Celebrating – Page 4

Playing with Triangles Class

March 8, 2017March 9, 2017Celebrating, Classes, Creativity, Crochet3 Comments

Today was my Casual Crochet group at the Longmont Yarn Shoppe. We had 8 people there, counting myself, there was lots of fun showing off finished projects and those that are still in progress.

Margie had one of her “Frida’s Flowers” afghans with her. She is making 2, one in pastel colors and one in bright jewel tone colors. She had the bright one with her today. I just loved the black background motifs.

I also found out today that my class this Saturday has 3 students already. That means I have room for a few more students. If you are in the area and want to learn more than you thought there was to know about crocheting a top-down triangle shawl come join me for my “Playing with Triangles” class this Saturday.

The class starts at 12 noon and goes until 3 p.m. It will be 3 full hours of the basics and beyond of working triangle shawls with any yarn and hook combination that appeal to you. You can sign up for the class online at the Longmont Yarn Shoppe website, or call or stop by the shop.

Speaking of classes. Today registration opened for the Chain Link – CGOA Conference in Chicago this July 26-29. You can sign up for classes and get your tickets for all the fun events. Online registration is open until July 20, 2017.

NatCroMo is here Again!

March 1, 2017Celebrating, Crochet, Latest News, NatCroMoLeave a Comment

Today is the first day of March, or as I like to think of it…National Crochet Month.

March sort of snuck up on me, my whole family has been dealing with a nasty cold/flu bug for the last couple of weeks. I’m still attempting to recover while taking care of my boys. Have had a kiddo home from school almost everyday.

I’m taking a different approach to blogging this NatCroMo. I’m going to be attempting to have a post up everyday, some days it will just be a quickie like this one, other days I’ll have something more substantial and I may even try to “serialize” some of my posts. So buckle up friends and let’s celebrate some crochet fun this month.

The Greatest of these is Love

February 14, 2017February 21, 2017Celebrating, Creativity, Crochet, Free Pattern Links, Pattern3 Comments

“So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

1 Corinthians 13:13

This bible verse has resonated with me thru-out my life, no matter where my spiritual travels have taken me. The idea that the most important thing that we strive for in life is to live in love.

This is entirely appropriate, since today is Valentines Day, a holiday that celebrates love. Though some folks view it as a “greeting card” holiday that focuses on romantic love, I like to look at it a bit more broadly. I have always enjoyed celebrating it as a holiday about love in all it’s forms.

The love for our children. The love of dear friends that lift us up thru life’s challenges. Even the unconditional love of our beloved furry family members. The love that is expressed as compassion and kindness for our fellow humans on life’s journey.

Recently I was talking with a crochet friend about how we crochet love into the projects we make. Whether it is love for the person whom we will be gifting the finished project to, or love and compassion for others when we are making projects for charity. There is even the love of our craft that is crocheted into every stitch as we make something for ourselves or (as is the case for me about 60% of the time) a project sample for work.

The image I used for the Crochet Love picture is the stitch diagram for my very popular heart pattern “Crocheted Love” from 2013. This heart has been popular with other crochet bloggers to build on in their blog tutorials and such. This has led to some interesting interpretations of the pattern.

Today I wanted to show you some quick tips on making these hearts. They only take a little bit of yarn and time to whip up to include on a card or as an embellishment for a gift item to celebrate the holiday of love.

The biggest stumbling blocks seem to be where to work the slip stitch that creates the point at the bottom of the heart and the final slip stitch that anchors the last “bump” at the top of the heart.

This is a close-up of the stitch diagram for the point of the heart. The conventions for showing the orders of operation in diagrams have the arrow pointing under the chain stitch, but you are actually working behind the chain stitch to get to the double crochet just made.

My hook goes under the front loop at the top of the stitch and under the top wrap of the stitch. The lighter weight purple yarn in the photo above shows the path I insert my hook thru.

This image is the hook in place.

Yarn over and pull thru all the loops of yarn, including the working loop on the hook.

Tighten the finished slip stitch.

Make the next 2 dc stitches in the same stitch of Round 1 as before, and continue following the stitch instructions for Round 2.

