Photo Friday

It's a long story, but here is the Carousel Capelet I made for Chickee. She didn't want the flower on it.  It's in Stitch Nation Yarn, Alpaca Love.  I'm not sure who designed it, the project page says Heather Dixon, but it also says Debbie Stoller, so maybe it was a joint effort. The is an adult "small" and you can see it fits Chickee well. In this same booklet (that is available as an e-book) you can also get my "Over the Rainbow Baby Blanket" stitched in Bamboo Ewe.

Driftwood Cap Gift

My Sister-in-law asked me to make a fall/winter hat for a friend who has cancer. Of course, I couldn't say no and I didn't have to look any further than the Driftwood Cap! The cap is available as a PDF download by clicking the link.  I used a lighter weight yarn, so I did have to adjust the pattern for the smaller yarn. I used Fiesta yarns Posh. I couldn't find it on their website to show you a link, odd.  It is a Merino/nylon/cashmere blend. Very pretty.  The color is Madrid. I added a *(sc, ch 2, sc), sk 1 st; edging around the brim.

School Accessories

I whipped up these two Water Bottle Cozies for the kids to take to school. While the weather is still warm, they are allowed to have water bottles at their desks as long as they have something on them to prevent drips.  It's too bad that the bottles themselves are such low quality that they don't seal well. These are made with scraps of Spud & Chloe Sweater. They are a cream color tinged by the early morning light before school. It's still dark in the mornings when we get up.  *yawn*

Happy International Crochet Day!  I am hearing about it on the internet, so it must be true. LOL  Everyday is a Happy Crochet Day here at my house. 

The SECOND half of the surprise...

Many of us got together to design 24 squares for Pam's Comfort Cable Blanket for designer Pam Gillette. When we found out that last fall that Pam was diagnosed with Breast Cancer, we knew we wanted to show support in some way.  What do knitters and crocheters do when they want to send love? They make a square :) A bunch of us (and I mean a BUNCH) made cable squares because cables are among Pam's favorite techniques.  We chose black, gray, and pink, because she enjoys those colors and pink in recognition of her journey. I showed you my square some time ago. KnitPicks donated the yarn (thank you!).  We sent Pam the finished blanket months ago. While she was surprised by the gift, we are thrilled to finally give her the second half of the gift.... We partnered with KnitPicks to bring you the 20 page pattern and send ALL the proceeds to Pam!  Here's the link to this incredible pattern for only $4.99.

The contributors are a few people who's names you might recognize (in no particular order):

Tracie Barrett, Angela Best, Gwen Blakley Kinsler, Vashti Braha, Bendy Carter, Robyn Chachula, Doris Chan, Drew Emborsky, Lisa Gentry, Amie Hirtes, Mary Jane Hall, Jill Hanratty, Tammy Hildebrand, Amy O’Neill Houck, Margaret Hubert, Kimberly Kotary, Marty Miller, Annie Modesitt, Diane Moyer, Kristin Omdahl, Dee Stanziano, Mary Beth Temple, Karen Ratto Whooley

Thanks also to tech editors KJ Hay, Susan Lowman and Annette Petavy who contributed their expertise to the project as well.

Special Olympics Scarf Project

THIS year. I'm going to do it.  I made a scarf a few years ago for the Special Olympics Winter games, but didn't get around to it last year.  THIS year I'm going to make it happen.  The Special Olympics and Red Heart have teamed up to make scarves for every athlete and coach.  This year's colors are: 

Red Heart Super Saver
387 Soft Navy and 319 Cherry Red

or

Red Heart Soft
4604 Navy  and 9925 Really Red

For all the information on deadlines, guidelines and free patterns:
Special Olympics site

Please enjoy this totally random photo of a Sea Lion from our vacation to Sea World, last year.
I love the look of the water.. blue and silver.

Zoom Tunisian Cardigan!

The Zoom Tunisian Baby Cardigan pattern is coming soon!
Here is the happy recipient of the original prototype.

She had a little bit of a rough start to life but seems to be on a good path now! I can't tell you how much I want one of these sweaters for myself!  This one is made of Universal Cotton Supreme (love it).
And it comes in many great colors, not just baby colors either, but some nice rich magentas and blues...

My Favorite Ornament...

I'll show you the back side of my favorite ornament...

You can see it says, "Ellen, 1976".  A crocheted pocket that used to have candy in it, crocheted for me, by my Mom when I was 4.  Show me or tell me about your favorite crocheted ornament!

