Three Rivers Crochet Holiday Charity Event

Three Rivers Crochet is having its annual holiday sales to support VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System and Rwanda Knits. It will be at Wilkins School Community Center in Regent Square.
 Place WSCC
           7604 Charleston Ave.
           Pittsburgh, PA 15218

Times: Nov 30 7-9 pm
            Dec 1-9
            Mon - Fri 12 - 8 pm
            Sat - Sun 10 -5 pm

This year we have uploaded pictures of all the available items.
https://picasaweb.google.com/106104342018760110559/YarnSaleItems?authkey=Gv1sRgCOD7-9HPufXcCw
  Again the total amount asked in donation goes to the selected charity. Three Rivers Crochet donates their time. Materials may have been purchased, from our stash or donated yarn. No one in the group is ever reimbursed.
We look forward to seeing you soon.

Carol's Latest Design

Since Carol has been involved with crochet after retiring, she set herself a goal of making bed size afghans for each of her grandsons. The first 4 are already documented in the blog. This is the final one.
Carol asked each grandson what color he would like the cover to be. After that it was all creativity. Different shapes or different designs.
This afghan was to be red. Carol used red, black and white in a hexagon shape. She worked hard at making sure each hexagon was different, no repeats.
You can tell her grandson really liked his present. As a graphic, modern design pattern, this one is outstanding. 

An Unusual Request

Awhile ago, a gentleman contacted me with a problem. He had broken his leg and he had to wear this boot all the time. He didn't care for the dirt being tracked into the house by the boot after being outside. Could I make a bootie to cover the bottom of the boot while he was inside.
This is just one of the photos he sent of the boot on a tile floor of 2" squares in order to give me an idea of the shape and size.
The bottom of the bootie was doubled and I made a lace up the front to make it easier to get on. I thought the area around the ankle still looked large, so I ran a cord through the top edging. That way he could adjust that part of the boot and just place a knot to hold it.
The gentleman donated $25 to Rwanda Knits in payment.
It seems to me that no one ever gets a plaster cast anymore. 

Busy Crocheters

Mary finished up this afghan using variegated yarn and a simple stitch pattern. A great example of how an uncomplicated idea produces great results.

Doug never makes the expected. He wondered of crochet could produce strong rope; he decided that it did. Of course, he used two colors which resulted in an attractive pattern. While very strong, think of the times when you might want to use decorative ties or wraps. Very classy rope.

Theresa made this baby afghan. Yes, it's a baby afghan for a baby boy whose father went to the University of Kentucky. Theresa couldn't find a chart for the logo, so she made one herself. Another unique design from Theresa.

Shelli made this afghan for her daughter. Shelli had made one like it for herself quite awhile ago. Her daughter had always admired it. With her daughter soon to be married, Shelli made one for her in neutrals similar to her own. The design is by Lion Brand and uses Homespun. Shelli hopes the neutrals will go with any decor her daughter chooses.

Diane's Latest

I started working on this topper in early May, so I could wear it for the summer. I finished it on Labor Day! I am so easily distracted: with every summer issue of any crochet magazine I found inspiration for items for the Holiday Sale (Dec 1- Dec 9).  But when summer was soon passing, I went back to my project.
I purchased the yarn and pattern through Annette Petavey's website. She is based in France. The yarn is laceweight linen and the design is by Helene Marcy. I am always impressed by the prices and how quickly I receive my order. I did alter the pattern though, since I prefer longer sleeves.

Theresa at Stitches

Theresa has been working for over a year on a shawl of her own design. It is an homage to  those teachers who taught her in lace classes. I know that Orenburg and beading on lace are, at least, two of the classes represented.
The picture showing the entire shawl has two people holding it up; so you can see how large it is. It's not quite finished since it needs an edging pattern.
Theresa also knitted the dress and wore it at stitches. Theresa followed the basic design but as usual reinterpreted the neckline and sleeves. Several times! She's behind the dress.
At stitches she won the Designer's Choice Award and the CEO said that he would like to arrange an interview for Knitter's magazine.
So Theresa had a very eventful Stitches trip.
The hat worn by Chris was designed and knitted by Theresa, too. She knit it for Chris to wear at a Star Wars con. I believe the hat is about Boba Fett and there are two other graphed designs on the hat. Chris made a contribution to the VA here in Pittsburgh in payment for the hat.

