lapghan

Nine 10-round squares make a lapghan

Sorry for the long delay in posting. I've been really busy the past days. One of the things I've been doing is making squares and I've finally finished putting one lapghan together. These will be going to the skilled nursing facility where my mother is residing presently while she recuperates from her broken leg.

The second one is assembled but tails not tucked in yet. I hope to finish that this evening.

Another thing I've been doing is working on scanning photos to be put on disks so if/when we next have to evacuate I will have my photos in a format I can easily grab and take with me. Unfortunately, we discovered after I scanned thousands of photos that the machine has put a line in a lot of them, from the first album scanned. Not all but many of them. Since I checked them in preview mode I didn't see the line until I went to identify each one. *sigh*

That was discouraging. While I did that, I didn't do much crocheting as that took days.

I also had lunch with some former high school classmates. Great time!

I'll have more crocheting for you soon.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

tails and pc

My mom is settled into the skilled nursing facility and has begun physical therapy which is going pretty well. Thanks for your prayers for her!

Today, I took time to make a couple of videos. One is about plastic canvas and was posted at Crafty Corral. The other is this one about weaving in those dangling tails, also called ends. I was asked to do a video about that, so I did. :-)



I hope you enjoy it.

I also made a hundred of the plastic canvas crosses that I talked about in the video. Here is a photo of those.

I purchased the 3" crosses at Craft Designs For You and have just placed an order to replace these. (They also have larger ones but I usually make a good quantity at one time and can't afford to buy the larger ones in that number.) I like to keep these small ones on hand for "emergencies". ;-)

I'm continuing to make more of the filet squares and granny squares as well.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

filet square

I found a square pattern over at Sandi Marshall's site and thought I'd give it a whirl. It is called the Off Center Lines Square.

The square is worked in filet crochet. You might recall that filet crochet is composed of solid blocks and open blocks. Blocks can be 3 dc blocks or 4 dc blocks. This pattern uses 3 dc blocks, meaning that each block is composed of 3 double crochets. Over five stitches there are two blocks with the center dc being part of each block - the left side of one and the right side of the other.

If you are not familiar with filet and you want to learn, you might be interested in Learn To Do Filet Crochet In Just One Day. If you are already familiar, you might like a book I have in my personal collection Filet Crochet: More than 70 Designs with Easy-to-Follow Charts (Stitch Collection). My daughter liked it so much, I purchased a second one for her.

The original filet pattern calls for two rows of dc top and bottom. I find when working a pattern like this with a lot of open blocks, solid rows sort of ruffle. That might be my tension. I don't know. Well, it was no different with this pattern, so I ripped it all back and deleted the beginning row of  solid squares.

I began with Row 3 as my Row 1, then I worked that same row for 13 rows. Then I worked Sandi's Row 12 as my Row 14 (solid dc row), then finished off with 2 more rows of her Row 3 for a total of 16 rows.

That ended on a wrong side, so I chained 1 and turned. I worked sc all around, using (sc, hdc, sc) in corners. I plan to make more squares and the join them.

As Sandi notes in her post, you can make a bunch of these in different colors and turn them different ways to make all your afghans look differently. Way cool, eh?

It's very important for your squares to be SQUARE, however. They have to be the same width and length or they won't go together well if you turn them different directions when you assemble them.

Finished size of MY square is 9". (I've made another one, but haven't taken photo of it yet.)

Another change I was made was with the starting chain. The original says to ch 36 and go into the 5th chain from hook. I could see no reason to go into the 5th chain from hook with a solid block at the beginning of the row. I chained 35 and went into the 4th chain from hook. You need 33 dcs on that first row and that number would give me the proper amount. Some might even want to go into the third chain from hook. It depends on your tension. I tried that, but didn't like the look of it for me.