This is a close-up of the stitch diagram for the end of Round 2.

When you finish the last 7 treble crochet stitches you will need to anchor it with a slip stitch.

Work the ending slip stitch between the final dc stitch and starting chain of Round 1.

Tighten the slip stitch to create a seamless finish to your heart.

As a little extra bonus today I am including the instructions for making a single crochet border around the heart.

You can use this border to give a more finished look to a single heart or to connect 2 hearts together.

For the heart above I cut out a heart shape from heavy card stock, using one of my hearts as a pattern to draw the heart shape. When I cut it out I trimmed the shape a bit smaller to leave room for the border stitches.

I then sandwiched the cardstock heart between the yarn hearts while I crocheted the border. This makes the heart extra sturdy for hanging from a garland.

Instructions for Single Crochet Border

After finishing Round 2 of Crocheted Love Heart – Do Not Fasten Off, chain 1, starting with first Treble of Round 2 – (sc in next st, 2 sc next st) 4 times, sc in next 5 sts, 2 sc next st, ch 1 and slip st in top of last sc made, 2 sc next st, sc next 5 sts, (2 sc next st, sc next st) 4 times, slip st to first sc of round.

After finishing the border you can cut the yarn and weave in the end, or chain to the desired length to use as a hanging cord for the heart.

If you make your 2 hearts with a bulky yarn and appropriate sized hook your hearts will be a generous size and you can insert some stuffing before completing the border to make a sweet little pillow.

***********

I am going to spend part of my Valentines Day in my traditional celebration of consuming Dove Dark Chocolate hearts. I hope you all have a wonderful Valentines Day and that your life is full of love.

More Books and Fiber to Play With

January 14, 2017Celebrating, Creativity, Humor, Inspiration, Needle Felting, Yarnie Friends1 Comment

It’s been a busy week since my last post. I’ve been working on 5 different things all at the same time, a couple of them were to do with opening my Etsy Shop. I have set the 15th of January as my goal for getting my shop open, that is tomorrow. Eek!

I may only have a couple of listings when I open my shop, but I figure you have to start somewhere. Funny thing is, the making items part is actually the easy task. It’s the getting all the information online and figuring out how to do all the listing stuff that slows me down. I’m hopeful that once I’ve gotten some practice listing items on there I will be faster.

Meanwhile there is yarn and fiber stuff happening too. Last night I was getting ready to do reading time with my boys and my husband said, “Oh I forgot, you got a huge box in the mail.” Then he handed me the box. It was from my friend Pam in New Jersey.

We spoke on the phone a few weeks ago. She was doing some clearing out and she wanted to see if I would like any of the stuff she was getting rid of. At first I said “No” because my own studio needs a serious clear-out. She wasn’t giving up that easy though, and began to tell me about some books she thought I would like. She also knows I have been doing needle-felting and offered some roving and felting tools that she thought I would find useful. Plus, as she put it, the roving would make good packing material for the books.

By the end of the conversation I had agreed that the books sounded very interesting. Here they all are: 3 books about crocheting with wire, 1 about wire-wrapping, and the last is any interesting book about Textile Techniques in Metal. She even included a couple of articles from Bead & Button issues that were about crocheting with wire. Very distracting and fun.

Then there was the colorful bag of roving.

I was expecting wool roving, but Pam included some lovely alpaca and silk as well.

Look at this beautiful stack of hand-dyed silk hankies. Pam and I have similar tastes in colors, so these just about jumped out of the bag into my hands. I haven’t played with silk in this form before, though I have read about it.

Last of all was a handy Needle-Felting tool from FeltCrafts. This will be very useful when I am working on some of my larger projects. I’m looking forward to testing it out. Don’t you love the fun little container it came it? It is really nice when one can keep all the sharp things gathered up.

I am very glad that Pam talked me into acquiring these new goodies, now I just have to behave myself and get some of the other stuff on the Mutant To-Do List done before I play with them.

