Busy Bee Me

I've been so busy the last week. Man.

I'm almost done with the Mary Maxim kit I got - it's a 12 point round ripple baby afghan in pastels. So pretty. I'll get pictures up tomorrow when I'm done. I've actually only been working on it for two days. It's gone really quickly. Two strands of Bernat Coordinates and a K hook will do that for a project, lol!

I've still got lots of things planned for my swap partner, but tomorrow is going to have to be dedicated to finishing Marissa's baby blanket. It must get done. I should be working on it now. But the thought of a G hook and baby weight yarn makes me want to go into a corner and cry. Add to it rows and rows of nothing but DC, and I'm ready for a padded room. What.Was.I.Thinking?

Up next - the Mary Maxim GIANT round ripple in their Serene yarn. Holy granola, I can already tell I'll be throwing things across the room. It's a very nubby yarn, and thin. Oh well, the color changes are gorgeous, and it's totally going to be worth it. Someone remind me of that when I'm jamming yarn back into a plastic zip bag and driving north to return the kit .

Stashing

Got a package from ebay today - SCOOOOORRRE!

I'll take pictures later, but I got a great selection of vintage 1970's patterns. Got a few iffy thread patterns (did anyone ever actually WEAR filet crochet collars after the 1790s?), and a book I already own (A Year of Afghans), but everything else is awesome.

I totally want to make the Granny Square Sampler Afghan in one of the books. I'm actually thinking of doing something like that for the kids now, since the squares in all the different yarns are coming out in such different sizes. The pattern has squares ranging from 5 inches to 12 inches, in all different colors.

Well, back to crocheting for my secret pal!

Lovin' the Secret Pals!

Just wanted to say how much fun I'm having with the secret pals swap!

I'm having a blast emailing with my Unknown Pal (she said I'm "fun loving"!), and I hope I'm bringing a smile to my Known Pal's day.

I can't wait to start mailing stuff out!!!

Fri-uh-dah Ni-uh-ght

Now, let me start by saying I have NOTHING against the following:

People who like country music
People who live in the country
People who ride horses
People who drive trucks

In general, I have nothing against those that would term themselves "rednecks". Living in Florida, some of the nicest people you meet are "rednecks".

That said, there is nothing worse that having to go out on a Friday night and getting stuck in traffic with THREE groups redneck poseur teenagers in their trucks two sizes too big and their hats two small.

It's COUNTRY music, kiddos. You don't have to turn it up to 15 and deafen the entire tri-county area to make it sound good. It has actual rhythm and lyrics (not my favorite type of lyrics, but still, coherent sentences can be understood from time to time ).

Also, you are driving a half-ton pickup, not a sports car. Your Ford F150 is not known for it's cornering ability nor it's ability to go from 0 to 60 in 5 seconds. Please don't try to outrace the little Mazda next to me. And don't cut me off to do it.

Ugh.

I think I'm getting old.

What to do? What to do?

So, I'm making this item with the idea to send it to my secret pal, but I want to keep it! It's going to be so cool. I can't say more, lest I give myself away. But I will post the pattern here when I can.

I'm totally going to have to make two.

And I think I'll have to go buy more yarn. This was supposed to use up scrap yarn. Ooopsie.

My secret pal emailed me!

I feel like a little kid, I'm so darn excited. Seriously, I'm stupid excited over this swap, both the sending out part and the figuring out who my secret pal is.

Oh, and I'm so sending out the best clues to my swappee. She'll never figure out who I am from them! Especially since I might be sending my stuff through a proxy...if my friend is able to help me out.

I want to hide the postmark, b/c I'm pretty sure the postmark will be a dead giveaway. I think there are only two of us at C'ville from Tampa, me and TampaGirl, and I'm not sure if TampaGirl is participating in this round. If not, process of elimination pretty much leaves me. So here's hoping my proxy mailer comes through!!!

Okay, and me, being me, has decided to frog the big project I started working on last night, and start over again. Luckily, I only got four rows done, and it was only 192 stitches to start with and it's an open pattern, so it was only about an hour's worth of work. But my new idea will be soooo worth it, in the long run. I just hope I can do it!

