Who Does Needlework??

[pinkpopcorn]

Hey, someone suggested we have a topic about crocheting, knitting, needlepoint, crewel work, tatting - whatever has to do with a hook or needle.

I can knit - but hate to. So, I crochet. In fact the name pinkpopcorn comes from a baby blanket I made with a stitch called a popcorn and it was made in pink yarn. Here is a pic. pink popcorn blanket

It is my intention that we can compare notes, post pictures of our projects, ask questions and help one another with what we love to do. So, please come on in and tell us what you love doing as a craft. Often directions and patterns for crocheting are sometimes difficult to figure out exactly what they are saying. That is why I NEVER make any pattern that I cannot see the pattern well. Often I can figure out the pattern better by looking at the picture of it.

I have crocheted for 40 years now and mostly have given away what I have made. My friends all love it when I come to their shower because they can count on something handmade with love. There is nothing better than seeing the face of someone who gets your gift made from your own hands. There IS more happiness in giving than in receiving!

So welcome one and all.

[GrumpysWife]

I used to design preemie baby clothes and I have designed my own clothes ever since I was about 12. I also knit & crochet. I used to keep busy at it all the time, but since I had to go back to work full time, I hardly do anything with crafts any more. If I can find some pictures of my things, I'll post them.

[pinkpopcorn]

YIPPEE! I can't wait to see them!

[betlee]

Hey, someone suggested we have a topic about crocheting, knitting, needlepoint, crewel work, tatting - whatever has to do with a hook or needle.

I can knit - but hate to. So, I crochet. In fact the name pinkpopcorn comes from a baby blanket I made with a stitch called a popcorn and it was made in pink yarn. Here is a pic. pink popcorn blanket

It is my intention that we can compare notes, post pictures of our projects, ask questions and help one another with what we love to do. So, please come on in and tell us what you love doing as a craft. Often directions and patterns for crocheting are sometimes difficult to figure out exactly what they are saying. That is why I NEVER make any pattern that I cannot see the pattern well. Often I can figure out the pattern better by looking at the picture of it.

I have crocheted for 40 years now and mostly have given away what I have made. My friends all love it when I come to their shower because they can count on something handmade with love. There is nothing better than seeing the face of someone who gets your gift made from your own hands. There IS more happiness in giving than in receiving!

So welcome one and all.

Hi Chris! Great idea to discuss our crafts! The only thing that I have done is cross stitching. I loved it and did some beautiful samplers that I gave as gifts. However I had to quit due to my eyesight & back/neck problems. My mother crocheted and was so good at it. Her stitches were tight. I tried to crochet but wasn't as good as my mom so quit. I have been yearning to do something but don't know what I can manage. I would love to quilt but that can get expensive. Don't have any extra $ since I have had to quit work. I will look forward to reading the posts on this subject! BTW, your pinkpopcorn baby blanket is beautiful!

[pinkpopcorn]

Thanks Betlee. I LOVE crocheting. I can do it in my sleep. In fact, if I crochet for a long time before I sleep - I crochet a prayer to Jehovah! He must really get a kick out of humans. We are just little weirded out dustballs.

[pinkpopcorn]

Here is my grandson's outfit that I made before he was born. yellow popcorn sweater Here is Jude in the hat. popcorn hat This is made of a generic baby yarn but so lovely to feel.

Here is the lovely baby afghan I made him. baby afghan http://crochetdivas.com/imagebrowser/p014_5_00_10.html I made the blanket from Caron simply Soft yarn. The yarn is soft and has a nice sheen to it.

[betlee]

These are simply beautiful!!! You do very good work, Chris. Wish I could do it! My mom could watch TV & crochet & seldom look at her work. Not long before she died ( I had her here with me) she was crocheting an afghan & had quite a bit done. She was on morphine & was making some mistakes because her mind wasn't clear. One day I walked into her bedroom & she had unraveled the whole thing & was sitting in a puff of yarn. I said :mama, why did you do that" & she said that there were too many mistakes. I told her that it was beautiful anyway. It was the last one that she attempted to make. I have so many of them with me now & they are beautiful! I wonder if she ever crocheted a prayer to Jehovah!?! ;) Sisterly love, Betty

[pinkpopcorn]

How much your Mom was like me. I would find a mistake all the way back at the beginning of a huge afghan and call my kids. "Who wants to pull yarn out?" They'd come running - ME, ME, ME! What took me almost a week to make was ripped out in 10 minutes! Then I would re-ball it.

How wonderful to have the things your Mom made since you cannot have her. I have several little boxes that Julie painted with her famous swirls on them. Each time I see one I am reminded of what a cool person she was.

