I have a hungry squirmy baby in my lap...

...so this will be a quick post.

First off, here are our November swap squares. Sorry I'm so late getting them posted.

The pattern was the Victorian Dream square which you can find here.

Here is my contribution:


And my sister's:


One of my first post-Christmas projects will be to assemble mine, so stay tuned for photos of the completed blankets.

I didn't get much (well any, really) crochet done this week until yesterday. I have been pretty sucked into my video game (Knights of the Old Republic--I'm a level and a half away from completing it, fingers crossed) in most of my free time. But I did get a few quick stocking stuffers done yesterday and today.

First up, for my baby girl, I made this hat:



Those sci-fi fans out there might notice that this bears a slight resemblance to the Jayne Hat, and it was an inspiration, to be sure, also I had this yarn lying around leftover from the Amigurumi giraffe I made earlier in the year. Once I figure out knitting next year I will be making my very own Jayne Hat, for anyone who's wondering.

The other project I got done was this one, for my hubby:


Just a quick little beanie. I am kind of proud of the checker-board pattern I got going in the middle. I hope he enjoys it.

I also started on my cable-socks more in earnest this evening and am hoping to have them done for my own stocking stuffer by Thursday, but we'll see. :o)

Other than that, there's the Yoshi blanket, which I need to just find a groove on, I think.

So that's it for me this week. Off to tend to the baby. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

Down the road I go...

Well, I got that shrug done for my party, which was last night. Here are a few photos for you.



The design is inspired by the Blooming Balero pattern I used a few months back (from an issue of Crochet Today) but is mostly improvised. I used a size K hook and two and a half skeins of Lion Brand's Homespun yarn in Lagoon.

It was super warm and fuzzy and people at the party were fairly impressed that I made it myself, which made me warm and fuzzy inside too. So that was nice. Definitely worth the effort.

Anyhoo, on to my other projects I go. I officially started the Yoshi blanket yesterday--just got five squares done while watching Jeopardy! but it's better than nothing. I have no expectations of this project being anything other than long term.

I am planning to start my cable socks today, hopefully. So off I go.

Hope you are all having a great one!

Santa Hats A-Ho-Ho!

I got my Santa Hats finished this weekend. They actually worked up pretty quickly once I got used to working with the Homespun yarn. It's still not my favorite yarn to work with, but it does feel so nice and plush in the finished project.

For these hats I used the Santa Hat pattern on Lion Brand's website and Holiday Homespun yarn in Berry and Starlight. Here is the finished adult-sized hat which is for my brother-in-law.


He actually is going to put it over his cowboy hat rather than wear it straight out (I know, it's weird, but this is Texas, apparently it's a thing). So the size I needed was a little bit larger than the largest size the pattern goes to. In order to get it the size I needed, I just added two rounds after I got to 50 stitches (increasing to 60 instead) and then followed the rest of the instructions for the largest size.

Here is a shot of both hats together:


And the baby seemed interested to know what was going on (and I wanted to make sure hers would fit), so while I was working on the pom-pom for her hat, I let her try on the almost finished project.


And here she is with her finished hat. Can't you tell she's just so excited for Christmas?


While I was working on these projects and getting used to working with the Homespun, I thought up a project I could use the other Homespun I bought for. My husband's company Christmas party is Thursday, and while I have a lovely dress to wear, it is sleeveless, and I get cold inside at the best of times. So I think I am going to try to make a little shrug/cardigan type thing. The other Homespun I have is a nice, pretty color that I think will go well with my dress and will not look too out of place. Also, I will be nice and warm in it. So that's what I will be starting on today. Fingers crossed!

Have a great week, y'all!

Yay, done with that!

I finished my Go Frogs! Afghan tonight, huzzah!

Here's a shot of the whole thing:


And here's a closer view of the squares:


And then another, even closer, shot so you can see the border, which I am kind of proud of:


Hopefully my friend that this is for is actually coming to the dinner party on Saturday so I can give it to her!

Next up are a few smaller projects--a pair of socks and a set of Santa hats (one for the baby and one for my brother-in-law). The Santa hats might be a trial though, because I realized when I was looking at the pattern that it is for the Homespun yarn that I had so much trouble with this summer. Sigh. But maybe the whole not being pregnant thing will make it easier to deal with or something.

I am also going to start producing a few squares a day for my Yoshi blanket I think. :o)

Hope you are all having a fantastic December so far!

