Filigree Bowl--Cotton Thread Doubled

If you're like me and always wanted to make one of those crocheted doily bowls, this pattern is for you. It's the "Filigree Bowl" from the Coats and Clark website (coatsandclark.com). It's meant to be made with a little heavier thread, and I was able to double up on the #10 bedspread cotton from my stash. Using an F hook, it took an evening to make. The hardest thing, actually, was finding a bowl of the right size to use as a mold. You stiffen the crocheted fabric with sugar water or commercial stiffener and shape it over a bowl covered with plastic wrap. A few days later: voila! A fruit bowl. It really sets up as hard as glass. Very magical.

One of the girls is getting this for Christmas.

Mitre Square Blanket

There's a thrift shop run by a small Lutheran church in my town, and it always has several bins of very small balls of yarn, which sell for a nickle each. A nickle! Obviously, I couldn't resist diving in. My plan is to make a large blanket of mitred squares, using mostly many, many tones of blue, but with an occasional red square just to perk it up a bit. I bought all the blues they had in the bins the day I visited, and added them to the several blue worsted weights in my stash.

The blanket is slow going, though. Each square is made up of two different colors, and, since the squares are about six inches square, the final blanket design will probably run to more than 200 squares.

The good thing, of course, is that with mitred squares there is no sewing together at the end. I'm trying to tuck in the ends after every two or three squares, just to keep that chore under control.

Below is a very dark snap of the blanket-in-progress. It's about 30 squares in size now, and will probably be done in a year or so, since it's already too large to carry around in a knitting bag.

I have no idea where all those tiny balls of yarn come from, but assume there is some sort of group at the church that makes charity goods and rolls up the ends of yarn left after a project is complete.

They also sell magazines for a quarter there, and I've bought quite a few knitting and crochet magazines there, so it's a fun place to visit when I manage to get there during their short hours.

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Reading note: I just finished The Friday Night Knitting Club, and really enjoyed it until the very sad ending had me in tears. I think the ending is a mistake, actually, as it overshadowed everything that had come before. But that's me. Don't let me put off anyone from reading it. It's good.

Hugs!

MRI Potholders

Ricardo had to have some lengthy tests at the hospital, and I wanted to sit with him. So, I needed a project small enough to fit into my sweatshirt pocket. The night before the tests, I rolled some cotton into small balls, stuck a size G plastic crochet hook through one, and stashed them away in my pocket.

These potholders were the result. During the morning hours I made the lacy tops out of some scraps of blue and pink. During lunch and the afternoon session I crocheted solid backs. That night, while we watched TV, I crocheted them together and did the fancy business along the edge. I got four done--three square and one round. Two are already grubby.

I'm Back!!

Hello Again, and Best Wishes to Everyone! I quit blogging some months ago, because I more or less fell into a big stash of yarn and wasn't sure how to deal with it under my $20 plan. Also, my hubby wasn't doing well healthwise, and there was just too much to deal with.

But I missed blogging. Barbara (from I'm Crocheting to Keep From Smoking) and I have been working on a charity project---more of this later---and she urged me to get back to the blog. So here I am, and I have lots of projects to share.

Sally