Christmas Joy

Happy Post Holidays!

We had a great holiday season in my house. My two year old was so excited for her grandparents to visit (my parents) and she didn't really get the whole Santa thing but was all wound up as if she did. Her joy and happiness made this holiday season so much better!

Christmas 2014

My little reindeer

Time just passes much too quickly.
I cannot believe my littlest one is 8 weeks old already.I was not able to get her blanket complete to put under the Christmas tree as a present, but I only have one more circle left to crochet, which will be completed today!

Circle of Friends Purples and Pinks

Circle of Friends, 16 circles, Baby Blanket

I wish I had a lighter pink color in there but the light pink color for Vanna's Choice was lighter than I wanted to go. I think this will look great and Teagan will love it just as much as my two year old loves her.

My next project I have to get moving on as soon as this is done is another baby blanket for my friends who were expecting. Their bundle of joy arrived yesterday, very early at 32 weeks. I am going to whip up some little tiny hats to send in the mean time because I know the nurses will make sure his little head is nice and warm.

Happy Hooking!

xo Susan

Baby Girl Blanket in Progress

Greetings friends,

Christmas has come too quickly for me this year. I am a big Christmas person, I LOVE Christmas. I start listening to Christmas music at work in early fall...OK maaaaybe I have also been known to listen to it throughout the year...

Since I went into labor early, I wasn't able to prepare as well as I wanted to, but I am looking forward to having a nice Christmas with our newest addition. Even though Teagan is too little to know what is going on, having her here is extra special, and seeing the love my two year old has for her is even more special. One thing I want to have done before Christmas is Teagan's blank-y. I wanted to make her blanket with purples, but I was really having trouble finding yarn in purples that I liked. You may remember Lauren's blanket has daisies with a pink background, and she carries it around with her everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE!

One of the problems with Lauren's blanket is that I used two different kinds of yarn. The pink and yellow is Stitch 'N Bitch Washable Wool and the white is Vanna's  Choice. The washable wool isn't meant to be washed quite as much as we have to wash her blanket so two years later it isn't the best looking - it felted on the pink parts.

After searching different yarn stores, I decided to use pink and purple colors from Vanna's Choice since it is my go-to yarn.

Right now I have two of the colors complete as I will be making the blanket with 16 circles. Each circle will be finished off into a square with a white border for a 4 by 4 square blanket.

Circle of Friends Pink Circles

I had just enough yarn in one skein to make all four circles!!! The  last time I made this blanket for a boy, I stopped at row 5 with the colored circle and began row 6 in the white square border color. I accidentally did row 6 on my first three circles so I decided to just go with it on all of them.

My two year old fell asleep early tonight so I am finally going to be able to get some crocheting in to end the weekend. So I am off to crochet by the fire and eat some choclate. Tis the season...

Staying Warm by the Fireplace

We do not get a lot of cool/cold days or nights here so when we do, I love snuggling up on the couch with my yarn and hook and a nice little fire. .

xo Susan

Daisy Blanket Squares Connected

Happy Sunday Friends,

I've been spending most of the day inside to avoid swollen feet but I did slip out to make a run to Michael's Craft Store for the Vanna's Choice Sale and extra 20% off coupon good today and tomorrow.

As of today I am 35 weeks and 2 days pregnant. In one week and 5 days she will be considered full term and I think she will stay in for at least that long. This morning I was craving milk and drank about half of a gallon.

So back to the yarn. The yarn is on sale 2/$5 and then with the extra 20% (even sale items!) each skein is only $2 each. Unfortunately the store near me has been out of white for a few weeks now so I was not able to stock up on that. I've used other yarns but I really like Vanna's Choice and Vanna's Baby for making baby hats and blankets. The yarn is consistent and has a nice thickness to it without feeling bulky. I used Vanna's Choice in White for my Pink Daisy Blanket and Debbie Stoller's Washable Ewe for the Pink and Yellow.
The ends still need to be woven in, but the 5 by 5 squares are now complete and connected.

So now I have to decide if I want to add one more row and make this a 6 by 5 square or if I should leave it as it is and just add a nice border. For now I am putting it on things that the baby would use it with such as the swing to see how I like the size. Right now I am still undecided.

For those of you who are celebrating the end of the summer this Labor Day Weekend I hope you are outside enjoying the lovely weather. I remember Labor Day weekend always seemed sad when living up north. Summer was over and it was time to get ready for another school year and another cold winter. But now living down in Florida, school started weeks ago and the summer weather will be here for at least another month so it is just another weekend of beautiful weather. Which I will enjoy inside this year doing final preparations for the baby's arrival.

Enjoy the long weekend and happy crafting!

xoxo Susan

Hurricane = Crochet Weekend!!!

Hello lovelies,

I have been having trouble publishing posts from my iPhone so I figured I better get on the laptop today and get some real posts up. Last Sunday was a beautiful Sunday in Sunny FL and I was happy to be able to get in some crocheting and relaxing by the pool. I had a nice morning swim and picked up my hook and added some pink to my daisies for Baby M's blanket.

