Booties

I have tried to make slippers before, but the result was not what I wanted.  I gave up that aspect of crocheting.  But it seems that something always happens to bring us full circle.

And so it did.  A cousin of mine had a little baby girl at the end of last year.  This little girl is full of special needs, which means she is also full of blessings.  They don't live near me, so I have only been able to see pictures of her.  She is so small and dainty.

I can't begin to explain the problems this little girl has, mostly because this particular problem is unique to ONE FAMILY in the world!  My cousin happened to marry into that family.  What are the odds?  Really--what are the odds?

So I gave in!

I made my first pair of Premie Baby Booties.

That's a quarter, by the way -- just for reference.  They are about 75 cents long!

I think they turned out pretty cute.  But I had to guess at the length of her feet, so I hope they fit.

They fit Dear Hubby's largest finger and 2 of mine.

Lapghan for Fisher House

Here is a picture of some blocks I made after they were put together in a lapghan for Fisher House.  Makes me feel good to help anyone, but especially wounded soldiers.

Frogging

I DON'T LIKE FROGS!

ANY KIND!



CUTE

RELAXED

DOESN'T MATTER

I JUST DON'T LIKE THEM

BUT THE WORST KIND  IS......

CROCHET FROGGING!!!!

At one time; ALL THIS YARN was part of an almost finished project.

Gabby's New Home

My brother's family got a hamster for Christmas.  Around that same time, I found a "Hamster Cave" pattern.  Of course I had to make it.  So I did it and finished it in January. 

I finally took it to them this week!   Everyone had to play with little Gabby. They told me she was soft & furry, but I let them have all the fun.

Gabby started exploring her new cave right away, which made me feel good! 
She even had to make sure that the roof was okay.

The Lorenz Manifold

Math and I just did not get along when I was in school. I can no longer help Dear Daughter with her math because she is now in Algebra. So it’s really funny that I love to crochet mathematical pieces! I guess all knitting & crochet is mathematical, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the Hyperbolic crochet and the Lorenz Manifold.

(http://www.enm.bris.ac.uk/staff/hinke/crochet/)

Yeah, me too! I had no idea what it was, but it looked really cool. The original couple who crocheted it said it took them 85 hours of work. Well, so far, I estimate that I have put in about 20 hours. I skimmed the paper they wrote about it and stopped when I got to something that looked like a pattern. I began and failed, began again and failed again. Then I decided to do some internet searching about it. I found that the pattern actually began on page 22 and I had stopped at about page 10.

Needless to say that has been lots of “frogging” with this project (rip it, rip it).

I have found that I need to count the increases before beginning each round and use some kind of stitch marker to indicate where they will be for each individual round.

Remember that the first stitch for each round is 0, not 1, when creating the Lorenz.

Baby's First Teddy Bear

I love little projects that work up quickly AND have a real use. This little “Baby’s First Teddy” is one of those quickies. The pattern is found at the Velvet Pumpkin. (http://www.angelfire.com/va/thevelvetpumpkin/Bear.html )

Urban Graffiti

Around New York City, there is some unusual graffiti appearing aroaund the city. If I were there, I would be tempted to add to it.  

Maybe  I will add to it here.

There are times I wish that I knew how to knit. This is one of those times.   

My contribution to the

urban graffiti would be to

COVER ALL THE HOT DOOR HANDLES

in our Arizona summer.

So, who wants to teach me to knit?

My Big Weekends

Most of you are getting ready for Halloween. I can't stand the day, so I try to ignore it. Since my grandchildren live in other states--I can do that. But I am looking forward to this weekend and nest weekend. In a big way!

It's the PBR Finals!!!!

These riders are the top 3 riders in the world going into the 7 days of finals. But anything can happen and it usually does.

My poor family is kicked off the TV when the Finals are on and since it's once a year, they usually don't complain!

If you need to call me--don't do it when the finals are on TV. I will be busy crocheting and doing commentary from my recliner!

You can watch too. It's on VERSUS Network.

FeelGood on TV

Here is a TV interview about the FeelGood Campaign. It only mentions knitting, but I think that crochet is the way to go!

A New Project

Have you ever heard of “Lands’ End”? Of course you have! To be honest, the closest I ever get is drooling over the catalogs.

Have you ever heard of “Warming Families”? http://www.freewebs.com/warmingfamilies/

How about “One Heart Foundation”? http://oneheart.org/

Well these organizations are working together in Lands’ End “FeelGood Campaign” extending from September 1, 2009 through December 2009.

Excerpt from http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=ind_focus.story&STORY=/www/story/09-01-2009/0005086370&EDATE=
“This fall, Lands' End will kick off the FeelGood Campaign, a terrific way to shop - and feel good about giving to homeless individuals and families across the country. Beginning September 1st, for every Lands' End FeelGood sweater purchased, the company will donate signature FeelGood yarn to One Heart Foundation's Warming Families, a nationwide knitting charity. Lands' End expects to donate thousands of pounds of yarn to the charity where volunteers plan to knit up to 25,000 hats and other items to warm the homeless and displaced.”

After learning about this, I signed up to help. And since they didn’t have anyone in Arizona to help co-ordinate things here-I signed up for that, too!

So I am busily crocheting hats and T is continuing to work on his loom hats. Right now we have 2 of the large blue IKEA bags FULL of his hats!!!

Working with “Warming Families” as a Chapter-Area Volunteer (CAV) means I also get to find other volunteers to knit or crochet hats for this particular campaign and to help with the regular hats/blankets/lapghans/etc.

If you or anyone you know, would like to help with the “FeelGood Campaign” you can go to the websites below or contact me.


Warming Families http://www.freewebs.com/warmingfamilies/
One Heat Foundation http://oneheart.org/

I finally got a roll!

