The Monday Night Knitting Club

 
Ruth goes to a knitting club on Monday nights. I had brought some knitting with me, and we've been stitching together a little bit most days. So I went along tonight. There were some really nice projects in progress or completed.

This is a sweater Ruth is working on. Lace pattern, small needles, nice work.



The group leader had just finished this Aran afghan. Also done very nicely.



Another woman was making a prayer shawl, and even though the pattern was simple, I thought it looked very pretty.



One lady does really professional quality work. This is a shawl. Unusual stitch and expensive yarn, coupled with a good knitter and you get beautiful items.



What was I working on? You've seen it before, but not for a while. There is hope Michelle will get her socks in the near future. Click the link below if you don't remember

	See Where's that Other Sock?
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Windowpane Promotional Afghan Done!

 
I'm afraid I imposed on the winner of this afghan because she is a friend. I didn't get it done as quickly as I might have. On the other hand, It's either the first or second fastest I've ever finished a project of this size, so I get maybe half a brownie point.

I REALLY like it, but am not at all sorry to give it away. I just like making stuff.



Here is is in progress, nine months ago.



Want to see a closer view of the finished edge?



And for those who like to see the back of handmade things, here you go.



OK. I crocheted for five straight hours to get this done. It took an hour each time I went around the outside edge. Now I'm going to bed.

	See Author Promotion See Afghans
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Suddenly Fall, and Rabbits

 
Picked up Loretta at the airport today and got to spend some time with her which included good food. Of course we had to take a few looks at Lake Michigan. On this chilly and rainy day it certainly looked cold.





In other news... the rabbits have arranged themselves into a blanket. It was presented to Loretta tonight to take back to The Healing Place, which is run by a friend of hers, and provides grief counseling for children.



Fun day, but I'm ready for some additional sleep.

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Two More Rabbits

 
Just managed to get the second one done.

Which one are you today?

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Hoppity Limpity

 
Well, you know me and projects. They limp along until they (sometimes) get finished.

Remember the rabbits? They aren't exactly hopping along. However, a third one has now joined the ranks.



Do you think there is any chance at all that I could finish six more in the next twelve days?

	See Those Darn Bunnies!
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Afghans I Have Made - Crochet - Spring Daisies

 
This is the last of the past afghans (except for the one I can't find). This has also been previously featured on the blog, as it was finished just a bit over 5 years ago.

This design was a little more traditional- made with a huge collection of granny squares sewn together. The pattern (I have boxes, plural, of patterns for all sorts of handicrafts) was chosen by sister-in-law Loretta, and we tweaked it a bit to suit her and she chose pastel colors. I named it Spring Daisies.

If you look closely you can tell that two of the daisy styles are somewhat textured, while the third kind is flat. The textured ones were fun to make.



Here it is all spread out. None of it was fun to sew together. 168 squares. Only for someone I care about a lot!



I am declaring myself well enough for work tomorrow, because... I have to work tomorrow. No worries. I think I'll be fine.

	See Afghans- Lacy Diamonds
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Afghans I Have Made- Crochet- Lacy Diamonds

 
This crocheted afghan has already been featured on the blog, at the time I made it. This was number 7 afghan I made. It was a gift for my friend Irene.

I finished it seven years ago. That's really hard to believe!



The other thing that is hard to believe is that this beauty was a free pattern that came on the back of a yarn wrapper. I tweaked it a little bit to make the design more regular, but not much. When I chose it, I was specifically looking for a pattern that did not look like every other crocheted afghan in the books.

Although it looks as if it was made in strips, the entire afghan is made in one large piece. This eliminates sewing things together later. Although the work gets heavier and bulkier as you go, I like not having to sew things. An edge was added later to feature colors in Irene's house.

Here's a close up of one section of the pattern.

	See Afghans- Falling Leaves
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Afghans I Have Made- Knit- Falling Leaves

 
I started this afghan around 1994. Dug it out of a box to show you. Can I say I HAVE made it since it's obviously not finished?

Well, anyway. I really like this one. It will be mine if I ever finish it. And it's a completely scrap-craft project- no new yarn purchased.



By the time I dug out all the motifs that are finished but not sewn together, and laid them out, there's quite a bit done. More than I thought.