Paper, rock, scissors, lizard, Spock!

Okay, the title has pretty much nothing to do with this post, but it amused me, so, yeah.

Anyhoo, just dropping by for a quick update--I officially have a deadline for my Go Frogs! Afghan--we're having a holiday get together on Saturday the 5th, so I need to get it done by next Friday. Shouldn't be a problem though, I am starting the last row of squares today, and I've been assembling the blanket as I go, so I am hoping that by Sunday I can start on the border.

Next up, I have a few projects ready to go:

-I have a new pair of socks I want to start.
-Once I get the last swap square from my sister, I will assemble that blanket.
-I have the squares for my Yoshi blanket to start making.
-I want to make a Santa hat for my baby (and my brother-in-law has asked for one as well).

So, I've got some projects to keep me busy. And only two of them have a deadline (the Santa hats), so I'm looking forward to that.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Until next time,
C

I know, I know...

This post is overdue, my apologies. I kept thinking to myself all weekend, man, I should put up my post already. And did I? Nope. Sigh. Sorry. I have no excuse. I am a slacker.

I don't have a whole lot to report at any rate. I am currently working on a blanket that will be a friend's Christmas present. I want to get that finished before I start on the Yoshi afghan.

My friend is a fellow TCU alumnus, so I decided I would make her a blanket in our school colors--purple and white. I am doing a checkerboard pattern of the two colors using Chris Simon's Gem Star square pattern. Here is a look at one of the squares:

It should be 10 rows of 12 squares each. I was going to do a black border, but I was looking at a square yesterday and figured out a really cool way I could do the border to mimic the pattern in the square, and I probably don't have enough black yarn to do that, so I may end up just making the whole thing white and purple. We'll see though.

Anyhoo, that's all I've got. Hope you all have a splendiferous week!

Bye, bye, Miss American Pie...

Okay, American Pie has absolutely nothing to do with this post other than I was just listening to it a minute ago. Great song. Anyway, on to the crochet.

I finished the vest I was working on this evening, yay! I used the Ultra-Easy Vest pattern and Manos del Uruguay yarn in color #46, Malachite.

So here is my Manos Vest:

And here's a model shot as well:

This truly was a super easy pattern, just half-double crochet's all the way. I think if I make it again, I may try to give it some little sleeves, since I feel like the arm-holes are a little too big the way the pattern calls for them. The pattern comes with one for a matching hat that looks just as easy, but as I a) didn't have enough yarn, and b) probably wouldn't wear it anyway, I opted not to make it.

On another note, I absolutely LOVED this yarn. I got it because it called to me, and even though I had no idea what I would make with it, it had to come home with me. Then I finally found a project for it, and as I started working I realized that the thickness of the yarn varies throughout the skein. I really thought it might end up being a huge pain in the butt to work with, but it turned out to be an absolute delight. If I do end up taking up knitting, I am going to have to find more projects for this yarn, to be sure!

I have started on my Go Frogs! Afghan, have two rows (of ten) done. I will try to get some photos up in my next post. I am really digging how it is coming out so far.

And lastly, the yarn for my Yoshi blanket arrived today! This thing is going to take forever to make, but I think it will really be worth it in the end.

That's all I've got for now. I hope you all have a wonderful week!

"All we need is some ice cream and a hug..."

Peace,

C

There's never enough...

So, it just now dawned on me that in my previous post I promised you another post this week, so, here it is! I know you were all (all two of you) just on the edge of your seats waiting for it, weren't you?

Anyhoo...

So, first up, I finished my real pair of the Easy Does It socks (pattern by Jane Rehfeldt). I am trying to find projects to use up my "fancy" yarn, so for these socks I used ArtFibers' Tasmania in color # 11.

I was really happy with how this yarn worked up, and am very excited to find another project for it, as I am pretty sure I have enough for another pair of socks!

But here are my Tasmanian Toes Socks:

I think my favorite thing about them is that they have a kind of camo effect. That just makes me happy, because my mom, who was in the army for almost 30 years, bought me the yarn.

After finishing the socks, I started on my next project--a vest using my Manos del Uruguay (Wool Classica) yarn. Here's a glimpse at the start of it:

I am almost done with it now, so there will hopefully be pictures of the completed project soon.

I have also completed my November swap square, and will be mailing that out to my sister soon.

