Works in Progress
(Mostly crochet, but some others as well)

I have so many different ongoing projects I thought I would make a page to, at the very least, remind myself to keep working on them - and to not start anymore!  I'll try to get some pictures of the projects soon.

Aran Afghan
This afghan really doesn't take much time for me to complete the panels, but I have so many other things going that I just don't get to work on it that much.  It is a mile-a-minute afghan, which means it is done in panels.  The center piece of each panel is made out of (in the case of this afghan) 160 rows, each only three stitches long.  Then, the rest of the panel is worked in rows crocheted on either side of this long but skinny strip of crochet. For this afghan, the panels are connected by lacing up loops that are crocheted on the outermost edge of the panels.  It really is a lovely afghan and the unusual joining technique between the panels makes it, I believe, quite striking.

Hibiscus Filet
Since filet crochet patterns are just graphs, they are very easy to create.  I decided to turn a drawing I had done in Hawaii of a hibiscus into a filet chart.  It turned out to be a fairly big chart.  I suppose, though, that I decided that doing a large filet crochet project (only  my second filet crochet project ever) I needed to spice things up by making it multi-colored.  Now, I have never seen directions on how to do multicolored filet, so I just decided to wing it.  I think I've gotten the color change down, but it still quite a project.  I have been working on it since about December of 2002 and am currently half way done.  I'd like to get it completed by Christmas this year, but unless I really kick up the pace, that won't happen.  It takes about 45 minutes for me to complete one row, but it is turning out quite lovely so the time is more than worth it.

Dan's Chevron Afghan
Right after Dan and I first started dating, I learned a new crochet technique called double-ended crochet.  It is done with a hook that is about twice as long as a regular crochet hook and has a hook on both ends.  It creates a lovely, fluffy fabric with a reversible pattern.  Eager to get started, I told Dan and I would make him an afghan if he liked one of the patterns.  He selected this nice chevron pattern done in panels and wanted it to be done in blues and greens.  Well, if it was a normal sized afghan, I might have been done already.  But no, I decided that it should fit his bed at home (a queen-sized water bed that we don't even have anymore!)  The crocheting technique was slower than I anticipated, so it took me even longer to get through each panel.  So I have been working on this afghan since about April of 2001.  (Wow.  I just realized how long it's been on going!) Before Dan and I were even married, I joked that this afghan would be his present for our fifth wedding anniversary.  With the way I am going on it, I might just make that deadline.

Pinwheel Motif Doily
I picked up the dainty and gorgeous little doily at an antiques store some time ago and decided that I wanted to make one like it but larger.  So I figured out (about) how the pattern went and began crocheting.  I've gotten 9 or 10 motifs done and would like to enlarge it even more, but I just haven't been working on this project much either.  There is a crochet demonstration that I will take part in on the weekend of the 18th and I plan to work on this one, so hopefully I will get at least one or two more motifs done.  It takes about an hour per motif.

Big Kitty Cross-stitch
Apparently I didn't think I had enough to do, so I decided to add one more project to my list.  I took a picture of the big kitty (the one from her page, in fact) and plugged it into a computer program that converted it to a cross stitch chart.  I had to take a lot of the red out of the picture so the cross stitch program didn't turn her into a pink and orange kitty, but now that I am stitching it, she seems to have a greenish blue tinge to her.  I hope it will turn out okay - and I hope it does justice to the gorgemous kitty that she is!

Japan Scrapbook
I had started a scrapbook of my year in Japan in 2001 and was slowly getting through it.  It was taking time because I couldn't always work on it - I kept getting homesick.  But now I am able to work on it and not get sad, just introspective, so I was ready to get crackin' on it.  Well, Niblet likes to chew corners.  We discovered this the hard way - he chewed up the corners of my old scrapbook.  So I got to start over.  Dan's mom, Claudia, has actually helped me a lot with it by finding a lot of neat little scrapbooking things that I didn't even know existed and sending them to me.  So now my new scrapbook will not only have non-kitty-chewed corners, but have a much nicer interior as well.  One day, when I finish it.  It takes me about an hour a page to do, so it's slow going.  I have gotten through October (I got there in August).  Just 8 more months to go.

Waiting in the wings...

Sweater
I have been wanting to crochet myself a sweater for quite some time.  But I'm pretty sure it's a big project, so I keep telling myself that I will start it once I get my other projects under control.  It was supposed to be incentive to get projects done and not start any more, but the only thing it really seems to have done is get me into collecting sweater patters while looking for the perfect one I want to make. 

Back to Crochet

Last updated 19-Jul-04