A Square a Day in May

I will be participating in a fun AND challenging crochet project for the month of May. It’s called A Square a Day in May from a great blog called Hooked on Handmade. Basically, everyday in May you get to crochet a different granny square. I’m excited about this because I love learning and trying new crochet techniques. I have already checked out and downloaded most of the patterns. There are some really cool designs!

I do have to admit, at first I thought these would be little granny squares. Like if you want to make a lovely granny afghan. Nope I was wrong! These will be big and beautiful 12 x 12 inch squares with a lot of color and detail. So again it’s going to be quite the challenge mostly because I need to find the time in the day to sit down and make one. I’ve got a busy two year old and a hubby who need my love. Also a house to keep up with. You know, the usual stuff. But I am still excited to do this and I think I’ll be able to make it work.

Since May is just around the corner, I’ve been gathering up my supplies and figuring out what yarn I’m going to use. I decided on using Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice yarn. I have a lot on hand and when I need more, I won’t be spending a ton of money.

Here are the lovely colors I am using

And this little guy will be my hook. I’m using a 6 mm just because I tend to have pretty tight stitches. Also I absolutely love my bamboo handle hooks! I only have a couple sizes and the 6 mm has always been a good one for me.

So what do you think? Does this sound like something you want to try?

Well then hop over to Hooked on Handmade and get all the details! She has everything laid out along with the patterns for each day of the month.

A Square a Day in May!

I think I am going to get a head start on my first square since the little one is heading to bed

 

Have a great night everyone and happy hooking!

Bunny Hat

For Easter I made Hailey a little bunny hat just for fun. I like everything about it except the ears not staying up very well. But I was reminded that real bunnies have floppy ears anyway!

I wish she would have kept it on longer but you take what you can get with a two year old

 

Hailey also liked her Easter basket I make her. It’s not big but that just helped me make sure I didn’t over do it with little toys!

I hope everyone had a great Easter! We had a nice and laid back day. We ended it by going to this beautiful park in our area.

Hailey and mama

My best buddy Katie is visiting for a couple days. We’re having fun crocheting, dancing to Just Dance on Wii, eating tasty food, and drinking great coffee!

We plan on making a couple stops at Caribou Coffee, which is our absplute favorite.

I get the Vanilla Cooler with oreo mixed in

Have a great Wednesday everyone!

A little secret

Isn’t it amazing what Photoshop can do? Well when I take pictures of things to put in my Etsy shop, I like the pictures to be nice. So they’re edited pretty good. I remove the little things that don’t belong

For instance…My tattoo!

Before

After

I just assumed people would think that looked bad in a picture for a cute fat birdie.

 

If you’re wondering about my weekend of crochet, it was great! I got a couple orders from the shop so I had to work on those and put my personal projects aside. I will show you some of the things I was able to make.

In other exciting crochet news, I got this crochet book this week in the mail and I’m so excited! The patterns are just adorable. I can’t wait to try some of them

Little Crochet by Linda Permann

Apparently this book is a big deal right now. I just got it because I thought it looked great. Now when I look on Twitter, all the crochet folks are talking about it. I can see why though. Again the patterns are just adorable! And the price on Amazon.com is decent. I highly recommend it.

 

It’s been busy this week at our house getting back into the swing of things. Hailey has been adjusting and we have been doing some other family stuff. I promise I will share some of my projects soon.

Thanks for stopping by!

Easter Basket

Hailey’s Easter basket is finished! I love the colors and how soft it is. It worked up really fast and was easy to do.

I used Lion Brand Baby First yarn in colors Pixie Dust and Fairy Tale. I also used a strand of Lion Brand Baby Wool in the color Coral. You hold all three strands of yarn together when you make the basket, which makes it nice and steardy. It’s all done with single crochets.

The Baby First yarn is one of my favorite yarns. It’s a little bulky and really soft. It’s 55% acrylic and 45% cotton. I also use it to make my Fat Birdies. I plan on using it to make a baby blanket for my friend’s baby girl due this August.

 

Right now it’s being used as a little bed for Hailey’s fat birdie. For Easter it will be filled with some goodies for Hailey to enjoy

 

You can get the pattern at www.lionbrand.com if you want to try it yourself!

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend. You all know what I’ll be doing

** Hey if you get a chance, head over to my blogger buddy Jen’s blog. She is doing a giveaway for any hat in my Etsy shop until Tuesday! **

A Girl in Pearls & A Boy with Toys

To-Do List

I am so excited! I have the house to myself tomorrow through Sunday and guess what I’ll be doing?

Crocheting the day weekend away!

We will be getting some pretty blah weather here so it gives me an excuse to stay inside. Ok I will be running some errands here and there. Anyway!

Here is my To-Do list for the weekend. It may seem like a lot but hey, I’ve got time.

