Moody Monday - still catching up

First, let's just pretend that I remembered to hit "Publish" last night and that it's not already Tuesday, okay?

Okay.

I'm still working to catch up on my January days for my mood blanket.  I posted to the Facebook group last week how I have caught up on remembering all my moods from earlier this month.  I do continue to add to this journal daily, but with all of the other projects that I've been working on, I just don't have enough time to get everything done I wanna/have to do (nothing new there!)

Here are my "moods" from this past week:

1/20:  EXCITED - got to see some great friends for a final Christmas get-together of the season.

1/21:  TIRED - out too late the night before enjoying the company of previously mentioned friends!

1/22:  THINKING OF GRANNIE/SAD - watched a beautiful, pink sunrise on my way to work, which always makes me feel like Grannie is looking down on me.  I also had very odd dreams the night before that involved Mom and I going through things in Grannie's house and finding these hidden "gifts" with notes addressed to us from Grannie.  I put gifts in quotes as they weren't large gifts - but things like beautiful pieces of wood that had naturally occurring designs in them, and the notes explaining to us why she'd picked them specifically for each of us.  Like my Mom's had a pattern in it that almost looked like a flower so Grannie had mentioned in the note how it was like a Brown Eyed Susan for her (my Mom's name is Susan, and she has brown eyes, so Grannie really cherished the Brown Eyed Susan's that she had planted in her gardens).

1/23:  EXCITED - Mom and I went to see Kellie Pickler in concert at our local Ice Arena

1/24:  FRUSTRATED - all of last week had an underlying theme of being a bit frustrating for me.  Both personal and work situations had me ready to crawl out of my skin in frustration and everything collided and reared it's ugly head by Friday.

1/25: SNOWY DAY - no, not exactly mood or feeling.  But don't you ever have days where the sun shining makes you smile?  Or you love looking out windows that make you feel like you're inside a snow globe all day?  Or the rain puts you in such a funk that you feel like screaming?  Well, the weather does this to me, so it's almost like the weather is a mood; it definitely can have an affect on mine!  Most of Saturday, I spent inside the house working around - mostly in our bedroom, which has 5 windows on 3 walls so it was the ideal opportunity for me to enjoy the snowing and blowing that was happening all around me!

1/26: CRAFTY/PRODUCTIVE - while I did have to spend a little bit of time yesterday getting our laundry finished for the week, we also had our first official Panama Rocks meeting of 2014 and I set myself up to be VERY productive with custom orders- like my SNEAK PEAK SUNDAY photo! 

Osa's contribution to our meeting was snuggling my foot to keep me warm :-)

By Sunday we also had enough snow that we had to send Jonathan out to snow plow before more snow came.....and while Sunday was our "warmest" day for the foreseeable forecast, I sent him out with nothing but his EYES showing!

 So really, it was a productive day for him too ;-)

He came in looking like a "Alla-ka-zanie" snow monster!  (sorry, I know only 3 people are going to get that, but I HAD to say it LOL)

So WHERE does my 2014 Mood Blanket stand at this point?

No, these aren't the hexagons for the past week based on the moods listed above - it's just all the furthest I've gotten so far...period.  I can't figure out how I messed up the pattern on a third purple hex on Saturday morning and I honestly haven't picked it up again since.

Here's to having more real-time progress to share next Monday - you know, ON time!

Two on Tuesday

Happy Tuesday everyone!  I hope that your week has been off to a great start!

 Things that are making me happy today:

1.  Hair tutorials, like THESE, from Kate over at The Small Things Blog.  I woke up this morning in no mood to go through the process of doing my hair for work.  Typically I am terrible at any sort of "styling" when it comes to my hair, so I'm usually a bit of a "hot mess" after these types of mornings.  I've kinda, sorta, half-@ssed tried this Mid-Knot style before but it went all kinds of wrong.  Today though?  Well, it must be my lucky day, because I think I [almost] got it!

And yes, after about 10 photos, I've also realized that my "skill" for taking back of my head #selfies in the bathroom mirror rivals my standard inability to style my own hair.  Either way - this was over my late lunch hour so not only did my hair go up on the first try and look decent, it still looks decent this far into my day!  (yeah me!)

This will likely never happen again, and the next time I think I'm going to sleep in the extra 15 min and put my hair up all "cute" I'll show up 15 min late to work, overly frustrated with my hair in a nasty little knot/bun/thing.  So for now, I'll enjoying having hair that looks like I'm capable of doing something with it.

