New purple couch needs new purple afghan

Kimono: A Modern History

Took a brisk walk on a chilly day to visit The Metropolitan Museum.  The kimono exhibit was gorgeous, as I had hoped and expected.  I dig the Japanese sense of design. The show featured fabric, variety and innovation, and history if you cared to read the displayed text.
It's there until January 19, 2015.

An official photo. The rest are mine.

Crocheting for Charity

Once a month, I try to attend IN THE LOOP,  a knitting and crocheting club held at the World Financial Center. We focus on projects with a purpose, knitting and crocheting garments and gifts to benefit those in need.

For the past few sessions, I had the pleasure of visiting with my friend while we crocheted. Betty Chen, needlewoman extraordinaire, finished the fingerless gloves with speed and precisions.

I had to take the pattern home to complete mine.  

Just mailed them to our club leader, Ina, in NJ, today.

Cynthia's Shawl

Dear Rebecca, 
Last night I cuddled up in this sumptuous shawl while I meditated. I sit near a window, so it was great to be able to feel so cozy and warm. I really love the look and feel of this hand-made shawl. Thank you so much for the beautiful and generous gift. I will treasure it, and use it often. 
Love, Cynthia

This was posted on the facebook group that I joined, Creative Crochet Crew.

Shawl for Cynthia

Here's the story about the new project I'm working on, and enjoying very much. It is also giving me a break from the Jonah afghan!

While visiting recently, Cynthia wrapped herself in the crocheted shawl I have on our couch. She appeared very happy and warm. 

I offered to make one just for her, to her delight.  We met at Michaels store and selected the yarn together.  She chose these two colors, to go with her living room decor. I have since named Mushroom Barley Soup and Rusty.

Email to Cynthia:

Dear Cynthia

I have been enjoying the challenge of working with this VERY THICK yarn for your shawl: Mushroom Barley Soup and Rusty!

  I have never worked with such fat rope before.  To get the feel of the material, I have been trying many different stitches and designs.. hoping to use BOTH colors in the finished shawl.

Here is my process:

1) Every other row, a different color. The texture and thickness were too different. Also, this stitch style made the shawl STIFF, not cozy.

2) Tried your original suggestion of intertwining the two yarns. So heavy! 

 It would have made you feel like you were wrapped in a concrete shawl!

3) Then I figured, I'd just give a suggestion of the mushroom barley yarn.. with a different stitch, but then it looked like fuzzy teeth.

3) Then I figured, I'd just give a suggestion of the mushroom barley yarn.. with a different stitch, but then it looked like fuzzy teeth.

4) So I tried just Rusty. Too stiff.

5) Finally I realized that a more open stitch with the lighter yarn would serve our purposes of having you wrapped and warm and cozy on a cool evening.  

So this is what I have come up with... Mushroom Barley with a hint of rusty.  This is about a third done.  It will be much taller.

IT FEELS GREAT.

​

Email reply from Cynthia:

Wow, thanks for trying out so many options. It's great having such a crochet master on this. It looks gorgeous! I'm very excited. 

Thank you! 

Love, Cynthia

Enjoying the magnificent beauty of your gift full out!

Here's the "thank you" email from Alice:
So LOVE this blanket, bubie!!!  Karl and I get to look at our wedding colors all the time now! Looks like the Picnic House!  This gorgeous gift kept Karl and me warm all through the night!

Sending Love & Smooches...

Your Pal Al  

New purple tweedy hat and scarf set

This stitch is called FPTR

 Front Post Triple or Treble Crochet

It is my new favorite and was used in 

the Alice wedding blanket too.

Jonah and Chen's choice

This is the pattern they chose. Good grief!

Offered another wedding blanket

Sent an email to my nephew Jonah and his fiance Chen. Pronounced with a chhh sound (like chutzpah!).  Offered to make them a blanket and sent them a link to a google image site with the search terms "crochet afghan".  

 

Choose whatever you want!

 

I should have given them a choice of three.. not infinity. Because I don't care for their choice. But I'll make it anyway.

FInished sampler afghan for Alice and Karl

My gift to my dearest friend and her new "life partner"... to celebrate their new life together.  The idea is to cuddle under this "throw" in front of the fireplace in Brooklyn.
Added the turquoise border all around.  It looks great!

Sampler Afghan Throw for Alice and Karl's new life together

 

The turquoise pattern is an original. 

Other patterns are from Lion Brand.  These are "jewel tone" colors. 

The background rug is in the house in Schroon Lake.  

Many early morning were hours spent creating these lovely squares while looking out at the mist rise over the lake.

Artist Covers Gritty Urban Streets with Delicate Lace Patterns

More here.

Sharpie Holder

Challenge: what to do with my Sharpie pens that were too numerous to fit nicely into any cups or glasses.  Make one! 
Adding to the fun of such a concrete and finite project is the multi colored yarn.  One never knows the pattern that will emerge as one progresses.  
To give the cup heft and sturdiness, some card stock was cut to size.

 

New lamp post cozy at my sister's house in Riverhead!

From the Archives:  First lamp post cozy, May 2011

Placemats

New table requires new placemats.  Single crochet with cotton yarn.  Sometimes our old pal, single crochet, is the best choice.  Solid, thick, nice texture with those lines, and can even crochet without looking.  

Already a member of the facebook page, Creative Crochet Crew, I also recently joined Granny Square Crochet.  
This photograph was posted by Vicki Funk Nichols who captioned it with this comment, "‎My own design. Retro Granny Square Afghan."  I love the shapes, although if I made it I would use different colors and fill in the inside cross.

Red Afghan

These reds are jewel red. Deep red. Perfect size for an extra layer when snuggled up in bed.  Soft and deeply red.  RED RED RED!
I think this might be the best afghan I have ever made.... and I've made many!

If your rugs could speak: Antique tribal rugs transcend the decorative

Oral histories, passed down through countless generations of weavers, indicate that the motifs embody guidelines for embracing a harmonious posture toward life.

More Information: http://artdaily.com/news/68488/If-your-rugs-could-speak--Part-I---i-Antique-tribal-rugs-transcend-the-decorative--i-#.UxXX0F5DGAc[/url]
Copyright © artdaily.org

Oral histories, passed down through countless generations of weavers, indicate that the motifs embody guidelines for embracing a harmonious posture toward life.

More Information: http://artdaily.com/news/68488/If-your-rugs-could-speak--Part-I---i-Antique-tribal-rugs-transcend-the-decorative--i-#.UxXX0F5DGAc[/url]
Copyright © artdaily.org

Oral histories, passed down through countless generations of weavers, indicate that the motifs embody guidelines for embracing a harmonious posture toward life.

More Information: http://artdaily.com/news/68488/If-your-rugs-could-speak--Part-I---i-Antique-tribal-rugs-transcend-the-decorative--i-#.UxXX0F5DGAc[/url]
Copyright © artdaily.org

From an article on artdaily.org.  
Oral histories, passed down through countless generations of weavers, indicate that the motifs embody guidelines for embracing a harmonious posture toward life. 

Among the great nomadic tribal tribes of Persia and the Caucasus, the weaving of these hand-knotted art pieces was the sacred activity of women.   
Since time immemorial, in small isolated encampments far from the workshops of Persian cities, grandmothers, wives and daughters -- often from the age of five or six -- worked on small portable looms.

More here.