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!