Crochet or Kitting with Sashay Yarn getting frustrating? Well, no more...

The technique of crocheting these scarves is fairly easy.

I have been pleased with the results thus far.

Both of these were made using Red Heart's Boutique

Sashay and the colors are vibrant and beautiful.

My photography...not so much lol.

The frustrating part for some crocheters and knitters that I have heard 

is that since it doesn't come flat, it can be crazy to do so while trying to stitch.

So, I came up with a creative way to manage it while stitching and it has actually

saved me time. I did this while watching the cooking shows at night lol...

You will need two large index cards or magazine subscription cards.

Put them together and fold one end about 2 inches in from the end.

Fold the other end over to meet the other side like a match book.

Taking your yarn, find the beginning end...

Place the frazzled "female" end inside the 2 inch fold and fold the flap over. 

Then fold the match book flap over on it.

This holds that end in place and then start winding the fiber open

around the cards.

At the end of the skein of yarn, you will have this.

It has worked great for me...

Recycling those crazy subscription cards have found a purpose as well lol...

You can even fold the label of your yarn inside the card so that

when you finish you know what you were using...

never losing what is important.

Punch a whole in all the layers and you have a place to hold

your stitch markers...

Options, Organization, baby...that's what this is about...

Hugs, Rita

Purple Glittery Crochet Scarf...

 There aren't many words that express my love for this granny square crochet stitch that I have discovered for making a scarf. It is quick, easy and something I can do without thinking about what I am doing...my mind can wonder and I don't usually lol miss a stitch. Don't look toooooo closely...not only will this keep you warmed, but it will look absolutely pretty...

I used leftover yarn from making Madison's poncho. It only took two skeins to make so that was pretty cool and even better that I made it in two afternoons. =) A great way to begin 2013...

Hugs, Rita

Crochet Snow White Glittery Scarf and samplings

I have said it a million times...crochet is my respite...it relaxes me completely! I think about nothing and everything. Ah ((sighing)) it is great to create and focus on something like this then give as a gift or use. The photograph above is a sampling of one of the scarf's I introduced to you a while back. I bought the fiber but wasn't happy with how it came together as a poncho. The colors looked prettier on the skein, but then I tried it as a scarf and WOW! Fabulous...

Then I brought the same granny square stitch into being using a green glitter fiber and it too was beautiful and delicious. I loved the colors that Caron brought with the string of sparkling glitter in this line of fiber.

 Then there is the white glittery snow white fiber that also made a rockin' awesome scarf as well. I loved the sweetness of this stitch using this color as well.

I have made this in black as well...

Starting two others in "manly" colors that will make a great gift of the guys on my list...

This stitch is easy and quick...

This makes me very happy, doesn't it you?

Introducing the black fiber...

Bold and Beautiful...

Loving crocheting and playing with fiber...

Did I mention I got a Krook for Christmas?! 

Giving it a try...we shall see =)...

Hugs, Rita

The purple glittery crochet poncho...

 As I have said before...and I will continue to say again and again...I love love love making ponchos!! This one is a deep purple with silver fiber woven within the yarn. It is fabulous and so soft! I loved working with it.

You can faintly see the glitter...

The photographs don't do it justice...

I trimmed it with my favorite shell stitch...

A much closer look ((@@)) =)

N Hook...easy on the hands TOO...

Yarns that I also got at 40% off using coupons and

multiple trips to the store as I was passing by...

This will be a Christmas gift...

The pattern is within my blog.

You can place a search to see more samples and

soon I will post another color combo that I think you 

will like too...

Hugs, Rita

A time for tapping of hooks and the warmth of fiber...

 The sound of my hook tapping my nails or the occasional bump of a ring and the warmth of the fiber is absolutely perfect on a chilly winter day. Of course, I have a nice warm latte to finish the job as I work the morning away making these delicious cloths that can be used for dishes, faces or bodies. The choice will be for the one using or giving them. I just enjoy making them. =)

The finish set is to complete an order a friend of mine placed for her grandmother. I had originally made the black cloths for our son's bathroom and the rich blue for our master bathroom. However, the two colors together are fabulous and happy. I simply love it! I plan to make bright yellow and black for the utility room and then maybe a jadeite green for the kitchen when it is rebuilt...that is undecided since I don't have it yet lol. The utility room is our makeshift kitchen and is working great thus far, however, I can make the fun cutsy cloths if not for me then for someone special.

Like the woven fibers of the crochet cloth, life can be woven into strains of hope and positive treasures of love and encouragement. It is in the choices we make and the things we say that create those moments of opportunity. As I stitch, as I run, as I drive or as I chop vegetables for a hearty soup, I think about my family, my neighbors, those I have met in the course of the week, I say a prayer of blessing, a thought of encouragement in hopes that the path they are walking is just a bit easier for them in the hours and day ahead. What are you stitching in this fiber of life?

