WIP Wednesday

This week I am crocheting a little more.  I finished my last radiation treatment today.  My oncologist encouraged me to keep as active as I can, so I consider crocheting a therapy for my cancer.  :-)

I started a new Corner to Corner baby blanket, using more yarn from my stash and a pattern from Ravelry.  I have used Simply Soft yarn in Baby Bright Ombre and Snuggly Wuggly yarn in Soft Lilac so far.  I am almost to the point where I will start decreasing, to make a rectangle.  I ended up buying more yarn today, as I ran out of the Simply Soft yarn.  I hope it will blend in.

My other project, Granny's Favorite prayer shawl, is 2/3 done.  I have crocheted 162 squares into 18 rows of 9 squares each.  I have nine more rows to go.   I like how it looks like several nine-patch quilt blocks.

I finished reading Daughter of Twin Oaks by Lauraine Snelling.  I really enjoyed this book, with it's surprising ending.  I also finished another book on my Nook, The Preacher's Bride by Jody Hedlund. It is set in the 1600's, in England, around the time when the Puritans were being persecution by the Royalists.  At the end of the book, the author says the book is inspired by the story of John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrims Progress, and his second wife, Elizabeth.  I received both books for free from Book Bub and read them on my Nook Color.

I am sharing this post at the links on this page.

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Progress on WIPs

I am almost half way through my Granny's Favorite prayer shawl.  I have crocheted 108 granny squares out of around 240.  I like how it is shaping up.  I know I have enough scrap yarn, but hope I have enough of the off-white yarn.

The rectangle for the Eleanor Shrug is almost finished.  After I crochet three more pattern repeats (six rows), I have to sew up the sides and add an edging around the outside.  I am looking forward to wearing it.

The book I am still reading is "Daughter of Twin Oaks."  So far, the daughter, Jesselyn, has dressed up like a boy to get the remaining thoroughbread horses away from their plantation in Kentucky, to keep them from being seized by soldiers in both armies during the Civil War.  The story is mainly about what happens to her and her freed slaves that accompany her on the journey.

I am sharing this post at the links on this page.


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Granny's Favorite Prayer Shawl Progress and a New WIP

Eight rows, 72 squares at this point.  I am glad I didn't commit to crocheting one a day or anything like that. 😃 In the last row, I made two two-colored squares.  I may keep doing that once and a while for variety.

My new project is the Eleanor Shrug, a pattern that I originally saw on Ravelry. I am using some yarn I bought at Big Lots a while ago.  I am making this for myself.

I am linking my post to the places listed on this page.


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WIPW~2/4/15

I have added several rows to the Granny's Favorite prayer shawl. Instead of crocheting two or three squares a day, I have been trying to do a row of nine squares.  So now I have 54 of 243 squares done.  I am liking the pattern more each time I add more squares .  After I had three rows done, I realized it looked like a nine patch quilt.

Having just finished a book about the years following the Civil War, I am now reading a book about a family during the Civil War.  I have recently realized how much I like historical fiction.  Daughter of Twin Oaks  is set in Kentucky, at the beginning of the war, where a teenager is thrust into an adult situation of keeping her family along with the beloved horses together and safe. I have just begun this book, but the vivid characters are already pulling me in.

I am linking this post to the sites on this page.

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Bold Color Bands Prayer Shawl

Kathryn Vercillo has a weekly roundup on her blog, Crochet Concupiscence, showing over 150 crochet inspiration photos from Instagram.  Three weeks ago, I tagged some of my photos with #crochetconcupiscence and #crochetsavedmylife, to be shared at her site.  Not only did I get several of my photos shared, but one photo was picked as the Featured Crochet Photo of the week!  Imagine my surprise and elation.  The photo was of the Bold Color Band prayer shawl.

You can see that roundup here.

The crocheting of the shawl was finished, but I needed to add a fringe.  I do not like adding fringe, and often choose a pattern to crochet based on whether or not it has a fringe.  It took me three weeks, but I finally finished adding the fringe this afternoon.

The shawl was made with several colors from my yarn stash, of different brands.  I used the pattern "Bold Color Bands" by Carole Prior in the Leisure Arts book "Scrap Wraps" that is available here.  I adjusted the pattern by making it only half the length, and using five strands of yarn for each fringe.  It is another shawl for charity.

I am sharing this item on the sites listed on this page.

