Labors over Labor Day Weekend

I made some progress over the weekend on a few projects, and had the gratification of moving some of the tickers forward a little. So far, this ticker thing is working pretty well; it really is motivating me to work on only the projects I currently have up there. Of course, this means that I am spending less time swatching and daydreaming, but then again I spend a lot of time daydreaming, and I'll go back to more swatching after I get some of these projects done.
Butterfly Top:

This is the "Butterfly" pattern by Katie Himmelberg from the Spring '07 issue of Knitscene. I am making it in Berroco Bonsai, so mine is going to have quite a different feel from the one in the magazine just by virtue of using a different bamboo yarn (my working title for it is "Glam Rock"). Normally, I don't go for shiny gold but this was the only color of Bonsai that the LYS had enough of-- and then it really ended up growing on me. Now I like my golden top, and hopefully I'll still like it once I try it on.

As you can see, this yarn photographs a LOT better when I don't have to use the flash.
I'm knitting both of the top pieces at once-- the strand of red yarn is marking the last decrease row (I love using this method to mark "last rows" -- very handy.)

Babette is getting bigger:

I finished strip no. 8 and added it to the blanket, so now I have only two more strips of squares before I can block and edge. The strips are all getting exponentially larger because this is assembled in log cabin fashion, so the addition of the three most recent strips has made quite a difference in size, as you can see compared with my previous post on this project.

Hanami:

The beaded cast-on did take a while, but I enjoyed it and the effect was worth it. I got Czech fired-glass beads for this stole, which are more expensive than the clear glass seed beads called for in the pattern, but I already had some of these in my stash and, fortunately, one of the bead stores in my neighborhood had some more that matched almost exactly. I bought some more because I was a few short of what I needed for the beaded cast-on, and I am also going to add some to the body of the stole.

And, one of the really old UFOs is done:

This is a crocheted blanket that I completed over a year ago, but before I added the edging it got relegated to the UFO pile. This was a sale-yarn special (the type of thing you make when you get a really great deal on yarn, get it home, and then wonder what the hell you are going to do with it.) I didn't count this in my yarn stash inventory because it was one of two blankets for which I couldn't estimate the yardage with sufficient accuracy. The other one is a throw for my Mom, who got the unfinished throw for Christmas, and who has been reminding me ever since that I owe her the finished item. So, I anticipate that this other stash-exception item will be done as soon as I can bear weaving in the hundred-plus yarn ends (I hated that project!!)

I've also taken one of the WIP tickers off the sidebar because I've decided that I'm not going to do that project with any of my stash yarns; I still want to make it but I need to give more consideration to my yarn choice (SWTC Bamboo is the top contender so far, but because I would have to buy all new yarn for it, this has become a potential reward project.) The yarn I bought for the Ingrid-- Silky Wool-- is currently under consideration for one of two knit cardigans, but I want to get the tickers down to a reasonable number before I start swatching.

Progress on my Babette Blanket

Pattern: Babette Blanket
Designer: Kathy Merrick
Source: Interweave Crochet, Spring 2006

I started this blanket in March as a sort of ADD-friendly crochet project. Since there's about 130 squares in the blanket, I put the code for each square on a little slip of paper. That way, I figured that I could just take up the hook whenever the mood struck me, crochet a square or two or three, and add the square to the finished pile.
To assemble the blanket, you first join the squares into ten strips (which fit together log-cabin style) and then assemble the strips to each other. So far, I've crocheted about 100 of the squares.
This week, I realized that I was getting really close to having all the squares done for the first five strips, so I stopped the random-draw process, finished the few remaining squares for those strips and joined the five strips together. Here it is so far:

I reversed my usual procedure and tried to stick fairly close to the color choices that the designer used, although that ended up being a lot easier said than done. This blanket was designed using Koigu PPM which, as everyone knows who is familiar with Koigu, is created in small lots and each color is different. It's not like you can walk into a yarn store and find the full range of colors. (At least, you can't in the best store in Seattle that carries this line!) Also, there are 18 colors in this project and there were just not enough semi-solid Koigu colors that worked together in stock. I considered using some of the KPPPM (variegateds) but I didn't want to go that way. So, I bought some colors in Koigu and the rest in Shibui Sock, which is a very similar yarn.
Since I had to improvise, I just chose colors that I thought were close enough to the colors she listed, then completely substituted different colors in a few cases. For example, I couldn't find a "citron" I liked, so I went with carrot orange instead.
I wanted to go with the designer's color list because 1) I generally do not choose bright colors, and 2) I am not confident enough with my color sense to buy all that yarn on my own color choices. In all of my knitting (and crochet) I gravitate a lot more toward texture work over color. Plus, I wanted this blanket to retain the cheerful look. Might as well have at least one touch of cheerfulness untinged by sarcasm in my daily life!

The big question mark for me was what method to use to join the squares. I don't have much crochet experience, although I can do the basics, and had never made a crocheted item with more than one piece before. To make things more confusing, the only direction re joining the squares was this:
"Sew squares together using a tapestry needle and color A, matching edges, and working stitch to stitch."
OK, very well, but sew together how?
After thinking about it, I decided to use good old mattress stitch. I like mattress stitch and I wanted at least one side of the blanket to not show any seaming. So, there are small seams on the wrong side of the blanket, but they are fairly innocuous, and I get the nice flush side-to-side look on the right side.
A final issue that I will probably have to deal with as I finish this is that the Shibui, while similar to the Koigu, crocheted at a very slightly larger gauge. This is causing a little bit of rippling, but it seems to be evening out as I join the strips. As anal as I am, I wasn't concerned enough about it to block all the little squares before joining them. This is supposed to be my Happy Project!!