Tag Archives: crochet

My Latest Project

My latest project has been consuming almost of my free time for past few weeks.  I am the person behind Dish and Wash Cloth Mania. I realized one day when looking at the site that it had a lot of dead links. I knew it had been neglected for a few months, but had no idea how desperately it needed my attention.  I was so ashamed of it that at one point I considered making it private until there was time to make the necessary changes.  Since that was not the best decision, my next choice was to jump in and work on it as hard as I do any other major project in life.

In the past two and half weeks all of the dead links have been removed. New links are being added everyday. Sometimes it takes a bit longer than I anticipate because of my habit of cross referencing patterns . For example, a round, lacy crocheted cloth will be added to each page where it fits. My motivation is to make it easier and more efficient to use the site.

 

Gallery

Pictures To Share

This gallery contains 12 photos.

These are pictures of some of my favorite projects I have done over the years.    

For Knitting and Crochet Blog Day 2

Since I have gotten behind blogging this is my attempt to catch up.

The topic for Day 2 was: Blog about a pattern or project which you aspire to.

There are a few that come to mind. The first one is the Babette Blanket. In terms of  my skills, it ranks as very simple. My concern is the time commitment. It is a huge undertaking that I am not ready to do at this time.

I am fascinated by the color possibilities. They are endless. I have decided to use Peaches & Creme Worsted Wt. because it is my favorite cotton. Another reason for using it is the abundance of color choices. I want to make one showcasing all of the colors. My goal is to make another one using any colors that contain purple. I might choose to use a lighter shade such as White, Cream or Ivory to offset the darker shades.

The knitting project to which I aspire is to learn to knit Intarsia. I tried one time but did not catch the concept. I will try again in the next couple of months after some major projects are completed.

Knit and Crochet Week Day 1

KnitCroblog1

Today’s Topic is: How and when did you start knitting/crocheting?

Because I knit and crochet this is a two part question.

I became thoroughly fascinated with the art of crocheting when I was five years old when I was in Kindergarden. My mother worked so I spent the afternoons after school was out with an elderly lady who lived a few doors down from the school. In good weather she sat outside in her front yard and crocheted. I vividly remember watching her make the most beautiful pineapple doilies using very fine thread and tiny steel crochet hooks. I was completely fascinated. She sat and made beautiful creations without a pattern meanwhile talking with me. One time I asked her how she could it without a pattern and she told me words to the effect of “I have done it so many times the pattern is in my head. ”

I was hooked and in love. From that time my goal was to learn to crochet with thread. My mother had different ideas saying that crocheting was only for poor people or old ladies. I did not care. I knew that one day this is what I wanted to do.

I was 12 or 13 before I finally learned to crochet using a book to teach myself. This was a bit of a challenge because I am left handed and the only books available to me in the 1960’s were written for right handed people. I was able to look at the pictures and follow the written instructions. It worked. I managed to learn enough basic skills to satisfy my curiosity until I became an adult.

Growing up I met some of my parent’s older relatives who crocheted. I was always fascinated.

Even as a young person I had distinct tastes in crochet hooks. My choice was the Boye hooks because they suited my hands and style better than other hooks.

I did not resume crocheting with any degree of seriousness until after College and Nursing School. At that time I was able to purchase my own books, yarn and tools. I discovered books such as:

I spent many hours devouring them. I learned to read English and American instructions. I learned so much there is not room to list it all here or anywhere.They remain treasured volumes in my collection.

I made my share of Granny squares and some small items in yarn. for many years knitting and crocheting took a back seat to to other interests.

I allowed myself to take a  Crocheting class at what was then Lee Wards in the 1990’s. I quickly learned that I knew more than I realized. I came away from the class with a large amount of much needed self  confidence. It also helped increase my love for and fascination with this wonderful art.

There was finally courage to try my hand at thread crochet! I successfully made an assortment of small doilies, coasters and a couple of collars to satisfy my hunger for thread. I had to face the reality that my eyes limit some of what I can feel comfortable doing. This is one of those things. I own some magnifying equipment and have the ability to purchase more, but it is not worth time or energy to do so at this time.