2.  Getting to crochet over my lunch hour.  While my commute to work is about 35 min on dry roads (to go 32 miles - such an improvement over DC traffic!),  my parents live 8ish min from my office so I frequently head over there on my lunch hour.  Always on the days my Mom is off from work, and on the other days (like today) it just depends on my work load, the weather, if I remembered to bring anything to do while I'm there, general mood, if I'm in need of food (and too cheap to buy something), etc.  I headed over today so that I could finish crocheting up my mock-ups of the three patterns I was deciding between yesterday for my 2014 Mood Blanket.  

That's right - WAS deciding between - I've totally made my decision, and I'm so excited to get going on my blanket!

Here are the 2 that I crocheted up last night.  I'd already made my decision by the time I'd finished the 2nd one, but continued on to the third, just to be sure.  I messed up #3 as I was trying to beat the clock to my final Christmas dinner of the holiday season..  I tried #3 again today, and while I was doing it right this go-around, I still didn't like how it looked compared to the one I was already in love with:

That's right.  I shoulda just trusted my gut!  I'm using THIS pattern, and to get three rows of color before my border, I'm adding a 4th row of single crochet.  Each corner space is a sc ch1 sc.  I'm using a G hook and my finished hex is about 3.5" across.  I just love this little "peanut" and they only take me 10 min to crochet, 15 max with weaving in ends!  Perfect for me to get caught up on January, not over look on a busy night, and/or catch up again when life gets too busy!  I also really like the narrow border of sc so that when everything is joined together you'll primarily see my "mood colors" with a little connecting border throughout.

Still a little unsure of my connecting method and how I'm going to lay everything out, but I'm certain that by my next "Moody Monday" post I'll have so much more to share!

So what did I decide to do with my other mock ups?  Well, the one I didn't finish I will frog this evening so I can reuse the yarn on my blanket.  The other one?

I've been in need of a new Spring-time coaster in my office.  This works perfectly! (I'm not a big fan of how this pattern is written, but the finished product definitely makes adorable coasters with ENDLESS color possibilities.  One day when I have some free time (ha-ha) I may have to try and adjust the pattern a bit for my liking)

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 :-)

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!

Sneak Peak

I'm not ready to show any more of this project as it's so great that I really want to make an impact with the final product (if that's even possible!)

I am IN LOVE with these colors together!  I sort of wish this was something for me :o)
Need to get more blue yarn still (tomorrow night after work I'm going to AC Moore - I promise!)
My little baby hat is going to be quite fantastic as well, I just don't want to show until I have the show stopping final product!

Ok, I'm done patting myself on the back over how AMAZING I am - work is out of my control crazy today, and I really just want to publish this and have one less window open on my computer :-)

Happy Tuesday everyone, we're one day closer to the weekend!

C'est Fini

I'm always so excited when I complete a large craft project. When I have all of the ends woven in as well I feel as though it's cause for celebration!

Yesterday I completed my "Baby Girl Hexagon Blankie" that I started last Tuesday!

The picture is a bit blurry because I was standing on the couch this morning to get a clear shot of the full blanket...apparently I wasn't a steady as I thought I was ;o) The blanket is actually about 3 feet across, definitely something that the baby can grow into....which I felt was important. Everyone makes blankets and buys clothing for the newborn which don't last very long. This blanket is big enough to be a lapghan for me (minus the bottom of my legs/feet sticking out) so I think that she'll be able to enjoy it as a toddler as well!

I whined and complained through the last 4 rows and 2 rows of the border on this one. I hate that when you make one big hexagon or square the larger it gets, the loooooooooonger it takes to get all the way around again! I then of course cried and pouted through the weaving in of aaaaaaaaaaaall those ends too. Again I'm going to ask why it is that I insist on making these projects with all many ends to weave in at the end? I'm seriously considering paying people in cookies to do this part for me! It was getting late (only around 8 but since it's dark at 6 these days it seemed like it was about 10) and I had been working on this non stop ("NO BREAKS!" Heather says) since about 2. I'd had it with crafting for the day but knew that if I stopped it would be forever before those ends were taken care of....seriously the lapghan of the same colors in a ripple is still sitting on the chaise mocking me waiting for the ends to be dealt with! I knew it was now or never and just kept going until there were like 4 more and then I had the energy to finish it up!

I just may force myself to weave in the ends on the pink ripple tonight and maybe try and finish up those fingerless gloves so that I can start fresh with something new during Glee tomorrow night!

Oh if only I didn't have to finish putting my closets back together tonight!

Fast and Furious Hexagonal Love

Yup I've found myself a new love....crocheting hexagons! LOL never knew something as silly as a Granny Square with 2 extra sides would be so exciting, but I'm definitely enjoying myself on this project. It could also be because I'm still using the pretty shades of pink and Lamb from the lapghan and I'm still having a bit of a love affair with the combination. Between the extra pink I still have and the sales going on this week on Vanna's Choice I just may have to stock up on my some Lamb for a project for ME (that won't get touched until after the holidays)!

