small ghan

 I finished putting together this small ghan I started a week or so ago. I had some leftover green yarn and bought a couple skeins of the white to finish it. The finished size is 26" x 34".

The pattern used is the cross-stitch square designed by my daughter which can be found on this page. It is one of my favorite patterns and I've made many, many of them.

I think the green is Red Heart, one of the sages. The white is Red Heart with Love white. I used two full skeins to make the 6 squares.

The squares are about 8". I assembled them with a whipstitch.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

Sad news Marinke Wink

Many of you have probably already heard about the passing of Marinke Slump, known as Wink to the crochet world. She suffered from depression and ultimately was unable to combat it. Her sister posted a notice on Wink's blog A Creative Being with the news a few days ago (June 29).

Katherine of Crochet Concupiscence had corresponded with her in the past and posted a nice memorial to Wink which is how I learned the news. Katherine has begun a project in Wink's honor called Mandalas for Marinke, to bring awareness to the issue of depression. 

You do not have to work one of Wink's designs to participate but if you want to, you can find them on her Ravelry page. Many of the patterns are free designs. It looks like you can still purchase the ones that are for sale also though I would suggest if you want them you should do that soon as I do not know what her family is going to do with the shop.

You can also find Marinke's designs on her blog pattern page. In addition to that, she began a CAL called Scheepsjes in 2014 and the patterns for that can be found here. 

I'm sad to say that I did not know Marinke personally but am getting to know her through her work.  If you want to get to know the person who was Marinke, there is a Facebook page still up as of today and of course her creativity shines in her patterns.

My deepest sympathies go out to her family and friends and all of us in the crochet community who will miss her.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

Jacob's Ladder nameghan

I just finished a Jacob's Ladder ghan. Finished size is about 42" x 48". It is a bit stretchy though. :-)

I've made quite a few Jacob's Ladder afghans and quite a few name afghans, I even combined those two in a ghan for my mom some time ago. 

When I began this ghan I had no one in mind for it but by happy coincidence I used leftover yarns from a previous Who ghan, which are mostly fall colors. 

This particular ghan is going to my sis who has been ill recently. My sis enjoys fall colors so that worked out perfectly. 

I can't even tell you all the colors that are used though I think the rust color is paprika. There is some maroon, purple, grey, tan, colonial blue, gold, navy blue, white and one variegated woody color. Some were almost entire skeins and others were just a ball that gave me a few rows. The name section at the top is Red Heart Super Saver Cafe Latte. I used almost a full 7 oz. skein to work the name itself, an edging around it, a round of sc around the entire thing and then a round of (sc, ch 2, 2 dc, sk 2).

To make the Jacob's Ladder section, I chained 212 and worked a 10 dc, 10 chain, 10 dc pattern. On the last row I worked 8 chains. there are 10 ladder (cable) and 11 dc sections. When I worked the edging I worked 2 sc in the top loops of the ladder.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

ribbon lapghan

Off my hook this week is a pink ribbon lapghan.

The picture does not show the color off well but the yarn is Red Heart baby pink. It's a pastel pink. 

The finished size is about 39 1/2" square. Each square is a bit over 12". I used an I hook for the body of the square and an H for the single crochet edging around each square. I left a very long tail, about 3 lengths of the square, to use for sewing the squares together. This worked out well. I sewed three across and then I used the leftover tail to sew the strips together.

The edging around the entire afghan is (sc, ch 2, 2 dc, sk 2) all the way around.

The pattern is my cancer ribbon afghan which can be found at Crochet Cabana and on Ravelry.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

Mothers_Day

My daughter is always making things for other people for Christmas and birthdays. I thought that this year for Mother's Day I would make her something. I'm not as clever as she is, but this is what I came  up with.

This name lapghan is about 38" x 39 1/2", not quite square. Each letter was made individually and then sewn together. I did it that way since the names are not of equal length and I thought it would be easier to make them come out even. I ended each piece with a long strand which I used to sew them together.

The colors I used were Hayfield Bonus DK Extra Value shade 0792 Moss Green and Shade 0766 Pumpkin, Stylecraft Special DK Copper, Currant, Plum and Mocha (edging), Knit Picks Brava Sport Paprika. 1 skein each color.

The edging is one round of single crochet in Mocha around each strip, and then one round single crochet around entire ghan. The last round is (sc, ch 2, 2 dc, sk 2) around. I finagled with the skip to get my corner stitch in the right place. :-)

Now case in point, daughter gave to ME for Mother's Day these beautiful bookmarkers. I could never do such delicate work myself. I've already used the little angel one.

The patterns are at Ravelry.
Suzie's Little Angel Bookmark by Suzetta Williams
Butterfly Bookmarks by Anna Pakura
Cross bookmarks by Rainbow Junkie

Her family also made a donation in my honor to supply expectant mothers in Rwanda, Malawi, Haiti and Lesotho with new, sterile medical equipment and childbirth kits.What a wonderful thing to do. Making a difference in a very special way.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie