Road trip!

Greetings from Central PA!  Found out at about 5:00 last night that if we could be accessible by email this morning we didn't need to come into the office today!  We got on the road around 7:30 this morning and are about half way home.

I'm also making progress on the final 14" requested on Jonathan's scarf. Will be sure to posted a "completed" shot once we are out of the car in NY :-)

One year later (almost)

Anyone remember reading THIS last January?  I was so excited to start knitting in 2011....then wedding planning kicked into HIGH gear, which was very quickly followed by year end at work, and getting ready for Christmas 2011!

I received not one, but TWO knit sweaters this Christmas season!!
One was given to me by my Grannie, made originally by my Mom in the late 70s.  The "made by" tag has my mom's maiden name in it and my father insists that he never remembers by mom knitting, which is why we've decided it was made in the late 70s at least.  It's red cables and just gorgeous.  I wore it to work yesterday, and received many compliments!
The second one was a Christmas gift from my Mother-in-Law.  As you can see below my Sister-in-Law and I both received them as gifts this year :-)

Hers in a taupe brown and mine is sort of raspberry pink (my favorite!)

Now, I'm back to where I was a year ago thinking how I used to knit.  I learned to knit YEARS before I could figure out crocheting!  I never advanced past basic garter stitch scarves and attempts knit two purl two scarves (which are at most half way finished and still sitting on needles in my "to do" bags, drawers and baskets!)

I'm making a small online purchase of some patterns to get me going again and am adding "learn to knit cables" to my New Year's Resolutions!

Jonathan and I have also made the last minute decision to go back to WNY for New Years weekend!  I get out of work at 2 tomorrow (Friday) and we both have Monday off from work.  We didn't really have plans for New Years this weekend so it was like "why not!?!"  

My mom also has the weekend off from work so I'm looking forward to having a crafty weekend with her!  This which are on my crafty to-do list for the weekend include:

1. Sewing infinity scarves.  Found great patterns HERE and HERE to made these.  I think they're going to be great for gifts in 2012!  Just need to make a trip to JoAnn's with Mom first thing Saturday morning (I've already checked, they open at 9 a.m.) :-)
2. I'm crocheting a blanket made of Granny squares to look like gingham which I only have about 4 squares for so far....I've got a long way to go, but it's a fun project to pick up when I have a minute or two and it travels nicely both for crocheting in the Jeep and going to Grannie's for breakfast, etc.
3. Jonathan received a crocheted scarf for Christmas which he's asked to be a bit longer.  I knew this was a possibility when I was finishing it up on Christmas morning, but figured I'd rather add to it (it's just a simple hdc stitch) than frog my work because he wanted it shorter!  This will likely be my road trip project for tomorrow afternoon if I get the chance to sit in the passenger seat while it's still daylight!
4. I have a Christmas 2012 decoration that's already on my to-do list.  I'm creating it off of something my Grannie has in her house so I'm going to keep it a surprise until I have a finished project to show and a pattern written up!  I also need to stop at Walmart after JoAnns on Saturday morning to pick up a couple of skeins of "Christmas Green" Red Heart!

What does everyone have planned for New Year's Eve?  I hope it involves crocheting ;-)

Two on Tuesday

Things that make me happy on this week after Christmas:

1.  looking ahead to gifts and crafts that I plan to start working on in 2012 - many that I've never attempted before

2.  decisions to make last minute trips home to visit the family like the possibility of another trip up to NY for New Years weekend!

Brought to you by.....

MY NEW iPAD!!

hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas weekend. We just got back to Maryland and must return to work tomorrow. I have some Christmas gifts I can now share here along with some crafty goodness that was given to me. Hopefully I will get pictures unloaded and posted before New Years!!

So, what was the best present that Santa brought to your house this year, and who's already starting making gifts for next Christmas?!? :-)

whoops!

I hate it when I'm a day late forgetful with posting something!

From yesterday, my TWO ON TUESDAY

Things I love this time of year:

1.  Having snow on my birthday!  Not only was there a covering on the ground up in WNY and we had some flurries in the air here in Maryland as well - I LOVE BIRTHDAY SNOW!
Here's the picture my Dad sent me via text message the morning of my birthday.

