Special Olympics scarf

Completed another scarf for Special Olympics Louisiana. Size is 6" x 57 1/2". Colors are the SO required colors of Turqua and Blue. The pattern is my daughter Kate's V-stitch Scarf pattern which you can find at Crochet Cabana on the Charity Patterns page wayyyy down at the bottom. There's a photo of a green scarf below the link.It's a very simple pattern, especially if you work it in one color.

For this effort, I needed to use both colors, however, and I remembered this nice color design.

Since I needed to get this to 6" wide and the pattern makes a 7" wide scarf, I chained 22 to begin. That ended up 5" wide, so I used a dc border. For my borders I generally use a hook one size smaller than what I used to create the piece. This one came out perfectly so ... I guess all's well that ends well. Apologies to Shakespeare. ;-)

The next thing I had to consider is that it had to be between 54 and 60" for Special Olympics. The color design is 12 rows. For my tension, with an H hook, I worked 12 row color pattern, 78 solid rows, and 12 row color pattern for a total of 102 rows which gave me 57 1/2", right smack in the middle of the required size.

If you need a quick scarf for whatever reason, this is a good one. I worked it up yesterday and sewed the ends in this morning.

Happy crocheting!

Share a Square

As you know I've been working on squares for Share a Square. Coordinator Shelly would like to give each child at three camps (one being in Louisiana) a nice afghan to let them know people care about them. She is making these with 6" squares (with a 12" tail for joining), 8 squares x 10 squares, so she needs 80 squares for each of the 150 afghans planned. She would like these to be from 80 different people. Feel free to put her card on your blog to advertise the effort. 12,000 squares are needed and I believe she'd received around 3000, give or take, as of a few days ago.

Some people have pledged to make 150 squares so they will have one square in each afghan. I have not done that, but I have made a good number of squares and I will have some more going out tomorrow.It's a worthy effort and I know the kids will be appreciative. We all know cancer is a horrible disease for anyone, but for kids ... well, that's just unacceptable. We need to get rid of it once and for all. I hope it's within my lifetime.

My daughter decided to jump in and she is sending off some squares, some of these of her own design - and they are lovely! I could have sent them off today, but I liked the patterns so much that I wanted to write them down while I had the squares in hand, so I could make more later. Daughter crochets tightly so I had to adjust my hook down a bit.

Here are her squares. Thanks, Kate!

Kate's squares

And here are my versions of four of them.

changing color every stitch

check pattern

V stitch square

A 6" square uses hardly any yarn, so if you've not participated yet, even one square would be appreciated.
Don't forget to leave a 12" tail at the end for joining.

I also made four 12" amethyst squares for Heartmade Blessings - Operation Purple Heart. They are the charity for November at Crochetlist. The yarn was donated to me by someone who I know has assembled a number of Operation Purple Heart afghans so I thought she would like that the yarn was used for that purpose.

That's all for now. Back to my hook and yarn.

Happy crocheting!

another lapghan, squares and new policies at the Cabana

I finished the second lapghan for the Alzheimer center. I am really pleased with the way it turned out. Because of all the tails I weaved in, I decided to wash this one first.

As I said previously, the pattern I used is from Mile-A-Minute Afghans (Leisure Arts #108200) (Crochet Treasury Series). It is called Restful Rainbows. I have used this pattern over and over and over again and it is so easy. For the lapghan I used 75 rows. The actual pattern uses 103, which is perfect for scarves. I just join 2 together for a scarf.

I've also done afghans with this pattern using the colors of the wordless book giving the story of salvation. In fact, I have several preemie patterns on my wordless page at Crochet Cabana (not mile-a-minute patterns).

In addition to finishing the above lapghan, I also finished a number of 6" squares to send to Share a Square. These are squares that I made a while back and weren't 6" so I added or removed a round to get it to the requested size. For the purple ones, I had a bunch of those, so I ripped one back so I could use the same color yarn to add a round of sc or sl st to each. It worked out perfectly and I had enough yarn from one square to finish all the others.

One square was 7" so I removed one round and redid the round in hdc. When I frogged it, I had to cut at various points because the tails had been woven in and it was impossible to get a good length, so I had to use a different color yarn on that one, to finish it. Any cream I had would not have matched. I was disappointed to have to do that, but I don't think it looks bad since different colors are used in the square itself. As you can see on the pink and brown, I used a cream color to add a round.

In other news, I have decided to change my rules on making items using my patterns. I had hoped to make some of the items to sell in my shop and may still do that at some point, but it doesn't look like it will be soon. Unless the time comes when I have a financial need to do so, I prefer to make my items for charity efforts. I am blessed to be able to do that right now. I am going to allow single sales - IOW not bulk sales but individual sales - of items made with my patterns, free or purchased.

Some people still do not get that designers and publishers have control over what is done with items made using their patterns. They insist on passing on the idea that it doesn't matter what the designer wants. Only a copyright lawyer can advise you on legal matters. Not your good friend or someone you meet on a crochet list.

Some designers are trying to live off what they make, through sales of their patterns and making the actual items. I would say that is probably not the case for the majority, but for some it might mean the difference between being able to buy a few skeins of yarn or just having enough money for necessities.

Someone recently said that it doesn't matter if you break copyright law because odds are you won't get caught, and even if you get caught the designer probably can't afford to prosecute. The fact that you might not get caught or would not be prosecuted even if you do doesn't make it less of a crime. If someone steals something from your home and is not caught, does that mean it's fine that they stole? That is physical property. Designs are intellectual property.

Anyway, you know this is a hot button for me so I won't go on. I don't want to stop folks from making the additional income they need through legal means and I know that I have many visitors on limited income. So if you are one, go for it. I wish you success. Remember to give credit to the designer, and never, ever sell the pattern. Only the item you make from it. (This goes for my patterns only, not those on my site by other designers unless it says so.)

Now back to crocheting - I'll be making some amethyst 12" squares for Heartmade Blessings, then more scarves for Special Olympics. I was excited to get an e-mail from the Louisiana office letting me know my scarves arrived at their office and they were the FIRST ones they received. :-) For some reason, that makes me excited. I hope it was just the first of many.


Happy crocheting!

Last post I talked about the chainless foundation. I forgot to tell you that if you do have a pattern that uses the chainless foundation only and you want to use a regular foundation chain, all you have to do is add the turning chain to the number. If the project in question is worked in single crochet for the first row, then you would add one to the number of foundation single crochets required and make your first sc in the 2nd chain from hook.

What about double crochet? Well, let's think about it. If you are working a regular foundation chain of say 32, and you make your first dc in the fourth chain from hook, you end up with 30 double crochets. That is because your "turning chains" count as a stitch. So you have skipped three chains, but you use those chains for a stitch. So if you are working a chainless foundation, you would just make 30 foundation double crochets (fsc) because that is what you want to end up with.

Working backwards, if you were told to make a row of 30 foundation double  crochets and you wanted to use a regular foundation chain, you would make 32 chains, right?

As I said, I don't personally care for the chainless foundation, but that may be because I'm not skilled at it and so not as comfortable making it. I'm very particular that my finished work looks nice - like something I would wear or use myself. If I'm going to work with it, I find the half double crochet the easiest one to do. Everyone is different, however, so you may just love it or you may have a different favorite.

Changing subjects, the post office says my Master's course swatches have been delivered. Remember that doesn't mean they're being reviewed. They're in a holding pattern until a reviewer is available, but that's fine. They'll get to it eventually.

Happy crocheting!