Then, tonight I started yet another project, a TCU themed blanket that will be a Christmas present for a friend. I didn't get a chance to take any pictures of that one, but will have them up soon I am sure.

So that's where I'm at for the moment. Plenty to do. Also, I have been fighting the urge to buy a "how to" knitting book/kit and take up knitting for some reason. Perhaps I should finish up some of my crochet projects first though...

Anyhoo, hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

Take care,

C

October Swap Squares!

Just wanted to put up a quick post with our October squares for you! This month we used the pattern Gothic Square (I thought it would be appropriate) by Jan Eaton. The pattern is available in the book 200 Crochet Blocks for Blankets, Throws, and Afghans.

I really do enjoy this pattern book, by the way. It is set up for the squares to each be 6" but they are all pretty adaptable to be any size you need/want just by changing the hook size or adding extra rows. If you like to make blankets and are constantly searching for new square patterns, I highly recommend this book as a good investment. Anyway, back to the squares...

Here is the one I made for my sis:

And the one she made for me:

Our November square (which I am planning to get done today) will the the last one we swap for the year, since our mom contributed a square to each blanket as well. So next month I'll also get pictures of the completed blankets posted! I feel a little bit bad because my sister seems to have approached this with a little more thought than I did, making a white border on each square so that they will be much easier to assemble into a cohesive whole, whereas I just made hers all willy-nilly--though I did at least make sure that each had a blue border...But we were discussing that a few days ago and she said she is thinking about maybe doing a row or two around each square using the same color to unify them a bit. So I will be very interested to see how that turns out. I don't know if we're going to do another swap for 2010, but if we do I will definitely be able to approach it in a more organized manner!

Anyhoo, I'll probably do another post later on in the week. I finished another pair of socks yesterday and I have started a vest. I also ordered the yarn for the Yoshi blanket last night and bought yarn last week for a blanket to make a friend for Christmas. Plus I have two or three more sock patterns I want to try out. So I definitely have all of my projects planned out for the rest of the year! Also, November is national Novel Writing Month, and I've challenged myself to actually do this--so I am sure I will spend plenty of time blogging in order to procrastinate!

Happy November all, I hope you have a spectacular week!

Ready for Christmas now...

I finished the family Christmas stockings this week, yay!

The pattern is Easy Christmas Stocking by Minnie McKain from the 2007 Crochet Pattern a Day Calendar.

I did modify it a little bit because the stockings were coming out a little small to actually use as Christmas stockings, in my opinion. Also, I futzed around with how to make the hanging loop a little, but mostly I just upgraded to a bigger hook (from size G to size I) and increased the number of stitches in each round from 41 to 50. I am extremely pleased with how they turned out.

Here is my husband's:

Mine:

And our daughter's:

And here are all three together:

For once I am actually hoping that Wal-Mart puts out their Christmas stuff as soon as Halloween is over so I can go get hangers for the stockings to put on our awesome bookshelves! Though I won't actually hang them until December...

Anyhoo, so that project's done. I've been searching out other projects I can do to use up all of the cool and special yarn I have accumulated over the years (mostly thanks to my mother) but haven't been able to figure out what to do with. Mostly this is resulting in socks. I have completed the first sock of my second run at Easy Does It--I am super pleased with how it came out! I also found a pattern for a really nifty vest that I am going to start tomorrow. So, lots going on. Also I am going to make a TCU themed blanket for a friend's Christmas present, hopefully I will be going to get the yarn for that in the next few days.

I will keep you updated as projects progress. Hope you are all having a fantabulous week!

Fall, she is really here, no?

Man, it has been downright chilly here lately. If it wasn't for the baby waking me up to be fed, I probably wouldn't be getting out of bed before eleven most days...sigh. I have found the drawback to not working anymore, apparently. Cold weather, it is my kryptonite. Oh well.

Anyhoo, that's not stopping me from being fairly productive crochet-wise (even with a massive break for Yoshi-related project planning). I finally got the Flower Box Afghan assembled and finished up. I am pretty happy with how it came out, even with the haphazard arrangement of random colored squares, rather than a set pattern. It has a nice patchwork quality, to me.

Here you go:

And, because this blanket is for my little girl's big-girl bed, I got a picture of her with the blanket also:

That is her, "Mommy, I do not want to be photographed right now and am two seconds away from crying," face, by the way. In case you were wondering.

I got the family Christmas stockings started this week as well. One down, two to go, though I will hold off on pictures until I get all three done.

