Mainely Creative

Boxes of Yarn in the Mail!

2009-04-18T07:42:00.016-04:00

APRIL 18, 2009

In the past month or so, I've received some yarn in the mail. They've come from different sources for different reasons, but I wanted to share them with you all and explain about them. I'll go in the same order I received them.

Here is what I saw when I opened the box:

Here is what was in the box:

Coats and Clark sent me this yarn because of a letter I wrote to them. You see, over the past year or so while working all my projects, here and there I'd find a section of a skein that was unusable because of fraying or it was cut and knotted, etc. It was quite disrupting to my knitting, especially given that it usually happened right in the middle of a row. So, I started saving the yarn pieces and the band that went with the yarn showing the lot # and color. After I had quite a few, I wrote a letter to the makers of Red Heart yarn and explained why I was writing and that it seemed to be becoming a regular thing, something which never used to happen to me with their yarn. I attached the little snippets of yarn and the bands with the color information to the letter with some tape and sent it on it's way. A few weeks later, I received a nice letter of apology and the box of yarn as replacement! Now that's customer service!

I was recently reading on Crochetville about how a person had trouble with a certain brand of yarn and she couldn't even get them to reply to an email. Well, I've heard many people put down Red Heart yarn for various reasons, but I've always been happy with my dealings with them. This is the second time they have replaced yarn this way and any time I've contacted them, they were always courteous and quick to try to resolve the issue.

Ok, on to more yarn!

Here is a box of yarn I received a few weeks ago from my mother:

Pretty cotton yarn, huh? I could only find a few solid colors here in northern Maine, so after telling my mother about the empty search for colorful yarn, she went shopping in Augusta and then sent me these beautiful skeins of cotton yarn. She knows how much I love to knit the graphed dishcloths and bibs and she spoils me because I'm her baby girl (j/k!). There were nine skeins of solid colored cotton and I love it! I have already made a bib out of the green and am in the process of knitting a cloth with the orange. Thanks, Mom - you rock!

This box just arrived yesterday:

Allyn, a woman in one of my Yahoo groups sent me this yarn for my charity knitting. Last year I was able to give out quite a bit of things one of the local Head Start programs, as well as the Battered Women's Project. Most of the things were for children (hats, mittens, slippers, etc.) but some were in adult sizes. I do tend to make more for the children, though. Anway, she gifted this yarn to me and I really appreciate it. It gives me more to work with and I'll be turning all that pretty yarn into some very nice, warm mittens, etc. to keep lots of little hands warm this coming winter. Thanks, Allyn! You're very thoughtful!

I bet you thought I was almost done showing you yarn I've received, huh?
The following was sent to me as part of wishes that we grant on my Yahoo groups.

From Sabrina V. - This was a wish she granted for me. I've used almost the whole cone already! I'll post pictures of the completed items as soon as I can finish up the one last thing I need to do.

This cone was sent to me from Janette, another woman who granted a wish of mine for a cone of cotton:

And finally, here are skeins of cotton sent to me in a box of things from April:

Now that I've caught up on my posts about the yarn and the comfortghan squares, I've got to take a break before showing more projects, both that I've made and those I've received.

April and Patricia's Squares

2009-04-18T07:26:00.004-04:00

I've received the last two packages of squares for Mom's comfortghan.

I am quite surprised with how evenly the colors and combinations ended up being.
It breaks down like this:

Warm Brown: 21

Ranch Red: 21

Multi-Colored, finished with Warm Brown edge: 9

Multi-Colored, finished with Ranch Red edge: 7

Isn't it funny how that worked out? Everyone sent in the color schemes they had made and no one knew what anyone else was sending to me and it ended up quite even! I'm quite impressed, to say the least! I will even it up by making a couple more with both colors, edged in the red.

Here are the squares I received from April and Patricia. Both of these ladies are in Yahoo crochet groups with me. Thank you so much April and Patricia! I really appreciate your time and thoughtfulness.

KellyA's Squares

2009-04-01T20:50:00.002-04:00

I received these 8 squares in the mail yesterday for Mom's comfortghan. You did a great job on them, Kelly. Thanks so much!

I laid out all the squares today and found that all the color schemes are pretty much even, such as the number of solid colors of each, the number of multi-colored with same colored edgings, etc. Isn't that cool how that worked out?

Blue & Yellow Comfortghan Squares - UPDATED!

2009-04-01T18:12:00.010-04:00

Today I sent these three squares to a fellow Crochetville member who is making a comfortghan for her mother.

UPDATE: If you'd like to see the completed comfortghan that "heart" made with these and the others she received, you can see it out HERE.

But she doesn't look like a nurse...

2009-03-24T18:43:00.007-04:00

March 24, 2009

When we take the time and effort to make a gift for someone, it really stinks when it doesn't turn out well. That was the case with last night's project - a "nurse" dishcloth that I knit for a very special nurse I know and love. I was about 10 rows from the end before realizing that it didn't look like a nurse (or at least it didn't look like much of a nurse to me). This is what I had:

So... what did I do? Well, I ripped it out, of course! Yeah, it was a lot of work down the drain, but better to use the cotton for something that I would give, rather than just have it stuffed in a box somewhere.

