Book, No Hook,,, until---

I finally got a job, back in January, around the 10th. So, I decided to read, during my breaks. I chose my first book, and read, and read, and read, continuing through all of the series. I could not set the book down, during my free time, what little I have, while home. I finished that set of 5 books, then hungered for more. As I was on the last book, I dug out another set, then continued reading those. Both series were based on or around Merlin. I happily ate it all up, reading furiously, until I read the last book of the second set. I then immediately bought more books, a bit disappointed, because I could find nothing I was hungering for, but needed reading material for during my work breaks.
   My reading had drastically slowed down, with this first new book. I find it uninteresting, and boring, yet I still read it during my work breaks.
  You may be wondering, "Why do you still read it then, if it is uninteresting?" Well, it may be uninteresting, but it has saved my hooks!! YAY! I now read at work, and hook at home! I went through my queued list on Ravelry, and hooked 6 projects for my projects page, so I could find the patterns easily when I am ready to start them. On the 26th of this month, I picked my hook up, and started on this, Crocheted Wrought Iron Wall Plaques.  I just finished crocheting the first trivet, today, but still need to find something to pin and block it on. I am using Aunt Lydia's thread, in size 3, black. I am not a fan of working with black threads or yarns, but I wanted these in black, and I am glad I chose to do so. Lots of sewing on the first trivet, and I am NOT the seamstress, so the black should help cover the crap nicely. LOL, they will be hanging on my kitchen wall, and my sewing should barely be noticed. WOOT!
The thread that this pattern had originally called for had been discontinued, so I bought size 10, and size 3 threads. I started out with the size 10, but the thread would not cover the rings good at all with the number of stitches called for in the pattern. So, when I went to size 3, it worked wonderfully, YAY!
Besides the trivet hangings, I had also hooked a Picasso potholder, and 4 different shawl/wraps. I know that Spring will be here soon, but I still want the shawls, just to keep my hooks warm! Maybe later on, I will look for a thread table cloth pattern. I had already been searching, but found nothing that called to my fancy. Heck, I may even design one, depends on my mood I suppose.
That reminds me. This morning, I looked closely at a snowflake, and it immediately inspired me to create one of my own. I know how I want it to look, just not sure yet if I want to do it with thread, or yarn, maybe both. The way I had envisioned it, it would probably work with either.

Oh, about the books. The first set was based in the King Arthur/Merlin legends, about Merlin's daughters. How fun! The second set was about Merlin's descendants. I just LOVE them! This latest book is Born of Silence, by Sherrilynn Kenyon.

Future Herd

This small pile of yarn will be a future herd of Pocketphants, hopefully soon. I still want to get some safety eyes, before beginning the project.
   As for the blankie, I am still working on it, but slower, now that I finally have a job. That is why the absence, in these past several days, of my postings. I was moving right along! So, now the weekends will be used for most of my crocheting. I don't have much time at all, during my breaks, at work, to crochet. So, I just take a book, and read, while stuffing my face.

   I am still looking for a few pattern testers, for a crocheted bookmark. I really don't want to release an untested pattern, I have had the pdf file ready for a week now, and only had gotten 1 tester, so far. I found a testing group on Ravelry, and posted in it, this morning, looking for testers. Still, no one has bitten. I was hoping to have it tested, and ready, in a matter of days after having the file complete. But, alas, it seems that will not happen anytime soon.

 Until my next post,

   Blessed Be!

Pieces

LOL, what a title. I am not good at coming up with catchy titles, plus, I rarely feel the need. I am not trying to impress, or gain readers, yet. (One never knows)

   I got a few pics, last night, of the other blankie I mentioned, in yesterday's post, a bee keeper's quilt, my version. I had originally seen this idea on Ravelry, and it was knitted. I instantly fell in love with the way this quilt looked, so I made my own crocheted version. I have a feeling that I am not  the first to try mimicking this knitted beauty.The idea is to make LOTS and lots of hexagonal puffs, then tie them together at the corners. A lot of work, yes! BUT, this will definitely be worth the effort, in the end. here is what I have so far, it's not much, but I have several W.I.P.'s going on at once.

I am using size 3 cotton, with a "D" hook. I have 2 balls each ob about 13 colors, when I get one ball of each color empty, I will begin tying them together. Oh, the white multi there, is originally just white. I felt like making my own unique color pattern, so I did this,

I color in no particular pattern, just so I get colors on there is all I am after. I am making my puffs with a ch-9, then 8sc. I immediately increase, every other row, by 2 stitches, until I get to 16, then decrease back down to 8. I have only one row of 16 sc's.

   This project reminds me of the miter square blanket that I was working on, in Italy, using sock yarn. I loved that blankie. Alas, it had to be left behind.

I try to do 2 to 3 puffs, after completing one square in my other blankie, but that has not happened today. I DID complete one square in the blankie, then I stopped, to work on that pdf file I had mentioned yesterday. I finally got it finished, yay! Thank you, Velody Dark, for the pdf info! I am definitely going to hold on to that!

   So, now that I finally have this new pattern ready to be tested, I am in need of a few testers. This is an easy pattern, so don't worry about having to do acrobatic stitches. if you are interested, please contact me via Facebook.

Blessed Be!