Black Friday

People are crazy!  I avoid Black Friday like the plague.  Shopping, unless yarn or books is involved, is not a favorite pastime of mine, anyway.  There is nothing in the world I need or want badly enough to battle crazy people for it.
I only caught a snippet of news Friday night, so Saturday when I checked the news, I was appalled to see how folks were treating each other--over some stupid game that the kid doesn't need anyway.  When I was much younger, I heard stories about ladies who would push each other and snatch things from other shoppers when the stores in downtown Los Angeles would have some really big sales, but I never personally saw any of that. A little crowding, cutting in line to pay is about as violent as it got.
But, to actually pepper spray other people to get a game, or steal from folks as they leave the store, or walk over a man having a heart attack.  This behavior has to stop!  Miss Manners is turning over in her grave..
I spent my Black Friday getting some packages ready to mail today.  First, and most important, was the package to my granddaughter, Nic.  She and her hubby are spending Christmas in Michigan with Josh's grandfather.  Grandpa has been very ill recently, so the kids are looking forward to seeing him soon.  Nic's birthday is right before Christmas, so I mailed both birthday and Xmas in the same box.  All crocheted by me.  But, being the very efficient person that I am, I forgot to take pics before I taped the box shut.  Duh!  What was I thinking?  I have a pic of one item as I am writing the pattern, but I forgot 2 others, also original designs which I have the notes so I can write the patterns.  Maybe after the holidays, Nic will take pics and send to me.  I'll tell you more later about what I made with what yarn.
My next box went to my Crochet Partner, Dawn.  Every year, Dawn puts together holiday gifts for our military persons who don't receive packages from home.  I've been contributing scarves for several years now.  This was my most productive year so far, with 18 scarves in total.  Some of my new scarf designs, available on Ravelry, came from this project.
The final package went to my daughter, Heidi.  When she was here about 4 or 5 years ago, she left some things behind when she went home.  I decided it was finally time to get them sent to her.  So, another package on its way.
I also worked on my Xmas cards.  But it seems, some folks don't want one of my snowflakes in their card this year as I can't seem to get the addresses I need.
I am so far ahead of schedule this year that I am not quite sure what to do next.

No WIPS!

That's right!  I have no WIPS!  I've have been working diligently trying to get them all done.  I have had a couple of baby ghans sitting around here for a couple of years.  There always seems to be something that has to be done, or some new pattern or method that catches my attention.  So, after we moved last year, and I unearthed all these WIPS, I vowed I would get them all done.  And I have! Feels kind of strange not to have a least one incomplete project sitting around.

Teddyghan is done. I used several different shades of pink to complete her.  This little ghan will be donated to Project Linus.

During our garage sale the first of the month, I met a local member of Crochet Partners.  Cheri showed me the Diagonal Fans stitch that she had seen online in one of her groups.  I was fascinated.  So Cheri shared her notes on how to do this stitch pattern.  After I finished the above ghan, I gave this a try.  So pretty!  I started with WW yarn, but that was just too thick and heavy.  So, I switched to some baby yarn that I had in my stash and an F hook.  Much better.  Of course, I had to turn it into an 8" square so it can go into the comfortghan project.

WIPs completed does not mean the project tub is empty-there are plenty more things to crochet here at Cayscrafts.  And the list seems to get things added to it each week.  

Other Stuff

There has been a lot of talk over at Crochet Partners abut the Crocodile Stitch.  I finally sat down a few days ago and made this cap.   I didn't have any idea what to do with it, I just wanted to make it.  Does that sound familiar to anyone? When I finished it, my roommate got all excited and said she wanted it.  OK!  It's hers.  It matches her pretty blue eyes.  I did use a larger hook, so it took more than the called for amount of yarn.  Which explains the solid color on the crown.  This cap is also crocheted from the brim to the crown.

The other thing I have finally finished is the Turkey Bookmark.  A few years ago when I belonged to the Bookmark Exchange at Crochet Partners, I was trying to find a bookmark for Thanksgiving, which is one of my fave holidays.  I couldn't find anything, so I took parts of this fridgie, and another fridgie, and some basic bookmark ideas and made my own.  Well, I took pretty good notes on what I did, but in my excitement, I mailed the bookmark before I took a picture.  So, the pattern has been sitting in my folder for a long time.

