Exotic Crochet Cruise 2015

On Saturday February 7, 2015 I attended the Exotic Crochet Cruise sponsored by The Crochet Crowd and Yarnsprinations. 

We were on the Carnival Glory.  I was not impressed with the ship at all.  I have been on older Carnival cruise ships, (Sensation, Fascination, and Ecstasy) but this one seemed small and cramped.  I felt like a sardine the first night at dinner, so we never went back to the dinning room.  

We went to the Bahamas, Grand Turk, Puerto Rico, and St. Thomas, USVI.  Only problem was ports of call were all done in the first 4 days of the cruise without a sea day.  The sea days were the last two days. So the classes were after the early dinner. 

Mikey, Dan, and Colleen were the best hosts for this cruise.

We meet for orientation in the afternoon of embarkation day.  Sadly, I missed this.  Lesson one, read the agenda and note any changes in meeting times. 

Our first official meeting was after dinner that first evening.  Crocheters are well known for their charity work.  Each person was asked to voluntarily bring 9 granny squares that were crochet together.   The blocks were then sewn together and made into blankets.  These blankets were donated to Project Linus.  We were also given a tote bag filled with yarn for the week.

After dinner the second evening, we used some glam stripes to make a shawl.  There were two patterns to select from.  This was because there was another cruise the following week. Mikey reviewed the instructions for one of the shawls as the crocheters followed along.

Dela Wilkins, also attended the cruise and taught the next wo classes in Tunisian crochet.  She taught several different Tunisian stitches.   I only thought there was one stitch!  She also taught a class in double ended Tunisian crochet.  I enjoyed this!

Mikey also did a class for a market bag.  We had 8 skeins of Sugar N Cream in one color.  Mikey told everyone to trade colors.  In the end you ended up with 8 different colors for a striped bag.  We were told this when we were given our bags.  This got us to interact with each other. 

Mikey also taught us how to do cable stitches and the star stitch,  

I learned new stitches and much more.  If I was given the opportunity to attend next year I would as long as it was on a different cruise line.

Crochet Cruise and other things

I am really excited about my crochet right now.  I have several things going on at once. 

First, I am going on a cruise.  Not just any cruise, but a crochet cruise.  Mikey, from The Crochet Crowd, has for the last two year put together 2 crochet cruises.  I am on the first of the two cruises.  It is called the Exotic Crochet Cruise.   Our ports of call are Bahamas, Grand Turk, Puerto Rico, and St Thomas, US VI.  

Also there will be 5 crochet classes during the cruise, so you can learn new skills.   I can hardly wait.  All of the yarn is supplied and all we need to supply is the crochet hooks, markers and scissors.  We will be bringing home our projects.  I know I will have a good time. 

Also yarnspirations.com is having a 10 week crochet along doing an afghan.    The only thing I am apprehensive about is that it may all be granny squares.  I am not a fan of sewing squares together.   I have already purchased my yarn.  Michaels has sale this week on all their yarn.  Also there was a 20% off coupon off sale items.  I ended up purchasing 10 skeins of Caron Simply Soft for $21.40.  Not bad for a throw size afghan.  The above pictures are of the colors that I selected.  It is a Beach theme.

I also put in my bags a chunky slipper pattern and a pattern for an armband for my cell when I take the dog for a walk.  There will be times when I need to do something other than read. 

Scarf inside a scarf

I have not written in my blog lately as I have been busy finishing up projects for the holidays.

Yesterday I was on YouTube and I noticed a video from Mikey of the Crochet Crowd that I had never seen before.

It was for a scarf inside a scarf.  After watching the video, I knew I had to make one.

I found a pattern on Darn Good Yarns web site. It was called  Silk Yarn Butterfly Scarf.   Sorry but I am not using silk for this, so I hit up my stash and found a light weight Navy yarn that would go well with a patriotic scarf I already had.

So I present to you my version of scarf inside a scarf.

Pretty cool huh.

I like it for fall as it is not too light or heavy.  It is just right and oh so cute. 

You could make it in school colors and give to those hard to buy for tweens and teens.  I think I will be making a few more of these. 

In my prior post I talked about the cape I made for Cailee.  Here is the dress for Jeze that is supposed to resemble the dress Elsa in Disney's Frozen wore  She will be wearing either white tights or white legging with the dress since it will be cold outside.  

 I also have a crown and scepter with crocheted snow flakes on them that she will wear.

Frozen's Anna Cape

I finished my oldest granddaughter's crochet Anna's Cape for her Halloween costume.  I promised pictures and here they are.   I plan on making my youngest granddaughter a dress that resembles Elsa's dress.  The top will be crochet and the bottom tulle. 

Disney's Frozen

To say two of my granddaughters are obsessed with the Disney movie Frozen is an understatement.  If you have seen the movie you will understand some of this post.

Jeze, who is 2, will randomly start “singing” her version of “Let it Go”.   She just repeats the words Let it Go.  She does have the melody down pat. 

Cailee, who is 6, is a fan of Anna. For Cailee’s birthday she was given a costume of the dress Anna wore in the movie.  She can't wait to be able to wear it.   Her mother had to hide it twice to stop her from asking to wear it to school.

So my daughter asked if it was possible to make Cailee a cape like Anna had in the movie to go with the dress.   Luckily I did find a free crochet pattern for the cape.  I also found another cape pattern that suggested the perfect colors in Lion Brand’s Vanna’s Choice Yarn.  No hobby or yarn stores are in the area.  So I ordered the yarn and it arrived this week.

I was looking today and saw a toddler costume that the top is crochet and the bottom is in tulle. If done in light blue she could be Elsa.  So I may have to make Jeze a costume as well.  We will see how much yarn is left.  I may have to order more. 

This is my current project to finish before Halloween. The girls want to wear the outfits then.

Guess I will be busy this fall. 

raffia hat finished

Well here is a picture of my raffia hat.  I was not pleased how it turned out so I did not complete the brim which is supposed to be wider. I did not want to open another bag of raffia.