That's really all I've got for you at the moment. Hope you're all well. Enjoy the last week of October!

And an incredibly bad but awesome idea is born...

Well, I finished the Flower Box Afghan today--there will be more on that (and pictures) later in the week--but that's not what this post is about. Oh, no.

I happen to read a lot of webcomics--and a lot of those webcomics happen to be about gaming. I am not a huge gamer, and while I do enjoy the occasional console or PC game, I tend to get easily distracted and very rarely finish said games. But I love the world/community and gaming and gamers lend themselves to a certain level of humor and self-mocking that is just beautiful, thus I read the gaming webcomics. Anyway, what that has to do with crocheting is that the current story arc on one of my favorite comics, Real Life Comics, combines video games and, wait for it...CROCHET!!! Here are the strips in question:

Hopefully they are big enough to read, but if not, go to the link above and check it out starting with Monday October 19.

Anyhoo, I read the first one and thought, huh, that would be kind of neat. A lot of work, but really neat. Then I shared the strip with my husband, who is a much more serious gamer than I. And he got super excited when I said it would be kind of cool to make a Yoshi (little green dinosaur from Super Mario World, for the uninitiated) blanket. So the more we joked about it, the more serious we both got about the project. He went and found me a sprite of Yoshi (that's a pixelated image) and I have spent the last two hours or so with my graph paper and colored pencils figuring out the pattern, and how many squares, and dimensions and how much yarn, etc.

So. The plan is drawn up. The research is done. Using Red Heart Classic yarn (they have a much better color selection for what I need and the stiffer acrylic will actually make a much better image, I think) I will be able to make a roughly 4' by 4' blanket containing 1088 1.5" squares. I won't be able to get started until December or so, probably, and it is going to take FOREVER to make, but I am so doing this. At the very least, this will ratchet my geek cred into the stratosphere.

Of course, my husband is now planning about five more Super Mario World themed blankets for me to make after this one...

Peace out, y'all. Have a super week.

Vanishing Act

Well, I managed to finish my spur of the moment baby blanket project last night--just in time to give it to the proud mother-to-be at her shower today. She loved it!

I had something of a setback on Thursday morning though. I had gotten up, fed the baby, showered, got all of my internetting done, and was sitting down with a cup of tea to watch Jeopardy! and settle in for the long haul on this blanket when I came to a nasty realization: my crochet hook had disappeared. It should have been sitting on top of the blanket where I had left it the previous evening after stopping for the night--but the hook was nowhere to be seen. I have my suspicions on who vanished my hook (*cough* Tony *cough*) but I still have no idea where it went to. I spent a good half hour crawling around the house, looking under, behind, and in things trying to figure out where the hook had gone, all to no avail. Heck, I even checked the litter boxes! By the time my mother in law arrived (she was coming to visit the baby and give me a little break), I was almost in tears I was so frustrated. I still have no idea where that hook could have gotten to, but I ended up caving in and making an emergency run to JoAnn's, baby and MIL in tow (she was rather amused by the whole thing and remains convinced that I will one day find the hook while rearranging furniture) to buy a new hook. Actually ended up buying two, just in case.

Needless to say, since Thursday night, I have been very careful to make sure I put the hook away out of sight when finishing my project for the evening. Hopefully the culprit won't give a repeat performance!

Anyhoo, after all that hooplah, here's the finished product:

I am pretty proud of how it came out, if I do say so myself. I used a pattern I have in my stash called "Linked Loops"--I wish I could reference the source, but I have a photocopy from a book someone had given to me and the name of the book isn't on the photocopy, unfortunately. But here is the pattern, if you are interested:

• Chain a multiple of 4 plus one.
• Single crochet in second chain from hook and next three chains (4 sc).
• *Chain 12, single crochet in next four chains.*
• Repeat from * to * across (do not chain 12 after final four sc).
• Rows 2-4: Chain 1, turn. Single crochet in each sc across.
• Repeat rows 1-4, changing color on each row 1.
• Before starting the final row, pull each chain loop through the loop below it and sc final loops into last row across.

Here's a closer look at the loops. It comes out with a nice cabled look.

I will note that I did do the stripes in rows of six rather than four, so my "cables" are probably a little tighter than you would get sticking strictly to the pattern.

But wait, that's not all! After finishing that blanket, I was finally able to finish my second sock, huzzah!

