Bold and new..

I felt like I needed a new direction with color for my next project… A little boldness on my hook.

Pastel blossoms..

Finally I have completed a custom order for a crib skirt/blanket set. This was my first custom project. I’ve learned some valuable lessons from it. What to do, what not to do. I’m excited with the finished product and enjoy the thought of a little girl snuggled up in these flowers..

September already!

Phew, summer is beginning to fade.. the leaves are starting to turn. Crazy crazy! I have a special post in progress, for another day. Today I will just give you a sampling of this past weeks shenanigans.

Isaac has become a pro at tree climbing.. granted, the limbs have to be at just the right spot for him to be able to scale them.

Once I am done the second stage of this custom ordered baby blanket/crib skirt set I will do a photo shoot. This is the blanket in the blocking stage, turned out quite beautifully I think.

Paint, a brush, some rocks and a little boys enthusiastic hands make for a messy simple and beautiful art project

A little crib skirting.

And we have a new project on the horizon… I was in need of some autumn colors.

Welcome September.

Stormy blooms.

That storm gray that washes over the brightness. Dark. Bold. The cheery hues of summer days turn to deep and sultry. I’ve always loved seeing this change happen. It’s fleeting, only for the moment. The colors however are the most beautiful, the most daring.

And so this blanket came to be. I wish I had the stormy day to photograph it. I had to settle for a bright and HOT photo shoot though.

Made up of granny circles, whip stitched together. Simple, beautiful. Isaac is my biggest fan when it comes to crochet. “Oh, it’s so pretty!”.. And then he jumps on it and rolls around..

I have this obsession with all things squares recently. No, seriously. I have two other blankets involving squares in progress and a couple in my mind. Oy! Long term projects are fun to dream up.. difficult to finish! Because of the length of all my WIPs I decided to start up some simple and quick hats. I guess I’m gearing up for the fall. It’s not TOO far away, you know! Okay, so maybe because of everything going warp speed in my life right now, I’m focusing on later things.. Could be.

Okay, now back to mothering and maybe a little hooking..

Summer days…

Summer days make feet dirty, even though it’s only 7:30 in the morning..

Summer days allow for messy fun on the deck! Cornstarch + water = Oobleck! Tons of fun.

Summer days hold all kinds of beauty.

Summer days make great crocheting days..

Summer days require little feet to run through wet grass..

Summer days are beautiful, lovely days. Simple as that.

Playdoh, Chocolate and Crochet.

This morning started out with a cranky two year old. I thought the day was destined for frustration and tears. Oh no. Not at all. In fact it became a morning of laughter, peace and the pleasant sounds of the morning birds filling the air. My Isaac played happily and contentedly went about his buisness. I was left to do what needed done. You know, the essentials.. Laundry, dishes, make some chocolate granola, play with some yarn. It was a productive, tasty and peaceful morning. I’m not sure what changed the tide of the morning, but, hey, I’m not complaining. Oh no. It was needed and lovely. Thank you, Lord.

Still plugging away at these. Headed out to purchase another bit of gray today. Most likely these squares will become a small throw. I’m really loving the colors.

This chocolate granola is quite tasty. Click on the pic to be taken to the recipe! I added a handful of craisins, that really made it delicious!

Ramblings of a sometimes tired mother..

Do you have a two almost three year old that sleeps horribly at night? I do. Oh, we have our amazing naps still, I need those for sanity reasons. So yes, I am very very thankful that he naps, and well. He still sleeps so unpredictably at night though. It wears on me after awhile, especially after a week of unforgiving up every hour or 2 hour nights. This is how he has been from day one. I have come to terms with it and even embraced it as part of his uniqueness. It’s his own personal sleep schedule and because it is his, it’s mine too. We make do, I’ve made peace. I won’t lie though, there are those days where I and he are just a cranky mess. Sometimes I don’t realize this until we have a decent night of sleep. Like today, he only woke once last night so today we are both in great moods. The whine that has been in his voice for the past few days has been changed to crazy laughter and happy conversation. The unfortunate harshness of my words have been changed to gentleness and silly rhymes for his amusement. All because of a good nights sleep. Now, that being said, I don’t feel the need to take action because of his sleeplessness. I did at one point, back when I still felt new to this whole mothering thing. I felt the pressure from other mothers to work on his sleep schedule, the societal norm of sleeping through the night. I tried even. It didn’t work. And that is when I realized that I didn’t need to force it. My boy just sleeps in his own way and in all honesty it’s been good for me. The reality of it all is that he will eventually get to a good place with sleep, it won’t be like this forever. I’ll take my cuddle moments while I can, especially since he isn’t one to snuggle up otherwise. So this is our season of sleepless nights, of cheering when a night of sleep happens in its entirety, but not beating ourselves up over a bad night. I’m sure as more kids find there way into our family that the sleepless nights will continue. But just as I have with my Isaac, I won’t let the pressure from around me make me change my parenting style. We will just do what we do. Live and love.

