Eastside Stitchers Meet New Friends on Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Good Morning.

I always want to follow my salutation with a cheerful exclamation point (!), but then I think, wow, that looks like shouting, so I go back and edit it out.

But, a cheerful Good Morning to all you stitching cats.  (I really want to call my readers my Kittens, because when I say, Good Morning, Cats, I feel like I'm talking to Jazz Musicians, but I can't decide if calling you stitching kittens or my f1ber kittens, makes you feel too young.)

Enough of this rambling and on to the Eastside Stitchers' Wednesday meet up.

We met at  Crossroads Mall in Bellevue, again, conveniently near the Starbucks, Half Price Books, and JoAnn's.  Convenient, that is, for feeding our coffee, stitch book, and yarn addictions. 

We were missing a few of our regulars, Jenknotsed8 and Chockelet.  Hope they are both feeling well.  We did have two new pairs of knitting needles.  SeattleAmy and Magpel, who normally stitch with a group from Renton, dropped in to check us out.  How fun.  We had to pull up a second table.  It is nice to see our little stitching group growing.

Here are the WIP's and a few show-and-tells that came to Crossroads:



Cleothyla brought two fabulous finished
pieces for Show-and-Tell

her Harry Potter Illusion Shawl

Isn't this amazing?  My youngest son, L, stopped by
for some dinner after ballet (his absent mom was knitting instead of cooking), and kept saying, "how can this be?  how does that work?"

Cleothyla also brought a beautiful beaded bag


She was working on a second Brambles hat, but I was so amazed by the bag and shawl, that I forgot to get a photo!

MsWiz (fresh off the high of her beautiful dog's
Best in Breed victory last week), was starting some lace in a gorgeous handspun yarn.

Magpel was learning socks.  Get this:  she was beginning her first socks ever, Two-at-a-Time, with the Circle Socks by Anne Campbell.  Brave woman.










She did have a great teacher sitting right next to her.

In addition to coaching Magpel, SeattleAmy worked on a Baby Sophisticate Sweater by Linden Down.

Looks like the body is just about finished.

BrainLady also brought a baby sweater, a beautiful cream cabled piece.

Allifer came for the last half hour. She dropped by after work, and was crocheting placemats.  She gave us some story about cleaning her apartment after getting a new couch, and for some reason that meant new placemats for her table.  Makes perfect sense, right?  Have to admit that I love the color.













I was once again working on the Red Hot Sweater I am knitting for my friend, Lewk, who is serving in Afghanistan.  I like to bring this sweater because I have the pattern memorized so I can mindlessly knit it while chatting, taking photos, eating dinner, and drinking coffee.  However, how many weeks have I brought this same sweater?  Not only that, but how many weeks have I brought the FRONT of this same sweater?  I am starting to call this project the "Never Ending Sweater,"  though BrainLady called it the "Slow Sweater."  Ha!

Hope to see those who showed up again next week.  Hope to see more new faces.  There is lots of room at the table in the corner, and if we fill up that table, we will just pull up another one.

Have a great (though cold) day.

f1bercat
shaping the planet one stitching group at a time

Stitch Tutorial 2 for Never Fading Flower Square by Nellas April

2012 Crochet  Block-A-Month CAL

March 6 in Square

Never Fading Flower Square by Nellas April

Tutorial 2

Good morning.

Here is a multi-colored version of the tutorial I posted yesterday, changing colors at every round. I am not doing a full tutorial here, just the color changes.I would like to thank Nellas April for this sweet square.  She has generously given this design as a free Ravelry download.  Please check out her other designs on Ravelry here

Crocheted on US size I  5.5mm hook I got 6"  exactly, but I tend to crochet loosely.

Round 1

no changes  

Round 1 finished

Round 2

ignore instructions to ss

Join Next color with ss in any ch2 sp

[make loop for hook,

insert hook into any ch2 sp THEN slip yarn onto hook

pull loop through  

Yo, pull through loop]

Continue instructions as written.

Round 2 finished

Round 3

ignore instructions to ss

Join next color with Sc in any ch4 sp

[with new color on hook, insert hook into any ch2 sp

Yo, pull loop through

Yo, pull through both loops] counts as first Sc

Begin round with 3Sc in same ch 4 space. (4 sc in ch 4 space)  

Continue instructions as written.

Round 3 finished

Round 4

Join next color with Sc in first of any 4 Sc group

[with new color on hook insert hook into Sc, Yo and pull through,  

Yo, pull through both loops] counts as first Sc  

Begin round with 3 Sc.  

Round 4 finished

Continue instructions as written.  

Round 5

Join next color with Sc in same stitch as where you bound off last color.

[With new color on hook, insert hook into sc  

Yo, pull through, Yo and pull through both loops] counts as first sc.  

Begin round with 8 sc in next 8 sts.  

Round 5 finished

Continue instructions as written.

Finish off. EEK!  Weave in ALL ends

Finished except for blocking

I just love the way the double crochet clusters are split to give an even more star-like flower.  I also really love the magic loop.  I have been crocheting forever, since I was very young, anyway, and this was a new technique for me.  (no jokes about old cats and new tricks, please)

Have a great day.

f1bercat

Shaping the planet one woven-in square at a time