Amanda's Reef Find in Florida

Amanda winters for a few months in Florida each year. While biking she and her husband discovered this "Coral Reef". You can see that the display is not particularly large and that it has a poster with a key to identify everything on the reef. Her photography is terrific. Take time to check out each little thing in the pictures. Personally, I find the jellyfish delightful.

She sent us info to find out more. Manatee Country Coral Reef Exhibit on You Tube. Herald Tribune Article

New Member Shows Us Some of Her Work

Constance attended 3RC for the first time and enjoyed the group enough to return. It's great fun when newcomers show off their work. Constance found 3RC as a listed chapter of CGOA on their website. It's also fun to find out how people find us.

Constance showed us samples of her work that she had with her because she had an interview with Joann's earlier. Most new people don't bring this many things to show!

She's showing us fingerless gloves and a cowl in a shell pattern. Then she showed us a lace patterned red scarf that we tried to get a good photo of. But it can sometimes be difficult to bring out the openwork sections. Really cute edgings on girl's socks done in thread. Finally, there's a baby afghan that has a pattern stitch that produces a really nice fabric.

So look for Constance at the Joanne's on McKnight where she is filling in for awhile.

She is also a lover of animals and has some of us making cat blankets for the shelter.

Three Items of Interest

Chris had this yarn already and decided she needed to make something with it. It has really interesting quick color changes so the fabric looks woven. Looks warm and cheerful on Chris.

Remember we received big boxes from Carol's niece. These squares were in one of the boxes. Paulette added black yarn and pieced the squares into a totally mod throw.

Finally, in a past posting, we showed a hat made and designed by Theresa. The recipient, Chris's dad, was kind enough to pose wearing his holiday gift. Go Carps!

Wintertime Completions

More projects were finished up now that the holiday demands are over. I'm showing off a lace shawl that I ordered from Annette Petavy. Several people design for her shop now and this design is from Euclat Soleil. I ordered the yarn and pattern for a very reasonable price. I encourage everyone to check out sites besides those in the U.S. You may be surprised.

I started working on the shawl in the summer and just finished up. The design was simple enough to watch tv and crochet at the same time. I did change the edging. The pattern called for a ruffle. But since I was drawn to the very geometricness of the shawl I continued with 3 rows of dc and a final one of sc. It's a wonderful color and design. I felt I did not overblock the design but the shawl is long. Tall members of the group suggested I had made it just for them.

Theresa finished up this Fair Isle hat from a kit that she got while taking a class at Stitches. She's reluctant to show off her work so Chris filled in for her. We all really liked the design. Of course, her work as usual was impeccable.

Theresa also has excellent taste in a choice of yarns and designs. Especially when she picks for me. She picked up this jacket's makings at the Fiesta booth. She was very proud of my master's in advanced stitches and techniques from CGOA. So this is her way of celebrating. Actually, she'll use any excuse to buy yarn. If she buys it for someone else, she's not adding to her stash. I was a very agreeable recipient and the design was from Fiesta and the yarn is La Boheme.

Unveiling of FO's for the New Year

Happy New Year! I hope everything was merry and bright for the holidays.

Some people were busy though. Carol finished her last afghan for another grandson. I am impressed how Carol managed to design afghans per each boy's request that is each distinctive in their own way. But from the youngest to the oldest, each boy has an afghan that he likes now, and , I am positive, will like as he grows older.

Karen just finished up a Tunisian jacket in Moonlight Mohair. I made one several year ago, but I like her color choices better than mine. I am convinced this yarn only really looks good in Tunisian. I suspect it's because of the somewhat knitterly technique of Tunisian stitches and that Lion Brand didn't really check if this yarn looked good in crochet stitches. But I may just not have found the right pattern for the yarn.

Our last photo is of Byron, who is holding a plastic crate for comparison. The two big boxes are from Carol's niece. In a fit of organizing, she sent Carol & 3RC donated yarn and rectangles. At one time, her niece was part of a group making Warm Up America afghans. The group kind of dissolved but the yarn didn't. She hopes we can make use of everything she sent. So we thank her most kindly. We also thank Carol's hubby for standing around in the pic, so we could get an idea of how big the boxes were she sent.

The Year of the Hat

I am dubbing 2011 the Year of the Hat because I just feel like I have written so many entries about hats. I wonder what the new year will have us making?

Karen is showing off her skull and bones hat made by Theresa. I'm not sure how many of those Theresa made. Theresa is holding up a carp hat she made in black and gold. In order to get this one done, she had to hunt for pictures of carp and figure out how to get the design on the hat. She must be getting rather good at figuring designs into stitch counts.

The other 2 pictures of Karen are her showing off a hat she was going to felt. We were a little surprised at the size of the hat until she explained. But it was also fun to see her trying it on in its unfelted condition.

The felted hat looks great on Gayle.So don't laugh too hard at the unfelted kind. Really looks expensive all finished. Hope Gayle can afford it!

Yarn Ball Part 2

As usual I missed someone from the fashion show, Karen. Her sweater was wonderful and the photo just doesn't show the fine detail which is exquisite. She really has a perfect fit, too.
The rest of the pictures are people just hanging out or watching the fashion show. See if you can spot yourself.