October 2, 2018

Ooh… went stash diving and made a start on Bubo’s eyes. Looks really cool in person, the round after the white is a forest green which you can’t see really well in the photo. This is only Rnds 1-5; going to make the other eye to the same point then work Rnd 6 on each which joins them.

The yarn is some older Yarn Bee Soft Secret that I had in my stash along with some Caron Simply Soft which matches the sheen on the Yarn Bee yarn.

I don’t know as of yet if I will: completely stash dive using whatever colors…? try to match these colors for use later on or not…? go out yarn shopping and find exactly the colors I want and start over…? Use these eyes with matched/bought yarn regardless of colors…?

October 8, 2018

Hmm, I got off to a delayed start by trying to figure out where the heck to start, lol! Turn it around, turn it around for heck’s sake. :) That said, I then had to un-confuse my confuzzled color situation since I didn’t follow the color order of the pattern exactly. So here we are with (from what was used in Part One):

Color 1 - Black (will prob sub a blue at points)
Color 2 - Saffron (will sub lighter blue @ pts)
Color 3 - Smoke (will sub a Caron Grey in)
Color 4 - White (also used Bone for it)
Color 5 - Forest (also used Choc Brown for it)

Colors 6 & 7 weren’t used in the eyes, and I might place the Bone and Forest Floor in those slots. I also have two pretty Caron blues that might look good Cobalt and Ocean… I also have a Caron Purple. If neutral is needed instead I could go with the Off White. And I’ll have to assume that if adding the blues or purple doesn’t work out, I’ll be out yarn shopping for other browns and greys!

So even after all of that I am still flying by the seat of my pants on this one… But having Fun! :)

~Used the dark Forest Floor instead of Black for Rnds 10-11. Black is extremely hard for me to work with these days…

~Stopping on Rnd 12 tonight, I can’t quite seem to ‘get’ this round. I’ll try with fresh eyes and a cup of coffee in the morning.

October 9, 2018

~Nope! Gonna have to frog back several rounds, not sure where things went wrong.

Frogged all the way back to R7 I wasn’t taking any chances with Mr. Whoo, just re-did R8; count is correct.

October 10, 2018

Well I stayed up way too late just to get this done, but I just finished up the last round with my coffee this morning! Part Two complete with NO mistakes, yay!

October 14, 2018

I don’t know what has gotten into me about color choices lately… I have found myself frogging and redoing a couple of my WIP’s and here I am, working on these Round 19 trcl sts and I am totally wanting to lose the Blue of rounds 15 - 17 from last week! I’m going to stop right here, and mull this over before I get any further. Maybe I really need to just assign the final colors to the order used by the designer. Time for a fresh pot of coffee…

October 15, 2018

Part Three complete. (I do like the change from the blue so frogging back was worth it) Very thick and squishy! :)

October 22, 2018

Started Part Four, just began the Croc Stitch for Round 31. This is a stitch I’ve admired in some pieces but have never done. While its fairly easy to do, it takes quite a bit of time and eats yarn like crazy, lol. So I may be picking this up, doing a little, putting it down and so forth or I think I’d go mad. 480 stitches for the round in a piece that is still this small is no joking matter. :)

~Part Four Complete. And apparently I need to just stop trying to establish a color order as it just isn’t working out with the colors I am using. I just need to use whichever color looks the best or most appropriate.

October 29, 2018

Been working on Part 5 as I can. My time will be crunched for quite awhile. When ending Rnd 40, the popcorn round, if you are going to work in front of the chains, be sure to ‘free’ your working yarn from Rnd 39 before the SS FO. If you are going to work over the chain it won’t matter. I do prefer to work over, but with the colors I’m using here I didn’t want the black peeking through the yellow stitches at all, so I’ll leave it behind & work in front of it in this case.

October 31, 2018

As I did more I felt the bright saffron was just too much there. The designer indicated that the same colors for the eye should be used for this section. Many of the FO’s I have looked at did so. A few did not. I do agree that it draws the eyes out from the center though… Hmm. I wonder about swapping them? Mainly black with the Saffron popcorns? The black would be really hard on my eyes for all those rounds, but it may look better. Frogged back almost to the end of Part Four to mull this over before restarting…

~Okay, so I have left the first two rounds of this part black. New plan is for 3 colors?… so leaving the black, using the Smoke grey next, then MAYBE Saffron popcorns, the grey again and hopefully black again…. I can see it in my head, lol, but lets see if it works. :) Plan C is 2 colors but using black and grey instead of the saffron.