Nanny's Blanket

Here's the blanket my Mom and I made when I was probably 13? 14? I'm not sure.  We took turns making squares from the scrap yarn in Mom's stash.  Mom put them together and edged the blanket.  We gave the finished blanket to my Grandmother.  Looking closely at the blanket, a few of the yarns have felted over time and washing.  I think this blanket is going to be a great source of color inspiration.  Each block is it's own color scheme... like a little study in color mixing. 

Thanksgiving Crochet

Our niece, Rachel, has been asking for a decorative beanie style hat.  She saw one in an American Doll Catalog and I was AMAZED that she correctly identified it as crochet and made the connection that crochet is what I DO, and asked!  She is 6.

I brought some yarn to Thanksgiving and let Rachel choose the color... I began the hat during appetizers and put it down for dinner...

After dinner and dishes, I worked on it more while the family played Apples to Apples and watched football...

And here is Rachel wearing her finished hat after dessert!  Overall, not bad for crocheting during a party.

Chickee's Lunch Bag

Chickee and Chief went back to school today. Chickee is carrying her new lunch bag. She chose the colors from Hobby Lobby's "I love this Cotton" yarn selection. We'll see how well it holds up. The handle is big enough that she can dangle it from her wrist as she carries her other school stuff! She didn't want a frilly edging or flower but suggested the curly'qs.

Don't forget about the Patina Tunisian Scarf CAL, it starts next Tuesday! Some of you have already begun! I like to see that kind of excitement. If you are joining us and you are on Ravelry, please make a project page for your project and post your progress. Feel free to comment on any of the CAL posts questions or comments. Check out yesterday's post for a quick 3 min or so Tunisian video tutorial.

Socks for me!

Look what Christine sent me! My first ever pair of handknit socks! And a pretty candle and a bottle of Euclan wool wash. Thank you so much Christine! These are going to become part of my have-to-get-major-crocheting-done ensemble along with my 'Crochet Rocks' t-shirt and shorts.

Don't you just love nice people?

Crochet for ME

I'm thinking of placing a few crochet projects for ME on my to-do list with a deadline and everything. How else am I ever going to get to make something that I get to keep? I need to put something on the list for Chickee too. She's outgrown most of everything I have ever made for her. She doesn't really wear sweaters except for the one Doris made. Maybe I could make her a little drawstring skirt. Wouldn't that be cute! Makes me want to go to my yarn stash... but I can't, I need to finish these two projects first that are due Monday.

TOMORROW there will be a sneak peek! FRIDAY, there might be another one...

Here's a photo of Sweets, you haven't seen her lately. She's been pretty quiet hanging out in her pig condo. She's only loud when you open the produce drawer in the refrigerator.

My wish list, rewards!

The book must be getting close to being turned in... all I can think about is how I can reward myself for turning in the manuscript. Of course there is still the photo shoot and the editing... turning it in doesn't mean that it is done :)

In no particular order:

knitted socks - purple-ish I don't have time to learn how to make socks and then to make them. Does anyone know how I can buy a ready made pair...maybe through Etsy? All I have been able to find in my quick search is patterns.

Double headed crochet hook key-chain from Knit Picks Love it! So cute. I'll have to find some other things to buy so that I can qualify for free shipping...

Namaste bag the Zuma in Peacock. (above) and the Hermosa in Eggplant. The only problem with a beautiful yarn bag is that you can't leave it in the car at any time, some thief might mistake it for a purse! Or, they'll recognize it for what it is (treasure!) and steal it...

I have a ton of books on my wishlist.... Hmm, sorry. I don't know how to make my wishlist public. I guess I'll have to type it out in another post.

Speaking of books, I have several knit and crochet books that I don't use, maybe I should do a Book Sale day!

Thanks all who attended 'live chat' with me on the 'GoCrochet with Ellen Gormley' group on Ravelry last night. It was fun!

Earrings, continued and Bad, bad yarn.

The most comments came in for this pair. Here they are getting a quick block. I wrote on Facebook yesterday that I discipline the cat with a water squirt bottle. I used the same squirt bottle to wet down these earrings to block them. I'm sure Charlie was thinking, "Wow, that yarn must have been really, really bad".

Oooh, Sparkly Crochet!

Every Wednesday night, the members of the free Ravelry group, 'GoCrochet with Ellen Gormley' do a live chat that can be found on the group home page. Anyway, last night I was telling them that Tom and I have a fancy party this weekend and I was making earrings. Above is the first set. All the earrings will be put on kidney wire that I've had to "borrow" from another set of rarely used earrings. The first set is just a simple medallion.

