But I don't WANT to be administrative and such

My disorganization has been causing me to spend money on patterns when I don't have to. I have hundreds of patterns here at the house. And, recently, I organized the magazines and such, however, I don't have a system of knowing what's INSIDE the magazines.

I'm, hopefully, going to be putting an end to that. But it looks as if it will be a long process. I spent most of my day putting this together. I took pictures of the patterns of 2 magazines. I cleaned up the photos and resized them to be equal to or less than 800 x 600 pixels. I uploaded the photos to photobucket. I opened my html editor and created a table with information about every pattern in the 2 magazines and included a click able photo. Now, I know I don't NEED photobucket. I know how to resize the images in html. But I didn't want to take the time to think about all that. Besides, photobucket is free. ;)

This is what I have come up with. And, yes, I noticed I had not taken a picture of one of the patterns. It was quite windy today and the pictures of the magazines kept flipping over.

Patterns link

Only a few magazines left to do. ROFL I have about 100. :P

Pink Elephant

I made up this pink elephant as a gag gift for the youth group to give one of their leaders. I used some hot pink yarn I found this pattern, and an H hook. I ran out of the pink yarn so I finished off the trunk with white. Since I've already give the elephant to the youth group, I don't know the size. I'd say about 8" tall.

Sweet Baby Jacket and Hat

I made this jacket and hat with Bernat Baby Coordinates in "Lovely Lilacs" and "Soft Mauve". I used an H hook. The jacket is, hopefully, a size 12-18 months. I used a patter called "Sweet Baby Jacket" from a Bernat booklet, Precious Pieces to knit and crochet. The hat is just something I whipped up, not using a pattern. I love the colors. :)

Sweet Baby Jacket Progress

I finished with the body portion of the sweater/jacket. I need to add the sleeves and then a border.

Star blanket

I am making another star blanket using Beth's Little Star pattern. I'm using Bernat Softee Baby in "His Jeans Ombre" and a G-4 hook.

This blanket is for an on-line friend whose wife is having a baby toward the end of September. I brought it with me to Starbucks this afternoon since I don't need the pattern. I just wanted to go somewhere to sit and stitch away from the house. I think I was there about 1/2 hour. It got kind of warm so I left.

I'm going to work up the "Sweet Baby Jacket" first, then work a bit on the bag and again on the star blanket.

Progress

I worked on the bamboo wrap during the church service yesterday morning. It measures 61" x 8".

Yes, there are different greens. It's the same color, but obviously a different lot. Oh, well. I'm making it for myself, and if anyone else is interested in one, I'll make sure the skeins I pick up are from the same lot.

Then, yesterday afternoon and last night I worked on the Sweet Baby Jacket. I only worked on it a couple of hours, having to frog it because I started with the main color instead of the accent color. I really like the two colors together. It's going to be a nice looking sweater. I hope Shelly likes it. :) Better, yet, I hope her friends like it.

...and while outside, I took a photo of the top of one of our trees against a beautiful blue sky

and a photo of one of my sons, who, evidently didn't realize I was taking his photo. THAT, in and of itself, is amazing. :) Meet Kenaniah.

Sweet Baby Jacket for Shelly

My friend, Shelly, asked me to make a baby sweater and hat for her friends who are having a baby in September. She wants a purple one and it to be 12-18 months. I found this awesome looking book at Michael's, Crochet for Tots, but it was $24.95 and I really didn't have the extra funds to purchase it. So, instead, I picked up a(nother) Bernat booklet, Precious Pieces to knit and crochet. It was only $0.99. I picked up 2 skeins of Bernat Baby Coordinates in "Lovely Lilacs" and "Soft Mauve".

Again, my gauge is off. Crocheting clothing is challenging for me with the gauge thing. I tend to crochet tight compared to most designers. So, I made a swatch (I HATE making swatches - just let me get to the project!) with a G hook. My swatch was 3/4 inch too small. So, I'll use an H hook.

