More Afghans I’ve made

My mom always had a project she would work on while watching TV and the habit stuck with me. I just love to crochet afghans but after awhile they pile up and I never know what to do with them. I’ve provided everyone in the family and several friends with my projects but even they reach a limit – I thought!

My sister and brother-in-law came for Thanksgiving and mentioned that they donate to a charity which does not “pick-up” where I live so I asked them to take a bunch of afghans home with them to add to their next donation.

My sister-in-law ended up keeping one for herself, her daughter took two, and each of her granddaughters took two each! I’m delighted that my work found homes among loved ones! Here’s some of the afghans:

Sunflower throw afghanTo Lindsey. I was really surprised she kept a couple of them as she crochets her own beautiful projects.

sunflower throw afghanTo Amber. I figured she’d like the sunflower pattern.

Picnic afghanTo Amber.

While I’m at it, here’s a picture of one I sent to my niece Diana as a wedding gift.
snowflake afghan She has it draped over a chair with her “horsey pillow” in front.

Planned Parenthood

I found the following article this morning. Think it is worth saving and posting.

We don’t need to spend our tax dollars on Planned Parenthood

By Kristan Hawkins Published January 27, 2017 foxnews.com

There is no organization as near and dear to the hearts of abortion advocates as Planned Parenthood. President Obama almost shut down the government in 2011 over federal funding of the nation’s largest abortion vendor. Candidate Hillary Clinton often gushed about her love of the non-profit, which has revenues of over a billion dollars, during her presidential run.

But now Planned Parenthood is in the fight of their lives as they are likely to face a defunding battle in Congress. They are using every scare tactic in the book and throwing millions behind expensive public relations campaigns to drum up support and convince women that access to basic health care will be lost if they lose the half a billion dollars they get from taxpayers every year.

But the truth is: we don’t need Planned Parenthood.

According to their own annual report, Planned Parenthood saw 2.5 million clients in 2015, which is down from 3.1 million in 2006. While that number may seem high, it means that 98 percent of women of reproductive age will never step foot inside a Planned Parenthood in any given year for health care.

Planned Parenthood loves to talk about the services they provide — other than abortion — but it takes little effort to uncover the fact that while government funding to them has increased by millions, their preventative services have dropped off a cliff.

An investigation released this week into Planned Parenthood’s health care services showed that while they tout their prenatal services, in reality, these services hardly even exist.

According to their own annual reports, prenatal services at Planned Parenthood have been cut in half since 2009 and cancer screenings have been slashed since 2006. From 2009 to 2013, Planned Parenthood’s adoption-to-abortion ratio is 209-to-1.

Yet, in 2006, they committed one of every five abortions; in 2015, it’s up to one in every three abortions.

What are taxpayers getting for spending more money at Planned Parenthood? Fewer actual health care services and more abortions. This is a disgrace.

The money that currently goes to Planned Parenthood should be redirected to Federally Qualified Healthcare Centers (FHQCs), of which outnumber Planned Parenthood facilities 20-to-1. These centers are all over the country, in rural and urban areas, and serve all people.

No one is advocating that women’s health care be taken away by defunding Planned Parenthood. There are thousands of other healthcare facilities that provide the same services, sans abortion, that Planned Parenthood does.

Sorry, Planned Parenthood, but we just don’t need you. And from the looks of how Planned Parenthood was flush with cash to spend on the 2016 elections, it looks like they don’t need our taxpayer dollars anyway.

They spent over $30 million in during the 2016 cycle to elect their favored candidate, which didn’t turn out so well. But no matter, because celebrities have come to their rescue, donating hefty chunks of change and lending their star power to the cause.

Money is still flowing to the nation’s largest abortion provider. The organization bragged about how many donations were pouring in just in opposition to Vice President Mike Pence.

Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood, even admitted back in 2011 that the non-profit would survive federal funding cuts because after all, they do have a $1 billion budget.

The abortion giant has enjoyed many years swindling taxpayers of their hard-earned dollars. They are a shady organization at best, a criminal organization at worst. The laundry list of possible crimes is exhaustive: illegally profiting off of the sale of aborted baby body parts (the Select Panel on Infant Lives in the US House of Representatives as well as the Senate Judiciary Committee has recommended national Planned Parenthood and several affiliates for criminal prosecution), covering up rape and child abuse, aiding and abetting sex traffickers, overbilling taxpayers by millions of dollars, and betraying the trust of women by giving confidential medical information to vendors.

As taxpayers, we should not be paying an organization that engages in any of those things, much less all of them.

As women, we deserve better than a group that deems it necessary to sell out their clients for profit and then dare to use scare tactics to have them believe their health care will vanish if Planned Parenthood is stripped of their precious tax dollars.

We don’t need Planned Parenthood. It’s time to defund Planned Parenthood.

Kristan Hawkins is president of Students for Life of America.

Xmas is coming!

