THE WAIT IS PAINFUL...

This is so appropriate as I sit waiting for the mail-person to deliver a package of yarn and a couple new crochet hooks (lighted ones, at that). There is also yarn for my grandson Jacob's blanket.  I was going to make an American flag until a friend mentioned that it would remind her of the flag on her father's coffin at his funeral. That was enough to make me change my mind as Jacob is in the National Guard. When he graduates from high school, he will be in the Army.  Then I wanted to make him an "easy" wave blanket.

Isn't that pretty?  Well, I just could not get the "hang" of the  pattern.  So now it will either be striped OR I am thinking of making 12" squares in a log cabin pattern.  And, of course, I have several different shades of red, blue and white.  Did you ever notice how many different shades of white there are?

Oh... I am experiencing a problem leaving comments on other blogs. I have tried everything I can think of to rectify this with no success. Can anyone think of a reason this would happen?

So I am waiting for my box of goodies.  And I am experiencing a wee bit discomfort in my right hip and leg. Perhaps a flare-up of my sciatica? And that is why the wait for my package is so painful. I did take one of my pain pills which is having that calming, light-headed affect on me. So I guess it is time to sign off for now and thank you for stopping by.

I HELPED... LOL

Remember one of the early commercials for Shake and Bake chicken coating? The young girl with an obvious Southern accent? Sadly, I could only find the commercial with the two kids who exclaimed: And WE helped!    

Howerver, today I feel like that young girl in the commercial. Please follow the link to my friend's blog... With Hook In Hand 


I had my annual eye exam today and am a bit blurry-sighted at the moment. Maybe a nap will help.

How I help out CCE...

Yesterday I thought of many pathways to follow in my crochet travels. My friend, L.J., has also started a crochet blog -  With Hook in Hand - to share with "hookers" also.  And there are many more blogs out in the blog-sphere also. Of course, today I am hard-pressed to remember most of them. So I thought I would tell about one the the charities that makes my crochet hooks happy (and keeps me sane).

One of the charities for which I crochet is Charity Crochet Exchange. With member suggestions, the directors chose 8-10 charities per year to create afghans for.  The afghans require six inch or twelve inch squares be created by members. They are sent to one of the directors for assembly and then presented to the charity for sale or use.  There are 100 members signed up on facebook for this group. We all try to help contribute to the postage costs incurred by the assemblers. I have met some dear, sweet people who give to this charity.

The JANUARY project was a member appreciation afghan. For each project you participate in, you get one entry for this honor. If your name is chosen, you select the color scheme for your afghan; and the group members create it.  This year's member chose the colors pink and grey.  I made these squares for the project:

And they went into creating this:

In FEBRUARY, we made afghans for victims of Hurricane Sandy. We made tons of squares and were able to sent off four completed afghans.  I made the following squares for this project:

Any squares left over from one project (notice the pink and grey from member appreciation) are used in future projects.  Some of the members are super productive, as was evident in our March project for Gibbs Nursing Home in Missour.

TO BE CONTINUED....

Thanks for stopping by...

The Stitch Looks like a Waffle - to me

I don't fancy myself much of a writer. In fact, as I age, I find myself less capable (in my own eyes) of focusing on my thoughts. Continuing this blog is perhaps my best therapy.

In my crochet life, I have the most wonderful go-to pattern. I found it in a copy of either "Woman's Day" or "Good Housekeeping" from back in the 1980's.  Some friends, with whom I shared the original pattern, found it a bit confusing. So I wrote it in my own words. It is for a striped baby blanket, but I have also used it for making scarves.

For me it is a simple pattern, and it goes like this:

WAFFLE-LIKE STITCH BABY BLANKET (my version)  Corner-to-corner

In this pattern, INCREASES are done at the beginning and end of each row. In the first stitch, it is HDC, SC. In the last stitch, it is SC, HDC. 

Other than that, you will HDC in the SC from the previous row; and you will SC in the HDC from the previous row.  (working row starts on right)

(HDC/SC)   HDC   SC   HDC    SC              HDC   SC   HDC   SC   (SC/HDC)  << working row

   /|\              |          |         |          |                |          |         |         |         /|\

Hdc               sc      hdc     sc      hdc             sc       hdc     sc     hdc       sc        (prev. row)

It sounds complicated at first, but is really very easy once you catch the rhythm of the pattern (hdc, sc), hdc, sc, hdc, ….  (sc, hdc). 

Ch 2

Row 1:  in 1^st ch st:  hdc, sc, hdc; ch 1, turn – 3 sts

Row 2: in 1^st st (this will be a hdc from prev. row)  : hdc, sc (inc made);

            hdc in next (this will be in a sc st from prev. row);

            sc, hdc in last st (inc made) -             - - - -   5 st

Row 3:  in 1^st st (hdc, sc); hc; sc; hdc; (sc, hdc) in last st - - - - -  7st

Continue until the edge of the blanket is the desired length.

You should now realize that the st you SC in (from the prev. row) is not as deep as the st you HDC in.

The SC st is narrow; the HDC st goes into a st that is larger. Hard for me to describe, but should make sense by now.

DECREASING:   done at beg and end of each row; working row starts on right. 

 (SC TOG)    SC     HDC    SC       HDC        SC    HDC   SC    HDC    SC     (SC TOG)  << working row

    /     \           |          |          |            |            |         |         |          |          |        /      \                          

hdc    sc         hdc       sc      hdc         sc          hdc     sc      hdc      sc       hdc    sc     hdc      (prev. row)

So you will SC the first 2 sts tog at the beg and end of each row until you have 3 sts left. 

Then SC all 3 sts tog.  

I am loving my crochet life.  It makes me feel like I am really accomplishing something. 

Thanks for stopping by today. 

A Little Bragging About My Mom

When my mom's younger sister passed away(1994, I think), Mom inherited a Cedar Trunk full of craft stuff. One of the projects in it was a half-done afghan my Grandmother had started out of a beautiful crochet cotton. Mom thought long and hard about what to do with the squares and finally decided that she could make a few more and find some 12" pillows to cover. Then she gave the finished pillows to her sisters and nieces, my sister and me.

She was about 80 y.o. when she accomplished this. How I miss her!! She was an awesome person.

Current Happenings in the life of a Crochet-aholic

I am currently filling my life with charity work. I have found that keeping yarn and a crochet hook in my hands, keeps my hands out of the "cookie Jar". 

I crochet with a purpose - usually LOL.  So far I have been contributing to Project Linus (Sacramento); Handmade With Love Especially for You (a non-profit in Southern California that distributes comfort scarves and baby blankets to Women's Shelters); CCE (Charity Crochet Exchange) for whom I crochet afghan squares that go into making blankets for different charities - usually one a month.  CCE just finished a 2 month project providing 50 lapghans to a nursing home in Missouri.  I also make chemo caps and newborn hats for local hospitals.

So I am reinventing my blog to "brag" about what I am doing when I'm not here... or on Facebook.  I also want a place where my family and friend can see why I really am doing something creative while helping others. 

Now I must get ready for my Friday mornning Knitwits circle at the local library branch.  It's only take me 8 years to find a social outlet here...