Final Stages Wedding Ghan (YOP)

Year of Projects post #6 (Aug 28-Sept 3)

Adding edging now to the wedding ghan. All stripes sewn together, all tails tucked. Making my way around with single crochets, will do several rows, plan on using all 3 colors with the final border edge the dark brown. Then it need to be laundered and blocked. The edges are curling up more then I like, but I think with each row they're improving. Wanted to have this done a week ago, but it takes time. Each border row is over 600 stitches!

Continuing to work on red and purple scarf, Red Scarf Project no more. It's a reasonable take along project so been chipping away on it.

YOP list:
Cotton Cloth Calendar Challenge (about 50% done with DD's cloths) started cloth 7 which was to be Easter Colors, a basket weave design for March; but you can't see the pattern well, and needles are wrong, and wrong size and ...frogged it. Posted it HERE. Think I'll switch to October since that's closer anyway. April, May, June, July, August, and September done. Need to do Jan, Feb, March, Oct, Nov and Dec.
Cotton Cloths for Bridge and Beyond (haven't started)
Candy Corn Ghan (no headway)
Buckeye Scarf (no headway)
Learn to knit socks (no attempt)
Learn to knit cable stitches (no attempt, but....have found a pseudo stitch I may try on a cotton cloth to get me started)
Awesome wool (blue) scarf (planned to take on recent trip; but as I was packing it realized I once again had not included the pattern I was using in the zip lock bag!) Why...probably because I was using the pattern on something else? I have no yet frogged this start---it's a 300 stitch cast on and I'm hoping to be able to determine what I was doing.
Poodle Ghan (had planned to finish this by now, had it packed for mentioned trip....mindless knitting would have been good; but.........needed to remove it from the suitcase to make room for our Martini glasses)
Oddball (Waiting on 2nd one to arrive so when I get it finished, I can mail them at the same time.)
Bridge Ghans (no additional headway)
Red Scarf Project Scarf, posted about it HERE. Though I'm about 85% done with it, looks like with the new regulations for The Red Scarf Project, it won't be donated there, but I will continue to work on it and it will be good for something/someone/charity wise. So, will now call this scarf Red Scarf Project No More.

Sandy's Sunday Year of Projects, fast week

Week #5 for me Aug 21-27

A much shorter post then most of my YOP posts are, and no pictures today. Though links below to see what projects I'm talking about. I've made good headway since last Sunday (Monday when I made my post); but not 1 single item is yet to go from the YOP Work in Progress List to The Yea it's done list. Chipping away. I'm so enjoying visiting, and learning from some pretty awesome blogs with regard to this challenge.

YOP list:
Cotton Cloth Calendar Challenge (about 50% done with DD's cloths) started cloth 7 which was to be Easter Colors, a basket weave design for March; but you can't see the pattern well, and needles are wrong, and wrong size and ...frogged it. Posted it HERE. Think I'll switch to October since that's closer anyway. April, May, June, July, August, and September done. Need to do Jan, Feb, March, Oct, Nov and Dec.
Cotton Cloths for Bridge and Beyond (haven't started)
Wedding Ghan (about 90% Knitting completed! Ends all tucked in, all strips joined. Have started the border. Wanted to finish this weekend, get it in the laundry and block it; that's not going to happen. Spent to much time outside doing yard work.
Candy Corn Ghan (no headway)
Buckeye Scarf (no headway)
Learn to knit socks (no attempt)
Learn to knit cable stitches (no attempt, but....have found a pseudo stitch I may try on a cotton cloth to get me started)
Awesome wool (blue) scarf (planned to take on recent trip; but as I was packing it realized I once again had not included the pattern I was using in the zip lock bag!) Why...probably because I was using the pattern on something else? I have no yet frogged this start---it's a 300 stitch cast on and I'm hoping to be able to determine what I was doing.
Poodle Ghan (had planned to finish this by now, had it packed for mentioned trip....mindless knitting would have been good; but.........needed to remove it from the suitcase to make room for our Martini glasses)
Oddball (Two rows of the border done, so bout 60% finished, waiting on a 2nd one to be delivered so I can mail them at the same time.)
Bridge Ghans (no additional headway)
Red Scarf Project Scarf, posted about it HERE. Though I'm about 65% done with it, looks like with the new regulations for The Red Scarf Project, it won't be donated there, but I will continue to work on it and it will be good for something/someone/charity wise.