The second pair is a flower of sorts. Whoops, I missed an end.

The third set is a variation on a triangle.

The yarn is Plymouth "Gold Rush" thread and I used a "D" hook. The earrings are set against the red dress I'm planning on wearing. I'll have to try them all on before I decide which pair to wear.

Go To scarf

My Step-mom's friend asked for a scarf using Priemer yarns that she had chosen at the fabric store. It was a super-bulky weight, I forget what it's called... so I whipped up a Go-To scarf using an N hook. It took less than a day and it's crossed off my To-Do list! As you already know... the pattern is available for PDF download for $3.00 at my Ravelry Store. Also at my Ravelry store is the Riverstone Vest pattern that our Valentine's Day winner, April, chose as her prize!

Also, above, we got 7" snow yesterday and are predicted to get another 3" or so today. That's on top of the 8 or so we got last week. Above is a photo of the table on our deck. I can't recall having this much snow in probably 15 years or more. I seem to recall we had a huge amount one year when I was in college. Anyway, we have a record for snowfall in February, something like 20". I'm kind over it. The kids are home again today.

Congratulations to Anna, Matthew and baby Zoe! Zoe, for whom the "Zoe one-day dress" was designed for... was born on Friday to happy parents. They are all doing well. Unfortunately they had to travel home from the hospital in the middle of this near-blizzard situation. Best wishes to them! Hi Anna!

Chickee's New Scarf; Stitch Nation Yarn

This scarf might be my new Go-to scarf. I might start making these babies in gorgeous Stitch Nation Bamboo Ewe for early Christmas gifts for next year! Quick and easy and fun to make. I made this scarf for Chickee, 48" long and about 5.5" wide. Find this new yarn at www.Redheart.com

As you would expect from a yarn called "Bamboo Ewe" it is Bamboo and Wool.

Tomorrow, I will attempt to answer April's question:

Hi Ellen, this is not really about your post, but I have a question for you. How much figuring out do you do for a design before it is accepted for publishing? Do you complete a finished item first? Just a swatch? Schematics and/or charts? Just a sketch? Thanks in advance!

LAST CHANCE!!!

Don't forget about the opportunity to win great patterns and finished items on the Help Tammy website.

My dear friend and mentor, crochet designer Tammy Hildebrand needs relief. Hear her (and her family's) struggle with Chronic Lyme Disease. Make a donation and instantly be placed in a drawing to win all the fabulous prizes from designers like Kim Guzman, Drew Emborsky, Bendy Carter, Mary Jane Hall, Margaret Hubert, Doris Chan, Myra Wood, and many, many more.

The Drawings will be this Sunday, December 20, 2009.

Sunny Spread to Sand dollar

I finished the Sunny Spread in white, for my friend Susan's granddaughter. I think in honor of the white, it should be renamed the "Sand dollar blanket". The blanket was originally published in Jan/Feb 2008 Crochet Today. Several people have made the blanket, link here on Ravelry for the project pages. I can't help it, I just love this pattern. It's one of the best ones I have ever done. I love the simplicity and the texture. I feel like this blanket is definitive of my style.

Chickee Making Cookies

It's been baking central at our house! Chief got in on the action too, but here is Chickee making sugar cookies. We also made 2 kinds of chocolate cookies, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate covered Oreo's and chocolate covered marshmallows (are you noticing a theme here?) LOL. We also made several batches of banana bread...am I missing some? It's just fun. We send a big box assortment of everything... oh yeah! Buckeyes... that's what I was forgetting! Those of you not from the midwest may not recognize Buckeyes. You may know the dark brown (poisonous) nut from the Buckeye tree that is native to Ohio (hence the 'Buckeye state'). We make a candy that is peanut butter, butter, powered sugar, rolled into a ball and dipped in chocolate, leaving just the top peanut butter exposed so that it resembles the Buckeye nut. Think Reese' cup only more rich.

Anyway, we send a big boxed assortment of candies and cookies to Captain's work every year for him to share. The rest just gets sampled through the season.

Never fear, I crocheted a great deal over the weekend as well. A little of this, a little of that. I'm making a Sunny Spread blanket, in white, for a friend to give her granddaughter as a Christmas gift. Only one more square to go then I can start assembly. The Sunny Spread blankets is one of the most popular of my blanket designs and you can see it here, on my gallery page. It's more than halfway down, the yellow blanket on the white bed. All the photos on the gallery page you can click for more information and if it is available for PDF purchase.