oops

I was just thinking back to my first and most recent Granny Square projects and wanted to link a picture to my comment here.  I realized that I don't think I ever posted about said blanket, so I looked in the photos on my phone and found not 1, but 3 (well 2 1/2) blankets that I didn't post pictures of!

This was my first Giant Granny Blanket which was made given to my Momma for Christmas.  Seems there is no completed picture of this one either (I'm becoming a bit of a failure at picture taking it seems!)

Below is what I started last spring for myself.  I wanted something for reading on the balcony on cool nights.  I picked "beachy" colors for thoughts of summer days...

This is all the further I got before I decided that I wanted to make my Grannie a blanket as a thank you for hosting my Bridal Shower in April.  Below is what I made her - I apologize in advance for the world's worst pictures for a finished project

The center is not white, that's the flash....it really is a square but for some reason thought that hanging this off the ironing board half crumpled in my parents kitchen was a good place to photograph my hard work.  It was likely the morning of my shower, I had probably just finished weaving in those damn ends and was racing to get it wrapped - typical.  I'm assuming I had just finished ironing my dress!

This one was to show off my scalloped border - first time I've done that on a blanket before! Love it!

I wish I had a picture handy of my Grannie with the blanket at the shower.  She loved it and still does!  I talk to her twice a day and she's always telling me how perfectly the colors match the flowers in her gardens (she LOVES to garden!)  I never get tired of hearing how much someone loves a gift that I made them.

Moving past Granny's (and my Grannie) - I don't think I ever gave you more than a preview for this little guy

 This car seat blanket went to my friend Paula's little boy Sam.  I LOVE this pattern!  It's the 2nd one I made and gave away.  The pattern is from one of my first crochet books and I just love the idea of a smaller blanket for the car seat that doesn't get all nasty and dirty from dragging on the ground!

Here's a close up of the detail as well - I love the braided cord detail that's added at the end.

I can think of 2 more blankets off the top of my head that I made in 2011 that I've never photographed or posted .  One is 100% completed and lives at my house (Jonathan's surprise Christmas gift last year) so it'll be easy to photograph.  The other was a gift to my MOH that it's 100% done, so also at home with me, waiting to be finished.
I'll add these to the list of "need to post" photos that I'm still holding hostage.

Happy Hump Day everyone!

I need your comments!

Ok, so I mentioned how I didn't like that lighter blue I started using for the 2nd Granny Square scarf I'm making. I also checked the brown vs. what was in the "stash" that I thought was darker and it turns out it's the same color!
Anyway, this morning I took a minute (or 5...) and dug through to find a darker teal that I was hoping to have. The last thing I need sitting around my apartment is a half used skein of yarn! I found a darker teal, it's Red Heart instead of Vanna's Choice, but actually after crocheting half of a square, I like how the center turned out so much that I'm thinking about switching over to all Red Heart...Please see below:

Unfortuantely it's kind of hard to tell the difference in the picture but on the square on the left, the blue is more of a "country blue" not teal at all. I ever think the darker teal makes the same brown look darker...weird.

I definitely like the darker teal (the Red Heart) on the right - I think it's because Red Heart isn't the softest yarn in the world and the "stiffness" once crocheted makes it hold the different stitches much better. I'm thinking that I may switch the cream over the Red Heart, if not all 4 colors as I would love to see if it would make the 2nd round "spokes" stand up more...if it doesn't, I'll go back to the Vanna's as it's softer for the cream, brown and pink (the blob of color sitting there...) and use the Red Heart teal (I'm fairly positive that Vanna's Choice does not come in a color that looks like this.



Please leave comments and let me know what you think! Now that the weather has finally cooled a bit to a normal fall temperature, I'm in the mood to craft once more!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!!

Weekend accomplishments

I can not say that across the board I got a lot done this weekend...I should have spent more time working around the apartment than I did, but most if not all projects that I started were only about 75% completed. I did get a good deal of work done on crafts in my procrastination for all things work/cleaning related!

Saturday morning while catching up on Grey's and Private Practice from the past 2 weeks I got all those nasty little slippery ends woven in!



I almost did a little dance I was so excited to get to this point! I refrained and got to work on the border, which I insisted on having done before I would start unpacking!