Cotton Cloth Calendar Challenge and Lessons Learned.

Finished Object Friday Post(link in sidebar)

Here we have the back of faded summer (Septembers) cotton cloth for DD for the Cotton Cloth Calendar Challenge. Pastels indicating the brilliant summer colors no longer at their peek. Details in this post

Here's the front of the cloth, on my lap, sorry folks didn't have a good place to lay it down to photograph at this particular moment. I finished this cloth once we arrived in Park City for our family vacation and passed it on to DD who was happy with collection to date. I had 3 finished prior to the trip, finished July on the plane, started above September on the plane. (finished Sept and April before the end of the trip). Love this pattern and will definitely use this stitch again. Actually already have, now that I think about it....as a design element in the red and purple scarf.

This is another cloth for the challenge started after arriving in Park City for the family vacation also. This cloth was started over 4 times before I hit on a pattern I liked. Several of the patterns just weren't showing up using the variegated yarn/cotton...and so were a bit of a waste of time counting etc. Both DD and I like this, it's a bit thicker and has good texture for a cotton washcloth. This now is cloth 6 in her possession. #7 which is March is on the needles, as we speak which leaves 5 to complete for the cotton cloth calendar challenge. 50% there.

I have discovered 2 things while making these cotton cloths. Some time back I posted I didn't like to work with cotton, that it bothered my hands. What I found out is, I was using my Denise needles and the cotton does not slide nicely off the needles, in fact it really sticks which makes working on the item hard on the hands, fingers, and shoulders (you know tension). However, I had a metal something (Susan Bates I think), circular needle the right size and started using it for these cloths............WOW, what a difference. It's not the cotton that's hard, it was the combination of the needles and the cotton. The 2nd thing I've learned so far with working on these cloths, is the fun in trying new stitches/patterns on a small scale.......much less fearful, and also much more willing to frog if I don't like it.

Girls Night Out, Class Mates and Old Friends

Through the beauty of Facebook old friends and high school classmates connect. Proving one doesn't have to fear Facebook just because you're under the age of 30. Some of us had seen each other at reunions here and there through the years; but nothing consistently. Some of us hadn't seen each other at all. It's particularly hard, I think with women. We get married, we change our names, we're therefore harder to find....hint ladies please include your maiden name like it's your middle name on your Facebook profile. Anyway........we have a private, invitation only page on Facebook, so only our classmates can view it and chat freely. We've been sharing stories, pictures and memories. We decided we should get together, those of us locally. Posted a date and time, and managed to get 5 us together for a fun packed evening of dinner and drinks. We collected up at The Winking Lizard. Prices are reasonable, the menu is huge, happy hour drink specials exist. We followed their posted motto for the evening!

Happily we got an outside table on the patio under an awning and had a fan blowing so it was most comfortable. Not sure I would enjoy being inside as much, as it's pretty loud in there.

Passed my camera to the opposite side of the table so Marilyn could snap this photo of Judy, myself, and Dana.
I then snapped this one of Eleanor and Marilyn. None of us had any trouble knowing who we were as we arrived despite the time lapse since most of us had seen each other. We had a great time catching up on things like who worked were, who had how many kids and what they were up to, who's married and so forth. We shared stories from school, from the neighborhood, and remembered lots of our classmates. Wondered where certain people were, compared notes about whom had stayed in contact with whom.

On a trip to the ladies room..........Iguana with a very very long tail.

