Another slow week...

This week has been slow again in terms of crocheting. I made 4 Magenta granny squares and started 3 pumpkin fridgies. Those are for Halloween gifts for my co-workers. I'm also making bookworms for them. In other news, I'm loving my new job. It's an awesome job, the perfect position for me.

My plans for the next week include finishing the turkey fridgies for Wesley, making a fish for my cousin Dana, a purse for my cousin Alyssa J, and a dog for my friend Alyssa A. I also hope to start on the snowman ornaments for a friend at church. Then there are squares for my sister's afghan and my cousin's. Busy, busy, busy!

I also need to make some story time props (i.e., magnets) for November and December. I'll be making airplanes, feathers, cookies, hats, and something Christmasy (I haven't decided yet). Can you guess the story time themes?

Until next week, happy crocheting!

Slowly But Surely

It's been a pretty quiet crocheting week, but I am still settling in to my new job and adjusting to the commute. This week, I finished more than I made. All that I finished went in treat bags for the pumpkin carving party. I finished 8 pumpkin coasters, 8 candy corn fridgies, 10 owl fridgies, 8 jack-o-lantern fridgies, and 3 black cat fridgies.

I made 7 bookworms using I Love This Yarn in the color they call Boo. I also made 2 owl fridgies--5 of the 10 were story time props and 5 went as favors at the pumpkin carving party. And I finished up the Gemstone yarn and made 7 squares for my cousins afghan.

My plans for this next week are pretty simple: more squares and any little projects that I can manage.

Until next time, happy crocheting!

New Beginnings & Old Projects

Well, as most of you know I started a new job this week. I'm a youth services librarian for a regional library that serves four small libraries. I'm loving it! One of my main responsibilities is preschool story time, so you'll probably be seeing more crocheted story time props on the blog.

Commuting and working have reduced my crocheting time. I do try to crochet a little on my lunch break and in the evenings. Most of my crocheting will likely take place on the weekends.

This week I've made 9 Real Teal and 3 Gemstone granny squares for my cousin's afghan. I also made 1 bell and the bases for 5 turkey magnets. These are for my three-year-old cousin Wesley. He liked the one I made for my other cousin Jonah.

This weekend, I'll be finishing up some old projects that I started more than two years ago. The reason for them went away so I never finished them. I'm finishing pumpkin coasters and a variety of fridgies (candy corn, black cats [my own pattern] owls, and jack-o-lanterns). My thirteen-year-old neighbor Kyra is having a pumpkin carving party the week before Halloween and I'm giving these as favors. Five of the owls are story time props for my first story time next week. Can you guess the theme?

Other plans are much the same as they've been for the past two weeks: squares for the two afghans, a fish, a purse, a dog, some slippers, and some turkeys.

Until next week, happy crocheting!

Well...

For some reason, this has been a slow crochet week. I think I let myself get bogged down in a couple of bigger projects and didn't have the energy to work on the smaller ones.

I mentioned in my last post that I made two skinny scarves this week for the two five-year-old girls on my list. For one I used Red Heart Super Saver's Melonberry. For the other, I used Red Heart Super Saver's Orchid and I Love This Yarn in Seaspray Ombre.

I also made a test run sweater for our Boston Terrier Chester. He likes to walk and has a short coat so I thought he needed a sweater. I used Lisa Hamblin's Dog Sweater pattern. Chester has an odd build. He's a very skinny Boston and is built like a racing dog with a narrow waist and a big chest. This first sweater didn't fit him quite right and he hated being put into it. I'm reworking the pattern to make the whole piece in rows instead of rounds so I can add buttons and buttonholes. I'll let you know how it turns out.

The only other thing I've made this week is 5 Soft Navy squares and 1 Real Teal square for my cousins afghan. On Monday, I start my new job and my leisure time will be reduced considerably. My focus will remain the same: gifts for my immediate family and then all the kids.

My plans for this next week are much the same as they were for this week: squares for the two afghans, a fish, a purse, a dog, turkeys, and 2 hats & scarves for little girls at church.

Today, I'm off to enjoy a local craft festival that my family set up for about 10 years as vendors. I would have my crocheted items, Mom sewed & quilted, Dad made knives, my uncle quilted & sewed, and my sister did different things every year. We haven't set up in about 4 years, but I enjoy being a spectator. So many great things to look at and then the wonderful food!

My weekly updates will likely be moving to Saturdays, but they will still over the week beginning Saturday and ending Friday. Until next time, happy crocheting!

Another productive week

My apologies that this weekly update is late. I had limited access to the Internet over the weekend, but I did get a lot of crocheting done. Not to confuse my faithful readers, this update is for the week beginning September 25 and ending October 1.

I had several birthdays this past week and decided that turkey butt fridgies would make great gifts. (This pattern was available online for free, but has since disappeared.) I made 1 for my cousin Jonah who turned 12. In his card, I encouraged him to shake his tail feathers more. I made another for a little boy at church who turned five. I also included a few bookworms to round out the gift. The last turkey I made was for my cousin Autumn who turned 10. I liked hers best because I used unusual colors: Soft Navy for the backside, Spa Blue for the feet, and Shaded Purples (pretty sure this color has been discontinued) for the feathers.

