Crochet 100

Article in the Longview News Journal..

Only disreprancy is that the Project Linus isn't JUST for newborns.. but maybe Ms Whitehead's blankets are newborn sizes.

I've also posted the article in full here.. incase the link quits working. I'll leave it unless/until the powers that be request that it be removed.

Blankets travel from 100 to zero
Volunteer, 100, crochets for newborn babies


By RACHEL PHELPS
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS-JOURNAL

Saturday, December 30, 2006

Margurite Whitehead has been crocheting most of her life — which is longer than most people have been alive. She turned 100 in August.

"I learned to crochet when I was real young and there was nothing to do in the summer," said the centurion.

Now Whitehead, who lives in Buckner Assisted Living, is taking her hobby and helping others with it. She crochets blankets for Project Linus, a non-profit organization that provides handmade blankets to seriously ill or traumatized children. The organization offers blankets to children from infants to 18-year-olds, but Whitehead specializes in making blankets for premature babies.

She heard about Project Linus in 2004 through her daughter, who went to a meeting about it at her church.

"I said, 'I want to do that,' " she said, "So she got the yarn and I started crocheting."

It usually takes Whitehead a week to finish a blanket, and Project Linus Chapter Coordinator Pat Vanderwater collects them a dozen at a time. The last time Vanderwater picked up a set was in November, which brought Whitehead's blanket count up to 149 since she began making them two and a half years ago.

"I don't think anybody has turned in as many as she has," Vanderwater said.

Vanderwater also told of one large blanket that Whitehead crocheted for Project Linus. Project Linus donates blankets to the Children of Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund, and this year Whitehead crocheted a full-size afghan for the fund.

"We like to send patriotic blankets and Mrs. Whitehead made a beautiful red, white and blue blanket for them," Vanderwater said.

It can take Whitehead a while to situate the yarn and position the needle, but she says she hasn't slowed down a stitch since she began making these blankets. She works on one every day and faithfully turns in her dozen every three months.

"It's a blessing that I can do this because my eyesight is getting bad," Whitehead said, "I can't read without a magnifying glass."

She also is blessed by hearing from the families her blankets have gone to.

"Every once in a while I'll get a letter and a picture of the baby, and I do appreciate it," she said.

Vanderwater is thrilled to have Whitehead as a volunteer, and said that people like Whitehead fulfill the second half of Project Linus's mission statement, which is to provide a rewarding and fun service opportunity to interested individuals and communities.

"I visit her on and off all the time. We've become really close," Vanderwater said, "She's more than just a volunteer to me, she's a dear friend."

Whitehead has no plans to slow down now that she's made the century mark. She said she didn't know what her secret was for such a long life, but she did know that she would keep crocheting for the rest of it.

"As long as I live, I'll be crocheting," she said, "I'll probably be crocheting when I die."

Scarves are ready to mail

ALL PICTURES ARE CLICKABLE TO SEE LARGER.






VERY wide scarf.. 2 strands of redheart (don't remember color names.. maybe buff & desert?)



Vertical Waves Scarves, one in Homespun Sierra, the other in SimplySoft Bone and Sage.




Very Long Loopy Tunisian Stitch..made with Bernat Chunkee (it's actually a lot wider, it curls up on itself. The loops are the WRONG side.. lol.. I made a mistake on the stitch (pebble stitch) but liked the effect, so I kept on.)







Striped Star Scarves (or should I call it Stars~and~Stripes Scarves?) Some in Homespun, some in RedHeart, some in SimplySoft, some in Bernat Chunkee




Keyhole Scarf..done in Homespun Sierra.
Pattern for the keyhole scarf found at Dreamweaver yarns.

The rest of them I made up.

Operation Gratitude Scarves

I ran across this group the other day called Operation Gratitude.

It's all about supporting our troups overseas. I don't know how anyone feels about the war (I'm not very happy about it myself) but I worry about our young people over there. Personally, I feel I can support the troops without being in favor of the war... anyhow.....

