Granny Squares & Colored Thread - Breaking the Code

Greetings Friends!  Welcome to the weekend!  What do you have in store?  Here in the US we have  long weekend.  (Queue patriotic music now!) We're celebrating  Veterans Day on Monday "to honor America's veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good". Although I don't come from a military family I am thankful to all of these brave folks.

What do you think of this pile of thready goodness? I am so excited by all these colors and all the projects just waiting to be discovered!  Why so many you ask?  Well there's a reason of course!  I've had this idea to make book marks for the holidays in the back of my head for ages.  But I only had a few basic colors, and I wanted them to be fun and bright and happy.  Last month I decided to see what I could find.  I checked all my regular web sites and while the selections were large, each ball was between $2.39 and $4.59 for 300 yds.  Not much if you only want a few, but I wanted lots!! Finally I checked Amazon.com.  That's where I found this company selling 175 yd. balls for $1.69. I realize that per yard it's slightly more, but I like that the balls are smaller - since I'm going for variety here and really how much thread do you use to make a bookmark? 

Now that I have all of this fabulous thread I need to figure out what to do with it...

There are some lovely bookmark patterns out there, and I'm sure I'll be trying a few.  But I wanted to design something on my own.  My summer spent making granny squares seemed to be all the the inspiration that I needed.  Image the color combinations I could come up with!  After all I have 14 different colors to choose from!  This got me thinking... Just how many possibilities are there?  Now I'm good (enough) at math, but this was beyond my ability.  And then I remembered my blogging friend Angeliki (she's a physics major from Greece) who had helped me with this type of question once before.  I sent here a quick note on Facebook.

It turns out there are 2184 possible combinations!

But my dear friend was not satisfied just giving me a simple answer.  No, instead she wrote a program that finally shows us the secret to

Breaking the 3 Color Code!

That's right!  All you have to do is download a file, plug in the number of colors you're using and it will tell you how many different combinations there are!  But it doesn't just give you the number, it generates a list of the possibilities so if you are so inclined to make them all you can print the list and cross them off one by one!  She's included the links and instructions on her blog.  I hope that you'll give it a try, and please be sure to leave a comment to let her know how it goes.

Now that I have the colors covered I need to try some different patterns.  To start with I used a classic granny with the granny stripe border. Next I'm going to pick some of my favorites from this summer and try putting them together with the classic.  I brought home a copy of Around the Corner: Crochet Borders by Edie Eckman that has 150 designs to choose from.  With all of these choices I'm confident that I'll have some stunning bookmarks to show you!  I guess you know what I'll be doing this (long) weekend!!

I have often told you how warmed I am by the support and kindness that I have experienced through my blog.  This is yet another example of the overwhelming goodness and willingness to help that makes me feel blessed to be part of such an amazing community.  Thanks Angeliki, and all of you who make blogging so much fun!

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In addition to my fiber offerings, I like to participate in Five Minute Friday over at Lisa-Jo Baker's place. It's writing in the raw and if you've never done it, why don't you give it a try? It's really easy - you just:
1. Write for 5 minutes flat on this week's prompt with no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking - then post it just as it is!
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community.

Here's what happened when I spent five minutes writing on the prompt "Quiet"

You would think this would be an easy one for me, working at the library shouldn't quiet be part of my every day?  Nope.  Not at our library.  You won't find any shushing going on here.  Oh we don't let it get out of hand, but talking is not forbidden.  After all we are a community center.  We are a gathering place for all ages.  We encourage communication and building relationships.  Answering questions and sharing information.  And none of that came be done without a little noise.

But there is a difference between silence and quiet isn't there?  Quiet can bring calm and peacefulness, whereas the sounds of silence can scream harshly at you.  I can't imagine not having noise about me.  Not loud or hard noises, but the activity of life kind of noises.

And when I want quiet I look inside.  Because that is where it is most important to me.  That I can find a peaceful place to settle into and be undisturbed by the noises that surround me.

Today I'll be sharing my post on these terrific blogs.  Drop by and add your project to the party and see what everyone else has been up to this week.

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And finally, I published a review (2 actually, I had a guest) of a new book called Crewel.  An enchanting story set in the world of Arras where everything is determined by the weave.  I encourage you fiber lovers to have a look (click on the graphic),
it's an intriguing premise...


And that will do it.  Phew! I had a lot to tell you!
Thanks so much for stopping by and spending a bit of your day with me.
Until next time friends,
Be blessed and stitch & read with love!