YARN TIP:

Never wrap a skein of yarn tightly at all. It must be wound very gently and loosely so the yarn will not stretch out permanently.

[boodles]

I remember when I saw your "alias" that I thought of the popcorn stitch. My grandma taught me to crochet doilys and she always said the popcorn stitch was too hard for her, so I am scared of it. I started a doily here in Mexico about 3 years ago and it's still there half done.

My mom loves to crochet, she often makes blankets, just a basic stitch back and forth, making stripes. She likes to hear music with a beat when she is crocheting. She has tried knitting, but never could really get the hang of it.

I'll look forward to seeing y'alls work on here.

[pinkpopcorn]

Boodles, Honey - the popcorn is such a basic and terrific stitch. If you can crochet a double crochet - you can make a popcorn.

All it is is 4 double crochets (dc). (Some patterns call for 5 dc - but that is too POPPED for me). Then you slightly pull up the yarn. Take your hook out, go back to the top of the first dc made and stick the hook through the front top of the first dc in this group 4 dcs. Now with your hook go through that loop you left (that you pulled up slightly) cinch them together. The stitches gather and it POPS upward, hence popcorn stitch. I am going to try and find a video of it on youtube and post it here. You are gonna slap you head when you see how EASY this is.

[pinkpopcorn]

OK. Try this link:

You ladies know that you can find anything on YouTube, don't you? I think I should do some of my stuff on here. I never hold my yran up in the air with my pointer finger. I learned to crochet in a much easier to hold position. I will try and find the way I learned how.

[boodles]

I enjoyed that video, I am no longer afraid of the popcorn stitch! Someday I'll give it a try...

[pinkpopcorn]

This is how I crochet, with my fingers down and not one sticking up in the air. Now I ask you - which way is easier to hold longer? My fingers just do not stick up ordinarily. But if that is how you learned, so be it. I can crochet for many hours with hands in a normal position.

Here it is:

[esme_m]

i love doing crafts!!! except i have an awfull habit of starting a project and then not finishing........i love cross stitch and am trying to currently do a sampler for sisters baby which is due this summer (i say trying i just don't seem to find the time lol), i started knitting my first jumper bout 2 years ago and i've done the back and half way up the front but everytime i get it out i end up with the cat hanging off the end of the needle!! I'm also doing a crochet blanket at the moment, just simply going round and round a square changing colour each time, simple but looks good, its quite big at the moment but i wanna keep going till i've finished up my balls of wool, see how big i can get it!!

[pinkpopcorn]

Martha the lavender and white video project above is LIKE a square that goes round and round as well. I LOVE that pattern.

Here in the states we call balls of yarn skeins. In most other countries they are called wool, whether they actually are made of wool or man made yarns, bamboo or cotton. I find that interesting.

My father used to tell me as a child growing up that, "You NEVER finish what you start!" Hello... has never happened yet? NOPE! So I made an agreement with myself that I will work on one project at a time finishing each of them until they were completed. I have 1 baby blanket uncompleted. It was so hard to do and I vowed never to make another one. My daughter, Julie, claimed it for her babies. After she died I didn't have the heart to work on it any more. Maybe in the new system it will be completed. It is one of the most beautiful baby blankets I ever made. Perhaps I can find a pic of it.

[esme_m]

I'm gonna have a look at that video in a minute, i've only just started crochet and love it! its so easy, yet therapeutic at the same time, i watched the video on how to do the popcorn stitch and couldn't believe how easy it is!! will definately be giving it a go soon!

Thats interesting about the wool (although i did catch myself just before i posted last time as i had spelt it wall lol) I bought my last lot on ebay, got a bag of 6 balls plus postage for about €10 and its really decent quality too. I love the feel of the bamboo and cotton too.

I'm so sorry to hear about your daughter Chris, my thoughts are with you , its understandable that you find it hard to complete now, but like you say hopefully in the new system it will be finished and will again be put to use, i would love to see a picture of it. I'll try and put a picture of my current crochet up later when i get home for you (i'm in college at the minute). I like your meaning of never ;) i must remember that when i'm told off next for not finishing something and starting something new.......although i think the one sock i knitted a few years ago is never going to get its pair

My congregation is very crafty which is brilliant, our last project was a crochet blanket for the congregations newest baby, we each did a few squares, looked lovely finished and before that i think was our most ambitious one, a rag rug for a sister getting married, we each did a few squares, there was literall blood that went into it lol!! but it did look amazing once done, i'll try and find a pic of that too for you to see. Happy crafting!! ><

[pinkpopcorn]

Martha do you have craft stores there in Ireland? Here we have many in so areas of our town. The yarn has gotten quite expensive because there has been a surge in crafts. For many years people left all that stuff behind as something only 'hippies' do. Now, it is all the rage in Paris fashion.

