A Pop of Primary

Well,I finished the Pomp-a-Doodle square last night. That yarn was a ton of fun to work with. I will be keeping my eye out for a sale on Red Heart yarn again so I can get some more colors. I would love to have the Berries and Cream (pink tones) and Shoreline (blue tones) too. Very pretty. Very plush. I am sure Baby D will love the square once (s)he makes his/her appearance.


On to my next square! I choose Lion Brand Lion Suede in Scarlet for the next piece-- It's nice when you can do a little stash busting for a project, isn't it? I have never worked with this yarn either but I bought it on clearance ($1 a skein!) so I'm excited to see how it works up.
I decided to do a popcorn stitch with this block. I am hoping that it will mimic the fabric you typically see in baby blankets.

Hopefully I can find my camera charger soon so I can upload a picture of the two squares so far.


POPCORN SQUARE (7x7 inches)
Popcorn (PC): Work 4 dc in next sc, drop loop from hook, insert hook in first dc of 4-dc group, pickup dropped loop, and draw through st, pull tight; ch 1 to secure.

Using a K Hook Ch 19.
Row 1: Sc in 2nd ch from hook and in each ch across
Row 2 (Popcorn Row): Ch 3, turn, skip first sc, PC in next sc, dc in next 3 sc, (PC in next sc, dc in next 3 sc) 3 times --- Row has 4 total Popcorn stitches
Row 3: Ch 1, turn, sc in first 3 dc, sc in next PC, (sc in next 3 dc, sc in next PC)
Row 4: Ch 1, Sc in each sc across
Row 5-?: Repeat Rows 2-4 until your square measures 7 inches. Fasten off.

A Different Sort of Baby Afghan

So one of my sisters is pregnant. This will be my third niece or nephew. Colleen and Ron do not what to know the sex of the baby -- and it is killing me! I want to make a pink pretty princess blanket for someone. So far I have two very sweet, handsome nephews that do not wear pink at all. Boo.

Anyway, so Colleen is rather particular about her likes and dislikes. She does not like all neutral colors, yellow, primary colors, or farm/zoo animals. This puts me in an odd position. She hasn't chosen a bedding set yet or registered for anything at all... and I need to get cracking on my baby projects.



So here is what I decided to do. Using the first picture as an inspiration for design and the yarn (Premier Yarns Serenity Garden - Gems) as my color inspiration, I am going to make a blanket Col can use as a play mat for the baby once they learn to push up and start to crawl. I am collecting together different tactile yarns and textured patterns.

Any suggestions? Tonight I am starting with making a single crochet square with Red Heart's Pomp-a-Doodle Plush Plum to pull out that lavender tone in the inspiration yarn.

I Just Gotta Rock...

Surprise! My boyfriend actually gave me two days notice that we were going to see our friend to celebrate his birthday this weekend! I think that things are improving.

Our friend, Andrew, has two hobbies-- making beer with his fiancee Lauren and making music with his friends. Well, I already made Lauren a birthday beer, so I thought that I would take on making a guitar to gift to him. I tried to mimic his favorite guitar-- a custom made one that you see in the picture there. I didn't get the shape exactly right but I like to think of it as "stylized" and homemade.

I found a pattern that was close to what I was looking for at Crochet & Craft - The Thinkable and the Unthinkable. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get the pattern with enough time to get the present made for Andrew's party. I used the picture she has posted as a general model and worked out from there. I did go ahead and buy the pattern on Etsy. It's so cute and I know that I'll want to make one for my nephews. Besides, I am interested to see where the differences are in our designs.

I Always Wanted to Knit!

I am really so excited. I think I might have the skills to start searching the internet for beginner's knitting patterns.

I took a class at my local A. C. Moore this past Monday not quite sure what to expect. You see, I had already attended a beginner's knitting class earlier in 2009 at my local JoAnn's Fabrics and had left that class feeling dejected and lost. Unfortunately, I think the class size was too large and the teacher to inexperienced with actually teaching true beginners for the class to have been effective.

