I Did It!!!

I got Mama's sweater done and on time. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find my digital camera so I didn't get pics before I gave it to her. As soon as I find it though, I'll be getting her to model it for me so I can get pics to post here.

I also got another row of squares put together and added onto my son's Star Wars afghan. I'm going to be working on it today exclusively. I figure 3-4 days on it and then the last 2 days working feverishly to complete my brother's Harry Potter afghan. That's not going to take all that long, though.

I hope to find my camera soon so I can get pics of all this stuff.

Almost Done

Mama's sweater is almost done!!! YEAH!!! Her birthday is this Saturday and it's going to be her birthday present. I'll get some pictures on here as soon as I find my digital camera. It's gone awol again. I decided to do the collar and button panels in the solid green and it looks super! :)

She thinks she's just going to get a visit and sweater on Saturday. I have a special cake and other goodies in store for her as well. Thursday and Friday nights are going to be pretty busy in the Ball kitchen.

And the envelope says......

After hearing from several of my Crochet Partners, I have decided to go with edging each scarf with the same color and then using that color to join them. It is simple and gives me a way to play with the size. I have also thought about doing a logo panel at one end like dh's Star Wars afghan. If I can find a good copy of the Harry Potter logo, it shouldn't be too hard to transfer it to graph paper for the afghan.

I started the first sleeve to Mama's sweater last night. I think it is going to go pretty quick. I expect to have both sleeves done by the end of next week. That weekend should see the completion of the sweater and the addition of the buttons. After talking to Mama yesterday, I'm thinking of something in bone (well resin or plastic, of course, but bone colored). She doesn't want silver or gold and wood is just not the look I want. I'm very excited about this birthday. I very seldom can get Mama to agree to celebrating, but this year I have the sweater. She has to work on her birthday, but it falls on a Saturday so I can pile all the kids in the car and surprise her at lunch with a special birthday cake and her present all wrapped up. My oldest son helped me come up with the cake idea for my chocoholic mother. We're going to make an eclaire cake, except we're going to use chocolate graham crackers and chocolate pudding instead of honey grahams and vanilla pudding. It kind of locks up my jaw when I think about it, but Mama will like it. I may also help the kids to make some of my son's original Scooby Snacks. They are chocolate wafer cookies sandwiched around chocolate icing or creme, dipped in melted chocolate and rolled in cocoa krispies or cocoa pebbles. Yes, your jaw is locking to and some of you may have queasy stomachs, but Mama loves them. That will be the kids' present to her. She can take them home and eat on them for the rest of the week.

I'll be starting my fudge making pretty soon. I like making fudge. I usually wind up making 2 or 3 different flavors and making up some sampler plates for the boys to take to school for teachers. They have so many teachers each that it's not practical or affordable to buy each and every teacher a gift, but I want them to know that their time and effort with my children is appreciated. I'll be making some extra batches of some of the favorite flavors for friends and family. Baking is another thing I'll be starting on soon. I've got less of that to do than the candy making, but I still want to get started a little early.

HP Scarf Directions

I happened to think this morning, that I did not include directions for the scarves I'm making for my brother's afghan. I made it up myself by deciding how I wanted the afghan to look and how big I wanted it. So, here it is:

Using worsted weight yarn and a size I hook:

Ch 37
Hdc in the 3rd ch from hook and in each ch across; ch 1, turn.
Hdc in each st across; repeat this row for a total of 17 rows.
Repeat for 17 rows of each color.

I made a total of 13 color blocks. I haven't done a guage yet, but my scarves are about 12-14 inches wide and it fits a single sized mattress from edge to edge, none hanging over. I'll try to get a couple of pictures and some color names later today.

