Paintings, Afghans, and Hats Plus a Blog Feature

Last week I realized that I was skipping a stitch in the repeat of this afghan.  I had to frog 7 rounds.  It was so painful.  Last night I finally  caught back up to where I had ripped it out at.  I need to finish up the 2nd skein and 2 more skeins before the end of the month to meet my monthly deadline.  I want to finish this afghan in 3 months time.

I finished a few more squares for my blue afghan.  I'm following the pattens in this book, however there are a few typos in it.  After I make all of the blocks I will post a list of all of the typos (like there is a ch7 when it should say ch1).

I made 2 more charity hats for Click for Babies: Period of Purple Crying Caps.  The striped hat pattern was designed by my friend Cindy.  It was a very easy pattern, then I made the flower from on elf the patterns in this book.  The twisted crochet cable hat was a little bit more challenging to make, but not necessarily hard.  It's not a hat for beginners.  This article was recently published about the local chapter / leader of this charity.  You can see some of my hats in the photo.  Here is the charity's Facebook group if anyone is interested.

Earlier this month, or was it last month, I was invited to a moms' night out where we painted flowers. The instructor showed us some techniques, then she wanted us to use our imaginations to create our own unique painting.  This was mine.  I was invited to an impressionistic paint night happening next week.  I can't wait!

Then on Wednesday I had some time to paint outside while my kids were at school.  This painting isn't finished yet.  It needs a little something in the upper lefthand corner, but I'm still thinking about what that little something is/will be.

Do you guys remember my crochet hook case?  Well it was featured on Illuminate Crochet this month.  Here is the blog post. 

Teacher Appreciation Day

Last Tuesday was Teacher Appreciation Day.  My youngest son's teacher is very nice, so I wanted to make her a dishcloth set using her initials and a pattern that would be perfect for a teacher.  Rhonda White has a lot of great dishcloth patterns including alphabet ones, which is where I found the K and C patterns.  I found the A+ Apple pattern here.

Then I made an origami box using scrapbook paper and topped it with an origami flower.  The 3 dishcloths just fit in it after being folded.  My son then drew on the green card (after I took the photo), and he gave it to her on Tuesday.  He said that she really loved it.

Pull Tab Earrings & Braceletes

After about 2 years of reruns I have started filming new episodes of my local access television show.  My first episode back was on how to make pull tab earrings.  I made all but 3 pairs of the above earrings last month for the show.  I showed how to make several of them, but I did not get to all of them.  That means I can have a part 2 to that episode.  I made up the pattern for the crochet orange pair.  To perfect it, I made the purple pair below.  I would like to make another pair before I publish the pattern.  I also made 2 crochet medical alert bracelets with the pull tabs.  Why two?  Well the first one was one tab to big for my wrist.  I plan on wearing this purple set during the taping of my show this month along with a purple shirt.  

Whats on my needles & hooks

My main project lately has been my king size afghan.  I'm using my size 8 Knit Picks circulates (60") and Cascade Yarn.  I cast on 420 stitches, and I'm knitting it stockinette.  Every other stripe is a solid color, and the other ones use a multicolored yarn.  There are 2 rows of black in-between each stripe.  Each color stripe is a whole skein of yarn.  The reason why this is my main project right now is because it is mindless knitting.  I can work on it during movie nights, while watching a really good t.v. show, while reading, or while talking to a friend.  It is also an ode to my childhood.  I can remember my mom crocheting a striped afghan for her bed, and even recently she made a striped lap-afghan on her knitting loom using random skeins of yarn.  This afghan makes me think of home and comfort, plus its made using my current favorite yarn. 

I started making another knitted ninja for my youngest son recently.  I made one for his friend's birthday last year.  I had started making one for him last year as well, but that became a ufo (unfinished object).  He asked me about it recently, so this project began.  I am not sure where the ufo has gone, but this one is better since it will be his favorite color (navy blue).  The book is checked out from my library.  It has a lot of cute knitted amigurumi patterns in it.

I am also crocheting another V Stitch Bag (my pattern) and Tunisian crocheting a garment from the Civil War era.  I don't have any pictures of these projects yet.

Easter Basket

This small but sturdy basket took about 2 hours to make.  Here is the free pattern for it.  I used Schachenmayer SMC Northern yarn and an I hook to make it.  Two strands of the yarn was held together to make this a thick and sturdy basket.  It can hold about 3 eggs in it.  

Purple Crying Caps - Baby Hats for Charity

I have been making more hats for Click for Babies: Period of Purple Crying Caps.

I felt like knitting one of the baby hats instead of crocheting one.  I used Plymouth Encore Colorspun and size 5 dpns to make it.  Many people don't think that it is 50% purple, which is what the charity is asking for, but it looks like it to me. Where there isn't purple it is pink and blue, which when combined would make purple.  Maybe it's a stretch, but I really wanted to make some baby hats with this yarn.

• Long tail cast on of 72 sts, 24 on 3 dpns.
• 4x4 rib
• slowly make the first 12 sts knit stitches
• decrease by ssk first 2, k2tog the 11th and 12th sts, and repeat around until 6 stitches are left.

With the remaining yarn I crochet these 2 crochet ribbed hats. Here is the free pattern for them (and several of the hats below).  This pattern is very easy to make, and after making several I now have the pattern memorized.

This hat was made using Schachenmayer SMC Northern yarn and a size H hook.

This hat used Plymouth Dreambaby DK yarn and a size G hook.  I made some tweaks to the pattern so that it would work using DK weight yarn.

I did not have enough purple yarn left to make a whole other hat, so I added some gray yarn to create this striped baby hat.  Can you believe that I still have some of the purple leftover?  I used Cascade Pacific yarn and a size G hook to make it.  Here is the free pattern for it.

These 2 hats makes 11 hats that I've made so far for this charity.  I used Cascade yarns Bentley color #12  and an I hook to make them.  This yarn was fun to use.  I have some left over, so expect to see at least one more hat made with it.

Here are some pictures of the collection basket at my job.  The charity has already picked up the ones on the bottom already.  It is great seeing how many people are making hats for this charity.

Gray & Rose Cascade Bag

This is the 3rd bag that I have made using this pattern.   I used Cascade Cherub Aran Multi yarn to make it (colors 62 and 517) and size 8 needles.  I love this yarn.  It is so soft.  I want to try lining it sometime so that it will be a good project bag.