A New Project

Yes!  There is a new crochet project. 
I don't know why I don't just gravitate to one of the five projects that I've already started.
But when I get my mind set on something, I just go for it. 
So, here are the beginnings, loose ends and all, of the next great crochet afghan (insert eye roll!). 

In between calculus homework and spring training there have been squares. 
I don't know what it is but I am so drawn to squares.....
And obviously my cat is too, because if you look closely at the the right side of the photo
you will see the kitty dutifully guarding the squares.  
The squares will turn into a big ole afghan. 
I hope it will look just as beautiful as it has appeared in my head. 
We'll see....... :-)   

Let There Be Crochet!!

I guess I have dropped the ball on crochet projects so far this year.  Actually, in between school assignments, I have been working on a few projects.
It's just that the projects have been on the down-low so to speak. 
They were special surprises for a very special girl. 
And I didn't want to ruin the surprise, so I waited to post the finished products here. 
Well, they are surprises no more.
So without further ado....
May I present my only the second and third baby blankets I have ever completed!  (yeah! you read right) 

The pattern for this blanket came from the book A Year of Afghans, 1997.  I loved it because the blanket looks so detailed but it was actually a very easy pattern.  The yarn I used was Red Heart Soft Baby Steps.  I liked using this yarn because it is a little thicker than most baby yarn and it is very, very soft. 

Here is the other blanket: 

Just a simple granny square.  The yarn I used was Vanna's Baby Yarn. 
Yep, I'm a big fan of the thicker yarns.  I just find the baby yarn too thin.  At least for blankets. 
Now I know that the blankets don't really give a clue about the gender of my first grandbaby but
I'm pretty sure my next project will......

Yeah.....I don't see a baby boy wearing this....Lol! 
So, yes, it is a girl! 
And I had the extra added pleasure of saying "I knew it"!  The phrase every daughter loves to hear.
What can I say.  She was thinking "boy".  I was thinking (and hoping) "girl". 
I win.  Well, I guess it wasn't really a contest.....
Anyways, I spied these cute little diapers covers on pinterest and I knew I had to get my hands on this pattern.  The pattern is by Little Abbee.  Her etsy shop can be found here. 
I think the pattern was like $3.99.  Not bad at all.
I made a few of these and it took me only an hour to an hour and a half to whip one up. 
And they are just so stinking cute!  

Anyways, that is all the crochet that I have finished. 
Of course, I still have all those works in progress lying around.  Go figure! 

Hope you all have a marvelous Wednesday!

Thank You.....

The past few weeks have been a busy blur. 

Probably no different from any of your homes during this time of the year. 

There has been a lot of baking. 

A lot of gift wrapping. 

A lot...er....too much...eating. 

A lot of good time spent with family. 

Like every year past, Christmas and New Year's seemed to sneak up on me.

And it seemed like there was a lot to do....

And very little time to do it in. 

I wish that I had taken more photos to document our holiday season.....but I didn't. 

I know....Big "L" on my forehead! 

I did get some pictures of some holiday crochet.....

Some ornaments a la Lucy.

A table doily thingy...(sorry I'm experiencing crs right now)

And the beginnings of an afghan.....

Hopefully I'll have it done by next Christmas!  

I plan to spend the next couple of days relaxing and crocheting...

Before I get started on the purging and organizing that always seems to come with every new year. 

I just wanted to take a moment to wish you all a happy, healthy, and safe 2012.

And to thank you all who stopped by, lurked a little, or left a comment. 

I am so grateful for all of you!

Hopefully I will be bit more consistent of a blogger in the coming year. 

Someday I'll Learn....

How to take decent photos of my crochet projects.
For now these will just have to do......

Just a couple of pillow I made for a friend who LOOOOOOVES pillows :-D 

I love the colors but I don't know if I love the yarn even though it is called "I Love This Yarn!" 

I usually do love it but as I was working on this project I noticed it "pilled" a little more than I would like. 

Oh well!  

Anyways, I was just taking a break from my mountain of school work!  

And now it's time to go back to work.....

Toodles! 



"Occupied"

This is the word of the week. 

And it seems to be the word on everyone's lips. 

Of course we have "Occupy Wall Street." 

And locally, there is "Occupy Phoenix." 

On the local news radio station,

one of the anchors said she was going to get an "Occupy Sesame Street" t-shirt made up. 

Me?? 

Well, I've just been flat out occupied. 

Mostly with studying. 

Had to take a final today so my head is filled

with visions of logarithims, systems, and permutations. 

I even had nightmares about math....which is weird because I really like math. 

I've also been occupied with a big scrapbook project which is not going to be done as soon as I wanted. 

Seems I've had creative brain freeze.  Ugh!!!!  Not a good time for that! 

Well, anyways, before I was so "occupied". 

I did complete a crochet project. 
It is one that took a loooooooooong time to complete.

But it is done!  And here is the ta-da!

Here are the deets......

Starting with the yarn and colors....

The yarn I used was Michaels Loops and Threads. 

I really like this yarn. 

It is somewhere between Red Heart and I Love This Yarn! in the way it feels. 

And it is pretty easy to work with. 

Plus, they had the colors I was looking for. 

Now, let me be honest.....I would have never thought of putting these colors together. 

I did have some help. 