They are collecting scaves right now to send to the troops. They will take knitted or crocheted scarves (although the site only mentions knit). I've been in contact with the organizer of the scarf drive and she gave responded with this information.

Thank you so much for your interest in sending our troops some nice warm scarves this winter! Here's some suggestions for the dimensions: We're keeping them nice and simple. It's just a straight across knit or crochet with no complications---about 5-6" across and about 38-42" long is fine---and any fiber is fine too. We're not picky at all!

Thicker yarn and bigger needles will allow you to knit/crochet faster, but any size is okay---whatever you'd like. As for colors, I think we will have a variety to send them (and any color is welcome), but if you have a choice take the more masculine colors, since most of the receivers will be males!

And please help spread the word about this wonderful project to anyone who is interested. We started loading boxes for Operation Gratitude this past weekend and will continue through December. If you'd like, put a note on each scarf with your name and address.

I am a Supervisor for Operation Gratitude and am also knitting scarves! Thanks again for your kindness in helping to put a smile on the faces of our soldiers this winter!!!

Sincerely,

Sharon Howard

I think they're taking them until December 15th.

Here's the main website for more information.

http://www.opgratitude.com/index.php

The scarves are mentioned on the "wish-list" page.

http://www.opgratitude.com/wishlist.php

Sometimes A Girls Gotta Geek

Along with crochet, I love computers. How do the two co-relate? Other than both of them using math, I'm not really sure.

Anyhow, I thought I'd mention some things that I find useful when it comes to computers.

Fred Langa has a newsletter called The LangaList at www.langa.com (blog is at www.langa.com/blog). I only get the free version, but it's chockful of information. Some of it way over my head, but keep reading and it starts making some sense.



Mr. Langa has started something called "flog the blog" (sounds kinky). Reading the list of some of his floggers, I found this site.

www.dailycupoftech.com which is a blog devoted solely to technical issues. Very good reading. I really like the lists of things he keeps on his usb drive.

And just for grins: This has been around a while, but it's still funny. www.subservientchicken.com

And I'm hiding here at the computer while men are painting my house. They've been here at least a month and I'm getting tired of the company.

Afghan Arrives in NH

Ya'll remember this afghan that I was working on, called Sunrise/Sunset from the coats & clark website?

Here's a picture of it in progress:

click to see larger

Well, I finally finished it, got it washed, got the prayershawl for my girlfriend finished, got it washed, got them BOTH boxed up and in the mail last week. She received them today and is so surprised and her Daddy is so surprised and touched. I've never met these folks at all, only talked with K. over the 'puter (and really we haven't had alot of time together recently.. life has gotten busy). But I know what it's like to have a family member ill.. espescially a father.

Any hoo, here's a picture of the completed afghan.

click to see larger

If I make the afghan again, I will do the border different. It took a whole skein for that solid steel blue around.. and it wouldn't lay flat after all that work. I don't feel like it's my best work, but it's meant for warmth and caring, not for show.. so I sent it on anyways.

I didn't manage to get a picture of the shawl (it would've been another month to mail knowing how disorganized I am), maybe I can get K to make a pic and send it to me. It was(is?) a seraphina pattern made out of Bernat Caress Yarn in Green (one of her fav colors). Bernat Caress is a 100% acrylic imitation mohair.. much like Lionbrand Jiffy.

K & B, I'm so glad you liked what I sent. I hope they will ease your paths through this difficult time.

Original Art by my Brother in Law

My brother in law, who I think is very talented, has started to sell his art on eBay.

Here is his first listing:

320028704033 << href="http://tinyurl.com/qlql9">http://tinyurl.com/qlql9

I'm so excited for him. He also carves.. he hand-carved a Unicorn for me years ago.. it's rearing on its backlegs. I'm trying to talk him into making me some hooks from trees on the family property.. not yet successful though. I can hope he's making me some for xmas.

Anyhow, he may have some other paintings up later, this is his first venture.

Here's to lots of success Bob!!!