I had some disagreements with some of the first hexagon patterns I looked at so Monday night's attempts to start the "Baby Girl Hexagon Blanket" did not go too well....everything was ripped out and I started over with a new pattern last night.

I had it ready to go by 8 so that I would bring my work with me for the watching of the new episode of Glee! Good Tuesday night indeed. Glee was super great (again, finally!) and I got lots of rounds done on the blanket.

Yes, yes I know the first couple of rounds go so fast that you look like you're working at lightening speed and the next think you know it's like you hit a brick wall and how some how crocheting backwards.... I gotta say though, 10 1/2 rounds on a new pattern w/ color changes in 1 hour, while trying my best to focus on a new TV show was pretty impressive.....at least I think :-)
This is "fast and furious" because my day has FLOWN by and I want to get home to get the Mt. Everest sized accumulations of laundry started ASAP. My official WIP post is gonna have to be a WIP-it Thursday this week!! hehe
I mean, the sooner the laundry's done the sooner I get crochet again right??? And besides, I can always put the clean clothes away tomorrow....or this weekend ;o)

WIP - Election Night recap

I made the trip to AC Moore on Monday evening for more Vanna's Choice Baby (Lamb) but thanks to a ridiculous night of DC traffic it was 8:30 before I got in the door and changed out of my suit...just to find out that I had NOT taped DWTS!!! I sat down quickly and started watching and eating what was left of my dinner - I really wanted to get started on crocheting! At this point I should have had an hour and a half of uninterrupted crocheting before Jon was home from class. It seems that boy has a 6th sense about needed attention as soon as I'm focused and putting work into a yarny project...

Turns out that little was crocheted before he was home (2-3 lines tops) because I ended up dropped everything into my lap as soon as the dancing commenced. Some weeks I only glance up from my project but for some odd reason this week I just couldn't bring my eyes away from the TV as soon as they were dancing again, good or bad!

Thanks to Election Day and Election night results with friends yesterday evening, I had myself a good long chunk (like 3 hours) to crochet away. Once I was home and the apt was picked up to a point where we wouldn't be embarrassed by anyone coming over, we quickly had dinner, I got myself a drink and started crocheting.

Somewhere around 10:45 after a drink and a glass of wine I was too sleepy to keep going, it's still a work in progress so it's my WIP this Wednesday. Here is the picture I stopped and took this a.m. before leaving for work:

I only have 3 more things to say on this today:

1. I LOVE THIS BLANKET! Just becoming obsessed with how pretty the colors are together...

2. I seem to find working on this in the mornings IMPOSSIBLE since saying that I would starting doing that. The temperature in my apartment has finally regulated itself with the change of seasons and it's a nice cool temperature in my bedroom every morning and all I ever want to do it wrap myself up in the comforter and stay there forever! Today was the worst day yet this week....I could have stayed there forever (or at least until I was ready to crochet!)

3. My lack of morning crocheting and need to clean in the evenings means I am longing for the weekend so I can reunite with my new favorite project that I'm going to have a hard time giving up this Christmas season!

Oh and Kait's coming to visit so yea! There's that to look forward to as well :-)

I can't believe I let that happen...

I'm a planner. I make lists, I cross things off said lists and I would never start a big project (say crocheting a blanket) without all the yarn needed...



That was all before this weekend. I have had the yarn for this picked out for at least a year now and did not have time before the holidays last year to even start the project with delusions of being able to finish in time. I've gone back and forth on what stitch I wanted to use and how I wanted to use the colors, etc. I finally saw a pattern online that I liked and I made the executive decision to use the pattern with my chosen colors to make a lap blanket for Grannie.



I am in love with this yarn and have been stock piling it for a long time now. Perfect color for a blanket for Grannie along with a similar shade of pink that's solid and a cream...I decided to save some money by using a Pound of Love of cream yarn vs. the beautiful Lamb baby Vanna's Choice that I'd have to buy. I started crocheting on Saturday evening and even after my "color specialist" (Jonathan) gave me the thumbs up on the Pound of Love shade of tan-ish cream, I was not happy with it by 3 stitches in. It was a bit too stiff up against the soft Vanna's choice that is coming out extra soft and snuggly thanks to my dc stitches and a K hook. I ripped it out, went into the study and found the one only skein I had...and it wasn't even a full skein, I'd used something of it for something else that I can't remember! As soon as I started to work stitches with Lamb it was just perfect!



