Warm feet.....

This was a fun project to keep our feet warm in the mornings. I bought a chunky variegated yarn from the grocery store Lidl and made a simple long rug to use by the kitchen sink. It is thick and warm and soft under your feet. Just in case you would love to have this rug...here is the pattern I made up as I went along...

Crochet Kitchen Rug
yarn - chunky 600g/516m
hook - 8mm

Chain 100. Turn, ch 1, *dc in next st, sc in next st*. Repeat *  * to end of the row ending with a dc. Turn, ch 1 and repeat *  * for 31 rows total.

To edge the rug, ch2 in the last corner. Sc along each side with 2 sc in same st. in each of the four corners.

Heidi

A reading yarn.....

Wednesday has rolled around again already. I had a productive week. Still trying to fight off this infection in my ribcage so lots of crocheting and reading going on here.

I was talking to my mother and she told me that my little namesake (who is not so little anymore as a mother of two sweet little girls and herself in her 30s...when did that happen?) wanted a cowl after she saw Saskia's. So I decided to make her a fancier one as a RAK gift. She lives in Arizona but wants to have it to wear at work where the A/C is on very high. I made her this lacy cowl from Lion Brand. She does not have it yet as it is still sitting here on my lady in the living room. I need to get it packed up and sent on its way...

Row 8 is almost done now on my circle in a square granny blanket. I just have to add the last row on the blocks. I laid it out to see if I want to make 9 rows total or crochet more to get 11 rows. I am not sure yet.

I spent most of the day yesterday switching back and forth between crochet hook and my book. My rainbow shawl is growing but I will save that for another time. I am going to finish reading Chocolate Wishes by Trisha Ashley (what a great read!) this morning and pulled out The Vineyard as my next read. I am starting to think about gardening while looking out at the snow so wanted a book to take me outside so to speak.

I have another finish to share but I am going to save that for my next post along with the pattern I made up for it. Hope you can stop back for that.....

I am linking to Ginny's YarnALong today.

Heidi

New blocks for my potholder quilt

I finished the next two blocks for my potholder quilt. To see the first four blocks, just click here.

A block with a tomato pincushion which gives me a nostalgic feeling as I have one since I remember my mother's when she would sew all the time. I think they were required sewing accessory number one in the 1970s.

Here is a little tomato pincushion history for you from Wikipedia...
The most popular design;^{[citation needed]}; a tomato with a strawberry attached was^[1] most likely introduced during the Victorian Era. According to folklore, placing a tomato on the mantle of a new home guaranteed prosperity and repelled evil spirits. If tomatoes were out of season, families improvised by using a round ball of red fabric filled with sand or sawdust. The good-luck symbol also served a practical purpose—a place to store pins.^[2] Typically, the tomato is filled with wool roving to prevent rust, and the strawberry is filled with an abrasive to clean and sharpen the pins.

I also wanted to include a sewing machine but decided I needed to try drawing my new 'old' Singer who I named Florence. You can read about her here.

So it is back to the drawing board to decide on the next few blocks. I am cutting out some tiny patchwork pieces for one also today.

Note: Thank you for the get better wishes. My ribs are still painful but I can tell they are getting better. During the day it is not as bad as nights and mornings which must mean the infection is starting to clear up. At the beginning, I could only take shallow breaths but that is improving. So lots of time to sit and things with needle and thread...or yarn and hook as the case might also be.

Heidi

Variegated.....

I like the word variegated to describe life at the moment. *grins*  It is January and I am in project overload already. But being the new year and starting on my new GoodReads book challenge, I am also in reading overload. When I am too busy with my projects, listening to my Kindle audible book The Magic Little Christmas by Julia Williams fits the bill. Don't let the title fool you...it is not only a Christmas read. At times, I really need to hold a book and turn the pages which I am doing now reading Chocolate Wishes by Trisha Ashley. Fun to visit the village of Sticklepond (from her book A Winter's Tale) once again in this book.