We found a willing photographer at the next table to get all 5 of us in the shot. Poor thing was wearing one of those walking cast/boot things; but she didn't seem to mind. Eleanor open your eyes. Glad it was someone else for a change, usually mine are closed, lol. Marilyn was our sole Glenmont Elementary School Representative, the rest of us attended Sharon; which has since been bulldozed.

Going for the perfect shot, we kept at it. Our friendly neighbor tablemate was having as much as we were. She and her friend were also catching up, hadn't seen in other in awhile. Though they were younger than us and thus it hadn't been as long for them. Judy took their pictures also.

And...one more for good measure, you can see the laughing increased! We had a wonderful time, chatted more in the parking lot before leaving and definitely plan to do this again. Hope some others can join us.

**For those unfamiliar with blogging who may be reading this, you can enlarge pictures by clicking on them so you can see things better.
***You do not need to be a blogger to leave a comment, simply click the drop down box that says name and url, leave your name and leave the url portion blank.........PLEASE do leave a comment so I know you were here. If you're a fellow classmate and want to join us next time, you can leave that info in your comment and or email me at sandycrochet@gmail.com, and you can click on the Facebook Badge in the sidebar to be taken to my Facebook Profile Page. ***

Whetstone High School Class of 1969 Dinner Gathering's will continue.

Now for those not in my high school class, are you trying to connect with friends you've lost through the years on Facebook? If not, do yourselves a favor and give it a try. It's FUN!

*-*-*-scroll down one for WIPW*-*-*-

Wedding Ghan, Scarf round 3, and Easter Cloth

Work in Progress Wed Post (links in sidebar)
This is the start, barely perhaps of the cotton cloth for March (Easter). Several problems right from the get go. The stitch/pattern is called basket rib. Well basket certainly seems appropriate for Easter and the colors sure look like Easter Eggs and Jelly Beans so that part works. However, started this with my Denise Needles which is how I discovered cotton and Denise needles don't play well together. There's no sliding, and do you see a pattern? No sure I do. Sometimes patterns don't show up well with variegated yarns; but perhaps the needle size is to large? Perhaps frogging and starting over with a smaller and metal needle (like I used with the other 6 cloths) is the way to go? This cloth is part of the Cotton Cloth Calendar Challenge for DD.
TaDah! Well yes I know that expression and a drum roll is usually reserved for when a project is completed. However, I feel whew.......finished the knitting the last strip (far right), and am joining using the mattress stitch. Well, this is a scheduled post, so perhaps thats done as you now read this? Anyway...the very last brown square on the last strip gave me fits. I frogged it 4 times. Had issues with right and wrong side, not seeing the brown well etc. So, to actually have the last strip done really thrills me. Once joined will crochet edge/border and laundry and block! Stay tuned. Am thus far pleased, this is the largest knitting project I've done, and I learned several new stitches/patterns in the process so this was a challenge for me.

Anxious to see how much larger it will be after joined, border, and blocked. Currently it measures 43 x 53.
This scarf, started out HERE, as an early start for The Red Scarf Project. For some unknown reason I've gotten bad at not noting what pattern I'm using and or where in the pattern I am when I lay something aside. Needed to put this aside to work on wedding ghan. So, frogged it and started over. Decided I would use the pattern from the faded summer cotton cloth, but after several rows decided it was to open and adjusted. Mentioned here. Well.........as things progressed I could see I wasn't going to have enough yarn. I purchased this red yarn several years ago, and so didn't even attempt to match; but was sick and tired of frogging.......so my new idea....see above. I knitted until I ran out of red and joined purple to do the 2nd half. As you wrap scarf you'll see both colors. Jury's out on how I'll like it or not on completion. I do love the colors together, but no...it's not a gift for a lady in The Red Hat Society. lol The other day I read guidelines for The Red Scarf Project have become more restrictive regarding red, which was not an issue before. I need to read and see if this scarf will work for them or not. If not, will go to another charity.

Running to Catch Up

YOP wk 4 for me (Aug 7-13)

Some progress to report on my YOP list:
Got July finished, and both April and September started for my Cotton Cloth Calendar Challenge. I was traveling (Park City, Utah), so washcloths projects were perfect for the plane trip.

