Weekend Wonderfuls

Good Morning Lovelies,
The sun is peaking out from behind some clouds and I up am ready to go this Saturday morning. Yesterday I wove all of my ends in on my granny garden blanket and took some photos. I think the blanket is at least a third of the way done, maybe a little more than one third. The progress is similar to my ripple. So I guess I can say they still have a way to go before being finished. Yesterday I was reading on the raverly message board about having multiple WIPs so you do not get so sick of them you never finish. Apparently I do that too! Today I will try to make a dent into more circles for the granny garden.

My two Lucy projects that got me obsessed with crocheting: ripple and circles to squares!!

 A little collection of what I have worked on the last month. I forgot to put my granny stripe in there. I put the granny stripe into a bag to take to see baby McKenna (I can't go away without a WIP to work on!) and forgot to bring it back out. Well there you have it! I bought my first batch of yarn on Friday, January 14th and went to work on the ripple, and here I am less than 60 days later with lots of goodies!
Have a fabulous day
XOXO Susan

Another Day in the Sun

Hello Everyone,
Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you had a nice Valentine's Day yesterday and received whatever you wanted from your special valentine. J and I are not big on gift giving for Valentine's Day because we don't like to have "stuff" laying around that we don't need. We prefer to go on trips and enjoy time together. I did make some brownies the night before and we ate them up fast. Mondays J has off from work, but I always have to work, so after work we had a nice dinner, enjoyed some of the nice weather, and then went for a run together - a lovely little V-day.

My ripple blanket is turning out quite nice. I started this project exactly one month ago and I have been smitten with crochet every since. I now have about three projects going at once but that is normal behavior for me. Although the weather is superb here right now, I am jealous of the people up north in the cold who are making lots of progress on their knit and crochet projects because the mounds of snow have them stuck inside. The photos on the blogs and flickr are amazing!

The yarn on this blanket feels so soft (Vanna's Choice), much softer than it feels when I use it for other things. I used a G (4.25MM) hook which is the same as I have used for other things, but there is something about the way this blanket feels. The pile of yarn I purchased over the last few weeks is starting to get thinner. I went through one whole ball of white from the granny circles (white is the final round and connecting color). The red is almost gone, after using it twice in the ripple blanket photographed above. I am not sure if there would be enough for another two rows of it (each ripple color is two rows).

Tonight I hope to make some more Japanese flowers to add to my WIP. More photos to come...
Have a fabulous day!!
XOXO Susan

Ripply

Hello Everyone,

Today is not so sunny, but I have a busy day indoors so I don't mind. We have so many days of sunshine in Florida that I often welcome days of rain and clouds. When the sun is out I have a sense of urgency to get outside and enjoy myself - I think this is from living up north for so long. Sometimes you could miss all the nice days in a summer if they fell during the week.

Our new file cabinet came in yesterday so after work I was busy putting it together. I was trying to suprise J before he got home from work with the completed cabinet, but I ran into some trouble. The sides of one of the drawers did not line up properly so I couldn't put it together. I was going to call the company today (their phone line was 9am-5pm) and tell them I needed a new piece when I realized we could try to drill down some of the pieces to get them to align properly.

So after J came home he glady took out the drill and did the drilling for me (when he was out of town in October I tried to drill the curtain rod in the bathroom... I don't try to use the drill anymore). So the file cabinet is complete and looks lovely! The matching desk should be arriving via Fed Ex sometime today. So after work today we will put together the desk. If all goes well I will be able to share the photos with you tomorrow.

Slowly but surely I am making progress on my ripple blanket. I love the way the blanket feels, I am very happy with the Vanna's Choice yarn, this is my first project using it. When I lay the blanket out on the floor it makes me want to strethch out and lay on it. I think I may make a ripple cushion to go along with the blanket, or a cushion to coordinate but a different pattern.

I have been trying to keep my WIPs confined to certain places so J doesn't feel like I have WIPs all over the place. He hasn't said anything yet but we don't want him to start resenting crochet! So far he is really enjoying the outcomes of my work and only tells me to take a break when he knows I've been at it all day long :) I do have a pattern I am going to try this weekend that I cannot wait to share the work with all of you!!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a fabulous day

Susan H.   XOXO

Happy Friday

After completing some data analysis this morning, I am trying get some things ready for our community garage sale tomorrow morning. I am selling some of my first pieces of furniture I purchased after moving to FL - they have been great pieces over the last five years but the time has come to part ways. Yesterday I was so tired after the long week I didn't even get to crochet. This weekend I will work on my ripple blanket. Here is the status so far:

 The width and current length



Folded up and Up close

Last night we enjoyed a delicious italian dinner at our neighbor's house. They served bruschetta as an appetizer and J brought some home with for us to enjoy today. Well for me to enjoy today, J doesn't eat tomatos (I had to live dinner early to have a live chat with my students). So... in between garage sale preparation and some work, I am sneaking in some bruschetta.

This weekend I will steal away some time to relax and make many more rows.
Tonight J and I are going to my university's men's basketball game as guests of the Provost in the President's box! Members of the faculty senate were invited to attend, and it looks like not too many senators took up his offer. We are very excited to attend and enjoy the evening. I will tell you how it goes!

Rippling into the Weekend

It looks like we are in for a perfect winter weekend in Florida - not too warm with highs in the low 70's and cooler nights. Perfect for playing tennis and reading on the lanai. This is my favorite time of the year in Florida, the sun feels the best when it is January and you can smell the fresh air. Spring really is around the corner here! As I walked from the parking lot to my office building on campus, I could smell the fresh cut grass. The smell always reminds me of elementary school - I can picture my third grade classroom, sitting at my little desk and looking out the window while the custodian cut the grass. It reminds me of spring!

I'll be working on my ripple blanket this weekend. Hopefully it will double in size! At some points the pattern seems to be a little off due to the flipping of the front to back.

When I am done, I may play around with the number of stitches in between each curve. For now, I think the curves are turning out all right! I am using Lion Brand Vanna's Choice and I must say, I really like the feeling of it. The blanket feels nice and soft. 

Ripple/Wave Blanket

Hello Friends,
After last night's storms here and tornado watches (tornado watches in central Florida - luckily we are further south), today is a warm and sunny day. After working all morning and afternoon, I headed out to the farmer's market to get some yummy organic produce for the rest of the week. Then it was back to work.

Lately I've become obssessed with checking out other crocheter's projects on their blogs and I absolutely love Lucy's Blog - Attic 24's  and her many projects over the years. I decided to start with her ripple blanket pattern: http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/.

Lucy's pattern uses 14 stiches for each "set" which is an up and down ripple. I decided to do 7 sets to have a blanket wide enough for two people to snuggle under on a cold day or night :)