7 down and counting

Three to go! Getting more creative with the scarves and colors. Finding it to be loads of fun! Pics coming soon!

Six down...

...four to go! I am having a lot of fun with these scarves. I have had to think outside the box a little bit and make ones that I wouldn't wear myself so as to appeal to others. Let's hope they sell! Not looking to make gobs of money, but enough to supplement my yarn obsession! Pics to follow soon! Stay tuned!

Scarves! I've gone public!

This is an exciting time for me. I have a salon in San Juan Capistrano that has agreed to offer my scarves for sale. I have ordered clothing labels to sew into my scarves. They should be in soon and then I will make a delivery of ten scarves to the Christopher Perry Salon. The labels say "An Original by Red" I have been working hard on making the scarves for my first shipment. I will be posting pics of them on this site soon. More to follow!

Hey

I might start blogging again.. I am currently working on 4 blankets and they are coming along so nicely. I have new strategy, which is working for me and I can see progress by doing it. Perhaps I shall share...

P#1 and P#4

I am very close to being finished with P#1. So close in fact that I do believe it will be ready to ship to my sis on Monday, April 2nd. I will take a pic of the completed project.

Moving on.. Since I will not know what Bridget's preference is in reference to the Diamondback blanket I am going to start another patterned blanket using colors from my stash. I did a quick visual of colors and I think I have enough of 3 colors to start and complete yet another blanket. I am considering using a slightly different pattern this time. I have always liked the look of the Crazy Shell stitch. I've included the instructions for it below:

How To Do The Crazy Stitch With Photos and Instructions

The photos on this page can help you learn how to crochet this fun stitch, called a crazy stitch or crazy shell (also called brick stitch).
If you're curious to see how the vintage instructions for this stitch from 1899 and 1917 were written, see the printing page.

Starting Chain: Crochet a chain of length needed.



Row 1: 3 double crochet in 4th chain from hook, * skip 3 chains, single crochet in next chain, chain 3, 3 double crochet in same chain. The photo at left shows the first of these 3 double crochet in progress.










Row 1, cont. Repeat from * across row. End with: single crochet in next chain.


Row 2: Chain 3 to turn. 3 double crochet in single crochet of previous row.

Row 2, cont. * single crochet in next chain-3 space of previous row, chain 3, 3 double crochet in same chain-3 space.















Row 2, cont. Repeat from * across row. End with single crochet in last chain-3 of previous row.
Repeat row 2, until desired length is reached.



This is a two-color crazy stitch example of changing to the other color on each new row.









This is a two-color crazy stitch example done with 2 rows of each color.



















************************************************************************************
I also wanted to include the following instructions I use on how to join squares.. I like to use this method because to me it gives depth to the squares. Some people don't care for this method. You'll have to work it and decide for yourself!

How To Create A Decorative Ridge When Joining Squares

Did you know that you can crochet squares together in such a way as to create a decorative ridge with your joining row? This article also shows other ways of joining squares:
Ways of Joining Crocheted Pieces
Crochet Stitch and Technique Directory
Photo copyright 1999 by Sandi Marshall, licensed to About.com, Inc.

3 more rows and how's this for a marketing scam?

I have 3 rows left on the P#1. I will finish those up tonight and then start on the border. Yay for me. I will put it thru the rinse cycle before I wrap it up and ship it off to my sis in OH.

I mentioned to my DH about my next patterned project for our friend Bridget. He told me that the Diamondbacks had changed their logo this year. He told me it was now RED instead of PURPLE and TURQOISE! I had to check this out for myself this morning and I can't believe they changed the whole color scheme!! What a marketing scam! Now all those die-hard fans will have to buy the new colors. I prefer the old colors myself... What do you think?

Old logo/colors...

New logo / colors...

I'm looking at the new logo and thinking, "What were they thinking??" Had to be nothing but dollar signs. :( *sigh* I hope she says to make her one with the old school colors.. But it is her choice!

Almost finished!

I worked again last night on P#1. It is almost finished. I am probably about 6 rows from completing the length and then I do believe I will put a border around the entire blanket twice round. My goal is to get it in the mail by April 6th. Then I can start on the new project!

I like to have several projects going at once. I think it just keeps my interest. If I don't feel like working on a specific color over and over I can easily just switch to one of the scraps and it helps to keep my interest up. I think if I only worked on one project at a time I would set it aside and not pick it up again for weeks, maybe even months..

This coming weekend I am going to go thru all of my yarn and really figure out how much I have in prep for our move. I will fold and put away all of my completed projects and get them to the staging area for all of the boxes going into storage. I should have a pretty good idea come Saturday what my yarn stash looks like!

Happy crafting!

Dr's appointment and trying to finish up a project

So I'm sitting in one of the six local Starbucks waiting to see the thyroid doc. My company is so freakin cool - they provide you with software to get online in any Starbucks across the nation. How cool is that?

Last night I worked on P#1 in an attempt to finish it up and get it in the mail to my sister. I already have the next project in mind. We have friends that live in Phoenix. The DH is actually heading over there Easter weekend for a 4x4 trip with the guy. His wife is a huge baseball and Diamondbacks fan. They have such cool team colors (turquiose and purple). So you guessed it! I'm going to make Bridget a blanket. She likes to sit in her living room and watch the games and I figure she can drape in on her couch or chair. It will be within arm's reach should she need it.

OK, time for my appointment! Gotta run!

Projects - Old & New

I was finally able to find some time to take some pics of my current projects. Take a look!

