When some of my designer friends found out that a fellow designer, Pam Gillette, of Knotty Generation, had breast cancer they immediately got to work thinking about what we could do for her that would bring her comfort and help her feel loved. Tammy Hilderbrand headed up the project and came up with the idea of us going together to make a pink afghan, signifying breast cancer awareness. We all loved the idea and even though everyone is busy these days, it was important to me to be part of this special project. Since Pam loves crochet cables and even has a Crochet Cable group on Ravelry, Tammy thought we'd surprise Pam with an "all cable" afghan. As soon as Knit Picks sent us the beautiful, soft yarn they donated, we quickly got to work. We were to each come up with our own cable design in an 8" square, not knowing what the others were doing. We decided on 2 colors, pink and gray to make it a little more interesting. Then Tammy put the squares together and edged the whole thing in black. It came out much prettier than I expected, and I was amazed at the talent of these designers!
Some of the other designers who participated in this project were Vashti Braha, Ellen Gormley, Doris Chan, Drew Emborsky, Amie Bentley, (of Nexstitch) Amy O'Neil Houck, Kristin Omdahl, Robyn Chachula, Lisa Gentry, Margaret Hubert, Tammy Hilderbrand, Tracie Barrett, Jill Hanratty, Kim Kotery, Diane Moyer, Angela Best, Mary Beth Temple, Gwen Blakley Kinsler, Karen Whooly, Dee Stanziano, Bendy Carter, Marty Miller, Annette Petavy, and Annie Modesit
You'll soon be able to see the patterns for these squares on Knit Picks website.
My cable square is the pink one at the bottom left! See larger photo of mine below.
Read about Pam's journey with breast cancer HERE. It warmed my heart to know how much Pam appreciated our work and thoughts about her. She is an amazing person!
Mary Jane Hall's Cable Square
. 
What a really wonderful heartfelt project that came out absolutely beautiful! Great job everyone!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
ReplyDeleteMaryJane- Do you know of a great website or tutorial for learning how to cable crochet??? I've been wanting to learn but havn't had much luck on finding a pattern that I can actually understand (and by that I mean LOTS of pictures... LOL)???
ReplyDeleteJoanna, believe it or not, I was never taught how to do cables, and when I tried doing them a long time ago, I just didn't like the pattern I was using. I hadn't tried to do cables in yrs, but when I started thinking of what I wanted to do for my cable square, (for Pam's afghan) I just looked in many of my old crochet books and found an old booklet from the 60's or 70's. Even though the patterns were for ponchos and sweaters, I just did some swatching to see if I liked the stitch pattern. The stitch pattern I used was not hard at all, even though I gave up on many other cable patterns. If I had the time right now, I'd help you look on the internet. As soon as the squares are posted on Knit Picks, you can look at my pattern and the cable patterns of the other designers. I think they said the patterns would be free, so keep a look out at Knit Picks website!
ReplyDeleteI just finished a Cowl with the same cable stitch pattern as my square. I really like the way it looks. Keep in mind there are many different cable patterns. I'm sure you could find something you like when the patterns for the squares are available :) Wish I could help more :)
That sounds great Mary Jane. I'm definately in that boat that I just haven't found one that I like so I keep giving up. I will definately look to see the pattern on Knit picks. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHello Mary Jane, do you have any Super Bowl patterns? Like the Packers hat, or scarf or afghan or socks or ....etc. WE NEED SOMETHING :-)
ReplyDeletePeggy