I’m Embarrassed

Palm Beach Shrug Errors

I must apologize to everyone who downloaded the Palm Beach Shrug Pattern.  I must have been out to lunch the day that I wrote that pattern!  Many of you have called several errors to my attention and I have corrected the pattern three times!  But would you believe it…it still had a glaring mistake.  So my 4th correction has been done and I’ve taken the time to re-read the entire pattern.  I found other problems and have corrected those too. Now I finally have version “e” ready!  It’s such an easy pattern that I can’t understand how I managed to make so many mistakes in writing it!

Palm Beach Shrug e

Patons Stretch Sock Yarn

Here’s a nifty yarn that I’ve not seen before.  My daughter gave me a crochet book for Mother’s Day and a gift certificate for Michael’s.  So as soon as humanly possible, I visited my local Michael’s and happened upon Patons Stretch Sock Yarn.  Michael’s had 6 skeins left, enough to make a short-sleeved top so I decided to try it.  I must tell you, if you’ve never worked with stretch yarn before, you must keep your crochet loose as you go so that your yarn doesn’t stretch.  I tend to be a tight crocheter so I ended up with the swatch below.

You’ll notice that the center of my work is much looser than the rest and you can see the white table clearly.  It took me a while to work up a consistent swatch.  However, despite this little problem, I find this yarn beautifully dyed and spun.  The weight is perfect for crochet clothing since crochet stitches tend to make anything bulky.  I’m using an L hook and plain half-double crochet to get an airy fabric that will drape well.  I also like the stretchiness and think that this is a yarn I will definitely use again.

  

Bags, Baskets, and Buckets

I think I finally have enough yarn storage in my craft room!  I love to make bags (and I also love to buy them!) so I have a large supply of roomy bags to hold my projects. My Crochetville friend, Mary Jo, made the red bag for me. I also enjoy haunting the local Goodwill Store.  One day, I picked up a beautiful little shallow basket with pockets and handles for small projects.  Another time, I found a black leather bucket with a large front pocket and straps on the sides.  The interior is lined and is just the ticket for a large project.  I paid less than $3 for each of them.

 

My Right Way Market Bag is Finished

This pattern was a breeze until I got to the handles.  Carol Ventura designed the handles so that they were crocheted along with the border of the bag and interlaced through the slits at the same time.  This caused me all manner of trouble. First of all, I managed to get the handles going into the eyelets instead of out of them. After three tries, I gave up.  I also found that the yarn got so extremely tangled that I was getting downright cranky.

I solved the problem by making the handles separately and threading them through the slits before sewing their ends together.  As you can see from the photo below, I interlaced the handles so that they wouldn’t flop off my shoulder.  Once the handles were in place, they cinched in the sides nicely.  However, this bag is HUGE!  The sides expand to hold all manner of yummy consumables.

Here is a photo of the bag in progress.  You can see how wide it is before the handles draw it together.

 

4th Sunday Giveaway

Happy Easter!  It looks like it  is going to be a beautiful spring day here in the northeast.  Alas, I am still suffering from a very painful wrist.  I think that my only option now is to go to the hand doctor and get that cortisone shot.  I’ve been resting my wrist for several weeks but it has done no good whatsoever.  But enough about that…

This week I have 6 bag and purse patterns to de-stash.  Please refer to  ”group 1″  or  “group 2″  if you are interested.  First one to comment on each group gets the group of their choice.

GROUP I

 

 

 

 

 

The above group includes one Tunisian bag, the fanny pack on the right.

GROUP II

The backpack in this group is Tunisian.

Next week will be a very special week.  I will be offering a Jimbo hook as the giveaway.  For those of you not familiar with Jimbo’s beautiful hooks, visit his blog, Jimbo’s Front Porch. 

 

 

Suede Bag

Here’s a bag worked in Lion Suede.  I was able to buy the strap and toggle findings in the craft section at WalMart.  As you can see, I included a small pouch for my phone.  The bag is lined with fabric in a coordinating color.