The best of gifts

 

I am so blessed to have people in my life who know what I love

 

 Thank you Kath for the wonderful heart pattern kit. come with everything needed to make them...buttons and all... even a bag to carry the supplies in while making them :D

 Thank you Sabine a full bag of different yarns... I'm having fun just looking at them... for now ;)

and Mom the bamboo/silk is such a dream to work with thank you again :D

Granny square find

One of our very favorite things to do as a family to celebrate is thrift store shopping :D

So for son and hubby's back to back b-days we did just that..

Everyone found something they love.. hubby got music cd's and movies... one son got nice boots and pants...one got a nice shirt ( he also got a dozen or more seeds packs from the dollar store at 4 for a buck )

I was the one who hit the jack pot 2 pair of leather boots, 2 new pair of boot style slippers, 4 heavy duty dinner plates, a new pair of fleece leggings ( great under skirts in cold weather ) and these..  

a whole bag of granny squares...155 of them, in 3 shades of green.. less than $3.

 

 I love granny squares...

they had to come home with me...

all of the work that had to have gone into making these couldn't be for naught...

for whatever reason they found their way to a thrift store they will not be a wasted effort 

 

I am making some of the same size in different colors with my "left over" yarn that is too long for my ever growing ball of end pieces

I save every piece of yarn over an inch long after weaving in the tails...

I made a wrap with the last ball... haven't decided what this one will be yet.. I do love wraps though <3 p="">

 

I'm think I'll make the granny squares into a colorful small afghan.. to go with the larger square one I'm making  

Granny square crochet wrist warmers

One of the things I've always loved about crochet ( and a big reason why I wanted to learn ) is the wonderful granny square 

My love of granny squares goes back to my grandma ..fitting right ;)... all the wonderful gifts and house hold items she made with them... from the beloved bag she made me in grade school to the warm afghans I'd wrap up in to listen to the radio on winter nights at their small farm.. one was always on the back of grandpa's rocking chair... grandma would be working on one of her crafts sitting in her rocker, letting me work with her never once telling me I wasn't doing it "right" I was free to do it any way my heart desired..at the time I would always pick sewing as the craft I wanted to work on... she put my first sewing kit together for me when I was 3, everything I needed tucked away in a small metal band aid box ( I've always had a love for metal boxes, tins, cookie containers...)

 

The very first thing I made in crochet was a granny square..

I'm working on a afghan of my own now..

last night after finishing up a pair of warmers a friend was kind enough to set up a few special orders for... I had just a bit of the teal color I was using... so granny square it was going to be...

    

 As I was working I was thinking how cold my hands were...the weather being much colder then I like it... so should I go get a pair from the other end of the house... getting colder on the way ( I also keep a wrap/afghan on the back of my rocking chair where I do my crafting ).. or just make another square and turn them into a pair without ever having to leave my warm cocoon... the yarn wasn't quite enough to make them the right size, as luck would have I had a bag of yarn right next to me.. the color worked nicely with the other, being the same weight and brand didn't hurt any.. to bring the squares to the 6 inches I wanted :D after adding double chochet stitches along the top and bottom of one side with a few single stitches in the middle for the thumb opening...think hour glass shape..

I just folded them and slip stitched them closed along the double stitches on top until I got to the thumb opening.. adding single stitches along the other edge I hadn't worked before to get to the second set of double stitches closing them with slip stitches as well.... warmers without every leaving the rocking chair lol
 

Right twist panel fingerless gloves

  

Size 10 US dpns needles
Both gloves made the same
Gauge 4 stitches by 5 rows per inch in stockinette
75 yards of worsted weight yarn approximately

k = knit
kf/b = knit into the front and back of the next stitch
k2tog = knit 2 stitches together
p = purl
rt = knit 2 stitches together leaving on left needle, going between those stitches, knit first stitch again
( )x = repeat directions inside brackets as many times as indicated


on Ravelry