My First Knitted Dish Cloth

Quite a while ago, I started my first knitted dish cloth. I started it at the beginning of Febuary. I got it just about 3/4 of the way done by the Block Party, and then I set it down. Yesterday, I was watching Knit and Crochet Today on TV. They did the knitting project first, so I was sitting there watching them knit. Watching them inspired me to pull out my knitting and work on it. My knitting project happened to be my dish cloth. I ended up finishing it. Then I put a single crochet border around it. I used size 7 needles, and it is all the basic knit stitch. I am really glad to finally have it done! I am planning on bringing it to the fair in August.

My knitted dish cloth - I still need to block it before fair because it doesn't lay flat. This picture doesn't show very well the actual deep red color.

More Slippers and LOTS of yarn

Since we figured we would be making lots of slippers, my mom and I bought lots of yarn to make them with. I had bought a 1 pound skein of Caron yarn to make blocks with before the Block Party. Joann Fabrics carries Caron One Pound Yarn - you can find it here. There are mixed reviews about it. Some say that it is the worst yarn ever, it splits and it is rough and uneven with lots on knots. Others say it is their favorite yarn, it is sturdy and soft, and it washes up nice. Caron One Pound Yarn is my favorite yarn to use! I love it - it isn't soft, but it isn't rough or uncomfortable to work with and it holds up nicely. It doesn't split at all when I am using it like most other yarns do. I would recommend it to anyone, but it might be kind of hard for some people to use up a whole pound of yarn (it isn't for me!). We bought the three Caron skeins on the left (in the picture below) to use together to make slippers, as the pattern I use for slippers uses three strands of worsted weight yarn together. The blue yarn we had bought to use to sew the cross blanket together, put the border on the blanket, and the rest to make slippers. The yellow yarn we bought to make slippers with the blue, because blue and yellow are the two colors on Ukraine's flag. The blue and yellow aren't really the right shades though. The yellow yarn isn't Caron One Pound Yarn, it is Pound of Love. It is much softer.

All five of the huge skeins - I put a tape dispenser in the picture too so you can see how big they are.

The three skeins to make slippers with and a the tape

A pair of slippers I made using the blue and yellow (see above) and a strand of white

These are some slippers I made with the three big skeins. I have made three other pairs with the same yarn, but different sizes, and I plan to make more to use up the yarn. The skeins are much smaller now, than they were when I took the above pictures, but they will still make lots more slippers.

These are some slippers that Mrs. Pasty O made for us to send over to Ukraine

Here are some more slippers that she made

And here are some adorable baby booties that she made. I attempted this pattern but couldn't figure out what the directions were saying. :-) I will figure it out though. Thanks Mrs. Patsy O!

Pom Poms and Fringe

I have been asked how to make pom poms. So this post is going to be about making embellishments for your projects. I am not going try and explain how to make them so I am just going to put links to the different sites that show how to make these things. There are lots of things that you can make to decorate your projects but these two - pom poms and fringe are the two basic things.

To make pom poms - There are several links I found that explain how to make pom poms.

http://www.kid-craft-central.com/pom-poms.html I don't really like how this link explains how to do it. It isn't really efficient because you have to keep putting the yarn though the hole.

http://knitting.about.com/od/learntoknit/ss/pom_poms.htm I really like how this link explains it. She is very clear on how to do it with lots of pictures. The way she does it is probably easier that than the way I do it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BRjpRfm1X8 This is how I do it, but they don't knot it very tight in the video.

There are also these really cool pom pom makers that you can get. The name brand is Clover. You can buy them here at Joann Fabrics (Joann sells them online only) here. I do not have any, (but I really want some, Mom - hint hint) and I have learned from reading reviews that they are kind of hard to learn how to use, so http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGd0PUWY6m0&feature=related that video explains how to use them. (After watching that video it makes me want one even more.)

