Help Me Fight Alzheimer's Disease

I know I've mentioned it before, but I work for a company called Comfort Keepers out of St. Louis, Mo. We do in-home care for the elderly and many of our clients have Alzheimer's. I have seen first hand how devastating a disease this can be, not only to the patient but for their family and all the people who care for them. I am participating, with Comfort Keepers, in The Memory Walk to help end Alzheimer's Disease. Please consider making a donation through our page. Just follow the link below.

Help End Alzheimer's
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A Quick Note

Unfortunately my crochet funk is still going on, I did manage to get a couple squares done here and there. I've got projects with deadlines so I have to pull myself out of it.
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The deadline for the current Afghans 4 Afghans campaign is May 15 so I have to get to work on the baby blanket I'm making. I ordered the yarn specifically for this project and I'm almost done, but just can't seem to work on it for more than a few minutes at a time.
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I'm also trying to get some squares done for my All Crafts 4 Charity Yahoo group in baby colors this month. Like I said I've got a couple done but that's all.
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I'm also in the middle of a kids blanket for my local Project Linus.
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All of these projects are in bags in my craft room just waiting for me to get back to work. I've been sick this week and have barely managed to drag myself back and forth to work. I'm just staying home this weekend and (hopefully) crocheting. Or maybe I'll get some sewing done, haven't done much of that lately either.

Winner of Find Me a Pattern Contest

I called my eight year old grandson and asked him to pick a number and he picked 8! Imagine that. I need to tell him to be more creative. The winner is Rachel and this was her comment

WOW that is really nice shade of blue! Where is a capelet pattern from my blog that I think would look great with the yarn you bought! http://www.crochetspot.com/crochet-pattern-knot-stitch-capelet/I can't wait to see what you decide to make!

I STILL have not decided what to make but her pattern is in the running. Thanks to everyone for their suggestions, the patterns are all beautiful. (I'm also leaning towards some fingerless gloves, there were several suggestions for them.)

Find Me a Pattern Contest!!

OK, here's the story. JoAnn's is having a sale on yarn (it's still going on as I write this). I wanted to buy some wool for a baby blanket for Afghans for Afghans. When I totaled the order up I saw that I only had to buy a little bit more to get the free shipping and actually save money. So I bought two skeins of bamboo silk blend yarn. I thought, wow, I might actually make something for me for a change. So that's the plan but I have no idea what it is that I want to make. Here's the contest:
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Find me a pattern for something I can make myself with two 85 gram balls of bamboo, silk blend yarn. It has to be an Internet pattern that I can get for free. Yes, I know that I could find something myself. Yes I know that there are sites such as Crochet Pattern Central and Bev's Country Cottage. I just thought this would be a fun idea for a contest. The winner will be drawn at random and won't necessarily be the pattern I like the most. I will consider knitting patterns but would prefer crochet.
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To relate this to charity the prize will be a $10 gift certificate to the Crafting 4 A Cause web store. They've added a lot since my last contest so check them out!

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Please do not copy and paste the pattern. A link to the pattern is all that's needed. Copying and pasting breaks copy right laws. I just rejected a comment with the pattern copied from another website. If that person would resubmit it with only the link I would appreciate it.

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Contest ends March 31st.

Wow, I'm way behind

I just realized I haven't posted anything for almost two weeks! Sorry about that, but I haven't been doing much either. I've been sidetracked by that insidious addiction of computer games. Yes I will admit it, I am a computer game addict!
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I have gotten something done, in little bits and pieces of time I've managed to make quite a few hair pretties for my Lenten challenge. I think I have over a hundred but I need to make 235 and I don't think I'm on track for that. I also pledged two granny's daughters a day and I'm behind on them, too.
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I'm blowing the stash busting, too. I bought more yarn! This time I bought new stuff. JoAnn's online had a sale on Paton's wool and I thought I'd stock up for a future Afghans for Afghans project. I also bought two skeins of bamboo/silk blend yarn. I love the feel of it. I was going to make something for myself but I'm not sure what yet.
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I took my son and grandson to the World Bird Sanctuary in St Louis last weekend for Eagle Day and it was awesome. We had a lot of fun and the grandson loved it! They deal mainly with raptors but they had other birds there, too. My son took a lot of pictures but hasn't sent them to me yet.

George the Hairy Monster Finger Puppet

Isn't he a cutie?? You all should know by now that I have a thing for finger puppets. I was experimenting with different yarns and came up with this little monster. The first way I tried it ended up being turned into a kitty toy. Smokey and Sami were happy about that but it just wasn't what I was trying for. So I kept trying. I've named this guy George just because I thought it looked like a George I used to know. He's really easy to make so even the beginner crocheter can do it.