Little Daughter Won't Stay in Bed?

I think all children go through that stage when once you put them to bed they don't stay there.

That's exactly the problem Yona faced with her little daughter. Yona uses a system of gold stars with her kids, but Yona's daughter had had it with stars. "What would get you to stay in your bed at night, if we aren't doing stars?" Yona asked. "I want one of those cute animals you make. I want a funny dog." So here is the blue dog that keeps the little girl in her bed and even stars in his own blog entry.

Peggy as Usual

has been keeping very busy. She found a few more afghans for Linus Project at $.99 each. Here she's showing off a tam she made.

Commissions for Charity

I've written before how Theresa will make things by request if the person will make a contribution to the VA. This was a specially requested baby blanket that Theresa made for a $50 donation. Rebecca and Theresa stretched out the blanket for a picture just as Theresa finished it. She blocked and turned over the blanket during the week. So it was get the picture now or never.
Then when a friend was visiting and asked about what I'd been doing, I explained about our Holiday Sales to support our charities. I was working on a necklace similar to this one at the time and showed her this one as a completed project. She bought it then and there for $65 and made a check out to the VA. So this particular necklace will not be showing up at the sales. What doesn't show up are all the beads that are worked into the motifs. Cameras frequently don't catch that aspect of a project. I was inspired by Vogue Crochet 2012. I had to change many of the stitch counts and the beads to what I already had to keep the expense down.
Several people have caught onto the commission system. We now have several hundreds of dollars that have been donated through our efforts this year. Those totals will be added into our end of the year tallies. 

Can't Stop the Serenity 2012

Can't Stop the Serenity 2012 is a charity event benefiting Equality Now and the Pittsburgh Habitat for Humanity. The event will include a screening of the the movie.

The event will be held at the Orpheus Singing Society  at 6301 Butler Street, Pittsburgh, PA 2012 on Saturday, August 11, 2012 starting at 7 PM. There will be raffles, games, and activities before the movie. Arrive before 7:30 and receive 3 free raffle tickets and be entered to win door prizes. Tickets will be available at the door for $10.
For more information visit http://cstspgh.webs.com on Facebook-PA Browncoats Rivers and Bridges Brigade.
What you are seeing in the pix is just one of many baskets this group ingeniously puts together for the event. This specific basket is a Learn to Knit and Crochet basket. What you can't see because of all the goodies is the "Jayne" tote it all comes in. The handles are just peeking up at the top.
For sale will be these two "Jayne" hats. The one is obvious. The second one is a "Steeler" "Jayne " hat. Talk about combining two enthusiasms on one hat!

2012 Stitch 'N' Pitch

Another really hot day for Stitch 'N' Pitch but the atmosphere was different. Could barely move around the park this year because of the Bucs' winning streak. The fans were really fired up.

Carol of Carol's Needleworks in Bridgeville hosted again this year. Thanks, Carol. We received a nice bag with goodies inside. The bags are really nice for projects.
Constance, Chris, Carol, I and Peggy all lined up in front of a drawing in the hallway of the administrative offices where the "yarn event" took place.
At the game you can see everyone was having a good time. Theresa always gets me a seat in the shade since I got a sunburn the first time I went to Stitch 'N' Pitch! 

Karen and Lyn

Lyn is making fleece baby blankets with crocheted edgings and coordinating burp cloths. This particular set was made for Karen as a baby present at a shower. Karen paid Lyn for this set, since Lyn intended the set to go to the holiday sales charity fundraiser. Lyn is making more sets and they will be available in December at the sales. Sometimes we are our own best supporters.
Karen made the child's sweater from yarn that came from Highlands Alpaca. It will be for sale there   until someone snatches it up. The softness of this sweater is fantastic.