FINALLYY FINISHED and I'm in love! I'm honestly very proud of myself as well. This is the most complex Granny Square pattern I've ever used, the first time I've joined squares as I worked (loved it!) and it's a project that's been on my mind forever and that I've had the yarn for FOREVER so it feels really great to have it done!! I think this one is going to Mom for her birthday in 2 weeks, I want to start the 2nd version with the thicker yarn first to see if that's really the one I want for me, or if I want to keep this one and give the thicker yarn one to her...Right now my plan is to start work on this during Rocky Horror Glee tomorrow :-)

I seem to be getting a hard time by a few over my listening to Christmas music so early this year. Part of my realization that I leave too many Christmas projects to the last minute means that I've already started making Christmas presents and decorations. I did some seriously damage at AC Moore on Saturday stocking up on red, white and green yarn. When you spend 2-3 hours working around the apartment but find yourself dreaming of your next project that you'd rather be working on...you tend to enjoy the accompaniment of some Christmas music to make you work just a smidge faster!

Saturday evening I got the white finished and started on the leg (all 10" of it) though I didn't get too far before crashing (I had been awake since 5 a.m.....the curse of falling asleep at 8 p.m. on a Friday night!). AC Moore didn't have Red Heart Holiday in stock, but they did have this lovely stuff in LARGE "pound of love" skiens so I'm using that instead. Crocheting with 2 strands at all times means a couple of things:
1. NOTHING will be slipping out of this finished stocking, it's crazy tight and stiff
2. Since I just have 1 large skein of each color, I've had to wind small balls of each color for my 2nd strand slowing me down a bit
3. I'm not used to crocheting with 2 strands with a K hook so the tightness and stiffness slows me down and gives me hand cramps quicker than I would prefer.

Last night I made lots of progress while we watched "The Princess and the Frog" (don't judge, it's a REALLY cute movie. Jon and I both thoroughly enjoyed it, laughing at many parts....it makes me wonder why Disney is so adamant about only doing Pixar movies now a days, the classics are so much better!)
Anyway, here is what the stocking currently looks like, not exactly a "stocking" yet....all your gifts (or coal haha) would go flying right out the back!!



Last night I set my alarm for my new plan of getting crafting done in the morning before work...then I couldn't fall asleep for what felt like FOREVER... When my alarm went off this morning, I laid there an extra few minutes thinking about how nice and warm my bed was and how much I hated mornings...I then remember I was getting ready for work; unfortunately it turns out the "getting ready I was doing" was a DREAM....it was now an HOUR later than when I wanted to get up. This only gave me about 10 min to crochet this a.m. (I also ended up about 40 min late for work...seems when I have my mind on crafting nothing else matters!!)

The "stocking" now looks like this:


All things considered that slowed me down, it's coming together quite quickly actually. I'm hoping to finish it up tonight during DWTS inbetween all the laundry doing that must be done tonight!

OH...on Saturday night I all the sudden had the urge to switch back to Halloween vs. going forward with Christmas so I drew, cut out and started these little cuties

I cut out 4...planned to stitch 2 this year and keep the other 2 filed away for next year but this is all the further I've gotten...might need to focus on finishing up this little one and his friend tonight instead of I'm actually going to enjoy them this week :-)

Weekend Craft Update

I really want this blanket to be done. Like seriously, I need it to be finished. And I have never felt this way about something I'm working on. I'm just REALLY over it.

I had made great progress last weekend, just had 4 or 5 squares to go by Sunday evening and I told myself I would work on them a little bit each night after work and then I'd be ready to sew by the weekend. Well, then Monday came and went and slowly became Tuesday, etc. Needless to say I didn't touch the yarn or pick up my crochet hook once during the week. I usually leave the project I'm working on out so it's somewhat visible to me when I'm being lazy and just laying there watching TV. I actually left this all on the chaise and I still didn't touch, I just laid around it!

Friday night into Saturday morning I finished up crocheting the squares and got the first round of sewing ends completed!

Here they are - 49 finished squares.....they all look so sunny and happy here - even though it was raining I feel like there were positive vibes out there for the fact that soon this dreaded blanket would be done! I couldn't wait to get them laid out and see what the pattern I had in my head was gonna look like. First I had to pick up so I could vacuum. By 4 p.m. I was finally finished with my house chores and was able to get everything laid out before it got too dark.

What do you think? I'm pretty sure I like it..... Considering that when I bought the yarn this wasn't what I was planning on making, and the dk. green came from my own yarn collection once my first pattern wasn't cutting it. Now to sew everything together......

