Doily Doily Doily

I've been on a doily kick for the past few weeks.  I've made a few Patricia Kristofferson and a few others.  I've not blocked them yet, because I don't have any rustproof pins, and not a chance to head to Joann's.  As soon as I get them blocked, I'll post a few pix.

Cancelled Crafster.com account

I just sent an email to the Moderator's of Craftster.com.  I cancelled my account.

Yesterday I submitted a very limited post on the sub-category for crochet works.  To paraphrase, it said "look at my blog to see my latest work.Tell me what you think."  I chose to post this way due to the multi-step process that a user has to follow to post a photo on this forum.  Well, with in a few minutes, I got an email from a moderator saying that my post was being put on HOLD, saying that I 'appeared' that I was trying to increase the traffic to my blog. My post would remain on HOLD until I addressed this issue.  So, today, I re-posted in the same sub-category, using two photos (the same as posted here) and a very cursory paragraph relating to my Catherine Wheel Variation and a link to my blog (which was the same link that is part of my signature that is at the bottom of every post I submit to Craftster).   Again, with in a few minutes I rec'd another message from a moderator telling me that I should only post a link that directly links to the referenced work. 

After looking at the post, I noticed that a moderator had edited my post, editing the link so that it would go directly to my Catherine Wheel variation afghan.

I then noticed that the latest (at the time) comment  had four links in the user's signature.  The four links were to the user's patterns site, the user's Etsy account, the user's Revelry account, and a link to the user's web page.  Two of these link are sites that the user SELL their work

I felt that this was hypocritical of the forum to allow these types of links and yet be so concerned that my link, to my blog, was seen as an attempt to get traffic to my blog.  I feel that there are too many alternatives on the internet to have to deal with this.  So, most of my comments will be on Crochetville.com and here on my blog.

Catherine Wheel and Spokes

I first saw the Catherine Wheel pattern on mikeyssmail site on YouTube a few years ago.  This guy has some great instructional videos posted, even if some of the crochet terms he uses drives me nuts !  Mikey has instructional videos posted for two variations of the Catherine Wheel: the first is made of double crochets, and the second is made of treble crochets (Mikey calls this a Jumbo Catherine Wheel).

My version is the Jumbo Catherine Wheel, but I usually put a twist on almost every pattern I make. This version has two variations.  Only 1/3 of the rows follow the pattern.  The other 2/3 of the rows are "airy" versions, what I call "spokes".  I was concerned that the finished piece would be very dense, so the 'airy' wheels were created to combat that.

The other variation is that each row takes a 90 degree turn about half way through.  I came up with the turns to break up the monotony of row after row after row of the wheels.  With this technique the variations are literally endless.

I used four colors of Red Heart Super Saver that I frogged from afghans I made a few years ago.  I used a G/6 aluminum needle.  The finished piece is about 4' x 6', but I'm considering putting a border of single crochets to "frame" it.

G's Star

This is my G's Xmas present.  He's seen it, he picked the pattern, he picked the colors.  This pattern was interesting to work with; some parts were written very strange-ly.  I had to rewrited a few parts.  The other strange part of this was the gauge.  I purchased the worsted weight as called for in the pattern and used the hook that was called for in the pattern...but, it turned out 15" smaller than the pattern said it would be...and it used less than half the amount of yarn called for.  Good thing I saved the receipt for the yarn !

I used Caron's Simply soft yarn.  First time I've used this yarn.  It was slippery and tended to split;  the shiny aspect of the  yarn was one reason I had avoided this yarn in the past, but I wanted something soft for the finished piece.

Lizard Ridge DONE !

Wow...finally finished this !  I had some apathy towards it in about the middle, and didn't work on if as much as I should have some days.  I actually doubled the size of the piece about a third way into it.  White turned into a main color instead of a contrast color.  I see crayons when I look at it (the black outlining the colors...).  I've come to the realization that I don't like making small throws...bigger is better.  I listed this on Etsy; it's the first time I've tried to sell anything I've made.  I have a suspicion that its overpriced, but I'm testing the waters.  On to the next project ! (I'm in the middle of a denim quilt already )

Riding on the back of a Lizard...Ridge

Now this is more like it.  After two previous attempts with this yarn, I've got a pattern that I like.  It is called the Lizard Ridge Pattern, published in Knitty, fall 2006.  I've had the pattern on my fave list for a few years but my last attempt with a short row pattern was unsuccessful, so it sat on the list un-attempted for quite a while.  I finally attempted it after the two previous disasters.   It is a pattern that you have to concentrate on while working on, and the short rows did cause a headache for the first few rows.  I didn't like the way the pattern was written and even after watching a video on YouTube, I was still confused.  SO.....being the self-reliant type of guy I am, I found a much better way to work short rows.  I don't seem to get much done each day, but it is coming along.   I also noticed that this looks like a knitted version of the Wavey Afghan I started first.  This is a good thing, because I liked that pattern.  So, I'm plugging along and will post a pic when I finish  (My brain is already  planning the next three or four projects ....)

feed the fish-ees

I thought this was cute...


Click to "FEED THE FISH"