Vote for a Design, PLEASE

These crocheted mitered squares were donated for Bridge and Beyond. Been doing LOTS of design work lately, lining up designs in que to assemble into afghans. I've not worked with crocheted mitered squares before and think these might work best solo...that is to say here all together vs mixed with other donated squares. I call this design window panes, with all the squares going the same direction. These are small squares and so I'll need to add. Perhaps I'll only add to 2 sides, perhaps...all the way around? Thoughts on which would be best? At this point, I assume I'm going to use cream/offwhite/ivory...
This design I'm calling Green Boxes. They would be stitched together (4 squares each to make 1 larger square). Again using ivory/offwhite/cream, I would enlarge the 4 larger squares.
Mixed windows....windows facing each direction? Mixed Squares? In my mind, I think I can see this might look more modern? That is if, I added only to 2 sides of each square, but made it offset, such that the green square would be in the upper corner of one block and the lower one of the neighbor block? Then again, maybe just adding to one side making them rectangles to enlarge and then joining them?

Thoughts, ideas, suggestions? Have you worked with all mitered squares before? Share please.

Does this Work?

Bountiful Harvest is complete, it's been laundered and here it's being blocked. Pleased with how it turned out, but....the off white keeps looking white in the pictures. It's not white white, but in reality I wished I had not used it. I wanted to extend the size of the squares without edging each one since they were all nicely edged in green. Debated at the time using a dark green I had in my stash (which isn't really a match of the that used on the squares edge...close though), and opted for the off white thinking the fact that the greens weren't the same would be too noticeable next to each other. I think, in retrospect it would have been more striking...the darker colors? Even considered the tan/brown but didn't think I had enough and so used it on the edge to pull both the orange and tan in a bit more. Still, it's a nice size and color, I believe for a family afghan for Bridge and Beyond's, project, "Welcome Home."

Had these 16 small squares(donated for Bridge and Beyond) laid it aside and thought adding pink might be cute or green or brown for a small child's afghan. Actually pulled out pink, had a good amount in my stash. But, hadn't planned on working on this as I was jazzed up about Kaleidoscope, you might have seen recently. However, got a request for a baby blanket, for a boy from Rae. Rae, is one of the ladies who helps me deliver items to the various homeless groups. She delivers directly to those living on the streets (under the bridge), as she gives them hot meals on Saturday mornings. She asked if we might have something appropriate for a couple who's expecting. Can you imagine being homeless? Even with all the charity work I do, I truly can't. Can you imagine being pregnant and living outdoors in the cold, wherever you can? Beyond my capibility to fathom how that must feel. I thought of these squares I had layed aside and immediately went to work.

Found various browns and tans in my stash and started edging, using the lightest tan for what will be the joining color. I didn't have enough to make 4 squares of each combination, so am mixing it up a bit. Layed out the browns on the small squares and asked hubby if the browns mimimized the pink and made it look boyish? He said he didn't see any pink, and wouldn't have thought pink, if I hadn't pointed it out to him. So, this is how far I am. Does this work? Only have 4 squares to finish edging before starting the joining which I should be able to finish today. Then plan to do border with some dark brown and chocolate brown (if there's enough) you see in the squares. It doesn't look girlish to me, and it's certainly the not traditional soft baby blue........but I want something they can use a bit longer...something larger, and heavier then a baby weight blanket. Does this work for this purpose? Love your thoughts. If not, it won't go to waste...it will be donated to project, "Welcome Home", for a toddler and I'll figure out something else for this soon to be born baby. I just felt the need to move on this pronto!

YOP Plan:
Since last Sunday, I finished Bountiful Harvest...obviously. My plan was to work on the Buckeye Slant Scarf that's been on the list, needless to say...that didn't happen, as I focused all my attention on the ghans. Perhaps in the coming week. YOP list on tab at the top of my blog, and YOP badge and link in the sidebar.

Happy stitching this week one and all. Stay safe, stay warm, and please give me your input on the Baby Blanket...believe I'll just name this one Baby Boy Bridge Blanket.

Friday, already! Ghesh

Got the knitted red and black chunky scarf completed and donated to Bridge and Beyond. Had hoped to have the afghan finished, didn't quite make it; but it should be posted on Sunday for YOP. Thanks for all the suggestion for names for it. Garden Patch, fall foliage, Fall Woods, Woods in Fall, Peas and Carrots, Bountiful Harvest, Autumn Colors, and Autumn Leaves....were the suggestions. I've decided on Bountiful Harvest. Special thanks to hakucho for the idea. When I first designed the ghan I thought fall foliage, as I began working on it, I thought garden patch........I think her idea of Bountiful Harvest combines both of those ideas. It's fall, and it makes me think of picking items from the garden...like pumpkins for example....remember the orange. Anyway, thank you all for the help. Please scroll back one post if you missed it and wonder what I'm rambling about.

AND, special request today please FOF people and others. Could you pop over to today's post on Bridge and Beyond? I'm really in need of opinions about color. Looking forward to your input. Many thanks, happy Friday and happy weekend all.