This is looking from the garage at their front yard

2.  Having SNOW for Christmas!!  They're a week apart so you'd think it's a given, but given the mild "winter" we've all had this year, it's a big wish for 2011.....and one I think just might come true :o)


As far as my WIP - I forgot to email myself the pictures I need last night....tonight's my last night in town to prepare to go home for Christmas so not only am I BEYOND stressed and a little bit frazzled trying to get everything done and packed, but I guess getting ready to go home for Christmas can count (for now) as my WIP!

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Twas the WEEK before Christmas....

so much to catch up on....so much to do!  Bare with me through many pictures as I recap through all that's been going on in preparation for the holidays!

For those of you who don't know, I work about 5 blocks from the White House so going to see the National Christmas tree is a yearly event for us!  This year, I had some co-workers who wanted to go see the tree during lunchtime as a "field trip" so here are a few pictures of the tree during the day

This was the first time I've ever gone over during the day to see the tree, and while it was enjoyable to have small crowds, the tree wasn't too special during the day w/o the lights on!

I did get a good shot of the South Side of the White House and I saw Michele Obama's garden for the first time (it's just to the left in this picture - though you can't see it here, it's rather close to the black fence)

Sunday (12/18) was my 28th birthday, but we ended up celebrating all weekend long (which I loved!)  Jonathan took me out for a wonderful dinner at Restaurant Eve in Old Town on Friday evening - here's a picture of me with dessert

Saturday night was our annual Christmas/Holly's birthday party with good friends, Christmas cookies and of course GLOGG!  Sunday was spent relaxing, doing some final Christmas shopping and wrapping presents.  Great weekend all around!

Last night, Jonathan and I went to see the National Christmas tree - this time in the evening so all the lights were lit.  For those of you who don't know, it's a new tree this year.  Back in February the old tree fell down in a storm.  The new tree, which I believe was brought in from New Jersey is around 20 feet shorter than the tree that was standing....if you can't tell from the pictures above, it was a bit anti-climatic during the day.  It was much prettier last night with all the lights on, and quite festive

The Yule-Log is seriously a giant fire pit in the lawn of the Eclipse, it's wonderful, especially on a cold December night!  It was about 50 degrees last night, but it was still nice to stand by :-)

Just for comparison sake, here is a picture of the old tree from last year

This certainly also allows you to see how much better the photo quality is with my new camera!

Regardless of the years of good lights and decorations vs. the tackier years, a tree of that size is definitely much more magical, at least to me!!

Let's see....what else have I been up to?  Oh!  All my Christmas gifts are wrapped, expect for anything that I purchase last minute once up in WNY this weekend.  I have one project that I took photos of last night to share, but those photos are sitting on my laptop at home...should make for a good WIP post tomorrow!

Here are a few more of my favorite ornaments on our Maryland tree:

I swear there really is more than Disney ornaments on our Christmas tree, but when I start talking about my favorites, these are it!  This one, also came from our Engagement trip back in 2010.  With a birthday 1 week before Christmas I love everything with holly on it so this was a definite purchase when going through the shops last year!

I also really love my Yankee's snowman!  He lights up as well (which I usually forget to turn on), but he's cute either way!

This is not so much an ornament, but a pretty view under my tree!  This is the first year I've wrapped my presents far enough in advance to have them under the tree for a couple of days!  Usually they go right into bags for transport home.  It's extra work to have to pack them up this week, but very festive to see them under the tree and enjoy my wrapping paper.  No bows yet, those will go on in NY before they go under Mom and Dad's tree.  Obviously the star of this photo are my new birthday shoes!  I'm OBSESSED with them!  I got justified buying them for the party on Saturday night, and wore them to work yesterday.  They're wonderful.  I plan to plan my outfits for tomorrow and Thursday around them to continue wearing showing them off in the office!

For those of you still will me in the long winded update, I'd like to wish my Grannie a very Happy 88th Birthday today!

Birthday party at Mom & Dad's in 2010

How's everyone else doing in preparation for this week?  Are you still on schedule?  Are you still reminding yourself that Christmas is actually coming up THIS weekend?

Two on Tuesday

I'm even on time this week!

Things I'm happy for this week:

1. watching new episodes of Glee with the girls
2. crocheting for pleasure (i.e. come January when Christmas gifts are done, and I'm actually in the mood to crochet again, and I only crochet because I'm in the mood and it's relaxing.)

