Posted on 11/02/2019 6:22:29 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
The Monthly Fiber Arts Thread is a monthly gathering of people that love yarn and fabric of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first project, to experienced fiber artists and beyond, we would love to hear from you.
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Please put me on your ping list! Got started to seriously crochet when I retired recently. Grandmother taught e when I was 8 or 9, didn’t do it for decades, and now I’m back. There are some GREAT YT tutorials out there —love Jayda in Stitches. Can you provide the patten or video for your cowel pictured above —looks like a stitch I’m familiar with!
Pat
Hi let me know the name and address/e-mail address of he organizations you crochet for. I’d love to volunteer my services —I’ve done a lot of baby blankets and little caps like those —
Thanks!
Welcome! I added you to the ping list!
I wanted to learn the shell stitch (so easy!) because my Grandma used it in a lot of scarves and headbands and afghans when I was growing up. This is the guideline I use. I use a J hook with 32 chains to start, though, as they say - Check Your Gauge! ;)
https://crochet-mania.blogspot.com/2008/11/shell-crochet-winter-scarf.html
I crochet for:
Comfort for Critters:
https://comfortforcritters.org/
Project Linus:
Warm Up America:
And my county Humane Society as well as my Dad’s nursing home for lap afghans and Prayer Shawls.
Just look up your locals where you live. :)
Veterans Homes are great places to donate also. My Mom made over 300 lap blankets for the Vets home.
Helping Veterans (as I am one) is on my ‘future’ things to do list. Maybe I’ll start on my own cozy wrap for when I’m living in the VA Home in Chippewa Falls? Believe me, I’ve done my share of Parades and Funerals and Holiday Memorial Services through the years...now it’s ‘me’ time. :)
A friend of mine helped bankroll it; he assures me that ‘my’ room is lush, plush, has a beautiful view of The Prairie, a private hot tub and a mini bar, LOL!
Right now, I’m working closer to home, THEN I’ll take on the world. ;)
Many veterans in our family. Mostly WII and Korea. When my mom hit 300 blankets,the veterans home told her - enough! They had plenty. So I told her we have a big vets home here in Michigan. So she bought bag fulls up with her when she would come to visit.
After dropping some off one fall, we took her to a vets parade and she went crazy happy to see vets on floats in their wheelchairs with her lap blankets on. Most of the yarn was given to her by other senior ladies in the neighborhood who were done knitting and crocheting. She would make the prettiest blankets with fringe and took oddball colors and using a stripes design made them all look great. The vets home in Chicago wrote her a nice official thank you letter and she wanted it buried with her. It was.
I go to a local community thrift shop but also we actually have a dime store in our small town, wood floors and all. Yarn is a big department and a couple of times a year they put out a sandwich sign saying Yarn Sale. It’s a magnet. They also do a 25% off everything in November.
Admirable! :)
Oh, how lovely! :)
Beautiful idea! Thanks for posting.
Unfortunately, I have never found yarn at Goodwill. I’m sure it’s getting scarfed up (no pun intended) as soon as they put it out.
Most of my yarn (I’d say 95% of it) comes from AC Moore. They have moved store locations & in the new location, I could walk to it, if I had to. Since they have great coupons, I rarely pay full price, usually get at least 50% off. The sales are pretty good, too - just bought $20 worth of yarn for $10 on Saturday which was nice, because then I could use my 55% coupon on knitting needles. We do have a Hobby Lobby (next most frequent place I get yarn), then Michael’s (rarely) & even more rarely, Joann’s.
We have a new yarn shop that opened about a year ago, probably a good 20-30 minutes away in a small town. It’s a small, old RR town, tracks run down Main St so there is old fashioned ‘personality’ galore and I am looking forward to visiting - one of my goals for this year is to make it over there. Since they opened, it looks like they’ve moved down the street from their original location & now have an even bigger store - room for knit/crochet alongs & inventory. If I could afford it, I’d love to use more natural fiber yarns ... once in a blue moon, I’ll get some wool, but it has to be a really special project and (I’ll avoid a little rant here), the ‘giftee’ has to appreciate the yarn ... only two people in my sphere right now to which the ‘appreciate’ part applies. I’ve attended two Fall Fiber Festivals and just about OD over all the gorgeous yarns, many hand spun and/or dyed.
