The new little addition!

Yes, I've done it again...I've once again added to our stuffed animal kingdom. The newest little arrival is our stuffed mouse, knitted from the Lion Brand City Mouse Toy pattern.

I knitted one for our little neighbor across the street, who loved it, and one for my Sweetums. He's been getting acquainted with the other minions:

Crochet Pattern for Special Olympics Scarf

At long last, I've finished my Special Olympics scarf! Keeping with the basic guidelines at the site http://www.scarvesforspecialolympics.org I decided to create my own pattern...


Crochet Pattern for the Special Olympics Scarf

Measurements: 6" wide x 60" long, excluding fringe.

Gauge: Each V group = 3/4", 13 rows = 4.5”
Row gauge is not critical, as the rows are repeated until almost 6” is reached.

Materials:
1 skein each
Red Heart Supersaver Blue (#0886) - A
Red Heart Supersaver Turqua (#0512) - B
Hook: K (6.50mm)

NOTE: The scarf is worked lengthwise.

Using A, ch 221

Row 1: sc into the 2nd chain from the hook, and then sc across until the end of the row. Fasten off, leaving a long tail, at least 8 inches long (these tails will be part of the fringe). 220 sts.

Row 2: Using B, fasten on and (sc,ch1,dc) in 1 st to form a V, (skip next 2 sts, sv - V stitch - in next st) across to last 3 sts, skip next 2 sts, hdc in last st. Fasten off, leaving a long tail. Should have 73 sv repeats, plus the 1 hdc at the end of the row.

Row 3: Using A, fasten on as a sc in the first stitch, then sv in each ch 1 space across, then hdc in the last stitch. Fasten off, leaving a long tail.

Repeat Row 3, alternating between colors A and B, each time fastening off to leave a tail. When the scarf measures almost 6" wide (ending with A), fasten off, leaving a long tail.

Last Row: Using B, fasten on as hdc, then * (sc,hdc) into the ch 1 space, hdc into next stitch (sc of the previous row, where there is a "dip" in the row). Continue from * until the end of the row. Hdc into the last stitch, and then fasten off, leaving a long tail.

The scarf should now be 6” wide and 60” long.

Fringe:
Cut 12” lengths of both colors of yarn – at least 9 strands of each A and B color.
Taking a strand of A and a strand of B for each fringe grouping, tie a fringe across the ends of the scarf. Incorporate the strands left from the fastening off of each row.

Trim all the ends to be a uniform length.

The Yarn Sirens strike again...

The Sirens have really gone and done it now...

I've made a chilling discovery. Not only do the yarn sirens sing their clarion call for me to drop everything in life I'm doing to go "to the yarn store...to the yarn store...to the yarn store..." - they appear to be capable of moving, bending, and shaping the cosmos to accommodate their wishes.

Case in point:

To back this up, I joined an online forum through our Intranet at work. The powers that be in our company created this work forum space as a way for employees to network/chat about actual work.

No one is doing that.

Seriously, no one is going to fritter away their hard-earned lunch breaks sharing about insurance, annuities, and interest rates ("Bob, did you hear that they wanted to make the GAAP Reserve rate 6.5%??? HAHAHAH!!!"). Everyone (except for the actuaries) would go to asleep.

Instead, the current topics for the work forums include sports, children, scrap booking, and yes - KNITTING! Someone in the downtown Home Office (I like to call it "The Mother Ship") decided to start a Knitting and Crocheting forum. It's been very lively lately because they've launched a campaign to have us all knit scarves for Special Olympics. Every year, I miss the deadline for Special Olympics, so this year I decided to have at it. If any of you are interested in knitting a scarf for this worthy cause, this is the website: http://www.scarvesforspecialolympics.org/

Needless to say, this required MORE YARN. I didn't happen to have Red Heart Super Saver 886 Blue or 512 Turqua lying around the house. At work today, the sirens began:

"Go to Michaels...go to Michaels...go to Michaels..."

I argued with the sirens. I explained that I had to leave work today promptly at 4:00 to be on time for my personal training appointment, and that I'd need to put off any shopping until tomorrow.

This is where it starts getting freaky...As I was leaving work, I checked my email on my Blackberry. There was an email from - you guessed it - my personal trainer! She said she was feeling ill and had to leave the gym and did I mind canceling for this week? I was, of course, overjoyed! Then it hit me...the Yarn Sirens! They did it! They moved, bended, and shaped things so that I'd go to Michaels instead of the gym! Unreal!

Gosh, I had another thought...does anyone suppose my personal trainer is sick because SHE'S PREGNANT??? I can't seem to get through a month without having to knit baby things for someone.

You know the Sirens are going to send me back to the store for baby yarn...LOL.