Christmas Gifts

Well Christmas has come and gone, I hope you had a merry one.  Now back to work!  Only 364 days til the next one!  It seems like we spend so much time making everything perfect, and then it's over so quickly.  Hopefully memories were made that will endure.

I thought I'd share what I crafted for Christmas this year.  (I couldn't earlier because my family wouldn't be surprised if I did!)  I gave up crafting for the men in my family a while ago because they don't wear scarves, or hats (at least crocheted ones), and they don't need warm socks or other such things where they live.,  So just my mom and my sister were the recipients of the results of my craftiness.

My mom had seen my shawls and liked the idea of a shawl, but not of a triangular one.  So, I made a rectangular one for her.  It came out great, and now I want to make one for myself too.

Here's the shawl pattern:
Chain 182, then work stitch 10.  Do 7 repeats of the stitch pattern ending with round 4.
Border:
Round 1: sc around, 3 sc in corner
Round 2: (sc, ch 3, sk 1) around, (sc, ch 3, sc) in corner

Final dimensions: 68"x 20"
I made this using Simply Soft yarn in Black and a J hook.  (This took just over 2 skeins.) 

My sister learned how to crochet a couple of months after I did (I taught her).  It didn't grab her like it did me, and she put it aside.  When I came home on vacation this summer, she asked me to teach her again because she wanted to crochet some more.  So, one evening of showing her the stitches again, and she was good to go.  Refreshers are so much easier than actual learning sessions.  Anyway, this time the crochet bug got her, and she's made dozens of scarves and is even working on her first blanket.

So for Christmas this year, I decided that she needed a tote bag for her crochet.  So I made a Fat Bag for her just like the one I use to cart my projects around.  Of course, I did modify the pattern a bit, mainly just making the handles shorter; my notes for this project are here.  These are particularly nice because it is fairly simple to sew fabric in as a lining, which keeps your hooks from falling through the bag.

I made this using Red Heart yarn in Cornmeal and a J hook.  (This pattern uses ~1.5 skeins.)

12th Man Blanket

Today is the last time this century that the date is repetitive.  12-12-12 has special meaning to Aggies because of the 12th Man.  At 12:12 central time, the War Hymn was broadcast on the radio and played everywhere. 

University of New Mexico game: September 5, 2009

In case you don't already know the history of the 12th Man here it goes:
On January 2, 1922, in Dallas, during the Dixie Classic, a forerunner of the Cotton Bowl, an Aggie, E. King Gill was called from the stands to suit up as a substitute.  Hence the phrase, 12th Man.

So basically, the Aggie football team was reduced down to 11 uninjured players.  There are 11 players on the field at any time, so if anyone else went down, there wouldn't have been anyone to replace them.  So, they called a student out of the stands to fill in as necessary.  No one else was injured, but he stood on the sideline the rest of the game, ready and willing to help his team.  Since then, the entire student section of Texas A&M stands for the whole game.  We are the home of the 12th Man.


On this most auspicious day for Aggieland and Aggies everywhere, I think it's an appropriate time to unveil my latest Aggie afghan.  I'm extremely happy with how it turned out, and I plan on keeping this one.

Here's the pattern:
Color pattern:
1 row white, (2 rows maroon, 2 rows of white) repeated, ending with 1 row of white.  The border is all maroon.

Chain 184, then work stitch 4 as written.
Border:
Round 1: sc around; 3 sc in corner
Round 2: dc around; 5 dc in corner
Round 3: sc around; 3 sc in corner
Round 4: dc around; 5 dc in corner
Round 5: sc around; 3 sc in corner


I made this with I Love this Yarn in Aubergine and White with a J hook.

Support Hobby Lobby!

As you probably know, Hobby Lobby stores around the country are closed on Sundays because of the religious beliefs of the owner.  One aspect of those religious beliefs is that life begins at conception, therefore abortion is wrong.  Whether you agree with him or not, those are his beliefs, and he has a First Amendment right to them. 

