Granny Gardening...

Hello Everyone,

Although this is my first week of summer vacation, I have been busy working on research proposals for an upcoming conference this coming academic year. I have been getting some crochet in though, I just haven't been updating you accordingly. Do you remember my granny garden blanket? Well I am expanding the lapghan to a larger blanket. I loved all of the color granny circles turned square when I first started reading blogs back in January. As a born again crocheter I wanted to make all of the great projects everyone had been working on for the last few years so I made several lap afghans to satisfy my desire to try so any of the great patterns all of you out there have been using!

Granny Garden

I also got to the point where I just needed a break from weaving in all those ends and making all of those little circles. This past week I have been making some more circles to add a few more rows to the blanket. I also used the connect-as-you-go technique.

We've also had some excitement in our backyard the last few days. Do you know what this is?

I bet you have an idea now!

 A small alligator has made its way to the backyard pond. This is very common in Florida, but we have not had one lurking around our pond in a few years. With several small children around our street, all of the neighbors were concerned. Fish and Wildlife officers will remove alligators from community or public areas if the alligator is over 4 ft long or if it is at least 18 inches and considered is a danger/nuisance.


Small Alligator in our Backyard

 We did not see the alligator today, so we are not sure if s/he decided to move to another pond or if Fish and Wildlife came and removed it. So that was our backyard excitement this week!

I hope your week has been moving along nicely. As I said, I have been busy crocheting so stop back tomorrow for another project and another post!

Have a fabulous Friday,

xoxo Susan

Connect As You Go Granny Circle to Squares

Good Morning,
I hope you are having a lovely morning. The sun is shining here and although I went to bed late last night (I was crocheting) the sun shining outside has me feeling energized and ready to go. Unfortunately today I will not be driving up to Tampa to see baby McKenna. McKenna's mommy is not feeling well and has a fever :-(
So I instead of working via the internet, I will be going to my office/university today (although the rising gas prices make me want to work from home permanently). Next week I will venture up there to see the my friend and the baby.

Last night I was trying to make some progress on my granny garden blanket. The granny circles which turn into squares when you connect-as-you-go. The pattern links can be found here in my first posting about it.

This blanket is interesting because while I make it, I often feel like there are too many "holes" in the blanket for it to be very useful. But, in between connecting each circle, when I lay the blanket flat across my legs to check it out, it works! I haven't decided how long I want this one to be. The smaller version would mean I am almost half done (if I do a 10 by 10 row). I think the blanket needs to be longer than 10 by 10 based on seeing other ladies' blankets. The blanket looks much more grand when it is bigger, and all of the weaving and cutting of the different colors really takes a lot of time, so I want it to look grand once it is finished. Maybe tonight I will make another dent in it. Every time I feel like I made a lot of circles, when I lay them out there just doesn't seem to be as many. I must say, it really does look as nice as I hoped it would. Now I just have to keep my fingers crossed when I wash it for the first time that my weaving in was adequate.

I hope you have a fabulous Wednesday,

XOXO Susan