Awesome Blossom
Well, here it is. Isn't this the cutest thing? It's from the book 100 Crochet Projects that I received for my birthday. I'm wearing it Saturday to an Easter Egg hunt, hosted by my landlord and his wife. I haven't washed it yet, so am thinking the "petals" will probably relax some after washing.

Diamond Patch Sweater
I fell in love with this sweater found at www.justonemorerow.com but it's knitted, and even tho I can knit, I don't like to. When I read the designer's bio on Annie's Attics' site, I noticed that she had started out crocheting and switched to knit later. So, I emailed Jill, and asked if she has a crocheted version of this sweater and she replied that she did not currently, even tho she had thought about it. I asked if there are good schematics with the knitted pattern, and she said yes. So, I ordered the pattern, plus 2 more, all mitered squares. Jill said she would be interested to know how my conversion comes out.
One pattern was a bribe for my friend Kitty, who does knit. Penny and I picked out a pattern for her, and when we saw her, asked her which one she wanted, she could have her pick of two. She picked the one we had picked for her. We're good!
I asked her to knit a square for me according to the pattern and size that I needed. She used a worsted weight cotton blend yarn. So now I am trying to duplicate the look and feel of her square.
My first couple of attempts are done in Lustresheen left over from a sweater I made my daughter for Xmas. Kinda have the idea now, so last night sat down and worked out the math for each row. Who knew in high school that all that math would come in handy for crochet? By the time I worked it out, it had solved a couple of problems that I was having, but it was too late to start another square. My j-o-b is interfering with my creative juices right now. Trying to keep really good notes, and mark my swatches as I go so I'll know what I'm doing later.

Wishes do come True!
Wow! The wish list paid off. I got home Friday evening and Penny handed me a "big" envelope. Couldn't figure out what it could be as I haven't ordered anything lately, and it was definitely bigger than a friendship square or bookmark. It was 100 Crochet Projects by Jean Leinhauser and Rita Weiss. I was so excited! I have had this book on my wish list for a long time and my friend Margaret sent it to me for my birthday. When I called her to thank her she was disappointed that it got to me in 2 days from Florida to California. Since my birthday isn't until Friday, she was planning on it getting here a little closer to the date. It's OK, Margaret, I love it!
In fact, I have already made one project from it, The Awesome Blossom hat that I am wearing to an Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday. My landlord and his wife do this huge "do" for Easter every year, that mostly centers on the egg hunt on over an acre of pasture next to their house. This year they are adding the Easter hat contest for the adults. Finishes up with a great potluck luncheon. Should be fun! I'll let you know how the hat does.

Pineapple & Pinwheel Doily

Finally finished it! Started last fall as part of the set for my bedroom. But--it got set to the side to do Xmas gifts, and I finally got back to it. It was almost done. I had the url for the doily posted here, but apparently its not working now. Will see if I can find out how to post it. I'm sure this person is on CP, so I'll put out a request for address.OK! found it, thanks to one of our Crochet Partners. I used the link and it worked. http://www.angelfire.com/folk/celtwich/

Seems like I have posted a lot recently, but some of these things are things that were started and they just all came together in a short period of time. Yea! Love to move things from WIP to FO.

Mango Mesh Pullover
I have made 3 of these pullovers, and 2 came out just fine, with a little finessing at the shoulders on the larger one. But the 3rd one I can't figure out how to make the neckline smaller and not ruin the shape of the sweater. So, for now, it is in a plastic bag (PIGS) and is set aside until a better time to work on it. I am thinking that maybe it can be worked on the last several rows even rather than putting in the increases for the neck shaping. This thing is worked from the center to the underarm using increases for the neck shaping, and when made for larger sizes, the neckline becomes lower and lower, think below the boobs lower! Or, it could be frogged and the yarn reused for something else. Just am not quite ready to completely give up on it yet. So it sits!

First Felted Project
Well, I finished my first felted project. This is a memo bag, pattern is from www.joann.com. The yarn is a combo of yarn that my friend, Kitty, brought me from New York, and some wool that I bought at Stitches West. You can see more about those in earlier posts. The copper color felted faster and tighter than the linen color. I really like the pockets that I put just under the flap for keys and cell phone. The before measurements were 14" X 15" and the after are 10" X 12". The strap felted up shorter than I had hoped for, but it does fit over my shoulder, and that's what counts. I have enough yarn to do this exact project again, so may try it to see how I improve. I think if I do it again, I will user a smaller hook on the lighter yarn, hoping that will make for more even felting. Do you think that would work? And the strap needs to be a little longer. It was fun, and another goal for the year completed.

Sun Bonnet Sue

It's finished! And I love it! Penny, my roommate thinks I should enter it in the county fair this summer, so it is currently folded and put away so the cats can't get to it. I crocheted it with Dark Horse Yarns in Fantasy bright yellow, burgundy and cream. This yarn is wonderful to work with. I found it at Adela's, my LYS. I went looking for Plymouth Encore DK and they directed me to this. It's my intention to use it in my bedroom as a throw. When I was a kid, my grandma made me a Sunbonnet Sue quilt from scraps and I carried it around everywhere until there is nothing left of it. So when I found the pattern, I just had to do this. Of course, I never do anything strictly according to the pattern, so--- I converted the graphs to excel spreadsheets, which are easier for me to read these days. Then the inner panels between the squares in the pattern are stripes, and I didn't like that, so I used the baseketweave that is used on the border. The border on the pattern had the basket weave on 2 sides, and stripes (kinda) on the other 2. Too much for me! So I just did the entire border in basketweave and had to figure out how to get around the corners. I love the finished look. What do you think?

P.S. One of my Crochet Partners pointed out that one of the hats looks a little peculiar-do you see it? And she is right! Too late to frog it, but Penny says she thinks she can camouflage it w/cross stitch. So no fair entry for this item! And that's OK, that wasn't even in my head when I made it. Just glad it was noticed now, not later. Thanks, Nancy!