614

I'm going to keep this brief because it is getting late on a Sunday and I still have a lot of things I need to do before work tomorrow.

Here are the latest items I've donated. My total is now to 614 items since 2009.

-9 pairs of mittens
-2 pairs of slippers
-1 pair of booties
-1 bookmark

-1 earwarmer
-6 cowls
-13 crocheted hats
-1 knitted hat (the orange one at the top left)
-4 scarves (including a braided one)
-1 knitted cowl

....for a total of 39 items donated in December 2014.

Cheers!

So now that I have some free time....

....I thought I would write up a post about the crocheted pieces I entered in the Howard County and Maryland State Fairs in August. Here they are with links to the patterns if I can remember them:

Kiwi - 2nd at HoCo Fair, no placing at State

Red Hat - 1st at HoCo Fair, Honorable Mention at State

Scarf - 1st at HoCo Fair, 3rd at State

Purple Hat (my own design; one of these days I'll write up the pattern. I know I have a similar looking pattern already on this blog but it is not the same. This one is double-layered around the brim.) - 3rd at HoCo Fair in Original Design category; I did not enter this at State.

I entered this as a child's pullover. I followed this pattern from Lion Brand. I made the "small" size. However, when I sewed all of the squares together, I did it so tightly that an adult can't wear it. Anyway, it got 1st at HoCo Fair and 2nd at State.

For the shawl, I did what I like to do when I use Purl Essence Rainbow Boucle yarn: crochet two  skeins together. It makes a thicker fabric and gives an interesting striping effect.

Shawl - 1st at HoCo Fair, no placing at State. 

Frog backpack for a child: 1st at HoCo Fair, 1st at State.

This was the first time that I sewed a zipper into anything. I think it turned out alright. I'm still not sure what to do with it. That being said, I have a few friends who just had kids and we are all paleontologists so they might be interested in it.

Cheers!

560 and I'm graduating in May (hopefully)

 And thus we start what will hopefully be my last semester at UT. I'll likely post again about finishing my master's here, but it is after midnight on the night before school starts for the semester and I want to go to bed after I post this, so this is going to be short. And that was a run-on sentence. Yes, I am in graduate school. :P

Anyway, I'm now at 560 items donated since 2009. Here are the items from the latest shipment to ARC:

-1 cardigan for a ~2-year-old
-9 hats
-6 earwarmers
-3 pairs of mittens
-1 pair of slippers
-27 scarves and cowls