crochet –– almost like knitting a sampler!

Becoming a hooker is fun. I'm discovering that crochet is better suited than knitting for certain things and I now see the strengths and weaknesses of both. It should be fun to figure out ways to combine the two.

Fresh Start

It's been about three years since I've fallen off the face of the Blogosphere and quite a bit has happened since then.

First: I adopted this awesome cat. He's 9 years old, a classic tabby and a big cuddle-muffin. His name is Yogi.

 

Second: I've become a victim of the unemployment wave, which I like to think of as a "hiatus."

Third: I have "turned" 40.

During the past 3-4 years I've been knitting quite a bit. I've even taken up a little bit of crochet a few weeks ago. However, my knitting consisted of mostly Koigu, stockinette socks and it seemed silly to make sock updates to the same types of socks over and over. Also, I was working and knitting became mostly about process and relaxation.

I decided to start fresh with a new look and a different approach –– blogging about more than knitting. And, I finally unearthed my awesome Canon SLR, so the pictures SHOULD be better.

I'll expound on the first three points in later posts, but for now, please enjoy looking at my chunky monkey kitty baby. :)