To make fringe - I also found several links to make fringe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V23mjk8rphw - The lady in this video goes through the process very slowly on how to do it. It is a long video (7 minutes) but it is very helpful for beginners.

http://www.ehow.com/videos-on_5406_make-fringe-afghan.html - This is the link for a video series about how to make fringe on eHow.

http://crochet.about.com/od/clothingforwomen/ss/swskscarf_4.htm - The description on this link isn't very detailed, but it has a helpful picture.

http://www.needlepointers.com/displaypage.aspx?ArticleID=29906&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.patonsyarns.com%2fimages%2fglossary%2ffringe.jpg - This is a link to a very helpful picture on how to put fringe on.

I am sure there are fringe makers out there, but there are none that I want. :-) http://www.sewvacdirect.com/myown-fringemaker.html?gdftrk=gdfV2739_a_7c861_a_7c3747_a_7ctaco_d_frnge1327 - This is the link to a really nice fringe maker, but it is a little pricey.

http://www.amazon.com/Tassel-Master-Fringe-Maker-Tool/dp/B000WS7FO4 - This is a link for a fringe and tassel maker that isn't quite as pricey.

I haven't looked into to either of these to see how well they work, but I can if you want me to.

A scarf with fringe

Hope all these links helped you learn how or at least inspired you to put embellishments on your projects - crocheted or knitted. Pom poms are a great addition to the top of your baby hats, and fringe adds alot to your scarves.

Block Party Report #4

I can't believe has been over a week already since I last posted. This report is going to be pictures of the finished blankets. We are all done with the blankets!!! It took quite awhile but it is well worth it. Thanks again to every one who helped!

Here are all the blankets

I have no idea why this one is sideways. It wasn't like that before I loaded it into blogger. You just have to turn your head to the side to see it the right way. :-)

Here is one of the blankets we made. If I remember right, we made this one at the second Block Party.

Here is one we put together at the first Block Party.

Another one we put together at the first Block Party.

Another one we put together at the first Block Party.

One we put together at the second Block Party.

Here is one we laid out at the first Block Party, but we never finished putting it together, so my mom and I finished it.

Here is the one that my mom and I put together before the first Block Party.

This is a really bad picture of the last blanket. I don't know why this one is sideways either. It is also blurry and stretched. I'll try and take a better one for my next report. Anyways, this is the last one we put together. It is 5 by 7 squares instead of the 6 by 6 squares that all of the rest were. If you turn your head and look at it the right way, it looks like a cross. This is my favorite blanket. Note: the red block at the foot of the cross is one my dad made.

We are packing the things up next weekend, so remember there is till time to get things to me to send over to Ukraine. Thank you again to every one who helped make these wonderful blankets!!!

Winter is NOT over! :-(

My friend Brianna posted on her blog that winter is over. Unfortunately, she live a number of states away from me, and winter is over by her, but it isn't here. :-( The last few weeks it has been really nice outside, it has even gotten up to 70 degrees F! In fact, exactly one week ago, it was 80 degrees! All the snow was gone, and we had most of our winter things put away. Easter Day was a little chilly, but it was still sunny. But on Monday the weather started getting bad. On Monday, Tuesday, and yesterday it rained on and off with a few thurderstorms. By supper time yesterday, the rain had let up, but it was cold outside. Then this morning, I woke up to snow on the ground, and it is still snowing! And the worst part is my friends Rachel and Rebekah G (who were at the Block Party Round 2) and their older brother Josh, are in Flordia! They left on Monday, and took the nice weather with them! It has been in the 80's and 90's down by them, and they go to the beach every day! Aren't they lucky? I just hope they are nice enough to bring the nice weather back when they come back on Saturday. :-) Below are some pictures I took of the snow.

Our cat, Tiger deciding wheather or not to go over the drift

She decided to and look at the face she gave me for taking a picture of her

This is one of my favorite pictures

Look how deep the snow is!

I know what I am going to do today - Curl up in a blanket, and make slippers to keep my tootsies warm. :-) Have a good day and stay warm! (Well, Rachel I don't have to tell you to stay warm!)

Slippers!

After the Block Party last Saturday, I decided to try making a pair of slippers. I was told that they need hundreds of pairs of slippers over in Ukraine, where we are sending the blankets and other things. Right now I have 5 pairs done. There slipper pattern I used is found here (when something is underlined like that it is usually a link you can click on to go to a website). Below are pictures of the slippers I have done.