P.S. He's since listed a few more.. here's a link to all of his offerings on eBay. http://tinyurl.com/kxwkf

FSU Blanket & Squirrel

I've had these made for a while, but couldn't post because my daughter hadn't received them yet.

Here's two views of the Butterfly Afghan made in FSU colors:








And here's her FSU Squirrel:






The squirrel was made out of scraps left over from the blanket.. plus some funfur (for the tail). The tail really does need a trim, but I'm leaving that decision up to her. It's twice as long as what the pattern said to make.

I got my first real amigurumi pattern book in the mail the other day. I found it by going to www.yesasia.com and then putting amigurumi in the search box. Price MUCH better than ebay.

http://i3.yesasia.com/assets/92/792/p1004179292.jpg <<<< pic of the book

Now to decide what to make.

Butterfly Afghan (in school colors)

I'm in the process of making a butterfly afghan for my daughter. I'm using the pattern from Annie's Attic, Dragonflies, Butterflies & More, To see the afghan I'm attempting, click the "see more pictures" link on that page. I really like the colors Annies chose, but my daughter didn't like their bright colors.. so she chose to have it made in school colors, Garnet & Gold (or as close as we could get to them).

So here's two of the squares for the Girl's afghan, currently being blocked (hoping to reach the specified 11 inches.. mine came out a bit smaller). The one on the left isn't really red, it's more of a rusty orange.. called Persimmon. It's as close as we could get to Gold.





All pictures are clickable to see larger.

I've also almost finished the afghan for my girlfriends dad. Just need to snug up a few loose ends and make a picture and then mail it.

Grammar Police

Someone made this.. I fell in love with it. Too funny.

Sunrise Sunset

Is this the little girl I carried?

Is this the little boy at play?

I don't remember growing older,

When did they?


oh, alright.. I love that song. And the name of this afghan is Sunrise, Sunset. And all the time I've been working on it, the song has been going through my head.






It's still in progress, but thought I'd show off what I have so far. This is TLC Essentials in Navy & Steel Blue.

The pattern is free at www.coatsandclark.com You have to search for it, it's not easily found.

Mani di Fata

Some Free patterns at an Italian website.

Main site is

http://www.manidifata.com

to see the site in English, click the british flag at the top.

The free patterns are at these links. ONE Of these days, I will try the cloche.

Circular Motif Slippers

Daises

Ivory Shawl with Flowers

Little Flowers Belt

Trendy Cloche

Bathing Suit

Sleeveless Medallion Top

CD Holder

Flowers for edging sleeves


I've started work on an afghan for a girlfriend's dad. He is having some health issues with cancer. Pictures later.

Pineapple Cap

My own creation:






White ones made with Aunt Lydia's Baby Denim in White and an I hook.




Purple (it's really a dark purple.. looks orchid because of flash) is Red Heart WW and an H hook. I like the look of the Baby Denim better.. I did the RedHeart just to see how it would work up in a commonly used acrylic.

Modeled by my adult daughter. Face not displayed for internet safety and her request.

Back to Earth (broken arm update) & Caps to the Capital

Well, thought it was about time to post an update.

Daughter didn't need surgery, nor a cast, and not even a splint. The doctor only put her in a sling (for protection) and said that the break isn't out of alignment at all. In fact, according to our radiologist, the break is a classic example of a fracture that you can only see by the "fat pads" (whatever that is) and he has put the xray (sans her name of course) in his teaching file.

So, she's been going around the house in her sling and gently exercising her arm (per dr's orders). She can now even type with both hands (I remember what that is like.. having only one hand to type with.. back when I broke my shoulder).

We go back to the Orthopod this friday for followup and probably more xrays.

On the Crochet Front:

My afghan for the CALPALs FiletAlong is FINISHED...










Closeup



Sorry the picture quality is so bad. It wasn't daylight when I made the pictures, so no way to drag them outdoors for really good photos. If weather clears up I'll try to do better.

And I've gotten myself involved in another charity project. Caps to the Capital is the name of it and it's about crocheting (or knitting) little caps to help newborns in developing countries.