Happy Thanksgiving Day

November 24, 2016Celebrating, Crochet, Videos1 Comment

It has been another busy week here at the Graves household. My boys are off from school for the Thanksgiving holiday, so we have been doing lots of family stuff. Including a quick shopping expedition with my oldest on Monday. He was complaining that his snow boots were too tight, so I took him to town to get new ones as well as some new regular shoes as well. No wonder his boots had felt too tight, he had grown 2 full sizes since last winter!

Today is Thanksgiving Day here in the US, we are having a small celebration with just the 4 of us. We will have our traditional roasted turkey and all the fixings, this year my oldest son is planning on helping with the meal. He is developing a love for cooking, which I will be hoping to encourage over the next couple of years.

I’ve been crocheting quite a bit this week too. Working on a number of Christmas presents and a couple of new designs that I will be sharing with you soon. Best of all though, I finally finished editing the footage for my “Fans & Lace Square – Part 2”. You can find the video on my YouTube Channel now.

I’m thankful for all my wonderful readers and visitors to my YouTube Channel. For those of you in the US and celebrating Thanksgiving I hope you are all having a lovely time with family and friends.

“Wraps for All Seasons” Blog Tour – Stop #2

October 28, 2016November 12, 2016Blog Tour, Celebrating, Crochet, Free Pattern Links2 Comments

Hi everyone. My book “Wraps for All Seasons” is going on a blog tour. We will be making 6 stops for this tour. Each of the bloggers will be giving away a copy of the book, so be sure to visit them to see what they have to share with you about my book.

Stop #2 is with the lovely Kathy Lashley of ELK Studio Handcrafted Crochet Designs. Kathy is not only a talented designer she is also a left-handed crocheter and is the teacher on “Learn to Crochet for Lefties” from the Annie’s folks.

Check out Kathy’s awesome hat pattern “Swirling Pebbles”. This hat is part of her Christmas Present CAL that she has put together to help her readers get a jump on holiday gift making. A quick project with a fun yarn that does all the color changing for you.

If you’ve been wanting to try out a pattern for a super scarf you’ll love her pattern for “The Woodman Super Scarf”. This design has a load of texture worked in 3 different colors of Red Heart Soft Yarn. Kathy chose Black, Charcoal and White for her sample, but with the wide range of colors in the Soft Yarn line you’ve got all sorts of options.

The next stop for the “Wraps for All Seasons” blog tour will be next Friday, November 4th.

You can purchase my book at the Annie’s Craft Store or on Amazon.com.

Fans & Lace Afghan Square

October 8, 2016July 13, 2024Celebrating, Crochet, Crochet Design, Free Pattern Links, Online, Pattern9 Comments

************

October 13, 2016: Hello dear readers and new visitors just a little update to this post.

Happy Birthday to Me! I’m 21 today! No, not 21 years old, my Fans & Lace Afghan Square is block #21 in the 2016 Moogly Afghan CAL.

If you hadn’t heard about the Moogly Afghan CAL it’s not too late to join the fun. You can hop on over to Mooglyblog.com to get all the details and see Tamara’s interpretation of my square.

My video tutorial “Fans & Lace Square – Part 1” for this pattern ~~will be~~ is up on my YouTube Channel ~~this Saturday.~~

Thank you so much to Veronique HoRaive for providing a French Translation of this pattern, you can find the PDF of the pattern here. fans-and-lace-afghan-square-french-1

Check out today’s blog post to find for some fun ideas on playing with color choices and the number of colors used in the square. “Changing Color, Changing the Look”.

************

It’s October again and the first week has gone flying by! I’ve less than a week before I celebrate my birthday, but I thought I would get an early start with my present to all my lovely readers.

This is my newest afghan square. I was playing with changing the height of stitches within the rounds. This is a skill building pattern with techniques that some may find challenging. Next week I’ll have a video on my YouTube channel that will walk you thru the pattern and the tricky bits.

I worked my sample square with just 3 colors, but you can use fewer or more than that. Next week I will also have a post showing you how changing the number of colors and when you change colors can dramatically change the appearance of your square.