Since I got my 10th crochet hook, I have wanted to have a hook roll for them. I didn't want to spend the money to buy one. The one I crocheted was not a success-everything kept falling though it, which defeated the purpose.

One of my sisters made THREE for me.

I love them!!

This one is to carry in my purse.

These are what I took out of my purse, but I have found a few more since I took the picture. It will hold regular and long hooks.

This one is to store the LONG hooks.

This list the one I laughed at.

It has 26 pockets, 1 1/2 inches wide each. That makes it

R E A L L Y L O N G ! ! !

If you look you can see that it's folded over twice before it's rolled up.

Here it starts at the foot of our bed and goes almost to the pillows! No, it's not full--yet!

But I haven't found all the hooks I own yet.

And since I have room, I will probably find a few more to buy or inherit or whatever. So if you have hooks you can't store. . .

Things for others

For Miss M- she works very hard teaching the autism class in junior high! I certainly couldn't do it.

For Pam- because she asked.

Plarn class in Carefree, AZ

When you see my hair you will understand how much energy I use when I teach! I promise that before the class began, my hair was "done", not scraggly and wet looking.

Examples of things made with plarn.

I love it when my wonderful friend Robin comes to help.

This bag looked very "harvest" or "Halloween"

Having men in the classes is rare. This particular man caught on really fast and made his have a striped look. Very cool.

I asked them all to let me know what they do with the bag they started. I'm looking forward to seeing a few bags.

Okay, this is just hilarious to me!

Hilarious !!!!!

I even sent it to all the relatives that use guns regularly, offering to make them one. So far no one has taken me up on the offer, but maybe one day. . .


This is right up there with the knitted car cover! It begs the question--WHY?


It also begs other questions---

Do the little bits of fiber get into the gun?

Do they make a difference in the mechanisms?

Can you really clean them all off?

Will the little fibers change the ballistics for the gun?

Lots of interesting questions.

I'm still here

It's been a long time since I posted. Thought I'd at least let you know I'm still here.
Right now, I am up to my eyeballs in PLARN!!!!! I'm getting ready for a class and I have been getting a number of different examples for them to see. Last night I got so bored, I made some cat toys.

In fact the last 2 bags I was going to make out of plarn, I ended up making out of yarn! They look pretty funny with heavy groceries in them---they hang down to my knees!!! But they will hold EVERYTHING!!!!

See how long they are!!! I have 2 cereal boxes (almost empty) in the brown one.

There are 3 cheap towels in the tan one.

When I was cutting and connecting the plastic strips, the cat would not leave me alone. She loves the sound and feel of the plastic.

Finally I made her a toy so she would leave me alone!!

Its Over!

Well, it's over! I can't believe it! There is such a let-down when a great project is completed. This project has given me that feeling twice. The first was when everything was turned in and ready for the installation. This is the second time-it is gone now! I can't drive to Tempe and see it any more. I can't send anyone to see the beauty that all those pieces of crochet created.

The count of visitors was over 18,000 people! I hope that all of them found something moving about the exhibit. Every time I was there, people would wonder about it and make such insightful comments. That part has been very rewarding.

So now, I wait and watch http://www.theiff.org/ for the next exhibitions and pictures from them.

If you are ever in the position to help the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef Project, PLEASE take advantage of it!!!! You will be well rewarded; both in your crafting and in your understanding of the earth and our role in the life of everything on it.

How to stop thinking about the economy:

Many times I have talked about the health benefits of crocheting or knitting. I have quoted the Mayo Clinic study about this very thing. Since we all know that if it's on TV then it's true. . . Right? Well, here it is from TV:



Watch CBS Videos Online

Margaret Wertheim speaks

I love to listen to Margaret Wertheim. She is interesting and makes things simple to understand. I have heard her speak 3 times now and I still enjoy it.

Here is a short speach she gave at TED. This is interesting because it helps to explain the HYPERBOLIC CROCHET CORAL REEF and the mathematicls behind it.

This is just over 16 minutes long. Let me know what you think about it.

The PLARN Class

Thursday night there was a class at the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef Exhibit about how to crochet a tote bag out of plastic bags. This class will be held the last Thursday of the month during the exhibit (April, May, June) at 6 pm in the Gallery@ the Library at the exhibit. You will learn how to turn your plastic bags into PLARN (plastic yarn) and then you will have help to start crocheting the plarn into a tote bag following a pattern provided.

Last night I was so busy that I didn't remember to take pictures until a few people had already left. But I did get those who were still there. It was a good group last night; some who had crocheted, some who hadn't, we even had a mother & daughter come together. Some Picked it up easily, others struggled. But everyone learned how to make the bags into plarn and got a start on their tote bags.

Some that attenede will finish their bags, regardless of how they look. But I worry about others who were really struggling! I wish I could help them more often because they will feel such a sense of accomplishment if they finish. If the plarn is too difficult, switch to yarn and use the same pattern. BUT JUST FINISH SOMETHING!!




Bye, Emily. We will miss you. Have fun on the farm! Crochet something while you are gone.

In hopes of encouraging all of you to finish, I am posting links to some How-to-crochet video tutorials.

How to hold the yarn & hook : http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-Crochet-Part-4---How-to-Hold-The-Thread--Needle-77390651

How to chain stitch : http://www.nexstitch.com/v_chain_stitch.html

Doing the Hdc : http://www.nexstitch.com/v_half_double_crochet.html

Left-handed crochet : http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to/video/how-to-crochet-a-left-handed-crochet-chain-217461/

Left-handed Hdc : http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to/video/how-to-crochet-a-left-handed-half-double-crochet-217453/

How to make Plarn : http://planetmfiles.com/2008/09/06/how-to-make-plarn/

GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF YOU!