Monthly Archives: January 2011

I am so smitten with Ravelry.  I just haven’t gotten over how much I enjoy the Ravelry world. A couple of days ago I came across this almost finished scarf in my huge pile of yarn.  It seemed silly not to just finish it and reclaim the 10.5 circular needles.  There were only a few feet of yarn left, and no label, so I had no idea what the yarn was. I started doing some looking around in Ravelry and found it!  It is Yarn Bee Topkapi and the color is called Manisa.

I’ve had a book of snowflakes for a long time, but had not made any.  I’ve made other ornaments such as hearts and bells and used a supersaturated sugar solution to stiffen them, so I was excited to finally make some snowflakes.  I was thrilled with the results and the tree was stunning.  I made four each of eleven different snowflake patterns from American School of Needlework Crochet 101 Snowflakes by Delsie Rhoades and Kathy Wesley.

Hospice distributed all the lap blankets my friend took the same day she took them.  I was concerned that they might need more, so whipped out a batch of some that I knew I could make quickly.

This is a pattern I created to make a more practical lap blanket in the Navajo style I learned from my grandmother.

A couple more of Lyn’s blankets which are so quick and fun.

When digging through my humongous stash of yarn, I came across this throw I had started many years ago.  It is just a grid of double crochets spaced by a single chain.  I had intended to weave yarn going the other direction to give a plaid affect, but this was never going to happen.  I just edged it with a green double crochet border and stuck it in this batch.

This is an quick and fun pattern by Lion Brand.  I might use this one again.

This is a stitch pattern called Shell and Stripe from the Reader’s Digest The Ultimate Sourcebook of Knitting and Crochet Stitches.

To slide one last one into this batch, I did a super quick pattern with two stands.  I had one pound skeins of pink and yellow that I combined to make a peach blanket.

I’m very pleased with how my Christmas tree skirt turned out.  I knitted it in the round, and it measures 50 inches across. The crocheted fringe took 7 oz of yarn!

My friend took another batch of items to hospice in early December and I had five items in the batch.

These are two more of the round ripple blankets that are so quick and fun to make.

This kitty pattern was just so cute I just had to make it.  Other people were making it in lots of non cat colors, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do that.  I will most likely use this pattern again if I come across more cat colored yarn.

Yet another fun pattern called Jacob’s Ladder that I got to give a try.  I would make this one again as well.

This is a pattern I have made many times as a baby blanket, but this time as a lap blanket.  It’s hard to see the design with this knobby yarn. The pattern is Repose by Carol Prior in Leisure Arts Big Book of Quick Knit Afghans.

I was so excited to learn that a woman I used to work with was going to have a baby.  The bedding she chose for the baby’s room was a toile pattern with off-white background and light blue and taupe accents.  I searched around and decided this pattern named “Mint” for Friends by Brooke Shellflower in Leisure Arts Our Best Knit Baby Afghans would coordinate with toile.  I made a toile tote to use as a gift bag.

I recently shared my potholder pattern on Ravelry and got a lot of positive response. A knitting group in Oregon posted about collecting hand made potholders to include in Thankgiving food baskets for the needy and linked to my pattern. I was so excited about such a project I dug out a bunch of cotton I had on hand and whipped up a dozen and mailed them to Oregon.

With the small bits of leftover cotton I made three hodge-podge potholders for myself.

My cousin John was married in November and I sent some hand made gifts.

Only two in this picture, but I made three of these red cotton dish cloths using a pattern by Cathy Waldie.

I made three red cotton potholders with my own beloved pattern.

This autumn print mitered afghan was so much fun to make but was definitely a labor of love since I had to work on it nonstop for nearly three months.  It is made with Vanna’s Choice yarn which I liked working with and with a pattern by Chris de Longpré which I will most definitely use again and again.

I have been making this double thick potholder for years and several years ago took the pictures and put together the instructions in a word document.  I decided it was time to share it in a more usable format, so added a pattern section to this blog.

So how many of these have I made? Well there is this one, and this one, and this one. This is just a very easy but elegant pattern. It is published as a full sized afghan made with two strands of worsted weight, but I usually make it for a baby blanket with fewer stitches and one strand of a bulky thread.  This one is in Red Heart Baby Clouds.  The much loved pattern is Repose by Carol Prior in Leisure Arts Big Book of Quick Knit Afghans.