FANS & LACE AFGHAN SQUARE

Skill level: Intermediate

Finished Size:

12” square

Materials:

Yarn

Worsted wt (Sample uses Lion Brand Yarns “Vanna’s Choice” 100% Acrylic (5 oz/142g, 251 yd/230 m)

Color A: #142 Rose (sample used approximately 52 yards)

Color B: #101 Pink (sample used approximately 48 yards)

Color C: #146 Dusty Purple (sample used approximately 38 yards)

Hook

I / 5.5mm

Notions

Yarn/tapestry needle for weaving in ends

Gauge

First 2 rounds of pattern = 2” across square

Pattern Notes

Start square with an adjustable slip knot. Beginning tail tightens the loop on the hook. *If you haven’t ever used an Adjustable Slip Knot this video shows you how.

Round 2 specifies “sl st loosely”, this means work the indicated slip stitches similar to a chain stitch and do not pull the working loop to tighten them as in a joining slip stitch. You will be working into those loose slip stitches in Round 3.

Special Stitches and Abbreviations

(Standing dc) Standing Double Crochet: make slip knot in yarn and place loop snugly on shaft of hook, yo, insert hook into indicated st, yo, pull up a loop, [yo, pull thru 2 loops on hook] 2 times. If substituting for a chain start of a round, do not work the first 3 chains of the round instructions.

(3dc Dec) 3 double crochet decrease: YO, insert hook in first st, YO pull up a loop, YO pull thru 2 loops, [YO insert hook in next st, YO pull up a loop, YO pull thru 2 loops] 2 times, YO pull thru all remaining loops on hook.

(V-st) V-stitch: (dc, ch 1, dc) in indicated st or sp.

(Fan) 10 Treble Fan: (5 Tr, ch 1, 5 Tr) in indicated st or sp.

(CL) 3 double crochet Cluster: [YO, insert hook in indicated st or sp, YO pull up a loop, YO pull thru 2 loops] 3 times, YO pull thru remaining loops on hook.

(8TrShl) 8 Treble Shell: (4 Tr, ch 1, 4 Tr) in indicated st or sp.

(GrnShl) Granny Shell: 3 dc worked in indicated st or sp.

Instructions

Rnd 1: Starting with Color A, ch 4 {counts as center and first dc}, 11 dc in 4th ch from hook, sl st to top of beginning ch-4. Gently pull beginning tail to tighten center. [12 dc]

Rnd 2: [Sl st loosely before next dc in space between stitches, ch 3, 3dcDec worked across next 3 sts, ch 3] 4 times, sl st tightly into first loose sl st. Fasten off. [4 3dc dec, 8 ch-3 sps]

Rnd 3: Change to Color B. (Standing dc, ch 1, dc) in any loose sl st, {counts as first V-st}, [*ch 2, skip ch-3 sp, (sc, ch 3 sc) in top of Dec, ch 2, skip ch-3 sp,* V-st next sl st] 3 times, Rep from * to * once, sl st to first V-st. Fasten off. [8 sc, 8 ch-2 sps, 4 ch-3 sps, 4 V-sts]

Rnd 4: Change to Color C. Begin as with Standing dc, YO, insert hook into ch-1 sp of any V-st in Rnd 3, YO, pull up a loop, YO, pull thru 2 loops on hook, [YO, insert hook in same ch-1 sp, YO pull up a loop, YO pull thru 2 loops] 2 times, YO pull thru remaining 4 loops on hook {counts as first CL}, [*skip 4 sts, Fan in next ch-3 sp, skip 4 sts,* CL in next ch-1 sp] 3 times, Rep from * to * once, sl st to beginning CL. Fasten off. [4 CL, 4 Fans]

Rnd 5: Change to Color B. Standing dc in any CL from Rnd 4, ch 1, dc in same st {counts as first V-st},[*ch 2, skip 2 sts, sc next st, ch 3, skip 2 sts, (sc, ch 3, sc) in next ch-1 sp, ch 3, skip 2 sts, sc next st, ch 2, skip 2 sts,* V-st next st] 3 times, Rep from * to * once, sl st to first V-st of round. Fasten off. [16 sc, 4 V-sts, 12 ch-3 sps, 8 ch-2 sps]

