Monday, May 23, 2011

Getting Ahead of the Game

This fall (I don't have the exact dates) will be the eighth annual "60 Scarves in 60 Days" challenge. Last year (2010) it started in September. The point of the challenge is to knit or crochet 60 scarves and donate them to the local charity of your choice. No postage or distance hauling required. Any color, any pattern will do.

Now maybe this is cheating, but maybe we can save some people from getting carpal tunnel or crocheter's elbow. Summer is a good time to work on smaller projects. Scarves make easy carry-along items. And you could be working toward a worthwhile goal. Maybe we could call this version "60 Scarves by November".

Are you inclined to send your work out of town? Here are some ideas:
Knits from the Heart by Kristin Spurkland includes a list of charities that accept donations.
http://bevscountrycottager.com/charity-links.html has links to charities on more than one continent. Another way to locate a charity after your own heart is to put your favorite charity into a search engine and see what comes up. It would be wise to find out if that charity still needs donations, if it is still in operation, or if there are complaints against it.

Happy crafting,

Kathi

Crochet in Warmer Weather

Lion Brand Yarn gave us permission to copy their pictures into our blog.  I'm thankful because pictures add so much. 

It's warming up nicely (finally), so I'm looking for crochet ideas that won't make me sweat as I'm working on them.  One possibilty is to make a few baby items.  Well - maybe the fact that I have a couple of pregnant friends might have something to do with it.

Anyway, these pictures put me in mind of some very young people who would enjoy them.  I hope they trigger your imagination too.

Happy crafting

Kathi
  

Monday, May 2, 2011

Knit and Crocheted Rugs

It's May and I was under the impression that it should be warming up some.  Instead, when my feet hit the floor this morning, they got chilly quickly.  So I'm think about rugs of some sort.  Just a little something to keep my tootsies warm. 

I checked out http://www.crochetpatterncentral.com/directory/rugs.php  and found 89 crocheted rug patterns.

The sister site http://www.knittingpatterncentral.com/directory/rugs.php had 25 knitted rug patterns.

Ravelry.com is another huge website for several kinds of crafts. You have to sign up to get a screen name and password, but then have access to patterns, ideas, community chat, etc.  When I went to http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/  and put "rugs" into the search bar, I found 20 pages of patterns.  I loved some of the crocheted "quilt rugs".  The piecework was beautiful.

The Lion Brand yarn website has 9 knit patterns and 7 for crocheted rugs including this spiral one which rather intrigues me.  If I were to make this rug, I might extend the last taper a little more to smooth out the edge.  If you wish to look at this pattern, it is called "Shaker-Inspired Rug".
Image of Shaker-Inspired <font color=red>Rug</font>

Happy crafting,

Kathi