Bonfires & Knitting Don't Mix

On Saturday, we went to a barbecue at a good friend of ours. We had awesome food...there was coleslaw, beans, chicken, pulled pork, pork loin, hotdogs, and bratwurst. The food was yummy, and the company was awesome.

The weather was pretty nice for most of the day. Around 5pm, it started to cool down, so Tony and the guys started a bonfire. Once that got going, Tony started us a fire pit to keep us warm.  When he was trying to get our fire pit going, he decided to pour some liquid on the fire to get it going better. Well, the glames jumped out, and almost got me, but I had jumped out of my chair in time. Unfortunately, there was another chair next to me that I fell on, and it broke.

Joe was also helping by adding sticks and twigs to the fire. At one point, Tony yanked out a branch that Joe had put on the fire. It had poison ivy on it. That would NOT have been good for me, since the smoke was coming in my direction. Luckily Tony noticed before the poison ivy started to actually burn.

Well, back to the reason that I say that Bonfires & Knitting don't mix - well, the smell from the fire ended up throughout my knitting of the Anniversary Squares, and also of my small project bag. I came home, and sprayed them with Fabreeze, and put them out on the back porch for the evening. They still smell a little bit, but will probably go away, once I soak the squares in Soak.

So...in the future...I will NOT knit when there is a fire pit....Darn...I love to knit all of the time, but am not willing to ruin something that I take the time to make!

Anniversary Update

Just a short update on the Anniversary Afghan. To date, I have completed the 12 Frosty Green Afghan squares, 1 Black square, and am on the 2nd Brown square. Hopefully this square will be completed today sometime. I do try to knit while on my long phone calls at work. I don't need to look down at my knitting, so I can do that while watching the screen that the agents are working on. This keeps me calm....this is a good thing. More updates later...

Turtle Power

Over the weekend, I started working on a crochet turtle applique to be placed on one of the squares of my Anniversary Afghan that I am making for my parent's 60th Wedding Anniversary. I free hand crocheted this turtle, using 2 different shades of green yarn from Michaels. The brand is Loops & Threads, and the colorways are: Forest Green & Deep Forest. I will be posting a photo of my turtle later. I also added buttons that look like little google eyes. There will be 2 turtles, since we had 2 turtles growing up. One was named Ricky and the other was Lucy....yes, they were named after the I Love Lucy show. I plan on reversing the colors, so that each turtle will be different!

We went to Michaels over the weekend, and found the perfect yarn for when I crochet the squirrel for this afghan. More about that later!

ANNIVERSARY UPDATE

Well, this week, I started working with that black crochet cotton on my first square for my parents afghan. After a few rows...I hated it....so rip rip rip I went...and the next day returned the 5 balls of cotton to Joann's. Now I am going to use black yarn instead. Guess this will teach me how to change colors throughout a square! I was not please at the end of that evening, because ZERO progress was made.

As of today, I am almost finished with my 7th Green square.

Changes...changes...changes to my Anniversary Afghan

After knitting on this afghan for just over a week, I have completed 5 of the frosty green squares, and almost one of the brown squares. I am not happy with how the brown square looked, so I put on my thinking cap, and started trying to think of a better way for the design to stand out on these squares.

Off to Joanne's I went, to search around for another yarn or thread to make these squares looks nicer. One of the squares will have a pair of wedding rings, so of course, I wanted them to be gold in color. When I put the gold crochet cotton up to the brown square....it screamed....NOOOOOO this is awful! So, I decided to think more about the wedding ring square later.

Below the gold, was some #3 black crochet cotton. I thought that maybe if I joined in as a 2nd strand  - the black along with the brown - that might work, since I am going to crochet a black border around the afghan.

I purchased 6 balls, since I wasn't sure how much I would need. I also purchased 3 skeins of the Red Heart black yarn to use for the border.

When I returned home, I ran a sample of the 2 strands to see if that would be enough, and it was. It was just enough to make the black color pop in the brown color. These squares will take longer, but they will be so much nicer than without the added color.

I ripped back the brown square to where I would add in the black, so I am back to the beginning of square 1 for the design squares. It's ok...Practice does make perfect!

May work on the brown/black square tonight at Craft & Chat....it will depend on if I have too many distractions...if so, I will just continue on the grosty green squares!

Well, I did it again....I cast on a new project, but this is for a very special occasion...a very special occasion indeed. You see, my parents are going to be celebrating their 60th Wedding Anniversary on July 18. I have been thinking for a while that I would like a special gift for them, but the question kept coming up as What?

For their 40th Anniversary, I created a counted cross stitch, with their wedding date, wedding rings, 40, and their names. I framed it in Mahogany. It is very nice. It still hangs in my parent's bedroom. They both thought it was the best gift they had received that year.

Since then, I have crocheted their last name, and framed it. My Dad has it hanging over his bed. Another project for my parents were 2 fleece tie blankets. My Dad's has playing cards on it, and my Mom's has cardinals. I am always trying to come up with something that really means something to the both of them. You see, that is what I do, when it is for someone I really love!

Well, I thought that a commemorative afghan knitted for them would be great. There will be 36 squares total - set up in rows of 6. I am making 11" squares - the first square looked like 10", but ended up being 11", so that is the size each square will be. I have counted up my cast on stitches, and the amount of rows to be knit. There will be 18 squares which will have a garter stitch border, but plain stockinette in the middle of the square. The other 18 squares will have pictures or words, in the middle of the square, that depict my parents 60 years together. Some of the squares will have: MOM, DAD, 60, 1953, a train (my Dad worked for the railroad), a dog, a pair of baby feet (to represent my brother & I), an irish one, a bird, a duck (they had ducks that would visit their yard when they owned a swimming pool), a pair of linking wedding rings, flowers, a spade (Dad plays cards), and a few more to make up 18. This is going to be a challenge, but I am up to it! Finished one square in less than 2 evenings. Started the 2nd one last night too. The weekend is here!!!! Knitting time!!!!

One Sock Finished....One to Go!!!

Over the weekend, I finished my first sock of this new pattern I am knitting from. The sock fit great...thanks to Debbie at The Yarn Barn in Kansas. I am knitting the cuff of the 2nd sock now, and think that this sock will knit up much quicker, since now I am starting to really understand how to knit a sock.

Joe's sock is 1/2 finished, as he decided to start the 2nd sock, so that he will knit each part at the same time. Of course, his socks are much bigger than mine, so his will take some extra time to knit up.

I also cast on a new cowl. The Easy Unixex Cowl free pattern that I found on Ravelry. I am knitting this with yarn that I knit a sweater for my oldest daughter, when she was 5. I had 8 balls left of Patons Diana Brushed Chunky. This yarn is 60% Acrylic, 40% Nylon. This is a 50G ball. I purchased it in South Africa when I lived there in 1989/1990. I have had this yarn for 23 years, and it is still the same. I stored it in a tote. The Cowl is knitting up nicely, and I am on my 2nd ball already. Should be finished with it by the end of this weekend.