Rnd 6: Change to Color A. Standing dc in ch-1 sp of any V-st in Rnd 5, [ch 1, dc] 2 times in same ch-1 sp, [*skip ch 2 sp, (dc, ch 2, dc) in next sc, skip 1 ch-3 sp, 8Tr Shl in next ch-3 sp, skip next ch-3 sp, (dc, ch 2, dc) in next sc, skip next ch-2 sp,* ({dc, ch 1} 2 times, dc) in next ch-1 sp] 3 times, Rep from * to * once, sl st to first dc of Rnd. Fasten off. [28 dc, 32 Tr, 12 ch-1 sp, 8 ch-2 sp]

Rnd 7: Change to Color C. Standing dc in first ch-1 sp in direction of work from corner ch-1 sp, dc in same ch-1 sp, skip one st, 2 dc next ch-1 sp, [*skip 2 sts, GrnShl in next ch-2 sp, skip 2 sts, GrnShl next st, skip 2 sts, (GrnShl, ch 2, GrnShl) in next ch-1 sp, skip 2 sts, GrnShl next st, skip 2 sts, GrnShl in next ch-2 sp, skip 2 sts,* {2 dc in next ch-1 sp} 2 times] 3 times, Rep from * to * once, sl st to first dc of Rnd. [24 GrnShl, 16 dc, 4 ch-2 sp]

Rnd 8: Ch 3 {counts as dc}, *dc in each st along side until reach corner ch-2 sp, (2 dc, ch 2, 2 dc) in corner ch-2 sp,* Rep from * to * until work last corner of square, dc in each st until reach first dc of Rnd, sl st to first dc. Fasten off. [104 dc, 4 ch-2 sp {26 dc each side}]

Rnd 9: Change to Color A. (Standing dc, ch 1, dc) in 12th dc in direction of work from ch-2 corner sp, {counts as first V-st}, [*skip 2 sts, V-st next st,* Rep from * to * until 2 dc remain before corner ch-2 sp, (V-st, ch 2, V-st) in corner ch-2 sp] 4 times, Rep from * to * until 2 sts are left before first V-st of Rnd, skip 2 sts, sl st to first st of V-st. [40 V-st, 4 ch-2 sp {10 V-st each side}]

Rnd 10: (Loosely sl st, ch 3, 2 dc) in first ch-1 sp {counts as first GrnShl}, [*GrnShl in ch-1 sp of each V-st* until reach ch-2 sp at corner, (dc, ch 2, dc) in corner ch-2 sp] 4 times, Rep from * to * until reach first GrnShl of Rnd, sl st to first st of GrnShl. Fasten off. [40 Gr Shl, 8 dc, 4 ch-2 sp {10 GrnShl each side}]

Rnd 11: Change to Color B. (Standing dc, ch 1, dc) in middle st of any GrnShl along a side {counts as first V-st}, [*V-st in middle st of each GrnShl *until work in last GrnShl before corner ch-2 sp, (V-st, ch 2, V-st) in corner ch-2 sp] 4 times, Rep from * to * until reach first V-st of Rnd, sl st to first st of V-st. [48 V-st, 4 ch-2 sp {12 V-st each side}]

Rnd 12: Repeat Rnd 10. [48 GrnShl, 8 dc, 4 ch-2 sp {12 GrnShl each side}]

Finishing

Weave in tails and block.

Crocheting in Longmont

September 14, 2016September 14, 2016Celebrating, Crochet, Free Pattern Links, Yarn, Yarnie FriendsLeave a Comment

Today I was at my crochet group in Longmont at the Longmont Yarn Shoppe, “Causal Crochet”. We had been getting together on the third Wednesday of each month for 2 hours starting at 10:30 a.m. This was our first meeting on the 2nd Wednesday of the month, and we will be having 2 meetings a month from now on.

If you are in the area you can join us at “Causal Crochet” for at least the next 8 months on the 2nd and 3rd Wednesday of the month. We will see if the schedule still works for everyone once summer rolls around.

Our group today discussed what our fall “Crochet-A-Long” project is going to be. Looks like we will be working on a blanket square. I’ll be putting the pattern up here on my blog and my YouTube Channel during the first week of October. That’s just 3 weeks away!