If you couldn't guess by #2 I'm way behind schedule on all things Christmas and working on gifts is starting to feel like a job worse than the one I spend 40 hours a week at in a suit!

Weekend Recap

What a busy weekend of Christmas preparations!  Never enough hours in the day to get it all done - I have definitely starting trimming the last of what I realistically think I'll be able to complete in the next 9-10 days until we're home for Christmas!

Saturday evening I spent decorating Christmas cookies with friends.  Here are the highlights of 2 hours of work and lots of wine :o)

From L to R: Smurf, Ron Weasley, Indiana (blue in '08 and representing the cities of my Indiana friends that evening), Cookie Monster and Abominable Snowman

My little Ron Weasley with his Gryffindor scarf was my best work of the night

Becca's Cookie Monster was my all time favorite of the night!

Sorry for the blurry cell phone pictures - I blame a combination of cropping the pictures and multiple glasses of wine!

After a Sunday filled with Christmas shopping, grocery shopping and party prep for next weekend, I spent about 4 hours at my sewing machine last night

We have loads of pillows on our couch for lounging and napping.  I love all the Christmas fabric at JoAnns each year!  I only need so many pairs of pajama pants and I don't quilt so pillow cases for the Christmas season seemed like the perfect excuse to buy a yard of each of these adorable prints!

Up close:

They worked just perfectly while crashing on the couch watching ABC family Christmas movies last night!

These shorts are actually for me (most of my Christmas sewing this year is catching up on things I wanted to make for myself last year but ran out of time for!)

I still have 4 pairs of pants to sew this week......1 is for Mom, 3 are for me.  I already decided last night that the flannel pants to match these shorts will likely not be made until January.  

Just trying to be realistic.  I have no problems with wearing Holly print year round :-)

Too tired to proof read today so I apologize in advance for mistakes I made in my quick typing of this update!

Progress!

Sorry for the mulitple posts today, but I've started to notice that if I don't take a picture and post about it right away, I totally forget!

I just finished this up and it's so cute that I just had to share!  I wish I hasn't sewn the hat on quite so tight and his face is a little off center but this might have made the top of my list for the cutest things I've ever made!

Looking forward to this one being opened on Christmas morning!

Thanks again Debi for the book and your creative pattern :-)

I just turned the lights on the tree to get me in the spirit so I wanted to share another ornament that I love

Tinkerbell also came from WDW in 2010 after our engagement.  I really love red ornaments on the tree (I feel like green "matches" too much...weird I know)

Other holiday traditions - a family birthday party for myself and my Grannie hosted by my mom where she makes her amazing lasagna for the only time each year....just got a text from mom this morning asking if we could do the party on the 23rd!  So excited that we're doing this, I'd sort of forgotten about it given the short trip home we're making this year.  I love having these yearly dinners/traditions

Homemade Angel Food Cake (made by Grannie)

Making a wish - 2010

2 Weekends til Christmas

already?!?!  that's all I've got left to get ready for Christmas - I just can't believe it!  I remember back in October when I was working so hard to stay ahead of things this year and now I feel like I'm still waiting for Thanksgiving to roll around!  I've talked with my mom about this and we agree that this largely has to do with how unseasonably warm it's been this fall/early winter!  They are FINALLY getting snow up in WNY but down here it's just barely brisk enough for me to feel truly in the Christmas spirit!  I'm just one of those girls who needs snow to have it feel like Christmas!

Pretty every day from now until the 21st I have a list of what I've got to accomplish to be ready.  Everything must be packed by the night of the 21st as we leave on the 22nd after work for home.

Lots to do today - starting out with my coffee and getting some detailed work done on some crochet projects that will be much easier when it's daylight.  Then I've got to finish picking up and rearranging furniture from the tree's arrival last Sunday before spending as many hours as possible sewing at my dining room table.  Tonight it's all about making and decorating Christmas cookies with the girls next door!  I'll also be making my shopping list tonight to stock up on the supplies I'll need to start my cookie making next week.

Happy Saturday everyone - hope that you find yours as productive as I'm planning/hoping mine to be!!

WIP Wednesday

It's been forever since I've talked about a WIP!