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WIP Wednesday ~ 1/28/15

Happy Hump Day!  I have an update on one project and the start of another.  I wasn't able crochet or blog for a week or two due to some time spent in the hospital.  I had a partial hip replacement as a complication of my cancer.  I am glad to be back to both and am on the road to recovery.

The first project is the prayer shawl I am crocheting using yarn scraps.  There are 20 of almost 250 squares, so I have a ways to go.  It will be twenty-seven by nine squares when finished.

My second project is a Star Blanket.  It is also made with yarn from my stash, using this pattern from Yarnspirations.  It is another blanket for a church mission project.

I have almost finished "The Measure of Katie Calloway."  It is interesting to read about the people of the lumber camps after the Civil War and how the aftermath continues to effect the people of the time.

I will be sharing these projects on my Sharing page.

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WIP Wednesday~1/14/15

I started another prayer shawl with all my left over worsted weight yarns.  This is another stash buster that will probably take a while to complete since each square is only 2 1/4".  I am using a pattern for an afghan called "Granny's Favorite" by Judy Bolin, but I am only going to make it 24" x 61" and the main color will be shades of off-white.  It is from a booklet called "Scrap Wraps" published by Leisure Arts. I have five squares finished.

I am reading a lot of books on my Nook.  The one I have recently started is a book called "The Measure of Katie Calloway" by Serena Miller.  It is a Christian Fiction book about a woman working as a cook in a lumber camp in the 1870s.  I got this book free from Book Bub and am really enjoying it so far

I am linking up with the sites on my Sharing Page and at Ginny's.


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Hexagon Prayer Shawl Tah Dah

This prayer shawl is finished.  I ran out of  of the tan colored yarn, and decided to make the shawl longer by adding rows that mimicked the pattern of the hexagons.  I edged the whole thing with one row of single crochet.  It was a hit at the prayer shawl ministry group.

One end

Other end

Among other shawls

Look on my sharing page to see where I am linking my post.

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Hexagon Update

As of today, I have seven+ rows done on my latest prayer shawl.  There are a total of forty hexagons, made with a motif pattern from JPF Crochet Club.  I am mostly using sports weight yarns from my stash, but I am also crocheting with some yarn from my stash that is not labeled.  I don't know the weight of that yarn, but I like how it blends with the rest of the yarn. ;)

The hex's are being joined using a modified version of the flat-braid join, with two neutral colors.  Now I have to decide how I want to make the edging, and whether or not I am going to use half-hexagons from this style motif to make the sides straight.  Hmm...  I  think I will figure that out later, after I am almost finished with the hexagons.

Look on my Sharing Page to see where I am linking up.

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Hexagon Prayer Shawl WIP

I finally have more color this week in my prayer shawl.  Lots of color!  I put my hexagons together a couple of different ways, and I think I have found the way I like.  I am going to do rows of 6 hexies, and then rows of five hexies.  I think I need to crochet about seventeen rows of hexagons to get the length I want, from wrist to wrist.  I have five rows of hexies crocheted, so I am a little less than a third finished.

I have been trying to figure out a way to join the rows together.  One method is the flat braid method, which is usually used with granny squares.  I have tried a couple of times and the picture below shows the latest result.

I have mixed feelings about whether I like this or not.  What is your opinion?  Does any one have a suggestion on how these should be joined?

I am linking with the posts on my Sharing page.  You can see other WIPs there as well.

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Hexagon Prayer Shawl

I continue to add more hexagons to my pile.  I have now made seventeen.  I was able to crochet fifteen out of the tan/beige color, so this will kind of be a base color.  I am going to make a long strip the length I want, and then design it more as I go.  I don't even know what it will look like when I am finished!  :D

Look on my Sharing page to see where I am linking.

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One a Day~7/2

I managed to get nine hexies done in the last week for my One a Day project.  All are the same color, to see how many I can get from this ball of yarn.  I am looking forward to finishing this ball, so I can make the shawl more colorful!

And I had to share this picture of my dog, Pipsqueak.  She often cuddles with me while I am crocheting. <3

Look on my Sharing page to see where I am linking up.

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Prayer Shawl Helps to Heal

I was having a bad day with MS yesterday.  I was sore all over, and very tired.  I think it was due to the change in weather over the past couple of days, but I am not sure.  It is on these kind of days where I can't do very much, since I have so little energy and hurt with most movements.