Each trapezoid is knitted separately and then fit together. Of course, I couldn't/didn't want to keep it simple, so every single motif is different. Since there are two strands of yarn in each one that's not too difficult. I just have to be sure I don't combine the same two more than once. There is one strand of 4-ply worsted weight and one of a sport-weight yarn in each "square."
My stash is huge and has increased since this was begun, so it won't be any problem A-TALL to continue the uniqueness goal.



The motifs are fun to do because you decrease as you go up creating the rib up the middle and coming to the point at the top.



It's knit on big needles so although the two yarns make it bulky, it's also soft. I'm liking the looks of this one as much as I did when I began it. I think it will have to be finished after the afghan for the contest is done.

	See Afghans- Argyle
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Afghans I Have Made- Crochet- Argyle

 
We have to skip one afghan for now. Not only is #4 unfinished, it's also unfound. Looked where I thought it was today, but no luck. I'm kind of stumped actually, but we'll skip ahead. If you guessed that #4 was afghan stitch you were wrong. However, #5 reverted back to that.

For a change, though, instead of embroidering a design on later, this one has the design crocheted right in.

And it was a gift for Omer, so it had to be red and blue. The flash makes the red look a bit orang-y. It's not really.

He still uses it. The afghan stitch makes a really dense fabric, and Om likes to be warm. He's usually got it wrapped around his feet while relaxing.



This one was made in strips which were sewn together and a border added. It was made in approximately 1986-87 I can only date the creation by the fact that I know I worked on it quite a bit at a friend's house, and I was there mostly because our Joshua was in high school with her son.



I'm happy to report that this was the last afghan-stitch afghan I made. Variety is good, and I'm glad I evolved!

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Afghans I Have Made- Crochet- Formal Design

 
You will think that my afghan-making brain was absolutely stuck in a rut, but I didn't choose which pattern to use for my next (third) afghan project of my life.

Amazingly, this was begun and finished in the same calendar year, 1974. At that time, I was pretty close to my younger sister-in-law, Kathy. At that time, I knew her better than Loretta, whom you've heard a lot more about. I told Kathy to look through my pattern books and pick one she liked. She chose this one, another plain afghan stitch background decorated with cross-stitch.

Here is where the project stood in early summer 1974.



At that time we had lots of teenagers in and out of the house, and had a couple of foster kids living with us, but baby Steve did not join us till 1975, although he was born in September of this afghan year. We had begun the application process to adpot, but didn't know anything of Steve till early 1975, so the all-time-consuming business of small children had not yet taken control of my life.

The afghan and accompanying pillow were completed in December of 1974.



I have no idea what ultimately happened to this afghan. Sadly, Kathleen died in 2009, although she held on against overwhelming medical odds for a long time. Hopefully, someone, somewhere is enjoying this piece of handiwork.

Again, the closeup is pretty crummy as it's a scan of an "instamatic" photo.



Any bets on what method was used for the fourth afghan? It was never finished, so I'll have to go box hunting to bring you that one.

	See Brown Paisley Afghan
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Afghans I Have Made- Crochet- Brown Paisley

 
The second afghan project I took on was when I was in college. This one was made for my mom, and she did indeed keep it on the back of her couch for many years. I'm sure I didn't finish it as fast as was originally intended, but it did get done. In 1967 I'm pretty sure.

Mom and I went together to a woolen mill outlet to pick out the yarn. It's the only afghan I've ever made with real wool. I learned that it was harder to work with than the acrylic. We had to do some serious blocking when it was complete, but it turned out OK.

This is crocheted in afghan stitch and the paisleys are embroidered on afterward. I seemed to be in love with the idea of cross-stitching designs on a background I had made. Some other projects followed that same plan.

Afghan stitch is created by drawing up a series of loops on a long hook and then bringing the yarn back through them one at a time. This is a lot different from "regular" crochet where you usually have only one stitch on the hook at a time.

I was also going through a phase of being in love with brown. And paisley. Anyway, here it is. It just lives in a drawer. I certainly wouldn't have kept it out when we had a dog. I'm better off with things you don't have to be very careful with.



And a closeup of the design.

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