FO Alert! Half Moon Shawl

Just finished up the Half Moon Shawl - YAY!

I get excited about FOs because they're so few and far between.



The first pic shows the color better, but I really like the professional blogger quality of the second pic :)

I hope the recipient loves it as much as I do!

One Finished Sock!

Woohoo! My poor toe-less first sock got finished on my morning break. Toe grafting is not nearly as scary as it sounded. Oh happy day!

Also more progress on sock #2 - I've finished the first 9 rows, and even my ghetto paperclip stitch markers have been a great help.

I've also realized it's time to make a holder for my needles. I think I might venture into the land of fabric for this one - wish me luck.

What I Did on my Swap Vacation

The swap package I sent has arrived at its destination, so here's some peeks at what I sent

This bookmark (minus the border)

A set of four Coasters (this is the unfinished pic - they have a white border when finished)

An Ami penguin from the Lion Brand website. Originally meant for Christmas but with a little color change and a heart-shaped tummy patch, perfect for our All About Hearts theme.

Unfortunately there was one more thing that was supposed to be sent, but I couldn't for the life of me find it. Well go figure, this morning I found it. So Laurah gets another little package in the mail soon, and I'll post it once she's got it in hand.

Oh and since I finally gave mom her Christmas present, here's a (bad cell phone) pic in case you missed it.

My Garden

I don't do well with plants. Never really have. This past spring, Annie and I planted lavender and sunflowers (started from seeds and sprouted in mini-greenhouses made of 2-liter bottles) and the sunflowers got about 5 inches tall before they died. The lavender barely poked their little heads out of the dirt.

But this is totally a garden I could get into:

**Yes, again with the crappy cell-phone pictures.

Have I mentioned how obsessed I am with this pattern? I think the lower left corner, with the black background, is the one I'm going to send to Krystal for her charity project. I don't get as excited about the black and white backgrounds as I do about the colors.

On another note, just want to give a shout-out to my dad, Mykall :) He was in the hospital last weekend, but he's home now and getting better. Poor guy doesn't get to have alcohol or spicy foods for a while (two of his favorite things), so have a drink and something with jalapenos in it for him. He's the only person in my family who actually talks to me about my blog so I know he reads it. So, Hi Dad! Love you!

Not such a productive weekend...

I was going to be REALLY productive this weekend. Really, I was.


Here's what I didn't get done:
I didn't finish copying Interview with the Vampire
I didn't track the 45-minute chunks that I'd already copied
I didn't clean the kitchen
I didn't host 6 tournaments
I didn't exchange the pants from Catherines that I so desperately need to exchange
I didn't work on Mom's poncho
I didn't sit down with Annie and figure out what we're doing with what's left of her financial aid check.



Here's what I did instead:
I finished crocheting Mom's Christmas present (yes, I'm aware we're half way through January)
I blocked Mom's Christmas present (yay!)
I went grocery shopping (twice) on an empty stomach (not a good idea)
I finished two Daisy Squares
I visited my dad in the hospital (he was rushed to the ER late Saturday night, vomiting blood, but we think he'll be ok)
I visited Annie's grandmother in another hospital (twice - she was there Friday to Sunday for her first three days of kidney dialysis)



If you are NOT my mother, you can see a picture of what I made for her here. It turned out much larger than I anticipated, but I'm still pretty pleased. I am no longer scared of filet crochet!

Daisy Square

While perusing CPC several days ago, I ran across this Daisy Square pattern. The designer offers the pattern for free, and only asks that you send her at least one completed square, which she then joins and gives to charity. It's totally cute, so I decided to give it a shot. It calls for 4 colors: CA for the center color, CB for the petals, CC for the background, and CD for the border. I used only two colors (two very clashing, random, verigated colors) because I was on my way out the door for work and there were only two skeins easily grab-able. So my CA and CC are the same, and my CB and CD are the same. Oh here, see for yourself.

(Apologies for the green-ish picture. I took it with my cell phone, and for some reason everything I take with my phone turns out with a green-ish tint. I really need to get a point-and-shoot digital. Really.)

So yeah, it's pretty wild. But I'm totally in love with it! I decided to make a negative of it (using the darker yarn for the petals and border, and the lighter stuff for the center and background) which I'm nearly done with. Then I decided, why not make a whole bunch of them in random colors, in pairs (a positive and a negative), and make my own afghan out of them. So, last night I went through my stash (two giant rubbermaid bins) and separated out the worsted weight acrylic from everything else. I was surprised (pleasantly) to find that fully half of my stash is WW acrylic. I've definately got my work cut out for me.

The pattern is pretty easy once you get the hang of it, and it's a good carry-along project.

Oh and Krystal, if you're reading this - I promise I'll get a square out to you soon. My guage ended up with a 6.5" square instead of 8, but I'll do some tweaking and color picking this weekend.

First FO of 08!

Yay!

I created this hook case for my brand new set (E through K) of bamboo crochet hooks. They are REALLY yummy and they needed a yummy place to live. This isn't the yummiest place I could think of, but it's a good home.

I used RHSS in the "Sunshine Print." I picked this up on Freecycle and wasn't sure what to do with it, and it was the closest yarn at hand when I decided to make this up.

**Well then. This is several days later now. I picked another of these skeins out of the bag, same print, and this one happened to have a label on it. Serves me right for guessing. It's actually 100% virgin wool Maypole Yarn by Oregon Worsted Company, and the color is called Indian Sunset. And I happen to have at least 4 more skeins of it, which makes me want to experiment with felting. I still don't like the colors much, but it's a little more cool now that it's wool and not acrylic :)**

I used a stitch pattern I found when I was making Holiday Dishcloths. Sc in 1st stitch, insert hook in same stitch, pull up a loop, insert in next stitch, pull up a loop, yo, pull through all three loops. After a few rows, I did a few slip stitches, then chain 2 and slip stitch in a few more stitches, rinse and repeat. I ended up with three chain spots, which I slip the hooks through to hold them. Next row I use the original stitch but the places where there are chain loops I just to single crochets under the loop so it pushes my loop to the front. I did that every several rows until I had enough loops for all 7 hooks, then a few more rows of the stitch pattern. Then I slip stitched until about half way across the row and did 4 single crochets, turned, 2 sc, turn, 2 sc, back and forth til it seemed long enough, then slip stitched back down the edge of the first tie to the spot where it split, then 2 sc back and forth for the second half of the tie.

Anyways, other than the color, I'm pretty happy with it. For your viewing pleasure.....

We interrupt your regularly scheduled project...

Don't worry, Ma - it'll get done eventually!

But for now, this is my project of choice! It's the first arm of a shrug. Second arm is in progress. Once arms are complete, the back will be joined to them with a series of granny squares.

It's made with leftover Lion Chenille Thick & Quick that I had after I finished this afghan for my grandmother.

It's lovely luscious stuff. Mmmmmmmmm

Halloween with Cartman and the Devil

'Nuff said, yo'