There's More Where That Came From

My friend Allison was sweet enough to bring her digital camera over and take some pics for me There may have been a bribe of my husband's infamous smoked steaks involved, but let's not look a gift horse in the mouth, huh? Anyway, we took picks of all the WIPs I had laying about. Unfortunately, my stepdaughters took their ponchos home on Sunday, presumably to wear to school on Tuesday when they went back from spring break. At least I'd like to think so. The younger girls' hats were on my nightstand, so we took pics of those instead.



Delaynie's Hat




Kassity's Hat

(Please pardon the use of a lamp as a hat stand.) I got the pattern here at Crochet Me. I really like Chelle's designs, and her blog is cool, too. Ambrielle and Kiera's hats are the same, but I used more sophisticated colors to match their ponchos and Bernat Boa to make them "cool" and "teenage".

Pattern Specs:

Kassi and Laynie's Easter Ruffle Hats
Pattern: Ruffle Hat by Chelle Grissom, issue of Crochet Me
Yarn: Leftover Red Heart Supersaver
Patons ChaCha in Vegas
Hook: For Kassi's Toddler size, I used an H-8
For Laynie's Infant size, I used a G-7
I really like the hats, in all sizes, and they were super easy and very quick. It took me about a day and a half for each hat, and I am pretty busy!


Due to time constraints (AKA hubby says it's time to go to bed) I will continue to post the picture Allison and I took. So.....there's more where that came from!

Swatch, Bar Shawl

Overall, I had a pretty crappy day today. I won't share all of the ugly details, except to say that the last straw was discovering holes around the pockets of my favorite (and still fairly new) pair of jeans, which I happened to be wearing at the time. I needed some serious relaxation by the time the girls went to Grandma's house around 3. I used most of this afternoon to just that. This is what my ribbing swatch looks like now as a result:


I think it looks pretty darn good! I know, I know, there are some stitches that need tightening, and I probably screwed it up SOMEwhere, but I'm not in the mood to be picky about it tonight. I've been able to practice several techniques with this one, including ribbing, color-changes, and lots of ripping back. Unfortunately, it's not going to be done in time to send to Major Knitter for her Warm Up America project, so I'm not sure what I'll do with the swatch when it's done.
I also worked on my shawl, which I've dubbed the Bar Shawl. It's almost 2 feet from bottom center point to top center now. Pictures to come.

A Great Easter

The Easter bunny paid a visit to our house in a big way. My daughters got 3 (yes, count em, 3) baskets apiece, and my stepdaughters loved their ponchos and hats. I'm so relieved that I finished everything on time. It was very close (lock myself in the bedroom and "chat with the Easter Bunny" for two hours yesterday morning kind of close.)
I started a new project on Thursday night while watching the Illinois bball game at the bar with hubby and a friend. They both were a little embarrassed by me, I think, but I really don't mind, I got a lot accomplished! The new WIP is my interpretation of the Jessica Simpson shawl. It's made with a P hook and a single strand of Bernat Soft Boucle in a creamy yellow-tan, from the bottom up. I think I'm already about halfway done, and it's going to be just lovely.
This evening I cast on for another practice knitting swatch:


This is my first attempt at ribbing. I think these first five rows are going well, although I must've frogged eight different times before I finally got it right. My recent purchase of Debbie Stoller's "Stitch and Bitch" has me all inspired and hyped to practice my knitting. I'm really enjoying looking through the book and the directions are SO easy to understand, most likely due to the fact that they're on the casual side. Although I love the learn-to-knit book Dewey gave me for Christmas, I'll probably refer to Stitch and Bitch so much more.

Proud to Be a Crocheter!

I had a somewhat awful but also good (does that even make sense?) experience yesterday at work. One of the women, who is older and I chat with everyday, is trying to learn to crochet. I frequently come in and talk to her about my latest projects or yarn-buying escapades. I told her about the hats I've been working on and she asked to see them. I brought them in out of my car later and got the usual comments ("Amanda's talkin about yarn again, watch out!" etc.) Those didn't bother me. Then one of the waitresses says, in a very obnoxious tone, "OMG, you're like, addicted to YARN!?" Followed by obnoxious laughter.
I was upset by her words at first. Defensive, even. But them I realized, who cares if people think I'm crazy? Yes, I'm addicted to yarn, and I like it that way. I get an immense amount of enjoyment out of my crafts, and also from this great knit blogging community that I've discovered. So what if like yarn? I'm proud to be a crocheter, a knitter, and a blogger!
And by the way, everyone oohed and aahed over the hats, including the waitress who laughed at me. So there!

Amby's Poncho, SnB

I've had some requests for pictures of Ambrielle's poncho. Since I don't have pics of it on her yet, I scanned it so you can see what the fabric looks like. The pink color is actually off a little bit, it's actually TLC Heathers in a very soft pink. The poncho is made of two rectangles, which were very quick to crochet. Sewing in all the ends was killer. Have I mentioned that I hate finishing?


Amby's Poncho

SnB tonight was very fun. It was just the 3 of us again, but we watched Shall We Dance and ate pizza to celebrate Jackie's birthday. I almost completed Kassity and Delaynie's hats. I'm using the Crochet Me pattern for their hats also, they're so cute and work up really fast. I crocheted so much my hands hurt!

