Saturday - What's on the hook

Thought I would catch up on everything going on around here.  First, thought I would post what is currently on the hook.

Green Fleck Shawl - also known as the Cinco de Mayo shawl because that is what they are calling the swap I am making this for.  In retrospect it should have been in bright bold colors, like the Mexican flag.  However, growing up my family went in to Mexico several times.  We would go watch the dog races.  I remember the adobe buildings the colors of brown, the olive green of the mesquite trees and pinion scrubs, the chocolate brown of the pine cones and the black of the mesquite beans.  So, those are the colors I chose to go with.  I realize now that the shawl is almost finished that I may have been more influenced in my thinking with the mountains and the Mexican and Native American cultures that were part of my growing up in New Mexico.

This is the beginning of the shawl.  The picture doesn't show it that well, but it is a moss or olive green with flecks of brown and black scattered in the yarn.  It actually works up much nicer than I thought.  It will have a second color added in for the finishing and will post a photo when I am finished.

On my hook...hooks, as far as other projects at the moment are some purple squares, still working on the ripple variation, the 25 year old table cloth project, and just started work on a spider man round afghan for grand son #2.

I have received some really nice swaps in return.

 These dish cloths were from a Feb. swap.

This is the 12 inch sender's choice square from Feb. as well.

Then there are the March ones.

 Skinny scarf.

12 inch sender's choice.

Both of these came from the same person.  I like the green woodsy color very much.

Then I got this regular scarf.

I have it folded on itself, the photo just doesn't do it justice.  The yarn is Yarn Bee brand Cameo Bulky.  It is a Hobby Lobby brand, we don't have Hobby Lobby here.  This yarn is so wonderfully soft and warm and so luxurious feeling and blue is just my favorite color of all.  It has warmed up here once again so can't really wear it out but I keep it where I can just pick it up and snuggle it, caress it, just feel it.  I bet it would make wonderful cancer caps.  I went to JoAnn's this morning and found what feels like a close substitute, but may have to just order online from Hobby Lobby or bribe my daughter in bringing me some when she visits this summer.  I am just in love with it.

My last post I showed some of the things I made for the swaps.  I have been trying to get some dish cloths and pot holders made up for the months swaps to come.  I found in my stored stash a cone of cotton yarn called peppercorn ombre.  It is not available any longer, at least not that I can find except by private sellers on Amazon, Etsy or such.  I don't know if it is actually a full cone, pretty sure it has been used for a few things already, but I decided to just start working it into some finished projects, wanted to see just how much I can get out of it.

So far, I have three dish cloths and one pot holder.  Still looks like plenty of cotton yarn left on the cone.

Now, for my organizing mission.  I pulled out all my yarns and made lists of what I have in my stash.  I saved it all on an Excel sheet.

This is the bulk of it.  All Red Heart Super Saver.  At least what is not currently set aside because it is on my hook. I also snipped pieces of the solid yarns and affixed them to a swatch chart so I can tell what colors I actually have and what the color looks like with out having to pull out the whole box.  This homemade swatch chart includes yarns currently in use that are not in this bin.

I found the plastic bag, which zips up, that my comforter set came in and since it is such a nice size and zips closed with handles on it, I have designated it as my scrap bag.  All the left over pieces of skeins that I use for a particular project all get thrown in to the scrap bag.

Some pieces are almost full skeins that were used for a project that did not turn out well, so saved it to frog for another project.  Some pieces will maybe be enough for the center of a square or a small row.  The plan is to use the bright yellow yarn for the centers of some scrap squares that I will then turn in to an afghan.  Maybe  one that is done in rows that are more like stripes as well.  I am also collecting patterns for using up scraps.

This is my cotton yarn stash.  These cottons are used for dish cloths and pot holders.

If you click here, you can see the stash of odds and ends.  I have my pounders of Red Heart and Bernat Baby stuck in the middle of this storage holder.  Even though it is a shoe storage, it is a fabulous yarn storage. When I clean out my closet better, I will probably end up getting another storage hanger for more yarn.

Today's buys.

This is the yarn I plan to use to make an afghan for my living room.  A pretty big one I suspect.  I will be using the book 200 Crochet Blocks for Blankets, Throws and Afghans that I recently purchased for this project.  While I am itching to start on it tonight, I am making myself wait until I have finished up the other two afghans I am currently working on.  I am quite determined to keep the unfinished or works in progress to a minimum.


That being said, I also bought these.

I am sure I didn't buy enough to do any thing with, but I will be able to start a project and see how it looks made up.  They are both so shiny and glittery looking that I am just positive they will both make lovely fashion doll dresses.


My hubby and oldest two sons left this morning to spend a few days at Mammoth skiing.  They are expecting snow Sunday and Monday so hope they have a good time.  The wind has suddenly kicked up this evening as something is blowing through here, think we have some rain headed in, but not sure it will reach us.

Well, guess that pretty much catches me up.  At least for now.  I will try to do better at keeping my blog up to date, but life has a way of getting in the way.  Thanks for stopping in and come back again.  Feel free to leave comments as well.