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You need:

Small amount Sport weight yarn

Small amount fun fur (or eyelash) yarn

J Hook

2 googly eyes

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Holding both yarns together

Ch 4 and join to form loop

Row 1; 8 sc into loop, sl st to first sc

Row 2; ch 1, sc in each sc and join

Repeat row two until you have 10-12 rows or until George is as big as you want

After you finish the last round ch about 7 to form tail

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Glue googly eyes on and George is finished!

Now if you have some pink fun fur you can make Georgette

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Of course if you want you can stuff it and sew it closed and make a kitty toy. Just don't put the goggly eyes on it.

Springing Forward

Wow, it was a great day yesterday here in Missouri.
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The Missouri National Guard troops that were in Kosovo came home. For those of you that have followed my blog for awhile, you know that this means my friend Dave, who was my point of contact for the collection of hats and scarves for the school children in Kosovo, is home. We still have some stuff to send, I just recieved another box of items last week but according to his wife we have a new address to send them , too.
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Dave and his wife Jackie own the St. Louis francise of Comfort Keepers, an in home caregiving company for the elderly. I've worked for them for over five years. I love my job. I used to take care of the clients but since last summer when I broke my wrist, I've been working in the office. I didn't go down to meet him because that is family time, Jackie has been so excited about him coming home!
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The temps were in the seventies and I picked up my boys and took off for Forest Park in St. Louis. Number one son and I went to the Art Museam which had an exibition on the Ming Dynasty. Number two son took off for the zoo. He's studying anthropology and his study subjects this semester are the lemurs and he has to spend an hour or more every week studying them.
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The exhibition was stunning! It's amazing how bright and vibrant most of the colors were. These items were all between four and six hundred years old! They had several items of clothing there, too and these were no exemption. The embroidery was exquisite. It was so beautifully detailed.
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I also stopped at my favorite recycling store, Leftovers, Etc in St. Charles, MO. I did a horrible thing, too. I bought a bagful (I'm talking large brown grocery bag here) of yarn, like I needed more. I'm supposed to be stash busting here. (sigh) I had changed my goal for the year for stash busting to 250 full and partial skeins rather than by the bagful so I could keep better track. So I had to count all the small balls and partial skeins and add it to my stash busting goal. There were sixty of them in that bag so now my goal is 310 for the year!
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When I was driving home I saw all the traffic signs that usually tell you when there's a lane closed or something. They all said Welcome Home Troops!

Homespun Scarf Free Crochet Pattern

I spent awhile today making my grandson a cape so he could go to school as the character from one of his favorite books. Not having any idea who "The Ranger's Apprentice" was so I kind of had to wing it. He had to go home before I got a picture of it. That of course has nothing to do with the scarf pictured above so I guess I'd better give you the pattern.

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A lot of people don't like working with Lion Brand Homespun and I understand that. I'm making these scarves for a group called The Woven Lotus who distributes them to victims of sexual abuse and assault. They have to be soft and Homespun certainly fits the bill. I wanted to find a pattern that minimized the hassles of using Homespun and came up with this. Most of the stitches go into spaces and makes it a lot easier to work with. One six ounce skein will make two six foot (including the fringe) scarves.

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Homespun Scarf

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Lion Brand Homespun or similar yarn

Size N crochet hook

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Chain 16

Row 1: Double crochet in 6th ch from hook,* ch1 skip 1 ch, dc in next ch, repeat from * ending with a dc

Row 2: Ch 3 and turn, dc in first sp, *ch 1, dc in next space, repeat from * across, dc in 4th chain of starting turning chain.

Row 3: Ch 4 and turn, double crochet first space,* ch1, dc in next space repeat from * across, dc in last dc
Row 4: Ch 3 and turn, dc in first sp, *ch 1, dc in next space, repeat from * across, dc in 3rd chain of turning chain

Repeat rows 3 and 4 until scarf is about four and a half feet long, ending with a row 3.

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You can make it longer if you wish but you might not get 2 scarves out of one skein.

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Cut yarn into 16 inch lengths to make fringe.

Noble Retrievers Where are You?

You won my last contest but didn't give me anyway to contact you. Please email me at debsstuff55 (at) yahoo (dot) com to claim your prize.

Lenten Challenge

Do you remember the Lenten challenge last year where I pledged to make a preemie hat for every day of Lent? Well I didn't make it because sometimes life just gets in the way. This year however I'm determined to do it. I'll be doing an average of five hair pretties a day for every day of lent. That's a lot of hair pretties. We are doing it in the Bev's Charity Challenge Yahoo group and several others are doing hair pretties, too. Be prepared for lots of pictures of hair pretties and maybe a new pattern or two, we'll see what happens.