Hope This is Worth Waiting For!

So much for the goal I originally had to update this blog quarterly -- or at least 3 times per year. But 2015 has been a challeging year. Ten days after last updating this blog, our beloved dog Jesse passed away. Nine weeks after that, our darling dog Archie passed away. Then there were the two incidents with my car, the passing of a lady I penpalled with on and off since we were teens, the bronchitis I had on the entire vacation I'd planned for months, and continuing to deal with the challenging dog hubby brought home last Dec. But I wanted to be sure to get this updated before next week's craft fair, when hopefully some of the items you see here will be sold.

The items in the first two photos were sent to a lady in Oklahoma who I did a crochet exchange with this spring. There was a scarf and hat set done in my favorite stitch pattern (used Sensations "Rainbow Classic", a doily consisting of 7 "Midnight Star" motifs (which I'd used to make the dresserscarf shown in an earlier blog entry), an angel ornament and one of many hotpads I've made by covering old CD's.

I then began to concentrate on items for the craft fair I'd agreed to do with my dear friend Dianne and her mom in Dec. If you have read this blog before, most of these items will look familiar, as they are patterns I've used before. The newborn-size layette above is the second time I made this layette using Sensations "Little Treat". I ended up making two pair of booties due to the way the colors fell in the variegated yarn, so that the booties would match!

This popcorn stitch layette, for a larger baby, is another I made for a second time. I used Mary Maxim "Marbles" yarn.

This is the third time I've made this baby sweater and hat set, which came out beautifully in boys' colors, so this time I made it in girl's colors. I really love this pattern. I used Herrschners' "Cloudsoft" yarn.

By this time, it was summer and I felt like working on a few lighter weight projects. I had one each on hand of the four Barbie dresses I've made in the past for craft fairs, so I made one more of each in different colors. You can see other examples of these, both on and off the dolls, in an earlier blog entry.

I was in Hobby Lobby during one of my visits to Dianne's (we always visit there as there is no Hobby Lobby within 30 miles of my town) and I saw the most colorful crochet thread I had ever seen. I believe it was HL's own brand and the color was "Masquerade". I bought a ball since I had never seen anything so colorful. I used it to make the Barbie dress with the 3-tiered skirt and decided to keep it for one last Barbie for my full display.

Now it was getting close to fall and I knew I had to make several of a few different items I wanted to offer at the craft fair: scarf and hat sets, pinwheel mats, and my fancy sets of round star potholders. These first two scarf sets are Sensations "Angel Hair" in berry (which is more of a rust color with yellow streaks) and "Beige Stripes".

The scarf on the left, and the bottom hat, are Hobby Lobby's "I Love This Yarn" in "Element Flowers". The other set is Deborah Norville Everyday yarn in "Oak Moss".

The scarf on the left, and the bottom hat, are Lion Brand "Heartland" yarn in "Glacier Bay" (I bought more of this yarn to make myself a poncho next year). The other set is Deborah Norville Everyday yarn in "Lava".

Next, I made several pinwheel mats. There is also one I left at Dianne's house in the Christmas colors (top, far right) but with the green and the burgundy reversed.

I really enjoy making these sets of star potholders. There is an additional Christmas set at Dianne's house in the white with burgundy/green dots and forest green. The mate of the dotted white and burgundy one is also at her house. The mate of the cream and lavender one will hopefully get done before the fair -- I had to order more of the lavender yarn. Am also working on one more set in light blue and white.

As mentioned at the top of this blog -- though this blog will remain online, this will be the last entry. This blog is replaced by my online photo album, http://comfortnjoycrochet.com. Please bookmark that page and visit often! All my latest creations will be added there, and all photos from this blog have also been posted there. I'll also soon be adding earlier photos to that album from the crochet section of my web site, The Evergreen Refuge. See you at comfortnjoycrochet.com!