Building Red Brick

I assemble (build) afghans from donated squares through my charity blog, Bridge and Beyond. One of two things happens as the squares come in. Depending on what I'm working on and how many squares I have on hand...I either design a ghan with the squares, label and bag it for future assembling, OR the squares go into my square collection area. Then periodically I dump sort and design those squares in the collection area. Such was the case here. This group of red and brown squares (lots of sizes), were bagged and labeled as I worked on other afghans. I always take pictures so I remember how I had it layed out.

Reviewed the above, measured it and thought it a bit small, and if I added lots of edging rows thought it wouldn't quite be what I wanted. So, looked through my squares collection area...after all, since the original design in picture 1, other squares had come in. I added about a dozen squares and felt this would work be an appropriate size.

Unlike real bricks and mortar knitted and crocheted squares can be moved around. Since there were sooooooo many different sizes here of both squares and rectangles, things needed to be moved to better fit. A real work in progress. Hoping to have this finished in short order. After it's all pieced together, I'll edge with several rows of red, then some brown...at least that's my current plan. I enjoy how funky and different these ghans come out when made from lots of different squares, but they do require extra work to get them together....much like a puzzle.

Since last week's YOP blog post, Got Brown Afghan has been completed, as has the shades of gray scarf. Both were pictured on Finished Object Friday's Post Here. Additionally, I've started working on the Feb cloth for Cotton Cloth Calendar Challenge; but....need to frog it, or at least part of it.

Feels good to get Projects Finished!

Here's Got Brown as it was designed.
And here's Got Brown Completed, laundered and blocked. I really loved how this ghan turned out. It has already been donated to Homeless Families Foundation through Bridge and Beyond's Operations Welcome Home Program.
I was waiting for Finished Object Friday to share it with you. The donated squares were all crocheted, and I added 2 rows of black edging to all the squares and joined with black using the join as you go method.

This gray shaded scarf is now also complete and has been donated to Bridge and Beyond. If you're not familiar with Bridge and Beyond, it's one of my other blogs, dedicated to helping the homeless through knitting and crocheting. This is simply good old garter stitch. I love how the shades show up nicely. The scarf measures about 7 inches wide and about 70 inches long, should be nice and warm for a man in need.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi, Yummy

First of all, let me say this is not my work in progress but my Darling Daughter while she was home over The Christmas Holidays. She loves to cook and is a good cook. She had tried this recipe once before, and wanted to fix it for us. Now...having the lap top in the kitchen near food is not something I do, or probably would do. Then again, I don't use a laptop. However, I could find the recipe on the net, print it or write it down for reference. She had music playing on her laptop, and had the recipe there for reference. She was going to make us Sweet Potato Gnocchi with a Gouda Cheese Sauce.
She likes space in the kitchen so I didn't get pictures of her actually making the dough. I was knitting in the other room. She cooked the potatoes in the microwave, scooped out the potato, mixed with flour to make her dough, then set it aside to rest while she got the ingredients read for her sauce. Then began rolling 4 long tubes/snakes. Cut the snakes into appropriate pieces ...about an inch.

Rolling the individual pieces lightly on the back of the tines of a fork to obtain the ridges, then laid them carefully to dry a bit on wax paper on a cooking sheet.

Having cut up and measured her sauce ingredients earlier, she was ready to begin making her Rue while the pasta dried slightly. After she made her Rue she added her cheese. I don't have pictures of it all, and timing, amounts etc....but thought I'd share the process a bit.

I helped by setting the table, and prepared the Martini's. Opened the wine for dinner so it could breathe while we enjoyed our Martini's.
She finished it off by making a nice spinach salad with red peppers and walnuts and light dressing. Outstanding!

link for recipe here,
Darling Daughter says she would suggest 1/2 smoked and 1/2 non-smoked Gouda Cheese to lessen how rich the sauce is.

Bought myself and DD a pedometer for Christmas. Was going to wear it daily and record steps taken and how many miles I went. Fell behind from the get go it seems. wasn't doing much here for the first couple of weeks after Christmas, and so didn't put it on. Then forgot to put it on at work. Finally, this week got started. Monday 16th walked 13,806 steps for 5.017 miles. Felt it to when I got home from work. But, yesterday.....19,852 steps and 7.214 miles by the time I sat down after work. And this morning....am still feeling it. Have added a tab here on the blog to keep track of my walking/steps etc.

Snowy Sunday

This scarf wasn't on my YOP list (see tab above) , however...it might be the replacement scarf for Liberty Lace. I just haven't been able to my way clear to restart that. It's been frogged and is now on the back burner. This scarf is gray, though looks a bit blueish in the picture. Nothing fancy; but I'm really enjoying it, both in appearance and because it's so straight forward. Nothing but good old garter stitch, with the shading in the yarn, I don't believe you need anything else. This is being knit on size 10 needles with Marble Chunky yarn. The yarn has a wonderful feel, is 100% acrylic and therefore washable. It doesn't feel like acyrlic, it's light to touch and is a pleasure to knit with. When I started this, I thought it might be mine......since Liberty Lace was a failure...but, it's nice and warm and large enough, might work well for Bridge and Beyond. Jury's out until it's finished where it will end up.
This lovely green lace scarf moves from a WIP to a FO and is for my DD. Made with Cascade Yarns, Lana Bambu (79& wool and 21% Bamboo) on size 9 needles. I LOVE this yarn and plan to gt more. It has some a fabulous feel, a neat texture to it with good body.
Got Brown is coming along nicely! It should be finished soon and will be donated to Bridge and Beyond for Project Welcome Home.

