Category Archives: Crochet & Yarnies

Next Round Sunburst Granny Squares – Marigolds – chamomile tea for seedlings

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I finally got the white rounds on my sunburst granny squares. Now I’m working on the next round. Only two more rounds to go then I can join them and start on another project. It’s taking me a lot longer on this one than the others. To be honest, my interest is lacking at the moment. But with time, I’ll get them finished.
With the exception of a few inside/window plants, I had no intention of gardening nor growing anything but pre-started annual flowers this year. That changed when we went to look for annuals to plants in our flower beds. We got some pretty flowers of several colors.
However, we mainly wanted Marigolds because they grow and bloom until first frost.
There wasn’t a marigold to be found in 3 counties.
Marigolds are the most inexpensive and easy to grow annual flowers and no store nor nursery had a one of them. The only thing I can figure, is ever other gardener wanted marigolds and they sold out swiftly… everywhere :/
So I bought some marigold seeds and started some seeds.
The seedlings are looking quite healthy. I’ve begun watering them with chamomile tea water. Many years ago, my brother told me about using weak chamomile tea water to help stop the plants from getting a disease called dampening-off, when I transplant them outside.
I planted a test-marigold outside a few days ago. It’s been through sun and storms and looks pretty good. The chamomile tea seems to have worked wonderfully. I plan on planting the other marigolds outside this weekend if the weather allows.

I reckon this is all for me at the moment. I just wanted to drop by and share a few thoughts.

Wishing you all a pleasant rest of the week.

 

 

 

WIP – Sunburst Granny Squares

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I’ve made 5 blankets/throws using the “sunburst granny square”.
I’m working on a 6th sunburst blanket right now.
I’ve got my 72 squares ready for next color.
I wonder if, after this blanket, I’ll make another
one with this pattern. 🙂

Wishing you all happy crafting!

 

 

Update 1 Temperature Blanket – color changes

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I decided to wait to give an update on my blanket so my posts about it won’t seem too repetitive.
It’s hard to believe that we’re in to the 13th week of 2022 already.
The temperatures have been up & down. The changing colors are a good look for my temperature blanket.
I went through my yarn stash and discovered that I needed to rethink some of my colors. I’m trying not to have to buy anymore yarn than necessary, so I changed/switched some colors.
The Degrees are Fahrenheit.
The yarn is Red Heart 4 ply
0° & under, white
10°& teens, Orchid
20° Amethyst (more purple than in the photo)
30° Light Blue
40° Blue
50° Green
60° Lemon
70° Saffron
80° carrot
90° Red
100° & above, Burgundy
I struggled at first with what stitch to join the rows with. I played around with a few and didn’t care for any of them.
So, I made up my own single crochet stitch and I think of it like and Ivy or Vine clinging to both pieces holding them together.
I decided to do the join stitch in Caron yarn color ‘Lace’.

I wish you all a warm and sunny week of smiles.
Happy Crafting!

 

 

2022 1st Snow – Crochet Temperature Blanket

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The 1st day of 2022, the high was 77° rainy and stormy.
The 2nd day of 2022, the high was 57° rainy and stormy.
A cold front moved through during the night. The temperatures dropped to the teens and Mother Nature blessed us with a majestic snowfall. I love waking up to such beauty when we don’t have to leave the house.
The 3rd day of 2022, the high was 30° cold, windy, snow melted off the roads, but it’s still pretty.

With the wide spread of temperatures, I was inspired to start a 2022 temperature blanket. I’ve adjusted my 2019 pattern to make the blanket a bigger size. I’m using my same color key for the temperatures.
At this moment I plan to make only a high temperature blanket (but I could change my mind and make a low one too, or not, we’ll see… probably not… )

The Degrees are Fahrenheit.
The yarn is Red Heart 4 ply
0° & under, white
10°& teens, Amethyst (it’s more purple than in the photo)
20° Orchid
30° Blue
40° Light Blue
50° Spring Green
60° Lemon
70° Saffron
80° Pumpkin
90° Cherry Red
100° & above, Burgundy

Wishing you all a year of good times and happy crafting!