Here is the completed pair:

And the lovely foot model showing them off:

The pattern for these was Easy Does It by Janet Rehfeldt from Crocheted Socks! 16 Fun to Stitch Patterns. I used Lion Brand's Sock-Ease yarn in Taffy.

I will note that due to my incompetence, I did deviate from the pattern. In the foot I used the long split single crochet stitch instead of the extended single crochet stitch. This, of course, means I will be making another pair of socks with this pattern soon, actually following the pattern. :o)

Well, that's all I've really got for you this week. Up on my plate now is assembly and completion of the Flower Box Afghan (already begun) and then next up is a set of Christmas stockings for my family. Good times.

Hope you all have a fantabulous week!

C

All kinds of progress to report!

Well, I have apparently thrown my "one project at a time" rule completely out the window. Thanks, Mom! (Don't look at me like that, you know I had to pick the habit up from somewhere.) So there are all sorts of things going on at the crochet front in Cori-land.

First up, I have finished all of the squares for my Flower Box Afghan, huzzah! I think I've figured out how I want to lay all of them out for assembly:

Tony decided he had to help with this part of the process. Anyhoo, so that's the major part of that project done. I am going to hold off on the assembly and border however, until after I have finished my next two projects. That's right, you heard me, I have two other projects on the hooks (and the yarn bought for a third).

First up, of course, you know about the socks I have been working on. Here's a shot of the completed first sock:

And let's see that on our lovely foot model:
I have to say, as much as I have been frustrated by my own mistake in making this sock, I actually think that my error is going to make for a much sturdier, longer-lasting sock. I always wear through the feet of my handmade socks ridiculously quickly, so I am hoping that this pair will last me a bit longer than previous socks. I will at least have to remember that stitch for the future--as annoying as it is, it might be worth the extra hassle. We'll have to see, I guess. I am currently two rows into the foot of the second sock of this pair. I am hoping, but not making any promises to myself, that I can get this done this week.

The reason I am holding off on the assembly of the big blanket and that I might not get the sock finished this week is project number three, which I do have to get done by Friday night, because it is a present for a baby shower I am going to next Saturday. I realize it is insane of me to start a baby blanket less than a week before I would need to give it to the recipient, but it just dawned on me Thursday that I could make a blanket for this person, so, yeah.

I am using a general pattern called "Linked Loops" to make this blanket. Here's what I've got so far:

It looks a little weird right now because it calls for making a series of chain loops in the first row of each color change. Once I get to the last row of the blanket, the loops will then all get linked together like so:

I think it will look really nifty if I can pull it off. Fingers are crossed.

Once I get these three projects finished off, I will start on project four. I got the yarn this week and am kind of excited about it. I am going to make Christmas stockings for myself, my husband, and our daughter. I figured that now that we are our own little nuclear family, we should have matching Christmas stockings.

Anyhoo, that's it for me. Wish me luck on the baby blanket! I hope you all have a supercalifragilisticexpialadocious week!

C

Oh wow, I am an idiot.

So I was looking at my sock A trying to figure out what the heck I did wrong on the esc stitches for the leg of the sock, and it just wasn't making sense. Then I looked at the instructions for the sock again and realized that I actually did the esc on the leg correctly. Then the heel called for a different stitch, the long split single crochet, and then switched back to the esc for the foot. Well, when I made the first sock, I kept doing the lssc rather than going back to the esc, somehow thinking in my head that the lssc was the esc. This, consequently, made this sock much more difficult than it needed to be. Also, it totally isn't the sock the pattern actually makes. Sigh.

So, knowing what I did, I will be now at least be able to make sock two match sock one. Also, that means my next pair of socks that I make will actually be the ones the pattern is for.

Sigh, can I blame the baby for mixing up the stitches? That seems like something I can blame on being a new mom, right?

Okay, well, back to the hooks. I have the second round of frogging to do on this sock before I can actually start making it correctly.

Darn it!

So I only have six squares left to make for the flower box afghan. Yay!

I got the first sock finished and a big chunk of the second sock started. Yay!

Then I finished the number of rows I used to make the leg of the first sock and realized something was not right. Turns out that when figuring out one of the primary stitches in the pattern (extended single crochet) on the first sock, I actually did the stitch completely wrong for the whole leg and didn't start getting it right until I got to the heel. Okay, that sucks, sure, but no biggie--except on the second sock I was doing the stitch correctly and so the length, thickness, and appearance of the second sock is completely different from the first. Boo!

