Charity Crochet Group a Huge Success!!!

On Tuesday the 18th, myself and four others held another Charity Crochet and Knitting Class at Street Reach in Thunder Bay. This time we held it in the evening. It was a huge success! We had around 6 crochet students and one knitting student. We ran out of hooks!! LOL

It was a lot of fun. Each student received a pattern, hook or needles and yarn. I was amazed at how well all of our students did. They were wonderful to teach. Each student worked at their own pace and they worked hard.

I was very surprised that we only got one knitting student. I expected more people that wanted to learn how to knit then crochet and we had more supplies for knitting. It was the exact opposite of what we all expected! Never less, we had enough to go around.

I 'm not sure if we will be holding this charity teaching class again. However all of the students were invited to our, open to the public, craft group on Wednesdays. Three of them showed up the next day!

Cheers to everyone who participated!!!

The Afghan Craze

Well I have officially gone crazy for Christmas this year. This is lapghan number one. I only have three more to go!! I have to finish joining this one this evening and border it tomorrow. They are a bit larger than what a lapghan is considered. I am dutch after all and most family members average at 6'2 (the really tall ones are 6'6 to 6'7.) So these are actually 3x4 feet in size in order to hopefully cover my family members legs.

It's pretty funny actually since I am the midget in the family. One of these covers me up to my chest as I'm only 5'4. And no, no one knows what happened to me to end up being so tiny. Even my boys are very large. The eldest was 6'4 last year and my youngest... well let's say he's almost at the six foot point!!

So I have only two weeks for each ghan in order to finish on time. *sighs* This is a killer with carpal tunnel, let me tell you!! Advil is my best freind right now. Someone please remind me to start X-mas gifts in July next year!!!

Crochet Novel Series by Betty Hechtman

Hooked on Murder is the very first novel starring our crochet heroine, Molly. It is a great read and so much of how we crocheters think, react and what we crochet is dead on. This author really knows her stuff! It's a very fun read and any one who crochets will relate to it.

Betty has her second book in the series coming out in December called Dead Men don't Crochet. I have already pre-ordered mine. Molly once again must solve the murder case. I'm really looking forward to it!

They are recommended to read! You will be missing out if you don't get ahold of these books! :)

Teaching Projects 2

This is the Ridge Scarf. It's not very long but covers your neck very nicely to keep you warm and snugly on those cold Canadian winter days.

Ridge Scarf
By Rebecca Van Drunen

5.5mm (1/9)
WW Yarn (one large skein)

Abbreviations:
ch= chain sc= single crochet
dc= double crochet st= stitch
r= row Fo= finish off

Ch 31.

R1: Sc 2nd ch from hook, sc each st across, ch 2, turn. (30 sts)
R2: Dc each st across, ch 1, turn. (30 sts)
R3: Sc each st across, ch 2, turn. (30 sts)
R4 to R99: Repeat rows 2 &3. (30 sts)
Fo. Weave in ends.

All Rights reserved. This pattern is intended for personal, charity or teaching purposes only. For teaching purposes this pattern can be copied in multiples.

Teaching Projects

As I get ready to begin teaching I am slowly making patterns that are simple that I can give to my students and use as a teaching aid.

Okay I can't figure out how to add a pdf file to download so I'll just copy the pattern here:

Ridge Dish Cloth
By Rebecca Van Drunen

5mm Hook (H/8)
WW Cotton or WW Yarn (1/2 skein)

Abbreviations:

ch= chain R= row
sc= single crochet FO= finish off
dc= double crochet st= stitch

Ch 31.

R1: Sc 2nd ch from hook, sc each st across, ch 2, turn. (30 sts)
R2: Dc each st across, ch 1, turn. (30 sts)
R3: Sc each st across, ch 2, turn. (30 sts)
R4 to R28: Repeat rows 2 & 3 to last row. (30 sts)
On R 28: in the last stitch of the row put 3sc to turn corner, sc down side, 3 sc in corner st, sc along bottom, 3 sc in corner st, sc up side, 3 sc in corner, sc along top. FO.

All Rights reserved. This pattern is intended for personal, charity or teaching purposes only. For teaching purposes this pattern can be copied in multiples.

Learn to Crochet or Knit Charity Group at Street Reach

Today was our charity group in which we teach anyone how to knit or crochet. We supplied the yarn, hooks or needles, pattern, teachers and refreshments at no cost to those who dropped in.

Before I get into how it all went I have a few thanks. First I would like to thank Street Reach Ministries, Thunder Bay for providing a nice place for our Charity Group which included a kitchen to make coffee and tea. Thank you so much for this opportunity!

I would like to thank Threads in Time, Thunder Bay owned and ran by Lynn Landry-Rody who so generously provided many crochet hooks for use to give away as a supply. Without her extremely generous offer we probably wouldn't have had any crochet hooks and I would have been giving away my personal ones. Thank you so much Lynn!!! :)

Third I would like to thank St. Joseph's Care Group, Thunder Bay and personally Kaitlyn McFall for the idea, the support, finding a location, making the poster etc. This could not have been done without you! Way to go girl! Kaitlyn is responsible for this group from top to bottom! :)

Fourth I would like to thank the lovely people that have donated yarn and needles. I received some both from Freecycle Thunder Bay and from a lovely lady at a garage sale. Thank you both. Your yarn and needles are being put to great use! :)

Fifth, a huge Thank you to Melissa and Kaitlyn who are the other teachers for knitting and crocheting! We can't teach without teachers willing to donate time and knowledge! :)

Lastly and most importantly a huge thank you to all the people that dropped in today! It was lovely to see and meet such wonderful new people! Thank you for coming and for being great! :)


It was a lovely day. A nice warm and sunny one. We were all prepared and ready to go for 1pm. We had a ton of yarn, needles and hooks. We had a few people drop in for coffee and a snack to see what we were up to and to chat for a bit with us all. It was quite wonderful to meet all the new people and have friendly conversation! Thank you to our one student! She was such a trooper. She learned how to begin crocheting a dishcloth and was so easy to teach. She picked up crochet like a duck to water! It made it all worth it to work with someone.

We did learn from one of our drop in coffee chatters that our time we had picked was awful. Most people had other programs or things to do at that hour. So we have decided to do another charity group in November on the 18th from 6 to 9 pm, which we were told was a better time! We will be better prepared for this one too! We have all our supplies and will have posters up next week, so hopefully we get a bigger turn out! I am very much looking forward to it!

I had a great time and felt very honoured to be one of the crochet teachers. I really enjoy teaching and love being able to give and bring a smile to someone's face! It was a blast and I'm very pleased with it all! :)

I will post pictures here later this evening! Watch this space! :)

bec

The World of Ravelry!!

I have recently discovered this awesome site. I have been missing out!! It's so handy! I can keep track of my hooks, books, stash and projects on there! Exactly what I needed! Now the job of putting all my stash on there and dragging it out of it's hiding holes is a whole 'nother story!

I'm still lost on it actually. I haven't yet figured out the pictures and I can't seem to add them if my life depended on it. I'm still trying to figure out what half the buttons do. LOL

I love crafts online! It becomes such a small world! :)