Help with Borders! :)

Sorry for the lack of blogging, been busy finishing up the blankets! And the border on the last one is being finished as I speak! YAY! We put a border of 3 rows of single crochet on every blanket, which helps hold it together and give it more stability. Unfortunately, the big ones tend to take quite awhile! :)

We had a little help with the borders from Mr. Gary! :) I was working on a border, and he insisted he help, so I  showed him how.... he picked up amazingly fast, faster then anyone I ever remember teaching. Made me wonder if he's a closet crocheter! ;)

And not only did he pick up fast, he did an amazing job! Rachel (my friend, not my 2 yo sister) couldn't tell his stitches from mine! :)

Thanks for your help Gary!! Love ya!

Ultimate Scrubbie - Free Crochet Pattern

Ultimate Scrubbie - Free Crochet Pattern

I recently got an order for some scrubbies, and like always, I couldn't find a good pattern I liked so I made one up! This pattern is SUPER easy and SUPER fast!!!

Important Notes:
*You are welcome to sell items made from this pattern, but please do not sell this pattern. I would love it if you linked back here though!
*If you think any corrections should be made to this pattern, please let me know!
*All abbreviations used in patterns are explained here.

Finished Size:
About 3 inches in diameter, and 1 inch tall.

Materials:

-J hook

-Stitch marker
-Nylon Netting cut in 3 inch strips (tutorial coming soon!)

Pattern:

Pattern Notes:
*Place st marker in last st, and move it to last st of every round as you go through the pattern
*Starting on Row 2, pattern is worked in back loops only.

Pattern:
ch 2
Round 1: 6 sc in second ch from hook. (6 sc)
Round 2: 2 sc in ea st around. (12 sc)
Round 3: *2 sc in first/next st, 1 sc in next st, repeat from * around. (18 sc)
Round 4: *2 sc in first/next st, 1 sc in next 2 sts, repeat from * around. (24 sc)
Round 5: *2 sc in first/next st, 1 sc in next 3 sts, repeat from * around. (30 sc)
Round 6: 1 sc in each around. (30 sc)
Round 7: *sc dec in first/next st, sc in next 3 sts, repeat from * around. (24 sc)
Round 8: *sc dec in first/next st, sc in next 2 sts, repeat from * around. (18 sc)
After you finish round 8, the hole should be at a good size to lightly stuff the scrubbie with netting scraps if desired. I always do if I remember. :)
Round 9: *sc dec in first/next st, sc in next st, repeat from * around. (12 sc)
Round 10: sc dec in each st around. (6 sc)
Round 11: sc dec as many times as you can, fasten off.

Pull end through middle and into scrubbie. And you're done!

Block Party 2012 Report #3 - The Block Party!

Bad blogger, I know... can I use I've been too busy sewing blankets together as an excuse??? :) This post is a recap of Saturday the 4th... the Block Party!

Note: After saving pictures for this post... I realized I had a lot more than I thought I did!! Sorry for the picture overload!! :)

My dear wonderful mother and her spread of food!

Sign in/supply table - lots of white yarn, a few of the scissors from our scissors bouquet, name tags, a laptop for totals, and door prizes.

The "weaving in ends table"! A lot of people had given us blocks with the ends not woven in thinking we would use them to sew the blocks together. Not the case. :) Soo they wonderful ladies spent a good chunk of the day weaving in all those ends.

Just a note for anyone thinking about making blocks for us... PLEASE weave in your ends! :)

Blocks, blocks, and more BLOCKS!!! We had a few blankets laid out before I took these pictures so this isn't all of the ones we brought.

A bunch of the other items we collected like blankets, scarves, hats, booties, baby sweaters and toys.

My little brother Isaac (who has been a TREMENDOUS help and time save throughout this project but more on the in another post!), "Aunt" Kathy, and Mrs Diane P

Sadie K, with my BFF Rachel sitting on the side of her with a weird look on her face that she would kill me for posting here... hehehe! She attacked me for the camera to delete it, but didn't succeed, and now I have black mail! ;D

From left to right - Ms. Nancy H, Mrs. Diane P, Mae and Corrin K, and "Aunt" Kathy

Mrs. Mae, and Corrin K. Corrin is 18 and has Down syndrome like my brothers. She was a huge help and did a great job with her sewing. We are so thankful she came to help sew together blankets!

It was saddening for me to think about.. she is helping to sew together blankets for people with Down syndrome or other special needs, but unlike her, they were born in a culture where instead of people seeing their potential, they are shunned and looked down upon because of being a little extra special. Hence the reason they are sent to orphanages right away and later moved to institutions. So sad. :(

The blanket the weaving in ends table laid out and sewed when they were done with the ends.

My sister Rebekah sewing, with big Rebekah who taught her

The Rebekah's!

Left to right - Sadie K, my sister Anna, Makayla R, and Emily F

Mrs Bridget F, and Ms. Bernie L! These two ladies saw our flyers around town/our article in the newspaper and decided to come help! Along with Mrs. Patsy O (not in any pics), they finished two blankets and put a border around one of them. I later got a finished blankets with squares Mrs. Bridget F made!