I spent almost all of the first sock thinking how I really wasn't a fan of the esc stitch and then on the second was just starting to think maybe it wasn't so bad and I just needed to get used to it...sigh.

It wouldn't be an issue if I wasn't already finished with the first sock. I think I have figured out what I did wrong though and so I frogged the second sock back to the start of the leg and am trying to replicate sock one. We'll have to see how it goes. I'm 12 rows in at the moment (out of a theoretical 26), and I can't tell if it looks the same or not. I may have to wait until I hit row 26 to decide. Grr.

Anyhoo, so that's been my week in crochet so far. I'll have some pictures for you this weekend, regardless of where I am with sock number two.

My super wonderful mother in law is coming over tomorrow to watch the baby for a bit so I can go get a haircut and run some other un-baby-friendly errands. Woohoo! Other than that my week is just plodding along.

More to come in the next update.

Just a quick note.

Well, I got my October square done (yay!) and my ten squares for the blanket done this week. I did not get sock A finished though (boo!) but I am hoping that maybe I can get it finished tomorrow. I have only 5-10 rows left to do on the foot and then the toe, so who knows, maybe it will happen.

There are only 10 squares left to do for my blanket though, so I am going to try to get those done this coming week and after that comes the fun of trying to piece them together for assembly! I have decided that this blanket will go in my baby's room and be her "big girl blanket" to have as she grows up. Hopefully it will be something she can cherish when she is older, knowing that I made it in the final days of my pregnancy and just after she was born.

Anyhoo. Other than that, I don't have a whole lot for you, except for the reveal of the September squares.

The pattern for this month was the Birthday Flower Square by Chris Simon, which was a fun square to make.

Here is my take on it:

And here is my sister's:

I mailed off her October square yesterday, so that means we only have one square left to make (since the square our mother contributed will count as the December pattern) before it is time to assemble the blankets. I can't wait to see how they turn out, and to share!

I hope you all have a wonderful and blessed week!

Take care,

C

You are getting very sleepy...

Oh, you're not? Hmm...must be me then. Sigh. Baby girl was wide awake all day yesterday and most of the night. She wasn't fussy, just awake, and once bedtime rolled around, wanting to play. Of course. She seems to have developed a propensity for keeping me up super late on Saturdays now that we have to get up early to go to church on Sundays. Sigh. But it could be worse for sure.

Anyhoo, on to crochet! I am still plodding along with the Flower Box Afghan. I am past the halfway point on the squares, so maybe I will have the blanket done by the end of October, knock on wood. For the most part I have been only letting myself work on my B project after getting two squares done for the blanket, but Friday I got kind of into a groove with my sock. I had hoped I could get the first sock finished this weekend. It's looking like that won't happen, but I will get close for sure. I am on the foot now--it's a cuff down sock. Here's a glimpse of where I was early last night:

So this week I am hoping to get at least another ten or twelve squares done and finish the first sock then get a decent start on the second. It's also October on Thursday (wow) so I'll be doing my October square, whee! Wow, only one more after that, and then there's a blanket to assemble. Crazy times.

Anyhoo, I hope all is well with you and that you have a lovely week. In the meantime I think I am going to seek out a nap...

Progress and diversions.

Ahh, another Sunday, another update. I've got 29 out of 56 squares done on my Flower Box Afghan. Just over halfway done, yay! Of course, then I have to assemble them. That's going to be an interesting jigsaw puzzle to be sure.

I also did decide to go ahead and embark on my second Great Sockmaking Adventure. So far this one isn't nearly the epic failure that the first GSA turned into. In order to make sure that I don't neglect my primary project (the blanket), I have to complete two squares of the blanket before I am allowed to work on the sock on any given day. Of course, if I end up traveling somewhere, obviously the more portable sock project would be the one I would take along (another reason I wanted to start giving socks a go again).

So, to business, or to details, rather. I am making the pattern Easy Does It by Janet Rehfeldt. It can be found in the book Crocheted Socks! 16 Fun-to-Stitch Patterns. My mom got me this book for my birthday two years ago, and I am glad to finally be able to try a pattern from it.

I am using Lion Brand's Sock-Ease in Taffy. I had actually purchased this yarn late last year or early in this year to use for a sweater but that wasn't working out, so now I have several skeins of it that I intend to use for socks. Gee, go figure. I am actually liking it so far, though I think it works up much better with the plastic hook than with the metal one. The pattern calls for two hooks--E for the cuff and D for the body of the sock. My E hook is plastic and my D is metal--if D is the standard sock size hook I think I may have to invest in a plastic one from LB soon.

