Jeremy's Sweater

I have finished the sweater for my newest nephew, and love it! I liked it with two buttons, but am including the other two in the package so that the mom can put them on if she likes it better. I am of the opinion that less is better when it comes to having to dress a baby.

We are having wonderful temperatures so far this week - I am able to leave the window open until about one or two in the afternoon, as it is still not 70 by then. How great is that!??!! My flower beds are really looking good with the Fall flowers, and some of the winter bulbs are begging to show - all this nice cool weather. A great time of year to think about all that is wonderful and good in our world, rather than dwell on that which is mean or dangerous or brings on anxiety. Good time to think about what you can do for your neighbor, or someone in need. Make a difference to someone, if even for just one day. Who knows what might end up being a karma boom-a-rang!

Peace!

Megan's Scarf

I was lucky enough to test a pattern for RubyShoesCreations on Ravelry. She calls it Ruby's Loopy Scarf, and her pattern is posted at the Ravelry site. It was not hard, went fast, and really looks good. I did make a boo boo in that I pulled up the cables going in
the wrong direction, but did like the way it turned out so left it. I used Vanna's Choice - from a box that Beverooni sent to me (THANK YOU again!) - and think it turned out really nice. I am thinking of making another one for me, but not quite as wide (I have a skinny short neck holding up my pea brain!). This one is going to my niece in Boston - she'll need it!

Christmas is coming up fast, even though we are only in September.  I'm making a concerted effort to finish presents that I make instead of bought ones, so this is a wonderful project for me. Have you ever done that....just made all the presents? I never have, although I've made them often through out the year.  One of the things that I thought I'd do is to try making donation articles along the way - smaller ones - and send 'presents' to those places that need them. It is heart warming, and actually a gift to myself as much as one to where I send it. What are you doing to warm the cockles of your heart?

Weeks End.....

I haven't been as busy as I would like with meeting my crochet obligations, but have just about finished one project. I need to start on some of my squares for the two new groups while finishing my squares for the last two groups ... but am being slow about both.

What I am doing, is enjoying the visit from my nephew. My ONLY nephew on my side of the family (blood relative). He is 32, not married, and a fireman in San Diego. He is sweet. He is tall. He is handsome. He is also a great help in the kitchen and a good cook! Wow.

He has been such fun to have around and is a very wonderful reminder as to what family is all about. He is also a reminder to me of what I missed these many years in never having been blessed with children. It is such a pleasure to see what a wonderful man he has grown into, how self-confident he has become, poised, funny, and hard working.  The photo above is in San Diego a few years back. The one above that was at his graduation from the academy.

He is studying for his next test for the department and I have been helping him with the flash cards. It is a wonder to behold - he can repeat verbatim what is on those cards - at least 50 cards! It is amazing the mind can do such a thing ... and I am learning so much about all that a fireman has to know.

Can you imagine that they have to know which way a fan has to face for particular rooms to ventilate? What the fan is made out of, how to maintain and oil it. What ladders are made of...gloves and gauntlets? There are tools galore that they use for breaking into a roof, for sawing down a door - different blades for different doors - and how to cut electrical wires that go into houses - how to disconnect gas lines or water lines ... how much oxygen is in a tank ... how to haul a person out of a building (leaving an axe and a flashlight pointing UP to show the last place that was searched) - how to search a room when you can't see because there is too much smoke, remembering whether you went in left handed and have to come out right handed.

So - the next time you think about it - bake a cake for your nearby firestation and take it to them to say thank you. It might be someone's most favorite nephew that you are treating well that day. And it might be your grandmother that he pulled out of the last burning building he went into.  Or your puppy that he will save in the next one. And if you see that he looks like this fellow, tell him is Auntie Catherine loves him beyond belief and is so very proud to have him as her beloved nephew.

Autumn

Love this potholder from Pat A.!!!

Bottom two I made.  Top two I received...lucky me!

One Hex and Two Angel Squares

The top two in Silver Blue and White are for Angels Squares for Tavish (are you reading this Paula????).  The second one down is a pattern I made up as I went along.  I call it Paula's Dream Catcher.  I am quite sure there are tons of patterns out there they use the same premise of doing a chain one on the first row, chain two on the second, chain three on the third, etc so that it has that dream catcher effect.  I hope it tickles her sweet big heart!


The last one is for the Hexagon exchange - sort of matches one in the previous post for JaqiD.  It almost got too out of hand with the wonkiness, but changed the corners and had to decrease a couple of stitches on a round.  It is flat!!! Hooray!

Hexagons Galore!

I am finally frantically catching up with my commitment to the Hexagon Group Swap.  It did not dawn on me (although I knew when I signed up) that I had to make about 18 Hexagons.....at least I have until October 31st to finish, which is no problem.

For the people who get two, I am coordinating the colors from their preferences which I hope gives their afghan a more blended look rather than patchwork.  Most of the patterns I have found are for smaller Hexagons, so am having to improvise the rest.  I did find that if the pattern calls for 2dc, ch1, 2dc in each corner not to do it!  Makes it very wonky when it gets larger as you expand.  Better to trim those early corners down to 1dc, ch2, 1dc so the later rows will not be too long and curly.

Swine Flue and more of the Cardigan

I hav finished the back and one side.  I'll finish the other side tomorrow, and then start on the sleeves.  

I have found I do not like the chain 3 at the beginning of each row, so I have been doing the elongated double crochet - it's on a video that I posted awhile back.  You draw up the loop at the end of the row (rather than doing a chain one or a chain 3).  Then you wrap it around your hook by holding the top of the loop still with one finger....you go under the top of the first stitch in the row (the same one the loop came up through), yo, pull up a loop, and then complete it as you would any double crochet.  

You have to hold the top of the loop still with one finger while you do this.  I have found that if it comes lose, you can still do the dc easily as it falls around in place on it's own as long as you have completed one of the pull-throughs.  This leaves the side looking straight, and there is no gap between the chain 3 and the next stitch.  It really is just a dc. 

Heather's patterns call the first ch3 of each row just that.  She doesn't state that the ch3 is going to count as a dc, so at the end of each row she gives the count of the stitches and then says something along the lines of how many stitches plus one ch3.  I go through her instructions now and when it says 23 tr (treble in UK is the same as dc in USA) and 1 chain 3, and mark it out - changing it to 24 tr.  Makes more sense to me that way when I am counting.

I'm throwing in the photo below just for giggles!  Received it today from my SIL and just about fell off my chair laughing!  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!  If you want to 'steal' it, just click on it and when it pops up on a web page download it from there.

Have a good week!

Irrational Fear of Swine Flue