Well, I didn't work on a bookmark, but I did work on my "big" project - much easier than I expected it to be. I'm "madmomming" it (which means I'm adapting a pattern and generally making stuff up as I go), and I'm worried it won't come out okay.

So far, so good, though. It has a bit of a pattern in it, and that part looks good at this point.

I do have a back up plan, just in case, though!

I really need to get the house cleaned tomorrow, though. A week of me feeling like I'd been hit by a truck and a sick Ellie home from school for three days does NOT make for a neat and tidy house. You think Lego bricks are a pain to step on? Try tiny little plastic "counting" bears - you know the kind that come with matching color cups in the "educational" aisle at Wally World?

There are no words to describe *that* pain at 3:00 am, let me tell you.

Well, time to watch the news and prepare to face the day tomorrow. Sleep tight, all, and don't let the bed bugs bite!

Current work

Okay, well, that was fun. Just spent the last hour figuring out how to put that nifty "Crochetville" button over there --------------------->

I need to go play with some yarn. Think I'll work on a bookmark for my secret pal!

Or I'll finish the never ending baby blanket.

Note to self: do NOT make another baby blanket with one strand sport weight yarn and a "G" hook. Not if you want the kid to have it before their 4th birthday.

But it'll be purty when it's done:Flat Rose Motif for the corners

Irish Rose Motif for the Corners

The body of the blanket is in a variegated pink/green/lavender/white. No pictures of that part, yet. Off to play with yarn!

Secret Pals!

I'm so excited to be a part of the Secret Pal Swap over at Crochetville (I promise, I'll slap a button up over on the side soon!)!

I've done a little bit of shopping for my Secret Pal, but I want to get to know her a little better before I spend any major bucks (not that I have major-major bucks, but I do want to spend wisely).

I do know that I'll be making a few small things for her and one big thing (but it's simple, so I *should* be able to finish in the time allotted), but alas and alack, I won't be able to post pictures lest I give my secret identity away!

I have a secret identity! Cool! Does this mean I have to wear tights and a cape when I'm sending emails as my secret self? I really don't *do* tights, although I can rock the cape. Especially with a kickin' pair of boots.

Here are the very first things I crocheted - just last summer, believe it or not!

I started with the 63 Easy to Crochet Squares booklet, and quickly got the hang of it. I'm still working on this afghan, and do plan to finish, and I bought all the variegated yarn I'll need to do those squares and I won't use it for anything else.

Here are my first few squares:

SC square, done in RHSS Light Sage, edged in RHSS Aran

HdC square in RHSS Aspen Print, edged in Aran

I'll post some more of these squares later. Off to dinner for me!

My First FO!

I made this baby blanket for my daughter's physical therapist when she had her first child last year. She has a "Finding Nemo" theme in his nursery, and finding colors to match that was pretty difficult. I finally found some, though. And I thought I'd picked an easy pattern - right off a yarn label, so how hard could it be?

Ha! I used Bernat Baby co-ordinates self-striping in blue/green and white/orange, so it wasn't the color changes that got me. No, it was the fact that this was crocheted ON THE DIAGONAL!!! As you can see from the picture, it's not exactly square. My stitch count was off at the beginning, but I didn't realize it until I was nearly done, and there was NO way I was frogging that much work. This took me about a month to do, working off and on.

Baby Tyler is still using and loving this blanket, though. His mom tells me that no ends have popped out and that the yarn is holding up well through many, many washings. I'm so happy that they are actually using it!

Hi!

Well, I've decided to join the bandwagon and start a yarn blog. I have so much to say about crochet, and now knitting, too, and some people I live with are tired of hearing about it, so, what the heck.

I'll join the 21st century and blog away!

I'm going to post the pictures of my first crochet projects, in the order I made them today, and more pictures will follow.

Not sure what else I'll put up. Probably links to some of my favorite online free patterns and stuff like that. We'll see.