Anyhoo, here's a peek at how it's going so far:

Good times. In other crochet news, my grandparents are visiting for the week and my grandmother noticed that a blanket she crocheted for me over twenty years ago (I still use and love this blanket) had an unraveling border. So she is fixing it for me. :o) That's kind of completely awesome. This is, by the way, the grandmother that taught me to crochet.

And, finally, in baby news, things still go pretty well. Baby girl has started to be a bit colicky but so far from everything I have heard from other parents it could still be much much worse. She is still remarkably well behaved in public, and I am extremely grateful for that to be sure. And, last but not least, her umbilical cord finally fell off this afternoon! I think she was trying to hold out for a record or something, I mean, she's only five weeks now. Golly.

But that's where things stand for me. I hope you are all happy and well! Have a super week folks.

C

Some progress at least...

Man, I don't know what your weather has been doing but it's been raining for the past three days here. We've gone from days in the nineties to the low seventies almost overnight. Of course, by this time next week it will probably be in the nineties again. Ahh, Texas.

Anyway, the rainy weather has definitely upped my crochet productivity. On days like this I just want to curl up with tea and a project. Good stuff.

I had hoped to get my September swap square and at least four squares from my blanket project done this week and I managed to hit that goal and then some. I am up to 17 squares out of 56, so that's definitely a step in the right direction!

Here's a glimpse at what I've got so far:

I've been using the yarn I have the most of leftover first, so I've been getting several from each color. I think I can get one more square out of the rose and then I've got a nice deep red to move on to. So, goal for this week, get the red finished off.

I keep getting the urge to go ahead and start on a pair of socks though, so it is entirely possible I may break my "one project at a time" policy soon and get that going. I will definitely let you know if that happens.

Well, until next week, then. Have a great one!

Ooh, bonus...

Well, sadly, I have to report that I did not get any crocheting done this week. Bad Cori. Not really a surprise though, with a newborn taking up so much of my time. We are slowly figuring out a way to balance out her needs and wants with me getting to engage in my normal activities though. This past week we tackled cleaning and reading. Next up, crocheting and computer time. My goal for this week is to get my September square made/mailed and to finish at least four more squares for my current afghan project. Fingers crossed.

On the plus side though, since it's the first post of the month, I do have photos of last month's squares for you, yay! The pattern for August was St. Petersburg by Jan Eaton. It is available in the book 200 Crochet Blocks for Blankets, Squares, and Afghans.

Here is the one I made my sis:

And here is the one she made me:

I really dug this pattern. I could see making a whole blanket out of this that would look really groovy. Also, it was my first chance to make a square out of my block patterns book, so that was fun. I will have to look through it for our October square pattern, methinks. Ooh, I hope I can get back into finding some crochet time each day, or at least a few days a week. Once I get my scrap yarn blanket done I want to find projects for some of the special yarn I have been accumulating over the last year. I have a feeling most of those might be socks, but I think if I am only crocheting a little a day, I might not get as bored/frustrated with the patterns. I dunno, we'll see I guess. Fingers crossed.

Anyhoo, I don't know if I've mentioned this, but since our mom is also very big into fiber crafts (she is an extremely talented knitter), we decided to ask her to contribute to our swap. So instead of doing a square for December, our mom knitted a square for each of us, and that will go into the final blankets (which we will assemble in December). Mom went ahead and worked up our squares while she was visiting in August, and here is the one she made for my blanket:

Awesome, huh?

Well that's about it for me this week. I'll wrap up with a baby update, for those who are interested. Baby girl had her first well baby check-up this past Monday (two weeks) and she has gained back her birth weight and then some. She's still teeny but definitely growing. Doctor said she is looking great, yay! For the most part she is sleeping really well at night--she usually takes her long break between feedings (four to five hours), and then sleeps pretty solidly between the two hour intervals as well. Let's hope this lasts. Also, I am slowly getting more comfortable taking her out of the house. She made her public debut at the church luau last weekend and then Friday we ate out with her for the first time. She and I went to the grocery store by ourselves on Thursday without incident. She came to church this morning and was extremely well behaved, yay! For my part, I am doing alright. I am a little frayed around the edges, but the getting out of the house definitely helps. My husband has been amazing, and thanks to his night owl nature is able to have some Daddy time with her at night when I am ready for bed but she still feels like staying up. Also, he has offered to work from home one day this week and watch her while I take myself to a movie. That will be nice for sure.