My teacher at A. C. Moore was Beth from Beth's Creative Notions on Etsy. We had a class of three-- a young girl of 10 years old, my mother, and myself. I definately prefer the smaller class sizes. That way I get individual attention and get to ask my questions without feeling like I am annoying anyone.

You can't really see it here but those are even stitches. I learned to cast on, knit, and purl. We talked about ribbing and how combining the basic stitches could make ribbing and things like that. She showed me how to change colors (just like crochet, really) and how to pick up a dropped stitch. I also saw casting off but i am definately going to need to Google that one again when it comes time.

I will be making a pink square for my pink breast cancer awareness afghan as soon as I am done experimenting with this one.

Happy Birthday, Ian

Tomorrow (2/10) is my sweetheart's birthday. He is turning 27...

Have you ever noticed that all too often you make crafts and things for people but never for yourself? I always find that I am giving away my creations. Poor Ian gets the short end of this stick as well. All too often, he mentions that he likes this or that while I am making it for someone else and he never gets a handmade present.


Well, tomorrow I am going to right that wrong. I made a cute penguin in blue shades for my godson Aiden when he was born. I used a I hook to make it big enough for him to grasp and play with. Ian had mentioned that he thought the penguin was cute. He wanted one in black and white, though. He is a traditionalist-- not really one for outlandish color schemes. While he was in the mountians with his friends this weekend, I whiped him up one. The pattern is free from Lion Brand's site. He's a little shy but oh so cute. I think he will look great on Ian's desk at work. I hope he likes him.

And speaking of presents, I have a debt of gratitude to pay to my little brother. I had a doctor's appointment at Temple Hospital in Philadelphia. I hate to drive into the city but my brother, Devin, is quite comfortable. He goes to school there-- Drexel. Devin drove me to my appointment and waited for 3 hours while I waited to be seen and go thru a bunch of paper work. I really appreciated it. In thanks, I thought I would make him an orange crown, his favorite color. I made it similar to the one that I made for a baby but I made the crown wider. Unfortunately, it is a little too wide for me. Hopefully, it is not too wide on Devin-- his head is a little bit bigger than mine. Well, we shall see.

For a Little Prince

So this week, I went to visit my sister at the restaurant where she works. She mentioned to me that there was a young lady there that doesn't have any family that is due in July. My heart goes out to her. I know how much my two sisters were depending on us (even if they didn't want to admit it) when they were single and pregnant. Imagine how scary it must be to think that you have a little one to provide for and no one to depend on for support.

The next morning, I went shopping for her friend's new baby boy. I love baby shopping. I fear that I may never be doing it for myself so every opportunity I get, I like to wander thru aisles of cute tiny outfits and toys. I bought 15 Carter's onsies in three sizes, three books (of course, one is bunny themed), infant toys, and a Bumbo in blue. The sweet girl hasn't even registered (possibly because she doesn't expect someone to throw a shower? How sad) so I guessed on the colors.


In addition to making a fun gift basket for my sister to surprise her with at work, I also wanted to make something little with my hands. I decided on this super cute baby crown. It only took an hour to whip up. I made it to be 16 inches around, the size of my 5 month old nephew (pictured here modeling the present for fit purposes).
I got the pattern here. Too cute! I am making one now for my nephew as his mama looked a little disappointed when I told her the crown was for her friend, not her. I'm thinking chocolate brown and baby blue?

I just hope that my pay it forward doesn't make the young lady feel weird. I just wanted to do something nice for a new mama.

Calling All Crochet Artists ^_^

Interested in joining a granny square swap? I stumbled upon it while I was checking out the blog Strumpets Crumpets. There are some really cute things there so take a stop by!

I think that for this swap, I will do all of the same style squares. Time to break out the patterns again, people!

More information can be found at Hoot-N-Annie. Come on, sign up! I'd love to send you a square :o)

Share in our excitement!

Nana made me (and herself) soup... and the bunnies recieved their just desserts!

Yummmmm Split pea and Ham is going to be so yummy tommorrow at work.