60 scarves in 60 days

I found out about this wonderful project just as I was starting to make scarves for the Special Olympics project. I joined the group on Revelry and have been having fun making scarves. The hardest part was finding RH Delft Blue, but I finally got some at a local Wal-Mart. Here are 4 scarves I have made so far. Going from left to right, the first scarf pattern is from http://www.christinascrochethaven.com/ . The second one is from Crochet World, June 2006 which I modified for the colors and yarn choice. The pattern called for Lion Brand Homespun and a sizeN hook. I used RH ww and a J hook.

The third scarf is from a pattern in the Sept/Oct. '08 issue of Crochet today! The one in the magazine had more stripes but I didn't want to deal with all of those ends to weave in so I changed the sequence.

The scarf on the right is from the Red Heart website. There is also a knitted version. This is the site http://www.coatsandclark.com/ and search for special olympics. The link is too long and too unpredictable. I think the pattern is also in a magazine, but I can't put my hands on it right now.

Food for thought

I made some play food for 2 of the grandkids (they like to play with their kitchen set). This is what I worked on while sitting in the waiting room of the hospital -- small projects that didn't require a lot of thought!!

The cupcake and doughnut are their favorites.

They do like the s'more also, but aren't too crazy about the eggs and toast.

I also made them some hats. The first ones I made were too small. These fit much better. I think they are sooo cute!!

What a wild summer!!

The summer of '08 is one that we will always remember. On July 23, DH had a heart attack but wasn't really aware of what was happening until he got to the hospital (call to dr. advised him to get to the emergency room ASAP). They did tests and put in a stent. He spent 5 days there. The day he came home DD and her family (husband, 4 kids and a dog) arrived from Idaho. Her DH went back to Idaho the next day. Everyone stayed for almost 3 weeks, plus DS arrived from St. Louis with another grandchild. It was hectic, noisy and fun to have all of the grandkids interact with each other (some of the cousins had never met each other). I felt like an activities director trying to find things for 5 kids and 3 adults to do to get them out of the house. We took lots of pictures and have lots of memories. Picking and eating blueberries! Ice cream from Cooks's Farm Dairy is always on the schedule (we went twice for ice cream and once more just to see the animals). Getting ready to go to the Farmer's Market wearing hats made by Grandma/Amuma.

It was very quiet when everyone left, but we will have the memories!!

On Aug. 28 DH had quadruple bypass surgery. It was a very long day that began at 5:30 a.m. I was so blessed to have friends from church be with me for most of the day --Pastor Curt was there at 5:30 and stayed until Keith was in his room at 2:30. JH brought breakfast food and we had a "mini party" in the family waiting area (until others arrived). K pulled through just fine, but it was a shock to see him right after surgery. Then we began our long hospital stay. It was to be 5 days, but complications kept happening (irregular heart beat, high blood sugar, high blood pressure and the worst--the clip on his arm where they took out an artery for the surgery came off and they had to do a second emergency surgery on his arm to get it fixed). So finally he came home after 10 days in the hospital.

We are now getting on with recovery. We are walking every day--that is new for him, he wants to ride his bike and lift weights, but that has to wait until much later. This whole thing was so unexpected. He is the last person every one thought would have a heart attack. He works out very regularly (almost obsessively), rides his bike faithfully (he had just completed a 70 mile ride 4 days before the heart attack, with no problems), maintains a good weight and watches what he eats. BUT we found out that doesn't matter much if there is a heart problem in your family--heredity trumps everything. His dad died at 53 of heart problems. So now we move forward with a deep appreciation to the advances in the medical field.

Storms and more storms

We have had some very wild weather this spring/summer--lots of violent thunderstorms (which is very normal for St. Louis, but NOT for Michigan!!). We have had long power outages (thank goodmess for our generator) and then my computer went blank!! It took almost 3 weeks to get it fixed and returned from Chicago with a new motherboard! So I am now up and running again (I had to share our desktop computer with DH who works from home with it, so my time was very short). I did get some projects finished! I made this baby blanket for a new baby girl at church. It is a pattern that I purchased from an ebay store. It is the second pattern of hers that I have made. I seem to have trouble with the directions, so I just did what I thought it should have said!! I like the results.

I did some dishcloths also. The blue cat turned out a bit large for my tastesl

I also took a class for knitting a scarf with beads strung on the yarn. I have it half finished and really like it. The hardest part is string all of the beads on to the yarn!!

