Bit of an Ice Storm

Last time I was outside, around 7:30 PM EDT there was at least a quarter inch of ice on the ground. Had to wear my spiked boots to even walk on the deck without falling. It's still going on, could be half an inch out there for all I know. It's been a cold, mostly miserable April weather-wise this year. And when I check the forecast in the morning by the afternoon they've changed it 2 or 3 times and always the temperatures go down. Getting a little tired of this.

But in other news, the shawl goes on. Finished up the first skein of yarn this morning and this is what it looks like.

I'll attach another skein tomorrow and keep on going till I've decided it's big enough to add the edging. I'm also still plugging away on the hexagons for the afghan but there isn't really any reason to show more photos of those till I do something with them.

That's it for now.

Frogging the Monster Ripple Afghan

I finally started frogging yesterday. (For those not in the know, frogging is ripping, ripping sounds like ribbit, therefore, frogging.) The huge, giant, ungainly, unwieldy, monstrosity of an afghan I started many years ago is now smaller than it was the day before. This was supposed to be for our king size bed, in fact I spread it out over that same bed just to show it's size. It was becoming more of a bed spread than a throw on the top afghan. And the yarn is much too heavy to be a bed spread. My mistake was in the starting chain. I made it for a smaller hook then changed to a larger hook and forgot to shorten the chain. Then I kept going even after I realized my mistake because, after all, that was a lot of work. When I finally decided this was insane I stuffed it into the closet where it has been hibernating for a number of years.

I never measured it but it's probably about 9 feet wide.

I've been turning the frogged bits into nice balls of yarn. I even learned how to make balls that let me pull the yarn out of the center. Much better than having a ball roll all over the floor as it unwinds from the outside!

What I decided to do with the yarn was make another king size afghan but this time out of hexagons. I only started a few days ago so I haven't gotten very far but I've made 16. I need at least 81. I haven't decided if I will whip stitch them together or crochet between each motif. I also, so far anyway, have thrown out the plain tan color and am only using the variegated yarns.

Two hexagons made from 3 of the original colors.

 I'm also using some yarn left over from another project to make some bluer centers. This is how things are shaping up now. I don't know the actual pattern I'll eventually place them in but this is what I've got so far. Now time to make some more.