Merry Christmas!

Here is our tree....with gifts ready to be unwrapped in the morning. It takes up most of the open space in the living room....its a wide tree but I think it looks great.

I want to take this opportunity to wish you a very Merry Christmas! Enjoy your holiday......be safe.

Crochet, Away!

P.S. I Love You Cap and Keyhole Scarf

I had no intention of doing any kind of designing until after the holidays but this was rather unintentional. I made a pair of the Fingerless Mitts (same pattern that I used last year) for my son's g/f but I couldnt find a scarf and hat pattern that would match it so I made one up. I like the way it came out and am considering writing the pattern down next year.

The P.S. in the pattern name comes from "post stitch", which is what this set is entirely made of. Its a very thick and warm set and I hope she likes it. I know I do :)

Hope everyone out there is enjoying their holiday season. I know things are tough all over but they WILL get better....I have faith :)

Crochet, Away!

And the Winner IS......

I am sitting here with slips of paper that have the names of the entrants to my contest. And I am about to choose one of the pieces of paper and announce the name of the winner of the Elann Esprit yarn. Good luck, ladies!

Drum roll please.....brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrump!

And the winner is....

NAIDA!!!

I am sure you all join me in congratulating Naida on winning the contest! And I want to thank ALL the entrants for participating.

Naida, I will contact you by e-mail to get your mailing address so I can send your prize out to you. :)

Although the contest is ended, I will have another one next year. And I want to ask anyone who is interested to make more swatches of your favorite stitches, take a pic and send it to my e-mail address identifying what stitch it is. I want to start an online stitch collection that will be available to anyone who comes to my blog and accesses the page link. I will put the link to the left and it will permanently remain there.

Oh...btw....you may notice at the bottom of my posts there are REACTIONS. Even if a visitor to my blog doesnt want to write a post, they can still check off one of the selections. I hope more people will utilize this....its totally anonymous and, I think, fun :)

I hope everyone's holiday crocheting is going well. I have finished a poncho for my SIL and am just about finished the last of my charity pieces.....a hat and scarf set for a little girl. If I dont get back before Thursday, I wish everyone of you here in the U.S. a VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING! And if you are traveling, take care and come back safely!

Crochet, Away!

Contest Update- Entries

I am little disappointed that I have so few entries for the contest despite extending the deadline. But HERE are the entries so far. You still have time to get your entry in...it only takes a few minutes to do up a 5" swatch and e-mail me a photo. Again, the address is sandy42@hotmail.com.

Crochet, Away!

World Champion Philadelphia Phillies!

Well, the baseball season is over and it was a wild playoff. But the Phillies pulled it off. My Phillies won the WORLD SERIES and are the Champions!! After 28 years since the LAST World Series win, they finally brought it home. The games were exciting.....the parade today was memorable. I just want to thank the team for a great year and an even BETTER one (if thats possible) next year!

Because of the World Series, I am extending the contest for another week......so get your entries in. I will have the entry page up in the next couple days.

Crochet, Away!

Mike Nesmith Would be Proud

You know who Mike Nesmith is...right? Well, if you don't, he was the lead guitarist of The Monkees. And if you ever saw the tv show, he used to wear a green ski cap....even in the summer. This cap reminds me SO much of his cap.....and it's a classic design. I found out that in Canada, it's called a "toque" but its all the same hat. Find the pattern HERE..... it's super easy and also easy to adjust to any size. This cap was made from the Caron One Pound worsted, but you can use any yarn with a comparable hook. I have made 3 so far...one in rose color Simply Soft with a pom-pom on top. It's a very thick, very warm hat....perfect for winter. I am making these for charity and I think they will do the job. This cap I am crocheting a matching scarf for using the same BLO stitch. It just might become your favorite winter hat pattern. And the mitten patterns on the same page are terrific, too. Enjoy!

I am waiting for more entries in the contest. The month is half gone so come on and join in!

Crochet Away!

The Contest

Here we are at the first of October...and, as promised, here is what you need to do to enter my contest and win the Esprit sock yarn pictured in my previous post.

Make a swatch of your favorite crochet stitch....about a 5" X 5" square will do. Take a photo of it and send it to me at sandy42@hotmail.com Make sure you include your name and an e-mail address that you can be contacted by. I will create a web page with all the photos of the swatches I receive and I will put a link to it from my blog. At the end of the month, I will randomly choose a swatch and the creator of that swatch will be the winner. You have till the last day in October to make your swatch and send me a photo of it. Contest will end on midnight EST, Oct. 31st. I am looking forward to seeing all the entries and the different stitches.

Good luck and...

Crochet, Away!

I'm BACK!!!

I know its been forever...or so it seems. But family comes first. Now that my mom is settled in the nursing home and her house is sold and finances are taken care of, I can relax and get back into my blogging. And I did NOT forget about the contest. It will officially begin on October 1st. Since I have been gone 3 months, I know a lot of you have given up on me and I want to be fair so that everyone has a chance to win, I will let the contest run for the entire month of October. The prize will be what you see in the photo....3, 50g. balls of Elann Esprit cotton/elastic yarn.....perfect for a pair of crocheted socks! On October 1st, I will post what the contest is about. Its very easy and anyone who crochets can enter.

As for what I have been up to for the past several months, I did NOT stop crocheting. In fact, if you check my Flickr link, you will see several new FO's. I am not going post a lot about them here. Most were gifts for my b/f's grandkids. Right now, I am working on charity pieces....a poncho, a sweater, hair scrunchies, hats, scarves, etc., along with holiday gifts. Most of these I will post about in the near future. On my hook at the moment, is the Dusk Sweater  from the Fall edition of Interweave Crochet. Its a pretty easy, but very lovely design. I cant wait to finish it.

That's all for the moment. Now I have to go around and visit all the blogs of my friends and fellow crocheters that I have not been able to get to for so long.

Crochet, Away!

Southwest Salsa Sport Socks

How's THAT for alliteration? :)

I still haven't gotten my D's bag done....ran out of yarn. This week I have to take a trip to the craft store. But my sock yarn has been calling to me for quite awhile now and I just HAD to make a pair. I found the basic pattern for this pair HERE, but I changed a few things to make it fit me better. The result was these socks. They are made from my stash of Crystal Palace Panda Cotton. The yarn is SOOO soft and comfortable! The color is Nasturtium and it is HOT! It reminds me of fresh salsa. I wish I had a pair of clear shoes to wear with them. This is not a difficult pattern and I will probably make more.

Crochet, Away!

Butterfly Wing Shawl

I LOVE this shawl. The pattern is definitely a keeper. It's easy but it looks SO elegant. Took me only 2 nights to make it. I used Cotton Plus instead of a laceweight yarn but, surprisingly, it's not heavy and it drapes SOO nicely. Not to mention it's easy care....machine wash and dry. This is the second one I've made and it wont be the last. Find the pattern HERE.

I want to thank everyone for their birthday wishes, here and on Ravelry. Yarn artists are the BEST people! Next post will be about the contest....I promise! :)

Crochet, Away!