The busiest time of the year seems like an appropriate time for 2 posts in one day - there's been a lot of crocheting and craftiness these days :-)

This is part of the biggest Christmas gift that I still have left to finish (and am likely highly delusional to think it'll happen) by Christmas!

Guess if I got off my computer I'd get more done right?


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Two on Tuesday

1.  I'm a day late - whoops

2.  I'm at home so I don't have Debi's picture

So I'm doing pictures of my (day late) Two on Tuesday!

Coming home to a glass of wine (I painted these ceramic penguins about 5 years ago.  Another "crafty" that I grew up doing....)

Our Christmas Tree!

Speaking of our Christmas tree, we decorated it last night, and thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite ornaments over the next couple of weeks:

We got Mickey & Minnie in Disney back in 2010 the night we got engaged 10.9.10

November ramblings

Happy December first everyone!  I woke up to sunny skies here in MD but temps that finally required me to get out a winter coat – such a nice start to my birthday month!!!

Figured that now is as good a time as any to do a quick recap of projects I’ve been working on…at least the ones I can share!

This beautiful cowl was a birthday gift to my Mother in-Law.  Jon’s parents did a bit of a “drive by” stop in MD on their way home from Myrtle Beach and had dinner with us the night of the 20^th.  Her birthday had just passed earlier that week so I’d held onto her gift to give her in person.  I loved it so much that I took many pictures before wrapping – I just LOVE the colors in the yarn

The pattern is a “V-stitch” with my lighted K hook, and I chained on 40 to begin.  I used 2 full skeins of THIS yarn and it makes a cowl that wraps around your next twice and fits snuggly.  I would suggest a 3^rd skein if you want it longer (the dye lots very a great deal with this line of yarn, so be sure to get enough the first time!)

I loved the finished product so much that I’ve been back to AC Moore to scope out my other color options (since purchasing in Marble at AC Moore, I happened to be in the Walmart in WNY the day before Thanksgiving and this yarn sells at almost $2 LESS a skein that at AC Moore full price!!!  Walmart had more colors in stock too, wish I’d known this before buying and starting to use what I already had.  Please learn from my unfortunate mistake (that comes from not having a local Walmart to browse yarn at!)

I wanted this to go with my red pea coat that I got for Christmas last year.  There is something so festive about a red pea coat but I seem to only enjoy it through about New Years.  This means I didn’t get too much use out of it after receiving on Christmas Day last year so I’ve been looking forward to colder weather in order to wear everyday!

I literally whip stitched this together this morning so I could wear it today for the first of our winter weather – I love it!

As I’ve mentioned before, we spent Thanksgiving in Michigan – Ann Arbor area to be exact and I was looking forward to heading north and having some cooler weather!!  I made these in anticipation of chilly weather while walking the U of M campus.  On Friday it was 65 degrees and sunny in Ann Arbor!  I brought the gloves but wore them little.  Pretty happy I didn’t race to finish the above gray cowl to weather too since I left my pea coat at home and wore my North Face all weekend.

They match the cowl perfectly and both work great with my now famous pea coat BUT I’ll be remaking the gloves if I can find the time.  I thought I was going to love them longer to keep my forearms warm.  Turns out I was wrong.  This extra length means I can’t wear them if I have bracelets on and when I got to work this morning, the 4” cuff of my cotton sweater was wrinkled and crinkly from being “squished” during my commute.  A co-worker has already asked to have them if I remake new ones.  Bold yes, but she told me that she cut a pair of tube socks for fingerless gloves, I figure it’s the least I can do to hand these off to someone in need like that!

What else…..OH YES!  In my haze of sickness when I got home on Tuesday night I had the BESTpackage in the mail!  Look at all the fun I’ll be having thanks to Debi’s giveaway!!

Had fun on Tuesday night flipping through the pages of the book getting new ideas of projects that I didn’t need to start right away.  Of course, I started one last night while watching the NYC tree lighting!  Debi I’m sure you can already guess what this is, and I’ve gotta tell you – my Mom is gonna LOVE it!

