December 2004 Archives

This is my livingroom crocheting workspace, complete with Cleo by my side on one of her blankie's along with the current project's yarn, Clover Soft Touch Crochet Hook, and my yarn snippers. Bubba decided to grace me with her presence behind my head this day!

Started on December 24 and by the afternoon of the 26th, I'd finished (including hiding yarn ends!) 10 squares for Corinne's Courthouse Steps blanket. Originally, I thought 12 squares (3 x 4) might be enough, but that'll be on the small side and there's a lot of yarn left so I decided to make 4 x 5 = 20 squares instead. The yarn is Lion Brand Homespun and the squares are heavy, soft, and warm! Corinne's gonna love it! As of yesterday evening, 12 squares are done and the remaining 8 are well in progress.

On Saturday, I stopped crocheting for a few minutes to take photos of works in progress...

First up, Deb's Twists & Turns blanket in Country Blue (soft and cuddly) which I started on December 16 but put aside on the 24th to start Corinne's Courthouse Steps blanket (photos on next entry).

Two Christmas tree charted designs. The third and fourth Christmas trees use the second layout complete with decorations, one using different color ornaments (such as granny squares with a circle motif in the center), the other in red and white. A yellow star tops these trees (crochet a star motif and sew it on the top of the tree).

Large afghans can be made by adding squares around the tree. Make the background squares at the bottom of the tree white (for snow!), make white hills (snow!), make the sky navy blue, add squares with white star motifs or a moon to the sky...

These charted patterns were created using Adobe Illustrator, but anyone can create their own designs using graph paper and colored pencils.

Copyright © 2004 Cheryl Lambert. Free for personal use. Objects made using either pattern can be sold. Patterns cannot be sold without my express permission.

This charted turtle design can be used to assemble granny squares for a crocheted afghan or jacket or placemat or... Or use the chart for a filet crochet project (afghan, pot holder, hot pad, doily, scrubbie, placemat...). Or a cross-stitch project... Or mosiac... The design can be a solid color, or use different colors. Use red. Or blue. Be creative!

This charted pattern was created using Adobe Illustrator, but anyone can create their own designs using graph paper and colored pencils.

Copyright © 2004 Cheryl Lambert. Free for personal use. Objects made using this design can be sold. The design cannot be sold without my permission.

This charted turtle design can be used to assemble granny squares for a crocheted afghan or jacket or placemat or... Or use the chart for a filet crochet project (afghan, pot holder, hot pad, doily, scrubbie, placemat...). Or a cross-stitch project... Or mosiac... The design can be a solid color, or use different colors. Use red. Or blue. Be creative!

This charted pattern was created using Adobe Illustrator, but anyone can create their own designs using graph paper and colored pencils.

Copyright © 2004 Cheryl Lambert. Free for personal use. Objects made using this design can be sold. The design cannot be sold without my permission.

Colors: Wine (Red Heart Super Saver), Old World Christmas (Fashion Knit Christmas Yarn)
Pattern: Shells
Book: Skirting The Tree - Leaflet 2523 - Designs by Alice Hyche - Copyright 1994 - Leisure Arts
Hook: G
Date: December 2004

We brought home this year's Norfolk Island Pine on Saturday afternoon so, of course, I had to make a Christmas tree skirt from the Skirting The Tree pattern book before we could decorate the tree. I started the skirt Saturday afternoon and finished just before going to bed last night. The pattern would also make a great cape or indoor shoulder warmer!

Size: 41 inches x 62 1/2 inches
Colors: Bright White, Midnight Blue (Caron)
Pattern: Various
Book: Various
Hook: J mostly
Date: December 2004

This is the second Winter-themed (or Christmas) blanket (longer than lap size but narrower than full size) I made for my neighbors Dee and Van. The patterns for the 9 snowflake styles are from a variety of pattern books and most of the backgrounds were customized. All squares are 9 inches. The squares are joined using the whip stitch. The blue border is 3 rows of sc, sk 1 and 1 row of dc picot (sc, ch 3, dc in 3nd ch from hook, sk 2, repeat).

Size: 43 inches x 57 inches
Colors: Bright White, Scarlet, Forest Green (Caron)
Pattern: Various
Book: Various
Hook: J mostly
Date: December 2004

Here's the first Winter-themed (or Christmas) blanket I made for my neighbors Dee and Van. After I got it all put together, I realized it is quite busy! I should have used all white instead of red and white between each column. But, it still looks great!

