A Few FO's

Here are some things I've finished in the last few days:

More projects to come this week!

Boy Beanie

I finished the beanie for my nephew:

Took some trial and error with the pattern, as the first time I tried it, I used a size larger hook.. big mistake.... it came out huge! So I re-did it with a size "I" hook and did not work in the back loops and it worked out much better. This one should fit his head now. Off to watch American Idol!

What NOT to crochet

I came across this site and got my laugh(s) for the day. You're sure to find something to make you chuckle in here!

I have not started my nephew's beanie yet, got sidetracked because I forgot I needed to make some hair scrunchies for my SIL. If it isn't one thing, it's another! So now that those are done, I need to go put them in the mail and run errands today. Then will start on the beanie. Hope everyone has a great day :)

Baby Blanket Ta-Dah

I finished the baby blanket.... here it is:

I did the picot edging called for in the pattern, but made the picot a little bigger so it stood out more. I really like this jacquard yarn, will try some other projects with it. Now I need to make a beanie for my nephew, then maybe back to my baby hats. So many projects, so little time!

Hot Steamin' Bowl of Taco Soup Goodness

I made Pammy Sue's  Taco Soup today... oh my goodness, is it delicious!!

The only changes I made were to omit the green peppers (cuz I hate them) and I added another can of beef broth, as my hubby likes his soup really soupy! You really have to try this, it is yummy! On another note, I decided to start over again on the baby blanket... yes, the saga continues! My sister is taking the "Ugh" blanket off my hands, and I have started this one. It is a very easy V-stitch pattern I got off of Lion Brand's website. I needed something I could work up fast, and this looked like it would fit the bill. I have never tried this Bernat Jacquard yarn before, but I love how it does the self-striping to make it look like lazy me changed yarn every row... ha ha!  My plan is to have it done by the end of the weekend. Enjoy the rest of yours :)

I Got an Award!!

Molly over at Crocheting my Best With my Worsted gave me a lovely award today... the Sunshine Award!! She passed it on to 12 people and I was one of them. I am thrilled and honored, Molly, thank you so much! Here is how the award works:

The Sunshine Blog Award is awarded to bloggers whose positivity and creativity inspire others in the blog world. The rules for accepting the award are:

1. Put the logo on your blog or within your post.

2. Pass the award to 12 bloggers.

3. Link the nominees within your post.

4. Let them know they received this award by commenting on their blog.

5. Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

Here, in no particular order, are my 12 picks:

1. Inga Helene at Arctic Strawberries
2.  Ghost at Ghost's Yarn Tales
3. Vaughnde at Ramblings of a Crocheting and DigiScrapping Nana
4. Bev at Bevs Journeyings
5. Kellie at Eclectic Chica
6. Keri at Greyt Balls of Yarn
7. Karin at Made by K
8. Teresa at Diddle Daddle Designs
9. Bev at One Yarn After Another
10. Barbara at Moore Whimsies
11. Louise at Gephart836
12. Pammy Sue at Scotty's Place

To all 12 of you, please know that your blogs inspire me each and every day to be more creative. 

Friday Flowers

Since a good portion of the country is experiencing cold and snow, thought I would share with you some pictures from my backyard. These are from last year; I have some flowers almost ready to bloom here in the next week or so! I am so lucky to live in sunny Arizona, where it has been in the low 70's all this week! Hope you enjoy these:

6 Things

I'm playing along with Pammy Sue over at Scotty's Place and telling you 6 things about me that you didn't know. Mine are pretty weird too! Here goes:

1. If I rub up against someone and they have rough, scaly elbows, it really grosses me out. Yuck!   (It's called lotion people, use it!)

2. I have really stubby fingers and toes... I blame it on the fact that I was born 2 months premature, but that may have nothing to do with it!

3. I loathe broccoli, yet love cream of broccoli soup.  Go figure.

4. I refuse to drink soda out of a can. It must be in a glass or cup with lots of ice. If there is no ice available, then I won't drink it!

5. I hate folding socks. Really, really hate it. I will let them sit there for at least a week or more before I fold them.  Don't know why.

6. I love ordering magazines and catalogs, but I don't even read half of them. I can't throw them away either...what if there's something in there I might need one day???? 

