Camo Sleep Sack

I started a crochet project for a friend. Her daughter is having a baby soon. She asked me to make a Camo Sleep Sack. Here's the pattern http://suzies-yarnie-stuff.blogspot.com/2009/09/shell-sleep-sack-and-cap-c.html . I'm using Red Heart yarn and to soften it up, I will use fabric softener in the wash. Hopefully that will help some.

Embroidery/Stitchery Project

I did a quick little embroidery/stitchery project yesterday. I think it turned out pretty good!

Christmas Lights

I knew my guys had been working outside a day or so this week. But I wasn't sure of what all they had been doing. Then yesterday, my husband spent some time outside as well. Then, I figured out what he was doing. He was putting up the Christmas lights before the weather turns cold. He turned them on last night, once it got dark, so he could see what was lighting up like it should. Not everything was plugged in for the photo, but you can get some of the idea in the photo. I was hoping no one would drive by while they were on though. We would be in line for some razzing from the neighbors. LOL

Re-Purposing

Today, I decided to re-purpose some beanies. I wanted to update them and give them a bit of flair. LOL Here's what I came up with. (I plan to give them as gifts at Christmas.)

Added a pom-pom.

Added a pom-pom.

Added a pom-pom and trim around the brim. It's a shame that you can hardly see the pom-pom. It's navy blue.

Added a pom-pom.

It's Turning Into A Blanket

All lined up, making sure I like the color sequence.

All the squares sewn together.

Now, I just need to put the border on the blanket. It's a shame I'm out of white yarn. I'll have to wait until I can go get some. But, I'm that much closer to having the blanket done! Woo Hoo!

Edging the Squares

The rest of the Peace Sign Squares are edged. Woo Hoo!

Edging the Squares

I've started edging the Peace Sign Squares.

I forgot to take a photo of the orange square before starting the edging. No biggie though.

I've edged six more of them as well. Only 8 to go.

More Peace Sign Squares

Turqua.

Some sort of green color.

Peace Sign Squares

I finished up two Peace Sign Squares last night while watching the series "The Haunted" on TV. These two are purple (amethyst). These two bring my total to 10 squares now.

Scarf (WIP)

Well, the scarf that I'm knooking is coming along nicely. I don't have nearly as much done on it as I'd like to have, but in the end, I've got more done than I thought I'd have.

Skinned Knee

I skinned my knee! Can you hear me whining? LOL I learned a valuable lesson yesterday while substitute teaching Gym class. Guess what it is? I am too old, and too fat, and too out of shape to be playing sports with a group of 8th grade kids. That's the lesson I learned. I didn't pick me feet up while running and I stubbed the toe of my shoe and down I went. I guess I shuffle when I walk, because that's the only explanation I can come up with for why I took a tumble. :(

Another Scarf on the Knook

I started another scarf on the Knook last night. It will be bigger than the skinny scarf though. I cast on 25 stitches. I plan to give it to Medium J for Christmas. Since it takes me so long to make a scarf using the knook, (simply because I'm not fast enough), I hope I will have enough time to get it done. I'm using the size I knook hook and Red Heart worsted weight yarn in Windsor Blue. Believe it or not, when I use the knook, the yarn actually turns out much softer than in traditional crochet or knitting. Wonder why? Or am I just hoping that it's softer? LOL

Peace Sign Squares

I finished up the main part of two more Peace Sign squares while watching NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles tonight. These are going pretty good now that I've done a few of them.

Peace Sign Squares

I've been working on some Peace Sign Squares for a couple of throws that I am going to be giving away at Christmas. So far, I've made five squares. Two yellow, two pink and one blue. I don't have the edging on the squares yet either. I have to make sure I'm counting out the spaces correctly, so I figured that while I was in the mood to count, why stop and put the edging on. I'll just spend some time later and do it all at once.

The Peace Sign is showing up pretty good in the yellow and pink ones, but not so good in the blue one. Hmmmm.....

I do have one square completely finished, but I don't have a photo of it. So...that will have to wait until next time.