I should have gone to AC Moore yesterday morning. Sundays are hard because we go to the grocery store early and I wanted to get some work done around the apt. With most stores like AC Moore closing around 6 on Sundays, it's so hard to make it there in time, it's usually around 6:30 when I want to go!



I've never had to stop crocheting because I ran out of yarn :-( it was very sad...






ISN'T IT PRETTY?!?!? I'm in love and will be sitting here all day wishing I was home working on it. I will be racing out to AC Moore tonight as soooooooon as I can get my butt out of this office chair to stock up, racing home and enjoying every minute I can put into this!
LOVE LOVE LOVE!

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!

Last one before FL

So it FINALLY happened. Jon and I went for a run on Wednesday morning. It went really well for the first in 2 months, but I am still paying for it today. As always when I first start running again my upper legs are killin' me. Was totally fine most of Wednesday, around 4:30 I really thought I was going to be fine and maybe be able to get in a 2nd run on Thursday morning........then at 5:30 I jumped in the Jeep with Jon and sat in rush hour traffic to get out to 7 corners. By the time I got out at Target I realized what was coming! Yesterday was definitely worse that today is but I did strategically wear flats today which I think is making a bit of a difference as well. Would like to try for one more run tomorrow morning but haven't decided if I want to sleep in yet/if I really want to chance being sore for Sunday morning's early flight and the first day in DISNEY!

Ah yes Disney World, in just a short 48 hours Jon and I will be at the Magic Kingdom! I am so pumped that I haven't been able to focus at work all week. Today is of course particularly bad, yet I don't even care all that much because today is my last day until the 17th! whoooooo I know this trip is going to be amazing even though it's been 12 years since I was last at Disney and this is only my 2nd time ever and I don't even fully know what to expect off of what I remember from '97. I am excited though to experience it all with Jon as adults (apparently I'm an adult at 25, but I can not guarantee that I will be acting like one for the next week), with no kids, just us! I have already warned Jon that he will have to be on guard to hold me back because I will probably squeal, jump and run to tackle the following: Mickey, Minnie, Winnie the Pooh! I probably won't be able to update anything on here next week as I don't believe we're bringing a laptop with us, but I will be taking lots of pictures and will finally get that Picassa thing set up to post them on when I return.

I decided this morning that I want to start keeping track of craft projects that I'm working on, finished, and ideas that I have on here. A couple of you saw on FB the other night that I was working on a blanket while watching SYTYCD and since this is my first attempt at something bigger than a scarf, shawl or tote bag I would like to remember a bit of this experience.

So it's a little hard to see here since it's about the same color as my awful couch, but really right now its' not even really a shawl! I am very happy with the stitch that I choose (thankfully since it took me like 3 days and multiple books and crocheting of test swatches w/ the yarn). Definitely my biggest undertaking not only in size, but also not just a half double or double crochet here! There will be some stripes coming on each end in a pretty teal and lime green which will complete this beachy looking blanket to use while outside on my lovely patio. Don't believe that I will have it done before it's too cold to me sitting out there reading, and I hope that I keep up finishing it once this has happened because I think of how happy I will be next spring when I pull it out to use for the first time! As long as I continue my daily contributions to it both in the mornings and evenings so that I see progress I think it'll happen.

I also have a 2nd blanket that I plan to start shortly as well. The only reason I'm starting it now is because it's designed for my trips to FL and Syracuse in being all Granny squares. This means that I can just bring a skein or 2 of yarn with me and work on the 3" and 9" squares off my pattern I created and bring them home after each trip. Yes you read that correctly, I have designed this blanket for Grannie on my own and I am VERY excited about it. I'm not going to premiere the pattern yet because I really want to make sure it's going to work out, then I will showcase my design as well as a couple of pieces crocheted in the yarn I plan to use.

Just 4 1/2 hours left of work and even though I have some things to finish up here, my to do list that I'm thinking about is as follows:

1. update all Disney lists to see what still needs to be done
2. eat lunch :-)
3. get through the next 4 1/2 hour and GET HOME ASAP!
4. try on all clothes marked to try on on the list of clothes for Disney
5. pack clothes
6. get all toiletries together
7. pack carry on bag and purse
8. get together food, etc. to go in my big suitcase
9. make Jon pack :-)

This will leave me with the following to do early tomorrow morning in order to spend one final day at the pool before the trip:

1. pick up tables
2. Vacuum
3. water plants inside
4. drop off keys to Bev
5. work a couple of squares on new blanket project
6. watch the Yankees beat the Red Sox (ok so that's tomorrow night but w/e!)

Have a good week next week everyone, I'll be on FB throughout the week I'm sure!