There ya go, my 6 things.. told you they were gonna be weird!! Please let me know in the Comments if you're playing so I can check yours out too.

Ugh!

I finished the baby blanket today... and I really don't like it. It's one of those projects where I just kind of look at it and go "ugh." I guess I like the more traditional-looking baby blankets. I'm trying to decide if it's too late to start another one.

For once I finished a project in the daytime so I was able to take pictures outside in the sun:

Please share your honest opinion... trust me, you won't hurt my feelings! I would really appreciate any feedback you can give me.

Purses and Bags and Totes ... Oh My!!

Recently I decided I wanted to try to crochet a purse, bag or tote for myself, so I ordered some books from Amazon. All three of them arrived today! Here they are:

Many thanks to Teresa of Diddle Daddle Designs for telling me about the 100 Purses book.

and

Yes, I know it's called "Hip Knits" but it has some neat crochet patterns in it.

Here is one:

Neat looking Granny Square Tote!

From the Hooked Bags book I already spied this one:

and this one:

From the 100 Bags book, check these out:

Guess you know what my next project(s) will be!!

I sent my sister a picture of her finished lapghan and she really liked it.. well, her exact words were "Oh my its bee-u-tee-ful, I love it!!" 

Off to watch American Idol .... will work on the baby blanket while I watch!

A Monday Ta-Dah!

I finished my sister's lapghan today. I was debating about doing the edging, but I'm glad I did.....it really finished it off nicely. Are you ready for the Ta-Dah???? Okay, here it is:

Some closer shots:

and

Now I must admit that this is not a true ripple afghan pattern a la Lucy, as you can see by the holes (no increasing or decreasing). So I guess I kinda cheated a little!  But I will definitely try Lucy's ripple soon... I even have some yarn in my stash that will be perfect for it.

I did not have any problems with this yarn, and now I can see why they call it I Love This Yarn! I will be making more projects with it in the future.

Now I'm going to go back to working on the baby blanket, hope to have it finished in the next few days.

Friday Stuff

I've been working on my sister's lapghan today... so far it's going pretty well. Will post pics of it soon so you can see my progress.

I have not forgotten my baby hats.. I have made 10 already this week! Here are a few more:

And here are the piles of 'em:

Remember the pink baby hat from the other day with the cute flower on it? Well, I decided to pretty it up even more:

I added a little flower button in the center of the flower... thought it gave it a nice touch. Was browsing at Michael's the other day and look what I found:

Cute, huh?

I am really enjoying making these hats, they are a lot of fun to do. Will have to start them up again after I finish my sister's lapghan and the baby blanket I started, as that baby is due the end of this month! I really need to try to be more disciplined and finish one project before I start another, but it is so hard to do!! There are just too many neat projects out there that catch my eye. I swear some days I wish I had more hands so I could crochet more than one thing at once... LOL!!!  Hope everyone has a great Valentine's weekend.

Busy Thursday!

Went to visit my in-laws today, they live about an hour and a half drive away. Had a good visit with them, then met my sister for dinner. She bought me a few things while she was at Hobby Lobby the other day. One is this book:

And since she wants me to crochet her a lapghan that she can use at work to stay warm, she chose this yarn:

The colors are just gorgeous. I have never used this yarn before (no Hobby Lobby stores in my town) so I am very anxious to try it.

I'm going to try my first ripple with it... wish me luck! I have admired them ever since I saw Lucy's at Attic 24, so it's time to jump in and try one.  

I made two more baby hats while visiting with the in-laws, will post more about that tomorrow. See you then!

Quick, Delicious Chocolate Recipe

I have quite the sweet tooth, and I especially love chocolate. I found this recipe a couple of years ago and thought I'd share it with you. No baking involved, and it's quick and easy!

Marbled Chocolate Treats

 8 1/2 Honey Maid Honey Grahams, broken in half (about 17 squares)
6 squares Baker's Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (or crunchy if you prefer)
3 squares Baker's Premium White Baking Chocolate (if you can't find this, you can always substitute white chocolate chips)

Line a 13 X 9 inch pan with foil, with the ends of the foil extending over sides of pan. Arrange graham crackers on bottom of pan, cutting as needed to completely cover bottom of pan. Set aside.

