It took me longer to get the pictures taken than I expected but here is a picture of my teal matinee jacket.


And this is a closeup of part of the bottom trim that I added.

The color doesn't show up accurately; it really is a true teal in real life. It looks more blue in the pictures than it is.

I also finished a small blue varigated basket like the larger one that I had made. I did it just like the large one except I didn't do as many rounds for the bottom. Here is a pic of it.

Yesterday we went to Mel and Linda's where she was cooking a birthday dinner for me since we didn't get to see them last weekend. It was great! She makes the best hamburgers! (And I'm not just saying this because she reads my blog!) Supper was great, I really liked my gifts, and we had a good time. We watched two movies--Space Buddies and Open Season 2--and they were very enjoyable. The guys watched another movie that Linda and I didn't care to see. We went to the computer and I showed her some crochet instruction sites so she can learn some more stitches. She is doing great so far and what she is doing is looking good! Then we just talked and visited.

Work had calmed down a little bit by Friday afternoon. I certainly hope this week is calmer than it has been. I'm ready for a break!

I bought more yarn over the weekend. I got enough Homespun in Barrington color to make the Lion Brand Day to Night Poncho all in the day version and enough Homespun in Cobalt to make the Vintage Tie Jacket also from Lion Brand. Think I'll do the poncho first.

Oh, Maurice decided he would like his VVS afghan to be a little wider--6 or so inches--so I have been adding on to it, too. Since I did not put any kind of border around it, it is no problem to make it wider. Have added about 4 more inches to it so far.

I did get the basket finished yesterday afternoon and as promised, here is a picture (or two). I really liked the way the colors pooled into an arrow design around the outside. I wasn't sure whether I would like the basket or not and almost gave up and frogged it a couple of times while working on it. I am glad now that I kept on with it. I am even thinking about making another one with the same pattern except making it about half the size.

I think I have also decided on the first sweater/jacket pattern I want to make. Am going to try swatching today and see if I can get the proper gauge. The pattern calls for Homespun yarn and I want to use ILTY. If ILTY won't work up right, I may have top break down and try the Homespun again. I love how soft and cuddly this yarn is, but just don't like working with it with how the ends want to fray and I have a hard time hiding the tails and keeping them hidden. But we shall see.



I don't have any advance appointments at work today but you neve know how many might walk in. Or how many may have called this morning for appointments later this afternoon.

Gotta gather some hooks and extra yarn to take with me to swatch and also the cotton yarn if I decide to make another bowl and if I'm not busy at work.

Still didn't get my patterns or yarn that I ordered. Maybe today..........

All Shawl is finished!

I just finished the last row of the All Shawl about an hour ago. I used the LionBrand Ruffle Scarf pattern for the ruffle and added one more row to it. It took almost 2 skeins of yarn for the ruffle alone so that makes 5 skeins for the total shawl. I didn't realize how much weight the ruffle would add to the whole thing. It feels heavy. Hope the weight of the ruffle doesn't stretch out the rest of the shawl too much. Here is a picture of what it looks like:

I also tried something new to me on this shawl--I used the Russian Join method of adding a new skein of yarn. That is fabulous! If you haven't tried this before, here is one link for how to do it. http://www.geocities.com/mama_bear_007/Russian_Join.html Aside from the fact that one or two stitches are just a little heavier than the others, you can not see it at all. And after you do the next row, it is really hard to find them!

And here is a picture of one of the fingerless mittens I made. Kinda hard to take a picture showing both of them!

Today I think I will work on something small like a basket or shopping bag. My new yarn hasn't come yet and I don't want to start another large project yet. I do have the yarn for a poncho but I don't think I want to start that right now.

Second VVS is Finished!

I finished the 2nd VVS just a few minutes ago! Here is a fairly close up picture of the finished product. It is 150 stitches long by 90 rows wide and uses 12 different colors of ILTY. It is just the right size for me.







Today I'm planning to make--or at least start--a scarf out of yarn my 2 year old great nephew picked out for me for Christmas. It is Vanna's Choice Purple Mist Print. Even at his age, he knows my favorite color (his mother took him to the store and showed him what kind of yarn I liked and then let him pick the color)! I plan on just doing something simple because I feel fancy stitches would be lost in this print. I still have some time before I need to leave for work today since I don't have to be there until 12:30 so I think I'll go work on the scarf.

Some more photos

First here is a progress pic of my second VVS. This is after 30 rows.



These are 2 pics of my "All Shawl" from a pattern by Doris Chan. I finished this at the end of the year but forgot to take any pictures until today.

And finally here is a pic of my purple round ripple afghan. This was also finished just before the end of the year.

Pic of Complete VVS

Here is a picture of Maurice under his finished VVS. He thought he would be cute and cover his head. Little did he know that I had planned on cropping it out anyway!

And here is a bit of a close up of it.

I did not put any kind of a border on it. I just wove all the ends in and left it as is. That way, I can add more width to it later if we decide it needs it.

Some Pics of Finished Projects

I decided to take a break from crocheting and add some pictures of some of my finished projects here. Hope you enjoy looking.

These are some of the dishcloths I made and how I put them in a small bowl/basket.

This is the Irish Chain saltine afghan I made for my niece Lori for Christmas

This is the red, white, and blue saltine afghan I made for my sister Mary Lou for Christmas.

This is the Spiderman Round Ripple I made for my great-nephew Jackson for Christmas.

This is one of the ponchos I made for my great-niece Kaitlyn for Christmas.

And this is the other one I made her.

This is the afghan I made for our friends Jim and Noelle.

This is the Round Ripple I made for Mama for Christmas to use as a table cover for her Christmas tree.

This is the Ripple afghan I made for Maurice with him using it. (He doesn't even know I took this picture!)

These are just 2 of the Angel Wing shawls I made.

This is the yellow and white gingham 'saltine' afghan I made for Mama for her birthday this past July.








This is the very first 'saltine' afghan I made.

It is the Around the World pattern and was made for me.

Thanks for looking!

No pic today

I didn't take another picture of the VVS today. I'll take another one when it is finished. I'm hoping to get it finished later today or tonight if all goes well. Only have about 8 or 10 rows to go I think.

I've been thinking back about what all I crocheted in 2008 and decided to make a list. Here is what I can remember right now:

6 angel wings shawls
2 other shawls that I can't remember the names of
1 All Shawl
4 "saltine" (2-round granny square) afghans
1 ripple afghan
3 round ripples
24 dishcloths (at least)
8 coasters
2 ponchos
1 toboggan
3 small bowls/baskets
1 larger bowl/basket

Whew! That's a bunch and I didn't even start crocheting until summer! And there is probably more that I don't remember. Plus that is not counting the ones that I started and frogged because I decided I didn't like the patterns.

I'll have to see if I can add pics here of some of these later.

I actually got some cleaning done yesterday! It was definitely needed! And I'm feeling it today. If I do much at all, the next day I am hurting; I have lumbar stinosis so I am in pain right often but I'm managing it.

It is cold and rainy here today so I have a big pot of vegetable soup in the crock pot. I love soups!

That's enough for now. Gotta go pay bills. And then work on the VVS.