I was teaching a private crochet lesson today after the group met. This weekend I am teaching a “Learn to Crochet for Knitters” class, but one of the knitters that wanted to take it wasn’t going to be able to make the class. Instead we made arrangements to have a one hour lesson together at the shop. I think it went very well and she is well on her way to being able to add crochet to her knitting projects.

It’s always so fun to see a crafter get the hang of a new skill. This was my little practice piece for demonstrating the stitches to my student. I was working with Berroco “Vintage” yarn. I have 3 hanks of the green color in my stash, left-over from another project and I decided I needed to add some new colors for a project percolating in my brain.

Fall is definitely in the air up here on the mountain, even though it is late summer most days down in town. I’ve been seeing lots of sunflowers blooming everywhere. They are one of my favorite flowers, maybe that’s because I grew up in Kansas (The Sunflower State).

I picked the 2 yellows and the brown to go with the green I already have. They really put me in mind of sunflowers. Will have to see what they grow up to be. Berroco’s “Vintage” is a great machine washable work-horse yarn that is a blend of 52% Acrylic, 40% Wool, and 8% nylon. The nylon makes it very durable, which is really nice for afghans, blankets and hard working hats or scarves for the family.

If you are feeling too impatient to wait for my new afghan square, you can check out some of them I’ve already published here on the blog.

Whirlwind Afghan Square: the pattern is here on my blog, and I have 2 videos to help you work it here on my YouTube Channel: Whirlwind How-To Part 1 and Whirlwind How-To Part 2.

Annetta Square: the pattern is here on my blog.

Hot Spot (Annetta Square #2) : the pattern is here on my blog.

The Humble Granny Square: the pattern is here on my blog.

I hope all my US readers are enjoying some cooler temperatures and enjoying the last bits of summer. Soon we will have snow up here on the mountain. I’ll be digging out my warmer clothing in the next couple of weeks. The good news is, I will have lots of opportunities to wear some of my favorite scarves, shawls and hats again.

Back from Teaching in the Wilds of Nebraska

September 11, 2016Celebrating, Latest News, YarnLeave a Comment

This weekend I was at the Scotts Bluff Valley Fiber Arts Fair. Yes, that is a mouthful.

Friday morning I was a busy bee getting the car loaded up and double checking that I had everything I for the 2 classes I was teaching on Saturday. I left a little bit later than I had wanted to, and I got to experience lovely stop-and-go commuter traffic on the I-25 highway. I just kept singing along with my radio and driving carefully. Once I passed Ft. Collins it was much better. Note to self, when driving up to Nebraska, be sure to be past Ft. Collins before 4 p.m.

Good news was I made it to Scotts Bluff before sunset, though barely. The best part was I did most of the drive in good daylight and the got to enjoy the scenery. My photos can’t really do it justice and some of the most stunning views there wasn’t a good spot to pull over and take a photo. The twilight sun really made the bluffs extra dramatic looking.

The next day was all about teaching, though I did get a little shopping time in with my friends at the Brown Sheep Wool Company booth. I brought home another 4 pounds of loose fiber and some beautiful hanks of their Hand Paints in various weights. The yarn was “seconds” and they were selling it by the weight, so I got a little carried away.

Most of this yarn I’ll be using for gifts I’m making for other folks. Though once again I’m realizing that I left planning gifts for Christmas a bit late. I know you are thinking Christmas is months away, but I know it will get here way too quickly when it comes to making and finishing gifts in time. That is 104 days for those of you that like exact numbers. I’m not counting today or Christmas day. For some of my gifts I need to ship them, so really I have more like 94 days. Eep!

After all the teaching and shopping I was ready for a quiet evening in my hotel room. I made myself some dinner and watched a movie while I crocheted. The next day was going to be a much more relaxed pace and I was looking forward to it. As much as I love my family, sometimes it is nice to have some all alone time.

I sleep in until 8 a.m. then ate some breakfast, took a leisurely shower and packed up my last bits and bobs. I did have something interesting happen that could have been a bit frightening. While I was in the shower I thought I heard a knock on my door, then a thump. But I decided I must have been mistaken and even if I wasn’t I didn’t see any need to hop out of the shower wet and soapy to answer my door.

