Temperature Scarf CAL – January Wrap-up

The Bernat Temperature Scarf Crochet-Along officially started February 1st, 2013, but I had gone back and recorded/crocheted the temperatures for all of January.

January started out chilly, but not horrible.  A lot of light blue to begin with.  Then we had a very mild week, represented by the two shades of green.  At that point I wondered if I would ever get to use my lowest temp colour, sparkly purple, and despite my fiery hatred for winter, I found myself wishing for colder temperatures.

I ate my words the following week when we had a terrible cold snap.  It was the coldest it had been all winter, and even though I finally got the colours on the scarf, I worried if I would actually have to ADD another colour.  And that sent me into a panic because I specifically picked sparkly colours for the lowest and the highest temperatures, so then my whole scarf would be ruined!  RUINED!

But, since this is Canada, and only here can it go from -28C wind chills to 13C within one week.  We had everything from snow squalls, high winds, thunderstorms, rain, and something called “ice fog” in the last week of January.  I was outside on my patio 3 times one evening in only a tank top and I wasn’t cold!  So I was able to introduce a new colour to the scarf – the yellow!

The dark green had been the highest temperatures so far, and this time there was even a gradual change in colour.  Right from light blue (0 – -5C) up to yellow (13C – 19C).

I’m still really pleased with the scarf.  I got all the ends weaved in so far (Note to self: weave in ends as you go along, there is nothing worse than weaving in a billion ends at once) and the edge is looking pretty.  I still may or may not go with a border.  Probably not, because let’s face it, after a year of working on one project, I’m not going to want to do ANYTHING else to it.  Done will be done.

There’s still time to join in!  The crochet-along only just begun, you can catch up!  Find the official information here and follow along.

If you want to know the yarn/stitches/temperatures I’m using, check out my first post here.

Time for Another Crochet-Along!

New year – new CAL!  I know what you’re thinking.  You’re saying “But you didn’t even finish the CAL from last year!”  And you would be right.  I still have a pile of unfinished afghan pieces tucked away somewhere.  I learned a lot about myself during that CAL.  Like how I’m just not cut out to make afghans (don’t even ask about the one I started making for Cupcake’s big girl bed…). But, this one is different!

A scarf!  A completely attainable, small scale scarf!  But not just any scarf.  A scarf with meaning, with purpose.  You see, in order to make this scarf, you must track the temperature daily.  Either in your own town, or some special location of your choosing.  I chose to stick with the city I live in now, although a special part of my heart still lies in the country.

Each day, you crochet two rows in the colour you’ve chosen to represent the day’s temperature.  Just think of it as if you were crocheting in colours based on The Weather Network‘s own maps, but of course you can use whatever colours you want!

Their suggested yarn for this project happened to be Bernat Satin, and it just so happens that I already had 5 colours from that line, and 2 from the Red Heart equivalent, Soft Touch.  I only needed to pick up 3 more colours to complete my chosen temperature ranges. My thermomete

The yarns I’m using, in order from top to bottom:

Bernat Satin Sparkle – Ruby
Red Heart Soft Touch – Hot Pink
Bernat Satin – Tangerine
Red Heart Soft Touch – Lemon
Bernat Satin – Foliage
Bernat Satin – Soft Fern
Bernat Satin – Lagoon
Bernat Satin – Teal (I think, lost the label)
Bernat Satin – Star Dust
Bernat Satin Sparkle – Amethyst

I decided to go with 6 degree intervals for a couple reasons.  Initially I wanted to go with 5, but 6 helps cut down on the number of colours I need.  But also it’s still a nice small window so I won’t end up with the same colour for miles.  Canada’s weather tends to fluctuate A LOT (we just had double digit temperatures in the middle of January), so I think I will get a lot of different colours in there, but also see temperature averages.  I chose the Satin Sparkle yarns for the highest and lowest temperatures, so you can easily see the hottest and coldest days.  I also decided to go with the “feels like” temperatures when I can, as we are prone to wind chills and humidex which will be more accurate, but also allow me to use those sparkle yarns.

So I’ll stop yammering on here, but let you know about one more decision I made for my scarf.  I decided to do the moss stitch instead of go with their pattern, and I really LOVE how it’s looking so far.

Oh yeah, the CAL starts February 1st, 2013, but I went back and started my scarf from January 1st.  Here is what I have so far:

I love, love, love it so far.  I hate that it’s going to take a whole year to make, but I also can’t wait until I can get into those warmer colours!

Hurry up and join in!  You can find all of the official info here.

Follow me on Pinterest for more crochet ideas!

Bernat CAL Clue 4

I have been getting very behind on my work (crocheting, blogging, etc.), and I place the blame squarely on The Hunger Games trilogy.  I started reading it less than two weeks ago, and I’m nearly done the third book.  So luckily, I will be able to catch up on my work when I don’t have something to distract me.