Here's what I've gotten done so far:






The little caps whip up really quickly because they want caps between 9 & 11 inches in circumference (tiny babies!!). This is a joint effort of Save the Children and Warm Up America and there is a whole set of instructions, including patterns, on how to get involved on their site. It IS a pdf file to download.. but even those with older computers (like me) need not be afraid of it. I only run 128 of RAM and I was able to download it without trouble.

That's all for now... my show (CHARMED) is about to start.. and then have a busy day planned.

Tripping on Air

My daughter broke her arm at camp today. She's home and in a splint and we go to the Orthopod in the AM to see if surgery or a cast or if she can remain in a splint.

Rose Filet Afghan in Progress

I finally got started on the Filet Afghan for the CALPALs group.

Here's one skeins worth of work






I'm using Caron Simply Soft in the color Soft Yellow. The odd scraps of blue & yellow yarn are what I use for stitch markers. I like using scrap yarn for things like that... makes me feel thrifty and frugal and all conservationy.

Let me tell you how dense I am sometimes. Even thought this CAL officially started on July 1, I didn't go and get my yarn till yesterday. I kept thinking I'd make myself drive 50 miles to where the "real" stores are instead of just doing Wallies here.

I finally realized that aint gonna happen.. so off to Wallies I go. Now, if you look at the picture of the afghan I'm making, it looks as if it is made in squares. Right? sure I'm right.





So, while going into Wallies, I had a brainstorm. Why not make each square in a different Rose color.. there are pink roses, yellow roses, lavendar roses.. etc. Just whatever I want.. then join them. It will be beautifully different!!

So, I bought some Pink, Lavendar, Offwhite and soft Yellow Caron SS.. (only 1 skein of each) and came home.

So, I'm sitting here getting ready to crochet and notice the beginning chain is 185 stitches. Hmm that's a little long for 1 square, but whatever.

It's not until about the 4th row that I realize this afghan is made all in one piece.

Man do I feel DUMB. What's worse is that I've had the pattern for at least a week and have skimmed over it several times .. even LOOKING for the joining instructions and not seeing them. But I read very very fast and sometimes miss important things, so it didn't occur to me that I wasn't seeing the joining instructions because THEY WEREN'T THERE.

I feel like Homer Simpson... really dumb.

Here's what else I did dumb this week. I had a battle with a ?softsided? *could've fooled me* suitcase AND LOST.





Yarn taking a bath.






Looks like I'll be busy awhile today. I got tired of the all black background and also my comments were badly messed up...so I changed templates and lost all my previous comments :( :( and also lost all my buttons on the side. This will be FUN to fix. Glad I know a little html.. otherwise I'd be completely lost.

Humble Pie

Pass the Ketchup.. I have some words to eat.

Back on April 23, I blogged about being turned down for an exclusive Crochet Group and how I understood, but my feelings were still hurt.

I find myself on the other side of the fence now and it's a strange feeling.

A little history... back around mid to late April, I was doing most of my crochet hanging out in two places, Crochetville (a moderated board) and Crochet Partners (a moderated mailing list).

I used to also spend a lot of time at the LiveJournal Crochet site, but it died and altho the moderator has brought back the posts.. the responses are no longer there. I feel I understand why she did what she did, but LJCrochet is STILL greatly missed.

Then suddenly one day, Crochetville was no longer available. It was there, but instead of being able to read and post, there was a sign up that it was down for vacation for the moderators. Yikes!! This happened with no advance notice to most of the members. Well, people panicked .. and made contact lists on Yahoo groups and other places. Some of the yahoo groups ended up morphing into new boards. I got invited to a couple of the new boards and have found one of them to be very friendly and "I'm lovin' it".

The ketchup part? It's invitation only. Open mouth and insert foot (hope I washed it lately). The new group is called CALPALs and we do LOTS of Crochet-a-Longs (the CAL part) and we're all friends (the PAL part). I think this group is a MUCH MUCH MUCH better fit for me than the group that turned me down. Hmmm do I wonder why? nah, I know why.