Here is a pair of red, white, and blue slippers - these are the biggest size I have made so far, they are a large men's size

Another pair of red, white, and blue slippers

Still another pair of red, white, and blue slippers - they are both made with the same yarn, but the colors lined up differently

The slippers above were all adult slippers, but these are a pair of child slippers

Here is another pair of adult slippers - they look different because I ran out of the pink yarn, so I had to use a stand of white instead on the other slipper

Little Miss Rachel is fascinated by strings, so she is very happy to sit next to me when I crochet and play with my string. Our cat, Tiger, also likes to sit next to me when I sit outside and crochet on our deck or porch. When I pull a bunch of yarn out of the ball, it starts moving as I use it up, so the cat pounces on it and bites it. Thankfully the cat doesn't like the taste of it, so after awhile she leaves to go find a mouse that tastes better than my yarn. :-)

I am sending these slippers over to Ukraine with the blankets. As I said above, they need hundreds of slippers over there, so if you have the time and yarn, please consider making some to give to me to send over. We are packing the things on April 24, so I need the slippers no later, than the 22nd. If you still want to make slippers or other things, but you can't get them to me by the end of April, I will start collecting things for the next time things are shipped (things are shipped 3-4 times a year). Almost anything you can make, they can use, so we are collecting pretty much everything.

The reason I help so much with things like this and I am always looking for ways to bless others with my talents which God has given to me is because - I serve "just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:28 NIV)

Block Party Report #3

This past Saturday (Block Party Round 2) went really well! We had 3 s come, and we got almost 2 blankets done. That is a lot more than we got done last Saturday considering that this Saturday, we had less than 1/2 as many people, and we had an hour less this morning. However we spent a lot more time laying out the blocks and than we did this time. I had a lot of fun visiting with my friends, and it sounded like they had fun too!

Mrs. G holding Rachel

All four of us working on one of the blankets (and little Rachel in the background)

Part of the blanket we were working on

"Big" Rebekah G and Cortnie G work on their rows (and little Rachel in the background)

Mom working on the blanket with little Rachel on her lap

(Big) Rachel G and I working on our rows

(I do not like this picture of my myself - I look frustrated, don't I?)

"Big" Rachel working on her row. We call her "big" Rachel because my little sister is also Rachel, and this Rachel is bigger than my little sister. :-) There is also "big" Rebekah (picture of her above, and she is big Rachel's sister) and little Rebekah, my sister.

Thank you s for all your help! We got a lot done! And I had fun visiting with you!

I have been asked if we are going to do another one next Saturday. The answer is no, because my mom and I have been working the last few days on getting the rest of the blankets sewn up. We are almost done, we are just finishing up the scarves that we are making with the extra squares that weren't enough to make a blanket with. I will post more pictures of the finished blankets soon!

Block Party Report #2

Here comes report #2! This one isn't so long, I promise. I didn't post pictures of the baby/toddler hats and sweaters in the other one because it got too long. So this post is pictures of those. Like I said in the last post, we collected 22 crochet baby/toddler hats, 18 knit baby hats, and 3 crochet baby sweaters.

Here are the hats that Barb F made that I also put in the post Block Party Preparations.

Here are the rest of the knitted baby hats we collected. (I made one too that I do not have a picture of.) The pattern that was used for all of the knitted baby hats can be found here.

Here are all of the crochet baby/toddler hat we collected. They all vary in size as some are preemie hats, and others are toddler hats. One of the patterns that was used for some of the hats is the one I posted, which can be found here. I made about 7 baby hats with that pattern.

Here is another baby hat I made. I made this as a sample of the pattern I posted which can be found here.

These two baby sweaters were made by Patsy O. Thanks Pasty!

I made this baby sweater. I looks really boring compared to the two above, doesn't it? The pattern for the baby sweater can be found here. It is from the same website as I got the pattern for My Grandpa's Hats from.

The title of this post says Report #2, and the last one said Report #1, so you have probably guessed that this is going to be a series of posts. I have lots more from the Block Party to post about, like more pictures from Saturday once we get the camera cord; and pictures from this coming Saturday; and of course, pictures of everything once they are done.