Stashbuster #2

I'm still going to do Mini Monday projects, but as often as I can they'll be my Stashbuster projects. I'm still having trouble comprehending patterns; I can do them, but I make a lot of mistakes and have to frog a lot. And there are more and more patterns I just can't understand. This sounds crazy, but I'm wondering if the sinus infection messed up something in my brain. How would I explain that to a doctor? For now, I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that this problem goes away soon.

This is Stashbuster #2: The Sunset Slouchy Hat

I shouldn't take pictures of myself; I look cross-eyed!

It was a quick, fun project :-) I think I'll give it to Hope's horseback riding instructor; she was asking about one recently.

I made another 2 Ruffled Scarves.

These are shorter than the other ones I made-about 3 feet versus 5 feet. Better for us vertically challenged people :-)

I have my yarn and pattern picked for my Stashbuster #3. I'll be making the Granny Heart Bunting.

That's all on the crochet front. We've been up to our eyeballs in county fair preparation.

Securing the wiring on her gameboard

Making a tri-fold board on Healthy Eating

 Hope finished and turned in 13 projects for 4-H this weekend; they'll all be judged and displayed at the fair starting Friday. She still has 2 baked goods to make this week and turn in on Thursday.

Today is Tim's birthday so I'm off to take him to lunch and then make him a pumpkin pie, his favorite sweet treat.

Have a Marvelous Monday!

Thanks for reading.

Blessings :-)

Dishcloth a Day #23

I'm quite a bit behind on my Dishcloth a Day Challenge, but I'll catch up.This is the dishcloth pattern that Astri over at Apple Blossom Dreams came up with. It was super quick and easy to make. I didn't like my picot stitch border (hers looked great, though), so I took it off. I'd like to make another one with the stitches in the back loop to give it the ridged look like hers; I didn't read the pattern before I started it or I would have known to do that :-)

Dishcloth a Day #24

This is the Ball Stitch Dishcloth from Kristine over at Ambassador Crochet. It's nice and big with a great texture - perfect for washing dishes. I messed this one up, too, or I think I did; my stitch count didn't come out right and I had to improvise at the ends of the rows. I also ran out of cotton three rows short so I had to finish it a little smaller than the pattern calls for. I still like it :-)

Photo a Day Challenge February 1, 2013

Friday's prompt was Fork. I couldn't think of a way to take an interesting picture of an eating fork, so I took a picture of the Fork in the driveway leading to Hope's horseback riding lessons.

Photo a Day Challenge February 2, 2013

Saturday's prompt was Pattern. We had to go to Home Depot to buy wood to make a birdhouse. I really liked the pattern on this crown molding.

Photo a Day Challenge February 3, 2013

Yesterday's prompt was Something Beginning With "E". These are Hope's favorite Earrings; she's a big fan of animal print and peace signs. Typical pre-teen :-)

Photo a Day Challenge February 4, 2013

Today's prompt is Hope. How funny is that? So, of course, I had no choice but to take a picture of Hope. Doesn't she look thrilled?

Daily Inspiration

Mini Monday

Whew! I'm glad the weekend is over! It was great but very busy.

We had our local conference Saturday for the jewelry company I work for.

Some of the new Spring jewelry line

 It was a lot of fun but a very long day; we left the house at 7:30 am and didn't get home until 8 pm. I made my dishcloth and granny square and went to bed.

Sunday, after church, we had to buy parts to make gameboards for 4H. While Hope stayed with a friend for the day, Tim and I went to 3 Radio Shacks to get enough buzzers, light bulbs, battery packs, wire and batteries for 9 boards (that's how many kids we have in our club who are doing gameboards for the fair). After we found everything, we went to Michael's where I bought some cotton yarn. I love it when it's on sale for $1 each! 

Then we went to Ikea for a little while before coming home. I cooked and ate dinner, made my dishcloth, and went to bed.

So, here we are on Monday, and it's been nice and relaxing so far. Hope and I had school this morning. I made my dishcloth and am now working on my Stash-buster Project.

For my Mini Monday project this week, I want to make some scarves.

I have this yarn picked out for a Cascade Scarf from A Little Slice of Life.

This yarn is for a Ruffled Scarf. There's no written pattern, just a YouTube video from Maggie Weldon of Maggie's Crochet.

And this is for an A La Mode Boa Scarf from Crochet Dreamz. With the exception of the Cascade Scarf (which seems to take forever to make), these are quick scarves to crochet, so I should be able to get all three done this week.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend and a terrific Monday so far :-)

Dishcloth a Day #12

This is the Citrus Twist Dishcloth from The Good Life. It's a great pattern that works up quickly with a nice texture. Mine came out a little wonky, but I can fix that with a little blocking. I had trouble with the border; I can never seem to "single crochet evenly" down the side of anything. I'm hoping I get better with practice.

Dishcloth a Day #13

I really enjoyed making the Crocodile Scrub N Wipe Dishcloth from bestfreecrochet.com. I had never attempted the Crocodile Stitch before because it looked hard, but I found it to be pretty easy once I understood what "double crochet 4 times up the post of the next double crochet" meant. Blogger flipped my picture (again); the scales are the bottom of the dishcloth. It's meant to be folded in half; the scales do the scrubbing and the single crochets do the wiping. Neat, huh?

