prize rec'd

A couple of weeks ago, Sandy over at the Bridge and Beyond announced the winner of her contest. That happy winner was me! Here is a photo of my winnings.

Sandy mentioned several things she has personally done with similar yarn in today's post and I look forward to trying out those things and others as I work my way through this wonderful collection of different yarns.

First up is the tweed. It cried out for a scarf!

Thanks, Sandy! What a wonderful prize!

This was not the only prize I rec'd. Kaye sent me a gift card to Walmart as my prize for winning the red, white, and blue contest over at Bev's. This was also a fantastic prize. I shop at Walmart quite often and will be able to make good use of this card. Thanks, Kaye!

To win two contests in such a short time was amazing and much fun. Thanks to those who hold these contests, especially when it helps to further a good cause.

Happy crocheting!

scarves going out

I did decide to frog the border of the strips I started with the Red Heart soft yarn. Lovely yarn, but I didn't have enough of it. I went with a pounder off white to redo it.

Last night, I pulled out some yarn to work with while watching Season 3 Big Bang Theory dvds. I couldn't decide what I wanted to do, however. I'd start one thing, get a few rows or rounds done and then frog it.

I finally settled on another scarf using the Knit Your Bit pattern, but just continuing the faux cable section again as I did with the cream colored one. Well, that is the current plan, but I well could decide to do the seaman's ribbing too.

I'll be headed to the post office later today to mail out five packages with scarves to various places.

Happy crocheting!

strips to scarves, circles to squares

Remember those strips I made on my trip? Well, they are now scarves - four of them are anyway. When I worked on the last two I ran out of Red Heart soft yarn. I am debating trying to get more and hoping it matches or just ripping the border and starting over. It wouldn't take that long as it's not that difficult.

Finished size of these two was 5" x 60" for the purple and 5" x 61" for the blue. They are made exactly the same. One of the yarns must be just slightly thinner. The purple is the Michael's Impeccable Amethyst. I don't know what the blue is. The Impeccable is 4.5 ozs so I was able to get two strips plus five squares out of it. The blue I got the two strips and one square. The squares I did were the Filet Granny Square by Susan Smith.

I recently ran into this tutorial on where to place your hook when crocheting. I thought it was very nicely done and wanted to share it with you. You can find it at fantasticmio.com .

I ran into a couple patterns I thought looked neat and I'd like to try one day. We all know that one day rarely comes, but if it should happen to this time I'll have the links. The first is a Moebius hat and scarf set.I also saw this pillow pattern which could easily become a scarf or afghan. I've done the circle to square before and actually really like making the "circles" which are just double yo-yos. I've made many of them in the past. Haven't made mine into squares though.

I also wanted to share this video where crochet is being used to brighten up an area that needs perking up. These gals were apparently hired to do this and they put their hearts and hooks into it. Good job!

Did you know the Crochet Dude's product line is out? I have only seen a couple pieces in person. There are some also at Hobby Lobby shop online, but the major portion is at http://www.simplicity.com/ . I saw three different kits. Here is the intermediate one. Nice job, Drew! I must get me some of that. :-)

Guess that's it for now. More crocheting waiting in the wings.

Happy crocheting!

International Crochet Day

Sunday, September 12 was International Crochet Day. I was on vacation in Florida at that time, but never let it be said that stopped me from celebrating! Here are some photos of me crocheting in some unusual places. :-)

The Jungles of Jurassic Park

In Dr. Seuss land...

With a dinosaur looking over my shoulder

In Hogsmeade right outside the post office

still in Hogsmeade, closeup so you can see I'm crocheting a hat. :-)

In addition to that hat, which I never did finish, I did finish some squares and strips which will be scarves, on the ride. We were in the car I guess about 24 hours total. I ran out of the Red Heart Soft I was using to border the two strips. :-( Of course, I also forgot to leave long strands for joining on some of the squares as well, but most have it. Those are for Share a Square. One of the camps is in Louisiana, which is the state in which I live.

That's about it for today. Hope you all enjoyed International Crochet Day as well.

Happy crocheting!

Knit Your Bit 2010 pattern unveiled

The Knit Your Bit patterns for 2010 are out! I'm very excited about this year's crochet pattern because I designed it. In the knitted pattern, Lauren used a cable. Since making cables in crochet is a little complex, I designed what I call a faux cable. It is a front post triple crossed stitch really. You can find both the knitted patterns and the crocheted pattern at http://www.nationalww2museum.org/knitting .

I have photos of my completed scarves at the Cabana here .

I also have a tutorial on the method (noted on the pattern)  in the stitches section here.

When you see the pattern you may find it familiar. I posted a photo of a cream colored scarf a few days ago. I used the faux cable portion of the seaman's scarf to make that scarf. I was testing the instructions and just kept on going. LOL

I hope you enjoy the pattern as much as I enjoyed working on it.

I also want to thank Sandy over at the Bridge and Beyond. I won her contest celebrating 200 posts. I will be sure to post a photo when I receive my prize. Thanks, Sandy!

To my surprise I also won a contest at Bev's Charity Challenge. The prize was donated by Kaye. This was the red, white, and blue yo-yo and saltines project. I posted photos of a few of those yo-yos and saltines. They are so much fun to make! Dawn is going to be kept very busy the next few weeks!

Thanks to all who participated in these contests. I know we all do what we can and work hard to help those in need. The contests are fun and encouraging and we end up doing more than we even thought we could! So kudos and thanks.

Happy crocheting!