Enough of my ramblings!

The days here have been cool and beautiful.

Mid-morning snacks on the deck. Pajamas have been worn well into the day recently.

I may have started another little something… Oops. I was supposed to finish a project before I started a new one. But the yarn beckoned to me and I had to answer..

We have been monitoring this birdhouse for the past couple months. We’ve watched the little birdies grow feathers and listened to there tweets as they waited for mommy bird to fetch their breakfast. As we slowly opened the top yesterday I had a near to tears little boy as we realized that the little birds had left the nest for bigger skies. His little face crumbled, but he was happy to know that they were flying somewhere above us.

This little guy has an athletic future ahead of him..

Mmm.. the depths of purple.

WIP Tuesday?

I have a few projects going right now. Mostly long term things which makes for slow progress. Which is why I don’t do a lot of the WIP Wednesday posts because, well.. it would be boring to say the least. You’d be seeing the same things over and over without much change. I won’t put you through that.. You can all breath a sigh of relief now. That being said, I haven’t shown you many of my projects lately and since I’m a rebel I decided to do a WIP post on a Tuesday. Gasp! That’s about as rebellious as I get these days.. haha! I also am kiddo free for a few minutes (The boy went on an adventure to Lowes with his grandpa. Gotta love man stuff.) and that makes for a better blogging environment.

Up first is my dream blanket. I put it down for a few weeks because of granny exhaustion. But it’s back up and running now. I actually had a border on it and everything and then I spread it out to take a look before finishing it off and realized I needed to redo a few rows. So, out went the border and now I need to pull out some rows to make it satisfactory to my perfectionist eyes. But, it’s close to being done. Close.

And we have another purse. I started this a few months back. Whoops, kinda forgot about it. It’s basically finished, I just need to cut the lining and sew it in.

Then there’s the secret project. How secret you ask? Well, it’s so secret that even the hubby doesn’t know what is going on with these little squares. And that is all Imma say about that.

Last but not least.. a shawl. I’ve been admiring beautiful shawls over on ravelry for quite some time now. Finally I had the lace to make one and settled on a pattern. Chances are I’ll have to go back and buy some more lace to finish, but for now I’m just enjoying watching the growth of the wrap as I steadily hook. When it’s a bit farther a long I’ll give you a better idea of what it (hopefully) will look like.

Of course there is still my quilt to finish.. not much farther with that. I look forward to being able to share the finished products with you! Must. Go. Hook. Now.

Granny Square Hotpad Tutorial

In my last post I showed you a couple of hotpads that I have been working on. Although basic, it’s a pattern I worked up on my own, drawing from my limited crocheting knowledge. As a result I was asked to give some direction on the how-to’s of making one. So, in an attempt to see if I am able to write down a pattern (in a readable and understandable form) I have decided to give you a tutorial.

Granny Squares are pretty simple and there are a ton of tutorials out there on how to make them (in many shapes, sizes, and styles). This tutorial will be written in the way I find it easiest to make a basic granny. I’m sure others may have some alternate ways of doing them. Hotpads are fun and quick, making them a great project for beginner crocheters.

The low-down on getting started:

Yarn~ Cotton seems like a good choice for these. I used Loops & Thread 100% Natural Cotton. I like this yarn because while it is still easy on the pocket, it is much softer and better quality then Sugar & Cream’s yarn (in my humble opinion). It doesn’t take much to finish this project. So if you have scraps to get rid of, this is a great project for those! You can change colors as often as you’d like or even do a solid color granny. It’s up to you! I chose to do 3 colors and alternate often. Also, because this is a two sided pot holder you will be making two granny squares. I did different patterns of color on either side. Do how you like!

Hook~ I used a 3.75 mm (F). I think you could use a 4mm and get similar results.

Other tools~ Scissors for snipping those ends and a yarn needle for the lovely weaving in of said ends! Music! I love me a good Pandora station and right now my “dial” is set to The Wailin’ Jenny’s, my ultimate favorite crocheting music. Mumford & Son’s provide some good listening as well. But I’ll let you pick your own inspiration. I’m sure you know your taste in music better then I!

