Afghans two ways

Same yarn, two different afghan styles. Which one do you like best?

We've had the spiral one in our living room for the last five years, and now I'm cannibalizing it to make the one on the right.

Crochet sharing

Today my friend Christine shared some of the beautiful crochet pieces her mother-in-law is working on. So creative and lovely!! I especially love the 3-D sunflower square!

All dressed up

My friend Christine shared this photo with JoAnn and me, with a note that said: "Thinking of you 😂😝🤣😜"

I'd say that if this is us, then it looks like we're all dressed up and ready to roll. Bah-ha-haaa!!!

Lanyards for festival season

Break out the handmade lanyards — it's festival time again. 

Knitting a long 3-stitch i-cord is a fast and easy way to make lanyards that are soft and comfortable to wear. These won't cut into your skin or feel scratchy like standard ribbon lanyards or lanyards with breakaway clasps. You can customize your lanyard by using any colors you desire and even add beads or other findings for a truly unique piece that suits you.

I used worsted weight yarn and size 6 DPNs to make the lanyards in the photo, but they can be made with any yarn weight and needles that give you a nice, snug gauge on the i-cord. Leave a 6-inch tail at each end of your work so you have plenty of length to secure the hardware and fasten with knots before weaving in the ends.

I'm thinking a nice fingering weight yarn on size 1 needles with lots of sparkly seed beads would make a lovely one. I'm going to have to try that next.

These work up quickly. I made the worsted weight ones approximately 36-38 inches long, and they each took just about an hour to knit. (Adding beads would, of course, make the knitting time significantly longer.) At this gauge my lanyards each used about 12.5 yards of yarn. After fastening off and securing the hardware with a few knots and weaving in the ends, I'd estimate each lanyard takes about 90 minutes to complete. And you could easily sell these for about $10 each, depending on your audience, so ... not a bad ROI.

Before tying the ends together add a small keychain split ring or a large jump ring and a spring-close clip or lobster clasp. Tie the ends together over the split ring/jump ring and weave the ends back through the i-cord. Simple, easy finish.

Sweet baby shoes

My friend Jeanie shared this video she found of some really sweet crocheted baby shoes. Awwww!