Crochetville came back in a day (or so.. don't remember how long it took actually) and I'm still active there, but have found a new home away from home. Thanks to the creator and the moderator (ya'll know who you are) of CALPALs for inviting me. I think/hope we will have a long and happy friendship.

and I understand why the C'ville moderator needed a vacation.. it was just a shock to all of the members for it to happen so suddenly.

New favorite Link: (crochet related): http://www.jessica-tromp.nl/free_crochet_patterns.htm

Tons of stuff there...Including advice on how to enlarge patterns!!! BUT, you need to be able to crochet from a diagram.

Almost off my hook: A Honeycomb shawl (my pattern) in White Omega Sinfonia for my niece for graduating from Community College. She did this all on her own.. no financial help from anyone. YEAH ASHLEY!!!!! Onward and Upwards Girl!!! She's now studying fashion design.. still supporting herself. I predict we will see great things from that young lady. All I have to do is fringe the shawl (after weaving in the ends and gently washing it) and then package and mail. Packing and mailing will be my downfall.. I'm horrid at that.

My son is retaking part of his TAKS exam today. Prayers, good wishes, Light a candle, say a MoneyHum (Heinlein fans?) that he will pass it this time. Only missed by 1 point last time. Gotta pass this to graduate HS (what a crock huh?) I wish I could still vote for Kinky Friedman.

So Much to Say

so much to say, so much to do.

Last Friday was sooo wonderful. My kids (who were away WORKING at camp woke me up at 7:20 am... "Hi Mom, it's our day off"!

They voluntarily took the dog to the vet to have stitches removed and I gladly did their laundry in return!!

The boy left after lunch to go visit his Not-a-girlfriend(uh huh.. riiiight), and dd and I had some alone time which was wonderful.

It was sad when they had to go back, but they'll be home again Saturday. :) :) :)

I'm supposed to start a FILET CAL over at CALPALs (more about CalPals later), and have finally gotten the pattern I want to use. It's called "Yellow Rose of Texas"




I finally have the pattern (got it on eBay.. love it, saved time and gas $$) now I have to decide on yarn. I'm leaning heavily towards Caron SS in Offwhite.. which is a very creamy french vanilla color. Aunt Mary's yarns is going out of business, so I'm thinking about calling them and see if they have enough millends in that color. hmmmm

I've also been tempted into starting ANOTHER Cal for Noreen Crone-Findlay's Butterfly Shawl that's shown in the Summer issue of Knit.1 magazine. Read about the shawl and it's creation at Noreen's blog.

Someone on the 'ville asked how many wips we had. I sat down and counted mine.. at it was a staggering 14 (or 17 if you count the blankies that I still need to weave ends in on). That is depressing. Why do I want to start two more?? I guess there's just something about new beginnings that is irrisistable for me.

I was accepted as an Unknowable Shrone some time back and have not had the time to upload a button or do a bio for the site. I just went and looked and can't find myself on there. Hmmm.. I know I received the email. Maybe I should reply to it??? LOL

Well. time to publish this post and do some other things on the web.. I'm sure I will be back to say more.

Redneck Water skiing

Baby's Circle & Giant Pineapple Patterns

I'm often asked where to find the patterns for both of these, so I thought I'd blog a little about where I found these patterns.

Baby's Circle Afghan (picture shows a partially completed one)

click to view larger

The pattern is from a collection called Quick n Easy Crocheting that came in the mail and the patterns were filed in small yellow notebooks. When complete, there was a set of 3 notebooks.

I think this subscription service was available in the 80's.

I have found the pattern for sale on eBay.. sometimes the individual pattern for a few dollars, and sometimes the whole books. I managed to get all 3 binders (with patterns ::grin::) for about 20.00, but I was lucky. I've seen individual binders go for 2x as much.

If the pattern is followed exactly, it comes out very very large..even using baby or sport yarn. I usually just make the pattern until I'm satisfied with the diameter and then do the edging.