November 2, 2018

Ok, so I did all the PC’s with the saffron. While it still seems a bit intense for me I think I’m going with it anyway. Because it is such a strong color I really felt it needed to make another appearance before the latter rounds where its used again for owl eyes…

November 3, 2018

Yes! I like this weeks section in the three colors instead of two with the colors I’m using. And the saffron popcorn’s look really good. I’m on the last round now, going with black instead of the grey to “frame” things. :)

November 10, 2018

Ok so apparently I missed a release, lol. I went to go look at the website to see if a new one would come out today or tomorrow and saw that in my busyness last week I completely missed one! So I have last weeks yet to do, and a new part coming out tomorrow…

November 12, 2018

Week 6 Complete. On to Week 7 and hoping to catch up…

November 14, 2018

I’m working on Week 7 and trying to shut down my thoughts about changing colors again… If I keep frogging and redoing I will never get these CAL’s done, lol! I keep wondering if I should be using the White to do the ‘connecting’ between the ‘feathers’ rather than the forest floor green I’m using now… it would have made great ‘feathers’ and the white would make excellent contrast between the colors used. The dark green doesn’t show well with the chocolate brown. I just need to keep going, telling myself it will be okay and awesome in the end… :)

November 16, 2018

Week 7 complete.

November 25, 2018

I’ve been really busy and have had company in on an extended stay for the holiday so my crochet time has been practically none lately. I just downloaded Week 8 and Week 9 for this CAL. I also just got some beautiful yarn in some beautiful browns and grays… I am SOOO tempted to redo some of my Owl and use these new colors! Frogging ~any~ of this very repetitive, but beautiful section of the design would be insanity on my part considering I’ve fallen woefully behind in my CAL’s, hibernated a couple WIP’s and I’m gearing up for a Pattern Test…

Holidays are such a busy time for us all! :)

December 7, 2018

I’m actually testing a new pattern for this designer right now but I haven’t forgotten my Bubo… He keeps watch over my work area currently. I also keep looking at my new grays and browns… I do think I’m going to frog back some of it and use some of these now that the CAL is finishing up. :)

January 9, 2019

I finished the pattern test a few days back and I’ve been looking at this one to start working on next. I know I’ve changed colors quite a few times already, but I’m going to do it again, lol. I’m going to frog back to the tan feathers, and then I can bring in some of the new colors…

January 10, 2019

Frogging accomplished. Used Cognac to replace the Chocolate for the next set of ‘feathers’, it’s a rich caramel/orangish brown and the tone works well with the saffron. Decided to keep the ‘connecting’ color of Forest Floor which looks fine, but mainly so I didn’t have to rip back any further, lol. Currently back on Rnd 51 and then found myself tucking it back away for later for yet another pattern test. But I haven’t done a Frank test in awhile, so am looking forward to it. :)

January 21, 2019

I pulled Hootie’s bin back out this morning so I can work on it in between working on the graphed pattern I’m testing.

Rnd 51 is done. Now to decide on color for the next round. It was the dark smoke gray the first time; I think I want to go lighter…

~I went with Off-White for the next round. I am SO much happier now that I have ‘lightened’ this section up. Hooty was beginning to look far too gloomy.

January 22, 2019

Part 7 Complete. Looks so much better now!

January 24, 2019

Added in another new gorgeous Yarn Bee gray called Mist. Its a beautiful color that I hope will compliment the others… Currently getting ready to start Rnd 57…

January 27, 2019

On the last rnd of Part 8! This blanket is becoming one of my favorites… The pattern, the yarn, the colors… it’s so beautiful and soft; thick and warm! I really need to start working on some baby items with my granddaughter expected in April, but each chance I get to crochet I’m picking up this beauty! :)

January 30, 2019

Haven’t had any time to crochet lately, I’m just now starting Part 9.

January 31, 2019

Part 9 Complete.

February 1, 2019

Oh no! Color trouble again! I’d been using this Caron Forest Floor which is a discontinued color. I thought I had 3 full skeins which would have been enough, but the 3rd was caked which should have been my clue to know it wasn’t a full one. Anyway, I had enough to finish R69, but I’m not sure what to do about R70 & R71 yet. I have some Impeccable that is a very close color but the yarn is completely different, has no sheen and is a bit thicker… it looked awful. I had ordered some Caron Dark Sage for another project. I have no idea if it will be close to this color or not but, it will at least be the right yarn type.

