Crochet Sighting in Unexpected Place

Last Saturday, September 10th, I went to an annual church convention. It was held in New Brunswick, NJ, and about 12 churches from all over the state participated. I've been there before. In fact, I've sat in the same room many times. But I hadn't paid attention to the beautiful filet crochet piece on the wall. It was done and donated to the church in 1940, as indicated on the plaque.
The pastor was very gracious (and I think even a little proud that I would ask) and allowed me to photograph it. Unfortunately, I'm a terrible photographer, the piece is framed and behind glass, and the beautiful sunny day didn't help. The window across the room flooded the piece with light, which made it impossible to photograph.
Since I know I'll be back in that church for an evening meeting sometime later this year, I'll try to remember to bring my camera and try to photograph it at night.

I don't know how large it is, but I figure about 3 ft across and almost square.

Simple Shawl

This is how much yarn was left when I finished the shawl.

I started out with a long foundation chain, didn't count stitches but magically ended up with the right number. I then worked what is sometimes called the 'delta' stitch to the end. Delta forms little triangles with 2 double crochets and 2 chains. I can't explain it better, I've never written a pattern. Because of the way deltas are made, each row loses two triangles, one at each end. When I thought I was running out of yarn, I started thinking about a border and didn't like anything I came up with. Until I tried this: slip stich, chain, skip a stitch, slip stitch, chain, skip a stitch .... all the way from corner to corner and back. I think I did about 5 or 6 rows like that. When I could see only a few yards of yarn left, I did one row across the top and ran out of yarn.

The shawl is not rectangular, but it's not a full triangle either. I always think the triangle shawls end up too long, at least on me. This shawl is wide enough to wrap me and long enough to cover most of my back. Just perfect for a not too cold day.

The yarn used is an acrylic I picked up at a sale. There were 5-6 skeins in a bag, no label or brand name. The price was right for me -- $6 for it all! It feels very much like Simply Soft and the colors are nice. 

Then, while looking for a plastic bag to store the shawl until I'm ready to wash and give it away, I found another skein. It was tucked away in a bag I had taken with me to a doctor appointment two days ago. So I'm using it to add to the border, making the shawl slightly longer.

I like how the border looks in contrast to the body of the shawl.

Ponchos for a Little Girl

Using a pretty Bernat Baby yarn in pinks and yellows, I made this little poncho for a 2-yr-old girl in my church. I'm not too pleased with the poncho itself, but I love the yarn and the colors.

Having extra yarn, and extra energy, I decided to make a second poncho, slightly different and slightly larger, for the same girl.  



Unfortunately, I thought I had taken pictures of the second one after I finished it, but I didn't.

I do not have a pattern for either poncho, but I've made many like these over the years. When my youngest daughter was in kindergarten, she showed off her poncho and came home with 11 requests for similar ponchos. One of her friends wanted it in rainbow colors, another wanted it in pumpkin. Lucky for me, I had just received four large bags (big trash bags) full of yarn from a friend whose mother-in-law had passed away.

Another Baby Blanket

Another baby blanket I made recently. Seems everybody is having boys, and my stash consists mostly of pinks since I have 3 girls.  But I managed to dig up some suitably boyish colors in a lovely cotton blend. It's just a simple granny square.

The Shawl I Never Made

I have an old-fashioned chairback thingy pattern. It's meant to be like a half doily that you placed on the back of a chair. I don't think people do that anymore. Anyway, I read that it can be made in regular yarn instead of thread and it would be shawl sized, and it would only take a Pound of Love. I looked through my stash and found a Pound of Love -- I just had to try it! And off I went to work on my shawl.

After two days of following the pattern, I ran out of yarn! I guess I crochet too losely? Or maybe my Pound of Love was short a few yards? Either way, I didn't have enough to finish my shawl. So what was I supposed to do? I ripped it. Completely. It's gone.

Good thing I took some pictures because now I can at least look back at the shawl I never made. Ah well, someday....

The actual color was more blue than it appears on screen, very pretty.

Baby Blanket for Juana's Friend

My neighbor's friend is having a baby boy soon. So, I crocheted a baby blanket. This is a first for me, a round baby blanket. I followed a pattern and it worked pretty quickly with a Pound of Love skein I had in my stash. The trim was done with a coordinating color, leftover yarn from another project.

Coin Bag

About a year ago, my niece saw some of the beautiful crochet nylon I had picked up to make bags and asked me to make her a tiny coin bag, old-fashioned looking, with drawstring. She described it and I went home to experiment. After a couple of trials, I came up with this little bag. I think she liked it, but it's hard to tell with teenagers.

Neckwarmer 2

This is the third neckwarmer I made after my experiment with the Vanna White yarn. I wore the neckwarmer to church and my pastor's wife loved it and asked for one in brown. When I made that one, my daughter loved it and asked for one exactly like it. Luckily I had enough of the Simply Soft brown that I could make this one for her.

The First Neckwarmer

This is the neckwarmer I made for myself earlier this year. I had some Vanna White yarn in black and shades of gray and I wasn't sure what to make with it. I started experimenting with an idea for a neckwarmer using what knitters call short rows. I'll have to write it down soon, before I forget what I did.

It looks like a minuature skirt when it's not around my shoulders.

This neckwarmer led to three others, two in the same style and one very different (see my post on the strange neckwarmer I made for my daughter).

Strange Neckwarmer

I was playing with some leftover yarn a few weeks ago. I had two incomplete skeins, each about three quarters. I don't remember the yarn either but I love the colorway, greens to greys. I figured I had enough for a nice scarf but nothing else.

While I sat in front of the TV with the yarn on my lap, my second daughter came over and said she loved the yarn. "Can you make me something with it?" she asked. "Sure," I said, "but I don't have much so I can only do a scarf."

She agreed and I started experimenting with stitches and hooks. By the end of the night I was frustrated and gave up. The frustration went on for a few days. I tried hooks and knitting needles. Seed stitch seemed just right for the yarn. But then I caught a quick glimpse of something on TV - I don't know what I saw, but I changed my mind about the scarf. All of a sudden I knew exactly what I wanted to do. So I called over my daughter, future owner of this yet-to-be-made thing, and drew some squiggles on a piece of paper, explaining my thoughts as I went along. She opened her eyes wide and said, "I'll be the only one with it!"

I took that as a sign of approval and set to work. After a couple of nights in front of the TV, this is what I ended up with.



Crocheting a strange neckwarmer for my daughter





Neckwarmer in progress




Done!



There is no pattern and I've never been successful at writing a pattern, though I've made many things up -- mostly baby afghans, bags, and hats. But, if you're interested, here's more or less what I did.

I started with a foundation single crochet chain, maybe 30 or 32 stitches long. I joined it into a circle, not worrying about keeping anything straight, just joined it. And I continued making foundation sc. Every 6-10 stitches, or whenever I thought it necessary, I joined to a stitch from the 'round' before. I continued joining as I went along, spiraling around the circle until I was out of yarn. This is the result. My daughter loves it and so do I.