Mile a Minute Afghan?

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Trying to replicate this afghan for someone, but don't have a pattern. Anyone know what this is called or have some similar pattern? I think I remember this being called "Mile a Minute" in the 90's.

Picture on left shows the round ends (there's 15 trb crochet on the ends), but the middle where it I guess is sown together looks knit ??? The middle looks like it's two sets of 3 dc like mini shells.

Thanks for any help!

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More Melody Pics

Melody Pictures Dorset Merino Mix DURING and AFTER Wash

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Prewash pics. Ready for first soak:

After first hot water (plain) soak:

After second hot water (plain) soak:

During the first Dawn soak out of lingerie bag and floating in the hot, soapy water:

All done! Is it felted? I don't know. Here's pics of the fleece after 3 hot water soaks, 3 Dawn soaks, 1 vinegar soak, and 1 conditioner soak (I know, too much, but that's how it worked out):

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Melody Pictures Dorset Merino Mix Fleece

This is Melody. She is a Dorset / Merino Mix.

I don't know what to call this side, so I just called it "bottom" and then later I'll take pics of the other side and call it "top." I've numbered the areas so they are seen better up close.

#1 with the star is at the top
#2 with the circle is the right side
#3 with the cross is the bottom
#4 with the diamond is the left side.

Alright wool people. I need your help figuring out what is good and what is trash.

Full fleece:



Upper portion, #1:



Right side, #2:



Bottom portion, #3:




Left side, #4:

Up close, left side near #3:

Up close left side near #3 toward the bottom:

Up close left side #3 with crimping?

Up close up top #4

Up close right side, #2:

Up close right side, #2:

Spiderman Afghan

Ta-da!

(yes, I had to look up how to spell ta-da!)

It's the SpideyGhan! Made if for our grandson, Zach:

Pictures are fuzzy. Remember I'm "camera-challenged." Here's a closeup shot of the spider I crocheted and the edging:

Zach is turning 4 and I hope he enjoys it. Let me say, if I ever make this afghan again, I will have some trouble with that little spider. I hand stitched every leg, the head, and butt all around and it took me like 2 or so hours just to do that alone! I sure wish the pictures didn't come out so fuzzy. It's quite the detailed little bugger.

I'd like to make some of these to sell in my Etsy Store. Not sure if I could handle sewing on that little spider again, but if someone begged and pleaded and handed over a $100 bill, I just might do it! Okay, okay, so please, give me some feedback about whether you think these might sell okay? Yeah, that means you must leave a comment on my blog! YES, YOU! Now, get to commenting.

To order handcrafted crocheted items from my Etsy store, visit http://www.Hesed.Etsy.com or click HERE
You can also email me at YarnDesigns@gmail.com

Teaching Crochet to Neighbors

Teaching Crochet to Neighbors

I'm quite behind in my crochet blogging. We recently moved to Missouri from Ohio in April and I've been very (very!) sick with the hypoadrenia, hypoglycemia, thyroid, and of course, the benzodiazepine issues for the past few months, unable to do anything but wait for my body to start working right. Makes for a lot of time crocheting though and also good time in the Word of God. Look a this gem I found that has been sustaining me lately:

"The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all." - Psalm 34:18,19

Ahhhh! And then one day:

"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." - Revelation 21:4

Nice, huh?

So, just before Roger and I moved to Missouri, I was able to invite some neighbors to come by so I could teach them to crochet. That was fun! Both of the ladies are single moms. I can relate to their trials in life as I was a single mom for so long. I wanted to offer a day of learning the art of crochet. Carol is below learning how to do a seed stitch:

She already had some basic skills down, but the other neighbor, Carla, didn't know what crochet was, much less how to hold a crochet hook! This was quite a challenge for me.

My plan was to teach them how to make a simple dishcloth using a seed stitch like below:

Simple? Did I say simple? There were quite a few things to learn in one day:

1. How to hold a crochet hook,
2. How to hold the yarn,
3. Learning consistent tension while holding the hook and yarn (!),
4. How to make a chain, single crochet stitch, and double crochet stitch all while figuring out where to put that hook into the next stitch - where is that next stitch anyhow?!
5. Turning your work without losing your mind,
6. And finally how to sew in the tails which of course requires a new tool.

YIKES!

Yes, we laughed a lot as we all learned. Carla learned how to hold the hook; I learned how to be patient while we worked on how to make a chain. Oh my!

For our crochet gathering, I had bought some cotton yarn for both Carol and Carla, gave them a print out of my pattern, and off we went. You can see them below working hard on their dishcloths. Carol on left, Carla on right (sorry for the pictures being so dark; put a crochet hook in my hand and I'm fine, but put a camera in my hands and I'm a mess!):

I'm so grateful to my grandmother (Grandma Gum - long story!) who taught me very early on how to do some basic crocheting. I believe the Lord gave me a talent like this not just to sell crocheted pieces and not just to give gifts to friends, but to teach it to others. My grandmother did that for me many years ago.