I’ve finally kicking the last of my flu bug so while tonight will be bedding and towel laundry, and most of this weekend will be spent unpacking from Thanksgiving, putting away the Thanksgiving decorations and decorating for Christmas (very excited about getting our tree on Sunday!  We’re a week late thanks to the flu).  It’s December first though so the crocheting really needs to kick into turbo gear if I’m ever going to get everything done in time! 

Yes, I say this every year.  I tell myself it’ll be different next year.  I try to start earlier next week, but here I am once more already thinking “how will I ever get it all done in time?!?”

Two on Tuesday - 1 week later

Hope that everything had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.  We did loads of traveling that we knew about and didn't feel as terrible as I was anticipating:
Wed - 6 1/2 hour drive up to WNY
Thurs 5 1/2 hour drive to Ann Arbor, MI area
Sat 8:35 a.m. flight out of Detroit airport to make a 2:30 p.m. wedding in Alexandria, VA (this included a cab ride from Baltimore to Silver Spring to change and drive to VA)

Sadly, most of the family picked up a flu bug in Michigan and Jonathan and I were down for the count from around midnight on Saturday when we returned from the wedding until today - both of us went to work today, though Jon is already back home and I'm waiting patiently to be allowed to leave as well

Anyway - my Two on Tuesday is more my "non-favorite things".  I'm sick and cranky so I'm having a hard time seeing the silver lining to much today - sorry for the doom and gloom

Things I dislike today:

1.  Being too sick after Thanksgiving that I can't decorate for Christmas ASAP

2.  Being stuck at work sick for a deadline

Two on Tuesday

Week 2 and I almost forgot to do this!

This week I thought it was fitting to have 2 things that I'm thankful for:

1.  a wonderfully supportive family
2.  last minute surprises in life that put a smile on your face

What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving week?

I WON!

And I never win anything!  Well, definitely not anything quite this exciting!  Debi Y had a 500 Followers Giveaway and the grand prize was all of THESE neat things!  can't wait to see what sort of fun I can create when it arrives!

I also found about earlier today that my office was closing at 2:00 tomorrow - "early dismissal" for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.  This is always sort of an assumed thing that we get, but they're really waited until the last minute this time to tell us about it.  Shortly after the announcement came out, I found out that our dept doesn't have to come in at ALL tomorrow!!!!  I'm still waiting to hear if Jonathan can take the morning off from work but fingers crossed we'll get in late afternoon tomorrow and I'll actually get to quickly see my ***parents and Grannie before Jonathan and I head off to Michigan on Thursday! YAHOO!!!!!! Talk about a great surprise and reward for all the hard work I've put in here recently.....today is officially my lucky day!

now, back to all the work I gotta get done before I race home to pack!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  I probably won't have time to get on here again until next week, but I'm sure I'll have an update post on the crocheting done while we travel this weekend.

***Any one reading this who may see my parents or Grannie between now and 5:30 when I leave work today, please know that I haven't shared my surprise with them yet so please don't ruin it for me!!!!

My favorite things

The other day, I read a blog post where an old friend was talking about her favorite beauty products, keeping them organized etc. and it got me thinking.  Anyone who knows me, or has spent anytime in my bathroom, knows that I'm a bit (read: BIGTIME!) product junky!  You could call it a bit of an unnecessary addiction but I believe that my skin/hair/body become bored with the same stuff day in and day out so I like to switch it up!  At least that's the excuse I tell myself when I'm feeling stress over money spent on product and what I tell my husband to justify the purchase ;-)

Last night I had a package in the mail from Sephora (just about my all time favorite store since I went to one in Paris a decade ago....) and as I was getting out of my car thinking that the package should have arrived I thought to myself, "new toys!"  Yup, I've thought of make up and product to be toys forever so today I give you a list of my "favorite things":

Moisturizer:  Hope In a Jar by Philosophy is AMAZING.  I only just started using this about a year ago.  I was having a horrible case of winter skin and NOTHING was helping me get rid of nasty flaky skin on my face once my make up was applied.  The company I work for used to own part of Philosophy so we got a discount and many of the women I work with had been swearing by it.  Of course, by the time I jumped on the band wagon we no longer had the discount but I gotta say it's TOTALLY worth the price!!!  I'm on my 2nd jar in a years time (though I did use the tinted version - Hope in a Tinted Moisturizer over the summer so I'd probably be on my 3rd jar by now....)  If you're skin is really dry I say use it twice a day but on normal skin once a day (at night) is enough for preventative maintenance.  I really do love this stuff!  After using for about 2 months last fall it was the first time that I can ever remember feeling comfortable with little to no foundation on my face - it's a miracle cream!