Microwave the semi-sweet chocolate and peanut butter in medium microwaveable bowl on High 1 1/2 to 2 minutes or until chocolate is completely melted when stirred, stirring every 30 seconds. Stir until well blended, then pour over graham crackers. Spread with spatula to cover completely.

Repeat microwave melting steps with the white chocolate. Drop spoonfuls of the white chocolate over the chocolate-covered graham crackers. Immediately cut through the chocolate mixtures with a knife several times for a tiger-stripe effect.

Refrigerate at least 1 hour or until firm. Use foil handles to remove dessert from pan. Peel off foil. Cut into bars. Store in tightly covered container in refrigerator.

Here is what they look like:

More Baby Hats

Got a few more baby hats done today... the pink one with the flower is my favorite so far. I've decided that crocheting baby hats is a lot like eating potato chips... you can't stop at just one!!!

Baby Stuff

I spent most of today cleaning the house and doing laundry (ugh!) and then decided I wanted a small crochet project to do (yes, I know, the baby blanket is calling my name!!) Anyway, I was reading through the blogs this morning and was really inspired by Karen at Karen's Crocheted Garden of Colors (you can find her in my blog list). Since retiring, Karen and her husband devote much of their time to knitting and crocheting various baby items for charity. They set a goal for themselves and last year they donated over 740 items!! So far this year they have already donated 225!! Pretty amazing if you ask me.

Since I am unemployed at the moment, I figured no time like the present to make some baby items for charity myself. I called a friend of mine who is a labor/delivery nurse and she said they always need baby hats, blankets, etc. at her hospital, so this week I will make some hats to donate there. I finished two tonight.. one is the cutest little preemie hat and the other one is a shell pattern that would work for a baby girl or boy. I plan on making more preemie as well as newborn sizes in various colors. I'll post more pics this week as I get them finished. Hope everyone has a great week.

Baby Blanket Update

I got some of the baby blanket done, as you can see from the photos. Like I said, it is not a traditional baby blanket. I'm using Red Heart Soft Yarn in Off White and Chocolate, and the edging will be in Mid Blue. The pattern calls for some crocheted flowers, but since it is for a boy, I won't add those!
I got the pattern from a show on PBS called "Knit and Crochet Today." Their website is here. If you look under Free Patterns, it is under Season 2, Show 202. You may have to sign up to get the free patterns. If you don't feel like signing up, let me know, and I'd be happy to get it to you.
I didn't think the Super Bowl was that exciting, and neither were the commercials! I kept switching over to watch the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet.... they sure were cute!
Hope everyone had a nice weekend.

Rainy Super Bowl Sunday

It is a rainy, dreary Super Bowl Sunday here in the desert. I love to stay inside on days like this. I'm sure I'll get lots of crocheting done today! I plan on watching the Super Bowl, but since my Cardinals are out, am mainly watching for the commercials.
I've started a new baby blanket, will post a picture of it later. It should go quickly, the body of it is mainly HDC and then you add a scalloped border. It is definitely not what I would call a "traditional" looking baby blanket, but I am into trying new things lately. As they say, variety is the spice of life!!

Happy Friday!!

As you can see, I love blogs! The majority of the blogs I follow are, of course, craft and crochet related. There is one, however, that I recently found that I wanted to share with you. It is called "A Year of Slow Cooking" and is the blog of a woman who decided to use her slow cooker/crockpot every day for a whole year! I must admit that I don't use mine near as often as I should, but she has inspired me to try some new recipes. The other night I made her "Chicken Enchilada Chili" and it was fabulous!!! She has a cookbook out now, which I definitely intend to check out next time I'm at the bookstore. Go check out her blog, I know you will be inspired to try some of her delectable dishes. Have a very Happy Friday :)

My Current WIP

What the heck is that you ask? A boat??? LOL! No, actually, it will eventually be a bag. I just started it and it is hard to work on for any length of time, as it requires 2 strands of yarn held together, so my hand hurts after awhile! I plan on adding different stripes of color, so we'll see how it turns out. This is my first attempt at making a bag, so I found an easy pattern I thought I could handle. I'll post more pics as I make progress on it.

My First Post!

Welcome to my little corner of the blogging world! I hope you enjoy your visit. My posts will be a litte of this and some of that, but mostly about crocheting.