The pattern for the square can be found on SmoothFox's blog. Check her out!

Nana Squares

I've been making Nana Squares again. I now have 78 of the 110 that I need to finish up the blanket. Woo! Hoo! I'm getting closer and closer to the end! I won't mention that I'm only like half way there. LOL

Learning Experience

I've learned TWO things in the past five minutes:

1. I am a mustard snob. Yep, you read that right. I normally use French's mustard, but we ran out. Someone (I won't say who...dearest husband) bought a generic version to replace it. I put some of the generic mustard on my grilled hamburger, and guess what??? I do NOT like it! Ugh!

2. Apparently I do not like store bought potato salad (unless you completely cover it in pepper). I never buy store bought potato salad (I won't say who bought it dearest husband) and now I know why. Ugh!

I must be weird!!!

Scoodie

Yesterday, my sister Dea asked me to make her another scarf as she's misplaced the one I made her several years ago. So...when I was blog hopping today, I found this lovely pattern http://doodlebumpkin.wordpress.com/2011/08/25/super-simple-scoodie-pattern/ and decided to try my hand at it. The only thing I did different was to start with a base chain of 203 as I wanted it to be longer than the one in the photo.

My reluctant model.

Yep, still reluctant.

It's folded in half in this photo.

This shows the seam down the middle of the scarf, when it's folded in half.

Now, I just have to decide if I'm going to let her have the scarf BEFORE Christmas or make her wait and give it to her then! :)

update: I ended up giving Dea the scoodie today (Sunday 10/22). I couldn't hold out since we've got a cold spell coming. I want her to be warm and protected from the chilly air. She can't afford to be sick.

Super Simple Wrist/Hand Warmers (Free Pattern)

I work on a farm during the months of October through December each year. I'm usually pretty hot, but every now and then my hands get cold. But I don't like having a full glove on. So...wrist/hand warmers would be pretty handy for me to have. Now, I have a big hand. I measured it. It's 8 inches around the palm of my hand just above my thumb. Thus, I need a good sized "glove". After two attempts, this is what I came up with.

Super Simple Wrist/Hand Warmers (Free Pattern)

Materials:

Red Heart worsted weight yarn

Size I crochet hook

*Note: The wrist/hand warmer is crocheted from below the fingers down to the wrist.*

Make 2 of these.

ch 27. Using a slip stitch, join to form a ring, being careful not to twist the chains.

1- ch 1, sc in next ch and in each ch around; join with a sl st to ch 1. DO NOT TURN.

2 thru 6- ch 1, sc in next sc and in each sc around; join with a sl st to ch 1. DO NOT TURN.

7- ch 1, sc in next 10 sc, ch 6, sk 6 sts, sc in next sc and in each sc around; join with a sl st to ch 1. DO NOT TURN.

8- ch 1, sc in next sc and in each sc around; join with a sl st to ch 1. DO NOT TURN.

9 thru 17- ch 1, sc in next sc and in each sc around; join with a sl st to ch 1. DO NOT TURN. At the end of round 17, finish off and weave in ends.

**If you need to make this bigger or smaller, just adjust the amount of beginning chains to fit your hand.

Correction to pattern (11/27/11).....Round 8 should read (ch 1, sc in next sc, and in each sc and ch around, join with a sl st to beg ch 1.)

PLEASE DON'T CLAIM THIS PATTERN AS YOUR OWN, BUT FEEL FREE TO USE THE PATTERN TO MAKE AND SELL THESE. GIVE CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE. THANKS!

More Nana Squares

Black, pale yellow and white.

2 WIP Completed

OK...I thought and thought and messed around and so on, and I decided to frame the Stitchery/Needlepoint project as is. This is a Christmas present for one of my nieces.

I finished up the Lacy Accent Doily. I couldn't stand letting it sit around just because I didn't want to go out and buy another skein of yarn. So...I went to the dimestore and bought the yarn. It took me less than 20 minutes to finish the crocheting and weave in all the ends. I like the finished product quite well. However, I have a HUGE couch, so...I will need two of these if I'm going to use them as decoration. I might possibly give this to my mom for Christmas. She could put it on the back of her lazy boy arm chair.

