Scrub-a-dub-dub

Hi again!

I've returned from vacation, and didn't get nearly as much crocheting done as I planned. Oh well. The first half of the week, I read The Shack. It was really interesting, and I'll be reading it again, this time, with a highlighter and a pen. It had some great points and quotes in it!

While at our family reunion, one of my cousins brought my baby a gift (she's now 5 1/2 mths old). So, what do you do when someone brings you an unexpected gift, you're 30 minutes from the nearest store that sells any sort of baby gift, gas is $4/gal, and you have a bag full of yarn and a crochet hook? You make a gift! Here is what I came up with:

I made the two wash cloths with Bernat's Baby Coordinates, and my grandmother came up with the 'packaging' of them (inspired by napkins in a napkin ring). We happened to have a few basic stamp supplies with us, so I stamped the little tag which says 'A little something just for you.'

After completing the gift, I made this purple wash cloth. I completed the pink one this morning.

I still didn't work on my major UFO (unfinished object). I'm determined to work on it again, and I'll be posting pictures on the progress. Here's a hint: it's a braided afghan. It's a little bigger than I anticipated it would be, so it's quite intimidating.

I'm also determined to work on, and finish, my quilt. I'll be pressing the fabric (again) in the next few days. My cutter is at mom's house though, but I'll pick it up on Friday. After I cut the fabric and sew my backing, I'll take it all back over to mom's to baste it. I got this spray on basting stuff, and mom and dad have a big, open floor where I can lay everything out to spray and pin it. I'll then attempt to machine quilt it myself. We'll see how that goes!

Vacation here we come!

My family and I will be on vacation for the next week, so you won't find me around here. I do hope to work on lots of projects while we're away, so I hope I have some things to share when I return.

Until then, check this out - it's a weaved hot pad! I found the pattern on Ravelry - isn't it cool? Right now, due to copyright, this hot pad is not for sale. If there is an update to this status, I'll definitely let you know!

I'll be back next week with updates!

Edited 8/2 to add: These hot pads are now for sale! Thanks to Kimberly from Ravelry for sharing her pattern!

Washcloth

Today I finished off the washcloth I began on Saturday. I really could have finished it last night, if I would have taken the time to find my scissors. It worked up so easily, and I will definitely make more. I've already begun another washcloth, but it's another pattern. This one is a free pattern from Lion Brand Yarn. What a cute hostess gift a set of these would be. I'm planning on making a baby set (or several sets), and giving them in a bath themed baby gift basket(s).

Here it is:

It is about 8 in x 8in, but can be made any size needed. Here is a picture, trying to show the bumpy texture of the shells:

The yarn I used is Baby Bee (color is Iris), and is it great for this purpose - it is just so incredibly soft, and I can't wait to use mine!

Want one? More than one? Let me know!

My Opinion Matters

Those who know me know that I definitely have an opinion - about almost everything. There is nothing I love more than sharing my thoughts about things I try - remember the whole wheat spaghetti?

The idea of starting a blog all started with Black Belt Mama. She had me dying of laughter time and again as she shared thoughts of her life. One day, I saw an IZEA ad on her site and decided to explore. I then stumbled upon PayPerPost, where I could get paid to share my opinions with you. How cool is that? It sounded great to me, so here I go! What will I buy with my extra money you ask? More yarn, scrapbook stickers, and paper of course! Either that or gas to actually get to the store. :)

PayPerPost.com spells it all out for you (for people like me). They walk you through getting your blog set up and ready for posts, and the help center is always there for you when you need it. I should know - I've been there several times so far. The site also has cool blog tools I plan to explore. There are also lots and lots of forums where you can pretty much find out anything you need to know about PPP. I look forward to learning more and more as I go along. I seem to learn by doing something, and learning from my ooops.

From now on, you will find my opinion once in a while about products, services, or just good-to-know information. I look forward to sharing with you! Please feel free to comment and leave your opinion as we go!

To market, to market, to buy a fat pig...

...Home again, home again, jiggety-jig.

My most recent creation is a market bag! Here it is!

The bag is larget than I thought it would be, and it holds a nice amount. There are four skeins of yarn in the bag below, and there is still room for plenty more.

It is made of self-striping yarn, which is why all of the stripes are not 'perfect.' For my next one, I will use a solid color. This bag worked up quite quickly, and it was nice to see a finished product so soon.

My bag made its debut today - not at the market, but at the pool. The strap is the perfect length to hang on the stroller handle, so in went the goodies.

Whether you're going green with your grocery shopping, or just want a good way to tote things, this is a great option.

Let me know if you want one!

Whole Wheat Spaghetti

Another project in life is to eat a little healthier. A while ago, on a whim, I bought whole wheat spaghetti noodles. They've sat in my pantry ever since, eyeing me. Every time I fix spaghetti, they called my name, but I was concerned about my husband's reaction to what I thought would be 'grainy' pasta. Last week was spaghetti night again, and I didn't have enough 'normal' noodles to cook with, so I took a deep breath, and grabbed the whole wheat.

As the noodles cooked, they smelled so good - like baking bread. My husband even asked what smelled so good. We sat down to eat, and both agreed this was the best spaghetti ever, and not grainy at all. I'm sold on the idea, and will now be serving whole wheat turkey spaghetti in my house.

The moral of the story? I should branch out more often and try new foods. I've been trying to vary our menu a little by trying new things, and I've been thrilled with the results - so has my husband. He's happy not to eat the same things all the time.

As I find new recipes I love, I'll share them with you.

In queue

I really need to work on a white baby afghan to give as a gift. Maybe instead of the usual brick stitch I do for gifts, I'll try either a 12 point, or a 5 point star afghan. We'll see! I'm heading out on vacation in a couple weeks, and maybe I can get some (or a lot) of crocheting done then.

Currently, I'm working on finishing my Market Bag. I usually don't have this much trouble with counting my stitches, but for some reason, my rows don't match up with the pattern. Tonight, I'm resorting to drawing a diagram - maybe that will help. I think a bowl of ice cream may help more though.

Here fishy fishy fishy

I saw this pattern on Dishcloth Corner and thought 'what a cute wash cloth that is!' I had some Red Heart Kids variegated yarn (Crayon) from an old abandoned project, so I thought I'd see what it would look like as a fish. Needless to say, it's colorful. I may try a different color next time. Here it is. I left the trim off.

Want one? Let me know. It can be made with any color yarn (cute as part of a baby bath gift basket), and takes a very short time to make. It is 9 1/2 inches nose to tail. I started, and of course finished this, in just a couple hours. Woohoo! My turnaround time for projects is getting a little quicker. Now, as for that afghan I started about 3 years ago, well, that's another story. :)

I may add an eye and a smiley face to Mr. Fish to make him friendlier.

Busy Day

Hi again! I've had a productive day, and wanted to share. I completed the yellow brick stitch afghan. It's completed size is appx 40 in x 36 in. It's a little larger than I usually make -I got carried away :) This is the same stitch as the pink afghan posted earlier.

I also completed a little tiny hat on a small round knitting loom. It is to be donated to the hospital for a tee tiny little baby. It was the first hat I've made on this particular loom, so I was interested to see exactly how small the hat would be. I've put it on a large lemon to show the size.

Have a happy Wednesday!

Noah and Friends

Just a couple months ago, I completed, and am now enjoying, another project. Here it is:

It took me 6 years, yes, years, to cross stitch this, and I will never ever ever do another. I love it though! After I completed it, it sat folded in my sewing box for several years. When my baby came along, I finally framed it myself to hang in her nursery. I thought it turned out nicely considering I didn't have it framed professionally!