The patterns for the poinsettias (3), wreath, peppermint, and snowflake motifs came from a variety of sources and most were modified to reduce the size of large "holes" and meet the 8 inches needed for each square.

Squares in each column are joined using alternating sc, ch 1, sk 1. On each side of the columns are 3 rows of sc, sk 1 in red and 1 row in white, and alternating sc, ch 1, sk 1 join the columns. The red border is 5 rows of sc, sk 1 followed by a row of sc picot (sc, ch 2, sc in 2nd ch from hook, sk 1, repeat).

Da-da-done! I "won" the last item on my current Want to Get list: Mosaic Magic Afghans Made Easy. The multiple-item eBay auction included these 5 pattern books:

• Afghans for All Seasons
• Afghans for All Seasons, Book 2
• Contest Favorites: 40 Afghans to Crochet
• Mosaic Magic Afghans Made Easy
• Vanna’s Afghans All Throughout the House

Hmmm, I want more hours in the day to spend crocheting!

Late last week, I completed the white-red-green lap blanket, including assembly, hiding all yarn ends, and adding a border. It looks great! (Photos will be taken and posted next weekend.)

And, I just finished the 24th square for the second Winter-themed lap blanket I'm making as a surprise for our neighbors. Each square has one of 9 different white snowflakes surrounded by a navy blue background. I hope to have it completed by Wednesday evening (I'm very tired of white and navy blue!).

I decided to trade the annoying, unfulfilling, and obsessively time-consuming search for low-cost copies of these crochet pattern books for the sure knowledge that they'll be arriving soon. So, yes, I paid full price for two of them.

• 99 Floral Motifs (from Maggie's Crochet)
• 101 Granny Squares (from Maggie's Crochet)
• 200 Crochet Blocks (from Amazon)

And, I recently won these on eBay:

• 101 Easy Scrap Crochet Projects
• Big Book of Scrap Crochet Afghans

Last week, I offered to make a woman at work an afghan if she bought the yarn, and another woman asked me to make her an afghan if she bought the yarn. These two projects will keep me busy when the college is closed for Winter Break! This week, each woman selected an afghan pattern from the 2 large binders full of afghan pattern books I brought for them to review.

Today, I ordered 14 skeins of Lion Brand Homespun in Covered Bridge (red), Deco (creamy white), and Montana Sky (blue) from the Jo-Ann Fabrics website (yarn on sale and 20% discount off total!) for Corinne's Courthouse Steps afghan which will be larger than lap size.

Deb wants to match colors to her living room, so she'll buy the yarn herself for the Twists & Turns afghan she selected.

It is interesting to observe the process each person goes through when reviewing pattern books: At first overwhelmed by all the choices, then settling into searching, then discovering their "style" preference, then possibilities abound, then narrow down to a few, and then...and then...narrow... down...to...their...choice... The one!

I've been working on two Christmas-themed (they're actually more Winter-themed) lap blankets for my neighbors. Initially, I was going to make one afghan to give to them, but since they sit in separate recliners, I decided to make a second afghan.

I selected a Christmas theme because Dee switches the decor of her home around with the season or upcoming holiday. She can bring these blankets out each fall and put them away around the time her Christmas decorations are put away.

For the first afghan, I've made squares with poinsettia, peppermint, snowflake, and wreath themes using Bright White, Scarlet, and Forest Green and a J hook. The squares are soft and colorful! The second afghan will also have dark blue in its color scheme. I'm still thinking about the design, but I will include some squares with a white snowflake surrounded by a Midnight Blue background. I also made a Christmas gift square that doesn't fit well into the first afghan, but I'm not sure whether I'll use it for this project or another project or pull it apart.

So far, I've used a mix of patterns with modifications here and there from Christmas Afghans (Leisure Arts 775), Flurry of Afghans (Leisure Arts 3218), and Holiday Afghans (Maggie's Crochet).

New additions to my pattern book collection:

• Christmas Joy (On The Double)
• Crocheted Pillows
• Crocheted Pillows, Book 2
• Crocheted Pillows, Book 3
• Decorator Pillows
• Ultimate Book of Scrap Afghans (the Annie's Attic version)

I'm way done with pillow books. (I was more interested in the patterns as "squares" than as pillows.)

On my Gotta Get list:

• 101 Granny Squares
• 200 Crochet Blocks

On my Get If Reasonably Priced list:

• 101 Easy Scrap Crochet Projects
• Big Book of Scrap Crochet Afghans
• Mosaic Magic