Pictures

As promised, I have pictures of the items I finished.

Bookmarks first. Here is the butterfly bookmark.

Here are two Starflower bookmarks.

I have also finished two Fleur De Lys bookmarks.



I also made the Dandelion Handbag using a skein of vintage yarn called Spun Snow carried with a white kitchen cotton. I lined the bag with a satiny material. I haven't decided if I want a flower on the bag or not, so I'm calling it finished for now.


Here are a couple more Rasta Hats I've finished.



I've started and frogged a couple more bookmarks, starting to get bored with doing them and I've still got a MAM one on my hook. Once I finish it I'll put bookmark making on hold and move to flowers in preparation for completing the finishing touches on those hats I made.

The wrap is moving along slowly. I am finding that I have to work on it late at night when the temperature has cooled down, otherwise I'm sitting there sweating all over it as I'm crocheting. These warmer temperatures have their benefits and drawbacks. What I've found odd for this area is the lower humidity which helps it feel ten degrees cooler than it actually is. Guess the summer heat will hit us soon enough and I'm certainly grateful today that it's not sweltering.

How difficult do we make it on ourselves and those around us when we can't find gratitude for whatever we have, wherever we are in our lives? I have found that no matter what I have or don't have, I am always provided what I need. I live a very simple life and perhaps this explains that circumstance but I think it's just that a life of faith, a real, authentic life lived in the moment brings peace to our souls. So I don't have a villa in France but I do have the ability to appreciate what I am offered, if it's just as simple as a day spent at the river's bank, sitting out with my crochet and my dog with the company of a friend.

A Few Things to Wrap Up

I figured out what configuration the bricks embedded in my yard were in, a half-circle. I haven't dug them out yet and there are considerably less than I was hoping for so I'm going to have to rethink the usage of them.

I've had no luck with the tomatoes, they died and now I want to rush out and pick up some and maybe get green peppers as well. I have the spot cleared in the yard, need to lay out top soil and border the bed, then plant. Instead of tomatoes though I'll be moving my lilies to that bed. Still, I may end up getting a couple tomato plants just because the thought of garden fresh tomatoes is tantalizing and I'd already gotten my hopes up by picking up the starts that have died. Fresh tomatoes are the best!

On a crochet note, I am currently working up The Wrap for myself for this winter. I have a hard copy of the pattern, picked up from WalMart I'm sure. It's been on my list of things to do for quite some time I just hadn't figured out what yarn combination I wanted to make it with. I really like the pattern done in black Fiesta and R.H. super saver but since my ideal here is to use up what I have in my stash I just wouldn't let myself go purchase the yarn specifically for this project. Ironic that I'll go pick up some yarn from a sale bin and add that to the stash but rather than buy for any project specifically I'll pull out the determination card and force myself to either try and use from the stash or not buy, lol, and let me tell you that's a difficult thing to do indeed, not buy yarn! Anyway, I happen to have a load of R.H. Heather in Purple Heather and so I ran upon it again in a stash trolling spree and decided (this time at least) it was the perfect yarn for this particular project and so out it comes. I had to rip it out and restart because the N hook the project calls for was larger than the N hook I pulled from my supplies. Funny thing is, I did a swatch before I started and it seemed to come out right but it sure wasn't working up right. So far I'm enjoying, it's an easy pattern, works up lightening fast and I should have it completed inside a week I believe.

As filler projects for times I want a break I've been working with thread to create bookmarks to add to my craft fair stash. I haven't taken pictures yet but I promise they'll be posted soon.

My nephew graduates grade school tomorrow night. He called to invite me to the graduation. Seems like the kids grow up all too quickly. I wish I'd thought to make him something. I doubt he'd really appreciate a bookmark or scarf, lol! He's really into wrestling these days! Ugh!!!!! I swear here and now there won't be a "rasslin'" afghan made though I do think I'll be starting one for him soon that will see him off to college.

Ah, I also made a purse that I'm quite pleased with and promise with the next post to have pictures of all the little goodies that worked their way off my hook this last week. Till then, happy crocheting all!

Playing Catch Up

My latest creations in crochet. I've been busy making Rasta Hats, hoping to find a market for them in one of the local specialty shops here in town. I have two finished and more in the works.


These are done in traditional colors and ww yarn. I plan on making some in other shades and some in non-traditional colors as well. Here's hoping there is a market and they sell like hotcakes.

I made a Half Moon Shawl using Jewel Box yarn. It's small but very cute.

I made a couple triangle shawls done freeform. This one is made with a pretty pink ribbon yarn.


The other triangle shawl is also made freeform using one of those lovely Fuzhio yarns I purchased on sale at Hancock's. It's a lovely ocean color and so soft and cuddly.


I picked up some tomato plants today from a local Freecycler who had extras. Have some planting to do on them tomorrow. They are beefstake tomatoes, look healthy and I just love fresh garden tomatoes. The lady had so many of them that what I took was only about 1/6th of what she was giving away. I plan on sharing the plants with another friend of mine who also loves tomatoes. Afterall, how many tomatoes can one person eat at a time?

That's about it from my little corner of the net. I hope to have more Rasta Hats to post by the end of the weekend.

How Wonderful is the World Wide Web?

