Boxing Day CAL 2014

[darski]

Usually the day after Thanksgiving, Walmart has some RH pounders on sale. Last year I think it was $4.88 per skein. I don't go out in the crowds anymore, so by the time I wandered in at noonish, I got a red, white, blue and beige. I do wonder what other colors they had to start the day though.

 

Our cost in Canada for a 1lb skein of Comfort is at least $9.00.  this sale meant I got all that white for $6.50 each.  that means a lot when you are locked in and only have your Kindle and some yarn

[ddc]

Back in September I found black RHSS jumbo skeins for 3.19. There were only four available, and I couldn't believe they didn't have the description wrong and must have meant the 7 oz ones. I bought them and they were indeed the big skeins. I think I was there at just the right moment to get them.

 

Thank you all for your condolences. I took out the yarn winder the other day and unraveled the ill fated lapghan. At least with that, it comes out really fast.

 

I'm abandoning the One Pound marathon for a bit. I've joined Darski's new CAL and Lucy's (Attic24) new cosy blanket CAL on Ravelry. I'm going to use ILTY for them. That's up next on my destashing hit list and I have better colors for both these projects in it. Also it's easier on my hands to crochet than the heavier One Pound, and they will be glad for the break. So the two others I have started, well, three, -- two lapghans and a baby blanket are on temporary hold. With luck and perseverance and self-discipline to stop playing computer games for hours, I should get them all done this month. I'm off a little over a week at Thanksgiving and that will be serious crochet time. I have one finished except for several thousand ends to weave in. I'm going to try to get that done tomorrow morning and Sunday morning before I come in to work.

 

Tonight I get to go home and play colors, choosing yarn for the new projects. 

[babypoohsmom]

Darski, what is the lockdown? Are you having bad weather? Are you on a jury duty? I think I missed something and whatever it is, it is messing with your crochet time.

[darski]

Darski, what is the lockdown? Are you having bad weather? Are you on a jury duty? I think I missed something and whatever it is, it is messing with your crochet time.

 

they are replacing the elevator in my building and we only have 1 so I can't get off my floor.  Just finishing up the 4th week on Tuesday so we have anywhere from two to four more weeks to go.

 

I admit that it is causing anxiety and so tension in my arms which affects my crochet.  I am settling in though and since it is the Current Truth I just have to keep going.

[darski]

this is the pic of my Wobble CAL ghan.  I love my RH yarn but I have to admit it is nice to work with this yarn: Bernat Waverly both for the feel and for the colours.  Half of this yarn is the brand name and half is mill end buys I got from somewhere.

 

 

 

[ddc]

Darksi - you've already finished one? I just got the colors picked out.  Here's a lol for you - I have an eye thing that makes them water most of the time (that's a grummppff, not the lol), so small computer print can be a bit blurred. I glanced at your boxing day totals, and read "hats - 271." Holy moly! Then I looked again. Just 27. What a slacker!

 

I slept late so had very little time before work. I spent it adjusting color choices for the two CALs in daylight, and getting a start on the Ravelry CAL lapghan. So I am sill facing thousands of ends on the other one. Someday. Right now, I just want to play with the different yarn and different patterns. 

[darski]

Darksi - you've already finished one? I just got the colors picked out.  Here's a lol for you - I have an eye thing that makes them water most of the time (that's a grummppff, not the lol), so small computer print can be a bit blurred. I glanced at your boxing day totals, and read "hats - 271." Holy moly! Then I looked again. Just 27. What a slacker!

 

 

Yes... I have not kept up on my totals  .  So I am a bust for this year on counting but I'm still working on it all - just not recording

[pineknott]

Thanks for sharing your picture Katie. Very cute with the fake birds!

Linda, was it your daughter that used to do hats with you? I seem to remember that.

I have a green/yellow hat and a black/yellow hat done. I will take pictures as soon as I get them washed. I also made another cat toy tonight.

And Donna, wow, you are on a roll. Your hook must be on fire!! I can't wait to see the pictures.

sorry,never answered your question

yes this was a joint venture with my daughter Rene',one year I did them all myself,this year I'm like hey its your project,if you are doing them okay I'll help but I will not make another one to donate to her church without her participation

[katyallen815]

wow, was cruising the pics in this thread, amazing projects for sure, such pretty eye candy!! Hope no one minds that I drop in now and then, ha ha, I do quite a bit of charity work too, so this might be a good place to post it sometimes, if that's ok. thanks for the compliments on the birdie nests, after I had made dozens, i did about 6 more for my brunch friends, they loved them,and I put in the little feathered birdies at Hobby Lobby, and some little eggs, had to glue them in, lol but most went to Linda's cause!!

