UFOs no more… Many times people talk about WIPs – works in progress or UFOs – unfinished objects. While I may have five or six projects in progress at a time, I do finish them. If I abandon a project, I try not to let something languish too long. This past week, I finished several projects and then started a few others. Scarves are the most portable projects but generally I may have anywhere from two to four afghans in the works as well. Here are a few of the finished projects from this past week. Navy is my…
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I like this scarf, I like this yarn and the one remaining ball that I have from the project is going directly into the donation bag. This is a tape like linen yarn which changes from a flattish cotton tape to a sleek satiny section and changes colors throughout. The colors are fabulous and this made a wonderful scarf with incredible drape. Since I choose a shell pattern, it will be warm but I wouldn’t want to use this for an afghan. I purchased the yarn in a sale online which I just decided to try because the “price was…
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Mother’s Day was a few days ago and some of the ads that I saw for craft stores and supplies were targeting mothers. Seeing those always makes me laugh because though my mother has always supported me in crocheting and other crafts that I have pursued, she never crocheted. When I was eight and decided that I wanted to crochet, my mother asked my aunt (my uncle’s wife) what I needed, then took me to the store to let me choose the yarn I wanted. She has always supported me and still supports me in my pursuits. She critiques my…
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All bets are off!
All bets are off! When it comes to buying materials or ingredients for things, I’m all for saving money and buying what you need, except when it comes to yarn (and ground beef). When I buy ground beef, I can always make something with it, pasta sauce, tacos, burgers or make extra taco meat and freeze individual portions for a meal at a later date. This is kind of how I feel about yarn. While I do have a sizeable working cache of yarn, I do reach a point where I use most of it up and have to replenish…
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Everyone talks about and shows what they are currently working on, but what about those items that you have put in “time out” or have tried to forget about because they were so painful? I’m not talking about those first projects when you were first getting the hang of crocheting or knitting, but the ones that you had high hopes for and ambitiously thought… this will be great. Facebook, Pinterest and scores of sites on the internet are filled with beautiful work crafted by skilled crocheters. Even the trials and tests of patterns weren’t perfect the first time. What happens…
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On my hook
Here are some photos of the recent projects I have been working on. The yarn that I dyed with Easter Egg dye and was all dyed together yielded an interesting dye pattern. I am fascinated how this turned out and will try this again. I liked the yarn, which I purchased at Webs. The remainder variegated yarn that was too much to add to my mystery ball without being overpowering have been put together in this colorful afghan. Instead of completing a certain number of rounds in this large granny square afghan, I complete as many rows as I can.…
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Saturday, April 21, is the first Local Yarn Store Day. Go out and support your local yarn shop! It’s not about need or greed, it’s about shopping local. There is always more space in your yarn stash. For those who have a yarn store in their neighborhood… treasure it and patronize it. I’m still scouting out a new LYS closer to my home, since my favorite closed a couple of years ago, and I always encourage people to support their local businesses. Go to the TNNA (The National Needlearts Association) site for a list of participating shops.
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Project planning
To plan or not to plan… That is the question. Often, when I begin an afghan I don’t purchase all of the yarn at one time, unless it is a solid or variegated that I have become smitten with and plan to use. Generally, what happens is, I begin a project with some yarn that I have in my working yarn bins (completely different from my stash) and hopefully fish out enough to complete the project. Another scenario is that I have selected too much yarn, in that case the remaining yarn goes back into the bin or I decide…
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Yarn and a hook are possibilities. There are 10, 080 minutes in a day. How many of them do we spend doing things we don’t necessarily want to do? Like waiting for something or traveling to a place? Reading while on a bus works for some, unless you get motion sickness. Of the 1440 minutes in a day, I spend 45-60 of those crocheting. Some days more and some less but every day I make time to crochet. During my lunch break at work and also during talks or large group seminars where there is a crowd and I’m just…
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The shower gift was a big hit. Here is a picture of the baby blanket and hat. The blanket is to use now and is a 38 inch square in a washable white yarn in a shell stitch. The hat is for later – sized for a 3-6 month old child so it can be used in the fall. The two color scarf made it to a strong finish. I decided to do a border, so that the future wearer won’t snag the yarn on the side where the colors were changed. I didn’t have enough of either color…


