I have dicovered scarves!

I recently decided to participate in the CrochetWithDee's "60 Scarves in 60 Days" challenge, as you may have noticed from my big ole button. Anyway, last year I made one to practice my newly aquired knitting skill. It took forever! I had been hearing how fast and easy scarves were to make and I was so not convinced last year. I made it wide enough and long enough to wrap around your head and use as a hood as well as a scarf. I realized this year, that that was my problem. I had all this yarn left over from the baby afghan I just finished and decided to use all those skeins to make scarves for the challenge. So far I have made a red one, an orange one and a purple one. The red one is a simple V-stitch, the orange one is a kind of net stitch and the purple one is a lacy shell pattern that I saw online and thought I remembered it correctly, but I didn't and so it is just a little bit different. Here they are:I'm planning on making more. Hopefully one of each color I used for the baby afghan.

Fresh off my hook :-)

I just finished the baby afghan I have been working on for my sons' martial arts teacher.

I chose the "Adoring Hearts" pattern for 2 reasons. One, because hearts are the universal symbol for love and every baby should be surrounded by love. Two, because the Boljacks' have decided to wait until the blessed event to find out if they are having a boy or a girl. This way, I've covered all the bases. I chose to use a rainbow theme for much the same reason as Number 2 of the pattern choice. And, finally, I chose primary colors because I believe that babies, especially first borns, are surrounded with pastels and while that may be to promote calm or whatever, I feel that there ought to be a touch of bright colors somewhere along the way.

It turned out to be a little bit bigger than I had anticipated. It is 39x43 inches. I had originally envisioned a bassinet-sized version, but it kind of expanded on me. That's okay though. Kids need plenty of room to grow :-D

I used Red Heart Super Saver throughout. The colors I used are: Cherry Red, Pumpkin, Bright Yellow, Paddy Green, Royal Blue (I think), and Amethyst. I used (for the first time) a Clover bamboo hook, size H for the squares and a Boye hook, size G for the border. I whipstitched the squares together as I went and I used a back-loop only single crochet for the border. I separated the colors in the border with white because I didn't want the border to take away from the design of the body of the afghan. I am rather proud of it.

Lessons I've Learned

In a recent post on the Crochet Partners group, we were asked what we had learned from our fellow CP'ers. I thought about this for a little while and I remembered where I was when I first joined. I was in a very not very light place at the time and crochet was all I had to keep me going (well, not entirely. My kids went a long way toward that end too.) I had signed up for a crochet newsletter and at the bottom of the newsletter was a link to the Crochet Partners as a place to go for questions and advice. So, I checked it out, signed up and introduced myself.

Since joining Crochet Partners I have learned the magic adjustable ring for granny squares and the like, a chainless foundation (which I used to make my mama's sweater) and I learned how to appreciate not only others' work but also my own. I've always had self-esteem issues and at this particular time in my life, those issues were even more pronounced. I found that I was able to pick up on patterns fairly easily and those that were confusing I could make sense of them with a little time. My mother-in-law was a wiz with ripple afghans, but had trouble following a pattern. I finally realized that I could do stuff way more complex than my mother-in-law and even my mama. It was a lightbulb moment, or rather a lightning moment. I realized that I was good at what I did. I started taking pictures of my finished projects (thanks for the digital camera Aunt Kay!) and started sharing those pictures with the folks at CP. I cannot even begin to tell you the lift I got the first time I posted my pictures and started getting responses. I smiled for the first time in months and when I got "Great work" from a lady whose books I own, and other professional designers that I had patterns from in various magazines, well, I again am at a loss for words. It was really a huge turning point for me. Two years ago was when I made my mama her sweater. It was the same pattern I used for my sweater and one I made for my mother-in-law. My mama showed it off at the next family gathering (Christmas Eve, I wasn't there) and the next day when I showed up with kids in tow, I was met with a quickly hushed conversation. I jokingly asked what I had done and my aunt Wanda told me that they were just talking about my mama's sweater. I was wearing my mother-in-law's sweater since it was our first Christmas without her and so I really got to show off my work first hand.

The following month I made my cousin a baby afghan for his first baby. The mother of said cousin took a fit over it and asked me to do one for a friend of her's for a baby shower. I said of course and then that following September at the family reunion I got another "order" from another aunt. It was so cool! I made some business cards and attached them to the afghans with the care instructions written on the back. Being business women themselves, they were rather impressed that I had taken the thought to add that little touch. They are still suitably impressed with my work and I am more than happy to make stuff for them when they ask.

The encouragement that I got and the tips I received for making my pics a little more professional looking were so awesome. Couple that with the fact that these things were said by total strangers, people that never even new I existed before I joined the Crochet Partners and my spirits were taking a major 180 turn.

I joined Crochet Partners in 2002 (I think). It all started with my rainbow sweater, moved on to a Star Wars afghan for my husband and the rest is history. My depression is mostly gone and I no longer sit and think about how I can't do anything. I stitched through the depression that followed on the heels of the fall of the twin towers and the death of my dearly loved mother-in-law. I now carry my needlework with me everywhere. I learned to knit last year and am getting into trying patterns. I usually keep one crochet project and one knitting project with me at all times. I've crocheted in doctors' offices, the dentist office, my daughter's play dates, girl scout meetings, my family reunion, and even in the theater parking lot when I went to pick up my husband and older son from a horror movie that I didn't want to see. Church is kind of hard for me since I don't stitch during the service LOL. I look forward to finding new and interesting places to do my stitching. I even made a crocheted yo-yo for a lady at my doctor's office so she could take it home to duplicate it. That was super fun, there!!

So, I have learned and grown so much in the last 5 years. I no longer bite my lip in public when I'm petting yarn in the store or describing my stitching passion. I know now that I am not alone in my excitement and I will proudly talk about the pros and cons of different hooks, yarns and kinds of patterns or projects. I am a crochetier and I am proud of my obsession ;D

New Button!!!

Wow! Thanks so much to fibersbytracie for helping me to add this wonderful new button to my blog. I participated in the scarf challenge last year for the first time and I'm going to do it again this year. I'm really looking forward to it. Last year I was just learning to knit and I practiced my knitting by making a scarf in stockinette stitch. This year I'm going to try out a new crochet pattern and I might even do another knitted one.

The gift afghan drags on. I still cannot get past that one square. I think I'm going to just sit down today and get it done. I'm sure that once I get that square done that I'll be able to go faster. I'm going to try to get it done by the end of October. So, until then here's a preview:

I'm rather proud of it so far.

The past several days I've been working on the baby afghan for the karate teacher's wife. It's turning out really good and I'm really looking forward to getting it finished. I still haven't decided what kind of border to do. Maybe I'll do a matching border and do each heart in a different color all the way around. I've been thinking about doing the back loop double crochet border that is used in the pattern book for this square pattern. I'm going to have to give it some more thought.