When I finally emerged from the bathroom I realized that someone had tried to come thru the door. Fortunately I had used the safety latch and they were not able to enter. I’m sure it was a mistake by house-keeping, since they were the only folks with a key that could unlock my room. I did call the front desk to let them know what happened. It was a little unnerving, so sort of interrupted my relaxation momentum of the morning. Lesson to anyone traveling alone, always use the safety latch when you are in your room.

I shook it off and gathered up all my luggage, I took 2 trips to my car because I wanted to get extra steps in. I knew most of my day was going to involve sitting in a car driving and there would not be a lot of opportunities to walk. When I went to check out the front desk manager added 1000 points to my rewards account and apologized again for the snafu with house keeping.

One of the reasons I had stayed an extra night was I really wanted to explore the Scotts Bluff National Monument a little. That was where I was headed after I stopped for some petro for the car. My little Google GPS gal (also known as Gina) said that it was only a 15 minute drive from my hotel, and I could see it from the hotel parking lot.

GPS Gina was a bit insistent on this trip. Coming up on Friday she really wanted me to drive up thru Wyoming instead of sticking to the interstate highways. On Friday I over-rode her wishes. Though she did try to get sneaky when I stopped for my traditional Wendy’s French Fries in Cheyenne, my next exit on I-25 is the one to take, she told me to continue north on I-25 for 16 miles. Gina was determined that I was going to take that other route.

Sunday when I used my Google Maps for directions to go home Gina once again told me to take the other route. It was the middle of the day and clear sunny weather so I told her okay, this time we would go the way she wanted. First we went to visit the Scotts Bluff National Monument.

I picked the best photos I took, but as before they really don’t capture how beautiful it is there. I’m actually just grateful that the pictures came out relatively clear. It was extremely windy and I was challenged to keep my body steady when taking photos. I attempted to get a good photo of the angle of the bluff as seen from my hotel parking lot, but couldn’t get close enough without it being obscured by trees and houses. Next time.

I hope you all had a really good weekend. I’m still a bit tired, but I really enjoyed my visit to Nebraska. I hope some of you get a chance to see the Scotts Bluff Valley for yourselves in the near future. It’s a beautiful area with lots of history, and of course, the Brown Sheep Wool Company.

Prize Winner!

September 6, 2016Celebrating, Crochet, Free Pattern Links, Pattern, Yarnie FriendsLeave a Comment

Last Autumn I facilitated a Crochet-A-Long at my local yarn shop: Longmont Yarn Shoppe. I introduced our Causal Crochet group to the “Corner to Corner” crochet technique. Each crocheter picked a yarn in the shop that they wanted to try, and we each made a scarf.

One of the participants was Margie C. She enters the Boulder County Fair each year, submitting a number of crochet projects and this year she decided to enter the scarf she made. Last month when we all got together she shared the following photo with the group.

Her scarf had garnered 3 ribbons! Yay Margie!

If you would like to try your hand at the corner-to-corner technique you can find my tutorial and pattern on my blog post: Playing with Corner to Corner.

Corner to Corner is a really fun crochet technique. My favorite aspect of it is that you have that “small start” that I love to use. When you use a yarn with long gradual color changes you can get a truly impressive looking piece of fabric with minimal ends to weave in.

I’m heading off this weekend to Scotts Bluff, Nebraska for the Scotts Bluff Valley Fiber Arts Fair. I’ll be teaching 2 classes on Saturday, my “Playing with Triangles Shawl” in the morning and my “Don’t Let Your Hobby Hurt” in the afternoon.

I’m really excited about teaching the shawl class, I’ve added some fun variations to the basic shawl pattern and I’m hoping to inspire my students creativity. If you are in the area you can still enroll for the Saturday classes, just visit the website for more information on how and where to register.

If Scotts Bluff is too far away for you, you can find the pattern for the shawl here on my blog in my post: Playing with Triangles (the post also includes a link to an animated tutorial version of the pattern).

Hopefully I can get some pictures of the beautiful landscape around Scotts Bluff to share with you all next week. And some cute fiber critters as well.