Progress on the "Pink" Tidy Tote

It's coming along nicely. I just finished one skein and it measures 13". I need to crochet this piece until it measures 34", then sl st the foundation row to the last row, make the base, join it to the bag and make 2 handles. I hope I have enough yarn. If anything, I have a ball or two of Bernat Softee Chunky in just Taupe and also a taupe/blue/dark taupe color that might work. Might. Probably not. I should just stick with solids if I run out and don't want to buy more. :)

Gauge

I purchased Bernat's pattern book, Easy Living with Crochet. I want to make a few of things in the book, but am starting today with 2a. Pink Tidy Tote. Why do people include colors in their titles? What if I'm making this Pink Tidy Tote in a different color? Oh, well. I'm using Bernat Softee Chunky Twists - Twilight Twists. It's taupe, light taupe and light blue. Very nice colors.

The pattern calls for a G hook. Yes, you got that right. A bulky, size 5 yarn with a G hook. Well, I start with my 4.25 G hook, knowing I will probably have to use a larger hook. I end up with a J. A J! From G to J. That, to me, is a huge difference. I cannot imagine how loose this designer crochets! Unless it was a misprint. Oh, well.

Tina needs clothes

My 14 year-old daughter has a Cabbage Patch doll that been in our family since she was born. Her name is Christina and Emily called her Tina from the time she could talk.

Well, Tina has been given to our youngest son, Logan. He's 3. But, by now, Tina has no clothes. So I told Logan I would make her some. Easy enough. I'm sure there are patterns online for a 14" Cabbage Patch Doll.

I can't find a pattern that I don't have to pay for. And I'm not paying for a pattern.

So, I got out my 101 stitches for crochet. I sketched an outline of a shirt and an outline of a pair of pants on 2 plain pieces of paper. As I was leafing through the book, I figured I'd just make, for the shirt, 2 5" granny squares and sew them together up the side, leave a hole large enough for her head (and boy, does she have a big head!), leave arm holes and crochet an edging for the bottom and the neck. Then I guess I'll do a simple sleeve, haven't figured that out, yet.

The granny square I like to make is:
Round 1: Ch 3, 2 dc, ch 2, *3 dc, ch 2, rep from * 2 more times. Connect with sl st on 3rd chain of beg ch 3. Do this around the Magic Adjustable Ring
Round 2: Ch 3, *dc in ea dc, sh (2dc, ch 2, 2 dc) in corner ch 2 sp, rep from * around. Sl st to join. Repeat round 2 until square measures desired width.

Eating milk chocolate fudge sandwich cookies under a blue sky

What a name! What a blanket! This beautiful ripple blanket was lovingly crocheted using 9 balls of Bernat Softee Chunky yarn. Bernat Softee Chunky yarn is 100% acrylic and holds up well to machine wash and dry. A size K hook was used.

The blue/taupe/vanilla variegated stripes bring a nice touch of color to the dark and light taupe stripes.

It measures 30" x 62".

Bernat

Today after church, I dropped the kiddos off at home and drove over to Michael's. I picked up 3 skeins of Bernat Softee Baby in Baby Pink Marl and 3 skeins of His Jeans Ombre. There are 2 couples that are having babies and I wanted to get new yarn for them.

I picked up 3 more skeins of the Taupes and Blue/Taupe variegated for the ripple blanket I'm making. I wasn't sure how much yarn I would need, so I figured 3 more skeins would be safe.

I picked up 3 skeins of Bernat Softee Chunky Twists in Twilight Twists. I got their booklet, easy Living with Crochet to make, among other things, the tidy tote. I'm also wanting to try the stash baskets and pretty much everything else in the booklet.

I'm going to be a Busy Bee. Yee Haw!