My circle in a square grannies are coming along nicely. I have decided on making the blanket 7 squares wide so the first 5 rows are ready and row 6 is half done. I am also working on a new lacy cowl but more about that later.

During our week up at the cottage in September, I had purchased two balls of sock yarn having seen the beautiful shawls made from Noro sock yarn. Noro is very expensive but I found an alternative that was half the price and still had a long continuation of color in the variegation as with the Japanese yarn. I waited to start with this until the new year. I am loving the way it is turning out. It is fun to watch which colors come next. I had a few false starts with the hook size and pattern as I got it right for this yarn.

I will be needing it to keep me warm as winter has arrived here in Holland. We have cold temperatures and snow right now. Maybe having hung the lace coasters as snowballs in the window must have brought me luck since I love the snow. I am inside for the time being though watching the birds looking for crumbs in the snow and doing my handwork as I have an infection in the muscles of my rib cage. I am supposed to take it easy so it is the perfect excuse to read and crochet most of the day away.....

I am linking to Ginny's Yarn Along today.

Heidi

RAK January

I decided this year that I was going to start doing RAK (Random Acts of Kindness) gifts. There will be at least one a month. I thought it would be a positive way to go through my year by spreading some of the joy I get with my hobbies to others. And I get the best gift of all ... the gift of giving.

My first RAK gift is a cowl made of grey wool yarn for my quilting friend Saskia. She and I both have a pet that is of a certain age and each day is a gift with them. She walks her dog each weekend in the woods so I thought I needed to keep her warm as the February cold will be arriving soon. It turned out very soft and falls so nicely. I hope you will enjoy it Saskia and that is keeps you nice and warm.....

Heidi

New quilt group theme...potholder quilt

Last year, I was so charmed by the jubilee quilt that my blogging friend Tammy was making that I asked her to be an honorary member of my quilt group (fitting since she is a Dutch American) and share her quilt with us to use as our theme project for 2013. Tammy used her quilt to celebrate her 50th birthday. It is a wonderful project and she will be sharing it on her blog so keep checking.

She created pdf's for us along with the story of how her jubilee quilt came about. We started with our first meeting last week. I have made my first four blocks to use as samples for the quilt evening. I adapted a block to be able to use miniature patchwork block here and there.

My quilt is going to become a tablerunner which has a sewing theme. This will be for my table in the quilt studio. I am using a combination of sewing sayings (notice my old blog saying in there?), sewing redwork and a couple of patchwork blocks. I had to slip Dagi in there as my quilt tester. *grins* Enlarge the photos for a closer look.

These blocks are sewn, quilted and bound which is how they got the name potholder quilt. They are then whipstitched together. Even making 7 blocks creates a tabletopper. So the ladies are able to make their quilts as large as they want. The quilt is double-sided in a way as you have the redwork front and a scrap quilt look back when turned over.

Thanks Tammy.....I am loving this project as I know the others are too!

Heidi

New starts...yarn-a-long

A new year means new starts. Last year, I purchased my yarn ready for two fun crochet projects this year. Both are large so I will see what other crochet things will fit in with them. Jos took me up to Almere to the yarn shop Het Spoeltje for my coffee colored yarns from Bravo Schachenmayr. Hunter green and denim blue are added in for a little extra kick. I have been itching to get started on this.

I am using Teresa's tutorial for a circle in a square granny but adding extra rows. I will always end with the same color as it matches my couch which you can see in the photo. The edging will also be in this color.

I decided to join in with Ginny at SmallThings for her YarnALong this year. I love to read along with all my hobbies and she asks that we post a photo of our current yarn project along with our latest read. My book which I am finishing is The Brontes' Christmas. I will continue my holiday themed reading until January 6th (Three Kings Day). This book is a compilation of Christmas excerpts written by the three Bronte Sisters or pieces written by other authors of their day.

I am also going to start linking to Tami's WIP Wednesday as I am hoping this will help me to get moving on getting some projects done. I am going to start reporting a UFO for this each month with a goal for 2013 to accomplish 13 finishes which is one more than 2012.

Do you have some exciting new projects to start this month?

Heidi