I have made rugs, pot holders, I excel at doilies of every kind and experience level. I have made clothing, skirts, sweaters, hoodies, scarves, ponchos, shawls, hats of every style, purses from adult to kiddies, cell phone holders, and baby items of all kinds. What I really love doing is afghans. I seem to like squares and assembling the pieces by crocheting them together to form other patterns within the pattern. Here are a couple of shawls that show the squares put together. You can see each square and then the assembly that makes another pattern of flowers where they join.

This first one is made in cool yarn. It is brown and has a metalic thread running through. It is almost stretchy in feel. It looks sparkly in person.

http://crochetdivas.com/imagebrowser/ib_p014_0_17.jpg

I made this one in two colors of pink. Jude (my little grandson says it is "Fences, Gram!" It does remind you of a chain link fence in the middle of the squares. ><

http://crochetdivas.com/imagebrowser/ib_p014_0_22.jpg

This is my favorite squares pattern to make. It is fast and I can do it in my sleep.

http://crochetdivas.com/imagebrowser/ib_p014_0_24.jpg

[esme_m]

Wow, they are amazing!! they look so intricate and delicate, i would love to be able to crochet like that. I love the first one, is it very hard to do? Here's a picture of my blanket i'm working on, the colours haven't come out very well in the picture but its purples and green, when we were little we had two similar ones made by my mum and great aunt and i've always wanted one myself

I reckon i'm about 2/3 there with it at the moment. There are craft shops here, just not many and those that we do have are not very well stocked and are very expensive so i tend to do most of my craft shopping online as it ends up cheaper and with a lot more choice, i wish we had the lovely ones like you have!

[pinkpopcorn]

Martha, thanks for the compliment!!! I am of the opinion that one should only make something they LOVE!

The brown one is that hardest but I really like it. I actually hate to give it to the sister I made it for. Maybe I will wear it to the memorial this year. We are celebrating it at the Plant City Assembly Hall. It gets pretty cold there, so it will come in handy.

I really love the colors in your square!!! Do you crochet tight? My daughter does. I am more loose. Hey man.... I'm L O O S E Baby!

What kind of yarn it in it, Martha? Is it worsted? That means the threads are 4 ply in the yarn. I often crochet these shawls in sock or baby yarn. I like light stuff and we live in Florida where we have 90 degree weather 9 months a year! When I crochet with worsted wool I always use a large hook. It makes it less hot (the piece I am crocheting) and the speed goes faster because it uses more space quickly. I would like to take the speed test some time because I am like the world's fastest crocheter.

When I crochet I use ONLY Susan Bates hooks. I HATE - repeat - HATE "Boye" hooks. They split the yarn when using them to crochet. I like aluminium and the large plastic hooks. Plastic ones I took my nail file to the sharp seams on the sides. I made the whole thing smooth like a baby's bottom!

Keep on with the needlework kids!

[esme_m]

Thanks Chris!! I love purples and i think green goes really nice in it too, yeah i crochet (and knit) really tight......ah well will be warm i spose ;) hehe. In fact at some points i've had it so tight i've barely been able to get my hook through...... lol!! I wish we had 90 degree weather here!! we're right on the edge of the atlantic in West Cork and so get all the bad weather first but the beautiful surroundings make up for it.....when u can see it of course!! I've just had a look at the wool, i think it probably is 4ply, when i bought the wool there was no labels on it and i'm not great at knowing what wool is what lol!! I'm currently using a 5 mm metal hook, i'm not sure what make it is though. I like it cause its not huge and heavy and i find i can use it without dropping it all the time ( i have absolutely NO coordination lol!!)

This is my current blackwork project (its similar to cross stitch but is using a lot of lines to make a pattern with a lil bit of cross stitch) its done on evanweave which is a bit like loose linen is the best way i can describe it lol, been doing it for years but its really complicated and can only do a bit at a time. This is what it will look like when finished

[pinkpopcorn]

OH MY GOODNESS! HOW BEAUTIFUL!!!! That is very intricate. I would never have the patience for that. It is SEWING! I hate sewing. I had Home Economics in school and was very good at the cooking part but hated the sewing. We made a project (yeah right!!!) in fabric and used sewing machines but mine was Ehh. Years later I sewed Julie a dress when she was 8 years old. It turned out very nicely but I hated doing it the whole time. I have a good friend who did a cross stitch picture of Noah and his family at the ark. It was penciled onto the linen using an over head projector from a book or magazine (our literature). It is simply breathtaking! And huge on her wall.

Martha I would love to sit with you and crochet with you in your house in Cork. You guys get all the hurricanes that come off the Eastern coast of the USA. Generally by the time they get there they are just gales. But my sister is an Ireland visitor and says they can be quite strong. Hey, go check out my sister's website: IrelandYes.com I think you will enjoy it. We are Irish, among other mongrel mixes! Mom is Irish and Italian. Dad was French Canadian and Blackfeet Indian.

I admire all of us so much for the diversity of our talents. How it must make Jehovah's heart glad to see his human kids doing so well with their respective gifts.

Hint: If you cannot get your hook through the hole, you are cinching down too tightly. Relax the tension a bit. Have some and chill.

[esme_m]

mmmmm tteeeaaaaa........

aww your very kind chris, most of it is basically the same patteren repeated the whole time, its starting to get a bit more difficult now as there bits of cross stitch involved which means more counting which is really frustrating if you get it wrong which is probably why i've not picked it up in a while lol!!

Yeah we do get the tail end of hurricanes a lot here and it can be really really windy, i live in an older house and my curtains spend most of the time horrizontal and i end up led in bed convinced the roof is coming off!! I would love to do some crocheting with you too, especially to learn how to do those amazing shawls!! if not now then maybe in the new system eh?

I'm actually english, we moved here when i was 9 so at this stage i'm more irish than i am english lol, i love it here though, its soooo pretty and the locals are brilliant too, hilarious sometimes even.....i came across a certain farmer today who drives a van down the main road at under 10km p/h you end up trying to decide if its more dangerous to stay behind him or if its safer to take your life in your hands and attempt to overtake on a corner lol!!

I had a look at your sisters site, its lovely!! has she ever been down to west cork?

[pinkpopcorn]

Martha I doubt there is a nook or cranny that Michele has not trekked in Ireland. She and Barry LOVE IT SO! They'd live there if she didn't need a fortune to start her life over in the 'green place.'

My BIL is absolutely hilarious and has so many tales from traveling in Ireland. Once, at the Cliffs of Moher, he was skipping down the hill back to the car when he hit a patch of mud and went sliding all the way down on his backside. By the time he stood up at the bottom - he was a MUD MONSTER! My sister could barely catch her breath at the hilarity of the scene played out before her. Then, as they were in the parking lot a bus with children on a day trip were there. As they all got off the bus they were staring at Barry with their mouths open. He told the teacher how windy it was at the top and it had pushed him down the hill. The teachers were frightened for the kids and so all piled right back into the bus. Michele almost peed her pants laughing over that!

They call Barry 'that crazy Yank' over in Ireland. He certainly is a prize of fun! He has so many funny stories that Michele should write a book of just the stuff that happens. It would be a best seller, let me tell you!

I have never been to Ireland yet it is my fantasy of coming for a visit. Have you ever heard the talk called : How the Truth Came to Ireland by John May? Fantastic talk! If you do a bit of research you will find a court case involving John and his siblings against his father, who was in the truth. John's mother, a staunch Catholic, refused to allow her husband to study with his kids and it made Irish law. The Protestants threw it into the faces of the Catholics that this injustice went on for years there. Very interesting story.

[esme_m]

hahahaha!!!! oh man i can just him rolling down that hill now!!!! honestly the things that happen around here are just hillarious!! I've never been up to the cliffs of moher but is a place i would love to go and visit, we've just been in Dublin the weekend to hear the zone visit that was beamed across from London, although we were close to the city we were in Punchestown racecourse which was lovely, especially with all the beautifull weather we are having this week (best enjoy it while we can i think ;) ) As a side note there was 4,040 in Dublin and alltogether there was over 17,000 listening between the UK, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

You should definately come and visit Ireland someday, especially west cork ;) I'm sure we could find somewhere to put you up and we are always on the look out for some extra help in our territory (it takes us a good hr to get out to our far away territory but it is so pretty!)

I haven't heard of that talk, i'll definately look it up later and see what i can find out about it. We are hopefully watching a film the weekend about how the truth came into Ireland (us and another congregation are getting together with some tea and cake after ) should be interesting.

[Poly Ester]

Also this Saturday we are joining force with Skibbereen congregation for a special showing of the DVD that was shown at last years zone visit... it is all about how the first witnesses came to West Cork and many of the brothers and sisters we know are on the film... we are having the showing at our hall in Bantry and afterwards we are having some tea and cakes... it should be a lovely evening and we are looking forward to it...

anyway sorry to get