My profit

Is dwindling. Thanks to Vashti. Ok. It's a good thing. I was just lamenting to my friend how I'm scared of color. I see Vashti's entry on Color Scheme Bible and I think what better addition to my library? No free shipping, but that actually saved me money as if there was free shipping on orders over $25, I'd have to buy more books. :)

I also added $25 to my Starbucks card. Hey. A girl's gotta enjoy a luscious cup 'o joe every once in a while, right? I think tonight I'll try the Blueberries & Crème Frappuccino® Blended Crème.

Hmmm. That leaves me with about $48. Ok. That's good. Enough money left to buy that baby yarn for the 2 baby blankets I want to make. Now, when's my next order coming in? :)

Bernat Bamboo

My friend decided we should make the blanket twice the length it is now. Darn! Hee hee. She gave me the rest of the money owed for the entire blanket. I needed to go to Michael's anyway, so I figured I HAD to pick up some of that Bernat Bamboo. Oh. My. Goodness! I picked up 12 balls. Yes, I am aware that each ball is $3.99. I wanted to make the wrap pictured on the wrapper. I needed to find out if the finished project is as soft as the yarn is by itself.

I also picked up a Clover J hook with a soft handle thing. Ok, I need to take a creative writing class or something. My descriptions need a little help. ;) I cannot find one of my many J hooks and you never know when you need one, right? Oh, and whoever heard of an L hook? I honestly did not think there were L hooks. I have a K and I have an M and an N and a P and I think a Q. Oh, well. I tend to crochet tighter than the average designer, so I'm sure the M hook will work out just fine for my bamboo wrap. After I finish my friend's blanket, I'll whip out the bamboo. Yeah!

Velvety Brown Ripple Throw

A customer requested a blanket for her daughter. She told me she wanted a nice blanket to snuggle up with. I went to Michael's and decided on 2 balls of Lion Suede Taupe, 3 balls of Lion Suede Mocha and 3 skeins of Lion Homespun Faun.

I used my c-mama ripple pattern. I started with one row Suede Mocha, one row Suede Taupe, one row Suede Mocha and 6 rows Homespun Faun. I ended with the Suede rows. I ran out of Homespun after 5 rows, which I had anticipated, but the blanket measures about 45" wide and 42" tall.

I have some ideas on how to proceed, but it depends on how much more my customer wants to spend. I can use up the rest of the suede and crochet a border around the blanket. I used about 12" of the last ball of mocha and have an entire ball of taupe left. Or, I can purchase another 2 skeins of Homespun to make the throw about 24" taller. Or, I can purchase another 3 skeins of Homespun and another ball of mocha and make the throw twice as tall. So, I'll find out tonight which directions she wants to go in. Here are pictures of the throw as it sits now.

Oh, and after making this throw, I want one for myself made entirely of suede. This throw is divine.

YARN!

How many posts do I have here with that title?

I spent over an hour at Michael's today. I first took inventory on my Palm Tungsten of what they have and the prices. I wanted to know exactly what I will be able to work with.

Then I walked around trying to figure out what yarn I should get for a new blanket I'm making. The customer wants something soft. She will be gifting it to her daughter who, I guess is a snuggler. :)

Wow. There were lots of choices. I found some yarns I hadn't seen yet (I know, where have I been hiding, right? They don't have these in our Walmarts, Rag Shops or Joannes). Patons SWS that I want to try out, Bernat Bamboo (Oh, My GOODNESSSSSSSS!) and Bernat Silk Sport. I almost picked up the Silk sport for my customer, but I really wanted to make something up using Homespun and Suede.

I also picked up some Bernat Chunky - it was $1.99 a ball! I got 3 balls of Soft Taupe, 3 balls of Nature's Way and 3 balls of True Taupe.

For my customer, I picked up 2 balls of Lion Suede Taupe, 3 balls of Lion Suede Mocha and 3 skeins of Lion Homespun Faun.

Well, better get hooking. :)

Added:

I have decided to simply crochet the c-mama ripple pattern. One row of Suede Mocha, one row of Suede Taupe and 6 rows of Homespun. I'll see how that looks.

