correction

Way back on May 12 I was talking about Judith Prindle's teddy bear square. I do mine just slightly different, beginning and ending with a row of dc. I also use a ch-3 for tch instead of a ch-4.

Because I start with a dc row, the first couple rows are different. Sometimes when I work a pattern I will make myself a quick reference. In my post of the 12th I made an error. For the second row I noted "dc in 5th". If you do NOT start with a dc row, you would make your starting chain and work your first dc in the 5th ch from hook because you need a "hole" there. But since I am not doing that, I go into the 4th chain from hook. The quick reference would be:

With H hook, ch 41
R1: dc in 4th chain from hk and each ch across. (39 dc)

R2: skip stitch right under your tch, skip next st, dc in next st ,* ch 1, sk 1, dc rep from *across (19 holes) Don't forget to put your last dc in the beg ch from R1

R3: ch 3, 4 holes, 7 dc, 5 holes, 7 dc, 4 holes

I continued following Judith's pattern. Then after I've made one, I use that for reference rather than following the written pattern.

I end up with 21 rows with my last one a dc row.


Judith uses ch 4 as her turning chain. I use ch 3 because my dcs are generally short. This does include my dc, ch 1.

It would have been perfectly fine to work it exactly as Judith did, with the filet row being the first one. I just chose to do it this way. Personal preference. Nothing wrong with either way.

After I made the squares, I border each one in the same color yarn just as Judith does, then I worked a border with a contrasting yarn before joining with that color. I did not use the "bow" for the teddies as she did.

There are a number of posts relating to the teddy squares and afghans in May 2010.

You can see photos here in the blog or at the Crochet Cabana web site. The pink one is here and the green/yellow one here.

Happy crocheting!

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!