Now Obamacare is requiring Hobby Lobby, along with every company in the country to provide abortion inducing drugs as part of their health insurance coverage or face penalties upwards of a million dollars a day.  Hobby Lobby has decided to challenge this in court, and they are facing retaliation in the form of a boycott.  Hopefully this boycott is as successful as the one against Chick-fil-a.  Hobby Lobby makes great yarn, and they stock many other brands of great yarn.  Support Hobby Lobby and buy from them!

Here's the news story I saw about this today.

Shell Stitches 00110 and 01100

It's that time of year! Time for craft fairs!  Which means that I've been working on building up an inventory of things I think will sell.  So I've made probably 20 of the Half Lace Shawls in the past month, along with probably a dozen curly scarves.  All this means, that I haven't really made much that is post worthy recently, though I have been very productive crochet-wise.  

Anyway, I decided I needed to post again, so I took some time out and tried out the next stitches in the Modified Shell stitch series: stitch 00110 (blue) and stitch 01100 (green).  There is very little difference in the two stitches; the only notable one is that the blue one has 2 dc at the end of each row, and the green one has only 1.  Also, when working the blue stitch, sc in the first dc, and when working the green stitch, sc in the second dc.  Other than that, they're identical, and pretty easy to do.  They both have columns ascending vertically throughout the work. 

Here are the patterns:
Stitch 00110:
Chain a multiple of 6 + 5
Row 1: sc in 2nd ch from hook, (ch 1, sk 2, 2 dc in next ch, ch 2, sk 2, sc) across, 2 dc in last ch
Row 2: ch 1, turn, sc, (ch 1, 2 dc in sc, ch 2, sc in first dc) across, 2 dc in last sc

Repeat Row 2 for pattern

Stitch 01100:
Chain a multiple of 6 + 5
Row 1: sc in 2nd ch from hook, (ch 2, sk 2, 2 dc in next ch, ch 1, sk 2, sc) across, (ch 2, dc) in last ch
Row 2: ch 1, turn, sc, (ch 2, 2 dc in sc, ch 1, sc in second dc) across, (ch 2, dc) in last sc

Repeat Row 2 for pattern 

Shell Stitches 00101 and 10100

It's been a bit crazy recently because I was moving.  Now that the move is complete, I can actually crochet and blog again, so here goes.  We have here on the left, the purple, stitch 00101, and on the right, the red, stitch 10100.  Once again, the yarn choice affects the look of the stitch.  Regardless, the overall effect of the stitches are the same: they create columns of partially filled in triangles mixed with columns of completely open triangles.  As before, I prefer stitch 00101 over 10100 because of the more filled in edges.

Here's how to do these stitches:
Stitch 00101:
Chain a multiple of 6 + 5
Row 1: sc in 2nd ch from hook, (sk 2, [dc, ch 1, dc] in next ch, ch 2, sk 2, sc) across, [dc, ch 1, dc] in last ch
Row 2: ch 1, turn, sc, ([dc, ch 1, dc] in sc, ch 2, sk dc, sc in dc) across, [dc, ch 1, dc] in last sc

Repeat Row 2 for pattern

Stitch 10100:
Chain a multiple of 6 + 5
Row 1: sc in 2nd ch from hook, (sk 2, ch 2, [dc, ch 1, dc] in next ch, sk 2, sc) across, (ch 2, dc) in last ch
Row 2: ch 1, turn, sc, (ch 2, [dc, ch 1, dc] in sc, sk dc, sc in dc) across, (ch 2, dc) in last sc

Repeat Row 2 for pattern 

Storytime: Stress Relief Gloves!

Got a story for you!  Last spring I decided to make a baby blanket for a friend, but I had to have it done in time for me to take it with me on the plane in less than a week.  I had been crocheting for about a year at this point, and wasn't as fast I am now, so this was a problem.  Another issue was that I was using a G hook for this blanket.  I use a J hook for just about everything, so this was a departure for me.  Added to that was the difficulty in the pattern I was using.  It was the Little Snowballs pattern and it has an odd stitch in it.  Anyway, all of this combined to make my hands hurt dreadfully.  It got so bad that even when I wasn't doing anything they still hurt.  Crocheting aggravated it further, but I just couldn't put down my hook long enough for my hands to heal.  This went on for a full month.