Shawl/scarf in Trendsetter Love

While in Ft. Mill, SC, we stopped by a darling yarn store in Pineville called The Yarn Shop by Rainy Day Creations. I picked up a couple of balls of Trendsetters Yarns Love in Ocean Sea Life. It took me a little more than a month to pick it up. I was a bit intimidated and didn't know what to make with it. Well, I knew I wanted a shawl/scarf/wrap, but was still intimidated.

Well, I surfed to Annie's Attic for the Lace Tunisian stitch and got my M tunisian hook. I'm simply chaining 25 and following through with the pattern until I either get the length I desire or I run out of yarn. ;)

Personalized Baby Afghan is finished!

I finished weaving in the last ends last night and took the pictures of the blanket this morning.

It measures about 35" square. The blanket was easy, but challenged me in that I had to sew the personalized mat to the border. I don't like sewing. And the other challenging part of this blanket was making sure the mat fit inside the border. I was surprised that it fit. It's a beautiful pattern. I'm happy with the results.

Michael's

Boy, oh, boy! I hadn't been to Michaels since before Hurricane Wilma. The hurricane destroyed a lot of buildings and I had heard that Michaels took some damage. But I hadn't been to Michaels before that because I was extremely unhappy with the selection of their yarn. But, our craft stores have been disappointing me lately. The Rag Shop went out of business. Joann's yarn selection stinks. I mean, they have a few yummy brands, but, really, it's becoming a waste of my time to even think about going there. Walmart has been through reconstruction and their craft department has been cut in half. Their yarn selection is not what it was.

I THINK we have a couple of LYS around here, but it's quite a drive. I was getting tired of not having anywhere to go for good yarn. So, I had heard that people were happy with Michael's yarn selection. So, today, I gave it a try. I needed some graph paper to work up the name on the Personalized Afghan and figured I would try out Michael's and peek at their yarn. I was blown away! I was finally able to see some Paton's in real life. Funny, I know, it's not like Paton's is some exotic yarn, but where I live, it is! I went home empty handed because I don't have money for yarn right now. But, when I do, I know where I'm headed. I'm just sad I stayed away for so long. :(

Personalized Baby Afghan Notes

These notes are simply for my benefit regarding yarn usage. Kim's directions are over and above. She did a wonderful job. In fact, reading her very precise directions, I made a swatch before starting. Not something I normally do, especially for a blanket. ;)

• I had to switch to a size I hook. I crochet tight and my swatch was an inch off of what Kim's gauge said. I'm still a centimeter or two off, but I'm ok with that.
• It took one 6 oz skein of the Caron Simply Brites to work up the bottom portion of the heart border and the first side until the instructions say to fasten off. I was only left with 6 meters of yarn.
• Ok. I was trying to figure out if I read the pattern incorrectly, but I've given up on that. On row 43 of the second side of the heart border, it appears that I am a row off. But according to the graph, not according to the written directions. I start on the correct side, the edge instead of the middle, however, I will have 28 open square on the inside of the border going up instead of 27. I will just have to make sure that I measure and make a swatch for the inside portion, the personalized mat so it will fit inside the border. I was frustrated with myself and was unable to frog it since I had fastened off and weaved in the end on the left side already. But I believe I can still work with it.
• More to add as I go on

Missing Child, Please Help - Now Found!

A crochet designer, and esteemed CGOA member Tammy Hildebrand, has a 14-yr-old daughter, Chelsea, who's been missing since 7/31. She's the one on the left. Chelsea was last seen today at 2pm driving along I-95 in Fredericksburg VA with her friend Crystal Armstrong (pictured on the right) and an 18-yr old boy.

