Year of Crochet

On Friday, I posted my weekly schedule of crafts. I know it may seem like overkill to plan out when I'm going to work on projects, but I have so many ideas and projects that I want to get to. If I don't come up with a way to get to them in a way that allows me to complete them all (while not getting tired of working on the same project all the time), I will end 2013 with all these WIPs, plus more, I'm sure. 

If you paid attention, you noticed that there are two days listed for crochet. Three years ago, when I started this blog with the intent to clean out my craft closet, I decided I was going to finish the one crochet blanket I had in the boxes, and then donate the rest of my yarn and hooks to a close friend who crocheted. (I still haven't finished that blanket, btw). But things change. One of my friends is 21 weeks pregnant, and she has requested that her baby blanket not be a quilt. So I started a project for her...

That's all the peek you get for now. She's having a gender reveal party soon, so I'll know how to finish it off, and you'll get a finished picture after she gets it.

Then the unexpected happened. One of my aunts passed away last year. She loved to crochet (I still have the baby blanket she made for me when I was born. I'm saving it...) and she loved to shop on sale. She had boxes of yarn...boxes. Each box full of only one color. She used to make the blankets and store them, giving them away to other cancer patients she would meet. She also made wedding afghans (I have one of those too, it's beautiful), and baby blankets. But my cousins are not       crafty people, so they offered to have some of the "crafty" members of our family come down and select supplies they would take back. I ended up with several bags and boxes of yarn, but I didn't know what I was going to do with them for a few weeks. 

Turns out I had enough baby yarn to make several blankets. Plus, she had several blankets already finished, or near completion. So, what was I going to do with all this? I didn't feel right giving away blankets she had made to my own friends, and I also didn't feel right making blankets from her yarn to give to friends. After discussing it with the hubs, we came up with the perfect solution. I'm going to make up the blankets this year, and then donate them to a local women's shelter. Most of the women show up at those shelters with nothing but the clothes on their back and what they could toss into their purses. Many times they arrive with small children, and sometimes, they are pregnant. These women and children deserve a little something special and homemade. 

Then I realize that I could do that with even the regular yarn! Make up the blankets and give them to one of the local charities. So 2013 is the year of the skein. (teehee...it rhymes!) If I'm going to achieve this goal, I need at least 2 days a week to work on these blankets. And I also have that crafter's choice day, so sometimes that can give me 3 days of crochet. 

Piles of yarn. 

This was one of the completed blankets. All I needed to do was finish off and weave in the ends.

Two more completed blankets. I especially love the one on the left. Those little fuzzy tufts are just so cute!

This one was not quite complete, but I couldn't figure out all of the stitches without the pattern, so I found a fun border that seemed to match the rest of the blanket, and used that to complete it.

This was how I found this blanket. Thankfully, I was also able to find most of the yarn she used. I actually had to make one of the stars on the right. Betcha can't tell which one!

Here is the finished blanket. I was unable to find one of the yarns she used, and had to substitute with a near approximation. It doesn't quite match, but you have to look for it to find it. But I think it looks good anyway.

Binding and Finishing

Yesterday's snow day was beautiful but cold. I spent the day inside doing prep work for finishing and working on some UFOs.  I am pulling my crochet yarns out in preparation for making a friend a crocheted baby blanket. I wanted to see what I had, and try to figure out what I could do with them. I made some motifs for a scrap afghan in order to exercise my hand since I haven't crocheted in several years. I also rolled several skeins of yarn into balls for easier storage (and cat toys!)

Have you met the kitten? This fat-rat ball of fluff is Total. She loves eating her cat sister's food, attacking her dog brother's tail and getting in the middle of all of my craft projects.

Today I am going to redeem baby quilts from the quilter. My cousin is having twins in early February, a boy and a girl. Taking advantage of yesterday's cold stay-inside-cold-day, I made the continuous bias binding for both of them. Yes, I went with the cliche, and made a pink and a blue quilt. These beautiful stripes complement the quilt tops perfectly. Pictures of the baby quilts to come after they have been gifted.

(Don't you just love how yummy those stripes are? I love that the bias binding makes barber-poles out of the print!)

Here's to progess!

July UFO Challenge

The number for this months UFO has been posted, and it is.....drumroll.....#5. The Green Ripples Crocheted Afghan. Hmmm.  I know I need to finish this thing, since it's been taking up space for so long, and I know it will make a great Christmas gift for someone this year...but I really don't want to work on it.  That's probably why more than 10 years later, it's still unfinished.  I really can't remember why I started it, or why I quit working on it, but I know I was working on it when I was volunteering at the hospital as a candy striper delivering the flowers and other gifts people send.  I would work on it between runs.  I think I was 15 or 16.  I guess, though, that finishing it will be a good thing, I'm just going to have to dig deep to find the motivation.....um....1)early Christmas gift .......2)regain use of the bag it is stored in......3)can I make it count to DH as one of the finished projects required to begin on BFs baby quilt and other sundries?.......4)won't cost anything but time to complete, which is good since we just set a to-the-penny budget in order to be debt free by March!!  Feeling a bit more motivated now...

Go forth and CREATE!! (or finish, as the case may be ;)