The Love Boat of Knitting

There are certain things that when you see them you think to yourself, "What could be better than that". Chocolate and strawberries, a day off work and a spa gift certificate, a husband in the dog-house on the same day Zales is having a huge sale - you get the point. Well, now imagine this - Knitting while on a cruise! Does it get any better than that? Although a veteran cruiser, I have never joined a theme cruise. I've thought about them. Even pitched the trivia and baseball themed cruises to the hubs. But we've never quite managed to pull it off. And while I doubt we'll set sail this year, it's fun to think about a ship full of crafty souls and a yarn store in every port!

If you're interested in crafty cruises check out http://www.craftcruises.com/ There is a small but nice selection including an upcoming Bermuda and Alaska sailing as well as a Canada and New England. I have to say I'm intrigued.

Yarn Bombing and other Events June 11, 2011

by Kelly

To celebrate the first International Yarn Bombing Day, certain Michaels stores are having a knit-a-long. Check out the post on CraftGossip here . If you're in Dallas, Chicago, Burbank or Toronto, stop by, check out some of the work of your local yarn bombers, and maybe help knit a blanket for charity. Oh, and don't forget this coupon, in case you need something from the store.


In Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, they're celebrating World Wide Knit in Public Day on June 11th. Not that I know anyone from Australia. Not at all. Click here for the link.

And if you're part of a group contributing to Yarn Bombing Day, you can have your work immortalized in the documentary someone is making.


Here is their official call:
WE WANT YOUR IYBD FOOTAGE! My crew and I can only be in one place at a time, but we want to gather as much footage as possible for an elaborate montage of bombers around the world. If you plan on taking part of any project and plan to have video, pictures, or any other documentation, please send it to us. This is an imperative part of the film.

You can upload any materials you have to www.wetransfer.com (up to 2 GB) or www.yourfilelink.com (up to 5GB).
-When upload is complete it will give a link to the file.
-Email this link to freelancelot002@gmail.com. 


And by the way, there are no good images online of yarnbombing in Chicago. So if you see anything tomorrow, please, please take a picture of it. In the meantime, here is an image from Paris. I thought it would be inspirational for Chicagoans.

For more pothole filling Paris pictures, check out Julianna Herrara's flickr

Possible Project

I was thinking of doing this for my next project while waiting for the American flag one but I'd do it in Christmas colors. I have yarn that is multi-colored with white, red and green. Then figured the three layers could be in that order. Or I could even have white be on the end to border the blanket. Not sure though if I really want to try and do Christmas projects in the middle of June though.

On the other hand, I have enough yarn to start a second American flag blanket while waiting for my first one. (Yes, I packed up on that much red, white, blue and green when my neighbor was getting rid of her mother-in-law's treasure trove of yarn.)

Next Project

So I've had to take a break on the American flag blanket that I was making. With that happening I've started looking at other patterns to make.

I, unwisely, decided to ask my husband and my daughter their opinion on what they thought of for the next patterns. My girl picked one out that she thought was pretty and said I should use pink, red, purple and blue colors on it. Then she says it would look great in her room. My husband says that I should do an Ohio State Buckeyes blanket like the one I did for his footy team. Or do a Titans one since that's his American Footy team. Then he can switch them out on the couch depending on whether it's footy or gridiron season.

Ummmm....They don't seem to realize that the point of me taking up crocheting again is to use up the yarn lying around and eventually get something that I could get rid of by selling on the Etsy site. Not so I have more blankets lying around the house. :P

Strange Things to Crochet and Knit

by Kelly

Sometimes, I look at all these half skeins of yarn (in random colors) that I have stored away, and I despair. What in the world can I do with them? Yet another afghan? Maybe not...


Loop Crochet Door Curtain
(found on Donna's Crochet Design Blog - Donna, I didn't know you were moonlighting!)

or maybe a car cozy

Or a doily bowl, from Craft Stylish

They actually use a premade doily, but I'm sure there are patterns for doilies, somewhere....

Or if all else fails, maybe I'll just knit myself a Ferrari

hmmm... twelve miles of yarn for the Ferrari. Okay, I don't have quite that much.

Free Coupon Roundup

by Kelly

Planning on buying some yarn? For online purchases, check out this link to RetailMeNot. The link takes you to a Yarn Coupon Codes page, but you can search their site for anything.

Stores include: Joann, Red Heart, Mary Maxim, Herschnerrs, Create For Less, Lion Brand Yarn, and many others.

Ravelry Breached

by Kelly

 One of the Ravelry servers was breached by hackers. They're requesting everyone to change their passwords. I'm only posting this to the blog because my warning from Ravelry ended up in my spam folder. If I didn't check the thing occasionally, I would have missed the message.

So spread the word. If you have an account, check out the Ravelry site right away.

Peaches and Creme Yarn

I bought a roll of Peaches and Creme cotton yarn at Walmart. I checked out their website. Their prices are reasonable and they have some very pretty colors. The website is www.peaches-creme.com. Check it out!

Dishcloth Fail

by Kelly

Unlike NASA, I believe that failure is always an option. A case in point -

I used the Pebble Stitch Cloth found on Knitting Pattern Central (link in our sidebar).

This was the second thing I ever knitted. So, when I produced the dishcloth on the left,  to say I was disappointed would be an understatement. More like devastated. 'WHAT did I do wrong?' I thought. 'Maybe I don't have the hang of this after all.'

In my usual 'jump on in and see what happens' fashion, I was learning as I went - knitting for the first time with cotton yarn, finding out how to knit below a stitch, and knitting with two colors. Actually, in hindsight, I'm surprised that I managed to make anything at all. Sure, it's more of a rhomboid than a square. So what?

So, not having a clue what I had done wrong, I changed a few things and knit the whole darn dishcloth again. And came up with exactly the same thing, only smaller.

The sad part is, I still don't know what I did wrong. I've just resolved not to make another one. Unfortunately, these dishcloths seem to last forever, so they will stay in my kitchen drawer, gently mocking me, until I am old and gray. Well, actually, I already have gray hairs, so maybe that's not the far-off day that it used to be.

Anyway, this project is officially the first project to be placed in The Bin. I doubt that it will be the last.

The Bin is in the navigation bar at the top of the page, and it will be a showcase for failure, whether it be failed techniques, bad patterns, yarn that's not worth the money, or just our own personal fails. So go on and check it out. Meantime, I think I'll go wash some more dishes.

Progress of my Patriotic Series

I have been making progress with my patriotic series. I now have a set of hanging towels.

I have a set of three washcloth/dishcloths.

I have a pot holder and hot pad.

These are listed in our store.

I also made a set of two placemats, two coasters, and two napkin rings. They didn't turn out too badly but they are a bit pricey due to the eco friendly yarn used in them. I am in the process of making another set using 100% cotton yarn. I'll post them as soon as I am finished.