Busy, Busy!

I finished both afghans!

I LOVE how it turned out and I really love the Jiffy yarn--so soft. I ended up doing 3 rows of 4 and it is the perfect size for a car seat or stroller blanket. I single crocheted the squares together on the back w/chocolate and added a chocolate trim. It is very soft and I can't wait to give it to my friend this weekend.

This turned out well, but next time I do a granny square, I will use the same yarn throughout. I will also single crochet the squares together instead of sewing because it looks prettier. The lavender yarn looks gorgeous, but it was NOT fun to work with it. I'm finding that I really prefer working with thick and chunky yarns to thinner, silkier yarns. I'm debating about whipping up another 20 squares for it--adding a third row to each side so it is symmetrical. We'll see if Cassie parts with it long enough for me to do that!

I was going to start a striped afghan for Jamie using all the leftover yarns from my previous six afghans, but a friend sent me an intriguing email this morning and I may try my hand at a few granny square stool covers first. I also taught myself to knit on Monday and am itching to knit up a scarf. And maybe a fun fur bolero for Cassie...

My Mom was right thought. Knitting is WAY harder than crochet. I can knit and purl--anything other than that (cables, slip stitches) is beyond me right now. So I'm going to start small and see where it takes me...

It is the first time since February that I haven't had a crochet project in the works (six afghans since February), so I'm off to scrub toilets and do some hard-core cleaning!

My newest project

I'm working on another baby blanket for another pregnant friend, I pulled the colors off her BRU registry. It should coordinate well w/her stroller. I modified a pattern found on the Lion Brand Yarn website. I'm using Jiffy yarn and an M hook and doing a 16 square afghan instead of 9 squares. Time permitting, I will also add a chocolate brown border around the whole thing. It is coming together quickly (averaging) 4 squares a day and I love the Jiffy yarn! It is so soft and cuddly.

Changing Direction

I crocheted these four squares over the last 24 hours. Each large square is approximately the size of four small squares. I've decided that Cassie's new blankey is going to have these four squares in the center, bordered by 12 small squares on top and bottom (3 rows of 4) and 20 small squares on either side (2 rows of 20). 44 more small squares to go--hopefully I'll be finished by my bible study on Wednesday! The ladies in my class are always curious to see what new project I'm working on while we chat. As with the small squares, the purple-bordered squares are a bit smaller than the white-bordered squares due to a variance in the yarn size. It seems to be working out alright during piecing because I can stretch them a bit whilst I sew them together. I'm using I Love this Yarn in white, Lion Brand's Babysoft in Pistachio for the green, and Bernat Softee Baby in Lilac for the purple. The Softee baby is very soft and the color is gorgeous, but the yarn itself unravels easily. The Babysoft is VERY thin--I think I will double it the next time I use it. The I Love this Yarn is VERY user friendly and crochets up to an almost terry cloth feel. It is definitely the most user-friendly of the bunch for a beginner like me. And even though this is my fifth afghan since February, I think of myself as a beginner! I am looking for new challenges though--hence the change to Cassie's blanket. It mixed things up a little and I think the finished result will be more interesting than 80 little squares sewn together!

I'm already plotting my next few projects. I'm going to make this for my niece's bday in July: http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/90364AD.html?noImages= although I'm going to substitute duckie (yellow) for the goldfish (red). It will be a pretty piece for her bedroom.

I'm also going to do something similar to this in blue for a baby shower coming up in the next few weeks: http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/70527AD.html?noImages=

Right now it's time to walk the kids & dog--always a little easier when I add ice cream to the mix!

My craft blog

Since I've gotten all crafty, I decided to dedicate a blog just to my creations.

This is Hadley's dress. Hadley is expected on 6/30. It is a simple pillowcase dress with elastic in the neckline & ribbon trim. I made three dresses like this--1 for my niece Hayden, 1 for Hadley, and 1 for Cassie.

This is a tropical pillowcase dress for Cassie.

I used pre-smocked fabric for this dress.

Another pillowcase dress for Cassie.

My first pillowcase dress--Cassie picked out the fabric. I also made my niece Sarah a simple circle skirt and a toddler-sized pillowcase for Cassie.

My first afghan. Crocheted with an S hook & holding 3 strands of yarn throughout. It is a very simple single crochet pattern, I SC through the top loop only for the ridged design.

My second afghan, same as the first but toddler-sized, instead of baby-sized.

My third afghan, same pattern as the first two, just much larger for Chase!

Afghan #4--this is a gift for a friend. It is a simple, single granny square. I used a K hook. This afghan inspired the blog title because I missed an entire cluster on a corner midway through and didn't discover it for quite a while. Hope my friend likes it...

Next up--a proper granny square afghan for Cassie, this time with a J hook and very different yarns in each color. I modified a pattern at LionBrand.com and love how the green looks like leaves framing the "flowers" in the center! The pattern calls for 56 squares (8 rows of 7), but I will probably make 64 (8 rows of 8) or 72 (9 rows of 8). Stay tuned for my progress!