Freeform Scarf

This is the 2012 Freeform (FF) CAL (crochet along) that I did with a Ravelry group for International/National Crochet Month  (IntNatCroMo) !

I did the FF CAL last year and made a purse out of my scrumbles. I really enjoy the process of FF and thought that I'd be doing much more of it over the course of 2011. However, I did not get back to it till March 2012 when a whole new IntNatCroMo party hit the scene !

So there I was, starting out on another FF adventure. We get a new set of instructions every day of the month. You have a fair bit of license to do what you want with the instructions. Some bug whispered in my ear to do a linear FF project this year, so no curves.  That sounded neat on Day 1, but by Day 15 I was totally tired of having to reinvent the wheel for every set of instructions. Seems like most FF naturally lends itself to curving. And some of the instructions were about curving, spirals, flowers. So I had to double figure out most of the instructions to fit my linear goal. I completely bogged down and decided I wasn't going to finish this year's FF at all (trash bin time !!)

Thankfully another of my Ravelry groups had a "Finish Your WIP"(work in progress) contest in for April and I decided I was going to get my scarf done !!  I got revitalized, and with much kind encouragement from the IntNatCroMo, I got through it. You can follow my total progress on my Ravelry.com project page. I'm DZKat over there. 

Here are a some pics of the finished project and a couple glamour shots thrown in !

Since this was a scarf, I was challenged on how to photograph it. Finally took pictures of it in pieces.

The Ends

Near Ends

The Middle

The Artist as a Model

Over the Shoulder

April WIP Challange - Final Update

Today is the last day of April and my WIP challenge is drawing to a close. I didn't get everything finished that I wanted to, but all in all was good to get some of them out of my hair. I've got 3 more left. Two for sure I'll finish up in May and my Garden Blanket, I hope to be done with in time for the State Fair this summer.

Kyo Backpack - January 2011
Not Done - This is part of my Costume for Anime Iowa this summer. Good that I got it out and am working on it. Will finish this by the end of May.

Spirited Away Duck - April 2011
Done !! So cute !!

Flower Garden Blanket - August 2011
Not Done - Still a lot of work to do on it, but achieved my goal of getting it sorted out. Now I can work on it and hopefully get it done in time to enter in the State Fair this summer

Cat-Toy Belt - October 2011
Done ! This is also part of the same costume for Anime Iowa this summer.

Cat-Ears Wig - November 2011
Not Done - I didn't even get to it. :-(  But my goal is to get it finished by the end of  May !

Checkered Tote - March 2012
Done !!  Did this as a part of a CAL for the Friendship Crochet Club !

NatCroMo FF CAL - March 2012
Done !!!  Yea !!! I love how this turned out !

Progress Update

April is half over and I am not getting as much done with my WIP (work in progress) challenge for my Ravelry group as I thought I would !!! O_o

I know I've gotten side tracked on my Flower Garden Blanket (was Freeform Blanket). I finally got it off the ground and I can't stop working on it. Problem is, there is no way I can get it completed by the end of the month (or get any other project done). I bought the yarn for this last August and every time I got it started, I'd change my mind as to how I was going to do it. Then I'd get frustrated and ignore it for several months.

Finding the Up ! meant coming up with a firm plan and downsizing. I realized part of the reason I was stalling was I didn't want to make another full sized blanket for our bed. (I've made full sized blankets for both the kids)  So I am only making this to go across the foot of the bed and not cover the whole thing.  I've got my colors and motifs settled and I'm going to crochet them all together with freeform crochet.

Crocheting my Flower Garden Blanket with Brown Sheep Yarn "Nature Spun worsted" in some Lucy style Colors

and I'm using Edie Eckman's lovely motifs from "Beyond the Square Crochet Motifs"

But I have to put my blanket away for now and get to work on some of my smaller WIPs that have a chance of getting done by the end of April !!!!

My other projects, the duck, NatCroMo FF scarf, cat belt and wig (oops ! I forgot about the cat backpack !) the checkered tote are all in various levels of finishedness and have a chance of being completed by the end of the month, if I'm not distracted with making endless rounds of colorful motifs ! (or baby hats, but that's another story !)

Back to work with more updates forthcoming as I get things done !

Work in Progress Challenge

Finding the Up ! It will make me feel good to get some old crochet projects finished so I don't have to look at them and feel guilty or harried !!

In one of my Ravelry groups, I joined the challenge of no new crochet projects for April. I'm only supposed to work on crochet projects I've had hanging around the house, unfinished.

I don't have am many of them as I thought ! that was nice to find out. However, some of them have been hanging around since last summer and and fall. I really want to get them done.

They are:
Kyo Backpack - January 2011
Spirited Away Duck - April 2011
Freeform Blanket - August 2011
Cat Toy Belt - October 2011
Cat Ears Wig - November 2011
Checkered Tote - March 2012
NatCroMo FF CAL - March 2012

However, that blanket, don't think I'll get it done this month, but I want to get a big chunk of it finished

Oops, I do have a few new projects that I have to start because I'd planned to start them before I found out about the WIP challenge, (a baby hat and a bunny !) but those will be the only new ones this month.

Wish me luck !