The Seraphina shawl I started has been frogged. I was going along very nicely, but the put it down and when I got back to it I couldn't figure out where I left off. I got frustrated and frogged the whole thing. I have since started a different pattern that is going much faster and I do like it.

I will post pictures when I finish it. I am using cotton which is nice for the hot humid weather we have had lately.

Shawl for Jenny

My wonderful daughter in law has had a tough year. Last summer her uncle died. Then her grandmother had a stroke (and is now in a nursing home). Just after Christmas her grandfather died (not the spouse of above mentioned grandmother) and her mother was diagnosed with stage 4 lymphoma. That sure is a lot for any one to go through in such a short time span. I made her this prayer shawl and gave it to her when we went to visit for birthday parties and Mother's Day. The yarn is Caron Simply Soft and in a really great new color with browns and turquoise.

Missions trip bears

A group from church is going on a missions trip to the Dominican Republic in a few weeks. I am not going, but I organized a group of ladies to make bears to be passed out to the children. There were 6 of us making these and they really were fun to make. Some were kniited, others crocheted. We had small ones made with baby yarn and large ones made with chunky weight yarn. My next door neighbor even put faces on hers (she made 28 bears. These are her creations. We made a total of 111 bears. This is what that looks like!
For shipping purposes I put all of the bears in 2 large travel packs and sucked all of the air out with a vacuum cleaner. They got very flat but will go back to normal when the bags are opened. We hope to bless all the children who receive these and to share the love of Jesus Christ.

dishcloths

I have been making lots of dishcloths lately. Some for an exchange, some for a KAL and 2 patterns that I tested. These are the ones I tested

The pig is part of an alphabet series. I think they would make an adorable baby blanket with "The Three Little Pigs" book as a great gift!

The second one is called baby hearts. Both were created by Susan Mrenna. Check out her great stuff here http://knitalittlestore.blogspot.com/. She also has a Ravelry store which she mentions on her blog.

I dropped out of the Monthly Dishcloth KAL challenge. I didn't really like the first May cloth and then had problems with the second one in May. But I did do the June one--Palm Trees and like it a lot. It makes me want to be at the beach!!

Then I did a dishcloth exchange with Nancy B. from my Craft Pals group. This is the lovely cloth that she sent me. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of what I sent her--I was in a hurry to get it mailed!! But she did like it.

I won !!

Two of my bookmarks won a prize--this is very exciting for me. These are the winners (the first one is the blue "bug" and the other one is the blue "lollipop" or "Balloon." I couldn't edit out the 2 middle "bookworms".
My prize was 6 skeins of white cuddlesoft yarn (baby weight) and a pretty small jade colored heart to be put on a chain.

wedding tea

I am going to a shower that is a bridal tea. I made this dishcloth for the bride to be, but I think I will call it a washcloth and include some fun soap with it. I used pink because her colors for the bridesmaids are pink and brown. This is just a little extra to put into the package. I am making her a lucious shawl. Pictures will come once I am finished. The wedding is the end of June and it will be in her parents' backyard. It should be lots of fun!

Bookmarks

I made these bookmarks for the Lil' Troopers group I am in. They are going to children in the hospital, so they are kid friendly. There was a contest, but I don't know the results yet. I am not that comfortable using thread, so I used baby weight or sport weight yarn for some of them. The red and navy book "worms" were made with worsted weight yarn.

March Exchange package for Mary

My internet friend in DE is Mary. She is also a real friend that I have met and "played" with several times. I was lucky enough to have her for my partner for a March exchange. I had lots of fun making things for her. The theme was "totes", so I made her 2. I was almost finished with the first one (market bag) when I got a new magazine that an interesting one in it, so I made

that one also. The smaller one (second one made) was done with a strand of WW yarn and strips of a plastic tablecloth knitted together. It was fun to do. I added the "bluebird of happiness." Mary's daughter, Summer (terrific lady who I have also met several times) is having her first baby soon, so she grabbed the small bag--she has always grabbed bags I have made for Mary--maybe that is why I made 2 this time. She is having a boy, so the bluebird also went to her. I did make some things just for the baby. This is a fleece blanket I edged for him. I also made a hat to match the edging.

These are other items I included with the package for Mary.

I will also post pictures of the wonderful items I RECEIVED from Mary!!

