Thursday, February 14, 2008

My Special Valentine


Here it is Valentine's day and I'm up to my ears in projects not yet finished. Sigh..what a way to start the year.

First, I hope your Valentine's Day was a good one. Thinking about this I realized that my Valentine's are my wonderful children and grandchildren. One of the youngest grands is nearly
six months old..He is happy and healthy and full of energy. So much so, that his paternal grandmother purchased a rainforest jumper for him..Well that silly little guy jumped and laughed and played to his hearts content..the result was the picture here...nice going to grandma!

Next, I found some interesting things online. I must be on the late freight or something cause I just found out that they have yarn with Bamboo and aloe! wow..this boggles the mind..what's next? not sure I want to know..but these unusual yarns are costly. I think for a small ball of yarn 12 dollars is a bit much. Especially since most projects take a lot of yarn.

Well, I'm cutting this one short as I'm trying to get those projects finished..

Until We Meet Again!
Hook's Up!
Leslee
http://craftersintheattic.nexo.com/

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Today in the Attic


Today in the attic I was thinking about this quote,"The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love and to be loved in return." Its an amazing thought really. The thought of everyone loving each person and being loved in return is difficult for the human mind as there is always one person who "gets on our nerves". I'm no exception in this thought. Where does the love in return come in? My thought here is its like a pebble thrown into a still pond. Remember there are rippled effects in the pond when the pebble is thrown in? Well the pebble in this case is the work of love from the crafter's hands. It then ripples the love out into the world to the receiver. There is a wonderful commercial right now on t.v. Rarely is the the case. Usually commercials are annoying. What happens in this one is that one person stops another from stepping off a curb and being hit by a passing car. That person in turn does something nice for another person. And that person does something nice for the next and so on. Our works of love translate in this way as well. In this way if I translate the first quote into charity work it becomes something more.

I've seen many who give and want to be recognized for doing so. Is that love? I don't think so. Then I've seen some who really want to remain anonymous for their giving. The only recognition is between them and God. Is this love? YES!! I've pretty much been on the giving anonymously for a long time now. We tag our items in our group. Its so that the receiver knows who the giver was..Now I'm wondering should we? Right now I'm on the fence with all this. I would rather not tag items..there are many still that want to. So what does a group owner do about this? If I tag my item with the name of the group only, I think I can live with this. Its just a simple struggle I am thinking a lot of crafters go through. By tagging with just the group name it says there is a group of crafters who want to help someone in need. Not giving credit to the crafter but the group as a whole. I would love to have other's thoughts on this too.

Ok, so last night I worked on my baby blanket again. I had to frog it once as I added an extra dc where one should not be. If it wasn't throwing off the entire pattern I would have left it as a humble stitch. I am now on the 15th row. Its looking nicer as I go ..Its just a very big piece to work on. I have other projects I'm working on as well. I have a shawl in the works that I shared with you awhile back. I also have a scarf for a man in hdc in the back loops only. This scarf goes with a hat already finished. And I have a vintage scarf for a lady that fits like a hood..and has the scarf attached to go over the shoulders..its really pretty as its in a cornflower blue. This piece needs only to have the fringe on one side of the scarf finished and the piece then will be completely done. Last night I cut some pieces for a quilt for my grand daughter's birthday present. I thought she would love a quilt to cozy up with. Its done in a Mary Englebreit pattern and a multi colored stars on red background print. If I do this right it should turn out really nice!

The picture on this blog is my baby blanket..will post other pics later!

Until we meet again!
Hook's up!
Leslee
http://craftersintheattic.nexo.com/

Tuesday, February 05, 2008


Yesterday I was working on my newborn blanket. I had to frog it the last time as I didn't choose a color that I had enough yarn for. Sometimes I can get away with it as I can just pick up another skein or two. But not this color. You see, Walmart stopped carrying this color. So I chose another color from Bernat. Its called, "Rock a Bye Baby". Its so pretty. I'm glad I decided to change the color. Then while at Michael's I found more skeins of the first color but it was quite a bit more expensive..still I'm happy with the change. I managed to put 8 rows on it yesterday. I also realized I promised to add my blanket pattern. So here it is:

Leslee's Blanket Pattern

Uses baby yarn of your choice.
hook size F

Gauge: 20 dc and 10 dc rows = 4"

Special Stitches:

Cl ( Cluster stitch): (YO, draw up a loop, yo, draw through 2 loops) 4 times, yo, draw through 5 loops, ch 1 to close.

