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.