J went on a fishing trip and caught some larger grouper, so we had a nice grouper and salad for lunch. A perfect summer Sunday in Florida :)

Now a week later, we were preparing for Tropical Storm Isaac/Hurricane in Southwest Florida. Hubby and I opted to forego putting up the Hurricane Shutters on our windows since the storm was going to be a Category 1 at its worse if it did indeed get to us. Putting up the shutters takes several hours and we were glad we did not put them up since the storm moved further west and passed us as a tropical storm. We did not really get any heavy downpours in the Fort Myers area just some rain here and there and wind. We had much worse weather last week with a heaving down pour and thunderstorm. Thankfully!

Luckily, on Friday before the end of the day, my work announced it would be closed today! So I have been looking forward to crocheting the day away all weekend. My Pink Daisy blanket progress is coming along. All daisies and pink are done. I am going with a 5 by 5 but will reassess once I have the white border. I am thinking I may need to add a sixth row.

As soon as this blanket is complete I need to make her a little hat to wear home from the hospital. I made sure I had some light pink yarn to match her going home outfit. Since I am a crochet baby hat making kind of gal, I better get some other hats ready too so she can wear a different one each day we are there (2 days as long as all goes well). Maybe a baby cocoon too?

Hope your week is starting off great!
xoxo Susan

Pink Daisy Blanket Coming Along

Happy Weekend Friends,

I was up bright and early getting organized after a week of work. I have been squeezing in a little crochet time here and there and can't wait to have this daisy blanket complete so I am stare at it!


My friend Gina is coming over today with her daughter McKenna for some swimming fun! She is also bringing lots of baby goodies her parents were kind enough to drive down to Florida from Buffalo.

Will post some photos of our fun tomorrow!

I am posting from my iPhone and can't seem to get the photos to show up in between text - any advice?

Xoxo Susan

Cloudy Sunday = Crochet Day!

Hello Friends,

I hope your weekend has been delightful. Yesterday my friend Jessica and I had a lot of fun. It was her first time visiting our new house so after I gave her a tour, we went through my box of crochet projects - some finished some WIPs. I told her one of the first actually things I made was a granny square way back when I first learned to crochet. The Granny Square has something about it that makes you feel like you have accomplished something by being able to finish a piece of a project after you make a square.

So after clarifying the difference between single and double crochet she started on her very first square and I forgot to take a photo! Probably a good thing, I do not want to scare her away by snapping photos of her stuff too soon. Next time I will for sure though. I even forgot to take a photo of the sun dried tomato dip, it was D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S! You must try it if you have not made it yet. I halved the recipe since I do not typically make it for a large amount of people. Plus if you make only half the recipe you can make it again a few days later since it only uses half of the jar of sundried tomatos, perfect for bringing a batch to work or a party then having some at home.

On Friday night I spent some time looking at blankets on Pinterest for baby M. When I saw the one I just HAD to make for her. The pattern is a daisy square and I found it on Tillie Tulip's blog. I am going with pink background since I love pink for baby girls. The light blue looks great too though.

 I am using my new Debbie Stoller Yarn - Washable Ewe (remember the skeins I got for only 97 cents!!!). This yarn is 100% wool so even though it has lots of "holes" it should keep my little baby girl warm. I am loving the pattern and the way it is turning out. I must get back to hooking away!!!

xoxo Susan

Friday Funday!

Hello Friends,

This week has been super duper busy. I was planning to post early in the week and time just slipped away far too fast. First, I need to remind you about my giveaway. To enter the giveaway just post on a comment on my last post (here). I had to travel to Orlando, FL (yes, home to Disney World) for a conference and we had an surprise guest speaker, the Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden and his wife Dr. Jill Biden.

I am here with three of my colleagues who have been a real treat both in travel and attending the conference together. Great food and great laughs over the last two days. We head back to Fort Myers tomorrow and hope to miss any rain from the tropical storm (if we are still calling it a storm).

Since I never showed you my final photos of the latest baby blanket, here they are:

I love this blanket and still love the pattern too. My mom wants a large one with all of the yarn colors so I have more of these in my future. I was much more careful about my zip zag connecting, so it is not uneven in places like my last one. I need to thank Angie again at Le Monde de Sucrette for this pattern and connecting method. This looks so great when it is complete, I just can't get enough (obviously!).
Hope you had a fabulous Friday,
xoxo Susan

Baby Boy Dreams Blanket Progress - Almost Done!

Happy Friday!

This is the middle of the semester for us at our university so we stress levels are high for both students and faculty. Usually once we get to this point, the rest of the semester flies by. I have been busy preparing research presentations for a conference I have coming up which always seems to come up just a little bit too soon.

Similarly, the holidays and babies are the way do not wait for when we are ready either so I have been trying to not get behind. I thought I had enough squares but the 10 by 8 just wasn't looking right, so I added another row so the blanket is 10 by 9.

The colors look better in person since some of the blues look like they are almost the same color in the photo and many of the green look blah in the photo. I am going to make a blue owl hat to go along with this baby blanket. This blanket is for a baby boy who is not due until February, but I have a friend who is ready to go any day now who did not find out the sex of the baby. So if she has a boy, this one can be sent over to her and I can make another one for the February baby.