At this point I was willing to try just about anything, so when I saw these stress relief gloves I decided to give them a shot.  I didn't expect them to work; I still don't know why they work, but they do!  They had an amazing effect upon my hands.  Initially I slept with them on, and I'd wake up and my hands would actually feel great.  Not just not in pain, but noticeably good.  Within a very short time my hands were feeling good again, and I could crochet without pain.

I highly recommend these gloves to anyone with hand pain, or anyone in general because they actually work!  I wear them whenever I crochet because I want to prevent that horrible pain from ever coming back.  It's been over a year since I started using them, and I've not had a problem.  I'm also more conscious of when my hands start to hurt.  I've found that I can crochet about twice as long if I wear these gloves than I could without them.  However, they do wear out, and by that I mean, they stretch out, become looser, and aren't as effective.  I think I've gone through 3 pairs in a year, so they last for a while.  The more you use them the quicker they'll wear out, so if you don't crochet like crazy like I do they'll last longer for you. 

I know that Joanns and AC Moore sell these gloves: "Lion Brand Stress Relief Gloves".  Last I checked, they were $15 at Joanns and $22 at AC Moore.  With a 50% off coupon, they're only $7.50 at Joanns and they last for months.  You can of course buy them online, but you really need to get the right size.  There's a sizing guide on the back of the package that's really easy to use.

Since they are bright blue, fingerless gloves, they look a little odd to most people.  It seems like every time I use them around other people, I get asked about them.  People are curious about them.  There are of course, other brands of these gloves, but I have only tried Lion Brand's and I know they work.  Plus, the Crochet Dude's version make it look like you have tattoos of their logo on your hands, which I think looks tacky. 

I thought this was an appropriate time to bring these gloves up because making the Speedy Afghan in only 6 days was something I never could have done without these gloves.  My hands would have given out and made it impossible to do this.

Vacation!

I'm on vacation this week, visiting family, so I probably won't post again til next week.  Til then!
-Sarah

On a more serious note: Be Ready

Let me just preface this by saying: I am all right, I was not hurt. 

Driving to the lab today, it was a fairly normal morning, though I did get out the door a bit later than I had planned.  I had just gotten on the interstate and was messing with the radio.  I heard a horrible screeching sound, thought, ‘Oh no, what’s wrong with my car.’  I looked down at my gauges and it all looked normal.  I then saw a white sedan driving perpendicular to the interstate, cutting across several lanes of traffic, from the left lane to go off the shoulder, flip, then flip again to rest right side up.  This car nearly hit me.  A couple of seconds was the difference between me being T-boned and me being completely fine.  I nearly died today.  So, maintain your vehicles, drive safely, be alert, and be ready because you never know when your time is up.

Craziness and Awards

So it has been an absolutely insane week.  We had Mother's Day, Prom, my mom's birthday, my graduation, my friend's wedding, and a work retreat this week.  Hence the lack of posting, but things should be getting back to normal now, or as normal as it ever is.  In any case, all the craziness was caused by an overabundance of good things happening at once, so I have no complaints.  I'm just happy that tonight I get a chance to just relax and take a deep breath, maybe watch a movie at home.


When I returned from all of the madness, it was to find that my blog had gotten a Liebster Award for new bloggers.  Thanks to Angie of The Enchanted Ladybug
 for the award.  The purpose of the award is to give good new blogs more exposure.

Rules for receiving your award:

1. Post about your win on your blog.
2. Link back to the blogger who presented you with the award.
3. Copy and past the award button to your blog.
4. Present the Liebster Award to 5 blogs that have fewer than 200 followers that you think deserve to be recognized.
5. Let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.


And the five newest recipients of the Liebster Award are:
1) There's Love in the Stitches: A great source for crochet stitch tutorials
2) Mama Netties Crochet: Crochet patterns using stitches from Love in the Stitches
3) The Curious Country Cook: Inventive ways to make yummy foods
4) Capricious Butterfly: Sewing and knitting craftiness
5) Champagne Maker: Humorous knitting