Sunday, March 10, 2013

Focus on Life - Week 10 "All Wrapped Up"

This week the prompt for the "Focus on Life" photo challenge, the brain child of Sally Russick of Studio Sublime is "All Wrapped Up".
Each week Sally sends us a photo prompt to encourage us to look at, & document, our lives in an unique way as we travel through 2013. As this weeks phrase has different meanings it can be interpreted in a number of different ways.

I managed to both start & wrap up a small DIY makeover project this week ...& I was pretty thrilled with that, but what I immediately thought of when I read Sallys prompt was a project I started on not long after moving to Australia.

At the time I needed something to keep my hands busy in the evenings, while also wanting whatever project I chose to be easy to pick up & put down, not requiring constant reference to a pattern & being completely transportable. I've always loved the colour shift yarns that are available - yet time & time again, upon attempting to knit them up into a garment of some sort I would discover that I far preferred the way they looked in the ball.

It seemed that crocheted squares would fit the bill &, at the end,  would result in a wonderful warm blanket or throw to cuddle up in outside on the patio next winter..... not to mention give me the perfect excuse to delve into some of those luscious colour shift yarns on the market.

Yummy yarns and forgotten skills.

So I revived my crocheting skills that have lain dormant for many years. Many, many years in fact....it wasn't so much revive as exhume!!
Fortunately the pattern I chose was exceptionally easy to remember so I've just been able to relax with hook in hand & watch as the colours bloom.

Piles of colour - these squares are all wrapped up!

Of course, after I've watched the centre colour bloom, it's a bit hard to get enthused about finishing off the black borders on each square. I tend to lose interest when it comes to repeating the same process many times over. Sewing the ends in should be interesting......
Of course it helps my motivation that it's the black that makes them square ;)

Gratuitous group shot - with lashings of small DIY makeover for good measure.

So that's me;  80 fully finished squares, 20 pretty rounds waiting for their black borders, 3 1/2 balls left to crochet up & then comes a whole lot of end sewing in & sewing together before I can finally crochet the black border around the whole darn thing & say "Well that's that all wrapped up" -  then proceeding to wrap myself up in it!

Please pop on over to The Studio Sublime & catch what everyone else is up to.

19 comments:

angelinabeadalina said...

Gorgeous piles of color,Deb! I am impressed with the number of finished ones, as the "boring" completion part of any project is usually what does me in. Heck, I can't even crochet more than a chain stitch, so I am doubly impressed with all the squares you will have in your throw when it is finished!

Unknown said...

Love the post, love the colors, and will ultimately love the finsihed project! Way to go!

SummersStudio said...

Those colors are so beautiful and are going to tie together so well with those black borders. My hat's off to you. I'm pretty sure that my meager crochet skills are far beyond exhumation.

Mary K. McGraw said...

What beautiful yarn you are working with and your photos show off your work so well.

Alice said...

Beautiful photos. The colors are amazing and really pop against that black. The finished piece will be amazing!!

Anonymous said...

Whenever you finish it's going to look fabulous! Just looking at all your colorful yarns make my heart pitter patter...and I don't even know how to crochet!

Claire said...

gorgeous work! i hope you'll show them all sewed up - i can imagine the piece will be amazing!

Honey from the Bee said...

Gorgeous color! What yarn is that? I like that you're not having to change yarn every row but just let the yarn do it.

I took dislike the finishing and even sometimes the wearing! It's the doing that's so satisfying. : )

Deb said...

Thanks so much for the lovely comments ladies :)
Janet the yarn is called "Poems" by Wisdom Yarns. It's 100% pure wool, lovely to work with & half the price of Noro (which is what I was originally looking at until I felt how hard the yarn was).
Go looking online, or search for it in yarn stores there.... if you are brave.
Fortunately, here in Australia, it seems only half the colour range is available....& that was bad enough!!lol!

Beti Horvath said...

What pretty colors. Looks like you have the wrapper all wrapped up!

glassbead, isinglass design said...

What a great blog post- the colors are superb!

Adrienne said...

Can't wait to see the finished project!

Karen Mitchell said...

Lovely colour choices! Stacked up with their black borders on they remind me of very colourful sushi.
I agree with you about Noro yarn, texture is terrible and I'm sure there are hand dyed wool that is softer.

Islandgirl said...

You have the perfect picture for next week... I'm regretting the lack of a multicoloured sweater that needs it's ends finished... What better than knitting or crocheting for "the possibilities are endless" I don't crochet but I often drag around knitting and I know what you mean about having to refer to a pattern.

I use that Noro yarn in felted hats... one ball of solid coloured (pattons) with a ball of Noro... looking forward to seeeing the finished project!

Islandgirl said...

Just read your comment.. looks like NOro will have to check out the wisdom yarn.. In Canada it is far too easy to order yarn online if I can't find it in the store! Where did you move from?

Cyndi J said...

What a beautiful project and how gorgeous it's going to look when it's all done. Even though you hate doing the black border, it's what will tie it all together.

Annette said...

Oh, the colors are beautiful and will make a gorgeous blanket.

A Polymer Penchant said...

How beautiful! I couldn't do something like that since I know I would never do that grunt work part at the end to get it all together. I would like to think I would...but I know I wouldn't. So I'm cheering for you!

Becky Pancake said...

Deb that's a great project to get wrapped up in. It will be a gorgeous quilt. The colors are wonderful.