Needlepoint/Stitchery Project

Well, my Needlepoint/Stitchery Project is coming along nicely. I've spent a little bit working on it this morning. I'm not too happy with the freehand stuff I'm doing, but...I think I've come up with an idea to make it "tie in" with the rest of the project, so...we'll see what happens.

Edit::: I think...I'm going to pull out all of the extra little stitchery items at the bottom and at the top. I really don't care for it. What do you think? I feel like it doesn't tie into the whole picture that I'm trying to create.

**caution** Adult Post

I just overheard Small T ask Big C "how can you sleep naked". (I didn't know he did this...hmmm...). His reply was "you should try it...it's amazing...there's so much air flow around my balls....it's amazing!". All I can say is "O....M....G!!!" Now, you would think that this is a conversation they had while joking around, but no...they were being absolutely serious with each other. *sigh* I used to hate it when they didn't like each other much, but now that they are getting along, I'm not so sure I can cope with the conversations that they are having. LOL I do not recall ever having a conversation of this type with my sisters and brother. Times sure have changed!

Thursday's Projects

I did a bit of needlework on this project while sitting at the school for Parent/Teacher conferences.

I made a few Nana Squares in the morning.

And spent as much time as possible on the Lacy Accent Doily. I'm soooooo upset. At the end of the night, I ran out of yarn. And I was almost done. So far, I've used 2 (7 oz.) skeins of Red Heart worsted weight yarn in Soft White. It looks like I'll need one more. *sigh*

Wednesday's Crochet

Wednesday was Small T's return visit to the Eye Institute. Since we had to "travel" to get there, and because we would spend some time "waiting", I took my bag full of small yarn balls and worked on Nana Squares.

This is the first batch of them.

And this is the second batch of them.

After we got back home, I took a well deserved nap and then while I was watching "Survivor", I got out the Lacy Accent Doily and spent the rest of the evening working on it. This is what I had at the end of the night.

Funky Hat

Have you ever tried to hide something from your kids? I try this all the time. And it seldom works. Small T found the Funky Hat. And felt like modeling it. She also said "I would wear it!" Which is exactly what I was hoping for. The only drawback is that it needs to be just a bit bigger. So, I'll be making another one that actually fits and will gift this one to a niece.

She especially liked to flick the tassels. LOL

Two New Projects

Today, I got tired of working on projects that "I have to do" and decided to do a couple of fun things instead.

I started a needlepoint project for my niece Dani. I plan to give this to her for Christmas.

I also started a crochet project that I've been dying to make for at least 6 months now. It's called "Lacy Accent Doily" and you can find it at www.redheart.com . I am making this with Red Heart worsted weight yarn and an I hook. I'm going to put it on the back of my couch. Go check the pattern out...it's BEAUTIFUL!

A Funky Hat

I saw this pattern http://gegecrochet.blogspot.com/2009/04/holy-julie-newmar-batman.html and thought "wow...that's funky". So, I thought I'd make one, but decided to change it up a bit so Small T could wear it to some of the games at school. Our school colors are red and white, and Small T is a cheerleader, so I added the pompoms. I also didn't make the corners into "cat ears". All in all, I love this. There's one problem though. It's way too small for my head, so I only hope it will fit Small T.

Vintage Cloche

This is the second hat I've made from this pattern. Small T says they are totally "in". The free pattern can be found at redheart.com. Just look for "Vintage Cloche".

Now, I'm totally ashamed of this photo. But I have to admit, it's hilarious! How could I possibly think that I could stand this hat up alone and take a "wonderful" photo of it. LOL Geez. Sometimes I'm soooooooo dense.

Crochet Goal Met

I finished up the last two slouchy hats. That made my goal of five for the day. I have learned that five in one day is just too many. So I'll be readjusting my future goals to reflect that. LOL