When I got my notes out and was ready to test the pattern I didn't have any dark brown size 10 thread.  What---!  So, Crochet Partners came through again.  Karen from Kansas sent me a whole ball of Fudge Brown.  It is beautiful thread.

Anyway, here is the Turkey Bookmark.

New afghans

I have been crocheting afghans!  Really!  I know you don't believe me cuz I haven't posted anything for a while.  But, I'm about to make up for that.  The only order of these is how I took the pictures.

The name of this afghan is Color Me. Thanks to Elaine, we now have the link to this pattern.  This is the ghan I entered in the county fair this year.  It took 2nd (red ribbon). 

This is just a Catherine's Wheel stitch that I did using using Kraemer Yarns Tatamy Tweed.  It's a small ghan but a little heavier as the yarn is 45% cotton and 55% acrylic.  Does wash up beautifully.

This ghan is my Baby Bobbles Afghan.  The free pattern is available on the Project Linus website.  It was made with Red Heart Soft yarn and I think the color was called Garden (??) and then a green border.

I am currently writing the pattern for this little number. It is a variation on the Catherine's Wheel stitch.  I'm thinking of calling it "Pocketful of Posies".  What do you think of this name?  It is made of 2 colors of Red Heart Soft Baby.

Mitered Squares afghan pattern is available on the Bernat yarn site. If you look closely, you can see variations in the colors from square to square.  I was trying to use up what I have in my stash.  The only constant is the variegated which is Red Heart Cherry Cola.

P.S.   All of the above afghans will be donated to my local chapter of Project Linus. 

What an Easy Fix

Absolutely amazing what one little change on the old computer can do!  I have been having problems for weeks, things not loading, slow, slow, slower.  When I finally got to the point I could not open my own PDF files, I knew I had a serious problem.  Oh, Please!  I can't afford a new computer right row.  I can't even afford to get my car fixed and I need my car more than my computer (I'm trying to convince myself).
Can't be my Adobe reader: I just installed the newest version recently (Adobe Reader x (10.1.1). 
OMG!  Maybe it is Adobe.  I talked to Peter and he told me to try to download it again.  Sometimes that takes care of the problems.  Tried that, still doesn't work.  Hmmm-OK-let's try uninstalling the whole thing and starting over.  Sh---!  now I'm getting a message that tells me "The feature you are trying to use is on a network resource that is unavailable".  So, I tried to install an older version, but it won't let me because I already have the newer version on my computer.  Catch 22 
Holy smokes!  Now what?  Common sense tells me that Adobe cannot be the only free reader out there, so I start searching.  It is amazing how many different readers there are!  And some of the features are way beyond my level of experience.  They do things I have no clue what they are talking about.  OK, need to slim this down some.  Finally settled on PDF Xchange Lite.  It appears it will do all I need done, plus some, without overloading me or my computer.  So far, so good.  I'm back up to speed and enjoying my computer again.  Even Facebook is moving along smoothly.  Yea!
Maybe I'll try to finish loading my patterns on my blog now.  Should be a lot easier.

Take a good look around this blog

The picture at the top and the color scheme aren't the only things that have changed.
Did you find it yet?  Look right under the picture at the top.  See them?  TABS!  Yes, tabs to my patterns. 
How exciting is that?  My friend, Andy, helped me to navigate Blogger to add the pattern pages. Right now there are only a couple, but there will be more, and as I have new designs, I will post them here as well as in my Ravelry store.
Just another step in my learning to navigate in cyber-space.

Letting Go

At some point in time, I have tried just about every craft out there.  So, consequently, I have supplies for all those things.  I have 2 or 3 different bow makers; punch embroidery needles and thread, cross stitch supplies, beads galore including beading looms, candy molds. We found 6 different glue guns. Lots of stuff.  And we won't even get into the yarn and crochet patterns that live here.
I have moved some of this stuff around for 4 or 5 times.  Time to Let Go!
We are having a garage sale the first of October, so I have been going thru all this stuff and am letting a lot of it go away.  I've even let some of the crochet patterns go.  My yarn stash is actually pretty small at this point.  But I have purged it a couple of times before.
So, if you're in Modesto on 10/1 or 10/2 and need a gas dryer, small freezer, 19" TV or a Bedazzler, come on by.