Dishcloth a Day #14

The SC 8 Point Round Dishcloth was fun to make today. It's a mini round ripple :-) I would advise using a stitch marker for the first couple rounds; I had a hard time seeing where each round began and ended because the single crochets don't have a lot of height.

Granny Square Saturday

I love the Spring Breeze Afghan Square from Priscilla's Crochet. I'm not sure why it looks crooked in the picture because it didn't come out that way. I made this one late on Saturday when I was really tired, and I wish I'd taken the time to make it multi-color. I think it would look like a flower square with the right color changes.

Photo a Day Challenge January 12, 2013

Saturday's prompt was Surprise. A tough one to capture. I took a picture of our new Spring jewelry catalog. Although it wasn't a surprise that we were getting it, it was a nice surprise to see a person modeling the jewelry on the cover. For all the years I've been a jewelry lady, our catalogs have always just had the jewelry on them.

Photo a Day Challenge January 13, 2013

Yesterday's prompt was Circle. I took a picture of my dinner (oops, cut off the corner; it doesn't look like a round plate anymore!). Yum, spaghetti and meatballs :-) I probably could have found a better picture while we were out and about, but I left my camera and prompt list at home. I have a camera on my phone, but not good Internet access. Live and learn.

Photo a Day Challenge January 14, 2013

Today's prompt is Yellow. This is Hope's cat, Oreo, laying claim to Sugar's yellow and white tug of war toy. (Sugar is Hope's dog.) Good thing Sugar was outside when I took this!

Daily Inspiration

Thanks for reading!

Blessings :-)

Sick again

Not me! The computer. Tim's been tinkering with it the last few days trying to make it work better. It keeps freezing up and it's slower than molasses. I've been terrible about responding to comments or making comments on other blogs because I don't have the patience to sit here for hours waiting for pages to load. That's terrible, I know.

Mini Monday

I'm almost done with the shawl, just two more rounds of the border. My CADD (crochet attention deficit disorder) set in and I put it down for a couple of days. 

I did start my new project for the week last night. 

It's the Ombre Basket pattern from Crochet in Color. I finished the bottom and two rows of the sides last night. It's murder on the arms and wrists working with 4 strands at once! But I love the way it looks. I don't know what it'll look like when I'm done; I don't have enough Sunshine Print to do the whole basket, so I'll be changing colors soon. No plan on what colors, just whatever makes me happy. This one's for me :-)

Two Tuesday

Two things I'm grateful for:

1. A cup of coffee waiting for me when I stumble out of bed, thanks to my sweet hubby :-)

2. Being able to homeschool Hope. We started our studies again yesterday after the Christmas break and I marvel at the blessing of being able to teach her. 

Two patterns I think are neat:

1. Happy Pills pattern from EssHaych. We all could use some of these :-)

2. Monster Kleenex Box Cover pattern from Repeat Crafter Me. With cold and flu season in high gear, why not make the tissue box a little more fun?

Dishcloth a Day #6

The Bumped Shells Dishcloth is from JP Fun. I love the look of the pattern but it was cumbersome (for me) to make. It took a while.

Here's a close up of the pattern:

Silly Blogger flipping my pictures!

Dishcloth a Day #7

I needed a quick make yesterday so I fell back on an old favorite. The Rose in Bloom Dishcloth can be made in about half an hour and uses only half a ball of cotton. Love it!

Photo a Day Challenge January 6, 2013

Sunday's prompt was Mine. This is my yarn cabinet. Yummy, yummy yarn! My fingers just itch with excitement every time I open the doors.

Photo a Day Challenge January 7, 2013

Yesterday's prompt was Street. Since I stayed home yesterday, I decided to take a picture of the street I live on. It's a very busy road with constant traffic so I waited until late at night so I wouldn't be run over taking the picture!

Daily Inspiration

I'll be back later with today's dishcloth and picture.
Thanks for reading!
Blessings :-)

Four Challenges

Because I'm an overachiever (read that "crazy"), I've decided to give myself 4 challenges this year.

The first is the Photo a Day Challenge. I did this a little last year and really enjoyed it. I'd like to do it all year this year. The details for January can be found here or by clicking on the Photo a Day January button on the left under Challenges.

Photo a Day January 1, 2013

Today's topic was Today. What did I do today, the first day of a new year?

I worked on the turquoise and brown yo yo blanket all day. I had 5 rows to add on and then the border.
And....

TA DA!! It's finally done!!!

The second challenge I'm doing this year is Dishcloth a Day. It's simple enough; I'll make a different cotton dishcloth each day and post a picture of it with the link to the pattern.

Dishcloth a Day #1

Today's dishcloth is the Ocean Grove Round Washcloth from Lion Brand yarn.

It came out nice although I had to block it to make it lie flat because I crochet so tightly. Before I blocked it, my sweet hubby said, "Oh, that's cute. Is it a bowl?"

The third challenge is Granny Square a Week. It's along the same lines as the dishcloth a day challenge; I'll make a different granny square each week and post it on Saturdays with the link to the pattern. At the end of the year, I'll take the 52 squares and make them into a blanket.

The fourth challenge will be Mini Monday. Each Monday, I'll start a small project, something I can finish by Friday. I haven't taken pictures of this week's project, but it's the Have a Heart Shawl from Red Heart yarn.

I'm hoping these challenges will not only use up the large amount of yarn I own (so I can buy more!), they will also help better my crocheting skills. And I'll be making gifts for friends, family, and charity. Bonus!

Thanks for reading!

Blessings :-)