Cotton and the beach go hand in hand

Today we went for our last day at the beach for the year... Well I can't really say that, because there was talk about going back one more time but I don't know if that will happen.  Didn't want to get sand on my granny squares, and I couldn't take a thick afghan that I need to work on.  So instead I packed 2 balls of  cotton yarn and a pattern that I was recently gifted.  I love working with cotton at the beach.  So what pattern was I gifted?  An egg basket pattern.  The pattern costs $3.37, and it was at the top of my queue.  It'll be a gift for a friend who has chickens.  I showed her a picture of the pattern today to make sure that she would really would want one.  She loved it.  Not only will it hold eggs, but she said that she can put a nice loaf of bread in the center.

I finished the first chevron afghan last night, but I didn't get a chance to take a picture of it yet.

My crochet queue for the next 3 months:

• Phoenix Amigurumi for my OWL (the Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup in Ravelry)
• Birchbark Slippers, because I need a sample pair for a class this Fall.
• 2 egg baskets for one of my students who has given me countless fresh eggs from her “girls” and who even bought me a birthday present.
• Crocheted Alligator Handbag - for me…. But I don’t know if I’ll get to it this year or not.
• A rippled granny afghan - because I really want to learn how to make one
• Another mosaic round rippled afghan - for my OWL and PIXAR (the Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup Group and the Disney Adventures Group in Ravelry)
• Some more purple baby hats for charity, because this is the last month that they are collecting them before they give them to the local hospitals.
• granny squares for my WIP afghan
• a camera and tripod for my dad for Christmas - not necessarily made in September
• Daisy Towel Holders - for Christmas presents and part of a CAL next month
• Oh, and I want to learn how to make an african crochet flower motif.
  
  
  
  
  
  The other day I joined the 4th round of squares to my granny square afghan.  I'm using the join as you go method.  The 2nd and 4th rounds are made up of color #15 (orange) of Cascade Pinwheel.  The 1st and 3rd rounds are mainly color #4, but I had to add some of color #5 when I was 3 or 4 squares shy of finishing round 3 (the store was out of #4 at the time).  I was able to buy some more of each color way recently.  Now I'm working on the squares for the 5th round.  I'm using Cascade Pacific #48 (black) for the borders, and a size H hook.  I'm following this basic granny square pattern for the afghan.  
  
  
  I'm almost finished with the chevron afghan.  I plan to be finished with it this week, and then I'll work on a smaller white one just like it.  My personal deadline for them is September 15th.  
  
  
  September 1st begins a new 3 month term of challenges in 2 of my ravelry groups.  Plus 2 or 3 other groups that I'm in will have new monthly challenges and CALs.  Very exciting!  

August Projects

I haven't made as many things as I normally do in a month, because I've been focusing on some bigger projects.  

My job at the local yarn shop is going to be part of a yarn crawl next month.  So I needed to make a sample of my bag pattern for the shop.  What better than to use my favorite yarn for it, Cascade Pinwheel.  I had to frog a good bit to make it smaller so that I only used up 1 skein (440 yards), because I wanted people to know how big it would be (and how big to make the base) if they used only 1 skein.  The base for this one is 14 rounds, and I used an H hook.  I don't remember how long the sides are, but I just kept going until I was sure that I had just enough for the top and the handles.   It was also about time that my job had a sample of this pattern, because many of my students have made one.

During the last day of my vacation this month I made this twisted crochet cabled baby hat for the Child's Light charity.  I used Cascade Pacific yarn and an H and a J hook.  

You can see my hat among many others in the collection basket.  You can even see some hats made by Cindy from My Recycled Bags.

I also finished the fair isle snowflake Christmas ornament as well.  Here is the chart for it. 

I've also been working on finishing this chevron afghan for a lady whose mother had started it, but who had passed away before finishing it.  I'm also finishing a white chevron baby afghan for her as well.  My goal is to have both afghans finished next month.  

I've been hard at work making 28 orange granny squares so that I could create a 4th round to my afghan.  Half of the 4th round has been joined already.  I'm using the join as you go method, which you can learn in this video.  I'm using 3 different color ways of Cascade Pinwheel for the squares, and the black border id Cascade Pacific.  

The other day I bought a 5 inch thick binder (with a much needed 50% off coupon) to hold all of my printed crochet patterns in.  This is my new work binder.  Before teaching crochet, I would keep a digital copy of all of my patterns.  However I need to have printed copies of different patterns for my students.  About an inch of those pages are empty sheet protectors just waiting for more patterns.  I put them in alphabetical order according to category, and then I put the holidays in order by month (with birthdays and parties in the beginning).  Then in the back are the paid patterns, so I know which ones are off limits to my students.