Group Granny Stripe Baby Afghan

Last night was our Mission Crafts Ministry meeting at church - or Knitting With The Church Ladies as I usually call it. LOVE these ladies so much! We craft and laugh and pray - does it get any better than that???

One of the ladies is expecting her first grandbaby, so we wanted to give her a baby afghan from all of us. I found the Granny Stripe afghan pattern on the Attic24 Blog and that was perfect for our needs!

A picture of the yarn pallette we chose - Vanna's Choice Baby using colors that I think of as a bit more modern. Love how they look all jumbled in the cart ready to go. :)



The Beginning of the afghan! I did the two rows of each color, then met one of the gals for dinner and the hand off so that she could do her rows. It is AMAZING how fast this pattern goes - lightning fast crochet!

Here's the blanket as of our meeting last night! I am head over heels in love with the way it's coming out, although I see all of those ends that will have to be woven in and it almost gives me palpitations. ;) Happily, we do actually have a gal that says she enjoys the weaving and she is FAST at it!

Last night as we all did the ooh and ahh over this blanket we made a decision that after giving this to Doris we will start another and always have one in process. We'll probably leave it at the church and then anybody can work on it. This way when our church gets a call from somebody that needs a blanket we will be ready.

Mission Crafts Ministry

Sometimes God’s awesome timing is enough to just blow me away.  I’ve been praying about finding a way to get more plugged in to my church and figure out what my spiritual gifts and ministry would be.  The next thing I know I receive an email from church – sent to all the ladies – wanting to know if anybody was interested in starting a prayer shawl ministry or greeting card ministry.  Seeing as how I’m a rather crafty person who just happens to enjoy knitting, crocheting, stamping, etc., how could I possibly not be excited? 

We had our first meeting this week and rather than fracture the group we’ve decided to put all the crafting under one umbrella and it will be called the Mission Crafts Ministry.  And I will be the layperson leading it, with one of the ladies on staff helping me.

Now sometimes when you pray for something, God will answer that prayer a bit differently than you first thought.  My intention was never to lead a ministry, but since it’s something I’m very interested in, coupled with the fact that the other ladies there were adamantly NOT going to lead, my fate was sealed.  And as I was driving away from church that night I couldn’t help but smile and think “Thy will be done.”

Our first objective is to try and have 75 scarves knit before July 25 to send with a group from our church going on a mission trip to Peru.  The staff person already had 8 finished and after a quick stop at Michael’s for Homespun yarn (on sale this week for $3.99!) I’ve got one scarf about halfway finished.

And even more fun is that I’m going to be meeting one of the ladies from our church at Starbucks one evening to teach her to crochet.  I love to knit and crochet and love even more when somebody will let me teach them and share my hobby.

If anybody has a similar ministry at their church – or knows about one at a friend/family member’s church – please leave me comments with any helpful hints.  I’m really excited to see where the Lord leads us with this!

Crocheted Dishcloth

 

Pardon me while I do a little mom bragging.   My daughter Lynne’, 24, has made two baby blankets so far.  She knit the first one for her niece and the second blanket was crochet for her BFF’s baby.

For Christmas this year she decided to do a crocheted face cloth for each of her grandmothers.  Both of them turned out absolutely gorgeous and her packaging was perfect.  She used a very light sage green yarn called King Tut that has a beautiful sheen to it and oh so soft and luxurious.

 

A trip to World Market for some boutique handmade soap and it was time to package.  The basket was gathered in plastic wrap and tied with a bow.

What a great gift for somebody you love!

Spiral Crochet Necklace

Last night was knitting guild meeting and ironically our program was on crochet!  We learned to make this necklace and though mine is only about 2 inches long right now I have dreams of wearing it this fall. 

It was kind of fiddly at the beginning, but once it gets set and you find your rhythm it's not bad at all.  The biggest problem I had was once I got home - I didn't want to stop!  I did sit up for awhile working on this to be certain I got the "how to" imprinted on my brain.

The girl next to me did hers in a red and white pattern that when it became a spiral looked exactly like a candy cane to me.  I see a trip to Hobby Lobby in my future so I can get more beads.  How fun to have something like that to wear during the holiday season.

We did get some book recommendations and got to flip through them last night - Bead Crochet Ropes by Judith Bertoglio-Giffin; Beaded Crochet Designs by Ann Benson and Bead Crochet Jewelry by Linda Lehman.  There were others, but I didn't get the names written down.

One of the coolest things about this project to me was that years ago - like 30 or so - my mom used to make these necklaces.  I love how things circle around again.   :)
 
(Pay no attention to the blue clip - it's there to hold my place so it doesn't all unravel!)

Good times................