Speaking of things that don't look like what I expected, here's another example. Now, before I show it to you, I should say that it looks just like it should and also just like everyone else's (I looked on Ravelry), but I'm just not happy with it. So, here for your browsing pleasure I present "Flutterby Fairy", a.k.a. Tinkerbell:

Either way I turned it (it's supposed to be designed for either side), it just didn't look as much like Tinkerbell as I expected it to. Oh well...

How about that bib I showed you in my last post? Yeah, I finished it and I'm happy with that! Wow, yeah I said I'm happy with something I made, ha ha. I am definitely going to make more of these, they're just so darn cute!
What do you think of this?

While I'm showing projects, here is a cloth I made for my granddaughter for her 8th birthday, since she loves to skate!

Until next time... happy crafting and here's to your projects coming out the way you picture them to be!

Dishcloths and Bibs...

2009-03-21T16:39:00.009-04:00

March 21, 2009

I've always liked to knit dishcloths, not so much the plain-Jane ones, but the ones that are shaped or have some oomph to them. These are from the same pattern, but notice the difference between the variegated one and the one shade of color one. Both beautiful in their own way, right? Right!

Well, recently I branched out a bit and got brave enough to try a few "picture" dishcloths. Here are my first two:

Btw, the above dishcloths are "Easter" and "Button", both done for friends in a group I'm in... crappy picture of the button one, but it's the only one I have.

Soon after knitting those, I began the search for more cloths to knit. After finding and printing out dozens ahead of time, I stumbled upon this wonderful blog that had not only cloths, but also baby bib patterns, and they match! Here is what I've knit so far on the "Snowbaby Bib":

I've had a hard time getting a good picture of these knit pictures. I think my lighting is bad, too, which doesn't help. Ok, but back to the bib, it's really fun to knit them, I have enough grandbabies to knit them for, so I can see this being an addiction, lol! I think when I knit more bibs from that same blog, I'll go down a needle size tho, as this isn't tight enough.

I'll update with pics of the finished bib as soon as... well, as soon as it's done! ;-) After I get out to WalMart, I'll have a new supply of some colored cotton to make some more dishcloths and bibs, too. Woohoo!

Cindy's Squares

2009-03-21T15:51:00.005-04:00

I received these squares in the mail today from Crochetville member cindybmw2004 (Cindy), aren't they pretty? Thanks so much, Cindy - they're beautiful!

Two More Squares

2009-03-20T06:53:00.007-04:00

March 20, 2009

The other day I received two more squares in the mail. These are from jmccrochet (Joyce), a fellow Crochetville member. Thanks so much, Joyce! Your squares are beautiful!!

More Squares!

2009-03-16T00:52:00.006-04:00

Here are the latest squares I received for Mom's Comfortghan. Aren't they beautiful?
Thank you, Yvette and A_stitchintime!! I'm late getting these posted due to some things going on lately and for that I apologize, I really didn't mean for it to take this long, girls.

When I look at all the squares together, I am reminded of all the talent and artistry in all the ladies making them. I guess I should take a picture of all of the ones I've received all together, huh?

Lots of Squares Today!

2009-03-06T22:58:00.012-05:00

I've received five packages of squares in the past two days, so I'm going to make one post, as well as post all the pictures of the squares I've received.

My thanks go out to Charlene, Jessica, Sandy, Janette and Shana. These ladies worked hard to create some beautiful squares - what a selection Mom is going to have on her afghan, I just know she's going to love this!

Thanks, Ladies!

Squares Rec'd From Grannzkraftz

2009-03-02T21:47:00.008-05:00

Today I received 4 more squares for Mom's afghan. These come from grannyzkraftz, a fellow Crochetville member. They are beautiful squares and I am so thankful to her and the others who have been helping me with this project. Thanks, Grannzkraftz, you squares are beautiful!

GrannyAnnie's Squares

2009-02-27T16:27:00.007-05:00

Today I received 2 squares for Mom's comfortghan from a fellow Crochetville member, GrannyAnnie. She crocheted and mailed these nice squares in between doctors appointments and preparing for a surgery. Thank you so much, Ann!

Wendy M.'s Squares

2009-02-27T07:56:00.007-05:00

I've received the first 4 squares for my Mom's comfortghan from Wendy M - she's in one of the Yahoo crochet swap groups I'm a member of. She is new to the group, but jumped right in to help when I asked the members if they'd like to help me with a comfortghan. Thanks, Wendy!

The comfortghan is made in Red Heart Super Saver, the colors are Ranch Red and Warm Brown. Awesome squares, Wendy!

My First Post

2009-02-27T07:38:00.005-05:00

This is my first post here on my blog. I'm really new at this, so please excuse me while I "set up shop" and learn my way around all this.

The first thing I'm going to do is keep track of a comfortghan that I'm going to assemble for my Mom. I am receiving 6" squares from many internet friends and will post pictures as they arrive, as well as when I begin assembly. I want to make sure each person gets credit for their contributions. I am so thankful to each and every person giving squares for this project and I really appreciate their time, effort and thoughtfulness.