Hugs, Rita

Autumn's Delight Crochet Poncho...

This swatch of brilliant autumn colors turned into this...

WOW!!! My latest crochet poncho that I named Autumn's Delight...

I worked on it during my Starbuck runs and one day I got to chatting with a couple from London, enjoying hearing about their travels that I crocheted ten rows without doing the corner and there was nothing I could do to "fix" it or hide it so, I took it all out in the privacy of my bedroom, after everyone was asleep, wound it up in a ball to redo it. I wasn't upset about it...I was embarrassed lol...how did such a simple stitch, a pattern I have used over and over get so tangled up lol...too funny...

The photographs don't show the rockin' awesome colors as I wish they would...

All the fibers are from Red Heart which is a bit unusual for me since 

I mix/match so often or use scraps...

The colors I used to create this fabulous piece...

The handy dandy needle who has become my best-friend

while making these ponchos...

I love love love how the orange and the green pop next to the autumn fibers...

I made this poncho a bit longer by adding the 8 rows...

Wonder who will get this beauty or if I will keep it...

...it sure feels nice...and it matches the Starbucks chair lol...

The art of Crochet and the feel of fiber is such respite for me. What is your respite?

Hugs, Rita

Life: One Stitch at a Time...even in this Crochet Toddler Poncho...

Life is such a complex thing for some and for me it totally was for the first forty years. However, crochet, paper and beading are three of the art mediums that take me away from the seriousness sides of life that otherwise can be that ugly "s" word. So, lately, I have been crocheting a LOT...One of the projects is this Infant/Toddler Pink Crochet Poncho...

I have made a couple of these already, but on this one I added only one flower, thinking the simplicity of it was much prettier with the pink fiber. I wanted the pink stitching to be more obvious than the embellishments.

I added the shell trim to the edging to this poncho and have found it is my favorite to all the ponchos more so than any other. I will probably keep this style for all my "crazy lady poncho"s LOL...

Loved making these...they are fun and super easy...

Hugs, Rita

Time for Fiber Filled Essence...

 Fiber is one of the first mediums I learned to work with in the world of artistic creativity. The feel of various fibers just sets my heart beating faster and faster and excites the inspiration down deep in my soul that I can't begin to explain or even demonstrate in my work. I won't even try. Although I love other mediums, paper being one and beading another, I can't work with those as caregiver with my family members nor in the area I have to work in at the moment. Plus fiber can go anywhere and be worked on at anytime. Like right now!! While waiting for my photos to load for this post, I got several stitches done on my next project! I love that...This is one of several washcloths I made for one of our bathrooms I am doing in black and decorating in lighthouses and sailboats. I used 100% cotton fiber for these too. I love the feel of these and they last absolutely for years.

A tip that I love love love when using fiber for crochet or knitting is to get these sweet clasps or use a bread tie or paper clip to hold your stitch when you walk away from your project or drop it in your bag. It is wonderful to not have to repeat stitches that may have been pulled or fallen out. Also, I put each project while it is in the beginning stages in large ziplock plastic bags so that I keep them clean and the needles and fiber together. Obviously have I have more than one fiber project going at once, lol, I have four in my bag right now at my feet...two ponchos, washcloth like the one above, and a scarf plus a book of possibilities all together. =) I love to keep something going...I think there is a cross-stitch project in there too. loving it...

Hugs, Rita

Creativity my own way...in the latest mother/daughter crochet poncho...

 Imagine with me, if you will, for a moment. A mom and young daughter just learning to walk as they stroll through the fall leaves on a country hillside on a beautiful autumn day wearing blue jeans and white long sleeve white cotton t-shirts and matching crochet multi-colored sweet blue ponchos! That is what I was visioning while making this poncho set...

 I did vary the pattern from the past ponchos I have made. The trim on some have had the scallop edging, some have had the chained trim, but this one, I added a couple of rows of a solid fiber and then the scallop edging.

 I also made both ponchos longer than the others I have made making the adjusted sizes more flowing and should a twirl happen...it will make a memory for both mother and daughter that much sweeter. =)

I don't know why, but creativity my own way is something that just happens. Patterns and instructions have always been simply suggestions, nothing more. Even in school, my teachers would get so upset that I couldn't seem to follow their directions. We are individuals right? Why should everyone do the same thing? However, they didn't see it that way lol. Oh well...I can express myself in my art...and now, the finished project...the moment you have all been waiting for...or at least me...

The poncho, ready to fly like a butterfly to a home...

Thought that was creativity at it's best...

Creativity in photography as a butterfly...

In my own way...

Hugs, Rita