Blankets for Barracks Soldiers

My yarn group, which now has a name - the Ritzy Hookers Yarn Group, has decided to take on a project I found on Facebook in the Mood Blanket group I belong to. It's Blankets for Barracks Troops. Megan Palmer is asking for 6" or 12" squares to make afghans to fit the beds of troops who are returning to their barracks after a deployment. When it gets closer to time for the troops to come home the FRG (family readiness group) set up the rooms to welcome them home.

Megan wants to have a blanket for every barracks soldier coming home - something warm, inviting and homemade to show them appreciation and to show them there are people happy to have them home.

The afghans need to be 48"x72" and Megan is accepting squares, blankets, supplies, etc. Anyone can join the group on Facebook, where her contact information is located. You can also leave a message for me if you want to take part in the project but don't have a Facebook account and I can pass on the information.

Last week after I learned about this project, I walked into an indoor yard sale and found some yarn. Of course, I looked through it to see if there was anything I was interested in. There wasn't, but instead a small baggie of what looked like yo-yos caught my attention. I took them home and after close inspection of others in the yarn group I discovered they weren't yo-yos.

They are the centers to granny squares! What perfect timing for a project that calls for 6" squares. I have a good start for a bunch of very colorful squares to send to Fort Hood, Texas. And they can be used for men's or women's afghans, both of which are stationed at the fort.

Our yarn group is putting something in the local newspaper with a challenge/open invitation to the community to participate in the project. The finished items will be collected at the local chamber office. We will then host a yarn day the end of October where we will assemble and crochet as needed.

I invite everyone to join in this great project! It's a great stash buster, and what a wonderful way to give back to those who are serving our country! I don't know about you, but when I read about this project, it warmed my heart and I knew I wanted to take part. I will post our progress here, and if I hear of any others taking part I'll include them as well.

Until the next yarn adventure...

Happy on the Hook!
Gwenhywfar

Stash Bustin'

The time has come to use up yarn. While it's nice to have yarn on hand for that quick, I-want-to-start-a-project-now moment, I have more than enough for those times. I decided to tackle the Lion Brand Homespun stash first. I have leftovers from various afghans, plus skeins I've bought for projects I'm just not sure I'll tackle. And then there are the skeins I purchased on sale (bonus!!).

I started with a sc, ch1 afghan (taken from a dishcloth pattern), but the unique pattern that was so visible in the dishcloth disappeared in the afghan due to the yarn. My mother had purchased some Homespun Thick and Quick and whipped up a simple afghan of one row of single crochet, one row of double crochet. I liked the looks of it and frogged out what I had started.

It works up fast and is oh so soft like Homespun is meant to be. I'm carrying the yarn on the side for all the colors, eliminating the need to tuck all those slippery ends! The length is set - I believe I crocheted 120 chains and I'm using a size N hook. The yarn is Homespun Baroque, Windsor and Colonial.

It's a great stash-buster, and an easy pattern. Right now my life is hectic at work planning a fundraiser and a parade, so I need a pattern I don't have to think. And I need to crochet just to unwind. I will be looking for other easy patterns that are stash-busters as well, because work will get only busier now as fall arrives.


Happy on the Hook!
Gwenhywfar

Monday ramblings

I actually had a productive weekend, even though it was a busy one. I'm caught up on my temperature blanket, pictured above, and I'm very happy with the minor adjustments I made to the Riley Flower Square Motif. The colors are working together quite well, although once again I've adjusted the color scheme for that as well.

The idea of a temperature blanket came from a group on Facebook. It's really been a lot of fun tracking the highs and lows each day. The nuances of temperature changes each day is fascinating, how the temperature can jump around within a day and how in the summer it stays hot well into the evening (in our part of the United States anyway) is all intriguing. I am a bit frustrated though, that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Weather Service's website where I obtain my temperatures stopped posting information on Aug. 1 at 7:40 p.m.

Since I am at a stopping point on the temperature blanket and will have to wait for the local newspaper to come out on Thursday for the temperatures, I turned my attention to my mood blanket. I had initially began working on the centers with the intent of 'catching up' from January 1. Well, we're in August, and I'm just starting, so that's not going to work. So I decided to start in July like I did with the Temperature Blanket.

I came across the mention of a mood blanket in someone else's blog at the beginning of the year. I did some research and found a group on Facebook dedicated to those who were committed to the Crochet Mood Blanket 2014 Crochet Along. 

First, select your moods. Then select the colors that best represent the moods. For my blanket, the inside of the block is the mood.

My moods are content, relaxed, happy, blessed, productive, busy, tired, stressed, bleh, overwhelmed, migraine, energetic, excited, confident, frustrated and bad day.

Then, you can either do a block every day or choose a block pattern that has multiple rows and do a row a day for a block a week. I am doing a block a week.

Some crocheters/knitters are doing rows per day/week. The choices are infinite!

This has been a good exercise for me. It's helped me to see how my moods change, and how long my moods stay the same. As with the temperature blanket, I've been tracking my moods since the beginning of 2014. 

I am using the same pattern Zelna Olivier at Zooty Owls' Crafty Blog used for her Mood Blanket. I am using I Love This Yarn by Hobby Lobby for the entire afghan. So far, the colors I've selected are going together nicely, even the not-so-good moods!

Both daily afghans are very similar in design, it turns out. I will have to be very careful and not get the patterns mixed up! I am enjoying how both are working up, and knowing each is specific to me - one the temperatures of my hometown and the other my interpretation of my moods each day - will make these very special indeed. They may look somewhat haphazard, but they will be perfect!

Until next time...

Happy on the Hook!
Gwenhywfar