Donations

Chris A and I made some hats for donation to the VA. I made the plain blue hat and Chris A made the tweed and red hats. The variegation on the tweed made the nice striping effect. So nice when a project is just that much more than planned.

What Has Carol Been Up To?

Carol keeps working away at the yarn her niece sent her. Her latest creation is this purple baby blanket.
Back in May Carol attended the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. It must be immense from the number of vendors listed. She got into a conversation with the owner of Cestari Sheep and Land Co. and mentioned the work 3RC does. She wanted to gather up some "sale" yarn to bring back and hand out to the group for holiday sales items. When the gentleman found out what she was doing, he gave her an additional discount.
Again we have benefited from the generosity of strangers. A shout out of thanks to Cestari Sheep and Land Co. I'm working on a knitted lace scarf with the 2 skeins Carol gave me. Thanks, Carol.

Diane's Personal Projects

The blanket and handkerchiefs were presents.
The baby blanket was made with Sirdar Snuggly, which I think is the softest acrylic for making baby things. The main part of the blanket was Tunisian knit stitch. I found the edging in an afgan book but I had to rework the basic # of stitches to get the ruffly result. It's was rather close to what I wanted to create.
The handkerchief was worked in size 10 Elizabeth thread on an all ready to go hanky square. I was using a pattern from the 50's that used much finer thread. So once again I had to use some math to get the basic pattern started. I also had to reduce the number of stitches again in the final row because the heavier thread was taking up too much space.
I was initially disappointed in the Elizabeth thread because it had so many breaks in the strands and had lumped up. I had to do a lot of cutting out and restarting with quite a few ends to bury. This particular ball of thread was a freebie. After that I've made other projects using other balls of the Elizabeth thread that was purchased and had no problem. Perhaps just the luck of the draw.
I was very pleased with how these projects turned out.

Constance Creates , Too

Constance, as well as Phyllis, took home some swatches and bits and made two blankets for Linus Project. I really like the green one with the rose. I don't know if I would have picked up the orange pieces, but Constance figured out how to make the pieces work.
Finally she is showing off her own zip back at a press of a button measuring tape. It came from Carol with its own crocheted cozy. When Constance was teaching a beginning crochet class at the Humane Society, she mentioned to Carol that she was using a roll up by hand measuring tape that she'd had for 25 years. She told her students to invest in a tape that rolls up by itself. Carol thought Constance should move into the 20th century, too. Nice gift Carol. Not everyone has a measuring tape cozy!

Some More of Phyllis's Work

 Besides helping us out, Phyllis likes to make doll clothes and sell them at bazaars. If you are at a craft fair maybe you will see her and say hi.
The yellow center was a donation and Phyllis turned it into a baby blanket. She donated that one and the two others. I've blogged about the big blue afghan as she worked to figure out how to use the squares. It finally turned out fantastic!
Then she surprised us with her final creation. I believe that "granny square" idea will be going longer than me. In the hands of someone like Phyllis it looks new and modern.
Phyllis never hangs around long but she loves to drop by. We're always excited to see her because she is bound to have something interesting to show. She says she likes the group because we appreciate her work. Well, we know what it takes to produce beautiful results and we always respect that effort.
We all know someone's going to get a great gift from Linus Project now.

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WWKIP June 16, 2012

 We met under the tent as we had hoped. It was a very hot day and we were grateful not to be in the sun. We encountered a few new people but the group was mostly the same as the past KIP's. So it was a happy "haven't seen you so long" opportunity.
The old fashioned "knitting machine" was a real attention grabber. Great for making tubes. Imagine a pair of socks in a night!
Schenley Plaza remains one of the best places for our KIP because of the size and it's free!