Here’s a picture of the pattern I used to make an afghan for my sister, Dee, for Christmas. She got it today and seems to like it….a lot!

Christmas Throw

The pattern is named “Holiday Hearts Throw” from Red Heart Yarn Free Patterns” and uses Red Heart Holiday Yarn – 4 Green/Green; 3 Red/Red; and 1 White/Silver with a size K hook. (designed by Ann Regis) I didn’t make the corner floral trim pieces…not my taste.

Newest crocheted afghan

Here’s a picture of an afghan I crocheted for my friend, Sandie. Pink and White afghan

The pattern is available at Red Heart.com #LW3578. Since Sandie loves pink, I chose to make it in Soft White, Baby Pink, Pretty ‘n pink, Perfect Pink, and Shocking Pink.

It would have been a lot easier to make if I’d remembered that an octagon = 8 sides instead of trying to force the pattern to come out with six sides. Once I realized where I was going wrong, the rest was fairly easy.

It has a lot of white and baby pink and I think if I chose to do another, I’d use a color other than white for the main body, maybe a mid-shade of pink so that the contrasting colors would be more obvious. Anyway, Sandie likes it and I had the fun of making it and that’s all that’s important.

Have several other projects in progress so more pictures will be coming soon.

Crocheted Afghans I made

Here’s some pictures of crocheted afghans I made. I only wish I’d taken pics of all the ones I’ve given away! I went through a phase in my life when I crocheted afghans non-stop. Everyone in my family got at least one and I was finally told “Enough!”. I’ve made other, smaller items from crochet but there is something about making an afghan which is really rewarding. Then, I guess I got burned-out and stopped for several years. In fact, I even gave away all my scraps and most of my patterns.

After years of not crocheting, I saw a pattern for this one and couldn’t resist. The pattern and instructions came from Red Heart. I found the instructions difficult to follow and I think it was only because of years of experience that I could figure it out.


Crocheted Afghans I made, Sunflower throw

Another favorite: I love the primary colors in this afghan. Sure brightens up a room!

Crocheted Afghans I made

This one I keep at the foot of the bed in the spare bedroom. I’ve used this pattern many times in a variety of colors. I have a brown and ecru that is “my afghan”, and I’ve made it in red, white, and blue at least three times. This one I extended the number of repeats to give it a different look.:

Crocheted Afghans I made- of primary colors

And a couple more that I made of granny squares. They are full size, not throws. I had these in storage and forgot about them. What a nice surprise to find them again!

Crocheted Afghans I made of Granny squares in brown, tan


Crocheted Afghans I  made of Granny squares in brown, tan, and blue

Knitting Patterns

One of the websites I visit every day is at Free Read Feed.com which has a variety of books, fiction and nonfiction, free to download for my Kindle.

I don’t knit much anymore but I used to make afghans, scarves, etc. One of the books I found today for free download is Knitting Stitches Dictionary For Beginners (Knitting For Beginners) [Kindle Edition] by Sandra Harris. It can also be downloaded from Amazon at Knitting-Stitches-Dictionary.

Other books I found that are free at Amazon are:

  • New Favorites from Lion Brand: 15 Free Knitting Patterns for Scarves, Afghans and More
  • Welcome to Our Home – Knit and Crochet Ideas from Red Heart by Editors of FaveCrafts
  • Beginners Handbook of Knitting Stitches: Learn How to Knit Great New Stitches
  • The Best of the Midwest STITCHES Fashion Show: 7 Inspiring Free Shawl Patterns, Knit Tops & More

Happy knitting!

Melondipity, a Baby Hats Boutique

Melondipity is a baby hat boutique which features toddler hats, kid’s hats, head bands, hair accessories like Baby Sun Hats, Crochet Hats, Stocking Hats, Flower Blossom Teal Daisy Hair Clip, and many more.  Their recent addition of “Playful Paws and Booties Set” is gender neutral, available in light or dark brown and is suitable as a baby shower gift.

Each set is individually made in the U.S.

From their press release:

This baby boy hat is light brown with dark brown floppy ears. The puppy has a cute brown nose and black button eyes. The matching booties are adorable little puppy paws. This set would also make a wonderful photography prop for newborn photos, as well as a great baby shower gift for a baby boy! The hat and booties set is 100% cotton, soft and incredibly warm.”

To know more, please visit: http://www.melondipity.com.

Color-and-Stitch Nativity Kit

The Posy Collection is a website which offers cross-stitch patterns and kits as well as craft ideas for the entire family.  Some of their offerings are free downloads.  For my fellow cross-stitchers, I suggest you have a look.  Their recent press release describes one kit, newly released Color-and-Stitch Nativity kit, for making a set of six nativity figures stand-up figures which can be colored with crayons and then embroidered.

The Color-and-Stitch Nativity kit, as well as several other of her faith-based kits, can be found at http://www.posycollection.weebly.com.