Finished Object Friday Badge and link in sidebar. Please join us, it's lots of fun to see everyone's finished projects.

Asking everyone using on of the linky's to please get rid of your captcha's. The filters for blogspot work great, you really don't need them. Having captcha's AND approving all your comments is doubly un-necessary. The new captcha's are even harder to see then they used to be. Some have seen post this request before...I did for our Sunday YOP, and Wednesday for WIPW. Try it without for 2 wks, I'd be surprised if you'll have any trouble without it.

Afghan Needs a Name

This afghan needs a name. When I first laid out these donated squares (Liz from Bridge and Beyond), fall foliage hit my brain; later as I began to work on it, I thought perhaps Garden Patch....and now not so sure. They are fall colors, but something about the squares made me think garden. This isn't a very good picture, I'm not edging it in white though it looks like it, it's off white/ivory. The squares had nice long tails and so I used the green Liz had edge them all with to sew them together, then decided to increase a bit by edging the strip in the off white. Current plan is to join the strips then with the off white, and find dark green in my stash to do a couple of rows around the whole ghan, then maybe a row of orange and finish it in green?

Thoughts on a name? This is another of afghans made to be donated to Bridge and Beyond.

I've promised myself I will work on a scarf I started long ago this week..., but am close to finishing this ghan, so ....we'll see.

What are you working on for Work in Progress Wednesday? Badges and links in the sidebar. Asking everyone using on of the linky's to please get rid of your captcha's. The filters for blogspot work great, you really don't need them. Having captcha's and approving all your comments is doubly un-necessary. The new captcha's are even harder to see then they used to be. Some have seen post this request before...I did for our Sunday YOP. Try it without for 2 wks, I'd be surprised if you'll have any trouble without it.

Yippee Skippee, I have lots to share on Sunday

Mother Earth Done, literally just finished the border last night before bed. Still have a few tails to weave in, launder and block and then this baby will be donated to Bridge and Beyond for Project "Welcome Home. Very happy with the way the colors played out here, even though once I started joining it, I had to make a few adjustments from the original design.
Crocheted Camo scarf, now finished and has already been donated to Bridge and Beyond, my charity (hop over to the blog and check it out). In fact, this has already been delivered, as I made 2 large donations this past week.
A red and black chunky scarf in the works, on the needles as we speak. This is the 4th scarf I've made/worked on that wasn't ever on "the list".

Since last weeks, YOP post, I've completed The Cotton Cloth Calendar Challenge and it's pictured a few days ago, HERE, on Finished Object Friday. I finished Mother Earth, and I've almost figured out where I left off on the scarf on the WIP list, Diagonal Buckeye, and plan to work on it this week; as I decide which afghan to work on next. The afghan list never ends. Feels good though to move a few more items to the done list. My updated YOP list is found in the tab across the top of the blog.

Badge, and link for YOP in the sidebar, please join in on the fun.

The Calendar is Full

This is the cotton cloth for the month of March, doesn't it look like an Easter Basket? Though I think the pattern, Garter Stitch Checks would show up better with a solid fiber, you can see it looks a bit like a basket. Or maybe that's because I know that's what it's suppose to be? What do you think? I love the colors, it's very springy looking to me. This completes my Cotton Cloth Calendar Challenge, so this is sorta a Done and DONE on this finished object Friday post. hehe

January = White and snow
February = Red and Valentines Heart
March = Easter Springy colors, and a basket pattern
April = Green and white, fresh and growing after the rains
May = pretty pink flowers
June = Beachy-ness
July = Red, White, and Blue Patriotism
August = Scourching hot, bright yellow and orange sunny
September = Fading Colors of summer
October = Brown, and orange Candy Corn
November = Green, orange, gold leaves changing colors
December = Red, Green, and White Christmas


This was a fun project, I learned some new knitting stitches/patterns in the process. With the exception of January, the cable stitch learning to do new things on small scale like a cotton cloth is a good idea....the cable wasn't a good idea, as cotton has no stretch when your knitting and it was rather hard on the hands.

Finished Object Friday Badge and link in sidebar

Darling Daughter asked for a mound a cotton cloths, not for dishes body clothes. I've been giving them to her as I made them. The last one was mailed 2 days ago. Enjoy, DD.

**Please let me again ask everyone who enjoys meme's, linky parties to please please please stop using those dang captcha's on your blog's. It is soooooo time consuming, and sooooooooo frustrating, and in many cases truly over kill. Most of you who use them, also have your settings set to approve comments. If you're approving them anyway, why use captcha. You're going to delete spam. AND, the filters on blogspot are so good, they catch the spam without comments needing to be approved and without using captcha. Please at least try blogging without the captcha for a 2wk period and see how well the filters work. Those things are killing my eyesite.**
sigh...steps off soap box