 

Thanks for such pretties, enjoyed them all! those ghans are so gorgeous, and the hats, and oh my, lol    Nice work ladies!

[babypoohsmom]

Linda. Sorry to hear that your daughter dropped the ball on her project! My mom and I used to just about all of our projects together. I miss her all of the time. But at least you are still making hats!

I am making beds for the shelter's booth at a Christmas craft thing. I really know very few details except that they asked if I would donate some beds for them to sell, I took in two beds with matching pillows and toys today and forgot to get a picture. I have two more sets ready for the wash tomorrow so I will get a picture of them.

I um, accidentally bought more fleece today. Got plain white for $1 per yard and two cute prints for $2.99 a yard. When should I sneak them into the house? I think Joann's will probably have it 75% off after Thanksgiving and it completely kills my willpower.

I tried to finish a wash cloth tonight and came up short on yarn, so I have to walk down to moms house tomorrow to see if she has more of the cotton color I was using. She loved making dish cloths for Christmas presents and so I have all of her yarn stash. And I think I mentioned before here that I bought someone's de-stashing deal that I thought was acrylic, but was really cotton. So I have quite a pile to look through.

I will see you tomorrow with pictures.

[ddc]

I finished another lapghan - the pic is posted in the wobble afghan CAL Now I have two started, one at work and one at home in overall V stitch, so they are going fast. One will require a border - I'm reusing the yarn I reclaimed from the disaster lapghan, and it had been too narrow. I kept it the same width so I wouldn't end up with every section short and twice as many tails to weave in.

 

Starting Sunday I'm off most of the following two weeks, and my goal is to finish up the earth tone colors in the One Pound. I will. I will. I will. I am mortally tired of them. The narrow current one is in those colors, and I hope that one more lapghan, probably in a ripple pattern of some sort, will use enough of the remaining yarn to abandon any leftovers with a clear conscience.

 

I finally figured out a way to use it up with a good distribution of colors. I'll do a stripe of the ripple and frog it, roughly measure it in arm lengths. Then I'll measure out the leftovers and wind in balls, until I have the number of stripes. This will take some time, but I think knowing how many stripes of each color I can have will give me a  more satisfactory result. At least, it will be an experiment worth trying. I will also know if I have enough left to actually do the project or if I need to add other colors. I am not going to buy more of this, and these aren't colors I could stop short with and call it a baby blanket 

[ddc]

I finished the current lapghan, except for the ends. I have a couple of new audiobooks so the rule is I have to weave tails while I listen to them. I have another awaiting that attention and both of them have a lot, especially the ripple that changes colors every two rows. Usually I weave as I go, but I didn't on these. 

 

After today, I'm off until Saturday, and then off again until the next Saturday, Dec 6th - lucky me! When I come back I'll have pictures. My goal is to use up the last of the earth colors in the One Pound. I'll have enough for one more lapghan, but I'm pretty sure not enough for two, a blessing. I am very tired of these colors. I want to get to something brighter. On the wobble afghan CAL I said I was going to do a ripple, but I may do a larksfoot pattern instead. I haven't made one of those for a long time and it's a good one for using up scraps. It used to be my go to pattern.

 

It looks like the weather will be very nice while I'm off, at least for the next 10 days of forecast. Clear or partly cloudy and upper 60s, small chance of rain on the weekend That's disappointing. When I have a long stretch to crochet, ideally it should be chilly and rain with determination and perseverance from dark gray clouds. Thunder is appreciated, but optional. Perfect weather to be cozy at home with a hook and cup of Earl Grey. It will probably wait and turn nasty just when I come back to work. Of course.

[babypoohsmom]

Hi everyone hope you are having a nice Thanksgiving - whatever your tradition is for the day!

I have been a bit awol because last week all I did was work and sleep because I took all 3 days off this week as my brother flew in from VA on Monday. I have been working a bit each night and took 7 beds to the shelter for their boutique without taking pictures. I have also made about 20 crochet toys. Here is a picture of a few things that have not gone to the shelter yet:

I also got new foster kittens on Tuesday. They are very sweet and super cute. I'm sure I will have pictures soon.

