On Saturday, June 14, several members of Three Rivers Crochet made the journey out to Schenely Plaza for World Wide Knit and Crochet in Public Day.  We actually knit and crochet in public every week, since our weekly meetings are at Panera's near Magee hospital, but this Saturday we were in a different public place.  The weather was perfect, sunny and warm.  Due to a wedding taking place under the main tent, we relocated next to the carousel.  Fortunately, there were several trees providing shade.  Thanks to the generous donations of Diane, Theresa, Rebecca, Doug, and Chris (sorry if I left anyone out) there were plenty of raffle prizes for everyone. 

CGOA YARN BOMBS

Diane here. Been away for awhile and I am so happy that SciFi Chris has jumped in and helped out. I like that more than one person's voice is on the blog. If only because the group is still growing and morphing. Back to the title.

CGOA's conference is this July 16-20, in Manchester, New Hampshire. It's CGOA's 20th anniversary and to celebrate a group is yarn bombing at least the hotel and maybe some other things. The call went out and 3RC is sending 14 8x8 squares to support the effort.

Thanks to everyone who gave their yarn and time to be part of the celebration.

 

World Wide Knit and Crochet in Public Day

June 14, 2014

2 - 5 p.m.

 

Join us as across the world hundreds of folks knit and crochet on the same day!

Where: In Oakland at Schenley Plaza, between Hillman and Carnegie Libraries, under the tent, rain or shine.

4100 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15260

Bring: Your crochet and/or knitting projects. There is a bathroom and concession stands nearby for purchasing food and water.

 

Three Rivers Crochet will bring: Raffle prizes and an enthusiastic welcome for new folks who join us.

World Wide Knit in Public Day was created by Danielle Landes in 2005.

To find out more about WWKiP Day visit wwkipday.com

Hiya all!  Scifi Chris here with a post about projects made from atypical fibers.

Yarn can be made out of just about any material, from the traditional wool to the very nontraditional plarn.  These are some projects using materials a little different from “regular” yarn.

Carol’s two puppies were chewing through their leashes.  She decided to crochet some new leashes out of paracord, which is used as the cord on parachutes.  Doug happened to have some paracord and generously shared it with Carol.  Using directions she found online, she made two leashes.  The blue and purple leash was made with one strand of each color doubled over and woven as a 4-strand braid.  Carol said that it was easy to make, but hard on the hands.  The red leash was woven on a two pegged loom that Carol’s husband helped her make out of a pill container, two nails and duct tape.  (oh duct tape, is there anything you can’t do?) 

Carol was very happy with the results and was all set to start making more leashes, then she discovered a website selling leashes with a guarantee to replace them if they are chewed through.  That was the end of making leashes, although Carol admits it was fun while it lasted.

 

 Ribbon yarn is made from fabric.  Just like the name implies, it looks like thin fabric ribbon.  The finished texture is more cloth like than using traditional yarns.  Barbara is knitting a scarf made from a ribbon yarn in a color called City Lights.  She’s just doing basic straight knitting, back and forth, which made up very fast.  The ribbon yarn takes the simple stitch to a whole other level, making the scarf look very spiffy.

 

Back in the intro I mentioned plarn.  What the heck is plarn, you may be wondering.  Plarn is yarn made from plastic bags cut into strips.  Plarn can be made  into things such as sturdier bags, rugs, coasters, or flip flops.  It has even been used for sculptures.  Back in 2011, 3RC was one of several groups that helped make plarn breasts for an art project called Something In the Water http://h2oforall.blogspot.com/p/project-description-and-guidelines.html  The art project was a statement piece trying to draw attention to how pollution can contaminate water that is drunk by nursing mothers, who could then pass those contaminates to breastfeeding babies.  It definitely was one of the most unusual projects 3RC has worked on.  More pics and info can be found here.  http://h2oforall.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2011-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2012-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=18

 

 I made a much less wild project using plarn, a tote bag.  It took about 40 large bags, cut into strips.  It was an interesting project, but a lot of work cutting all those bags into strips and joining them together.  I had to add the strap like strip around the bag because plarn is very stretchy. 