Harry Potter Scarf/Afghan

Well, I finally got started on my brother's Harry Potter afghan. I decided to do wide scarves in each of the house colors like the ones in the Sorcerer's Stone movie. So far I've got the one for Hufflepuff done and I'm working on the one for Ravenclaw. I still need to get the yarn for Griffondor and Slytherin. I don't know how I'm going to join them yet. I'm thinking about doing an edging around each scarf to use to join them together. I'll have to ask my friends at Crochet Partners . I know they'll have a ton of ideas. My CP friends were the ones who inspired me to do this afghan in the first place :)

My mom's sweater is now waiting for the sleeves. I have now completed the back panel and both front panels and gotten them joined. It looks great so far. I'm trying to decide whether to do the collar and button band in the solid green or the ombre green. I've been working exclusively on the HP afghan this week, but next week I'll be spending every minute I can on getting my mom's sweater completely finished. And of course, I'll take pictures to post before I wrap it :)

The Star Wars afghan for my son is nearing completion. I have 10 squares left plus the logo panel. WooHoo!!!!!!!! My son has been so patient and nice about it, bless his heart. I'll be glad to get it done.

After the new year, I'll be starting on a baby afghan for my second cousin, whose wife is expecting their first baby. As of right now, I've decided on A granny square pattern on a Red Heart SuperSaver label. It's pretty, it's simple and it's made of the SuperSaver yarn so I know it will be durable. I even think I'll stick to the colors the pattern calls for. I'm definately going to take a break after that. I'm going to take a break from marathon crochet sessions and go back over my wish list of stuff I want to make for other family members and start on those things in March :)

New Death Star

Well, I have been requested to make another Death Star. Dh thought it was so neat that he wants to send one to a friend of his for Christmas. I'm glad that I figured out how to make that thing. It's such a fast project, even for me. The only thing is that I'll have to look at pictures of the last one to figure out where to put the eye. I think I will also attach to the last stitch of each round to the first one instead of making continuous rounds in a spiral. That way when I go to do the back stitching for the middle line, I won't have one slanted line making a jump from one end of the line to the other. It's okay if you keep that part to the wall, but I'm just not happy with it. I started to attempt the hot sauce bottle cover of Darth Vader, but with it being in black, I put it down after I got the head/helmet done because I was working at night and having trouble seeing it. I need to get one of those daylight lamps. I've put it on my gift list.

The Star Wars afghan inches ever so slowly toward completion. I've already told my other ds that it's going to be at least a year before I start on another one. I hope to have this one done in time to wrap it up and put it under the tree. I just can't seem to sit down and crochet for long lengths of time like I did last year. I'm going to start making time though. I had a whole list of stuff I wanted to make and it just didn't make it. I cut that list down to just a couple of things that I felt like I absolutely had to make this year. I swear that I'm going to start in February in order to get next year's presents done.

New Blog

Well, this isn't exactly a new blog, but my main crochet blog is going to no longer exist as of November 30. The host has decided to no longer provide that blog service. So, here I am. Now for the fun part: transferring all of my entries from the old blog to this one and changing the link in my email signature line. It's going to take a lot of time. I've got quite a bit of info on that other blog. I didn't realize until today just how much I had put on there. Wish me luck!!!

Time Flies

I can't believe how the time has gotten away from me. Well, I'm not really working on anything new. I bogged down by the depression bug when I didn't get my son's Star Wars afghan done in time for his birthday. I kept looking around my house thinking about all of the house cleaning that needed to be done. I've been rather neglectful in my rush to try to get that afghan done. I also just hit a slump. I just haven't felt like crocheting as much. So, I decided to put the project bags aside for a while and let it rest. I started working on my house the FlyLady way and, boy, has it made a difference. The project bags rested for about 3 days before I was digging into them again LOL. My work isn't constant, but it is much steadier progress than I was noticing before. So, I've got my son's Star Wars afghan going as well as my mom's sweater and my brother's afghan. I don't know if I'll have time to get all that other stuff made for Yuletide gifts like I wanted to, but I'll have the immediate stuff done anyway.

I did get pictures of the camo book cover that I made for my nephew's birthday. I was told he even actually uses it and everything!! So, I'm going to get my house in order, crochet during breaks and everything will work out. Right?? :)

Didn't Make It

I tried as hard as I could, and I still didn't get the Star Wars afghan done. I cannot believe I let this happen. I decided that I would use a couple of the squares I haven't attached to the afghan yet to make a pillow. I had planned on making a pillow to match the afghan anyway, I was just hoping to get the afghan done first. I think that I'll be able to get the afghan done by next week, so I'm going to keep plugging away at it. I'll post a picture as soon as I get it done.