The help came from a web site called Color Combos Galore

Color Combos Galore is actually a scrapbooking challenge site where they give you four colors to work with each week and you create a page using those colors.  

I also found this really helpful with color combos for crochet....colors I would never think of.  

So, that is where I got the color inspiration from.  

It's a very good site if you're looking for color combo help. 

The block pattern came from this site.

I really had fun making the blocks and they came together pretty fast. 

But then....came the border. 

I don't know what it is but borders totally bore me. 

And then the project slows down.....

I tried to do something a little different with this one.

When I went to California in April, I made off with a blanket my aunt crocheted many years ago. 

I really liked the border which was several rounds of hdc and then several rounds of a granny stitch.

So I decided to try it with this blanket. 

And here are the results.

Hmmmm.....Don't know if I'm loving it......

I'm one of those people who likes straight lines and angles. 

And this didn't turn out like that at all. 

It does not lie flat at all!!! 

(Do I sound like I'm high maintenance?!?!?!? hee-hee)

Well, hopefully this will grow on me......

Until then, I'm off to work on my 300 other projects ;-}

Here's wishing everyone a fabulous weekend!

Scrappy Granny

If any other crocheters/knitters are like me (and I'm sure they are) they have a ton of scrap yarn around. 

I have lots of little balls of yarn that look like this. 

And since I also have the added little joy of being just slightly ADHD. 
Meaning I have lots of little balls of the same color because when I come to the end of a skein,

I go right to a brand new one rather than looking to see if I have some excess scraps of the same color. 

I know.....wasteful.  I'm hanging my head in shame.....

Well the good news is that this basket of balls used to be double in volume because I took some of those balls and came up when this beauty. 

Yes.....I had A LOT of scraps. 

I will admit though that the cream color yarn was not from my scrap pile. 

I do seem to go through that color quite easily.

Although I find myself very attached to this newly squared pile of scraps...

I already have a home in mind for this one. 

To someone whom I'm sure will give it a good home....

TTFN all!

And thanks for stopping in. 

Voila!!

Finally a new crochet project.....done!!  It seems like it takes me forever to complete a project! 
Well...actually....part of the problem (A BIG PART) is that I lose interest in one project and start on the next project before the current one is completed.  Hmmmm....anyone else have this problem?? 
Judging from the crochet blogs I follow it doesn't seem so. 
Everyone seems to have two characteristics that I envy so much......(a) they stay on task until a project is done and (b) they are wicked fast!!  I always imagine "finger flying crochet"!!  Me??  I am slow as molasses! 

So enough complaining about my inadequacies....and on to the now completed project. 

Voila!!!

It's granny squares!!!  Is this a shock?? ;-)

I actually saw something similar in a Michael's ad earlier this year.  Loops and Threads came out with a few new very bright and vibrant colors, and there was an example use of the new yarn that is similar to what I created above.  I just added another color and also added color to the border.  I really liked how it turned out.  The colors are really eye-popping!! 

And now that I have this project done....it's time to complete another one of my "half-finished" projects! 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great Tuesday!!!



One Day

I will finish this project.....

When the king of the castle finally allows me to!! Ha!!

I think he likes this blanket almost as much as I do. 
Hopefully I will be able to post better pictures later this week. 
If he can pick his bottom up off it long enough!

More In Progress

So....my crochet ADHD is in "full blown" status these days. 
And trust me, I am not kidding when I say I have ADHD....
I really have a million things and projects going through my head at once.  
Right now, these are the projects I am working on......

This is actually almost done.  I've just got a couple of more rounds of edging to do.  The only problem is that I get really bored with doing edging (does anyone else have this issue?), so I do one round at a time and then go and work on something else....like this.....

I really love the colors of this one but I just don't think this picture does the colors justice.   Also, I've been debating the idea of pulling the squares apart and using a different method of joining.   I don't know.....they look crooked to me.  We'll see....maybe I'll just get lazy and leave them this way.   Hopefully this will look better when it all comes together......

And the last project I'm working on is just something I've been fiddling with.  I had this combination of colors in mind for some time but I just didn't know what I wanted to do with them.  Then I spied this on Flickr and voila! I knew.  Of course, it totally distracted me from my other projects!  I dropped everything else and put this together.....

Once again, I don't like how the colors look in this photo....and I'm using acrylic rather than cotton so it has a completely different look.  I hope it looks as good as I am envisioning it......

So, there you go.....throw in my scrapbooking and needlepoint and you see, I'm a very busy girl.  Oh, and I also found a quilt I wanted to make.  Yep, I'm easily distracted....I hope I actually get something done in the next few weeks.....



Yearning for Fall

Yeah Yeah.  I know.  It's June. 
Could I really be looking forward to fall already? 
Truth be told I've been looking forward to fall since mid-May. 
I do this every year.
Probably because of my dread of the next few months of 105+ temps. 
It's the big downfall of living in Arizona.
The scorching summers. 
I hate them. 
So I try to look at it all in a positive light. 
The positive is...that after summer, is fall.  
My favorite season. 
And I guess that I may have, on some subconscious level, been channeling that feeling in my most recent crochet project. 
Because it screams fall. 
What do you think?????

And just to show I'm really looking ahead....my next project is going to be Christmas-y. 

Hey, it may be some months away but a girl can dream, can't she?