Vacation Haul

I'm sure that most of you (if not all) are not surprised to learn that this is the vast majority of what I bought during my nearly three week vacation in California. I did buy some pants and shoes, but my trip would not have been a success in my eyes if I had not brought back a bunch of crafting goodies. Along with all of the tape refills, I picked up 8 Distress Ink pads (mostly the newer colors), four sets of clear stamps, three embossing folders and one die, a new seam ripper, beeswax (for waxing sewing thread to strengthen it and prevent tangles when doing hand sewing), some fat quarters of fun fabric, a rotary fabric cutter (with replacement blades), blank cards and envelopes, lots of fun cardstock, including two 8.5" x 11" red sheets with a fuzzy nap and some brightly colored glossy cardstock with cool designs (you'll see those up close and personal when they are used in projects). I also got lots of fun stickers, some more Glossy Accents, some Prismacolor pencils, and a Wink of Stella pen that I can't wait to use; it's for adding sparkle to previously colored images. I love the bright sock yarn I got, too. What you see above are the results of visits to my dear friends Michael and Joann, as well as the Piedmont Yarn and Apparel shop (I drop in every year). I also bought a bunch of stuff from a perfectly (watch out, here comes the rant) horrible store called Scrapbook Territory in Berkeley. Not only was the store poorly lit and patrolled by two large dogs with filthy snouts, but the woman there mocked me to my face (for not knowing certain products were discontinued) and laughed at me when informing me that a new product I wanted was out of stock. I should have abandoned my cart and walked out, but I had managed to find a number of things I wanted that I hadn't found at Michaels, so I was weak. But you can be sure I won't ever go back. End of rant, and please forgive me for descending into negativity. Hopefully, it is all out of my system now.

Liat and I went wild at Wal*Mart, picking out colors for a throw she wants for her new apartment in Jerusalem. This will be for the living room sofa. She picked out a pattern with a daisy in the center of each granny square. Should be fun to make, and squares are doable even in this nasty heat and humidity. I already miss northern California weather...

Time to get serious about moving my crafts room upstairs into a room with a ceiling fan and air conditioning. I have a lot of crafting to do!

Birth of a Rainbow

I decided to make a really big, rainbow colored blanket, and I didn't want to spend an outrageous amount of money, so I ordered a bunch of Red Heart With Love yarn. When I first started knitting long ago, I bought Red Heart yarn at a store called Freeway Variety. They had everything in that store, from school supplies to yarn to paperback books to garden and pet supplies. What a treasure trove for a kid! But I had never tried this new (to me) With Love line, so I decided to give it a try.

I was very happy with this yarn throughout the process of making the blanket (haven't washed it yet but I'll bet it will hold up like a champ). Since my family still mocks my lovely autumn colored granny square blanket, I made this blanket with a more solid square. That, plus the sheer size this thing worked out to be, makes for one very heavy blanket!

I made 35 squares total, five each in seven different color arrangements.

It got a little tedious at the end, and I was very glad to finally finish the squares. I added a round of single crochet in black to each square, then sewed them together.

I added a deep border, and the finished blanket is about 4' x 6', more than ample for a snooze on the couch. I have some ideas for the next few blankets I will crochet (sooo much fast than knitting!) but they will wait until summer is waning.

Crochety

(This post should have been published at the end of March! I just now discovered it wasn't, so here it is.)

Not to be confused with crotchety. Though...that too. ;-) 

I have been knitting since I was a kid, and while I tried crochet about 20 years ago, I didn't stay with it. Made a couple of blankets, then stopped, except for the occasional border around a knitted something or other. Recently I have bit bitten hard by the crochet bug, and have been working on improving my skills and knowledge. One of the things I love about it is that things work up a lot faster in crochet. Above is the blanket made of leftover yarn from other projects (I shared an in-progress photo of it in an earlier  post). I have finally made a serious dent in my stash of medium weight acrylic yarn. And though this blanket is a bit on the small side, more of a throw or lap blanket, really, it has kept me cozy as the top layer on my bed this winter.

My two favorite things in crochet right now are blankets and toys. This owl was my first crocheted toy, and I can't wait to make more.

I especially like granny squares. Who knew there were so many kinds, though?! I used up more stash and tried out some new to me granny square patterns. These were sent to Knit A Square in South Africa, where they will be joined with other squares and made into blankets that will be donated to orphans there.

I am trying to finish up a knitting project or two, then I will get started on another blanket for us! I can't wait to get started.

In Progress

It has taken me a long time to realize that I don't have to wait until projects are finished before I blog about them! So, here are some, yes only some, of the things I am currently making. Above is a little teddy bear (nearly finished now) that will soon be making his way to a little sweetie who is about to celebrate his first birthday. Pattern is availble on ravelry, and is called Big Bad Beauregarde Bear, by bjfromnv. Unfortunately, I have not yet figured out how to do links in the Blogger app. I am using Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool.

Hmm, this picture looks a bit blurry to me, if it does to you, too, I apologize. This is a crocheted (Gasp!! Shock!) blanket made up of leftover scraps of worsted weight acrylic yarns, for me. Turns out I live with a blanket thief, so desperate times call for desperate measures, Abubu.... (Ha, name that Disney movie).

I am also making some Valentines to send to Cards for Hospitalized Kids. Stamp is an old one by Penny Black. I got the cool metallic corrugated cardstock at my local arts and crafts store. The red and white (soon to be pink, thanks to Distress Inks) scraps were left over from my Christmas cards. Gotta stay on top of those scraps or they multiply like bunnies!

I actually do have some finished things I could show you, too. But not in this post, of course. This is for in progress only. Hope the day you've got in progress is going beautifully.