So that's what's up in Cori-land. I hope things are equally groovy with all of you! Have a wonderful week and a very happy Labor Day!

Until next time,

C

She's here, she's here!

Sorry for the late post, but I've been kind of distracted this week. One of the best distractions ever to be sure. Last Monday at 12:42 p.m. my baby girl was born. So I've been spending the past week loving her and trying to figure out what to do with her and visiting with all of the family who has been in town to see her. Everyone has gone home now, sadly, but that just means that now the real adventure begins.

Meet Sylvia.

I am pretty sure she is going to end up with brown eyes like her mommy--they are a real dark slatey blue at the moment. But if she ends up with blue eyes like her daddy that's certainly okay too. She already takes after him quite a bit.

See, one sock off--that's Daddy's trademark:

Anyhoo, so, yeah, that's me at the moment. As far as crochet goes, I have a project in the works. It is the Flower Box Blanket from the March/April 2009 issue of Crochet Today. Here's a shot of the pattern for the square used in the blanket.

I've got seven and a half of the 56 required squares done. I am thinking it might take me a while to finish this one since I've got some other stuff on my plate at the moment (insert big grin here), but that's okay. This blanket will feature all of my scrap yarn from other projects and should hopefully make for a nice bright colorful afghan when done.

Anyhoo, hope you are all doing well! I will update as I can. Now it is nap time!

Update.

Well, no baby yet. I have been in the early stages of labor since yesterday morning (oh yay for 22 hours of steady contractions) but the hospital has sent me home twice already. At least the second time they gave me some Ambien so I had a chance of sleeping at least a little last night. Sigh.

Fingers are crossed that my water breaks sometime in the very near future so we can get this party officially started.

Anyway, no pictures for you today but I did start a new afghan this week. It is the Flower Box Blanket by Candi Jensen and appeared in the March/April 2009 issue of Crochet Today. I really like this pattern because it is basically just a granny square with a little flare.

My mom and I also found a really nifty little yarn store in my area this week as well. It's called Jenning Street Yarns and you can check it out here. Mom got a few skeins for socks that are really cool. I abstained from buying anything because I want to get this flower box blanket out of the way first--my primary goal with that is to put a serious dent in my leftover yarn from other projects. But it was definitely a nice little store and we had a lovely chat with the owner for a bit. I will for sure be going back in the future for my "fancy" (read: non-acrylic) yarn needs.

Well, that's what's going on with me this week. Now I am gonna go get back to the whole trying to have a baby thing. She is very clearly on her way and just as clearly taking her time, so keep your fingers crossed for me!

Thanks! Until next time,
C

Countdown...

One week to go folks--in theory anyway. The doctor seems to think the kiddo will get here pretty darn close to the due date, so my fingers are crossed.

I am pleased to report that my mom (and her kitties) made it in safely last night. We have been entertaining ourselves watching the various cats collide.

It should be a pretty busy week, regardless of when the kid shows up. We've got plenty planned to keep us busy until that happens. Hopefully we'll get to do a tour of some of the yarn stores in the area, so that will be fun. We are definitely going to try to go to the zoo, because I love zoos and I haven't gotten to show my mom the zoo here yet.

Anyhoo, on to crochet goodness. I did manage to finish the burp cloths this week. I only made two because I think I was getting tired of this yarn or something. But here you go:



Here's a closer look at each one:


And:


I was just going to single crochet back and forth all scarf-like but got bored with that fairly quickly. So the first one I did half that way then turned and did another chunk of single crochet at a right angle to the first part, attaching at the end of each row. Then with the second one, I started out in the round, then just added to one side, turned added to the next side, turned, added to the third, and so on. Then I did a contrast stripe and border. I actually think it looks pretty cool.

Now, these were made with basic baby acrylic yarn, so I have no idea how effective they will be in preventing baby goop, but we shall see I suppose. I do have plenty of regular burp cloths as well, just in case.

Next up I want to make a pair of socks or so and maybe some dish scrubbies before moving on to my next blanket project. Should be fun times. I have no idea when/if I will accomplish these things though. Will be interesting to find out, eh?

In the meantime, keep on trucking. Have a great week!