Ms. Nancy H (above) also came from seeing our article/flyer, and a lady who also saw them stopped by and dropped off 50 blocks! We are soo thankful for the new help!!

Mrs. Lisa G sewing. She is "big" Rachel and "big" Rebekah's mom. :)

Anita/Me-mom/Nana F and Mrs. Edna Mae S

A blanket Sadie K laid out.... There is supposed to be a flower in the middle - the yellowish orange block is the middle of the flower, the greenish blue around it is the petals, the dark green going in a diagonal down is the stem, and the light greens to the side of it the the leaves... do you see it?? ;)

So ya! The pictures pretty much tell the story of the day! It was a great day, we had about 25 people there helping at one time or another, and got a lot done. Of course I was exhausted at the end of the day, but that's to be expected! :)

And again... a HUGE THANK YOU to EVERYONE who HELPED!!! We could NOT have done it without you!!

Posts coming soon are preparations for the second Block Party of the year which was this past Sat, the second Block Party (of this year), a post about Isaac, and a few other things. And once we get the blankets done (nope still not done), totals and pics of the finished ones! :)

Another Block Party THIS SATURDAY!

To help sew together the insane amount of blocks we have left, we are having another Block Party this Saturday! This time it will be at our house, and it will be from 9-sometime in the afternoon (come and go). A light lunch will be served, and we really would love your help!!

We only have about half of the approx. 1800 (yes, the number went up since this post!) blocks sewn together, and are going to try and ship out the blankets to Ukraine by the end of this month!! I can't stress enough that even if you don't knit or crochet, we can still use your help!! Everyone can help sew blocks together!!

So if you are local, we would love to see you Saturday for your help with this amazing project! Please email me for more info - forhisgloryhandiwork (at) gmail (dot) com.

Thank you!

Block Party 2012 Report #2

I had fully intended to get this post up BEFORE the Block Party last Sat, but things got a little crazy last week. I tried to post it yesterday afternoon, but an all afternoon nap (like from 11:30am to 5:30pm!!) was far more important! :) Here are some Block Part preparations that have taken place since the last Block Party Report - You can find Report #1 for this year here.


I don't think I ever posted about it here, but in August, my friend Rachel and I spent a week at my grandma's house, and spent a lot of time sewing together blankets. Here are some pictures! :)

All the blocks... sorted out in the basement!

First one laid out! This is a bigger one than the normal 6x6 or 7x5 we make and will fit a twin sized bed.  We tried to make a lot more of these this year with all the blocks we have.

First one, sewn together!

Our Mexican blanket! :) We had a lot of fun laying this WILD one out, and I think it's both of our favorites, ever! And we didn't use white to sew this one together, we used ORANGE! :)

Our Mexican one, finished! Sorry for the bad picture...

A baby one, finished!

Another one, laid out

And finished!

Some of the finished ones! It felt so good to have soo many done in August!

These have nothing to do with the Block Party, but they are headbands we made that week and donated to the local hospital.

Our lousy attempts at taking pictures of one we had laid out in the back of the van for the 4 hour trip home.

Rachel has this one at her house, and just finished the other day, so pictures of it coming when I post pictures of all the other finished ones! :)

And here are some pictures from last week taken in Block Central. :)

Anna (my 9 yo sister) making her first block... ever!

Isaac (my 7 yo brother) and his stack of 100 blocks that he made HIMSELF! His crocheting is another post in itself...

What do you think my family does for fun?? Crochet blocks and tackle piles of blocks of course!! :D

Weaving in ends, putting borders on blocks that were too small, making more blocks, all happening at Block Party Central! :)

My BFF Rachel came over on Friday night to help us get ready, and we both went shopping with mom.

We got this HUGE pot of beans, and a whole bunch of other yummy food.

We were both making blocks (actually I was putting a border on a blanket) on the way there and back, and on the way home mom and I hear a "Ut-oh... ooooppss!" from the other side of the car. Rachel holds up this -

She says it was dark and we were talking so she wasn't paying attention and it got to big. :) I believed her, but I still found it very amusing. Of course I wouldn't let her rip it out because I had to blog it! hehe what a mean friend I am!

Her loooonnnnnggg block compared to one that's the right size. :) It looked worse in real life than it does in the pictures.

The bouquet of scissors, taken after the mass collecting of scissors raid in search for scissors! :)

I think that's it for before the Block Party! The next will be off the Block Party, but I unfortunately, I forgot to take lots of pictures!

Block Party a Success!

The Block Party today was a great success! I'll have to admit, there weren't as many people there as I had hoped, and we only have about half of the over 1500 (YES, FIFTEEN HUNDRED!!! NO JOKE!) blocks sewn together, but it went great! We had about 25 people there, and everyone worked really hard!

I'll be posting more over the next few days, but I want to say a HUGE THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED!!!!

Here are a few pictures with no descriptions, in no particular order! :)