J has been catching some nice fish in our backyard pond. This is a large Tilapia he caught the other day. Tilapia are difficult to catch with a pole because they typically eat vegetation at the bottom of the pond. Lately the tilapia have been popping up to eat some of the catfish food we feed to the catfish in the pond, so they have been eating a high protein diet.
 

Today at work in honor of one of our faculty members who just had surgery for breast cancer we had a wear pink day. I thought my new pink scarf would be a great addition to my pink shirt so I wore it proudly. And guess what? I have two people who want to order a handmade scarf just like my pink never-ending scar (infinity) for trips to colder climates (remember I am located in sunny southwest Florida)!
Well, I am off to start my weekend crocheting. How many scarves can I finish this weekend?
xoxo Susan

Circle of Friends Baby Boy Blanket

Hello Lovelies,

I am sorry it took my so long to get these photos up. This pattern was a joy to make, and I plan to make many more bably blankets with this pattern. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to bring this one in to the office to share with my Thursday Crochet Lunch Group, so the photos will have to suffice. I took the color idea from this one and made it a boy version. As soon as I hear of a baby girl on the way, I will do it with the girl colors!

Just the yellows left to square

I left off the final row of the pattern (row of sc around)

The perfect size - at least I thought so!

Folded up and ready to go!

I used Vanna's Choice yarn for this blanket. The green and yellow are from the baby Vanna's Choice. The colors were: Silver Blue (light blue), Dust Blue (darker blue), Duckie (yellow), and Sweet Pea (green). The Vanna's choice yarn baby line isn't any softer than her regular line so they can be mixed together. The white from the baby and white from the regular don't appear to be different either. I have used some of each on projects before and can't tell a difference. Well, I did start working on something new last night and can't wait to share the photos soon!!
I hope you have a fabulous afternoon.
xoxo Susan

Baby Blanket Almost Done and a New Crocheter

Good Morning,

After a short crochet hiatus, I am back and it and plan to get this baby blanket finished up by the end of this week. I want my mom to be able to bring it up to Buffalo with her so I do not have to mail it for the baby shower. Speaking of my mom, we started her crochet lessons on Tuesday evening. She is doing a great job so far. We tried right handed but she needs to crochet left handed. So I have been able to work on my left-handed crochet skills (I guess you never know when it can come in handy). I think she is right on track with where a beginner crocheter would be. I started her with chaining and then a single crochet. Maybe I should have waited a day but I also taught her double crochet too. She kept hooking along after I went to sleep and when I checked her progress in the morning it looks like she started single crocheting anyways.

My mom learning to crochet!

All Circle of Friends DONE

Just need to finish the sqaures

Layout of the baby blanket

I hope to finish most of the white squaring tonight and then put it all together tomorrow and do a border on Saturday! I won't be able to bring the finished version in to the office for the girls to see because my parents leave on Sunday and it will be gone. I really like the Circle of Friends pattern, probably because I made the circles all one color which means only one color to weave/sew in ends. If you look on ravelry.com or flickr you will see some people make the circles themselves more than one color which looks nice, but more ends to weave.
It is a beautiful day outside, I am off to work all day inside but hopefully I can pop out for a little bit to enjoy the lovely weather.
xoxo Susan

Weekend Progress - Circle of Friends Pattern Baby Blanket

Hello,

I hope your weekend is going well. My brother sent me a text message saying they LOVE the Japanese flower blanket so I am very happy :) He also said they had a great shower and cannot believe how much stuff they received, so I am very happy for them. The wedding is June 24th.

J works on Saturdays so I have been relaxing with crochet all day. My parents are arriving in town tomorrow for a visit (they live in Buffalo, NY). I know my mom will love to see my projects in person. She hasn't been here since I started all this on January 25th. I have so much to show her!!! She never crocheted before, although she has knitted. After reading my blog and then clicking away at all of your blogs she most definitely wants to learn to crochet. We are going to go to Harry Potter World at Universal Orlando, but other than that I should have some time to give her the basics. There may be one problem, I am left handed and so is she, BUT I crochet right handed. When my next door neighbor Kathy taught me and her daughter Colleen to crochet she told me I may want to do it the left handed way. I found it easier to mimic what she was doing and viola, I am a right handed crocheter. Let's hope my mom will be the same way, because I am worried it will take her much longer to get the basics down if she needs me to try to show her with my left hand.

Well before I carry on any longer, here is my progress with the Circle of Friends blanket.

I followed the pattern except for the very last row which was a single crochet all around. I started the single crochet row and thought I would hold off and see how it looks without it. I will be using a color to connect all of the squares together. A light blue will be the other diagonal and yellows next to the greens. J is working an extra event tonight for work so I will be hooking away all evening, maybe I will get all of the circles done tonight and just have to finish the whites and connect for tomorrow. It looks tiny, but the blanket is going to be for my cousin Billy's baby boy. I think the baby is due in August. 

Enjoy the rest of this fabulous weekend!

xoxo Susan