 

Holiday crochet vest – red metallic

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My husband surprised me with several skeins of red metallic yarn. He said that he thought I might want to make something pretty for Christmas out of it.
It took me a couple days to decide on a vest… then I searched for a few more days for different patterns and downloaded several of them and printed them off. I tried them and was not happy with any of them. Then it occurred to me that I can free-hand a vest using an ‘open shell stitch’. Tah – dah and that is what I did.

This vest looks better offline than in the photos.
This vest is a fairly good example of shades of colors. It was made from yarn bought off the same shelf… however, there is a difference that I cannot see, but cameras pick them up.
I’m thankful that, to my eyes, in real life, the vest looks like it’s all the same shade.

Here’s a photo of the skeins I have left. Without the photo, I can’t See the shade differences of the skeins.
Next time before I start a project, I’ll take a photo and see which skeins are shaded. (If I can remember.)

This is hilarious (to me, but I’m old and sometimes easily amused)…
I wanted to get a fairly good photo of the ‘open shells’ to show the stitch is prettier than the photos of the vest show.
So, I laid the vest into the scanner and scanned it. To my surprise, it scanned the upper part to be gold and the lower part to be red. ~hearty chuckle~

Well maybe with all these bad photos, you can get the gist of the colors and the stitch pattern. 😉

Here’s wishing you successful holiday crafting!

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Autumn Beauty Blanket

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I crocheted another blanket. I once again used the sunburst granny pattern.
I wish I could get a photo of the blanket showing the colors more closer to the way they are in real life. I managed to get a photo of a single block closer to the actual colors. I like the way these colors look together. My husband thinks the blanket is really pretty.
I’ve been having big fun with the sunburst granny square pattern. There’s so many pretty color combos that make me wish I could make them all.
I call this blanket ‘Autumn Beauty‘
Finished size is 56 inches x 64 inches

Red Heart yarn
4 skeins carrot
4 skeins tan
2 skeins Aaron
1 skein tea leaf
Bernat yarn: 1 skein walnut

Crochet Hook Size I
Pattern Sunburst Granny
56 blocks
I like my crochet squares to be a bit tighter than the norm, so I adjusted the pattern:
I did not put single crochets between the puffs and the clusters
I put only one single crochet in the corners.
I did not use triple crochet, I used double crochets

~*~

Wishing you all a Safe
and Happy November
full of crafting!

~*~

 

Candy Corn at Midnight

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I searched the internet for a sunflower square pattern to crochet for a blanket. I love sunflowers and think a blanket would be charming to have. I found a few blankets/patterns that were absolutely beautiful. However, they were beyond my skill level and patience level to commit to the learning curve of attempting to make them. If you know what I mean. :/

sungranSo, on I searched and then I landed upon a wonderful pattern called “sunburst granny square”. I immediately liked the look of the square. It took me a week or so to work with the pattern and work out my colors. I’ve worked out color themes for several different squares for throws and blankets. I’m planning to make one or two more. I wonder how that will go. 😉

10-21-2021

I call this throw “Candy Corn at Midnight”

As best as I can recall, I’ve never crocheted a blanket using black yarn. My husband and I really like the look of the candy corn colors with the black. I decided instead of a blanket to make a throw for the Candy corn season.

It’s prettier in real life than in the photo.

P1690602
Finished Size: 40 inches x 48 inches

Size I crochet hook
Darning Needle
Scissors or snippers

4 skeins Black 364 yards 4 weight yarn
2 skeins Pumpkin 364 yards 4 weight yarn
1 skein Bright Yellow 4 weight yarn
1 skein White 4 weight yarn

I like my crochet squares to be a bit tighter than the norm, so I adjusted the pattern:
I did not put single crochets between the puffs and the clusters
I put only one single crochet in the corners.
I did not use triple crochet, I used double crochets

I really enjoyed making the Halloweenish colors throw. It’s quite fun to see. I plan to use it mainly during October each year and keep it stored away the rest of the year.

I hope you all are doing well.
I wish you a fun and safe Halloween season.

