Baby blankets...one of the pleasures of crocheting is gifting all the new babies with their own cuddly blankets.  Over the years I have made dozens, and I try to make one for each new child that comes into my circle of friends.  This one is for Emmet, the new son of a family I used to nanny for.

This particular pattern was different for me, in that it began in a corner, worked out to a triangle then back down to the opposite corner.  I made this one in Bernat Snuggly Baby because it is all acrylic and thus very washable.  I am using the leftover yarn to make another blanket in the same colors but with a different pattern.  However, I look forward to making this pattern again.

I made my first baby blankets for my oldest daughter Cailin, and some of those are stored away to be used by various future grandchildren.  There is a lot of time and love put into these gifts, and some of the parents realize and appreciate that.

One of the most special projects was a large, twin sized bed blanket made for a four year old who asked that I make him a red blanket with blue stars and a moon.  A year later his mother emailed me to say that when asked at school what thing at home made them feel most loved, he said his blanket!  Now, that made all the work well worth it!

Knit and Crochet Sunday Afternoon Buddies

Third Place Books Knitting Buddies

About three years ago I went to Third Place Books on a Thursday evening to meet up with a spinning group, but I had the wrong night.  As I was leaving, I saw a lively table of friendly looking women knitting and chatting away.  I started to walk past them, then made a u-turn and said "Are you some kind of special group or can anybody join you?"  That was the beginning of some great friendships and a Sunday afternoon activity of hanging out with some like minded ladies to chat, eat and knit or crochet.

Whenever I meet with my Sunday ladies, I think of my Mother's sewing group when I was about five years old, in Santa Cruz, California.  My aunts and Grandmother and mother would get together, bringing their sewing baskets and spend a morning working on stitching projects, drinking coffee, and taking a break from their household workweeks.  This, of course, was before any of these women worked out of the home, and their social ladies groups were vital for mental health!  I think it is equally important for all of us working women to carve out time to bond with groups of women friends, and if it can be combined with some creative handwork, all the better!  Showing off our latest projects, getting advice from our resident expert knitter Esther, or teaching our crafts to newcomers, we chat about our lives, through moves, marriages and illnesses.  It is somewhere to show off our grandbaby pictures and receive the hoped for oohs and ahs.  When I have struggled with illness or other hard times, it has been the most reliable place to know I will receive love, prayer and practical help.

I love my knitting ladies.  They have a warm place in my heart that keeps me feeling anchored through three moves and various jobs and relationships.  For a year, I moved away to an island reached only by a ferry, and my knitting ladies all carpooled over to share a ladies luncheon with me.  I was welcomed back with open arms when I returned to the area.  Thank you, you lovely ladies.  You brighten my heart and give me a loving place to come to any Sunday afternoon.

A Wee Tunisian bag of odd construction

Here is a small Tunisian crocheted purse I made for my sister Donna to put the special rocks and shells she finds at the beach in, perhaps.  It was made to match a shirt I plan to make her (someday?), but I think she will receive the bag before the shirt.  It is always hard to choose a shirt design that will fit well and be the right style, be comfortable, and most of all NOT NEED IRONING!

The first thing I ever made in Tunisian stitch (which we used to call afghan stitch) was an orange, brown and cream striped blanket that I intended to embroider with Native designs and never did...oh well, we used the blanket anyway.  I was more successful with completing my intentions on my second Tunisian project, which was an Inca inspired coat for my daughter Cailin, which was  embroidered with red llamas and looked smashing on both her and her little sister Tonya between the ages of 1 and 3.  Back then, Wintuk/Red Heart was about all I had available to me, unless I spun it myself.

Speaking of spinning, I just sold my spinning wheel to buy my love a birthday dinner, which turned out to be awful (bad Italian food???).  That Ashford sells for $750 new today and I sold it for $50, proving what a financial fool I am!  However, I never liked the very unprofessional finishing job I did on that wheel, so if I ever decide to further pursue spinning, it will be with a new electric wheel or a beautifully naturally finished old fashioned wood wheel.

So...with the wheel, my love convinced me to finally discard my collection of raw fleeces.  I loved the smell of them, but he was not as impressed.  What I WAS impressed with was the fleece I acquired from my son Azuolas and his wild boyhood friend Will.  They sheared that poor sheep with a child's pair of school scissors and no shearing stand.  Happy to say that they all survived the afternoon, sweaty and winded, but fit to face the next day's adventures.

History of crochet, the craft and me!

This afternoon I joined Ravelry, the crochet and knitting community started in 2007.  The fun I was having on that site started me thinking about the history of crochet.  I know that my Grandfather Aaron used to comment that I reminded him of his mother, who was also a nearly obsessive crocheter.  By the time I was in my early teens I was making afghans, ponchos and doilies, and he would see the project in my hands and it made him think of his mother, Edith Abernathy.  My mother, Willa, also crocheted all her life, as did her mother Margaret.  So, I figured I came from a long line of crocheters. 

   It has been interesting to discover that what we think of when we think of crochet is a fairly recent craft.  Really, it wasn't until the Irish Famine of the 1840's that crochet began to be used in an intricate way to decorate clothing or home items, a poor man's lace.  Some of the first crochet work was done in Holland and Germany, other than some very simple (mostly just slip stitch) work that has been done in various parts of the world from the Caucasus to Peru.  I also learned that it was the advent of mercerized cotton in the mid 1800's that really created the opportunity for the craft to take off.

   I was recently looking at a photo of my daughters, taken in 1984, that has what I call a "hippie afghan" or two in the background, along with a crocheted pillow top.  I made the crazy quilt afghan entirely from scraps of other projects I had made, which means I had done a whole lot of crocheting by the time I was 25.

Starting out...

I have never created a blog before.  This one is to share the fiber projects that I am working on, and any other musings that come to mind.  I have made so many things over the years and have no photos or anything!  So, this is my plan to change that.  I wish I had a picture of the 10 foot gold lame' dome I made, for example!  Or the Elizabethan gowns or wedding dresses or theater costumes I have made...but today that changes.  Now I have a place to remember my projects and share what I am working on.  My main techniques are crochet and sewing, but I explore other things, too, and would like to try out quilting and some fiber art of a more eclectic nature.  Today's project is a crocheted baby blanket in a stitch I have never used before.  Photo to follow when it is done!