From natural fiber to ‘unnatural’ ... Sunday I ordered yarn from Amazon for the 2nd time. There are certain yarns/colors that I cannot find around here & have to order online. By the time you add in shipping, it’s just not worth it (to me). I have Prime so if I can find the yarn/color at the same price or less as it would be in the store, I can order it on Amazon & not pay shipping. My hairpin lace scarf yarn is yarn I purchased that way - no one locally had 3 skeins in a color I liked enough to spend the time/money on it in a project.
Of all the yarn I do use, I seem to end up with Lion Brand a lot and lately, Premier Puzzle has been a top choice for prayer wraps - it’s a 5 Bulky, but a ‘light’ 5, very soft & warm, many of the colors are quite pretty/attractive. The color variations make beautiful corner-to-corner wraps & I’ve gotten more positive comments on the Puzzle C2Cs than any other pattern I’ve used.
I did a KNITTING fingerless mitten binge this weekend (knitting speed is way up) - 3 pairs, but now I have 6 thumbs to knit - yikes!! Late last night, while looking for ‘help’, I found a video on knitting thumbs without gaps (between thumb & body of mitten - a real problem) and it was done on circular needles using Magic Loop, which is what I’m using. Super helpful! I’ll be working on thumbs in the next day or two. Started that mobius shawl wrap - yarn, which is 5 Bulky & soft, works up nicely ... changed the stitch pattern slightly. It will be easy to frog if I don’t like the finished piece - so far, so good.
Meanwhile, we had a big freeze Friday night & the kitchen countertops are loaded with jalapeno peppers rescued before they froze, red green & in-between .... I have to deal with them today before I can get back to ‘fiber arts’.
Great info! Thanks! I stop at Hobby Lobby as often as I can, maybe 2-3x a year. Otherwise I order on-line because I don’t live near Civilization, anymore.
The next largest town (about 4K) has a Super-Duper Walmart and once in a while I find good prices there (I use Red Heart for shelter pet blankets) but they’re so TERRIBLE about re-stocking, it’s ridiculous. I’ll have to ask around and see if there are any plans for a stand alone Yarn Shop. They just got a Dollar Tree, so the sky’s the limit now, LOL!
I have fun with the rolled yarns (Ferris Wheel or ‘Cakes’ something, etc.) for scarves and such.
I have a Gift Card to Wisconsin Craft Mart, so I have $25 of FREE money to play with. Will look for some of your recommendations on-line to use that. :)
I’m writing down your suggestions and will check them out. I found AC Moore on-line! Yay! :)
I have to deal with them today before I can get back to ‘fiber arts’.
That sounds like me and all of my winter squash, LOL!
I got enough red ones done for 2 batches of Jalapeno Pepper Jelly. I do everything through reducing them to bits in the food processor with 1 cup of vinegar, then put each batch in a quart jar & store in the fridge - gives me up to a week or so to get to the part where I need to drag out all my canning equipment.
That leaves the green & partially red peppers ... I don’t think I have enough for jalapeno relish, but maybe I’ll start chopping & see what happens.
At least I’ve done enough that I can return to fiber arts this evening without feeling too guilty! :-)
So I finished it last night and tried it on. I had messed with the pattern stitches which (unintentionally) bulked it up a bit, alternating HDC with DC rows. The pattern is all DC and I'm not crazy about the “columnar” (for lack of a better word) look of solid DC. I also started with Foundation Double Crochet (FDC) rather than a simple chain. After it was finished, I decided I wanted something a little more 'drapey' & slightly roomier, so I was going to frog it back & try another stitch combo & add a few stitches to my original starting FDCs. This wrap worked up so fast that frogging it back didn't seem like a big deal.
Then my mom tried the wrap on and fell in love with it. Next thing I knew, she had her $$ out to pay for the yarn, if I'd let her keep it – a “bribe” of the best sort! So that's what happened …. she is already snuggling up with it and planning what colors/outfits will coordinate (very versatile color).
As for me, I'm a happy camper – no frogging AND I get to buy more yarn & try another one! I did come up with a last row border I like a lot (single crochet prior row, last row is sc in back loop & back bump in the stitch of the previous row - makes an attractive, neat, flat border.
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