Always Something New

I finished a baby blanket recently, the teal one that I showed you here in this post. By finished I mean the knitting is done but the ends need to be woven in and I am considering a steam block too. I am a little afraid of trying that but you only live once, right? 

The new start you see above is a bold and cheerful red. Another baby blanket and I have yarn and patterns for a few more because I don't know how to stop making stuff. The pattern is called Making Plans. I am very pleased with the pattern and my knitting of it so far. If you want to check about more patterns like this, the designer, on Ravelry where I bought my pattern, is Fifty Four Ten Studio. I bought 3 patterns because at the time I am writing this, if you buy 3 or more patterns you get 15% off your order. To make up my 3 I also got Stay On The Ridge and Piece of Home afghan patterns. The nice thing about these besides the lovely design work is that you get information to make these afghans in multiple sizes from very small baby to large blankets. I love having this when I am looking at afghan patterns! And if blankets aren't your thing check out the pillows, small things or hats, scarfs and shawls patterns.

Hey, if you are starting or finishing or even thinking about making a great pattern from a Ravelry designer share all about it in the comments. Let's inspire each other!

Back with more again soon.

Take care and stay cozy!

 

A New Baby Afghan Started

In my determined quest to knit only from stash and to use up the supplies sitting for years so that my craft room is not so overwhelming and cluttered I have started knitting a new baby afghan. So far this year I have finished 3 of these and now baby blanket number 4 is underway using a pattern I have made once before. Below is a progress picture from the first one in a lovely green. The pattern is a free Ravelry download named the Pine Forest Blanket. 

I have plans to do 2 new ones in Caron's Simply Soft which I also used on my first blanket made in this pattern. They will be in the fruity named colors of Blackberry and Blueberry. I only have 2 skeins of each color so gauge is important this time because the pattern calls for 600 yards and 2 skeins gives me 630 yards to work with and I am in no mood to play yarn chicken. With that in mind I found that to get the same size as the original I needed to go down to a size 6 needle instead of the size 8 the pattern called for. Doing that needle change gives me a blanket that is exactly 26 inches across as the pattern says. 

Pictures will be posted on another day when I have made more progress and am in the mood to take pictures. In the meantime you can check out the pattern on Ravelry or click on the pin I created from the pattern page and embedded here and then you can see more of what I have pinned. Just a warning I pin food, lots and lots of food.

  

Back with more again soon. Take care and stay cozy!

A Finish and a New Project Started

I finished my blue and white mini shawl. I say mini because it is really more like a triangular scarf. This piece was knit in garter stitch. I love garter stitch when I want to create a fabric that feels squishy. I think this is a very versatile shape to knit. If you wear the point in the back you have a nice accessory to keep your neck and shoulders warm. Is it just me or do you know that sometimes that is all you need to feel comfortable and keep you from tensing your shoulder muscles and getting sore? If you wear one of these mini shawls with the point in front under your coat on a blustery winter day you can keep the wind out and stay nice and cozy while "walking in a winter wonderland".

So moving on I have started a new baby afghan. Have to have something on a hook or needles at all times. It is how I get through life without hurting people. LOL. This is the third time I have made this pattern and certainly won't be the last. This time the yarn is a cheerful, sunny, you just gotta smile yellow. The pattern for the knit Free Sunny Baby Blanket can be found by clicking here. I like this pattern for its ease. It makes for great tv knitting. I also like solid rather than lacy patterns for baby blankets. This is so that little fingers and toes don't get caught. 

My triangle mini shawl all done.

Rows and rows of squishy garter stitch.

The next project (a baby afghan) cast on last night.

I have to end with a rant. I had a new version of blogger show up last week. It may be older than that but I didn't post for a couple weeks. I hate it. formatting with pictures stinks. I can't easily arrange text and pictures like I used to. Setting up labels for posts is not as easy as it used to be either. Before you typed your label and a comma, next label and a comma and so on. Now you are supposed to be searching labels. It is just clunky and wrong. Look Google, I do like learning new things, I really do but I don't see how you have made things better so I want to learn them. What are the wonderful benefits of this new design. These changes kind of remind me of Etsy and some of you may know exactly what I mean.

Back with more again soon. Take care and stay cozy!

What To Do With Scrap Yarn

I am trying not to add to the collections of odds and ends of yarn and fabric I have boxed away in a very big closet in my house these days. Without buying anything new I could keep myself busy and happy for years. In my 60s now I may have reached SABLE. If that term is new to you let me explain. It is an acronym for stash acquisition beyond life expectancy.These materials have built up over the years in little bits at a time and will be used up in the same way.