It’s a lot of new stuff I haven’t made before, which is my favorite thing to do.

The motivation and excitement is just running through me! I don’t know where to start! Well I think I will start with the projects that need to be finished so those stop lingering in my project stash.

I am also excited to start my online knitting course I signed up for called Knit Lab by Stefanie Japel. I won’t spend a lot of time doing it this weekend but I at least want to get started. That’s what’s great about it though, I can go at my own pace.

Just so I don’t leave you with my to-do list being the only picture in this post, here are the hats I made for my friend’s mom. My friend’s baby girl is due in August and her mom wanted to give these to her first granddaughter.

 

I love the colors she picked out!

Well that’s all folks. I’ll hopefully be sharing my finished projects through out the weekend.

 

Oh and also, I want to say welcome and thank you to all of my followers! Thank you everyone for all the sweet comments. I may have to make a trip to Michael's this weekend and grab some crochet goodies for a giveaway! What do you think?

If you wanted a crochet themed giveaway, what type of things would you like to see?

 

{ W.I.P Wednesday }

Here is my Work In Progress project right now

I am making a really cute and soft Easter basket for Hailey. I might give it to someone as a gift if I have enough yarn to make another. It’s a really quick project!

I just have one more row then the handle and I’m done.

Yes my yarn looks like a mess

When I’m done I will share all the details about the yarn and all that. It’s so cute!

I also have some hats I am making for a friend that I will need to finish up by tomorrow. What I’m really excited about is this weekend I get the house to myself which means, major crochet time! I am so excited. I have a huge list of projects I want to do. I can’t wait to share them all!

 Link up if you want to share your W.I.P. projects

Monkey Business

For my nephew’s birthday, he requested a sock monkey hat. So I got on the internet to hunt down a pattern. I think I found the perfect one!

I just love the way it turned out. I will admit it was a lot of work. The hat part was fine but the extra stuff like the mouth, eyes, ears and braids were very time consuming. They had to be lined up right and sewn on securely.

So here he is! I can’t wait for my nephew to see it.

I seriously think the yarn used in this should be called “Sock Monkey”. It’s perfect!

I knew it would look way better if someone was wearing it, so I put it on my little model. It was big on her because it’s a child size hat. I think she still looked cute!

I have a confession to make… the buttons are from a pair of my pants. I couldn’t find any matching buttons in my stash! I didn’t want to wait until I went to the store so I found a pair of pants and …snip snip… I’ve got monkey eyes.

If I have the strength, I might end up making one of these for Miss Hailey with pink instead of red yarn. That’s a big IF!

{ W.I.P Wednesday }

Here are my Work In Progress projects right now!

First I am working on this beautiful Flower Garland from ~sarahndipities~

I have made the flowers and now I just need to do the chain and I’m done. I still don’t know where I’ll be hanging it but I’m still excited!

I  have to confess something… this is the first time I have used Caron Simply Soft Yarn… and I love it! I’m not sure why I waited so long. Probably because I didn’t have the right project. Either way, I am going to try to use it more often. I love how soft and shimmery it is. The color variety is amazing too!

I chose some Spring colors for now but I plan on going back for even brighter colors

I am also working on more Spring Coasters. These are for my mama! She picked a pale blue and yellow to match her colors in her living room. I just love making these!

That’s all for now!

 Link up if you want to share you W.I.P. projects

Also check out my finished Sock Monkey Hat!

Monkey Business

Your knitting and crochet time- 2KCBWDAY7

Your knitting and crochet time

Write about your typical crafting time. When it is that you are likely to craft – alone or in more social environments, when watching TV or whilst taking bus journeys. What items do you like to surround yourself with whilst you twirl your hook like a majorette’s baton or work those needles like a skilled set of samurai swords. Do you always have snacks to hand, or are you a strictly ‘no crumbs near my yarn!’ kind of knitter.

Thinking about my time to crochet, it’s very inconsistent. I try to get some “hooky time” in almost everyday. The days I don’t, I go to bed feeling kind of bummed.

I try to get in crocheting in during the day maybe when my daughter is playing or eating lunch. I get the most crocheting done while she is napping. Oh those two to three hours for me are very precious. I never take advantage of nap time! I also do crocheting at night and on the weekends while watching a show on TV. It’s hard when I have to stop but I take what I can get.

Source

When I am getting myself ready to crochet, I like to have everything I will need around me. I usually have a glass of water, my bag of yarn, the pattern I am working on, my laptop and all my other crochet accessories. What really helps inspire and motivate me are my Knit and Crochet DVDs. Watching those makes me even more exited to get going on a project. Oh I also will receive special hugs and kisses from my little one if she is playing by me.

My favorite time to crochet would definitely be in the morning with a nice hot cup of coffee. That my friends is bliss.

Even though I would LOVE to be able to crochet all day, I am always content and thankful for the time I do have.