I’m behind in the CAL enough that I still have one piece to make for Clue 3.  I also made a couple pieces from this Clue 4, to see how well they come together, but Clue 5 is released tomorrow!  I really need to get on it!  I hope they give us a catch up week soon.

So for Clue 4, we finally get to use Colour D, and I think this might be the extent of it’s use.  We have to make 12 small squares, the same size as Clue 1, and it’s a bit of a shame, because I really like this colour and I wish I hadn’t chosen it as my D.  Oh well.  I think it will bring everything together nicely.

Row 1

They’re really going for variety in this afghan, but with total coordination (if that makes sense).  This week we get to use the popcorn stitch.  I think I tried this stitch once or twice before, but never stuck with it long enough to realize how easy it really is.  This square is only 3 rows, and I worried right up until the end that it wouldn’t be big enough.

Row 2

As you can see, this is how the variety of pieces continue to coordinate with the flower theme.  Only Clue 1 so far was the only piece without a flower motif.

Unfortunately, my pictures don’t do it justice.  I ended up taking them in the evening, using bright light that washed out the background.  And my Colour D, actually has a nice teal/greenish tint to it in daylight, that’s what I decided I really liked about it.

Also, this picture doesn’t seem to show the best detail.  I really like how these pieces look, they have adorable puffy flowers!  The pieces also turned out to be exactly the same size as Clue 1′s pieces.  My gauge may be cursed small from amigurumi, but at least I’m consistent!

All the info, patterns, and blocking templates can be found on the Bernat forums.  You can still join in, there will be weeks to catch up.  Or you can get the patterns to make later (they even have last year’s patterns available).

Bernat CAL Clue 3

This week’s pattern was a great challenge for me!  I was worried that my pieces would end up smaller than they should (same size as last week’s pieces), because I was concentrating so hard.  There wasn’t any stitches that I hadn’t already done, but they came together in a pretty tricky way.  I predict that this is the week that will put me behind.

We are to make 4 in Colour C and 2 in MC, much like last week’s, just with a different accent colour.  They are octagon shaped as well, and large.  I saw someone in the forums refer to this pattern as the “boy” version of last week’s pattern.

The pattern starts off with a circle, and creating “points” off of it.  I think my pieces look like little cartoon hands at this point.

Crochet around all the points and you have a flower, or I find it to be more reminiscent of a sun.

And finally, after some crazy DC’s and TC2Tog’s, you get the finished piece.  I was pretty disappointed to see how little definition there was between the flower and the border, and I thought that it might be from my tight gauge, but this piece turned out to be the same size as last week’s pieces.  Once again, I feel like both these patterns should have been made bi-coloured.  They would look so much better with the flower being one colour, and the border another, that would really make the flower motif pop.  I began to consider whether I should make another blanket after this one, the way I want.  Maybe with a select few patterns, but bi-coloured (or more).  We still have a ways to go, so some of the other patterns will probably be fun and interesting to really bring the whole thing together.  I’m still excited to see the final look!

This is my Colour C (last week’s pink is Colour A).  I was hoping that maybe it was the colour of my MC that hid a lot of the definition, but I find it to be the same with this colour.

So grab your hooks and join in the fun, it’s never too late!  Head over to the forums on Bernat for all the clues!

 

Bernat Crochet-a-Long Clue 2

Once again, I will say **SPOILER ALERT**!  If you are participating in the CAL and don’t want to know what Clue 2′s finished product looks like, then don’t read this post!  Instead, here is a nice, big picture!

This week’s clue is a really nice octagonal shape with a center flower.  I really like it!  It is considerably bigger than the pieces from Clue 1, and I’m going to assume those smaller pieces will be attached to the sides of these bigger ones.  The pattern was tricky, and rather wordy, which made for some confusion.  But I referred to the chart and it really helped clear things up, especially on row 5.

The blocking template calls for it to measure 11 inches wide, but mine is more around 9 (once again, the curse of amigurumi’s tight gauge), but since my pieces from Clue 1 were also a little smaller, I think I will just stick with it this size.  I’m still really on the fence about blocking.  I have never blocked anything before, and if I leave them all til the end to block, it will be a lot of work.  I guess I will just wait and see, and if it looks like my afghan will be far too small for my liking, I will block them.  Unfortunately, my pieces may be TOO small to block to the correct size, but on the other hand, stretching them out could be nice for showing better stitch detail.

I got a late start on this week’s pattern, mostly because I was finishing up that order, but also because I plum forgot!  The clues come out on Wednesdays, and on Thursday I remembered at hurried to the Bernat forums to get my clue.  I only have one in colour A (3 more needed) and one in MC (1 more needed) so far.  I hope we do this piece again somewhere else in the afghan, but with a colour change between the flower and the border, that would look really nice instead of one solid colour.  But I’m still really pleased with the results, and I love that I chose the pink as my colour A, because I will have 4 large pieces of this design standing out in my afghan.

I’m getting really excited to see the end result, but sadly, that is about 2 months away.

If you are interested in joining the CAL, it’s never too late!  Visit the Bernat website to find out more.