So this is back on hold till the new yarn, which I had previously ordered comes. I have a Plan C if that doesn’t work either, lol.

February 2, 2019

Surprisingly my order came today. The dark sage isn’t the right hue and noticeably lighter; but the right type of yarn. I’ll give it try later. If it doesn’t look right, I’ll do those rounds in either the chocolate or black whichever looks better. So sad that I couldn’t completely finish out this section with the original color, it was perfect. But, these things happen and you have to make do, and move on.

February 3, 2019

I didn’t like the look of the lighter green, so I went with the chocolate brown for R70-71. I also looked over the completed project pictures to get a good idea of how I want my colors to go on these next sections, so I am hoping there won’t be any more surprises or need to frog back to change anything. I’m truly in love with how this piece looks and feels; and even though I’ve struggled a little a long the way with my colors, I really feel like it has come together beautifully.

February 4, 2019

I had Part 10 complete… then a round in to the next realized I’d made a mistake in reading the pattern and had way too many stitches. Had to frog back to R73. Will start the re-do tomorrow morning…

February 19, 2019

Currently working on Part 11 - Rnd 79… the round with the beaks for the band of owls that frame the piece. Going slowly because I’m changing colors for the the beaks themselves. Pics soon. Time has been real short for crocheting lately!

February 23, 2019

I’ve been lazy about notes lately! Part 11 is complete. And I’ve got a start on Part 12. I’m making the ‘saffron’ eyes… such an intense color in contrast with the browns, greys, forest green and off white. But I think its going to look really cool, and I’m so glad I changed colors for the beaks. I did think briefly of doing the saffron for those, just like the one in the center, but I thought that would be just a tad too much of it all in one place. The Cognac I used has like a caramel hue and complements the color well.

February 27, 2019

On Part 12, Rnd 83. Lacking time these days, but I’m beginning to see lots of eyeballs looking at me! This blanket is coming out incredibly cool, and is bound to be one of my absolute favorites. This designer continues to impress!

March 1, 2019

Just getting ready to start R85 and had to start a new skein… this black skein is a bit lighter than the last skein, and I hope it doesn’t cause me any issues. I no longer have the label so I can’t see if it was a different dye lot. I did, however, buy them at the same time. ::sighs::

While I can’t seem to notice the slight difference in the yarns - I just did a couple repeats… Oi! More finger gymnastics make for tricky stitching, while keeping track of the repeat. This will be another slow one. As much I love this piece; can I just say that I will be ever so grateful to move past this band of owls that frame the center?

March 10, 2019

Currently on Part 13 and marching slowly along. I’ve had limited time for crocheting lately and have a grandbaby due in April so many of my projects here are not seeing much progress.

March 13, 2019

Boo! I’m close to starting the last round of Part 13 but have realized there will not be enough! Grrr. No choice but to get more of the Bone, which is usually kept stocked thankfully, just not sure when exactly I’ll be able to go grab some, packed up schedule for the remainder of the week.

March 17, 2019

Yarn obtained, closing in on the finish of Part 13. Even though there seems to be a lot more Parts, visually I look further along… so I’m guessing there aren’t as many rounds in each section from here on out…

If I think about it, I’ll grab a new pic, but I’ve got time, and I’m on a roll so I may whiz right on; I am so anxious to finish up these WIPs, they’ve been hanging around for a LOT longer than usual.

March 31, 2019

Wow. So here we are… I have completed pattern through Part 15 Rnd 99. On Rnd 100 it calls for puff sts, and the rest of the round and pattern is continuing the same sort of stitch pattern used previously with 3trcl’s in other sections of the piece.

This and another WIP have been hanging around far too long and I’m beyond ready for them to be finished. So. My Bubo is quite large enough for its purpose, and for Rnd 100 instead of puffs, I used 2dc clusters to finish up Part 15.

For my ending I will follow the pattern for Part 16 Rnd 101. Depending on how that looks, I may call it done, or do a simple round of sc to finish it. Either way, I’m finishing this TODAY.

This is the first time that I’ve just been slowly losing my desire to finish pieces mainly I think because they’ve hung around far too long. I need a fresh pattern and some new colors to work with. Let’s knock this out!