Stitches and abbreviations you will need to know~ Slip knot, Slip Stitch (ss), Chain (ch), Double Crochet (dc), Half Double Crochet (hdc), rounds (rnd), space (sp)

Now let’s get to making our hotpads!!! I’ve provided some photos for the visual people out there. Also, don’t forget that you will be making TWO grannies to make a nice sturdy and thick pad. So once you finish your first, go back a do the whole thing over again!

Begin by making a slip knot.

After you have a nice slip knot on your hook Ch 5.

You will then ss into the first ch, creating a ring.

Rnd 1: Ch 3 (this will be considered your first dc).

Now crochet 2 dc’s into the loop. These dc’s plus the 3ch will provide you with your first cluster!

Continue Rnd 1… Ch 2. 3 dc into the loop for your second cluster. Ch 2. 3 dc (3rd cluster). Ch 2. 3 dc (fourth cluster). You will finish off this rnd with a ss into the top of your beginning ch3. Fasten off.

Rnd 2: Attach new color. Ch 3 (counts as your first dc). 2 dc in ch sp. Ch 2.

Crochet 3 dc’s into the same ch sp. You should now have 2 clusters in the  first ch sp and will see the corner is now formed. Now ch 1 (you will ch 1 between each corner in this rnd). *Crochet 3 dc in next ch sp, ch 2, 3dc, ch 1* repeat the starred portion two more times to make the four corners of your square. Finish with a ss in your first ch3. Fasten off.

It should look like this.

Rnd 3: Attach yarn in corner ch sp. Ch 3. 2 dc in same ch sp. Ch 2. 3 dc in same ch sp. Ch 1. 3dc in next ch sp. Ch 1. *3 dc in corner ch sp. Ch 2. 3 dc in same ch sp. Ch 1. 3 dc in next ch sp. Ch 1* repeat the starred portion 2 more times.  Ss in first ch3. Fasten off. Your square is growing! Is it making sense?

Rnd 4-7: You will work each round pretty much the same as you have worked the previous two. Each round you will Fasten off and attach your new color. In each corner space you will do 3 dc. ch 2. 3dc. 1 ch will always separate the clusters on the sides of the square. ch 1. 3 dc. ch1. 3 dc… and so on. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll be able to do it in your sleep.

This should be what your finished square looks like! Seven rounds! Good job! Now go back and make one more square!

Now you have your two sides! It’s time to weave in all those ends and get your squares ready for the final step!

Sandwich your squares together with nicer looking sides facing OUT. If you know crochet, you know that there is usually one side that doesn’t look as nice as the other. Hide the not so nice side!

Insert your hook into the beginning dc of a corner cluster. Make sure your hook goes through the correct stitches on BOTH squares. Attach your yarn.

Ch 2 (this will be your first hdc).

Hdc in the next 2 stitches. Remember to make sure you’re crocheting through BOTH of your squares!

In the corner ch sp you will be crocheting 4 hdc.

Continue crocheting down the side of the hotpad. One hdc in each stitch. Keep making sure you are crocheting through BOTH squares. I had a few instances where I was happily hooking and then realized I was only working in one side! Oops!

Your edge should be looking like this.

Now to make your loop so you can hang the finished product! In this corner ch sp, crochet 2 hdc. Now ch 9 (you can customize how big or small you want your loop by changing the number of ch’s).

Continue with 2 hdc in your corner ch sp. This gives you a nice  little loop! Now continue on with one hdc in each stitch. Remember to crochet 4 hdc in each corner ch sp!!

To finish, ss in your first hdc (the ch 2 you started with). Fasten off and weave in your ends. You’re done!!!!

I hope that this tutorial was helpful and understandable! If you have any questions let me know and I will try to help you out! Also, if you do make one, I’d love to see your creation!!

Thanks for reading!

A little bit of catch up..

This will be one of those posts that has a little bit of everything. Crochet, my boy, and the beautiful outdoors.

I’ve been working out some kinks with these hot pads. Two sided grannies. My first attempt I sewed the edges together and it came out a bit wonky, but it’s still purty. I also get tired of doing the same thing over and over, so each side is different. The second I got smart and crocheted the edges after staring at it for a bit and then having one of those- Ah HAH! Light bulbs go off- moments.

And of course the beauty of the day (yesterday to be exact) needs some recognition!

Strawberry fields forever… Starting to blossom, soon we’ll have some yummy treats to pick!

An Easter craft with my boy. We finished it, however, tears flowed freely at a few points. He just isn’t made for sitting and making a craft. Now, maybe if I would allow him to walk around the room and put glue on everything.. then he may enjoy it. Attention span is NOT there.

But he does make a cute little bunny, don’t you think?