Starting the Personalized Baby Afghan

My friend gave me the money tonight to purchase the yarn for the personalized blanket. We don't have a LYS here (yet) so I wandered into Jo-Ann not expecting to find much. And I wasn't disappointed. You know, their website has a decent selection of yarn, but my local store barely has anything. Every time I go in there it looks as if they are going out of business. Tonight, there were whole baskets of yarn missing. :(

So, it was off to Walmart I go. I know that they had some Caron Simply Soft that I'd use if I couldn't find anything "yummy" locally. I picked up 6 skeins of Rose Violet and 2 skeins of White. While there, I noticed they had Bernat Softee Chunky. I picked up 5 skeins in Medium Sea Green. I figured I could make up a nice masculine blanket.

Yay! I'm off to work on this blanket.

Swatches

As I typed this out, I had to check and make sure that's what they're called! I was quickly transported to the 80s. Wow! Back to 2007! :)

Because my friend will be making her decision on the color of the blanket she wants me to make and to let me know the name tonight, I have some time between projects.

I wasn't sure what I wanted to work on, not wanting to start a huge project, only to put it down to work on my friend's blanket. So, I pulled out my book, 101 Stitches for Afghans by Jean Leinhauser and am making up some swatches. I make up patterns 1-3 already. I just have to figure out how to organize the swatches once they're done. I'm just using up some Red Heart worsted I have lying around and an I hook. Maybe I should try them in an H hook, too.

I would like to say that my thoughts and prayers are with those involved with the collapsed bridge in Minnesota.

Randal Cutter's thoughts on the tragedy.

2nd Doily Baby Blanket

My second doily baby blanket is finished. This one measures 30". I like the color arrangement. It's made with a G hook (4.25 mm) and Bernat softee Baby yarn in Pink Rose and white. This is the Coral Rose round baby blanket from Creations by Rebecca Leigh.

ANOTHER blankie!!!!

A friend of mine has been watching me make blankets all summer. Last week she tells me that her son-in-law's sister is having a baby. She wants me to make a blanket for her. I showed her some patterns on the internet and she really liked CrochetKim's Personalized Baby Afghan.

As soon as I'm able, I'll be purchasing some Caron Simply Soft in the colors my friend approves of and get started on it.

And I realized that sending Minnie the already finished Doily Blanket will keep me on track.

My desire is to have a basket or baskets full of blankets and shawls already made for when situations come up. So far, I have 3. One shawl, a large afghan and the second Doily Baby Blanket I've yet to finish. But since that doily blanket is already tagged for an internet friend, I suppose it shouldn't count.

While searching for the posts to link to in this blog, I realized just how many blankets I have crocheted since the end of May. Since 6 of them were for my kiddos, I can safely assume that I will be able to get my comfort basket filled.

Oh, I was surfing last night and found some new crochet/craft blogs. I added them to my reader if you are interested in more blogs. :) Thanks to Robyn for posting her shared blogs.

Comfortghan for Minnie the service-dog

An internet friend of mine and her husband each have service dogs. Her dog, Minnie, a sweet, adorable dachshund, is going through a tough time right now and is in some considerable pain. Years ago, she was on pain meds for months for what was thought was a bad shoulder. Now it seems that it was preliminary to this injury. She appears to have a problem with her cervical spine.

Minnie was x-rayed on Monday. They were inconclusive, so she needs a myleogram for better diagnosis. The vet needs to do the myleogram with her under sedation and, if all is not well, surgery will need to be done immediately while she is still sedated.

The vet has given them 10 days as an outside date on Minnie's comfort level.

They have her on prednisone and confined to a kennel with hopes that things will get better rather than worse.

So, I'm making a comfortghan for Minnie. I don't have any blankets just sitting around. I suppose I could just send one of the doily blankies that I had finished. That would work for sure and be guaranteed to get to them in a couple of days. Yes, that's what I'll do.

I really need to have extra blankies around for situations like this.

But, you know what? I was really having a difficult time when praying over this last blankie. I was, in my mind, associating it with a baby of one of two internet friends. But I believe now that the Lord knew this blankie would go to Minnie. I guess when I'm praying over these blankies, I need to step out of the box and realize that they may not be going to whom I originally thought they would be going to.

Minnie, I'm praying for a miracle for you. xoxoxoxo