My Blanket of Roses

My afghan is now being put together.  I am sewing it through the back stitches and it looks pretty good.  If I say so myself.  I have a row of four octagons and about six squares are added where they belong.  I'm very happy with the way it is going although you can tell that I'm not an expert.  I have decided to keep this one for myself.  I have made many that I have given away and so I figured it would be alright for me to keep this one.
I have orders for another afghan like I knitted on my knitting machine for my other grandson and now his brother who just got out of  the army wants one too.
They don't even care about colors they just want them because they are so warm.  Their friends keep taking them and using them but then when my grandson gets home he claims it.  I'm enjoying this very much.
The weather is slowly turning to Spring and so we will be busy looking for more birds. 
That's all I have to report for now.  It's late and I'm going to bed.  So good night!    

Birds

Hello friends, My daughter and I are devout bird hunters.  We hunt with a camera.  We got some fabulous pictures of Eagles this last couple of weeks and I wanted to show them to you.  The eagle is a wonderful majestic bird and easy to spot but it doesn't stay in the area for long.  We got pictures of him fishing in Lake Manawa (Council Bluffs, Iowa) and then another day we caught another one fishing in a lake near a campground.  I don't know what else he eats but he seems to love fish.  I have included a few pictures here so you could see them.  He is big but I think of him as my favorite bird at the present time.  Later on I'll tell you about some of the other birds we have found in our travels around the area.  If you click on the pictures it will make them bigger.  We live in Omaha Nebraska.

Blanket of Roses

I can't believe I actually found another person who has the Blanket of Roses on her website.  She went through some similar problems to find the pattern owner, including the permission from Spinrite.  Try as I might I couldn't find the company who was in control of the pattern.  She published the pattern on her site.  The URL is http://megan.cc/RosesBlanket/ if anyone would like to go there to get the pattern.  She also has a picture of the octagons done without the squares in between.  That looks very nice also.  She mentions some alternate yarns that could be used in place of the Sweety which was used to make it which has since been discontinued.
I am still working on it and don't know if I'll have enough to finish i  but I will try.  If I don't I will  get some more yarn.  That is the only other thing I could think of to finish it.  I now have ten octagons made and 14 to go.

We went birding today.

My daughter and I and another friend, Pat, went out to look for birds today.  We went to Fort Calhoun and then Boyer Chute and saw a bald eagle.  He was a huge bird and seemed right at home there in one of the tall trees.  We got some excellent pictures of him and then followed the road that goes from there to Hummel Park and finally Dodge Park.  We saw dozens of Pheasants and some Medowlarks too.
It was not a very nice day.  Snow insisted on falling and then rain mixed with snow and finally just rain.  We kept going though.  We then went to Lake Manawa in Council Bluffs Iowa.  We saw a bunch of geese.  They live there all year apparently.  They make a lot of noise.  The roads were getting pretty wet and fog had begun to move in so we went back to Omaha and ate at Ruby Tuesday to finish the day.  The temperature went up to about 37 degrees too today so it wasn't a fight to keep warm. 
We are looking forward to Spring which is really our bird hunting time and it is a lot nicer to search for them when the weather is nice.

Snow Storm not so bad here!

Well the snow storm was much milder than we expected.  The worst part of it is the cold.  It is down near zero and will be below zero by morning.  I am still working on my afghan and still looking for the white mohair yarn.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to need it now.  It is hard to get out and go to the only yarn shop in town.  It closes early and my daughter works 3  in the afternoon until 11:15 at night.  We are going to have to get out this weekend if we can and see if I can find some yarn.
My daughter and I go out on her free time and look for birds.  She is quite an authority on it and I really enjoy going with her.  We found a place a few months ago, just before  Winter started.  It is our favorite place now and we take that trip every chance we get.  We are surprised at how many colorful birds we have in this area.  It is hard in winter as a lot of them have migrated to other areas so we are looking forward to Spring when the weather gets warmer.  Last week we were amazed that there were so many pheasants in the field.  There was the western Meadow Lark, the Robin, and the blue bird too.  It was a complete surprise to see them as they are supposed to be the ones who migrate.  It wasn't very warm either.  We are learning a lot about these and others that we never were aware of before.
Well, I am not saying anything important now so I'd better quit and read my messages.  I'll talk again soon. 

Winter--ugh!

I don't know what I'm going to say today but I want to keep moving to stay warm.  We are being threatened with another snow storm.  They say 3-5" this time.  It is supposed to get very cold and it's  very windy so I just want to stay inside and crochet.
My daughter came home early tonight and so we went out and got something to eat.  She works the Swing Shift and so we don't get to do that very often.  It was so cold and windy that we ate in a hurry and headed for home. 
I looked at my yarn today and found I only have four and a half balls of White Mohair to make this afghan.  I only have six octagons done and none of the squares that go in the middle.  I would appreciate it if anyone has any of this Mohair would they consider selling it to me? I need 24 Octagons and these are only fifty gram balls.  There is good yardage in each one, considering the weight.  I also have to make 15 squares for fill-in.  I think we can make a deal for me to buy them. 
Well, I have nothing more for tonight so I'll close for now.  I would love to have some more followers for my blog so if you're interested please sign up.  Clara

Blanket of Roses

I am crocheting an afghan that I have had on the drawing board since 1984.  i really love this afghan and I hope I have enough yarn to complete it.  The yarn is older too and is made up of Scheepjes Mohair 85%  Acrylic and 15 % Kid Mohair.  The picture of it is here too.  If I have enough yarn I will post the real one when it is finished. 
This afghan showed up in Woman's Day in 1984 and was offered as a kit.  I didn't have the pattern for it but was fortunate enough to get a copy of it from one of the women on the website  when I asked. My search went on for about five years. I never dreamed I would get the pattern and I checked with Bernat and Woman's Day and they had no information on it
and no record of it ever being in their files, so I'm assuming that it is in Public Domain by now. 
It is fun to do and is so colorful.  I hope you like it as much as I do.  

This is the yarn I'm using.  It is really soft and great to work with. 

Here is what I've completed so far.