This is a neat pattern, one you might remember from the medium tan blocks in my stripes for the upcoming wedding ghan. It's called little blocks.

April showers is a cool stitch pattern, one I plan to use again perhaps on a scarf. It's called Chinese Waves. It's working up fast since it's basic garter, is nice and I think a very adaptable pattern. It called for a cast on of 45, but I thought that was too large for a washcloth and cast on 35, trick is to have an odd number for the cast on according to Margaret Radcliffe, designer. Was thrilled to come across this pattern, as I have now started and frogged this green--April Showers Cloth 3 times.....argh, just really didn't like the look of the other patterns I tried.

Fading summer is sort of an eyelet pattern but with garter and purl stitches, called Reversible Open Rib Washcloth. The pattern called for a cast on of 31. I really like the look of this stitch and plan to use it again also. The nice bonus in making these cotton cloths is trying out new stitches.

Also on the plane finished 2 more blocks on the wedding ghan's last stripe (which were blocks 4 and 5), and was almost finished with the 6th and final block of the last strip when I realized there was a mistake. Somehow I had gotten off with right and wrong side. I either didn't count a row, or I hit my clicker (row counter) twice. Arghhhhhhhhh. Dark brown to hard to see to rip out and get back on track on the plane so laid it aside. Once we reached Park City and got settled in, I again re-did the brown section....And...dang it, the same thing happened. I do find it hard to see, and was apparently not paying enough attention so completely frogged it again. As of the writing of this post, I've restarted this last brown block 3 times. I didn't attempt to do it on the plane ride home and plan to finish it today and begin attaching. Fingers crossed. Taking it slowly to be certain I don't get off again. Only doing it when there are no distractions.

Have updated my YOP list when I realized I'd left something off. I started a scarf for The Red Scarf Project way back and didn't get it on the list. Actually that link shows were I made progress, as it was started before that. However...........I didn't keep the pattern I was using with it, don't remember it, and have no clue where in the process I was. So, though I took it with me for this trip to Park City, I ended up frogging it and starting over.

I started out with the idea of using the Reversible Open Rib Washcloth pattern, but once I did several repeats decided it was too open for a scarf. Click to enlarge. I think with this wonderful soft Plymouth Yarn (washable wool), the openness is greater than with the cotton in above washcloth? So, after doing several repeats decided to do a section of garter stitch (32 rows which is double the amount of rows 16 used in the pattern stitch), then back to the pattern though only did 1 repeat and was going to repeat that. Changed my mind again and kept going with garter. The little bit of pattern, I think just gives some detail to the scarf. Now my problem is whether or not I have enough yarn. The skein is 200 yards, and this scarf is wider then I sometimes make them. I'll dig out my scale and weigh how much yarn I have left. If there's not enough, will have to get creative with how I finish it, as I've had this yarn a long time and won't even attempt to match it.

YOP list:
Cotton Cloth Calendar Challenge (about 40% done with DD's cloths)
Cotton Cloths for Bridge and Beyond (haven't started)
Wedding Ghan (about 80% done, need to finish last block, attach last strip, edge, launder and block)
Candy Corn Ghan (no headway)
Buckeye Scarf (no headway)
Learn to knit socks (no attempt)
Learn to knit cable stitches (no attempt, but....have found a pseudo stitch I may try on a cotton cloth to get me started)
Awesome wool (blue) scarf (planned to take on recent trip; but as I was packing it realized I once again had not included the pattern I was using in the zip lock bag!) Why...probably because I was using the pattern on something else? I have no yet frogged this start---it's a 300 stitch cast on and I'm hoping to be able to determine what I was doing.
Poodle Ghan (had planned to finish this by now, had it packed for mentioned trip....mindless knitting would have been good; but.........needed to remove it from the suitcase to make room for our Martini glasses)
Oddball (sorry to report no headway since picking out colors and edging pattern)
Bridge Ghans (no additional headway)