Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Shanti Joins Us
















March 10th was our big joining day with everyone wielding needles with yarn for sewing. Shanti came to the group for the first time that day and she could have felt very left out and her crochet problem ignored.
But Theresa immediately befriended Shanti and helped her with the problem: a combination of not being real experienced in crochet and what I call "opaque" instructions. After sometime working together Shanti had a good feel for the granny square patterning and was quite proud of what she had accomplished.
Shanti arrived the next week with a great start on a granny square but needed to learn how to change colors. She is showing off her first attempt at a color change here, but by the end of the meeting she had successfully done another change.
That is how you join Three Rivers Crochet. Show up and join in.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Kitty Cats and Blankets


How about a group of photos where everyone looks happy? Constance has a mission to get each rescued cat a blanket. I suspect that Carol has a mission to totally deplete her stash. Actually Carol has had and does have cats. She is also a speedy crocheter. The end result? Everyone is happy!


Saturday, March 24, 2012

The Finished Products






Would you have thought that my descriptions from the previous entry would have resulted in these spectacular patchwork afghans? After years of doing these patchworks (and I must admit to not particularly caring for doing the stitching it requires) I am always pleasantly surprised at how pleasing to the eye the results are. Of course, Lyn put the finishing touches on these and always does a stupendous amount of work on them.
Carol is showing off a baby blanket she put together using the blue pieces. Not all patchworks turn out large.
Phyllis came late and was comfortable with crocheting squares together. However what was left didn't fit together very well. So she took the pieces home and unraveled them and added some of her own yarn. She ended up with a nice lapghan and as yet to be finished really cool Granny motif.
About the pictures: they really don't do justice to the colors. In person, the afghans are colorful arrays of really interesting swatches. I have to admit I did a spectacular job of lopping off heads in these photos, a skill for which I am famous.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Busy on March 10


On March 10th, we gathered in Panera's meeting room. Usually we don't use that room because we never know how many people are coming and don't want to hog the space. But when we need room to spread out, we really need the tables.
On this occasion we were again putting together swatches. Swatches are yarn shapes that we have all accumulated for a couple of reasons. Someone gets a sample of yarn and tries it out but it isn't enough to make anything. Gauge swatching which Rebecca and I do to match Robyn's swatch for a project and which everyone should do before they make something, especially clothing. What to do with small amounts of donated yarn. It might make a nice sized swatch and gives someone a chance to try a new stitch pattern or motif.
The big challenge this day was to fit it all together into an afghan: a puzzle ready made. We were all over the place, trying to match things up and fit things together. Sometimes certain items just look wrong together, so you get more than one item when we get done. See the next entry for the results.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Crochet Fun


Crochet is frequently not fashionable or practical, but just fun.

Monsieur Moose was made by Krystle for Carol's niece. What do you get for a bat mitzvah? Apparently a moose. That's if you know the young girl collects moose, and you know someone who is a wiz at making those adorable stuffed animals. How cute is he?

Need an 11th Dr. Who? No? Well, Chris does. She did a great job with that hair and bowtie. I have to wonder if she has the other ten!

Monday, March 5, 2012

Linus Project
















Several weeks ago , we had a nice afternoon visit with Lois Misko. She is the new director for Linus Project and the energetic person who will be sending on our blankets to where they are most needed.

Until now, Lyn has been handling the responsibility of collecting our blankets and turning them in. She's done a wonderful job for us and we are really thankful for her dedication.

But since Lois is based in the South Hills, Carol will be taking over the job now. Carol feels the Linus Project is close to her heart ever since a preemie grandson in an infant ICU received a blanket from them.

You can see the different blankets we had that day for Lois. It looks like Lois and Carol will get along famously. Carol is known for her tiny blankets with cute appliques like this cupcake one.

You can find all the information you need to donate to Linus Project at www.projectlinus.org and you can get tons of ideas and local info from Lois at Lois.Misko@gmail.com

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Chris's Diverse Crochet Interests.
















Chris really enjoys crocheting and she is a good example of how to have fun at the same time.

The first picture shows Chris kidding around with a hat she made for the vets that was on the bigger side.

The lace shawl shows how effective variegated yarns with long color changes can be.

Chris is also interested in science fiction. So we have Cthulu from H. P. Lovecraft. I am not apologizing for how I spelled the god's name.

And we also have the finished Jayne sweater, based on an episode from Serenity. Sweaters can be tricky and this one needed the shoulders redone, and the collar reworked. But the effort paid off with a good fitting sweater.