Peace On Earth Afghan

I finished this about a week late but I thought it was still appropriate for a New Year's wish as well as a Christmas sentiment.

I'm calling it my Peace On Earth Afghan. (Please click on the photos to enlarge them).





It's about 72 inches by 76 inches. I had to stand on the couch arms to try and fit it all in the shot.

(Sorry about the messy rug. We just moved out my Mother-in-laws things and this room is now empty except for a beat-up couch and we haven't had any time to get the carpet cleaned or anything).

I made four squares. (Two in Bernat's Camouflage Outback yarn and White I Love This Yarn, and two in Bernat's Camouflage Renegade yarn with Antique White I Love This Yarn). Dark Thyme Green TLC Essentials yarn.

The squares were tunisian, (afghan) stitched using a size J cabled afghan hook.
Once they were done I single crocheted around the squares with a J hook about 12 times each.

Then I joined the squares from the back with a running chain stitch. (I'll post the back in a minute).
Then went around the whole afghan with a basketweave stitch - 3 rows of Outback and 3 rows of Dark Thyme Green).





Here's a shot of the front next to a shot of the back. You can see the joining seams, (done with Outback).

I got the idea for the peace dove from this dimestoreemporium etsy shop where they are selling pendants with this dove on them.

I wanted to use earthy colors and I had a lot of Camouflage yarn in my stash so it worked out perfect.

So, here's to Peace on Earth in the coming year 2010!
I hope all who are reading this have a peaceful year and the white dove finally does come home to sleep in the sand of wherever you live!!

"There are FOUR lights!" Cptn. Picard Afghan

I've been dying to post this next afghan in my blog but I had to wait until after Christmas as it was a gift for my son's girlfriend, who much-prefers Captain Picard over Captain Kirk, (as far as Star Trek Captain's go). (Please click on the photos to embigger them).



I used a size J cabled afghan hook and crocheted it in the tunisian (afghan) stitch.

He was a bit tricky as I've never crocheted a bald person before. I hope his head is in good proportion to the rest of him. He does seem to have a smallish head in all the actual photos I could find on the web anyway.



Here's another front shot next to a shot which is the back of the afghan.

I made the "Star Trek" word part crocheting bottom-to-top. (Hence, the stripes here are vertical.) I used Simply Soft Shadows yarn in Merino.

When I crocheted the portrait, I stitched side-to-side so the stripes are horizontal behind his head. I joined the the pieces together and crocheted around the whole thing doing a basketweave stitch.

I'm glad I chose that yarn because it really makes the background look like "outer space".

Anyway, she liked the afghan very much!

Not only that, she and my son have become engaged as of yesterday!!!! Woohoo!
I'm celebrating now with some tea I received from her for Christmas.
Just like the Captain would have ordered it.

"Tea, Earl Grey, hot."

Every time a bell rings.....

Here it is, another Christmas eve. Where has the time gone?

I received an e-mail from Karen in Singapore a couple weeks ago and thought I'd save it until now to post to you all.

First, there is the photo.....(click to enlarge).....



Yep, that's him alright. Singapore Snape. Up on top of her tree. Look out Santa 'cause you're in for some nasty, abusive language once you get into Karen's flat tonight!!! Here's her letter...


I’ve attached a picture of my Christmas tree. It’s a bit fuzzy, but that’s because I took it at night.
Take note of the rather distinctive angel on top.

I haven’t been able to find an angel tree-topper that isn’t ugly or cheap-looking here. I tried to make one out of felt, but the felt I bought for the face and hands was way too pink – like flamingo pink – so it just looked sunburnt and bizarre.

I managed to make 2 wings out of feathers, so while he was fast asleep on the sofa (after watching Christmas Vacation and eating a giant pile of sugar cookies) I grabbed Professor Snape and attached them to his robe with black pipe cleaners. Then I made a (crooked and dingy, of course) halo out of glitter pipe cleaners, and attached it to his scalp. Finally I used more pipe cleaners to tie him to the tree.

He was pretty ticked – not to mention terribly uncomfortable – when he woke up, but he hasn’t got his wand, so there’s not much he can do about it. Some neighbours dropped by yesterday and remarked that he is the meanest looking angel they’ve ever seen. Best, Karen

Oh....my...God!!! Look at him!!!!!

Someone better warn Santa! What about wandless magic?! I bet Snape could do some serious spells even without his wand!
(After all, he can fly like a human bat-man in the last book, couldn't he?
It's like poking a beehive with a stick I tell you!
If he's up there it must only be because he wants to be there tonight. Watching. Waiting for the fat man. What evil plans does he have in store for the jolly old elf? What mischief will he unleash?

Karen is very brave indeed. I only hope she's still safe!
I hope we hear from her soon!

I want to close this post with the same poem and comic strip page I set up a few years ago for you all.
The Night Before Christmas - A Visit from S. Snape
Enjoy your holidays and

Sagittarius Square

Good Grief. Where has the time gone?
I've had a lot of major turmoil here and things are still in a semi-chaotic state so let me get this Sagittarius Square posted first before I forget. (Click to enlarge).



This is a square for the Zodiac afghan I'm making. Three down, nine to go.

I've got an afghan finished that some may have already seen but I still can't post it here until after Christmas.

I'm nearly done with another one which, if I can't get it finished before Christmas, it should be done by New Years.

I do have an awesome photo to post Christmas eve so hang in there on that. It's from Karen in Singapore and I know you all will like it!

Now, what's been going on here, you may ask.

Well. about a week before Thanksgiving, my mother-in-law, (who lives here with us), fell and broke her now-not-so-humorous bone. (She will be 80 years old in March). So, I had to call 911 and have them come out to get her to the hospital.

Then, after putting her arm in a sling, they send her back home here. No cast. No surgery to pin the thing together. Nothing.

The next four days are a blur of me and my three boys and husband trying to take care of Grandma. She can barely stand. We had to have her in her Lazy-boy recliner so the boys could push her chair from behind just to get her to stand up to walk to the bathroom.

She was constantly complaining of pain and her pain medicine never seemed to relieve her.

By day four, she started in wailing in pain around dinner time. I didn't know what to do. She kept screaming to call 911. That she was going to go into shock. That she was hurting so much. She couldn't move. Couldn't stand. Nothing.

Sooooooo, again I called 911 and they came and took her back to the hospital. They gave her so much pain medicine the emts asked if she was ever addicted to pain meds before because, if so, the body remembers and they need a lot more than normal to ever even have any effect.

Well, she's only my mother-in-law so I really didn't know her forever but I do know she's had many other ailments and surgeries throughout her long lifetime, (like once - before I even met her - she had fallen and actually broke both ankles), so I suppose it was entirely possible that she may have been addicted to pain meds at one time or another.

ANYWAY, they brought her back to the hospital, decided to do a surgery to pin the bone in place this time, and released her to a rehabilitation center where they are caring for her while her arm mends.

So, she's there now but her children, (my husband included), have decided she needs to move to an assisted-living center and have found a place in Illinois near her youngest child. She has Alzheimer's Disease and dimentia as well so this is hopefully going to be a good thing for her.

So these couple of weeks have flown by for me. I'm trying to get her things packed up and ready for the moving people. They start loading up the truck December 26th. They will be going the 27th. My husband will be driving her out there then too. She will not be coming home here. They thought that would be too hard for her.

Well, now that I've blabbed on and bored you all to death, I hope you will forgive me this most dullest blog entry ever.
I keep praying that things will pick up and get better soon and in the end it will all have been for the best.

Stay tuned for that Christmas eve post! You can all wake up now because this post is overwith!