Monday, August 30, 2010

Monarch Butterflies Passing Through Michigan and The Butterfly Project

I was lucky to have spotted a lot of Monarch Butterflies around our house the last week of August. Especially around our willow trees, they were hanging out in groups, so I was determined to take some photos. I wasn't able to find a group of them, but this little guy was hanging around.




Cool picture? I thought so! It was getting close to dusk, so I used the auto setting with flash. I tweaked it a bit in Paint.net to darken the background up.

Being curious about the migration I found this great site: Journey North's Monarch Butterfly Migration. Lots of info here, FAQ's, maps, and lists of sightings. There's quite a few sightings listed in Michigan - I'm not surprised!

And along with my Monarch sightings, it called to mind a very special project which I plan on donating to - The Butterfly Project. Thank you Doris! She's my crochet friend that let our crochet team know about this, and you can read Doris's original blog post about the project here. But essentially, The Holocaust Museum Houston is collecting 1.5 million handmade butterflies in remembrance of the innocent children who perished.

I will be sending in some crocheted (of course!) butterflies and I found this great 2-D pattern here. But, they don't have to be crocheted and can be made in any medium. This would be a great project for kids.

Here are a few pics of some butterflies I crocheted. The first I made in worsted weight yarn.


The smaller butterflies I made using variegated embroidery floss. I used to love to cross stitch, but don't anymore, so I have tons of floss. Each butterfly took less than 1 skein and I used a size 3 (2.10 mm) steel crochet hook. I think they turned out really pretty!


2 comments:

  1. Hello there :-)

    So nice to hear from you again! I saw the amazing Monarch Butterfly's migration movie on PBS and I was so impressed how long of a journey they make every year...hard to belief those delicate wings can carry them that far!

    I think your butterflies are lovely and I will have to make some too - I keep postponing the project because we have till 2012, but we can send them in any time. Have you sent any to the Holocaust Museum yet? I'll get serious about that again after Christmas. Am in full swing with Christmas Crochet!

    Hope you're doing well,
    Kind Regards,
    Doris and Gizzy

    I have a Giveaway on my blog if you want to enter - it's open to anyone! Take a look:

    http://crochetingingeorgia.blogspot.com/2010/09/september-giveaway.html

    You have till Tue 9/28/10 to enter.

    Are you on facebook?

    Kind Regards,
    Doris and Gizzy :-)

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  2. Hi Doris, nice to hear from you too! I haven't sent in any of my butterflies yet, I will ask my crochet group ladies if they would like to make some and I will send them together if they do.

    Good luck on your giveaway, your Pumpkin pooch is adorable!

    Say hello to Gizzy for me :)

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