There is one thing I can still do.  I can crochet.  God has blessed me with this ability, and I will use it as long as I can to glorify Him!  I often make prayer shawls, where I pray for the person who will receive the shawl while I am crocheting.  Sometimes these shawls take weeks, sometimes months.  I am often crocheting these shawls while I am working on other projects.  When I am finished, I take the shawls to the Prayer Shawl Ministry group at the church I used to attend when my husband was the choir director there.  I also attend this group on Monday afternoons,  when I am not working.  The fellowship I have with the ladies there also blesses me.

So, between naps and some time on the computer yesterday, I finished my latest prayer shawl.  It is an easy pattern that I learned from a baby blanket pattern published many years ago.  The yarn I used was Red Heart's Super Saver in Aran Fleck and Caron's One Pound in Espresso.  The pattern alternates between single crochet, chain three in one row using one color and the next row of three double crochets in the chain three space of the previous row in the other color.  I ended up running out of the Fleck color, so I finished with an old Sayelle Bone-colored yarn I had in my stash.  I love how it turned out.  I pray that the person who receives this shawl will find joy in its making.  It brought peace to me.

Look on my Sharing page to see where I linked this post.

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WIP Wednesday~6/19

Yesterday, I intimated I was not into working on prayer shawls during the summer.  They get really warm on my lap as I am adding rows.  However, I still have one going.  It looks like it is done, but I want to add a couple more rows on each side to make it wider, so it can be used as a shawl or lapghan.  Here's hoping the air conditioner is working, or there is cooler weather!  ;)

To see where I am linking up, you can go to my sharing page.


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Finished Object Friday

It has been two weeks since I posted on Friday, and I have both a knitted and a crocheted piece to show you.

The knitted piece is a shawl done in straigth garter stitch, with a two stripes of  stockinette stitch, just because I got bored with all the K rows!  I love the variegated yarn colors of white, navy blue and maroon.  I think it is Red Heart yarn.  I don't know for sure, because I used yarn from a top I had made myself quite a while ago.

Knitted Shawl

The crocheted piece is a seat cover that I made for my office chair at school.  I came back from summer vacation to find that someone (probably a summer worker) had stepped on the seat cushion of my chair and made tiny gauges that grew every time I sat in it.  I decided to make a granny square to cover those marks. It is made of some nylon/wool yarn that should hold up pretty well.

That's it for me this week.  Please see the links on my "Sharing" page to see where I am linking today.
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Wednesday WIP

Two of the three skeins of this yarn have been knitted for a shawl, plus a few more rows since this picture was taken.  I like how the pattern keeps coming out, even if it doesn't look like trees anymore.  ;)

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WIP Update

Prayer Shawl/Lapghan

So, I have been making this for two weeks now, with more progress lately than before.  I have changed patterns, needles and frogged and started over at least twice. But now I am through a whole ball of yarn,  I am sticking with this.  It is rows and rows of garter stitch with a stripe of stocking stitch near the end of the current ball of yarn. I like the trees and shadows that I see coming out in the first section.  Do you see it?  Now that I have stuck with this pattern for so many rows, I think I will finish it much faster than I started.

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WIP Wednesday~ 7/11

Prayer Shawl

 I have a knit and crochet project to show today.  My daughter says she doesn't have to ask me what I am working on any more, because prayer shawls and baby items are "all I do."  ; )   Yes, I do a lot of them.  They give me a lot of pleasure, to make something for someone else, since I can't do the things for my family as well as I'd like.  I think that is one reason I will never sell my items.  This is my mission.

Baby Dress

So I am repurposing yarn from previous projects I have made, that I no longer want.  The yarn for the shawl used to be a sweater, and the yarn for the dress used to be doll clothes for my daughter that has grown out of that stage.  I like to know someone else will use them well.

Two Taaadahs!

Yarn Stash Shawl

I finished the shawl I had just posted on Tuesday.  I didn't have all that much to do.  I want to have it blessed before I send it to the recipient.

Cozy Rug

This is a cozy little rug I made out of a variegated cotton yarn and nylon craft/rug yarn.  The pattern suggested 4 cotton strands together, but I didn't want to work so hard! :)  It is nice and soft under my feet right in front of my favorite overstuffed rocker.


Please check out my new Sharing page, where I posted all the pictures/ blogs to which I link.

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One a Day Again

This is my latest prayer shawl, made from my yarn stash.  I crochet a row of half-double crochet in black, and then three rows of a colored yarn in half double crochet and repeat.  I have been working on it for about two weeks, so far, with a couple other projects on my hooks and needles.  I have about 5 more repeats to go.

To see more projects click on the picture below.

Gingerbread Girls

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