Eye Creme:  All About Eyes.  I just got this in my box from Sephora last night.  I used to use it all the time and for some reason about 4 years ago I stopped buying it.  I don't even remember why anymore but man it was a really stupid move!  As I've mentioned in previous posts, I have been working crazy hours at work this month and I'm exhausted.  Last week was particularly stressful and by Thursday and Friday I would wake up with black circles under my eyes that looked like I'd been sucker punched in both eyes.  Even the best concealer that I own couldn't mask them (and it's the same concealer I've had to use on a black eye Jonathan had years ago).  I knew I wasn't exaggerating in my own mind when I got to work Friday morning and the first thing I co-worker said to me was "oh I think you've got something on your face".  She was pointing to sort of my under-eye by the bridge of my nose.  I get out my mirror just thinking that my eye makeup was smeared but no, it was just my black circles under my eyes not fully concealed.  I wanted.to.die.  I got right on Sephora's website and looked up my newly beloved All About Eyes, saw that it was for dark circles and puffiness and ordered immediately!  After using last night and this morning I look about 60% better than I have for weeks.  Totally worth spending a bit more than drug store brands (which are mostly for lines, not dark circles in my research)

Makeup:  I've been using BareMinerals for 5+ years.  No foundation is better in my mind.  I have different shades for difference times of the year and have tried at least once just about every product they offer.  I'll leave it to you to go into a store and play around with the samples - on a daily basis I still use their concealer (multi-tasking face in bisque), foundation (in matte), hydrating mineral veil (tinted mineral veil in the summer), to eye shadow to brow enhancer to blush.  I've used the eye liners, mascaras, lip liners, lip gloss and probably more from time to time but they're rarely my staples.  If you're looking for a bolder shade of eye shadow I'm a fan of Urban Decay.  I wear Half Baked daily during the summer months.  Their Eyeshadow Primer Potion is the best I've found to keep my eye shadow where I want it and crease free!  I've even fallen asleep without washing my face (many times actually) and the next morning my eyeshadow is still there!

Other randoms that I don't go a day without using -

• For shower gel, body lotion and body spalshes and hand soap in my bathroom and kitchen - Bath and Body Works is my favorite!  They have a scent for every season both for your body and home.  Their shower gel works the best for me to shave in the shower and their lotions and creams keep things moisturized year round!  They are constantly having sales and sending coupons in the mail to help you save more $.  Twice a year they do a big semi-annual sale and you'd be AMAZED by what you can stock up on.  They next one comes after Christmas and I'd suggest signing up for their emails cause when they have free shipping on a $25 order you can find great things on their website!
• I use THIS and THIS in my hair daily.  I have naturally straight, thin hair and being blonde means it can look damaged and scraggly very easy.  The CHI line helps keep my hair looking as healthy as it cane for all that I put it through!

There is a lot more than I use, and switch out from day to day but I don't want to bore those of you who are still reading.  Message or email me if you want to know about anymore of my favorites!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Feeling a bit homesick today.  I could have had a Three of Tuesday in my earlier post because I love having 4 seasons!

We’re having a bit of an “Indian Summer” down here in DC – it was 73 degrees when I was driving home last night and 65 degrees on my way into work this morning!  I love Summer, but honestly I’m in need of some good crisp/cold weather!  This is why I’ve changed my background and header today.  It’s in honor of the upcoming winter that I know won’t be as cold here as back home and will not likely be as much snow as back home, but I’ll be dreaming of it none the less.  And yes, before everyone starts the outcry in my comments, I know most people hate cold weather and hate the snow and blah blah blah ;-)  It doesn’t even feel like Thanksgiving is next week with weather like this!  Here’s hoping it’s a bit colder up in Michigan!

Please enjoy my new pictures which include everything from our Engagement pictures over Thanksgiving weekend a year ago (in the first freshly fallen snow of the season) to a Christmas Eve fire at Grannie’s to December 2010 snow in Panama, to a tree many winters ago in Busti to my poor Jeep after Blizzard #1 of “Snowmageddon” in Silver Spring.

