Sport Weight Striped

I've been sticking with the basic hats just to get some started and as I was teaching new crocheters, I wanted an easy to follow pattern. I still haven't had a chance to really get into the fancier patterns but I have helped my sister in law learn some new stitches and I practiced them to show her how they work and she's had some luck with them. As for me, I finished up a second cap  in the variegated yarn from Saturday's post, you can see how it's similar and yet not exactly the same I also made a new one using some sport weight yarn to make a cooler, airier cap. I also alternated colors so there's a bit of a different look to this one. Striped hats are fun but the changing colors does slow me down. I hope to have to make some more pink and white hats soon if I can get some more team mates on my Komen team, don't forget, it's two months from yesterday!

Donated cap

I had a very busy day, including photographing baseball, swimming, workouts with instruction, soccer instruction, crochet instruction and borrowing a bike because I was invited to participate in a bike race next month and I haven't used mine in a very very long time. So that means I didn't complete much new crochet myself, though I worked on a couple pieces, and got  a decorative circe piece to add to a cap and more on a variegated cap. However, I did receive a completed cap as a donation. My sister in law finished this one and donated it to the collection.



I still want to find a date to have a "crochet class" in Keller and also have a get together day for people who are interested in just coming over to my house in Denton and helping out making some things, but my days have been so crazy I haven't gotten around to that yet. Let me know if you're interested in either of those and I'll work on getting it set.

Colors

Everyone that has donated yarn gets to pick their own colors, textures, varieties, etc. I think, and hope, that makes it fun to do that shopping. I'll quote Bekah because she helped really reminded me of this when she said "I didn't know what yarns to choose so I just picked one that looked really cool and then of course my favorite color." I know as a crocheter I already had the "love" of yarn but as you might have noticed in my last post, I still get excited seeing new yarns and it helps inspire me to get going when I'm having a rough day or need a break from reality. I also find the teacher in me comes out when one of my students does well and my sister in law has really gotten great at crocheting, she is flying through hats and learning to make flowers and has sent me several picture of them, seeing her do well and being able to answer her questions and seeing her desire to learn more than the basics I've given her is great.

Rebekah Paine, Denton, TX

I was so excited about the new colors from Thursday that I have already made one and a half caps with one of those new yarns and then last night someone brought me a couple more beautiful skeins in a super soft sport weight. Today I am headed to my nephew's last baseball game of the season and then over to their house to help his mom learn some more crochet!

Tags & of course yarn

The cards/tags I ordered to attach to the hats we donate came in this evening. I will put a hole punch in the top left corner as you see in the picture and use that to tie it on to each hat with additional handwritten information on the back of the card as necessary.

I spent the day in Dallas since I had a morning appointment at Baylor. The stores seem to all just have more of everything when you get in the "big city" as I call it when I have to fight traffic and construction on every single highway! One example of the larger options is shown in this donation I received today. On the way to my appointment I met my mom and a friend at Starbucks, while there, she gave me this amazing batch of yarn. Yet again, I'm impressed by the variety, and as much yarn as I've seen in the past, many of these I have never seen before and I look forward to using them. I think I need to go shop in Dallas more often! Although you must spend an entire day if you want to get anything done.
(LOTE teachers, the Half Price Books off Greenville has a great section you should check out)

Terry Raines, Dallas, TX

Donated Komen Caps

While these were made with yarn I purchased (rather than any donated), they do need a mention here because several of you have made donations and already chosen to donate the cap I've made back to the Q's Caps charity. If you are on the team or supporting my team I thank you in advance and I will give you updates as we continue toward the race date and then after as well but for now, here are some of the caps I have made, many of which will be added to the pile ready for donation. On that note, I have ordered cards to attach to the hats as they are donated with general information about our cause and a place to write cap care information as necessary. When those come in, I will post a picture. Until then, enjoy a few "Komen Caps"

More yarn thanks

Gary Cunningham, Sweden

I received more yarn yesterday both in the mail, and in person. I do enjoy receiving packages both ways and it's fun to see some of the out of country packaging. Gary has also made a point of choosing where to buy the yarn based on who is selling it, a Hospice shop and this batch from Cancer Research UK. There's a picture of the pin from the Cancer Center here. I also went to a reunion party last night of some of our friends from the Ministry Center at UNT, oh college years! It was a great get together and I got some more yarn from Deanna, she got a variety of types, colors and textures in that batch too, I can't wait to use all of the new yarns I received.

Deanna Green, Dallas, TX

Impromptu Crochet Party

 This evening I went to my brother's house to spend time with them and celebrate my nephew's 2nd birthday. My sister in law and I had also planned to work on making crochet flowers and checking out her completed caps. When some friends came over to with a happy birthday to the birthday boy, they were all very interested in what I was doing and I had a little mini lesson on crochet with a group of 2-7 year olds! It was fun and they all left with a bracelet or necklace :)




My brother also let us coax him into picking up a hook and he learned to chain and double crochet, though he didn't make anything specific, he learned the basics. It was a fun night, we did finish one hat, one flower and started another of each.