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.

Red theme afghan - work in progress

When I went to Smiley's Manhattan yarn sale in December, I had no project plan.  So I gave myself this criteria to choose yarn: buy what I thought was pretty.  

Once I got home, I decided to make another afghan. 

Another one!?  

Who knows what I will do with this one. 

Use it, give it as a gift perhaps.  About half way there.

Butterfly

I love butterflies and I love to crochet.  But I have never found a good combination of these two loves.  The glory of a butterfly is its lightness, gossamer wings!   But crochet attempts are too heavy.

They get the shape right, but the airy-ness is lost, as illustrated in these two examples I found on a google search.  However….

This is closer to the lightness I seek… but not there yet.

This baby blanket might be the solution!  It was created by a person named Vivienne Jackson.  I plan to make it as a wall hanging… with crazy colors.

by Ana Teresa Barboza

Winter Yarn Bomb

Enhanced ConEd Meter Reader on a snowy day in February.

Plain

Fancy

Long Shot

Alta Moda

Enjoyed an exhibit with Meg today at the Queen Sofía Spanish Institute on the East Side.
Photographer Mario Testino documents Peruvians in their vibrantly colored and ornately adorned traditional and festive dress from Cusco, one of the highest mountainous regions of Peru.

My art exhibit companion.

Her braids are made from wool.

The exhibit was presented in a pleasing manner.

Offered to make an afghan for my nephew Bentzi and his fiance Charly.  They requested a throw.
What is your palette?  Harkening from England, she said, "Our couch is London Bus Red". 

I chose this classy wool sock yarn.  Wow, that stuff is thin!  Took forever to finish this. But it looks nice and its really warm.

Later that week:  the blankie in action.

Thanksgiving 2013. Gift for "Pretty Girl"

Gorgeous blanket from French Blog

These photos came from this blog.

Knit, Purl, Sow

Enjoyed the exhibit, Knit, Purl, Sow, 

at The Brooklyn Botanic Gardens with my friend, Barbara.

It was a lovely drizzly autumn day.

Perfect for a walk around the garden grounds with such good company.

 Love the use of the tacks to hold the plants to the wall.
They are part of the piece.

Sacs and shadows.


More about this show here.