So, rather then redo the list each time for YOP, I'll make the changes above, you can also click the tab to see the whole list.

Plan for the week with regard to the list, start the February cloth for the Cotton Cloth Calendar Challenge, only 2 more to go, February and March.

Family Christmas Quilts

This is perhaps a bit of cheat post, in that this finished object was made years ago. I made this (my first quilt) for Mom who loved Poinsettia's. From looking back through family Christmas Pictures, it seems it was probably made sometime before 2002; though I can't say for certain. It's not a traditional quilt pattern, in that the pieces weren't cut to any specification, nor was it stitched in known quilt pattern. I cut pieces basically the size I wanted (actually thinking back I don';t think I cut them at all, I believe I tore them...based on what an elderly quilt maker told me). I hand sewed the pieces together, used solid red for the backing with batting in-between and green basis tape for the edge. I used a circle quilt frame.
Mom always put it out as part of her Christmas decorations. The last couple of years, since Mom's death it stayed in it's zippered bag. This year I mentioned it to Dad, and after Christmas he gave it back to me to use and enjoy. The stitching/quilting portion was done around all edges of the separate pieces, a Zig zag was used on the red striped which you can see, I did x on some of the squares. Basically each different fabric had a different design in terms of stitching. The Poinsettia's were all stitched around to make them pop a bit.

The year (whatever year it was), after making this quilt I made one for my 2 brothers and their families. My older brother always liked Norman Rockwell and I use a famous Rockwell Christmas print for the center of his quilt, though I didn't take a picture of it. Need to ask him to do so. My younger brother and his wife, love blue and Olde Time Village Christmas decorations so this is the one I made for them. I was able to photograph it as part of their traditional Christmas Decorations several years ago.

I always intended to make one for myself, but never quite got around to it. I do believe I still have fabric somewhere. Perhaps one day I'll find the fabric and make one for my DD. There are nice to display year after year. I'll now be able to do that with the one I made Mom and Dad.

**Since most who visit this blog are crafters (knitters, crocheters, quilters etc.), could I ask that you scroll back to the previous post. Would love some insight, thoughts etc. on repairing an antique afghan.**

Treasures from our Ancestors

This is an old afghan, a family afghan made by Granny, my Great-Grandmother. She was born just 4 years before the start of The Civil War, on Oct, 7th, 1861 in Hopetown, Ohio. Hopetown is a small little down between Columbus and Chillicothe, closer to Chillicothe. It was a rural farming community in the day, and not much more today. Granny was the daughter of Adam and Melissa Gartner, whom we believed to have been Mennonites. More on that later. Granny lived to be 95 years old. I was just 6 when she died. I do remember her. Sadly, I was afraid of her. She had huge eyes, and very large veins that stuck up on her skin. I wasn't used to being around elderly. She lived in her own home on Mill Street in Chillicothe, the states first capital. She died 56 years ago tomorrow, on January 13th, 1956. She gave birth to 5 children, and 4 survived. Her only son, is my Grandfather....my Dad's Dad. Dad gaved me this afghan yesterday to ask if I might be able to repair it. It's really in pretty good shape considering how old it is. When you take care of things, it's pretty amazing how long things can last. The ghan like Granny has had a long life.

I need to see if I have some yarn to match and see what I can do in the way of repairs. This ghan was used alot through the years; though in recent years, it's been tucked away to preserve it. Mom and Dad had it on their sofa for years, before that my grandparents used it and before that my Great Aunts who lived at Granny's house. If only this ghan could talk, wonder what it might reveal.

Granny was married on Thanksgiving Day November 29th, 1888, at the age of 27. Getting married at the age of 27 was rather old for those times, generally speaking. But, Granny....wasn't ordinary. She was, I believe a woman before her time. She raced horses, and not against other women. She raced and often won against men. A strong willed and very capable woman indeed.

She was a beauty too, would imagine except for her wild spirit, she was probably sought after by a good many men before marrying my Great Grandfather. I don't know if this was the picture taken for her wedding photo or not, but I would imagine it was close to that time frame.

This is later is life, long after her horse racing days were over.

This photo was taken on her 90th birthday. An article appeared in The Chillicothe Gazette discussing how even as a Octogenarian she had a full head of black hair, and another article was written when she turned 90 (which is where this photo came from), discussing her racing horses, being a tomboy and how sharp she was with telling family stories and remember child hood friends names.

I don't know how old Granny was when she crocheted this afghan, but I'm thrilled to have something from her hands. I won't jump into repairing it, as I want to study it a bit to determine the best method, and find the best match in terms of colors....I know that won't be easy, certainly after the long life this afghan has had, it's faded.