Some of the terms to search eBay with would be "Baby's Circle Afghan" or "Quick n Easy Crochet*" (be sure to use the quotes, asterisk and check the box on ebay to search inside the auction..not just the auction title)

If you're looking at buying one of the notebooks instead of a single pattern, I would contact the seller and make sure the pattern you want is in the books. And as always with eBay two things to remember.

1) don't buy from someone whose rating is lower than normal body temperature.
2) Sniping is your friend.

I don't have the inclination to go into sniping in detail right now, but if you're curious go into the community area of eBay => discussion boards => bidding => Sniper's Revival is a good place to start learning.

I know some people think that Sniping is not a "good thing", but as long as eBay permits it, I don't have a problem with it. I personally think it's good for sellers and buyers. If you have an issue with Sniping, complain to eBay, not to me.

btw: The Answer center in Ebay (also found in the community area) is a great place to spend some time reading & learning to avoid problems.


Giant Pineapple Pattern:



squares shown made into afghan.


The pattern is hard to find.. because the page it was on is no longer active. Thank Goodness for the internet archive!!

It's at this link: http://tinyurl.com/253kn

If you prefer the long version:

http://web.archive.org/web/199911032...Pineapple.html

I used an H hook for the off-white squares and a G hook for all the rest. I've listed the amount of yarn I used for the afghan I made, you may need a little more or a little less depending on how you crochet.

You will need about 3 to 4 ounces of Worsted Weight for each square. I used 6 skeins of Dawn Sayelle (by Caron) for the off-white squares. The skeins were 3.5 ounces and most of them had a small amt left after making a square.

Since I couldn't get anymore Dawn Sayelle.. I figured another Caron yarn would be fairly safe to use. What is easily available to me is Simply Soft... so that's what I used for the Turquoise squares and also the Bone for joining.

It took 3 6oz skeins of the Turquoise (they call it Blue Mint) and 1 6oz skein of the Bone.

Since I was going to use Priscilla Hewitt's flat braid method to join the squares, I stopped at Round 14 with 50 dc on each side of the square.

Each square was bordered and joined with the Bone color.
Flat braid method: http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/lffunt/flatbraid.htm to join the squares.

And I'm bordering it with a variation of Kim Guzman's (aka CrochetKim) friendship afghan border. http://www.crochetkim.com/patterns/border.html

I didn't want to make the puff stitches, so I just did Half doubles all the way around. The border was just finished tonight and I will try to get final pics up soon.

In discussing the flat braid joining method on the CrochetPartners mailing list yesterday, Wilma Keith, one of the other members, gave me this tip.

To make the flat braid easier to work, I usually sc one extra row around with the corner being sc, hdc, sc. That gives the corner a much sharper edge and easier to see. All flat braid starts at the hdc.

Now all I need is another Afghan to join to try out her tip. Hmmm maybe my next Scripture Afghan. :)

Catching Up

I haven't posted lately because I've been wanting to make pictures. Well, I finally found the camera and had time to struggle with dialup and all that.. So here goes.


Scripture Afghan. Each square is related to a certain bible passage. Made in various shades of purple in good ole indestructable red heart. Squares were crocheted together, purposefully creating small ridge around each, to create a mini-frame.

Lace & Bobble Afghan. Just made from scraps.. ( I have TONS of scrap yarn) started when I got frustrated with the scripture afghan.

A Baby Lace & Bobble in progress. Awaiting more yarn. I'm making this from left-over Wendy Peter Pan yarn. Love this yarn, wish I could find another distributor other than Smiley's Yarns.

Pineapple Squares Afghan. Started as a "keep busy" project one weekend, and fell in love with the look of the square in off-white. Sadly I couldn't get more of the off-white yarn, so I had to improvise on finishing it. I'm really loving how it's turning out.

And lastly a Terry Kimbrough design made in the Wendy Peter Pan yarn. This was intended for one of the ladies that work for my husband (she's due sometime this month), but he didn't know I had something ready.. so he bought her a gift. So this doesn't have a home (yet).