Rippling

I've been watching all the rippling (and then the granny squares, and miters) that have been going on in the crafty blog world. My fingers have been getting itchy to join in. I looked through my yarn stash and pulled out some Red Heart Super Saver yarn that's been lurking upstairs and put it in a bag and looked at it. My daughter likes to pull the yarn out of the bag, rip off the label and start to unravel it...

I haven't really felt as though I should be starting a new project right now since it's hard to find time to finish what I already have on the go. On the other hand I've been meaning to make more afghans, and with concerts the next three days there will be some time spent sitting in a car where something crafty I don't need too much concentration for would be most welcome.

And then, just when we thought Spring was coming there's been a return of coldness. Cuddling up inside with sleet and snow coming past the windows renewed my interest in making afghans so I left a comment at the The No-End-In-Sight Ripple-Along website and started making a swatch.

I have a booklet that I think I must have picked up at a Joann's store some years ago called "Rippling Effects" by Carole Prior. I've made a couple of the afghan patterns in there (and have another that's an UFO I found when searching my stash for yarn). Here's a picture of one, it's unfortunately the least interesting but it has the advantage of being on the bed and therefore easiest to photograph. (The other finished afghan is a lap sized one that lives in the car.)

My problem is that I'm so good at procrastinating! I'm having a hard time deciding what stitch/pattern to use this time. There are some fancy ones I'm not going to do because I don't want to have to concentrate too hard! Most of the afghans in the aforementioned booklet are more zig-zag than ripple to my eye, and I think I'd like something that ripples. Somewhere I have a book full of knit and crochet stitches but I can't find it, grrr.

Anyway, here is the swatch I made while my daughter was napping this afternoon (I photographed both sides, please excuse the fuzziness of the bottom picture). It is from the "Rippling Effects" booklet, (well, not the colour combination). I can't decide whether I like the way the colours change over, or hate it. And if I like it whether I should do single, double or more rows of each colour. This I should figure out before trying to make a whole blanket I think, except I want to start NOW. Help!

What might help is if I could actually find my book of knitting and crochet stitches. I've been digging in piles of stuff all over the house for weeks to no avail. I'm just afraid of how sidetracked I'll get if I go searching for patterns on the Internet!