 

This last item isn’t yarn at all, its meant to hold yarn.  It’s a nylon sleeve designed to keep the skein of yarn from unraveling and getting tangled.  Carol, creative crafty person, just makes her own using old pantyhose.  After she retired, she wasn’t wearing them so they were given a second life as yarn skein holders.

 

 

 

SciFi Chris with a blog post about a spur of the moment yarn tasting roadtrip.

On Thursday, I got an email from Doug.  There was a yarn tasting at the Flaming Ice Cube in Ohio on Saturday, was I interested in going?  He’d also managed to get a hold of a few other folks, on short notice, who could head out to Ohio early Saturday morning.

 

What’s a yarn tasting?  If you know, you can skip this paragraph.  If you don’t, then read on.  A yarn tasting is when a yarn shop offers short lengths of many different types of yarn to try out.  You can make up a small swatch of the yarn, finding out how it works up.  There’s usually a variety of fibers, textures, and weights.  Its nice to be able to try out a yarn that you might not normally have bought.  The idea is, of course, that you will then go and buy lots of yarn.   Which I typically do.

Doug was able to find three others to drive out with him:  Diane, Rebecca, and me.  We met up at the Camp Horne Giant Eagle and then set off for the wilds of Ohio.  We only made one stop along the way.  Doug, knowing that one day the machines will rise up against us, decided to check the map to make sure his GPS wasn’t leading us astray. 

 

We arrived at Flaming Ice Cube, finding the shop fairly easily.  The Flaming Ice Cube is a yarn shop and a vegan café.  There were tasty veggie wraps, snacks, and vegan muffins and cookies for us to munch on during the presentation, all from the café.  The shop is a nice size and has a good selection of yarn.  It has lots of knitting accessories and books, but very few crochet hooks or books.  Once the folks hosting the yarn tasting realized there were several crocheters present, I have to say that they did make an effort to be inclusive.  Even going so far as to get some crochet hooks with different types of handles for us to try out. 

There was an extensive selection of yarn samples for us to try out.  For several of the samples there were also items made out of the particular yarn.  Included was also a catalog showing the different colors some of the yarn was available in.   We ended up not sitting together, but in a way that worked out.  I enjoyed talking to the new people around me, comparing notes on what they thought of the yarns and hearing their comments on the ones that they had already made projects from.

 

At the end, there were door prizes.  I won a knitting needle gauge, which I handed over Rebecca, since I don’t knit.  I was amused that the only prize that was exclusively a knitting prize (the others were a mug, a journal, and a bag) went to one of the few non-knitters.  The Universe does enjoy its little ironies.  The prize did end up with someone who could use it, so its all good.

Presentation and playing with samples all done, we were turned loose on the store. 

 

We all managed to find some yarn we liked, and Diane bought a very colorful bag.  I got a less colorful bag, with a funny statement printed on it.  We can all use more project bags.  We decided that it was time to eat.  Since we’d had a light lunch from the vegan café, we decided to try some place else, as tasty as the food had been.  Out to the car we went and we fired up the smart phones and gps, looking for what was available.  We decided that a place called the Stonebridge Grille sounded good.  While Doug was pulling up the directions to it, Rebecca pointed to the building about 25 yards in front of us.  Yep, it was right across the parking lot from the Flaming Ice Cube. 

Diane was excited to discover that on the menu of Stonebridge Grille was a fried baloney sandwich.  Filled with childhood nostalgia, she ordered one.  Doug, who hadn’t even tried baloney until he went to college, was curious enough to order one, too.  Rebecca and I went the more traditional, and boring, route with burgers and fries.  Diane seemed a little disappointed that it was a thick slice of baloney, rather than thin deli-style slices, but she said it was still good.  Doug didn’t seem too impressed by the fried baloney, although he agreed that trying new experiences are part of a proper road trip.  The desserts were great.  Rebecca and Doug split a piece of a rich, Godiva chocolate cheesecake.  I had a peach cobbler that was far more peachy goodness than cobbler. 