I ended last year by making a baby blanket to be given to the first baby of the new year at the local hospital. You can see here all the ends I had to weave in to get it done in time. While I loved the pattern that I found on Ravelry, Baby Bonanza Blanket, I did wonder what the heck I was thinking when I chose a pattern with so many color changes. I loved the yarn too. It is a machine washable 100% cotton that I got from Yarn.com named Cascade Yarns Ultra Pima. The softness of this yarn, the rainbow of colors and the squishiness of garter stitch made a beautiful blanket. The hospital's first baby of the new year was a boy who I imagine being very cozy in his new blanket. Of course I had bits of leftover yarn after the blanket was done so......


I started the new year with a scrap project that has managed to use up almost every little bit of that leftover yarn. I now have a stack of brand new washcloths and bright and cheerful rainbow colors. I haven't reduced my stash with this project but I haven't added to it either. I call that a win.

Back with more again soon.
Take care and stay cozy!

Some people......

Some people just amaze me. I got a comment on my post for Read Across America from the nephew of Sheryl who I wrote about on that day. She was such a huge part of the celebration at our school that day. She lost a battle with cancer a few years ago and the world is different without her. I was just so surprised that he found my little post and left a comment.

Someone in Utah contacted me last week with another surprise.

I used to do a craft show the first weekend in November in Spanish Fork, Utah. The last time I was in the show was 2005. The person who contacted me bought a crocheted baby blanket and got one of my business cards.

It seems that the blanket was lost recently on a family trip and the little guy it belonged to was sad. She wanted to know if I could make him a new blanket but maybe slightly larger this time.

What amazed me is the persistence she showed to get in touch with me. The home phone and email on that card are no good anymore. I did keep my cell number the same and that is how she found me. Not only that but she had the card after more than 2 years! Wow!

You can see what I came up with for him. I sent this picture to see if the blanket is alright. If so, I get to make a trip to the Post Office soon. I just love sending my work off to new homes.

Technorati Tags: crocheted,blanket,afghan,crafts,craft show,spanish fork,utah,business cards,sheryl,read across america,baby blanket

Catching Up

Catching up is what I will need to do the rest of this week. Last week I posted about 2 goals. One of them was to cut flannel for baby blankets and burp cloths. That goal was met and now I need to get the flannel to the hemstitching machine for the stitching that makes it possible to do a crocheted edge on them. the other goal was to photo and list more headbands that I have completed and that didn't get done. My easily distracted self started organizing when I realized what a mess my sewing room and cutting table was when I started working on the flannel. So in my distraction I pulled everything out of the closet in that room and got is sorted and neatly into labeled boxes. The yarn and crochet thread went back into the closet boxed and all the fabrics went under the cutting table.

It was a good week however because I sold another headband on Etsy. It is always such a wonderful surprise to get the email telling you of a sale. I hope that someday I will have had so many sales that the new may wear off but for now every sale is such a thrill. This sale was for a black and white headband that you see on the left and in fact I have sold 2 of them and I made 4 so tomorrow I will relist and see what happens. I cut the fabric for these and then hemstitched them and crocheted the decorative edge and ties. The ties are long enough that you could use them to tie around a ponytail if you really wanted to get your hair out of the way. I have gotten positive responses on them including an invitation to 2 craft shows because they are different. I consider that a nice compliment.

As I said before I hope to get more of them listed on Etsy this week. In the mean time if you want to take a look I have some in my blujay and ecrater stores. You can find the links for those shops right here on the blog. I keep my pricing the same in all three shops so you can just shop where you are most comfortable.

Goals This Week

I have known for a long time that I am the type of person that needs deadlines. I do well with them and not so well without them. When making deadlines I need to have ones that are committed to doing something for some one else. As an example I state in my online shop on Etsy that I will ship your order in one to three business day after your payment is received. That is a commitment I cannot and do not ignore.
In trying to create guidelines for myself I thought if I laid out goals on a weekly basis I may force myself to report to you how I did on managing to meet them. So with no more procrastinating on my part considering it is Tuesday already here we go.

I have 2 major to me things to get done. The first is to get this assortment of headbands photographed and in shops. The second is to get at least half of this flannel cut and hemstitched for blankets so that I can get edges crocheted on them. The baby blankets will go to my sister in California. She owns and embroidery business in Ventura called Creative Stitches. It was her idea to offer them to her customers to have baby names and dates put on them. We have had positive responses to them so far so I need to get more done and sent off to her shop. I may put some extras in my online stores as well. It depends on how many she wants for her shop.
There are the plans. I will let you know this weekend how I did.