I learned to knit when i was 8 years old. Knitting lessons at a local Sears store were a gift from my mother. it was an alternative to my desire for crocheting. I learned to knit right handed on some 14 inch size 8 metal needles. I still own them today.

The lessons were good. i learned a lot and took to knitting easily and naturally. Reading patterns was the same way. In addition to basic  knitting I learned to treat yarn with respect and care. I made lots of slippers and other small items. I distinctly remember my mother being annoyed at my ability to knit without watching what I was doing.

I continue to knit and crochet to this day. There is normally at least one project on hooks and needles at the same time. There is still much to learn and do.

As much as I enjoy knitting, my first love continues to be crocheting. Memories of my first encounter with that amazing lady, her tiny steel hooks and fine thread continue to inspire me.

Thank you kind babysitting lady whose name I do not know! You have given me the gift of a lifetime.

My Table

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This is a picture of my kitchen table last Saturday. Everyone in my household was asleep except for me, i decided to take advantage of it and treat myself to two of my favorite things: a cup of tea and crocheting. It was a very peaceful time as I sat crocheting. There was time to enjoy the feel of the rhythm of my hands making stitches with my hook and yarn.I had a sense of peace as I worked. My fingers flew as they made a
familiar stitch many times. I wondered who would receive this blanket and prayed for him or her to be comforted and warmed by it.

Before I knew it, my tea was gone;three rows of orange had been added to the blanket and it was time to wake my household. As I cleaned off the table I hoped the sense of peace would remain through the day, which it did.

First Love

My original motivation for having a blog was to talk about my adventures in knitting and crocheting. I was just starting to knit dishcloths. since i wasn't working outside the home, I relied on patterns from library books and books from my own collection. I learned very quickly that the internet is a very rich source of free patterns for all manner of dish and wash cloths. Rather than saving all the links in the Bookmark folder of my browser, I decided to list them on a side bar of my blog. Little did I know, how many were and are available. After a very short time my list had grown to the extent that it seemed most practical to devote an entire blog to this topic. Thus was born Dish and Wash Cloth Mania.

What started as a very small blog, has grown over the years to  have more than forty pages and more links than I can imagine. I continue to be fascinated not only making dish and wash cloths, but by searching for them on the internet. 

There are some amazingly creative designers and artists who share the
fruit of their love and labor with the rest of the world by turning
their patterns into dish or wash cloths, They are all beautiful! Due to piracy  and copyright issues, some designers have begun making
free patterns available only through Ravelry. I respect this.

Over the years, web hosts have gone out of business; designers have died or moved on to other activities; and others have quit offering free patterns in favor of selling them.In spite of these things the availability of free patterns remains astounding.

If you never tried making one, please do so. You might find you like them.

Promises to Myself

I have thought a lot about making New Year's Resolutions again this year. Because the truth for me is that they normally get broken very quickly, I have decided against making any. Instead, my choice is to make some promises to myself. On the surface, it might not seem like there is much difference in the two. For me there is a huge one. A promise is a firm decision that must be kept. A resolution is not nearly as strong.

Here are a couple of promises I have made to myself, listed in no particular order:

  • I will work on losing weight and improving my over all fitness on a daily basis. I do not  want to  end this decade of my life  overweight and out of shape. One of my Grandmothers died a miserable death of heart failure and and I am going to do everything in power to avoid the same fate. 
  • I will use the contents of at least one of the four 19 quart containers of yarn in my stash. These containers and others have  yarn from Grab Bags purchased from Pisgah Yarn and Dyeing Co. in the past couple of years. There are already some specific plans for it.
  • I will try some of the patterns from a variety of sources that I have been saying for years that I will try. This is the year to do so.
  • I will finish the partially completed baby blanket that has been waiting to be done for months.
  • The gift for the grand daughter of a friend of mine will be finished and delivered.
  • My dishcloth blog: Dish and Wash Cloth Mania will have much more time devoted to it than it has had for a very long item. It has been ignored all too often in the past two years. From now on things will be different.
  • I am going to try very hard to blog here at least once a week. One of my goals is to be more creative in how this is done. This is a work in progress.

There are lots of things I want to do and write about this year. I am not making any promises about them. We will have to see how life works out.

May each of you have a Blessed New Year!