V-st: (Dc, ch 2, dc) in next ch or st.

Ch 166


Row 1: (RS) Dc in 4th ch from hook (turning ch counts as a dc here and throughout ) and in each ch across; turn - 164 dc

Row 2: Ch 3 (counts as first dc here and throughout ) dc in 2nd dc and each dc across; turn.

Rows 3-8: Rep Row 2.

Row 9: Dc in 2nd st and in each of next 12 ch, *sk 1dc, (cl in next ch, sk 2 ch, V-st in next ch, sk 2ch) 6 times, ch 1, sk 1 ch, dc in each of next 14 ch, rep from * twice, turn.

Row 10: Ch 3, dc in 2nd dc and in each of next 12 dc, *(cl in ch 2 sp of V-st, V-st in closing ch of cl ) 6 times, dc in next 14 dc, rep from * twice, turn.

Rows 11 - 24: Rep Rows 9 and 10 7 times

Rows 25: Ch 3, dc in 2nd dc and in next 12 dc, (dc in 1st dc of V-st, 2 dc in ch 2 sp of V-st, dc in 2nd dc of V-st, dc in closing ch of cl and in top cl) 6 times, dc in each of next 14 dc, rep from * twice, turn. -164 dc.

Rows 26 - 32: Ch 3, dc in 2nd dc and in each st across; turn.

Repeat Rows 9 - 32 twice; fasten off.

Border: With RS facing, join yarn with a sl st in upper right corner.

Rnd 1: Ch 5, *({dc, ch 2} twice, dc) in same st, V-st in every other st to nest corner, rep bet( ), V-st in every other row to next corner, rep from * once, join with a sl st in 3rd ch of beg ch 5.

Rnd 2: Ch 5, dc in same sp, V-st in ch 2 sp of each V-st around, join with sl st in 3rd ch of beg ch 5; fasten off.

Enjoy! If there is a problem in the pattern I've not caught, please let me know. Any questions just leave them on the comments part of this blog.
I also managed to add another full skein of yarn to my triangle shawl I've been working on pretty steadily now. I still have one more skein to work a few rows and then add the border..once all ends are worked in and its finished completely I will wash it and get it ready to send to a lady who has cancer. I chose the colors I did because I wanted her to see it and have it brighten her day.. Again, the yarn is Gemstone by Red Heart.

In the attic, the last few days we have shared some interesting pattern links. One of my favorite sites posted was this one, http://crochetme.com/patterns It has a nice selection of patterns on this one. Also one of our members posted this one, http://www.geocities.com/crochetrat/newbornburialromper.html?200831
Although this last one was for a burial romper for a newborn you can connect the rows instead of leaving them open. There by it can be used as a newborn outfit.

Until we meet again!
Hook's Up!
Leslee
http://craftersintheattic.nexo.com/

Saturday, February 02, 2008

Groundhog Day!


Today was Groundhog Day!
Did you remember? I didn't..I was too busy thinking about how I didn't really want more snow. We have a lot already and are getting more. Usually where I live we only get one or two days of snow and not a lot. This year we have had already nearly two weeks of snow..Heavy snow! Did the groundhog see his shadow? YEAH..oh goody! NOT!!!

Well, the most positive thing is that its great crafting weather. And that's what most of us in Crafter's in the Attic love. well, most of us as I have five grandkids in the house. Four of them get housebound and the littlest guy is only five months old..

Today I worked on my shawl. I managed to go get two skeins between the snow storms. Remember its in gemstone by Red Heart.

I also was looking for a Bernat yarn called Baby Softee. Well, I found it but the bad news was that I couldn't find it in the color skein I started in. grr! I had to choose another color and will have to frog the piece I started. To frog..for some newbies to the craft means to rip out all that you have done or up to a place where you went off track in the pattern. A good lesson here is also to make sure you have enough yarn for the project you wish to start.. sigh!

Now don't worry if you mess up..the great news is that even veteran crocheter's do this once in awhile. We aren't perfect. Incidentally, I learned something important a long time ago from some crafters. When you are working on a project and you look back and see an imperfection, don't rip it out. Remember that we aren't perfect and this is a humble stitch. Its as unique as the crafter herself.

Well, I am going to close this for now. I will take more pictures as I am working to show you my baby blanket and how the progress goes. I will post that pattern when I can show you a picture of it being worked on. It is easy.

Until we meet again!
Hook's Up!
Leslee
http://craftersintheattic.nexo.com