P#1: This is the one intended for my sister. For some reason (and I don't know why this is) but the camera can't capture the light green color. I think this is a really pretty blanket. I have my projects laid out on the billiards table, so they look really small to me... I need motivation to finish this one. It's so close to being done now. I think the reason I don't finish it is because I can't stand the thought of parting with it.

This is P#2: This is the type of blanket I really love working on. The random colors keep my interest. This one was started about a week ago.

Here is a completed version of random blankets I enjoy doing. The colors vary, but the pattern stays pretty close to the same general idea.

P#3: This is the pattern where I use every scrap piece of yarn. I just tie the colors together and single crochet. I have a pic of one completed and then a pic of the one I'm currently working on. I also included a close up pic of how I let the knots show.

The plan is to use up all of my yarn in the next four months. We are starting to pack up our house in preparation for selling it - that includes my yarn and completed blankets. I really don't want to move a lot of yarn. However, let's be honest. I often get in the mood to visit my local craft store and cannot pass up yarn on sale or a really cool new color. So, the idea is to move as little yarn as possible.

OK, that's it for today! Talk to you soon!

No photo today...sorry

I couldn't get a pic taken of my current project for you to check out. I hope I can this weekend. Trust me, not a lot will get done between now and then. I was thinking today while taking a bubble bath (I do that often - take a bubble bath - not think) about how I will aproach this blog. For those of you that might be reading (and who knows if anyone really reads their blogs if you don't get any comments?), and are crocheters you'll know what I'm talking about most of the time. There is a certain creed about working with yarn it seems - it's quite customary to have several or many projects going on at once. I am no different. I actually have three right now. One is a blanket with a real pattern and an intended recipient - my sister. I have been working on it for far too long. Since right before Christmas if I remember right. I made a blanket for my Mom for Christmas and my sister liked it so I said I would make her one. I chose the colors and although they are far from conventional they somehow 'work'. Very light green and a multi-color called Woodsy. As its name implies it has dark brown, rust, dark green, green and a lighter shade of tan/yellow. No light green though, which really makes this an interesting combination. It is almost done. Honest. This is where I have the most problems finishing my blankets with a color pattern. I get right up to a point where they are almost complete and I lose interest. I don't have this problem with my other types of work I do. I will take a pic of this project intended for my very patient sister and from this point forward will refer to it as P#1.

P#2 is my favorite type of project. I have a lot of random colored yarn - as most crocheters and knitters do. I cannot bare not to use them, so I absolutely LOVE making what I call a scrap patterned blanket. I use a ripple or chevron pattern a lot. In fact, I would say I use it in 90% of my work. Hey, I warned you early on I do not do anything fancy! I wasn't kidding. Anyway, I try not to repeat a color when I am making these scrap patterned blankets. I will take a pic of this current one, too. It is in the early stages and it will be interesting (to me anyway) to see how it progresses - both in the measure of time and colors.

P#3 is probably the oddest of them all. I call it my leftover blanket. I finished one of these some time ago and absolutely love it. It found a place with my family on our couch. I will take a pic of the finished one and also of the one currently in progress. Let's say you have a piece of yarn from a skein about 6 ft long. Now that is hardly enough to start anything with, but for me it's perfect for my leftover blanket. I single crochet colors all in one big piece. So I would simply tie this 6 ft piece of yarn to the previous color I was using and single crochet it as long as it would go. Is it unpredictable? You bet. Is it interesting? Absolutely. I love doing them.

I try very hard to crochet at least one hour a night Mon-Thur. On Fri I get to crochet a little longer because I don't have to get up early for work. Saturday and Sunday is my day to maybe crochet for longer. My husband watches a lot of TV. He loves Law & Order (all of them) and CSI (Las Vegas), so he never runs out of episodes to keep him busy. I do not like watching them over and over and over...and over... So I get to crochet while he does. It works for us.

I was debating with either using a song of the day (as in my other blog) or a thought for the day. I decided to go with the thought for the day.. So here goes > What does it mean to help someone? In Kathleen Lindley's book In The Company of Horses she says, "For me, the most striking thing about the idea of help was that it is only help if the recipient sess it as such" and "When it comes to meaning well, I believe we can think we mean well, and it can even feel like we mean well, but if the recipient doesn't see it as such, then it isn't meaning well."

How it all began..

I figure if you are reading this blog, you are either someone from the other side or you are interested in reading/sharing about crochet. I thought I'd preface my new blog by letting you know how I started crocheting.

I grew up in a little town in Ohio. My family is very close and I practically grew up with my cousins. My Mom and her sister were (and still are) very close. My Aunt has two daughters. I have a sister, so the four of us were always together. My Mom and Aunt got on the crafty kick when I was about 13 years old. Well, actually I think they hit it a couple times before then but I don't remember it. I am the oldest of the four girls. For whatever reason me and cousin Jules picked up a crochet hook and some yarn. We learned the basics, but I remember struggling with even tension, counting rows and actually finishing anything other than a potholder! That changed when I became pregnant with my son. I decided I would buy some yarn and a crochet hook and found a pattern for a baby blanket. My son is now 17 and I have been crocheting ever since.

It is my therapy. It is my creative outlet. It is my salvation. I do not crochet anything fancy. I rarely use fancy stitches. I prefer to use a single crochet or half double to create my work. I like the closed weave it provides and find it easiest for me to keep on task. I can pick it up anytime or anywhere.

My goal with this blog is to simply post about crocheting and share pics of my works in progress (WIPs).

The reference to Starbucks is real. There is nothing I like more than a Triple Venti Nonfat Zebra (with whip - I gotta have one vice!). I like to sit at my local Starbucks on Sunday morning with my crochet work and people watch and sip my coffee...

Tomorrow I will post a pic of my current project! Stay tuned!