the road to finding the perfect chevron.. err, ripple pattern

{Rachel Saldaña's bedroom featured on Design*Sponge}

There is something about the return of Fall TV that always makes me want to dig out my yarn and knitting needles. I would have normally said "the return of fall" but as I was about to write this post I realized this past year I haven't pick up my knitting needles once. This is probably due to the strike-inducing, terrible lack of television. Television is one of my very few vices, I love my DVR a little too much. And I will be honest, I don't really watch that much tv, I just have a few shows every season that I stay extremely dedicated to and insist on watching them from start to finish and never out of order (it's borderline OCD the order and way I watch tv). Anyway... to me, there is nothing more relaxing and rewarding than sitting down after a long day, turning on a good show and working on a great knitting project. (This makes me sound like a granny, doesn't it?)

{Rachel Saldaña's bedroom featured on Design*Sponge}

Last week I saw the beautiful home of Rachel Saldaña on Design*Sponge. The images of her bedroom in the sneak peak just stuck with me for some reason {see the two pictures above, both photos from D*S}. And then I realized what it was, I really love that blanket. I've always been partial to a chevron pattern, and I am realizing over time that (for whatever reason) I am drawn to pink/magenta shades of color. And this is how my hunt for the perfect chevron pattern began...

{above photo by Ripple-Along group member charlottelader, you can see her blog post about the blanket pictured here}

At first I tried looking for different chevron knitting patterns online, and to my dismay it appears all of the stitches I was drawn to weren't knitting patterns at all, but crochet. I currently don't know how to crochet. I've tried it a handful of times, but never really had anything pushing me to learn it. I suppose now I do!

{above photo by Ripple-Along group member Attic 24, you can see her blog post about the blanket pictured here}

After clicking through different links, and being disappointed with my finds, I somehow stumbled upon this blog post on Shelterific, which in turn took me to a Flickr group called Ripple-Along. Aha! So 'ripple' is the hip word used in the crafty community, not 'chevron' (silly, design-thinker me). I thought to myself, 'wow, this is where all those cool looking blankets are hiding' followed by a 'I should have known better to check flickr and blogs first'. Everything else I had come across was slathered in 70s vintage brown, and just wasn't the look I was going for... at all.

{pattern inspiration from this image at Pottery Barn}

But honestly, now I am even more confused. At first I thought I wanted to do a simple two-color chevron pattern, similar to something like this rug from Pottery Barn {see above}. And now that I've seen all these bright and colorful blankets from the Ripple-Along group, I am having a hard time resisting the bold beautiful explosions of color! And what-to-do? A ripple wave? Or a pointed ripple? Forget ripples, look at this astounding Tuscon crochet pattern {shown below in white}! Oh the decisions...

{Tuscon blanket made as a wedding present by the talented flickr user Pinkshoes Family}

Either way, I am looking forward to watching more Mad Men* with a new project in hand, and the hunt for some cool yarn. It never ceases to amaze me, where the blogging and flickr communities can take you. So much inspiration to be had and projects to embark on.



* Oh, how I love Mad Men! Don't get me started, I will have to save that post for another day...