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

Our Baby Girl is Finally Here

Hello Lovelies,

I have been away waiting for my little pumpkin to arrive. All of my crochet goodies look better with her inside or on top of them so I was holding off on posting until she came.

My due date was October 5th which came and went without a baby. A week from today at 11:00pm my water broke and labor began! By 4:44am our beautiful baby girl was here. October 8th, 2012. We named her Lauren Olivia. She is a little peanut weighing in at 6lb 1oz and 18.75 inches. She is so perfect and we could not be happier.

She loves her daisy blanket and thanks to Mary at The Worry Bird, I am so glad I did not make the blanket any longer the size is just right.

More soon!
Xoxo 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