A yarn a then Some

In Memory of Hannah Chisolm, born Augst 15, 1865, died June 19, 1944. This is a work in progress. I've spent about 10 hours researching this small, hand carved stone. This stone and others are in a very small cemetery I spotted from my bike on a recent vacation on Hilton Head Island. The brief story is, the cemetery is that of slaves and descendants of slaves. About half the stones were like this, hand carved, others a bit rougher, and a few more modern. Only several families of names, Williams, Chisolm the most prevalent. I assumed it was a slave, and or someone very indigent since the stone was hand made. You could easily pass this little unmarked graveyard by, the stones are small and covered with thick pine needles and low hanging branches of trees. It's in the backyard, so to speak of a large very upscale condo building which faces the 18th green on the famous Harbour Town Links Golf Course. I knew enough of the history of the Island to know it had been inhabited by Union forces early in The Civil War, that the rich plantation owners had fled when The Confederates lost control of the Island. I knew other slaves flocked here for protection The Union Forces offered, and remained after the war,when the Island was virtually abandoned. There was no bridge or electric to the area until 1950-1956. The Slaves and their descendants had meager lives with little involvement of the outside world. The Bridge, Electric, and interest in lumber then vacations ended that.

This stone has the earliest birth date visible/readable; plus there are probably many buried souls unaccounted for under the layers of pine needles, where wooden markers have gone by the wayside through the years. Was Hannah a slave? Was she born free? I couldn't help but wonder. My research so far into whom this woman was is inconclusive. One fellow researcher believes he's found her on census with husband and children; I'm not so sure of his findings, as I find information about several large plantations in the area with listings of a slave named Hannah. I question her last name, is it hers, or did it belong to her owner? A work in progress that puzzles me. I've blogged a great deal about this trip and 2 others to Hilton Head, pop over to my travel blog if your interested. Traveling Suitcase.
I would truly love to find the whole yarn/story of Hannah
Meanwhile.......Mother Earth Afghan is slightly over half put together and work on it continues. I assemble many afghans for Project, "Welcome Home", you can read all it on my charity blog, Bridge and Beyond.
A basket type stitch here on this cotton washcloth, though I believe it's difficult to see with the pretty variegated Easter Colors. The stitch/pattern would probably show up better with a solid color. Even so, I think it's pretty. This is March's cloth, the 12th cloth in my Cotton Cloth Calendar Challenge.

Not pictured but on the needles is a bulky red/black scarf. Size 15 needles if that gives you any idea of the bulkiness of the yarn.

Work in Progress Wed Badges and links in sidebar. Hope you're all keeping busy.

Mother Earth and List Adjustments

Mother Earth Afghan in the works here. I named this Mother Earth because of the various browns representing the earth, blues for the skies, greens for the grass and trees etc. These squares are very nicely made by my friend from HS, Joy. After designing the ghan, I selected off white/light tan for join and have edged all the squares and will join with a single crochet...which I've been calling join as you go incorrectly. Was watching video's a few days ago and realized my mistake. I've not yet done the join as you go, and after watching the video and realizing it's not joined at every stitch won't be using that method. These ghans need to be sturdy as they're donated through Bridge and Beyond, my charity blog for Project, "Welcome Home". I often sew squares together and find when the squares are all different sizes this works well.
This crocheted camo scarf is the 3rd scarf I've made of late that hasn't been on my YOP list. It too will be donated to Bridge and Beyond when completed. I should focus more on my list, but often need easy no count type projects that travel and thus............scarves, which are always needed. On Friday, you saw Red Marble a knitted scarf, and prior to that the gray shades version also using Marble yarn.

Rather then redo my list every Sunday, please click on the tab across the top of the blog to see the changes and updates. Notable since my last post completion of another ghan (Red Brick), and completion of the 11th of 12th cotton cloth for the Cotton Cloth Calendar Challenge which were both shown on Friday's FO post.

YOP Badge and link in sidebar, join in the more the merrier

Red Friday

Finally, folks...home playing catch up and here's a picture of the finished Red Brick Afghan you've seen on work in progress Wed etc. I'm pleased with how it turned out. All the different sizes of squares and rectangles, knitted and crocheted were cemented together with Red. Had thought I'd include some brown, but nixed that idea once I saw it coming together nicely with the red, and once I reviewed my brown available in my stash. This afghan was donated to Bridge and Beyond (my charity blog), through our program, Project "Welcome Home".

Staying with the Red theme, here's the February cloth for my DD for my Cotton Cloth Calendar Challenge. 11 are now done, and in her hands. The only month remaining is March which will be Easter type colors.
Side 1, though since I photographed this I decided to add a bit to the edge and crocheted a couple of rows. It just didn't lay nicely in my opinion.
Side 2 here.

Still apparently focused on Red, though it wasn't really planned that way, lol. Here's the Red Marble Scarf you've seen some of on WIPW.

It might get donated to Bridge and Beyond too, but it might (haven't yet decided) find it's way into my closet. Been a couple of years since I've made myself a scarf....hum...though I did just recently purchased yarn in Hilton Head (I blogged about it on my Travel blog, check it out) at a really cool yarn shop for a scarf for myself...it's barely started.

Hope you're all keeping busy and finishing up lots of projects. Links for Finished Object Friday in my sidebar. Come join the fun.

**Since writing and scheduling this post, the Red Marble Scarf was added to the donations for Bridge and Beyond. Like I said above, I did just buy some yummy yarn in Hilton Head for myself.