Wordless Wednesday: My Library Recycles

Orange Cork Elves

I'm thinking that these guys will be good for Halloween.  I can add a little leaf to the top of their hats, and make a mini trick or treat bag for them.

More Cork Elves

I am loving these cute little cork elves.  In case you missed it before, here is the pattern.

I made this little guy during the tropical storm known as Irene (on Sunday).

My 4 year old is really into rainbows right now, and he asked me to make some rainbow elves.  I knew exactly what yarn that I wanted to use, and at the store my 4 year old was the first to find it.  Smart kid.  Here are the two elves that I made yesterday out of the rainbow yarn.  They don't look like a rainbow, but I'll be able to get a wide assortment of looks out of one ball of yarn.  The elf on the left looks like his clothes shrunk in the wash, so I had to tweak the pattern for the 2nd one (this yarn is a little thinner than the cotton).  For the sweater I knit 5 rows of stockinette instead of 3, and for the hat I added an additional knit row to every knit row in the pattern.

I'm co-leading and participating in two Halloween swaps next month.  I'm thinking of using black yarn and making cork witches using this pattern for the swap.  I'll make a little broom for it.  Maybe I'll also make a purple wizard with a beard, a cape, and a wand.  My husband wants me to make a Santa Claus one complete with a beard.  Maybe I'll sew in some fuzzy white trim on the clothing.

Cork Elf

I made a 2nd cork elf today using white cotton Christmas yarn.  It has sliver spun into it.

Here are my 2 little cork elves inspecting the debris from Irene in our yard.  So far only some small fallen limbs.  I haven't looked in the back yard to see if any more big branches fell off of one of our pine trees (they usually fall of in the Winter with ice).

Irene

There's a large puddles on either side of my road, but that doesn't stop people from speeding through them.  So far our basement is dry.  There are flickers of power outages.  

But my cat could care less.

Christmas Cotton Projects

I started this white cotton Christmas scrubby a week ago.  It is a variation of the red scrubby pattern where I doubled every stitch.

The pattern for it is: 8 sc in loop, dc twice in each st for 2 rounds, sc twice in every st for 1 round, and sc 3 times in every stitch for remainder (about 3 or 4 more rounds). 

If you hold on to the center, it is perfect for scrubbing dishes or for the shower.

It reminds me of brain coral.

I made this little cork elf yesterday, and I plan to make more today.  Irene is coming to us today in the form of a tropical storm.  My little elf is watching it before it gets worse.  I hope that he doesn't get blown away ;)  The pattern for him is here.  He was super easy to make.  I used size 5 dpns and Christmas cotton yarn, but I am going to use size 4 for the next one.  I might glue his hat to him and turn him into an ornament.

Wordless Wednesday

Crochet Group Today

Someone that I know asked me 2 weeks ago if I could help her make a crochet scarf.  The pattern was in chart form, which I had never done before.  So I needed to learn how to read a chart.  Also she wanted to invite a few friends with various crochet skills to the get together.  The scarf pattern is made up of several floral motifs in fingering yarn with a small crochet hook.  Since the pattern was for a single floral motif, I thought that it would be easier to make coasters using worsted weight yarn and a larger hook.  After they get the hang of it, then they could move on to the smaller hook and yarn.  The above picture was taken before we got started.  I was working on a scrubby while I waited.  There were 3 ladies, one who did not know how to crochet, one who was rusty and wanted to make a granny square blanket, and the one who organized the get together.  I showed the one lady who was new to crochet how to chain and single crochet, and she practiced doing that.  It was a nice morning crocheting with these ladies.

I had made two cotton versions of the motif before the get together today.

Here is the pattern.

I'm working on a different version of the red scrubby that I made the other day, but this time with the white Christmas cotton yarn.  There is a sparkly silver thread that is in it.  

Pattern:

Chain 2

Single crochet (sc) in the center / first chain 8 times

Double crochet (dc) in each stitch two times for two rounds

Sc in every stitch 2 times for one round

Sc in every stitch 3 times for the remaining rounds.

Here is where I am at with my son's granny square blanket.  I don't know how big it is, but its not that big at the moment.

Photos from my vacation.

Here are some photos that I took just before our vacation and during our vacation this month.

I took these during bike rides with my kids.

The first one is my youngest son playing at the park, and the 2nd one is at a toll booth during our trip.

At a park in New Jersey.

At the Jersey Shore.

A rainy day at a science museum in New Jersey.

This is a steel beam that was bent during 9-11.

Hershey Park in Pennsylvania. 

My kids at Hershey Park, and my parents' dog (cockapoo).

In the Indian Echo Cavern in Pennsylvania.