And, if you’re in a region with cold weather or even some snow, please take a deep breath of that crisp air for me today!

Two on Tuesday

I was just reading Debi's "Two for Tuesday" and thought it would fun to do as well!


Two things that I love:

1. my husband  (barf, I know - sorry, but I'm a still a newly wed!)
2. listening to Christmas music

Join in the fun!  What are two things that you love or make you happy on this lovely fall day?!?!

WHAT?!?

She's knitting?  I know right! LOL  I tried crocheting with it first but didn't love how it looked so I got out a pair of knitting needles and cast on.  We'll see how it goes long term and if it ever gets finished - I'll keep posting pictures as I go!

Lots of other finished bits to show off but never anytime.  One of these days I'll post an update.

For today, I'll be cleaning (though I'd rather spend the day watching Harry Potter weekend!)

I <3 the weekends

Happy Saturday everyone!  I had a request for spa cloths that I'm working to "fulfill" by Monday.
Enjoy your weekend :o)

Oh the Drama

Yup.  Who knew that picking up something I'd gifted and taken back to finish 2 months ago was going to cause me such stress.  Crocheting is supposed to de-stress me for crying out loud!

You would have also thought that since I knew I was going to be giving this away and eventually getting it back to finish that I would have taken some notes about hook size, turning chains, etc.  Did I? Nope.  You know why?
1.  It was 2 days before my wedding that I was weaving in ends and the day before my wedding that I was wrapping the gift.  Even if I had made a note about hook size, I likely would have lost it between the wedding, honeymoon and unpacking.
2.  I told myself that I would not forget that it was my favorite green lighted crochet hook.  I mean I kept the 3 colors of yarn bagged together (mostly because this stayed at my parents until I was home Labor Day weekend vs. lugging with me on the honeymoon when I didn't have the project to work on!)

Should have been soooooooooo easy last night at 8:00 when DWTS started and I got my butt in gear to crochet.

Turns out that my lighted J hook and lighted K hook are "shades of green"

damn.it.

Worst design idea ever.  At least if you're going to have 2 shades of green make one like a F and the other a K - that I could tell the difference on when looking at a project I haven't touched in 3 months.  frick

So, I did a row of white with the K, started the first row of veregated with the K, decided it was wrong and switched to the J for that row, the 2nd row of veregated and started the next white row before thinking it was too tight.  I switched back to my K and did the rest of the white and 1+ row of yellow before my 2 hours were up.  You can't really tell the difference and I'm still not 100% sure which I was using!!  I even got really anal and tried to measure the height of my stitches (during the stretch with the J) but because this has been wrapped, gifted, used, returned to me and moved around my apt. for a month and a half the older stitches have sort of settled and it's impossible to tell.  Everything is measuring about the same so  I'm sticking with the K at this point unless I get further and start to see the blanket grow.  The 2 rows of J just feel a little tight.  Not enough to frog them cause you'll never be able to tell once it's finished, but they're not as "squishy" - seriously, that's the technical term for determining correct hook size.

You can tell what's new by the tails.  Doesn't look like much for 2 hours of work (minus the time I stopped to watch them dance, Maks' ridiculous meltdown and wine).  I obvi did all the way across each row....Hopefully now that I'm more settled I'll get more done tonight!

What ELSE have I been up to you ask?

Seems I'm in the business of making flowers

No clue what these are for really.  It started with one for a coaster at my office in fall colors and turned into many over the weekend while playing with different colors and trying to see how to make them bigger or smaller.  The biggest one was just made last night after DWTS for my work coaster and is here today.  The smaller one of the same color was sent via "snail-mail" to my Momma to use as a Fall coaster.  Jonathan's suggestions as I took pictures this morning were to put on hats or scarves which were the exact same ideas I'd already been having.  Need to master making them a bit smaller still to do a variety on a scarf and I'm thinking now that I've gone bigger I could probably do smaller with success!  I also thought the purple and pink one would be cute on a headband for a little girl.  Anyone interested?  I'd happily take orders for Christmas presents and my prices are reasonable - leave a comment (or send me an email).