Yup, sorta an "out of sight, out of mind" moment that I had last night. I'm thoroughly annoyed with the whole thing and again, just REALLY want it to be finished! Since this pattern wasn't what I was planning when I bought the yarn, I should have just taken it all back and started fresh. 4 colors, 3 different brands (even though they're all worsted weight) and now that they're sewn together you can totally tell. UGH!!!!!!!! All the sewing part is done, and I got to crocheting together the final strips but I was just so annoyed with how it looks and the fact that it's not flat I just gave up! I'm really hoping that when I finish getting everything together and get a border around it, it's either going to just magically look better or I can tug on it a little and get things lookin' less lumpy. Who knows maybe lumpy will be a good look! If anyone has any ideas or suggestions as to a quick fix that doesn't require me tearing anything apart, PLEASE let me know!

Since I gave up on this yesterday afternoon, and we were getting ready to watch a movie last night I decided I needed to find something a little less stressful to make and help keep me awake! This was the point where I was super happy to have spent the time I did on Saturday reorganizing the mess of yarn I had out in the living room and really got my "to-do" projects back in order.

Here's the hat I made during the 2nd Harry Potter movie:

I was on such a roll that I started the next one too!

Hopefully by the time I'm done giving that darn blanket the stink eye all week I'll be able to buckle down and finish it next weekend!

Lesson learned: no matter how good you think you are, or how many times you tell yourself you'll make it work with the yarn you got to save some $$, STOP what you're doing, get in the car, take it all back and get yourself all the same brand of yarn for the project!

Update on the Blanket

No, these are not the best pictures in the world, they're pretty blurry and I couldn't manage to fit the entire blanket into the frame on my phone this morning, but that's cause the blanket has gotten SO BIG!

On Saturday morning I was convinced that I would get it finished this past weekend, or at least be down to the border to be working on at night this week. Didn't quite happen though, I have 2 1/2 rounds to go before extending 2 opposing sides and then starting the 3 round border.

The only time I really got a chance to work on it was Saturday morning early and then while the girls were over for Crafty Saturday. Of course with other people there it became a lot of chatting and what was on TV and snacks to keep us satisfied until Duck at 8 so I didn't get as much done as I had hoped. I did learn a new knitting stitch from Heather which I am looking forward to trying. I've actually already thought of what yarn I have and want to use for this scarf, I just have to find it and the right size knitting needles......should also probably try and finish the above blanket first too!

If I was just making a lap blanket I would totally be done, it's gotten so big and it's getting to be a bit cumbersome to have sitting on my lap. At this point I truly just want to get it done and I know that in the future I will probably only make blankets with a standard "back and forth" pattern, or I will be making many Granny squares and connecting them all at the end!

I think I'll be able to wrap this guy up by the weekend, or end of the weekend. I have 3 plastic canvas projects (2 for Valentine's Day) that I'm also working on as well as trying to maintain my focus to not start one of the other 4 blankets I've been designing in my head, or that knit scarf! This truly is my downfall with getting projects finished, I have too many things I want to make, too many new ideas in my head, and NEVER enough time to get them all done!

I will post a finished picture of the blanket by the end of this coming weekend, I'm gonna really work towards that being my deadline......hopefully I'll ever get some other things finished up during the week/weekend too :-)

Weekend Project

Here is a picture of what I worked on for a good portion of the long weekend. Now, I know I had to return to work yesterday, but I forgot to take a picture of it yesterday morning and I went shopping after work last night so I haven't put any work into it since Monday evening. You can even see right at the bottom where my hook is hanging off and I had stopped that row of green on Monday night because I just couldn't keep going - my wrist was offically "off the clock"!

The blanket is gonna be for Mom and it's just one giant Granny square. As you know from some of my summer posts, I did start a blanket for myself for reading on the patio but I never came close to finishing it (as of yet). Ever since Mom gave Grannie and I our blankets for Christmas I have been determined to start crocheting blankets too. I'm never one to be out crafted! I've had the yarn for this for at least the last 6 months and had planned on having this made for her for Christmas, after not having it done for her birthday.....clearly neither happened. I started the first 2-3 rounds on Friday night, first w/ a smaller hook but by round 4 found myself starting over because I didn't like how tight it was turning out. Everything is Red Heart SuperSaver, one skein of each of the 6 colors needed and a K hook. It's 37 rounds before I start to just add some rows to opposing ends to make it a rectangle and then add on the border. Right now I believe we're looking at around 17 or 18 rounds. Unfortunately, after the completion of each round, the next one is a bit bigger, 16 stitches each time to be exact so as you can imagine it starts taking longer and longer to get around the square once more. Right now it's taking me about 30-45 minutes to get around once so my progress isn't as evident as before.