Where did the last month go?

I am not sure where the last month went, but I have been very busy. I made lots of pillowcases and aprons for a craft show that turned out to be a bust. Here are some of the items I made.Lots of pillowcases.... (I made a total of 15 for the

craft show. And aprons---12 different ones.

The one thing that sold were thrown in as an afterthought--dishcloths!!

Prayer shawls

I have been very busy making prayer shawls. This one is for a relative of a friend at church. The recipient's husband recently died. It is a wonderful butterscotch yellow done in Homespun

yarn using the basic v-stitch pattern.

The second shawl was made by a member of our prayer shawl ministry at church, but it turned out to be too narrow. I added the border and it now works much better. I gave the shawl to Donna yesterday and she was speechless. She recently had emergency back surgery and is "flat" for 6 - 8 weeks. This should help her recovery. This shawl was done in Red Heart Soft yarn and truly is very soft.

The third shawl is the one I struggled with the most. It was given to a VERY close friend whose husband is in stge 4 of stomach cancer. He just finished radiation therapy and is now undergoing chemo therapy. He has to be fed with a feeding tube. The hopes of the doctors (and us) is to shrink the tumor (at the end of the esophagus where it enters the stomach) so he can eat on his own. Please pray for Steve and Jan and their beautiful family. Jan's favorite color is green, so I chose that for the shawl. It is knitted in the basketweave pattern. I used Vanna's new yarn and it is very soft. Jan loves her shawl.

Happy birthday!

There are 2 birthdays in our family today. Our wonderful daughter-in-law is having a birthday. She is a saint to live with our son (we love both of them dearly). Happy birthday Jenny.

Our grandaughter Elise turns 6 today. She is the princess in her family--she has 3 brothers; one older and 2 younger. Happy birthday Princess!

I made her this quilt that she can use on her bed or on the floor. My picture is not in focus, but I can't re-take it because the quilt was sent to Idaho!!

I also made a pillowcase (again, out of focus--I really need to slow down when I take pictures) for her.

I found this plate the day before I mailed the package, so that got included (with a monkey one and 2 frog ones for the boys). There were some other things in her birthday package (pjs and a book). She should enjoy them. Her party is on Sat.

Valentine candy bags

I made these 2 bags for our DGDs for Valentine's Day. They are just the right size to hold a box of conversation hearts. The girls love them (they hold "Little People" among other things). I made one earlier to hold a box of crayons for Elise.

I got this pattern here

vhttp://suzies-yarnie-stuff.blogspot.com/2006/07/crayon-purse-pattern.html and made the strap shorter. I used cotton ww yarn.

She has great patterns.

Baby items for Lil' Troopers

I am part of a Yahoo group that sends baby items to military hospitals for the newborn babies. In Feb. there was a contest. This is what I managed to make and send (had higher hopes, but it didn't work out). I sent these 17 hats

and this poncho set.

I purchased a rotary cutter type blade called a skip stitch (used in my rotary cutter holder) and made holes with it all along a piece of fleece cut to baby blanket size. Then i crocheted a border all around the blanket. I used DK weight yarn. I love doing this and it is easy. I found patterns on the internet by Googling "crochet baby blanket borders" or something similiar. There are lots to choose from. You can get the blade by contacting Joyce Middlebrooks at skipstitch@gmail.com . Her husband makes them and she answers her email promptly. Then I found a burp cloth I bought from hemstitcher.com many years ago. The holes were pre-punched, so I just added the border.

I then had a baby shower to attend, so I made another blanket, but used a different border. I plan to make many more of these. They are fun, easy and FAST!!

Dishcloths

2008 did not get off to a very good start for us. There were 3 funerals, and cancer diganosis (friend's husband) that sapped a lot of my energy. So I have been doing lots of small projects that I can finish quickly. It has been very satisfying, plus it has done wonders for my stash depletion!! I made these dishcloths as part of the Monthly Dishcloth KAL challenge. I already posted my first Jan. one (football). There are 2 each month. This is the second one for Jan.

These are for Feb. The blue and cream one was fun, easy and fast--my kind of project.

The valentine cloth is a box of candy with a bow on it. It took me awhile to "see" it!!

I also made some cloths for exchanges. These 2 were sent to Marilyn.

Marilyn sent me this great cloth.

Jean sent me these two clots in January. It is great to get puffies like these in the mail.