Here's Carla below who had never held a crochet hook before. She was pretty excited to learn how to make her own dishcloth. She's wearing a slouchy hat I made for her:

Carol did it! She finished her dishcloth in red and was able to take it home with her that day. It was an awesome day!

I've decided to open up my Etsy Store again since I was able to get so many things crocheted lately. Some of the dishcloths I've made are below and can be ordered through my Etsy store or by emailing me if they aren't in the store yet.

To order handcrafted crocheted items from my Etsy store, visit http://www.Hesed.Etsy.com or click HERE

You can also email me at YarnDesigns@gmail.com

Josais' Afghan

Josias' Afghan

FINALLY! I'm done with baby Josias' afghan. Like John Piper says, I will never, never, never, never, never, never, never do one of these again! Alright, his "nevers" were much more interesting, but that's all I have! When I say "never," that can actually be translated into: "I can be bribed to do one of these again for $100.00," Haha!

I would do it again, but not without complaining. It was super detailed with little itsy bitsy yarn with tiny little crochet hooks. I'm surprised my sanity is still intact (well, that's still questionable). Anyway, I made this for my good friend Angela Williams' baby. The deal is that if she ever complains about her crocheting skills, she has to box this baby up and mail it back (got that Angie?). So here's how the afghan evolved:

Slow and steady.... one little block at a time:

I did this many times over and voila, like magic (read: many hours!), there's a lot of squares:

So, now since I didn't use a chart already drawn up for me, I had to come up with my own plan of attack on how this thing will come out:

Lookin' good, right? Yeah, so now, how do you put this thing together to make a baby warm? You concentrate hard, silly!




And then smiles come when it starts to look like a real afghan:



LOOK! It looks like something (kinda):

Uh-oh, I forgot I have to figure out a way to do edging. Never did a pretty edging on an afghan, only a basic looking thing, so I came up with this:

Well that looked a little funky with the seperation between the fans, so I added another round with white:

THAT made the difference:

And finally... ready? Here it is...

JOSIAS WILLIAMS' BABY AFGHAN:

(alright I messed up; I forgot to take a picture of the entire afghan with the border... ugh!)

Measurements of the afghan: Squares: 5.5” Finished afghan without edging: 24” x 28.25” Finished afghan with edging: 26.75” x 31.5”

I used a pattern from Ravelry called "Butterfly Square" but did not do the full square, making the "butterflies" less in the square. I used Bernat Softee Baby Yarn, using an "F" and "G" hook depending on which yarn I was using (I found one color to be slightly lighter than the other). I made 30 squares and each square took about 30 - 45 minutes to complete (you do the math!) and attached the squares by slip stitching each stitch on the back (this thing WILL hold together now!). The edging is a basic shell but I had to improvise, making a much larger shell around the initial blue one.

To order handcrafted crocheted items from my
Etsy store, visit http://www.Hesed.Etsy.com or click HERE
You can also email me at YarnDesigns@gmail.com

Some funny guys with their "never, never, never" version of John Piper is HERE

Alright, here's some real Piper on:
1. Dads and Daughters,
2. What You Should Do with Evil
3. Don't Want to Be Rich

Brown Felted 1920's Cloche

Brown Felted 1920's Cloche

Panda's Wooldbale 100% Pure New Wool in Cocoa (4 oz.)

Pattern was almost 2x the size of the finished felt project

Measurements: Fits 20" to 22" head, Crown to Brim: 8.25"

Here is the cloche in progress. The picture on the right is about 2/3 done.

The unfelted process is done. I crocheted my heart out to get this thing done! You can see how very large it is prior to felting. The picture on the left is the full size:

And voila! A felted cloche in 100% wool:

To order handcrafted crocheted items from my
Etsy store, visit http://www.Hesed.Etsy.com or click HERE
You can also email me at YarnDesigns@gmail.com

Proverbs passage for the day:

"Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you: reprove a wise man, and he will love you." - Proverbs 9:8

Little Red Beret

Red Beret - Adult Size

Made with Caron Simply Soft Autumn Red

Measurement: 21" circumference (will fit 20" to 22"), Crown to rim: 7.25" and Top from one corner to opposite side: 10"

It's not very slouchy, but will if pulled back a bit as you can see in the pictures.

To order handcrafted crocheted items from my

Etsy store, visit http://www.Hesed.Etsy.com or click HERE

You can also email me at YarnDesigns@gmail.com