You know I'll keep you posted on my progress. I realize I AM starting to accumulate some UFOs here so I see a UFO day coming soon. I still haven't finished the sweater and I'm still making granny squares, but haven't assembled any of them yet. I need more yarn!! LOL I also started a Jacob's Ladder which got only as far as one color. I also have a lot of small balls with which I want to make some yo-yos.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

repair work

Some time ago, I discovered my grand (great?) niece (the daughter of my niece) had put a hole in her Spideyghan. It was put aside until such time as we could get together so I could see if I could repair the hole. At the time I was thinking, you know, a little hole.

This week I was able to get the ghan and it is a larger hole than I was picturing. I have never repaired anything of this scope before so I'm not sure if I will be successful, but I will give it the old college try.

First to do is get some matching yarn. I looked back in my Crafty Corral posts and it is Red Heart yarn. Got to love those blog posts. I didn't specify color in the post, but I am sure I can match the shade knowing the manufacturer. It's the darker red, not the bright one, probably cherry red. At least it is not at a color change. :-)

Once I get the yarn, I'll sit down and ponder. There will be at least three rows affected. Remember there is the black line as well and all the tails have been sewn in. Should be an interesting experience.

While waiting to do that, I am still making 8" granny squares. Here are a few more completed. They are mindless and with everything else going on, it is simple to do. I did manage to lose my H Inox hook again and am working with a Boye hook, which is okay, but not my Inox. :-(

I'm thinking of using these squares to make some ghans for the facility where my mom will be staying for the next few weeks. I'll have to see how it goes and, of course, find out if they accept donations.

I've got about 15 8" made. With one more, using the continuous join which adds a round to each, one more square might be enough if the colors meld. I'll have to think on that. But I would want to make more than one. Just thinking out loud here, folks. :-) You never know where that trail will lead. LOL

If you want to see the original post about the Spideyghan, you can find it here.

Here are a few links for you to enjoy. I happened across this tutorial on how to put a lining in a granny square bag. Some time ago, I designed a granny square bag (really just two grannies put together) for a class I was teaching two young girls. But I didn't put a liner and it really would need one. So have a look at this one at Royal Sisters.

Here's a book you might be interested in looking at. It is old, but free, over at Gutenberg's. Beeton's Book of Needlework.

Here is a scarf I've made a number of times. It's a great pattern so I'm sharing it again. My April Scarf by Suzie.

Here is a neat filet square by Sandi Marshall, formerly of about.com. You can place the squares lots of different ways for a different look in each ghan. Not for areas where you are wanting something really warm as it's an openworked piece.

That's it for today.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

mountains of squares and a sweater

Since last post, I've been kept pretty busy.

My mom had a bad fall and broke her leg, had surgery, and is now recuperating in hospital. We think she will be discharged within the next few days. The hospital where she is now is a bit over an hour from me.

Today, I've been catching up on laundry, e-mail and such. I've also taken a few pics of what I've been working on. The stuff is not too exciting but here it is nonetheless.

First up is a WIP - the hexagon baby sweater at Bev's Country Cottage. I've done the two hexagons and put them together, but need to do the rest of it. This is a problem I have, starting something and not finishing up the "hard" part. :-) Remember those mittens I made but never finished the thumb? heh I am bad. It does look like a sweater though, doesn't it? I did it in one color rather than the two color as at Bev's - again, lazy.

Then I've been making squares, both 12" and 8". I went with 8" as after using a skein to make 12" I kept going and ended up with 8" in most cases. Some I could go about half another round which is, of course, no use. LOL

As you can see ends are still dangling.


The above squares were begun with particular recipients in mind who are in need.

These two were sent out for the CL CAT for Heartmade Blessings. The pink is the traditional granny square as the ones above. The orange is Susan Smith's Filet Granny Square.

I made most of these in the granny square because I intended to assemble them myself with the continuous join method. It is easiest if all the squares are the same pattern with the number of rounds. Yes, lazy me.

That's all for now. Still much to do, but I wanted to share what I've been working on the past week.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie