Tie Dye Surprise

I got a little surprise in the mail this week...a drawstring tie-dye bag!

I love the colors!  And, I love bags!  I feel like I can never have too many.  They're useful for so many things!  Especially knitting and crochet projects.  That's why I put some yarn in it for the picture.  I just happened to have some colors that look great with it.

Benita, from the "Basically Benita" blog, sent the bag to me.  I think it was in exchange for some crocheted rocks I'd made for her a while back.  She dyes bags and other items to sell.  She also sells wonderful fibers for spinning.  She specializes in getting and selling different types of fiber and even has a way to try out different kinds on a regular basis through her "Fiber Binder Club".

Here's a photo of her business card so you can check out her website and HERE'S a link.

Thanks, Benita!  I love it!  :-D

Gratitude

Some people show their love, care or gratitude with food.

I show my love, care or gratitude with yarn.

I just finished up a shawl to show my gratitude to a very special young woman.

She's a friend of my daughter.  She reached out and was there for my daughter in a very big way.

What she did means a lot and I hope this helps to express our appreciation.

 She likes red.  I hope she likes this.  The variations of red in this yarn are gorgeous.

In person, the reds are much richer and prettier.  But, for some reason, I always have trouble getting reds to photograph correctly.  I took photos of it in different parts of the house and different lighting and these three came out the best.  I tried to tweak them a little with editing to get them a little closer.

 I crocheted it with about one and a half skeins of Serendipity Garden Yarn and a size "H" hook.

The pattern is the "Country Cotton Shawl".  I've made it before with the same yarn

but in a different colorway.  It's fun, easy and fairly quick to make.

I just had to count often to make sure I didn't do any mindless mistakes to throw it off. 

I added a shell edge along all three sides.  The shells were made with three double crochet stitches, a treble in the middle, and three more doubles.  I did a slip stitch in between the shells...a stitch that's very short to help set off the height of the shells and create better scallops.  The shell on the bottom point was slightly different.  It was made with three doubles, 2 trebles, and three doubles. 

Snuggles

Just finished up a snuggly little set for a baby boy that's soon to be born.

He'll be the first grandchild for one of the ladies in our knit group.

I knitted a little snuggle sack and a matching hat.

And, I found an adorable set of little onesies that not only match the gray yarn but

look how cute the little dinosaurs look peeking out from the top of the snuggle sack.

There are two long sleeve onesies and one with short sleeves.

I knitted the snuggle sack and matching hat with Simply Soft yarn in Grey Heather.

It took about one skein.  I used a size seven, 16" circular needle for the snuggle sack 

and size seven double point needles for the hat.

I posted additional notes on how I did it on my Ravelry site.

Just click HERE if you'd like to see them.

I even made a little dinosaur card to go with the gift.

I sure hope they like it and that they didn't already receive

 a bunch of these since they know a lot of knitters.