The March Madness Warm-up

March Madness pertains to B-ball (basketball) but as a knitter I'm referring to Sock March Madness and right now, there is a warm-up pattern you can use.  And I'm thinking----STASH!

Check out Ravelry for insight into

March Madness--Socks Forever!

This pattern is for warm-up for Sock Madness 10. It is mix of many things. It combines carefully chosen pieces of Sock Madness patterns from previous years and joins them into a pair of Mad Mix Socks.
The pattern contains instructions for both cuff-down and toe-up versions for fingering weight socks. The stitch patterns include six different textures to play with. The finished sock is sum of fewer or more pieces. You can pick and choose the bits that please or challenge you the way you like and make a unique pair of Mad Mix SM10 warm-up socks.

A big warm thank you to all these Sock Madness designers for giving their permission to present their design as a part of this pattern!

The dozen original SM patterns from 10 designers that are joined here are:
da Treehouse by Adrienne Fong & Debi Woods
Daisy Daze by Maria Ekblad
Diamonds in the Fluff by Leslie Comstock
Dimpled Diamonds Socks by Deborah Swift
Hieroglyphic Socks by Heatherly Walker
Longing for Spring by Caoua Coffee
Mad Color Weave by Tina Lorin
Nornir by Caoua Coffee
Painted Madness by Tricia Weatherston
Rose Water by Heatherly Walker
Supporter’s Socks by Linda Pankhurst
Wimbledon by Ros Clarke

Knit away all February and let the Madness begin!

In And Out The Crochet Hook Goes..............................

My hobby is crochet   has the most awesome crochet necklace to adorn your neck!

Take a gander at this--is this not smashing?

And I can think of many opportunities to splash some color into

one or two of these rings.

Do you think you could tackle this woven adornment?

I'm game if you are!

Have You Seen This?

Oh My Gosh!  I'm having so much fun with this palette builder

by Play-crafts!  You can take that special photo and upload to their

palette builder and have your color swatches.

I know, this is mostly used for quilters for fabric,

But, I can see potential usage in other ways.

What if you wanted to paint your bedroom one of these

colors?  Or how about using these colors for

a clothing line?

Still yet, if you are a spinner or weaver, there is a

way to built colors into your yarn stash.

Go have fun with your photos!

It's a Weaver's World

 I was the delivery person from one weaver to another!  and it just so happen, our Westside Weavers' were meeting at my house on the day there was the hand-off.  There was no stopping us--we had to dig into the box of handwovens.  Then the show began...................................

Colorful and playful towels

just one stack of towels from the bin

up close and personal with the towels

and as weavers, we inspected each towel carefully,

deciding on what weave structure, sett, dent

just plain weave--JUST, sure!

on same warp, but different looks!

happy colors!

color combinations we hadn't tried before

bright and festive!  We're thinking about a challenge called

Gypsy--what would you weave

we all were thrilled with this weave--dots and dashes!

summer/winter?

more dots and dashes

This is my towel now!

Even the hems are neat and tidy

same warp, different wefts

color and weave napkins with spot bronson

broken twill with color!

Which would you choose to take home?  It was definitely a pleasant chore!

Thanks Charlene for the tour of your handwoven towels

and the program for the day!

Confetti For Valentine's Day

A truly unique Valentine's Day begins with this mystery KAL from

I Live On A Farm 

The pattern is free through Ravelry till February 14

Confetti yarn seems to be the rage now--so grab yours soon!

This KAL features an easy to knit, lovely asymmetric triangular shawl worked in panels on a bias. There will be some garter stitch panels, some panels with heart stitch patterns, and some other cool visual interests and textures along the way.

You can knit the small or large version. There are two sizes to choose from: Small requires 1 hank (420 yards) of any Lucky Violet Color Co. fingering weight yarn; Large requires 2 hanks (840 yards).

The KAL will officially begin on Sunday, February 14, 2016 with publication of the first section of the pattern that morning. The first pattern section will be enough information for knitting at least one-third of the small version of the piece.

There will be two additional pattern sections released (for a total of three). Each release will be two weeks apart.

Along Comes The Count and William

Listen while you work is my motto---a good book that I never read before

is in my ears!

and on my time frame too--everywhere I go!

Craftlit

 I was never a Shakespeare fan until I found Chop Bard.  It is time for King Lear.........................

Are Grannys Square?

Franklin Habit is a genius!  Especially when it comes to something we think that is simple as a Granny Square--Who decided to call Grannys Square anyway????

According to a 1946 article attributed to the Oregon Worsted Company, the thrifty women of early America would carefully save scraps of yarn and fiber unraveled from old sweaters and socks.  As these scraps accumulated, they were crocheted into small squares; the colors combined on the whim of the craftsman.  The squares were then sewn together to make a blanket which was both functional and colorful.  Because grandma was no longer up for manual labor, she was often the one to sew the squares together, thus they became GRANNY SQUARES.  Thanks to Yarnaholic Confessions!  

Granny square

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A granny square worked in two colors and seven rounds. Cotton, 4 mmcrochet hook.

A granny square is a piece of square fabric produced in crochet by working in rounds from the center outward. Granny squares are traditionally handmade. They resemble coarse lace. Although there is no theoretical limit to the maximum size of a granny square, crocheters usually create multiple small squares (called "motifs") and assemble the pieces to make clothing,purses, Afghan blankets, and other household textiles.

Granny square apparel is a cyclical fashion that peaked in the 1970s. As Stitch 'n Bitch series author Debbie Stoller describes:

If you grew up in the seventies, as I did, you might fear the granny square--if only because, for a while, clothing was made of nothing else. Granny square vests, granny square shorts, granny square hats. Heck, I bet there was some kid out there who was forced to go to school wearing granny square underwear.^[1]

Although particular color and pattern schemes for granny squares change with time, this class of motif is a staple among crocheters. Multicolor granny squares are an effective way to use up small amounts of yarn left over from other projects and basic granny square motifs do not require advanced skills to execute.^[2]