Toy Tote

I took Baby Girl to her first birthday party last week. I had made the birthday girl a bassinet purse. Well, the her 10yo brother couldn't keep his hands off of it so I asked him if he me to make him one too. I was joking at first, but then I got a mental picture of it. Of course, the said "NO!!!", but then I explained that I could do one without the hood and in camoflage yarn. "Oh, yeah!!" he said. So, last night while watching Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and made a little tote bag for his soldier men. I started the same as the bassinet purse, but did 3 rounds of dc in stead of the 2 rounds of tr that form the ruffle. The last row of dc is for the drawstring : 1 dc, ch 1, sk next st, 1 dc. Then I did a round of sc followed by a round of reverse sc. For the drawstrings (I made 2), I did ch 101 and slip stitched across. I rather like the way it turned out. I can't wait to give it to him.

Mini Death Star

I was stumped for something to make for dh's cousin for his birthday. I know he's a big Star Wars fan, but the only Star Wars thing I've done the afghan. No way. I only had one day!!! Well, in a mad search through patterns, I came across a hackey sack pattern, done in thread that I had originally intended to be a golden snitch. Well, done in worsted weight yarn instead of #10 thread made it about the size of a softball. I added details in black done with a back stitch and Voila!!!! A miniature Death Star. I sure wish I could get some of these ideas to George Lucas and get permission to use these designs to sell and stuff.

Now I just have to find a box to wrap this thing in.

Baby Girl's Bikini Top

I have had a skein of Red Heart's Bikini yarn for about a month. I haven't been able to decide on anything to make with it. Well, Baby Girl is always trying to take off with my foundation garments so I decided to make her one of her own. I spent a lot of time frogging, but I finally hit on a look I liked, at least for the triangles. Now to put them together. That entailed more time trying it on and taking it back off, frogging and redoing. She was getting very impatient. I finally got it done and on it went. She strutted around the house feeling all grown up. I'm rather proud of it. I'm trying to practice getting a picture in my head to go from there into the hook and translated into yarn. Man, that's a lot of work, not mention frustrating. My next idea is a full length cloak. I don't know if I want a hood on it or not, but probably. I'm going to save that for after the holidays.

Crocheted Runes

It is amazing that no matter what I"m reading, when the word "crochet" is there it immediately draws my attention. I was reading an article on runes and seeing the word "crochet" stopped where I was reading and my eyes went straight to that word and started reading from there. It was directions on how to make a set of crocheted runes using size 10 thread. Well, I thought I'd give it try. Boy, was that square tiny. And you had to make 2 of them and slip stitch them together?! There was no way I could do that; they were just too small. Well, about a year or so later I'm sitting here trying to find something new to crochet and happened to remember the directions for the runes. So I dig through the yarn that I inherited from my mother-in-law and lo and behold I found a misty sort of blue. I tried out the square and TA-DA!! I had a size I liked as well as a color. Instead of making 2 separate squares though, I did a row of back loop only into the last row of the square and then completed the second square from there. That gave me both squares connected by a sort of hinge that I could use to just fold the thing in half. I used a sunny yellow to back stitch the design on one half of the rectangle, folded it in half and slip stitched the 3 sides closed. I'm looking forward to having a whole set made (along with a bag to put them in, of course!) :) I'll post pictures of the whole set as soon as I get them done.

Working With Variegated Yarns

A message was posted to the CP list about working with variegated yarns. This got me to thinking. Why have I always loved variegated yarns? This is what I finally decided on. All those colors at one time, knowing that the colors are going to change at regular, measured intervals but at the same time not knowing when or how that change is going to take place depending on the stitch/pattern that is being used. For example, I have made granny squares that have each round a different color. My sweater I made, had the same color repeat for every other row, so that when I did the pattern rows, the sequence gave a rainbow effect. I also made a snake with camoflage yarn and it turned out to have the darker colors on one side (which I used as the top when I sewed on the eyes) and the lighter colors on the other side. Completely unplanned on my part, yet anticipated once I notice it. (it also looks like I planned it that way to the average Joe on the street LOL therefore making me look extra smart with a hook and yarn ).

