LiLphanie's Line at St. Al's Fall Festival

   I am excited, and busy crocheting and tucking under loose ends.   I'm preparing for the second public event for my crocheted items.  If you are in the East Liverpool OH area October 16th, stop by and check out our craft and food tables.  Here are some of my items you will see from 12-5pm at  St. Aloysius School:

1. Baby Blankets - $10.00

2. Scarves/ Wraps - $3.00

3.  Tote Bags - $7.00

4. Draw String Bags - $7.00

Crochet Baby Blankets

    Lately, I have been concentrating my crocheting creativity on baby blankets.  I hadn't made a proper baby blanket using baby yarn until August.  I decided that I enjoy working with baby yarn. This is my first baby yarn blanket using a size F hook, Bernat yarn in Mint, Chiffon Print, Pale Blue, Soft Lilac, and  99 Granny Squares to Crochet  by Leisure Arts pattern #21.

    My first thought was to crochet a baby blanket a week.  I like crocheting many of the same kind of item continuously.  I soon learned that this required about 5 hours of crocheting a day.  I didn't mind this one bit, however, my wrist did.  SO now I'm thinking a baby blanket every 10 days is more doable.

Safety Pins Are Crocheting Friends

    I have recently come to realize just how useful safety pins are when it comes to crochet.  I was working on a granny square tote bag and thought of pinning the squares together before stitching them together.  I found this method much easier than picking up a square and figuring out which side needed to be stitched to what side of another square as I went along.  Safety pins also make good row markers when working in the round, especially with single crochet.  The short stitches make it difficult for me to find where I started a row and often times I ended up working a spiral when I began the project with rows without turns.  In another recent project, a safety pin came in handy to mark where I had made a 3tog. single crochet decrease.  Though they are safety pins, I poked myself once enough to leave a mark on my finger, so be careful!  What are some other ways safety pins have come to your rescue when crocheting?