Inspiration Found!

Blanket Inspiration
Originally uploaded by hookinmama.

I've found inspiration for Sami and Rob's wedding afghan. I'd like to do something similar to this comforter that I found in this week's Famous Barr flyer. I only have 3 colors of Homespun though, so I'll either have to do some adjusting or go out and buy more yarn. Wouldn't that be a shame? LOL! The colors I have now are Mediterranean, Rococo, and Deco. Check out this page at Lion Brand to see them.

St. Paddy's Day Pins

Paddysday Pins
Originally uploaded by hookinmama.

I made 15 of these pins for some friends and coworkers. Everyone must have liked them, because they were gone pretty quickly (I barely held on to one for myself!) I used some Red Heart that my husband so generously offered to go buy to make them with, so now I have some green yarn to add to my stash. Bonus!

Poncho Sketch

Poncho Sketch
Originally uploaded by hookinmama.

Here is my sketch of Ambrielle's poncho. It is done in TLC Heathers and Essentials, and I'm seaming it up right now. I really, really like it, and it's one of the first things I sketched out (as you can see, I'm not the best at drawing).

I'm So Excited!

...and I just can't hide it.....
And that's not all! I've been trying to catch some Lion Brand Homespun on sale for months (for a wedding present for two good friends). I've faithfully checked the Sunday paper for the Hobby Lobby and Village Craft ads to watch for it. Then on Wednesday an email came through one of my groups that JoAnn's had it on sale for $3.69 a skein. Much to my delight, JoAnn's online sale bill was advertising it for $3.39. Jackpot! I never even thought to look there. I picked up 8 rolls in 3 different colors, but I still don't know exactly what I want to do with it. Suggestions are welcome!

Much Accomplished!

I have been very busy over the weekend. I started and almost finished the Red Heart Capelet for Kiera and made several shamrock pins for St. Paddy's Day. http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/lill_mama83/detail?.dir=684f&.dnm=98e9.jpg&.src=ph">.
Unfortunately, I really don't know how to post my photos on here, so for now you can see them at my Yahoo photo album. I also finished Ambrielle's hat (the one from Crochet Me). It's very cute, and all my friends want one too. Unfortunately, no photo of that yet.
If anyone knows anything about html and would be willing to help me with my photo problem I would appreciate it very much. I want everyone to be able to see the things I'm telling you about!

Had to Share This One!

The link for this Boobie Pillow came through the CrochetTalk group today, and I thought it was too hilarious to keep to myself. Enjoy!

What A Wonderful Day

The weather here today was absolutely gorgeous, 65 or so and SUNNY. I spent the morning cleaning while the hubbie was at work, took and walk with the girls and a friend, and then barbecued with a couple of other friends and their kids. I sat on the deck, worked on a WUA square, and basked in the sunshine while the kids played.
After supper I finished Ambrielle's poncho, except for the finishing that is. It still needs to be sewn together and have some loose ends tucked in. I'll just have to buckle down and do it, even though I hate finishing.
Can't wait until SnB on Tuesday night. We have a solid group of 3 that gets together at my house every Tuesday, but this week we have someone new who wants to learn. She's going to stop by to see what we're all about. It would be great if I could get more people in this little town to pick a hook or some needles and give our craft a chance!

Wonderful Weekend Ahead

Ah, the weekend is finally here! I'm excited to finally be able to sit at home for awhile and get some REAL work done. After my 7 hour shift tonight, I will have 24 blissful hours of crocheting and knitting ahead of me. Tomorrow is my first day off in almost two weeks and I plan to make the most of it.
My main goal is to finish Ambrielle's poncho so that I can start on Kiera's next week. I have 3 more rows of V-Stitch and a 4 round border left to go, and then I can sew the two pieces together and be done. I'm pretty proud of this one, it's coming along really well.
To break up the monotony, I'm practicing knitting new stitches by making squares to send to Major Knitter for her Warm Up America blankets. What better way to practice, help someone in need, and maybe win some great yarn all at the same time? I want to have at least 3 swatches to send to her, but Easter is fast approaching and I need to get things finished for that first. So much to do and not enough time off.

Busy on a Date

My dear, sweet husband took me out on a "date" to a Mexican restaurant. The girls were at Grandma's, the food was excellent, and it was nice to have some quiet time to ourselves. When we got back I continued to work on the oldest stepdaughter's poncho. She will be recieving it in place of an Easter basket, and her younger sister will be getting one also. They were quite upset that they didn't get ponchos for Christmas. For the younger, I think I'm going to make The Capelet from Coats + Clark. I'll probably just adjust my hook size to make it a little smaller than the smallest size (she's 11), and I have two very pretty shades of blue TLC Heathers that I've been saving for it. I also want to make the Ruffle Brimmed Granny Style Skull Cap from Crochet Me for each to match the ponchos. I already have some Bernat Boa and Patons Cha Cha picked out for those. And I need to think of something handmade to put in each of MY little one's baskets also. Sheesh, that's alot to get done in a little over three weeks. I better get to work!