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

Pink and White Doily Baby Blanket

I finished the Pink and White Doily Baby Blanket last night. It measures about 35" across. I'm very happy with the results.

Pink Coral Rose Baby Blanket

I got a tip from Crochetville about some doily baby blanket patterns. Now, I could probably have just taken a doily pattern and made up a blanket, but I really didn't feel like figuring it out if I wanted to add some rounds. So, it was worth, to me, spending $5 on a pattern. ;) I do have 2 more baby blankets that I want to make by September.

So, with a G hook (4.25 mm) and Bernat softee Baby yarn in Pink Rose, I set off to make Coral Rose round baby blanket from Creations by Rebecca Leigh.

Green and White Arrowhead Baby Blanket

I finished the Green and White Arrowhead Baby Blanket. Good timing, too. My friend brought her new son home on Monday. I need to call her sometime today to see if I can bring this gift over.

It measures about 35" square. I so love the way it turned out. I was a bit nervous at first, because I thought the square would be too big and that it would not be right, but when all was said and done, it's perfect.

More Baby Blankets - White & Greet Arrowhead Afghan with Popcorn Stitch

One would think I was tired of making blankets, right? Well, I'm not and I'm going to take advantage of that!

I have a friend who is adopting a (boy?) from a teenage mom when the baby is due - any day now. There are 2 users on an internet forum I am part of that I'm friendly with whose wives are having babies. But their babies are due in September. So, my friend who is adopting gets the next blanket.

I'm using Lion Brand Pound of Love in white and pastel green. I'm using an H hook and a pattern called "Arrowhead Afghan With Popcorn Stitches. I have used this pattern before for my kids' blanket (the one that they cut with the scissors grrrr). It's from a book "Better Homes and Gardens White Crochet". Hmmm. I'm unable to find it online. If you want more information about the book, let me know - cmama (dot) busybee (@) gmail (dot) com.

Blue and White Blanket Finished

I finished the other baby blanket today. It measures 32" x 34".

Oh, and when I first took these photos, I neglected to check the lens. It was cool in the house and quite hot and humid outside. This is how the photo first turned out:

2nd Baby Blanket

I've started the 2nd baby blanket. I'm using Lion Brand Pound of Love in denim and white, a J hook and c-mama's ripple pattern. I'm using one strand of denim and one strand of together. I'm really liking this look. :)