Where to help in 2011

I've been going back and forth among projects this week as the mood hits. Today I determined to finish this Special Olympics scarf.

The pattern began as the Window Pane Scarf. I was concerned about staying within the required size and the pattern gave no size, so I switched from I hook to H hook. Then I reduced the foundation chain by a bit. I figured it was better to be shorter than longer as I could add to it, but couldn't subtract.

I also wanted a border all around the Turqua in the blue. I got that, but it was a bit tricky. What I should have done was work the entire thing in Turqua then just add the border, but what I did do was work Row 1 in blue and the filet in Turqua. Then I had to figure how to get the blue on the three remaining sides, which I did.

At that point it was only 5" wide, so I worked an additional round of (sc, ch 2, 2 dc, sk 2) around which was perfect.

I found the center a little plain, so to dress it up I decided to try weaving a strand of blue through the two middle rows. What do you think? I've never done that before. I think I like the look of it. I hope it washes up well. I considered making a length of chain or using the knitting nobby or something like that to give me a thicker weaving strand. I'd have had to figure out how long to make it though, and sewing in the thicker would not have been easy, so I nixed that.

Finished size is 6" x 54 1/2" (just squeaked by on the length).

Besides the scarf, I wanted to mention a new charity opportunity that I saw in the Crochet! magazine I received today.

That project would be the Super Bowl Super Scarves project. There is plenty of time to work on this if you are interested as it is for the Super Bowl of February 2012, a whole year away. The 2013 Super Bowl will be in New Orleans, which is near me. I hope they do the scarves project too.

They do not say if crocheted scarves are accepted that I could find, but I e-mailed them for clarification. Details of the project are on the web page, but generally speaking, there are particular yarns listed which are accepted (blues and whites), and the size is 6-8" x 76-100", longer than the Special Olympic scarves, so you can use all those patterns that didn't fit the other project.

I noticed that some of the yarns are wool. Notably there is Debbie Macomber Universal yarn listed. This is actually the Universal Gerbera Solida yarn. The colors in that yarn are called White Daisy and Blue Bell. Cute. I will probably use the Vanna's Choice 107 Sapphire and 100 White as that is the most easily accessible to me and I also like it as it is a nice, medium priced acrylic yarn.

Speaking of the Special Olympics, if you are making scarves and don't know where to send them, do please consider Louisiana. I believe they will start posting totals end of next week or the following week so we will know how many they've received. The deadline to ship to Louisiana is February 25. Scarves must be received by March 4.

Also in that issue of Crochet! there was a short list of CGOA Masters graduates. Since I'm sure this went to print a long time ago, not many had "graduated" the course yet. 7 names are listed. There are 25 listed at the site now. I know there are some who have passed and are not listed yet, including myself. They probably add them at specific times based on who has received a certificate at that time. I have not yet received my certificate, but I'm sure it's coming. :-)

Another charity effort listed is the Caps for Good, sponsored by Save the Children and Warm Up America. This runs through February 2011. Crocheted hat pattern on the page uses sport weight yarn.

Guess that's all for now.

Happy crocheting!