On the other hand I made a baby afghan with Homespun in Blue Ridge where I wanted to let the yarn do the talking rather than a fancy pattern. I did it in nothing but straight rows of double crochet with a row single crochet and then reverse single crochet around the edge. I didn't get pictures of it, unfortunately before it was sent to the expectant mother, but the effect was stunning. Even though that color is a pretty even mix of blue and gold, the afghan looked like a clear night sky: all midnight blue with specks of gold.

When AC Moore had a two-fer sale on their Red Heart Super Saver yarn, did I take advantage to get yarn for the various holiday projects I have on the board? No. I went through grabbing up different colors of variegated yarn that I wanted to try out. Don't get me wrong, I love solids. I did that same sweater pattern in soft white for my mother-in-law last year for Christmas and enjoyed every stitch, and have actually done a lot (if not most) of my recent projects in solid colors, but my first love will probably always be variegated.

Stash Inheritance

I inherited MIL's yarn/thread stash and got it home yesterday. Bless her, she could not keep yarn from tangling and knotting up. So, I spent the most of the afternoon and all evening yesterday untangling and rerolling just about every bit of yarn in the bunch. One color (Red Heart Raspberry) was so bad, that she had gotten frustrated with it and started cutting it every time she came to a big knot. So now I have all these little balls and bunches not even long enough to make into a ball. As we used to crochet together all the time, it was the hardest thing I believe I have ever had to do. I did find a bag of purple Red Heart Plush that she had bought to make me an afghan for Christmas. I'll be starting on that as soon as I get caught up on some of my other stuff.
I am going to have to wash just about all of it, since her and FIL were heavy smokers. Whew is it strong! At least I won't have to throw out the stockings full of snags and runs. I'll just use them to keep the yarn neat in the washer and dryer.

Relaxing needlearts

It never ceases to amaze me how much better I feel when I am crocheting. I have been working on learning to knit and I find that even that is very relaxing. The in and out of hook or needles is very Zen-like and when I'm working on a familiar pattern (aka Mama's sweater) I can kind of phase out and drift out in space. During a morning of mourning, I have found comfort in going through motions that are so ingrained by now that I could practically do them in my sleep.
While working on my first knitting project (a preemie body warmer), I ran into directions that I couldn't get to sink in. I turned to my Crochet Partners friends and was cheered and heartened by the many fine artist who responded for my plea for help. I am glad to say that I am now confidently working my way through this pattern and I think I may see the completion of it by the end of next week! I have been able to turn to that same group to help me through my most trying times (even though few know how much of a comfort they have been).
On a happier (and crazier) note, I have recently been going over my list of WIPs and WIMs that need to be done in time for the holidays (or before). I am afraid that I am already behind. An afghan I had thought to have finished by now is barely halfway done. Mama's sweater is almost half done and there are many other items I haven't even started yet. AHHH!!!!!! I think that instead of trying to get things completed before I start anything else, is the wrong angle to take. I think I'm going to start a couple of other things so I'll have something to switch off to when I start to get stalled on one. Wish me luck!!!

Birthday tomorrow

Well, tomorrow's the big day. My baby is going to be 4 years old. I got her party dress done and it is absolutely adorable, even if I do say so myself. I'll get pictures up after the party. I've still got quite a bit to do in the house so it will be up to company. My oldest son has been a super help in getting stuff done. He helps me do whatever I say needs doing and almost never complains. His brother has been very helpful in the babysitting capacity. My 10yo has been great about keeping his sister occupied and out from under foot while making sure she doesn't get in trouble. I must say I have some great kids. I'm kind of excited about the birthday cake too. I got a Bake n' Fill cake pan and am looking forward to trying it out. I'm going to try it tonight so if it's a big flop, I'll have plenty of time to make another one.
Crocheting-wise, I've been picking up after taking a few weeks off. As I promised, I got my mom's sweater panel done and I finally found my patterns so I can resume the Star Wars afghan. I also finally found a pineapple pattern that I like to use for my mother-in-law's tablecloth. It's actually a runner or doily, but it's made in panels. I think if I can just figure out how to make it twice as long, twice as wide and add 2 or 3 extra panels to that double width, that it will be the right size. I'll be starting my yarn shopping next month for yarn for Christmas gifts. I am very excited about it because, of course, I love shopping for yarn.

