I delayed joining Facebook for a really long time! After about the hundredth time of my granddaughter saying to me that I could see pics of this or that on her Facebook page, I finally joined. And in the large scheme of FB, I am a very small clog with only about 100 friends, mostly crochet related and some family. I don't play games, or collect roses, etc. I do try to keep up with birthdays, because I believe every birthday is a blessing from God and the older we get the more in your face that reality becomes.
But, Facebook has never been the pleasure that everyone else seems to enjoy. It takes forever to move around; when I try to look at pics, it frequently freezes up. I get this constant security warning about using secure access. I am constantly cleaning out my browser to try to make things faster, to no avail.
Is it just me? My computer is a couple of years old, but it has a Pentium processor and runs on Windows XP, so I don't think that is the problem.
Oh well. I may just give up FB and go back to crocheting and reading.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Saturday, August 13, 2011
More than one way to skin a cat
You may remember my obsession 2 or 3 years ago with the Diamond Patch Sweater. I fell in love with this pattern. Problem--I don't knit!! I contacted the designer, Jill Vosberg, who is also a crocheter, but she had not done anything similar in crochet. OK--maybe I can replicate this look in crochet. Not--
So, after a long time, a lot of frustration, numerous swatches that looked nothing like the pattern, I was about to give up on ever having this sweater.
I still really want this sweater--but I really hate knitting so my skills are not very good. As my granddaughter would say, I put on my big girl pants and asked Kitty if she would do it for me. She said yes, so I got the yarn last year at the Oakland Fiber Festival. It is a beautiful mercerized cotton from Crystal Palace yarns. OK! Now we're cooking with gas.
Kitty delivered it to me about a month ago. It has crochet trim so she left the finishing for me to do. A lot of yarn left. I was surprised, hoping that I was going to have enough. When I tried it on, I knew why. The pattern had an option for a cropped length or a tunic length. I was thinking tunic and actually got cropped. If I were in my 20's, this might be OK. In my 60"s, not so much. I did not care for the ribbing called for around the neck and sleeves so I crocheted several rows of blo around the neck, and then repeated that on the sleeves. Using my ripple afghan skills, I used this same method to increase the length to cover my little pot belly.
What do you think? I have my sweater, I'm very happy. I wore it to a doctors appointment this week and a woman stopped me in the lobby of the medical building to ask me if I had made it. She told me she thought it was spectacular. I do, too.
So, after a long time, a lot of frustration, numerous swatches that looked nothing like the pattern, I was about to give up on ever having this sweater.
I still really want this sweater--but I really hate knitting so my skills are not very good. As my granddaughter would say, I put on my big girl pants and asked Kitty if she would do it for me. She said yes, so I got the yarn last year at the Oakland Fiber Festival. It is a beautiful mercerized cotton from Crystal Palace yarns. OK! Now we're cooking with gas.
Kitty delivered it to me about a month ago. It has crochet trim so she left the finishing for me to do. A lot of yarn left. I was surprised, hoping that I was going to have enough. When I tried it on, I knew why. The pattern had an option for a cropped length or a tunic length. I was thinking tunic and actually got cropped. If I were in my 20's, this might be OK. In my 60"s, not so much. I did not care for the ribbing called for around the neck and sleeves so I crocheted several rows of blo around the neck, and then repeated that on the sleeves. Using my ripple afghan skills, I used this same method to increase the length to cover my little pot belly.
Crochet Partners First Comfortghan
In February, 2008, one of the members of Crochet Partners, lost her son in a school shooting here on the central coast of California. I knew her from another project we had worked on, so I collected squares and we sent a comfortghan to her. We knew it would never replace her son, but hoped it would help ease her pain.
From this incident, the comfortghan project was born. We make our squares, mail them off to an assembler, who puts them together. She then mails it to a person who is hurting.
How many of us ever give any thought to that person after we do our small part?
Sometimes the hurting goes on for years, as in Dawn's case. The young man who killed her son in now on trial. It took 3 and 1/2 years to get to this point. Now, she has to relive the nightmare again every day of the trial. I am asking you, my friends, to send out a request to your higher power, to hold and protect Dawn and her family at this time. Let's not forget the pain doesn't stop with the mailing of an afghan!
The Ventura County Star has covered every day of the trial for over 6 weeks now. To learn more, search Larry King.
From this incident, the comfortghan project was born. We make our squares, mail them off to an assembler, who puts them together. She then mails it to a person who is hurting.
How many of us ever give any thought to that person after we do our small part?
Sometimes the hurting goes on for years, as in Dawn's case. The young man who killed her son in now on trial. It took 3 and 1/2 years to get to this point. Now, she has to relive the nightmare again every day of the trial. I am asking you, my friends, to send out a request to your higher power, to hold and protect Dawn and her family at this time. Let's not forget the pain doesn't stop with the mailing of an afghan!
The Ventura County Star has covered every day of the trial for over 6 weeks now. To learn more, search Larry King.
Tuesday, August 02, 2011
Look who lives at our house!
Penny was gifted a kit for Winnie the Pooh a couple of years ago. She asked me to crochet it for her as she didn't think her skills were up to the challenge. I'm sure she could have done it, but I agreed. Well, Pooh sat around for a while as I finished other works in progress. Finally, ready to start. Get it all out of the bag it came in. No pattern! It is only the yarn. No pattern! Did I mention? no pattern! Well, it's a Mary Maxim kit, so I get on the phone to Mary Maxim. They no longer carry it, but one of their wonderful customer service reps helped me find a source. Got it ordered. Yea! Well, by the time it arrived, I'm knee deep in another project, so the pattern is put in a Ziploc bag with the yarn. All ready to go when I'm finished.
Last fall, we decided to move. And when we were packing, we used yarn and future projects to fill in all kinds of boxes. Sounded like a good idea at the time. Actually, if you don't need the yarn right away, it's a great idea. Fills in all the nooks and crannies in boxes. But, after we get moved, I decide to start on Pooh, cuz I need a break from all the moving.
You guessed it! We can't find him. He is still in some box in our garage. Penny is beginning to wonder if she will ever get this bear to add to her collection. She never said so, but I'm sure the thought crossed her mind that maybe she should have tried to do it herself.
Well, we finally found Winnie. He had some very interesting construction techniques. Instead of sewing on the arms, legs, muzzle and ears, They are all crocheted in. No matter what a kid did to this bear, he will not loose an arm or leg. Using this method, you have to stuff as you go so the bigger he gets, the more awkward he is to work on. But all's well that ends well. . And here he is, sitting in our living room.
Last fall, we decided to move. And when we were packing, we used yarn and future projects to fill in all kinds of boxes. Sounded like a good idea at the time. Actually, if you don't need the yarn right away, it's a great idea. Fills in all the nooks and crannies in boxes. But, after we get moved, I decide to start on Pooh, cuz I need a break from all the moving.
You guessed it! We can't find him. He is still in some box in our garage. Penny is beginning to wonder if she will ever get this bear to add to her collection. She never said so, but I'm sure the thought crossed her mind that maybe she should have tried to do it herself.
Well, we finally found Winnie. He had some very interesting construction techniques. Instead of sewing on the arms, legs, muzzle and ears, They are all crocheted in. No matter what a kid did to this bear, he will not loose an arm or leg. Using this method, you have to stuff as you go so the bigger he gets, the more awkward he is to work on. But all's well that ends well. . And here he is, sitting in our living room.
Warm, Fuzzy, Feeling
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