Crochet Intellect Levels
Being such a novice at crochet it seems there is so much to learn about the craft that I'm not sure I'll get it all done. LOL, especially if I want to do any actual crocheting! I'm learning some basics and some intermediate concepts. I can do most stitches but I'm still struggling with yarn substitutions and with counts for various stitch patterns. I can follow to a tee, I just don't always know how to create from scratch. There are many sites I utilize in order to figure things out that I need or want to get done, and while I'm still wishing for a Crochet Stitch Bible and the Encyclopedia of Crochet I am quite happy with the options for solutions offered on the internet.

My HQ Page
This is partly the reason I started my HQ page. The other part is that I like having a centralized place where I can go to hunt patterns down. I have tried to categorize items into subsections; some of them are sparse and some are stuffed. The categories therein contain some duplicate links and some that are undoubtedly misfiled. For instance, I have tended to place most children's clothing items within the baby section and leave the kid's sections for older children's and teen's patterns. So if you utilize my page there are several hints I can give that might help your searches. One thing I have tried to do is keep the link as close to the actual name of the pattern as I can. This way if you know the name of the pattern you can do a search (Ctrl + f to bring up the search box) on the page itself. A hint, in order to search the actual page you must make certain that your cursor isn't in the search box on top of the page; this can be achieved by clicking on an open space prior to pressing Ctrl + f or by bringing up the search box and then using your mouse to click into the search box that appears at the bottom of the page. Some items are duplicate filed so if you're looking for plastic bag purse patterns you can find them in both Purses & Bags and Plastic Bag Crochet. I have also decided to leave dead links on the page and at the top I give an explanation of how to use the Wayback Machine to explore these dead links.

On my page are several links I utilize often when I'm trying to substitute yarns for projects. One place I really like is Yarndex because it makes yarn substitutions so much easier. There are some yarns that aren't listed but this site has a pretty comprehensive list. Another similar site for discontinued yarns is Vintage Knits. The Caron site also has a substitution chart for the yarns they carry. There are also several sites for substitution of threads. What comes to mind immediately is the old Crochet Partners substitution chart and the new blog, What Wheat Wrote that gives detailed information on thread comparison and substitution. Both are invaluable resources for the thread crochet enthusiast. Additionally there are a couple articles that offer information on various aspects of yarn here and here.

A Farewell to Yarns

Finally, time and energy together at once, took my pictures and have new goodies to show you all. I followed the events throughout Derby but had my own activities to attend to. I had an exploratory procedure done and will have results in a couple weeks.

So, having gotten snagged on a particular scarf I was making I ended up doing some other things, then finally finishing the scarf and a few more items and now we're up to today, which has me working on another shawl in that lovely Dynasty Fuzhio yarn I bought at Hancock's a few weeks ago. I ended up having to go back and purchase more of the ribbon (actually more like shoestring and just lovely to work with) yarn I bought in order to finish one of my new projects.

The scarf that snagged me up started out as the Flamenco Wrap triangular scarf. which I think is a gorgeous pattern but since I knew quickly into the project I didn't have enough of the railroad yarn I was working with I decided to just use the stitch pattern for the main piece and make this.
I finished the shawl off with an edging of alternating sc and a cluster of hdc,dc,dc,hdc. Put a quaint little touch to the shawl and I think it should do well at the marketplace. Had one lady exclaim that she loved the ribbon yarn and wanted me to make her a tunic in the same yarn. I will see this week if she's serious about the project, then give her an idea of cost. Not sure I can even find the yarn at a decent enough price for it to be affordable for her. I certainly don't want to do the work for free and I know how much yarns like these cost full price. We'll see. As you might suspect I will have pictures of the Flamenco Wrap at a future point since I haven't run across the right yarn for it in my stash yet.

Outside of some pink/black mix I have officially consigned all the railroad yarns I bought several years back to the scrap yarn bag. It's funny, with as much yarn as I have stashed here in this house I will miss this railroad type when it's gone. It started out as a bit of a hassle to work with and I was using it as a carry along with worsted weight yarns. I graduated to working with the yarn alone but it's always a bit tricky because it's so easy to miss the strand on the other side with your hook.

I worked up a couple more of those bucket hats with a smaller hook. I still haven't begun playing with decorative touches for all of them.

The most fun item I've worked on recently is The Golden Evening Wrap from The Little Box of Ponchos and Wraps. I used one of the yarns from Hancock's that I bought, in fact, had to go back for a bit more and I ended up buying the last three balls of it they had in the bin and have two balls and some of the third leftover. Heh, guess I'll have to find a small purse project for that yarn. It's turned out just wonderfully and I think it's overall the best project I've made lately.
The front of the wrap.
The back
The yarn used made the item bulkier than what is called for in the pattern but I think it's such a lovely colorway that it made the piece look like spun cotton candy. I can see this pattern working up with a variety of different yarns.
Here's a close up of the tie front.


The days have turned sunny and warm finally and I've been taking my work out on the back patio and letting the dogs run in the yard. Because I have two diggers and because one of my diggers is living outside now I've discovered a ring of brick buried in my yard a few inches down. I have intentions of digging it all up to see what was there; probably a flower bed. Might be enough bricks to do something like a fire pit with. I like the idea of finding and reusing something already at the house to make something else.

I recently participated in a CAL with a group I'm in. I whipped up this Solomon's Knot Shawl in one day! I suppose I should have gone with a larger starting chain since I didn't put the fringe that is called for on it.



Another bag I whipped out last week from another pattern found on the web. This one is called the Drawstring Cotton Bag and I used some balls of Sugar n' Cream cotton for the project.


Now that I've played catchup, I'll give you a sneak preview of the current WIP. This is another shawl, worked in a simple pattern and I love the way it's turning out.