The pastor's wife also had a birthday in the past week. She likes snowmen so I made her two snowman ornaments for her tree. I also made the lion ornament (using a finger puppet pattern) for my niece. The mane utterly defeated me. Apparently, I'm not meant to do loop stitch. But I made up my own pattern and it turned out quite nice.

Autumn is one of the kids on my list that I draw a blank on. I mean, what do you make a kid who LOVES to read for Christmas? Even she didn't know. She did ask for more bookworms, but I want to make her something else as well. I finally had an inspiration. She's reading The Guardians of Ga'Hoole series by Kathryn Lasky. I've decided to make her an owl. I found a cute pattern from Coats and Clark (Cutest Little Owl). I used Sandy Print for the head and body, Shaded Browns for the wings, Cornmeal for the beak, and Black/Coffee for the eyes. It's still in pieces, but I think it will turn out just fine.

I also made some granny squares this week. 8 Honeydew for my sister's Christmas afghan and 9 Gemstone for my cousin's Christmas afghan. She likes pinks and purples. I'm using Gemstone, Magenta, Real Teal, and Soft Navy so far. It's going to be a smaller afghan, 7 x 12 squares.

My plans for this week are ambitious and already started. I've made 2 skinny scarves for the 2 five-year-old girls on my list. I wanted to make hats too, but they're hard to make when you don't have ready access to the kid for measurements. My other plans for this week include squares for the 2 afghans, a fish, a purse, a dog, some more turkey fridgies, and some bells.

Most of the stuff I've made hasn't been finished yet. I foresee a two or three day stretch when all I do is finish these and get them ready to wrap.

With any luck this week's post (October 2 - October 8) will be posted as usual on Friday. Until then, happy crocheting!

A Most Productive Week

Wow...have I crocheted a lot this week.

First, I made a skinny scarf for a little girl at church. She turns 5 on Monday. I used a half double stitch and REd Heart Super Saver's Melonberry. Her favorite colors are pink and purple.

Then I made many squares for my sister's Christmas afghan--10 out of Honeydew and 13 out of Aruba Sea. The Aruba Sea squares are now done.

I also made the pieces for 2 stuffed cats. They are for the two one-year-old girls on my list. I used lots of scraps in making them. (Side note: I watched Disney's That Darn Cat starring Hayley Mills while making these.)

In addition, I made 5 bell ornaments with Red Heart Super Saver's Cherry Red.

I'm starting a new job in October (Yay me!) so I'm sure my crocheting will slow down a little. This may be the year that some people fall off my list.

Until next time, happy crocheting!

Hogwarts House Scarves

As promised, here is a picture of the Hogwarts House Scarves (Gryffindor & Ravenclaw) I made recently and my original pattern.

As always, You may use this pattern for your own personal use. You may provide a link to this pattern from your website, but not the pattern itself. Feel free to sell what you make from this pattern, but please give me credit as the designer.

Hogwarts House Scarf Pattern

(Prisoner of Azkaban style)

~designed by Bridget R. Wilson~

Materials:
-I hook
-7 oz. (at least) main color
-Smaller amount of contrast color
-Scissors
-Yarn needle

Suggested Colors:
Gryffindor: Burgundy/Gold (SS/CoS); Claret/Gold (PoA/GoB)
Hufflepuff: Bright Yellow/Black (SS/CoS); Gold/Black (PoA/GoB)
Ravenclaw: Royal/Warm Brown or Light Grey (SS/CoS); Soft Navy/Cafe or Light Grey (PoA/Gob)
Slytherin: Hunter Green/Light Grey (SS/CoS); Dark Sage/Light Grey (PoA/GoB)
[All colors are Red Heart Super Saver Yarn.]

Stitches Used: hdc, ch

Note: ch 2 does NOT count as 1st stitch

With main color, ch 22

Row 1: hdc in 3rd ch from hk and in each ch across. ch 2 & turn. (20 hdc)

Rows 2-18: hdc in each st across. Ch 2 & turn. At the end of Row 18, chg to contrast color. (20 hdc)

Rows 19-20: hdc in each st across. Ch 2 & turn. At the end of Row 20, chg to main color. (20 hdc)
Rows 21-24: hdc in each st across. Ch 2 & turn. At the end of Row 24, chg to contrast color. (20 hdc)

Rows 25-26: hdc in each st across. Ch 2 & turn. At the end of Row 26, chg to main color. (20 hdc)
Rows 27-44: hdc in each st across. Ch 2 & turn. At the end of Row 44, chg to contrast color. (20 hdc)

Continue in this manner until the scarf is desired length.

Pattern:
18 rows main color
2 rows contrast color
4 rows main color
2 rows contrast color
18 rows main color

End with 18 rows main color so the scarf pattern is even.

Run in ends with yarn needle. You can add fringe if you like.

Fringe: Cut 60 pieces of contrast color, 10 inches each. Put groups of 3 in every other stitch.