Yes, you've seen this photo before - I don't have a new one to show you. I do want to say I took the swatch to the store to match up (the swatch on the right) and dark brown is the best background and now there are ten of those little squares made. And I started yesterday afternoon - not bad at all.
Today I am working on another square afghan but this one is all one color. I received a couple of questions at the last craft show whether the afghans would fit a twin bed. It was a little short but since I got the question more than once, I thought it was a sign. This sign was affirmed by the fact we currently have a hand made crocheted bedspread on our full size bed. One of the women in my late mother's-in-law group made it. And I got it for all of $40. That was years ago and it has stood up against the test of time.
I looked up the measurements of bed sizes and found I was really close to the standard sizes - one more column or two more rows and we've got ourselves some bedding. I know my tendency is to go inside my head and project this idea far off into the distance and then not do it because something else has captured my attention - so I won't do that. I will leave it at the afghan I am working on now has squares that are coming out ten inches square so making a 6x7 afghan will be big enough for a twin and full size bed - and the color - a nice cranberry - with some texture to the squares - will come out very nicely indeed. Three squares are already done and the fourth is on the needles.
I should also make good progress with the granny square afghan - which will be 80 squares and not big enough to fit on a bed - work will resume on that tomorrow. Since all the squares are the same, there's no design layout to worry about so putting it together can start tomorrow as well.
I have to go and get myself ready for the knitting group this evening. I have a couple of folks coming over. Melissa is supposed to give me a tutorial on making linings but I might put that off because I want to work on stuff for the show. (We can do it another time, Melissa, don't give me that face!)
I also have to make some seven layer bars. They are going to be my snack for tonight and tomorrow. Hey, we're supposed to have knitting in our hands.
Neglectful. That's what I've been. Would you accept my apology? It's been a busy week!
But I want you to know I have not been Idle. I haven't been lazing the time away. I've been prepping for a district meeting going on this weekend and I've entered a hat phase. I did these all this week. And I finished the stained glass afghan (which I thought I photographed, but guess I haven't seeing as there are no pictures of it.
We had our Wednesday evening get together last night and Vickie (our resident crocheter) said something very interesting. She was telling one of the newbies (We had FOUR newbies last night!) She was telling them why we no longer meet at the church and then she said: "You know since we haven't been at the church, attendance has been much better."
She's right. We were hovering in the eighties and I thought that was pretty good, but since being thrown out, we raised our membership to over 100 and the attendance has nearly doubled. We still do the same work, we still have mission or charity knitting, we are no longer associated with the church and that seems to have loosened up some folks. Hmmmm.
In any case, last night was a lot of fun. We held a knitting and crocheting tutorial and talked about the upcoming craft show in December and a bunch of other stuff. I love the company of crafters. It is an unexpected and pleasant addition to my life. There is an instant camaraderie with people who use their hands, hearts and heads in this way. Would you believe we had three folks offer the use of their homes for future meetings? How cool is that? In case you were wondering if I was one of them..not really. Our entire house is 1100 square feet. There's barely enough room for Mr. Honey and me.
Besides the craft show, we talked about doing a pot luck and again, folks offered the use of their homes. Very nice people. And I must say, though we are open to having men, and it says so right on the page, there's something really special about our group being only women. I also love the company of women. There is nothing like a sisterhood. I am sure it is the same for the brotherhood, but not being one of them, I can only wish they have it just as good.
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Thank goodness I don't do crack - not just because, as Whitney says, "Crack is whack!" But because my friends are enablers to the nth degree. When we went to St. Louis we did a white elephant exchange where you place in a bag a skein of yarn you think is less than appealing and you get one in return. Well, I got three balls of fun fur or facsimile thereof which put me over the moon.
My buds thought I was nuts but in subsequent conversations, I convinced them I loves me the Fun Fur and I loves me the acrylic yarn.
Well.
The gang took over Loopy Yarns yesterday and Lisa said she would bring me some Fun Fur from her stash - so did Jo Ann - so did Mary Ann - and we did another white elephant where I got this tote from Lisa along with a skein of Lion Brand Thick and Quick in a green color. (Which perfectly matches the other green skein I have some where in my stash!) So, yet another tote bag, a dozen skeins of Fun Fur and eyelash yarns, AND Lisa popped in the Danger Needles (size 50) you see in the bag. I swear I was looking for the battery holder and a book on Zen and knitting which I am going to read - how much you bet I actually like it? (See, why it's a good thing I don't do drugs? Imagine what would be in my tote bag if I said something like: "Marijuana's nice. I can do good things with weed.")
We all trouped over to PJ Clarke's for lunch (my guy pal, Mark, is partial owner) and we had some good food and then we trouped back to Loopy's. Most of us took the EL and let me just say that second set of 35 stairs that followed right after the first flight of 35 stairs just about killed me. I made it home just in time to change clothes and go to my Wednesday evening knitting group which met at Tamale Hut Cafe. Three of us that went that morning, met there that evening along with 14 others so we had a crowd that evening.
I met some great new folks (StitchCraft is up to 80 members!!) The place was a fun place to knit and it was really nice.
Let me say this to those of you who might not be in a knitting group. FIND ONE! Make one, crash one, lurk in one. Some of the best people I know are in a knitting group and the kind of synergy the St. Louis group has with each other is amazing, the StitchCraft group is diverse, talented, fun and every once in a while we do something good for the community. Both groups are welcoming and willing to share knowledge (and Fun Fur!) I sincerely felt joy yesterday because I spent that time with my sisters (nothing against brothers, there just weren't any) and we got some good, old school contact.
There ain't nothing better than that.
Yes, you've seen this photo before - I don't have a new one to show you. I do want to say I took the swatch to the store to match up (the swatch on the right) and dark brown is the best background and now there are ten of those little squares made. And I started yesterday afternoon - not bad at all.
