Boxing Day 2016 CAL (any charity items!)

[darski]

It was my major opus of crochet... Weatherby 

 

[babypoohsmom]

Ha, very cute. I like the doll of all weather theme. What fun you must have had dreaming up all of those outfits you designed.

Some people's brains just think that way. I don't think I will ever be clever enough to write patterns, but I sure am glad that your type are out there!

 

I got 4 new foster kittens last night. 2 each from 2 different litters. The two orange tabbies are running around, playing and generally being normal bratty kittens. The other two are very nearly feral. I have no idea if I am going to be able to reform them. One barely lets me touch her and the other one will kick me with her hind legs if I try to pick her up. And they are older, probably 8-10 weeks. So say a little kitten prayer for me to find a way to soften these ones up. Tonight instead of crocheting, I am sitting on the bathroom floor with my iPad trying to show the scardy cats that I'm ok....

[darski]

I got 4 new foster kittens last night. 2 each from 2 different litters. The two orange tabbies are running around, playing and generally being normal bratty kittens. The other two are very nearly feral. I have no idea if I am going to be able to reform them. One barely lets me touch her and the other one will kick me with her hind legs if I try to pick her up. And they are older, probably 8-10 weeks. So say a little kitten prayer for me to find a way to soften these ones up. Tonight instead of crocheting, I am sitting on the bathroom floor with my iPad trying to show the scardy cats that I'm ok....

 

I will keep you in prayer.  I think that God picks his people to help our furry friends and then gifts them with the love and patience to care for them. 

[pineknott]

Saying a prayer for you,that the kittie whisperer skills needed for those two kick in and all will be good in the kittie kingdom

[Bailey4]

I have such huge respect and thankfulness for those who foster animals.  Our two shelties came from a breed rescue that fosters their animals and both benefited hugely from the families that took them in.  Our first Bailey, was a puppy and his foster family had him house broken when he came to us.  I mean how often do you get a puppy fully house broken?

 

Peace and God Bless as you continue your work.  I hope you find wonderful forever homes for them soon.

[babypoohsmom]

Thank you all for your kind words! I have been stressed at work and thought some kittens in the house would be relaxing, but having little ones that need this much work is just a bit more stress. Ah well, live and learn. There were 4 from that litter...two boys and two girls. Tonight I met the foster who has the other two. She seems to be doing a bit better with hers. Of course it's not a competition!

I have LOADS of respect for people who foster the dogs. Kittens are much easier to house break than dogs. They almost always do it themselves! Hopefully by the end of the weekend I will have crochet show and tell and will be telling you all about how cuddly the kittens are!!

[babypoohsmom]

Hello, well I am not massively encouraged by my foster kittens yet. Today one of them was out in the open when I came into the bathroom and she didn't immediately run away. Then tonight I was petting her and she actually stuck her head out so I could reach under her neck. She's not exactly running to jump into my lap, but I will take what I can get.

Last night I wanted to start a scarf to match the hat I made with the chunky purple yarn. I wanted to make a shell pattern, but it's not something I have memorized and my cat was in my lap, so I just did a DC scarf. I did little shells on the border. I still have some of the yarn left. Not sure if I have enough for another hat or not. I get frustrated not knowing how much yarn it takes to do this or that. I guess I could weigh the hat I made and then weight the yarn I have left...what do you guys do when you are staring at a ball of leftover yarn to decide what to do with it? I'd love to know.

Here's the picture...

Aw, sorry. I can see that the picture is once again too dark. I'll try it again later.

[darski]

When I only have a bit left I usually make a flower. 

 

It can go on the hat or you can use the flower as away to thread the scarf through - a keyhole thingy.  I love that look

 

This is one I did years ago.  the flower is the keyhole as the not-so-great pic shows

 

 

this happened to be all springtime and pastels but I think it would be tres chic in your yarn.

 

 

[Bailey4]

My small stuff usually goes to doll accessories.

 

Working on the two 18" doll blankets for this year.  Last year and this year's crochet calendar had patterns for doll blankets so I decided to do one of each at the same time.  I'm alternating skeins of yarn to keep it interesting.  Finish a skein on one, move to the other blankie.  Last year I kind of got burned out doing one after the other so this might be a better solution.

[yarnscrapper]

I use my yarn ends several ways, rectangles for Warm Up America, nests for baby animals, scrapghan, or if the color works I do a row or round in a round ripple blanket.

[Gardener]

Nice projects, ladies.

 

I used up a ton of leftover yarn on a scrappy blanket a few years ago. I did stripes and just crocheted until the yarn was gone, so there were color changes in the middle of rows. I pulled it together by making occasional stripes and a border out of the same neutral. I also saw one once that was simply a spiraled square where the crafter just changed to a new color whenever the yarn ran out.

