Vacation project!

Well, I'm back from my vacation, yay!  I had a blast visiting with my mom, and I brought back some super special yarn that wanted to come live with me.  I have a few ideas for what to do with it, but we will have to see how those pan out. 

I did get my first Amigurumi done.  Here's a glimpse of him, I think he's pretty cute.  He has gone to live in my penguin pile.  

Here's another shot of him being checked out by my mom's cat Saucey.  She wasn't too sure about me and I am thinking the penguin didn't help much...

It was a good trip.  I got my second Ami penguin started, so I should get that finished up this week maybe.  I have some form of the plague though, so we'll have to see if I can concentrate on anything long enough to work on it.  

My mom works part time at a really nifty yarn store up there in Illinois, Prairie Arts and Fibers, and we did end up spending quite a bit of time there during my trip.  It is a really nifty place!  It is very warm and homey, and you feel very welcome to come in and sit down with your project or ask one of the employees for help/guidance.  Plus, they have coffee and the best tea, and there are cookies.  Oh, and there's also a truly super yarn selection.  I definitely recommend checking it out if you are in the area.  

Well, to wrap up, here is a pic of me and Mom at the store.

And that is all folks.  Have a great one.

Well it started as one thing...

So I finished my One Skein project for the challenge/fashion show at my mom's store next weekend.  (Only five more days until I fly out to see her, yay!)

I had initially started on this planning to make it a wrist cuff using this pattern by Creativeyarn. 

My flowers came out a little too big to fit the pattern though and I wanted to use up more of the awesome yarn.  

So then I thought I would make enough flowers to attach together to make a bandanna, but that idea didn't really pan out.

I decided to stick with my three blossoms and turn it into a headband instead, though looking at the finished product, I actually think it would make a better choker, so...I think that's what it will get entered as in the "fashion show" at the yarn store.

Here's a not so great shot of the finished product: 

And here's a little bit better shot that gives you a close-up of the flowers and a better look at the colors in the awesome yarn my mom sent me.

You still can't quite get the full effect though.  Hopefully after my trip I'll have a shot of me wearing it for you.  

The yarn, by the way, was a really pretty blue/purple/green/black variegated skein in Poems by Wisdom yarns.  I really dug it.  

That's all I've got for now.  Next up are my first stabs at amigurumi.  Though I do have one potential project to try before then if I can get off my lazy bum and do it.  More on that laters.

Take care all and have a super wonderful Valentine's Day!

Happy February!

Wow, where does the time go?  Can you guys believe it's already February!  I feel like I've gotten this year off to a pretty good start--now if only I can throw some exercise into my regular routine I'll be even better!  I got two projects finished up this week.  

The first, and biggest was the blanket for my step-father.  I am really happy with how this came out.  It's not huge, but as my friend K pointed out recently, with blankets there's this tendency to make it big enough for "a king sized bed and then six people on the floor" if there's nothing to stop you.  It is definitely big enough to throw on his army issued bed or to curl up with during his down time.  It's also super thick.  Hopefully he will enjoy it.  

Here's a shot of the finished product:

The middle looks a little trippy in the the photo because of the variegated yarn, but it did come out looking pretty spiffy if I do say so myself.

My second finished project of the week was my February square for my sisterly swap project.  We used a pattern called "Jesse's Square" from the 2007 Crochet A Day calendar.  I don't have a link to the pattern, unfortunately, but it's pretty neat.  I'll put up pictures at the start of March. 

In the meantime, here are photos of the squares we produced for January.  The pattern was Supernova (chosen by my sis).  

Here is the one I made for her:  

And here is the one she made for me:

As you can see, she went the more fancy route, so the gauntlet has been thrown.  :o)  I am going to have a lot of fun trying to come up with more creative squares for the coming months.  Though I think making the February square I did at least come up with a color theme.  Nothing too strict, but I think it will make all of the squares tie in a little better.  This is good, it will be a challenge to just make one square at a time and to make it look as cool as possible.  

Anyhoo, next up is my project for the one-skein challenge at my mom's yarn store this month.  I may take it along with me to the Superbowl party this afternoon to start.  

I hope you all have a great Superbowl Sunday and enjoy the week!

C