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!

Another Birthday

Today was my birthday....I am now 54. I dont feel any older :)

It was a nice day. My D came over and visited with me....we had fun. She brought me a balloon bouquet and some fancy beads from the party store.....she said she was broke :) I told her she didnt have to get me anything.....it was nice just being with her.

When my b/f came home, he had a lovely bouquet of flowers in a pretty mug/vase for me as well as the SWEETEST birthday card. Inside was an envelope with $200 for me to get my hair done! I blubbered like a baby. I was NOT expecting anything since he already spent $400 on new glasses for my birthday. I have the most GENEROUS b/f.....I dont know if I deserve it.

Will be back soon with the contest. Hang in there! :)

Crochet, Away!

Holy Cow!!

I cant believe it! I missed my Blogiversary! I thought about it last month and then I got wrapped up in family stuff and I totally MISSED it! It was May 16th of last year that I started this blog journey of mine. I have enjoyed every minute of it. But its success is mainly to due to all the wonderful people who have visited my blog and commented on my projects. Without YOU, I would probably have stopped this thing ages ago. It wasnt my intention, initially, to look for people to visit.....I just wanted to have a place to showcase my work. But the warmth and support of all of you has inspired me more than I ever thought I could be. So its partly YOUR blogiversary, too. And to celebrate, I am going to have a contest, which I will go into more detail about later. Its my way of thanking ALL of you for coming here and reading about my crocheting. So stay tuned :)

Crochet, Away!

Mystery Shawl

Yeah....I said I was going to work on the bag. Well, one of the ladies on Ravelry wanted to have a Mystery Laceweight Shawl CAL, so having never made a laceweight shawl before, I couldnt resist. If you have a hankering to CAL, go over to Tracey's blog....the directions are there. You can see here how mine is so far. I am using Patons Lacette and a size "I" hook. The lacette was a bargain....found it at JoAnn's reduced from $6.49 a skein to $2.97. I bought 8 skeins, and should only need 3 for the shawl. I will post more photos as the shawl progresses. I think its a gorgeous pattern and I have never done anything this elaborate before.
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An Experiment

I found a pattern in the book Crochet for Babies for the Get Up 'N Go shirt. The pattern calls for it to be made in 2 pieces....front and back....but I wanted to see if I could make it in one piece. And this is the result. Its more a sweater than shirt but I only had 2 seams....underarm and side. I like how it came out. Its a size 2T so its too big for Sydney, but I am going to give it to her anyway....she can wear it next year.

Next up is the Lotus Bag for my D...she will be thrilled since I started it last FALL :D

Crochet, Away!