My Sunday afternoon trip to AC Moore meant 3-Pound of Love colors for Christmas presents, some other yarn found while browsing (so I obviously needed for Christmas presents) AND a pretty awesome (at least I think so) bag of mill ends!  I loved the shade in this 1 lb bag so much that I started something for me on Sunday night:

I'm getting my own Time-out Cowl!  yeah!

You can't see the detail in the yarn with this horrific cell phone photo while hovering over my chaise on a cloudy morning while already late for work, but there is a thin shimmer through this chunky yarn AND pink sequins!  Seriously, it doesn't get much better than that!  I'll be sure to keep the quality of the above picture in mind when I take another one for an update and will get more detail to share!


On a slightly more random note.  I am in search of some good trivia questions!  I'm working with a co-worker on this team "stress-breaker" and we're doing trivia.  There will be pumpkin-y baked goods made by me and prices of the crafty variety to help the team "de-stress" during year end.  Please leave a comment with good trivia you have to share - we're learning so much just in pulling these questions together!!

Ripple Along

Who doesn't love a good ripple?!?  I've got a soft spot for them for sure!  Maybe it's just that they're sort of "mindless" to work on and depending on the colors and variations you select they almost always look different and are most definitely always beautiful and wonderful!

I read about this Ripple Along on another blog and thought "WHY NOT!"

I also have the perfect, already started project to complete.  Procrastination is something that I'm far too good at.  I spent about every waking second trying to finish this present prior to my wedding back in August, but it totally didn't happen!  I ended up finishing at a good spot, wove in all my ends and wrapped it up, telling the recipient that I needed to take it with me to finish.  She refused to allow me to bring it on my honeymoon and snuck off after the Rehearsal Dinner with it.  Luckily I saw her over Labor Day weekend and I got it back, but of course life and yarny temptations got in my way and I haven't touch it since my pre-married days!

This is my AMAZING Maid of Honor the night before my wedding!  She's also my best friend Kait and the blanket is a thank you gift for being the best MOH on the planet!  Seriously.  This girl is in her 3rd year of med school, travels from hospital to hospital all over the northern East Coast, was studying for and took one of her Boards exams like 2 months before the wedding, traveled home for 2 bridal showers and traveled to DC for my bachelorette party all while helping keep me calm usually from a 200-400 mile distance!  She's amazing :-)

Last year around this time I was working on Jonathan's ripple (yet to post about, I know it's almost been a year) while he was in class on Monday nights.  Since them, I have associated watching Dancing with the Stars on Monday evenings with crocheting, and blankets, and most importantly crocheting a ripple blanket!  I told him again over the weekend how I spent Monday nights crocheting just as fast as I possibly could.  I didn't finish it until January when he was in Belize but he never saw me crochet one stitch on this in person.  It was about half finish when he opened it on Christmas day and it was laying on the bed for him when he returned from Belize.  One of these days I'll post pictures - maybe when I post Kait's finished blanket :-)

Let It Snow

Ok, not really.  It's 63 degrees here and sunny BUT a girl can dream right?

This sinus thing that's been going on for almost a week now, has given me a much needed weekend on the couch, not doing a whole lot, except for crocheting and just about non-stop watching of "Brothers & Sisters".  I've been working on bits and pieces of different Christmas gifts.  I'm not ready to share yet, mostly because I want to show off the final product.  Soon....really, some day soon!

I did just finish this up:

It's going to be part of a birthday present for next month and it's my first time doing anything filet or reading a chart to crochet something!  It's way bigger than my usual dish cloths so I hope that recipient still enjoys using it!

I have many ideas in my head for using all of these FESTIVE PATTERNS - I look forward to getting into these in the coming months for both Christmas presents and Christmas decorations to keep!

For now, I think I'm going to make an AC Moore run for supplies needed on 2 new projects brewing for the holidays!

Pattern (and better picture) coming tomorrow!

Just finished my bigger pumpkin (with no full pattern)  and I love it too much to not share tonight!  I have notes on how I made it, and I'll try to type into a pattern to share tomorrow! 
I'm also hoping for a nice morning where I can take a few flash-free pics.
Nighty night :-)

Monday night traditions

I'm ready for 80s week on DWTS!  Here's the start of a bigger pumpkin... Hope you love my flannel from '97  seriously, I've had them since 7th grade!  LOL