 

You could make a top down hat and change color for the brim if neccesary. I've also added a stripe of a different color in the body of a hat, if I was afraid I was going to run out,

[babypoohsmom]

Well of course I usually use up pieces that I know are too small for hats on my cat mats. But I can't "eyeball" the amount and say yes or no to a hat. I guess I am just hung up on this particular leftover because it is chunky yarn and I only have 2 or 3 colors of chunky yarn so if I ran out with a row or two left, I would be bummed because I can't pluck something from my stash to finish it. And I know I could just frog the whole affair if need be, but I have precious little time for crafting that I hate to use it on a swing and a miss. You know what I mean??

Anyway, I do make scrappy hats where I use a solid like ecru or black for every other row and then alternate the other row with scraps. And I really do need to get in the habit of making more flowers!! I have lots of granny's squares but I am a failure (so far) at joining.

 

I bought a yarn counter a few years ago intending to measure how much yarn it takes for a DC hat and you know of course I have never done that!! 8 years to retirement!!

[Bailey4]

I have to get pictures done on a couple of projects, but the doll blankets proved to be the perfect head cold projects this week.  No measuring, trying on, or fitting.  I just had to keep the counts correct to make the patterns work.  Finished the blanket I started 2nd yesterday and am working on the trim from the first one today.  Turns out last year's Crochet Calendar doll blanket pattern works up faster than this years.

[Gardener]

Well of course I usually use up pieces that I know are too small for hats on my cat mats. But I can't "eyeball" the amount and say yes or no to a hat. I guess I am just hung up on this particular leftover because it is chunky yarn and I only have 2 or 3 colors of chunky yarn so if I ran out with a row or two left, I would be bummed because I can't pluck something from my stash to finish it. And I know I could just frog the whole affair if need be, but I have precious little time for crafting that I hate to use it on a swing and a miss. You know what I mean??

Anyway, I do make scrappy hats where I use a solid like ecru or black for every other row and then alternate the other row with scraps. And I really do need to get in the habit of making more flowers!! I have lots of granny's squares but I am a failure (so far) at joining.

I bought a yarn counter a few years ago intending to measure how much yarn it takes for a DC hat and you know of course I have never done that!! 8 years to retirement!!

In that case, I think I would just use it in the cat mats. The cats won't care if there is a bit of chunky yarn worked in here and there.

[babypoohsmom]

Well, after all of my whining and crying I found that I actually had another bag of the chunky purple mill ends yarn. So I decided to do another hat because running out of yarn would not be a problem. Look at how much I had left....

Now what I SHOULD HAVE DONE was measure that yarn I was whining about so I would know in the end if I had enough. Apparently I am not that smart!

[Gardener]

Well, after all of my whining and crying I found that I actually had another bag of the chunky purple mill ends yarn. So I decided to do another hat because running out of yarn would not be a problem. Look at how much I had left....

image.jpeg

Now what I SHOULD HAVE DONE was measure that yarn I was whining about so I would know in the end if I had enough. Apparently I am not that smart!

Cute hat. If you have a food or postal scale, you could weigh the hat, it will give you a rough idea of how much yarn you used.

[babypoohsmom]

Thanks Gardener, I already forgot about that!!

[Bailey4]

I finally got some pictures taken and will be posting stuff this week.  Up first is another one from Darski's patterns.

 

American Girl St. Patrick's Day

[darski]

I finally got some pictures taken and will be posting stuff this week.  Up first is another one from Darski's patterns.

 

American Girl St. Patrick's Day

 

she is adorable... for using my pattern.

 

an interesting aside... I was checking on where my patterns were being dl'd at Craftsy and interestingly enough no one from Ireland took this one

[babypoohsmom]

Nice little outfit. Excellent work. You two make a good team.

I live in Arizona and the last thing I want around my house are things decorated with coyotes, cactus, kokopeli, etc. Blech. Maybe that's how the Irish think of little green outfits no matter how darling they are.

 

I've been all over the place in my mind and in my craft room lately. I watched two videos on C2C blankets and i might have to try one. At least I have some perfect yarn in mind, so no shopping

[darski]

I live in Arizona and the last thing I want around my house are things decorated with coyotes, cactus, kokopeli, etc. Blech. Maybe that's how the Irish think of little green outfits no matter how darling they are.

 

I've been all over the place in my mind and in my craft room lately. I watched two videos on C2C blankets and i might have to try one. At least I have some perfect yarn in mind, so no shopping

 

That was my thought as well.  I should probably ge grateful they didn't object

 

I think you will love doing c2c.  they go very quickly and offer so many ways to use your colours.

[Bailey4]

I posted the first of the two 18" doll afghans I finished during my on going battle with this head cold or allergies. 

 

Easy Peasy Doll Blanket

[Gardener]

Bailey4, such a cute doll outfit and also a very nice blanket.

[Bailey4]

I'm working my way through the holiday outfits.

 

American Girl Valentine's Day

[babypoohsmom]

Bailey, I see you used the off-white yarn! Way to work it in!!