When life gets in the way

Whew! It's been rather busy and harried. MIL is still in the hospital and the doctor's have given up on saying when she may get to come home. They've given her a 50/50 chance of pulling through this without surgery and a 20/80 chance of making it through surgery, I think of any kind. She has emphasema and has had pneumonia bunches of times, so surgery is not something they like to even talk about. Any way, between trips to the hospital and trying to get my house company-friendly, I've been pretty busy. The kids are thoroughly enjoying their summer vacation. It's even been dry enough to get in the pool a few times. The boys bicker constantly though. Most of the time it doesn't bother me, but there are times when I just have to step in and tell them "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."
I did get the back panel to Mama's sweater done and I finally found my crochet binder with all my Star Wars patterns, so I will be able to finish the square I started and get at least one other one done this week. I recently joind HeartMadeBlessings and am working on 2 squares for that this week. I'm doing a royal blue granny square and a purple square in a pattern as yet undetermined. I'll be putting the final touches on Dorinda's party dress on Friday. I was working on a camo afghan for my son's friend. It's just a big granny square as of right now, but I think I'm going to frog the whole thing and start over. I'll have to look through my patterns, but I'm leaning toward a ripple, even though I really don't like those. I have a hard time keeping count. My sides usually end up going all wonky. Or I might do a panel or MAM style. Well, I'm going to redo that and start on a friendship-shawl for the mother of that same friend.

I'm doing the Snoopy dance!

Man oh man, have I had a pretty good couple of days. I recently submitted the pattern for my Angel Square to the Crochet Partners pattern library and there it is big as life and I am so tickled to have my very first design "official". Now for the happy part. The next morning when I checked my email, there was an email from a lady who is a member of HeartMadeBlessings (an organization that makes squares and afghans for various forms of comfort) (THUD) asking permission to post a link to my square to be used by HMB! Wow! I was so flattered and it made me feel so good to think that some deserving person was going to be warmed by a part of me, so to speak. Now, as if that wasn't excitement enough, I get up this morning, check my email and there is a message from Just Plain Fun crochet club (again THUD) informing me that I was a winner in the May raffle! Can one say WOWEEEEE!!! As I have never won anything in my life (except for ten cents that I won from a bottle cap from Tab soda when I was about 9 yo), I was tickled. I even had the option of receiving it via paypal. So now I have $14.05 in my account that I can use on ebay, which is about the only time I ever use paypal.

Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day! My day is going to be pretty uneventful and blessedly quiet. My son does have a cub scout car wash to go to, but that's all I'm going to have to do today. I'll be surfing the web in search of gift ideas. I'm putting my older son's Star Wars afghan at the top of my priority list and I'm hoping that if I concentrate on finishing what I've already got going that it'll be easier to find gift ideas for everybody else on my list. I'm determined to finish another row of squares for the SW afghan and the back piece of my mom's sweater done by the end of the week.

Crochet Stress Relief

As my poor mother-in-law's hospital stay drags on and on, I have found myself crocheting faster and faster. She was hospitalized two weeks ago for pancreatitis. What we thought was going to be a week to ten days in the hospital is turning into three weeks or more. I have been working on a party dress for my daughter for her birthday next month and what I thought was going to keep me busy for about three weeks, has been finished except for the sleeves and sewing the buttons on. I've done quite a few small projects like angels and butterflies for Angels for Hope, a couple of scrunchies, and a couple of headbands. Keeping my hands busy has helped me immensely in being able to stay calm and be supportive of my husband and my second son (who is the closest to MIL of my 3 kids). I don't know what I would do if it weren't for my hooks and yarn/thread.