With lots of new yarn and full stomachs, we headed back to Pittsburgh.  We all agreed that Doug’s idea of a spur of the moment yarn tasting road trip had been an excellent adventure.

 

Thanks to Doug for the photos of the inside of the shop.

 

SciFi Chris with more blankets created by 3RC folks.

First up is camera shy Theresa with a Seatles Seahawk afghan she is knitting for her nephew.  Isn't it amazing looking?  She designed it herself.  She had previously made a Steelers helmet afghan, which went into the annual charity sale and then went to my brother-in-law. 

 

 

 

Nicole found an afghan kit in a thrift store, full of this beautiful yarn.  She's making a corner to corner afghan for her grandmother.  The photo doesn't do the bright colors justice. 



 

Original Chris is making this star afghan.  Its not done and its not blocked, but you can see the lovely pattern.  The yarn is very soft and will be wonderful to cuddle up in, once its done.

 

 

Constance is working on a graduation present and was feverishly working on it to get it done in time.  I wish I'd gotten a close up of the varigated gray she is using.  

 

 

Rebecca is also working on a star afghan.  I love the way different yarns and different colors can make a similar pattern look so different.  This is another photo that doesn't do justice to the colors of the yarn.  

 

 

Another example of how different colors change the look of a pattern.  This is Carol with a corner to corner afghan.  I believe this one is also headed to Project Linus.  If you have donations for Project Linus (the requirements for making the afghans are on their website)  Carol is willing to collect them and deliever them to the Project Linus folks.  Just bring them to the weekly 3RC meeting at the Panera's Bread near Magee Women's hospital, Saturday 2 to 5.  



 

 

Before you can make an afghan, you need yarn.  Here's Rebecca and Karen wrapping yarn.  No, they aren't taking it off the swift, they are putting it on the swift.  They need to put the yarn in skeins so that they can dye it.  Once dyed, it will go up for sale by Amelia and Wiggles.

SciFi Chris finally posting for 3RC.

Blankets are a mainstay of crochet.  The variety of stitch types in crochet results in an amazing diversity of afghans that can be made.  Here’s just a small sample of the many blankets made by 3RC folks. 

This is a ripple afghan that my grandmother made for me when I was born.  It’s a bit worn after more than 40 years of use, but its still one of my most treasured possession.  I learned to crochet from my grandmother and still use the old Boye hooks she gave me.  Although she passed away a few years ago, every time I pick up a crochet hook or snuggle in my old afghan, I feel a connection to her.

 

I’ve made lots of afghans over the years.  Lap blankets with school colors to keep folks warm during football and hockey games, blankets for family and friends, blankets to donate to various charities, and once I even made a blanket for myself.  These are photos of a basket weave afghan I made for my sister.

 

Some blankets are made especially for charity.  Here are two of the many afghans made by Carol for Project Linus 

 

I love the shell stitch.  I think it looks so elegant and its perfect for a blanket.  Here’s two examples of shell stitch blankets.  The beige one was made by Bea, the blue one by Roberta. 

 

Three Rivers Crochet also has members that knit.  Judy made a lovely knit log cabin blanket.  Here’s the story from Judy of how this blanket came to be:

“Our daughter in Alaska was expecting her third baby soon and Gramma here was looking for that oh-so-special blanket to knit. I fell in love with a pattern for a knitted log cabin blanket pattern from Cascade Yarns. This daughter reminded me that they don't want heavy blankets. They get upset that people think just because they live in Alaska they are always freezing. So I began a long search for a cotton blend yarn for the log cabin. I had already decided on the colors I wanted. Same daughter wants nothing to do with "baby" colors and themes. I wanted red, black, grey, beige and white. While in a yarn shop in Ligonier in the Fall I found colors similar to what I wanted but not in the right fiber. There was another customer looking at various yarns and I presented her with my idea for the blanket. How was I to know that she was a professional artist? She heartily approved of my color choices so upon my return home I put an order in with Knit Picks for their Shine Sport Pima Cotton/Modal yarn and the accompanying picture shows the blanket, flaws and all, that Blaise Michael born on Feb. 28 is snuggling with in Alaska!”