I'm still having lots of fun though and I really like how it's coming out. Definitely not taking me as long to make a blanket as I thought it would and I already have many MANY plans for more blankets I want to make for me, Jon, Grannie and others! I've even bought the yarn/picked out the colored for most of them.

Good thing crafty Saturday is coming up cause I clearly have a lot of work to do! I'll post a new pic on Monday to see how I do.

Would be happy to share the pattern as well as the colors I'm using with anyone who is interested in having, just let me know!

Weekend of Crafts @ 1087 S Main

Here is my craft update from what I worked on while I was home last weekend.

I made these fall wreaths for Mom and me. Mom's is the blue one to match her kitchen, and mine is the burgundy w/ the while flower cause I liked the colors together. Unfortunately with finishing up Mom's pillow, getting packed to go and all the car stuff I was still dealing with last week, I only got about 1/3 of Mom's made by Thursday night, so I had to bring it home with the skeins of yarn for mine to finish up with Mom. We took the blue one with us on Saturday morning to work on while we waited for my oil change, and then finished that up and made all of mine on Sunday mornings at Grannie's for breakfast. They don't really take more than 2 hours or so to make on your own, it's amazing how much quicker it goes w/ a 2nd person. One (me) wraps the yarn and ties off the bundles and the other (Mom) ties them onto the hanger and snips the long ends. It works really well, except that I constantly have to stop chatting while I could to 25!

Onto Grannie's pillow. I brought the yarn home thinking I would get a start on it. Even when Mom asked me if I was planning on finishing before Monday I was like "of course not!" I started thinking about starting it on Friday night, and realized that I was short a color of yarn! I had only brought home 4 and needed a 5th. I had given up on even making it while home, until while at Wal-mart w/ Mom asking for her suggestions on a color to use and she suggested the dark purple, so I got it and started working on it a little bit on Saturday night. Not seriously, I did like 3 rounds and then decided to make my Mom a couple of dish cloths instead (no pics were taken, sorry!) Sunday was a fun day at home and after finishing the wreaths @ Grannie's Mom and I went home and while she was working on making some food for that night, I picked up the project and started in on it again around 11:20 a.m. Well by 4:30 I had made amazing progress and had one side completed (the single stripped square side)! I made a comment to Mom before we left for Sam's Club and AJ's (yum!) about how I was hoping to have it finished in time for her to take it to Grannie this week. Mom mentioned how nice it would be to have it finished and take it to her on Monday morning and we would go early for breakfast. I knew Grannie would love this, so I set my mind to finishing it! We got home from the errands, Mom made dinner, I briefly ate and continued working on it until it was finished around 11:30 p.m.

This shot is from around 11:05 p.m., I'd already stitched up one side before I remembered to take a picture.

Yes, that means that in less that 12 hours I crocheted an entire 2 sided 14" pillow. I was cursing myself toward the end of that 2nd pillow and really kinda wished I had gone around it one more time, but the size was OK and I just couldn't bear to keep going, my wrist was killing me even with my brace on.

Here are the finished product for both pillows, both sides :-)

There are some differences between the 2, I learned from my mistakes on Mom's blue one but they're both great!

The navy blue on Mom's was a different type of yarn (Caron Simply Soft instead of Red Heart) and you can tell that it made the pillow loose it's shape quite a bit. Mom's had also been used for the weekend, so I'm sure that's "reshaped" it a little as well. On the side with the 4 squares, Grannie's individual squares are 1 round larger so that I didn't need to go around them 3 times to get the size right (I'd mis-calculated on Mom's, still worked pretty well considering I was doing this with no pattern!). I would have liked one more row around the outside of that side on Grannie's but I think 2 rows of double crochet might make it too big. I'm thinking about trying a row of double crochet and then a row of single maybe? or 2 rows of half double? I'm not really sure yet, which everyone I make next will be another "test" while I finalize the pattern!

Let me know what you think of my projects! I'd love feedback, and would love to eventually have a pattern to share with those of you who are interested!

I haven't worked on anything since returning from DC, 1. because I've been so exhausted that I haven't even unpacked and 2. I think I'm more productive with projects at home because I have just a set number of things to work on. In DC my options become endless and I can't make up my mind on what I want to do, or something I can't find what I need to make do with what I want to make! Hopefully once we move and I have more storage space for my crafts, I will be more organized and will be able to keep things more organized. Maybe I'll dig that summer blanket out to work on while watching Grey's tonight, or maybe I'll start Mom's blanket, or work on Grannie's blanket, or start a new pillow, or Halloween decorations..............you see my dilemma!