Making Progress

I got to the store to buy some more purple yarn to finish the border on the Operation Purple Heart comfortghan I was making and low and behold there was not even a shelf tag for what I needed. I was in a panic. Then as I was walking out of the aisle to tell DH "let's go" I passed the Red Heart Super Saver White and thought, "I'm going to need some of this next trip for the baby afghan. Well, it hit me then that I could do the final round of my ghan in white. Boy, was that a big DUH moment for me. Anyway, I got a skein of the white and brought it home. I finished the border, got a picture and away it goes to bring the comfort it is designed to bring.

I got started on the baby afghan after I finished the the comfortghan. I had to frog the last row of the border before I started the white, so I used that little ball of purple for the squares that will be used in the baby afghan. I'm using the Adoring Hearts pattern from the Leisure Arts book A Crocheter's Garden of Afghans. I'm going to make white squares with different colored hearts, with the hearts being the colors of the rainbow. I got 2 squares with purple hearts done last night and I hope to have enough purple to get the other 3 done today. I'm going to whip stitch them together as I go. Each row will have all one color of hearts. So I'm hoping to get the purple row done today and then I'll move on to the blue. I've got enough yellow, I think and maybe red. I'm going to have to get green and orange, though. Looking at the 2 squares I did last night together, I just know it's going to be beautiful! Pics soon, I promise :)

I finally got started again on the gift afghan. The square I'm doing is sooo tedious. The rows are short and it is taking me forever to get it done. I put it down a couple of days ago to give myself a break, hoping that when I picked it back up again that I would be able to just go ahead and finish it. Well, that didn't work. I picked it back up, did about 6 more rows and then had to put it back down again. I'm not going to get the afghan done in time to enter it in the fair like I had hoped, but I still have plenty of time to get it done in time for the giving. I'll post some pics tomorrow.

I started a knitted kitty. After reading an article in Knitting Daily about the healing power of knitting stuffed animals, I realized I had found the perfect project for the yarn my MIL had bought before she died. She got some Red Heart Plush in Dark Purple and Light Purple to use to make me an afghan for Christmas that year. Unfortunately she died before she even got started on it. I inherited all her yarn and thread. The yarn has been laying around her for more than 2 years now and I haven't been able to do anything with it. I started an afghan, but couldn't finish it. I'm going to make this little cat (maybe a couple or 3 or more) and name it for her.

I started another set of runes and a bag to put them in. I lost the first set I started with the worsted weight yarn and am going to do this set in size 10 thread (yellow). The bag is shaped like a cauldron and is done in some pink variegated sock yarn I had in my stash. I have it half done and am looking forward to seeing the finished product.

Finally, I have completed all my swatches for my Learn to Knit correspondence course and my Masters in Basic Stitches crochet correspondence course. I have the address to send my knitted swatches to, I just have to get a box and get them sent. I have to finish up the questions for the crochet course, and I have misplaced my papers. ARRGGGHHHH!!!!! I am sooo not happy. I think they might be buried in our bedroom somewhere, but I'm not sure. So, that's one of my goals for this week is to get the bedroom decluttered and cleaned up so I can, hopefully, locate my papers and get them finished. I bought my second notebook for my swatches and answers. After getting all the swatches in page protectors in one notebook, I found out real quick why they say to use 2 notebooks :) So, as soon as I get my papers found I'll be able to get the questions and get them mailed out in a couple of weeks. It looks like it's going to be a couple of more weeks before I'm able to get my knitted swatches sent off too. Oh well, at least I've got the stitching done. I'll let you know when everything comes back though.

What I Have Been Up To

My, my how time do fly! I've been through 3 trips to the hospital with kidney stones, hubby was in the hospital for a week and my FIL was in the hospital for 2 weeks.

I've made a birthday dress (sewn this year, not crocheted ) for DD's 6th birthday and have finished my swatches for my CGOA Basic Stitches course as well as the swatches for the TKGA Learn To Knit course. The knit swatches are ready to get in the mail, well as soon as I get them blocked and I need to block my crochet swatches too, but I also need to get the question part of the course finished. I'm hoping to get the knit swatches sent off this weekend and the crochet course completed and sent off by the end of this month or the middle of next month at the latest. Here's the dress:

I'm still plugging away on the gift afghan for that family member. I can't say too much about it, because I think they read my blog occassionally. But, after losing the pattern book for a month, I finally just ordered another one. If I find the first one, I'll take the extra one to the library. Anyway, I did finally get the new one in and was able to get started back up on it. I now have 3 of the 7 strips together. I do have to get more yarn. I haven't been able to get all the yarn I need at one time, so I'm depending, rather foolhardily I admit, on the "no dye lot" thing from Red Heart. I'm sooooooo tickled with how it's turning out. I can't post any pictures because of the whole "they might read it" thing.

I'm almost finished with an Operation Purple Heart comfort ghan for Heartmade Blessings. I got to within one square of the border and ran out of yarn. Arrg!!!! So I have to wait for DH's payday to get more yarn for that too. I'll get pics up as soon as I get it done though.

I found the doily I made last year for another family member and then lost it. I have it carefully packed away until after Thanksgiving when I will get it out, get it blocked and wrapped for under the tree. I am so glad I have at least one out of the way and I don't have to worry about it.

We recently found out that our beloved martial arts teacher and his wife are expecting their first baby! Yeah!!! I love making baby stuff. So I'm making an Adoring Hearts afghan and maybe some little clothes too. The afghan is going to be white with different colored hearts. Each square, or at least each set of squares will have a different color of hearts. I'm rather excited about it. I'm going to use primary colors instead of pastels. I am a firm believer that babies need bright colors. They can actually see the contrast between white and bright colors and the bright colors will be much more empowering, I guess, than will pastels. After all, little boys used to be surrounded by red and other power colors, while little girls were awash in pastels supposedly to make them more docile and "feminine". The expecting parents are going to wait until the big day to find out if the baby is a boy or a girl. That's another reason I'm doing primary colors.

School started today for the kids, so I should have more peace and quiet to get some work done, I hope so anyway.