My Big Big Baby Blanket

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Last Spring, I bought some Bernat Baby Sport yarn. I’ve not done anything with baby yarn and decided to give it a go. Well, I tried the yarn with plain & basket weave knitting, plain & basket weave loom knitting and then tried it with block & shells & simple crochet to no avail.
I did not like the way it worked up, so I put it away.

My mind couldn’t let the idea of using the yarn go, so after a few weeks, it occurred to me try a corner to corner (c2c) stitch. C2C is like a slanted type of brick stitch. It’s like the Crazy Stich only instead of straight across rows it’s done starting at the corner and making slanted rows. Years ago, I made a solid blanket using C2C I’ve not done anything with either stitch pattern in years.
The c2c worked okay, but I wasn’t satisfied with it until after I adjusted it to make the brick a bit tighter. Then, I had to think of something to make and decided to buy some tiny tulips Bernat Baby Sport yarn and make it kind of like a patch work blanket.
The blanket is about 60 inches x 72 inches (5×6 feet).
It’s a nice warm snuggly blanket. I’m very happy with it.
3 – 8.5 oz skeins Bernat Baby Sport yarn – Funny Prints
3 – 8.5 oz skein Bernat Baby Sport – Tiny Tulips
Part of a skein of white Bernat Baby Sport yarn
Size I crochet hook
I made 10 blue and 10 pink, 14 inch squares.
I whip stitched them together
I made a double crochet border with a single crochet around the border to finish it off.

Wishing you all Happy Crafting!

 

 

 

 

December 2020 Crafty News

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Well, it’s near the end of the year. I’m still not in a very active crafting mood. However, I thought I should make a bit of a crafty post since the last crafty one I made was way back in April.

During this month of December, My husband and I made a couple diamond dot paintings. It’s become a Christmas time tradition for us. We sit at our kitchen table, each with our own diamond dot kit. Over the course of the weekends, hours at a time, we work and enjoy sharing a pleasant relaxing craft together.
Yesterday, I transformed leftover baked ham and deviled eggs into ham salad. It’s a very easy thing to do.
I chopped up some ham,
mashed up 3 deviled eggs,
mixed them together,
and spooned the ham salad onto snack crackers.
It made a nice tasty snack and used up the rest of the leftover deviled eggs.
In November, I tried to do a bit of crocheting. Unfortunately, I had to stop because I got a very uncomfortable ache in my hands. I’m surprised that I haven’t experienced it, to this extent, before this stage in my life. When in the mood, I love crocheting, so I know I don’t want to give it up. I looked online and ordered a set of cushioned crochet hooks that are made to hopefully help ease the ache. They’re real nice.
To try my new crochet hooks out, I attempted to crochet some popcorn. I thought I’d make oodles of it and string them for garland for our tree. After crocheting only 3 popcorns, I lost interest. It’s a lot more work and requires more holiday spirit than I can muster up this year. Maybe, some day in the future, I’ll give the popcorns another try.
On a more happy note, We got a nice extra bit of cheer this Christmas when we awoke to a light snowfall. I know it’s silly, but it feels so much more jolly with snow on Christmas day.

I’m sorry I haven’t been around but very little.
I’m going to try to do better in the new year.
I pray you and your families are well and
looking forward to hopefully more positive
times to come in the new year.

 

 

 

2019 Temperature Blanket Finished Update

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I’m delighted to announce that I have finally finished my 2019 Temperature Blankets! ~Happy Dance~
They measure out at 38″x52″ (inches.)

I enjoyed making these blankets, every morning adding the 5 little rows of the temperatures from the day before… until about the 300th day… then for whatever reason my joy waned and my morning add-ons became a chore. It saddened me to loose the joy in my blanket journey challenge.
However,
I thought about you all, my blogging buddies, who’ve been with me every step of the way. It was your positive feedback that kept me going.

I say a heart filled grateful, Thank you, to all of you who has supported and encouraged me along the way over the past year. Your cheers have been the wind that kept my creative wings in flight. You’re the best!

In order to get the 365th day in, instead of doing the usual 5 rows a day, I did 4 rows for the last 5 day temperatures.
I’m happy to post these photos of the finished 2019 temperature blankets.

reference:

 

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