[babypoohsmom]

Well, my brother and I went out looking around and Black Friday stuff tonight. Spent $0! We went to Walmart to see what kind of selection they had on Red Heart With Love yarn for $1.97. It was a nice selection but the check out line looked like it was an hour or more long. So we left. We will scoot by tomorrow and see what is left. No way was I waiting in line with so many crazy people.

So we came home safe and sound! Going to go to Petsmart tomorrow for some cheap canned food for the feral cats I feed, but I don't think Petsmart is going to be a train wreck like Walmart was.

I am sure that next week the retailers association will be whining about poor sales, etc! But from what I saw today, I'd say the economy is looking pretty good.

We did go see Mockingjay Part 1 on Wednesday. It was good, pretty much by the book, so if you like the series, you will like it.

Just finished a slightly depressing book about the Holocaust called Sarah's Key. If anyone wants it, let me know. It's soft cover. I don't usually buy books, but I got it cheap.

I will share a photo of my haul if it ends up taking place tomorrow. My brother reminded me that I will have to provide him with hush money, so he won't blab about me buying yarn. Dang.

[babypoohsmom]

Hello, me again. Talking to myself!

I finished some more beds but they will go to the shelter. Joann's has two different kinds of fleece, "no pill" and "blizzard". The no pill is very stretchy and I always seem to have problems with it. I think you will see in the second picture that there are puckers in the stitching. I didn't think I wanted to put that in the boutique but the shelter cats won't care.

[darski]

I admit that I envy your ability to sew.  I used to be a "seamstress" it was who I was but my back had other plans. 

 

I should make some squares to donate to our Humane society for their cat cages.  Gotten out of the habit. <<my bad>>

[babypoohsmom]

Darski, I love to sew. I mostly make quilts. I have a long arm machine and I love quilting but have not had a quilt on the machine in 6 weeks!! I can't make clothing or anything complicated like that. I have a good friend that can make anything. She made my wedding dress and my bridesmaids dresses. She deserves envy! She is such a perfectionist when it comes to her sewing. Sigh.... These cat beds are very easy. I think I mentioned before that I dreamed the pattern after several failed attempts to make the round ones!!

Today I made a dishcloth. I don't know how you guys do the thing where you put a link to another forum topic! (It's in the dishcloth CAL) I was watching a movie with my husband. I wasn't interested in it, so I just kept my fingers busy!

 

We are closing in on a good year here at the Boxing Day CAL. I have looked back at the posts, and we have been busy! Baby sets, doll clothes, bird nests. We are pretty amazing if I do say so myself! Shall we start another CAL in 2015?

[darski]

We are closing in on a good year here at the Boxing Day CAL. I have looked back at the posts, and we have been busy! Baby sets, doll clothes, bird nests. We are pretty amazing if I do say so myself! Shall we start another CAL in 2015?

 

I have really enjoyed this but I completely lost track of anything.  I would like to participate next year if you have one and I will try to keep better records.

[Bailey4]

I have a couple of more items to post, but I've fallen off at the end of the year.  I would love to start this again in 2015

[krazycrocheter]

I fell off the wagon!! I would love to get back on track in 2015!!

[darski]

I have to admit that I am much better with pencil and paper.  I'll come up with a system before January...

[Bailey4]

Hi ladies, one of happy days during the year, DH dropped off the doll donations to the tech high school today and they were thrilled.  He always calls me after he drops the stuff off to tell me about his "Santa" experience.  Since the deadline was actually a little later this year I took the time to take pictures.  They are posted on my blog.

 

Aztec Wishes Donation

[darski]

Hi ladies, one of happy days during the year, DH dropped off the doll donations to the tech high school today and they were thrilled.  He always calls me after he drops the stuff off to tell me about his "Santa" experience.  Since the deadline was actually a little later this year I took the time to take pictures.  They are posted on my blog.

 

Aztec Wishes Donation

 

Would you be interested in having some of my outfits for next year?  I have to send them somewhere and yours is a good place to go to.

[Bailey4]

I would LOVE to have anything you would want to send me.  I'll PM you my info.

[darski]

got it and saved -