Happy 2016!

Hello, dear readers!

Sitting here looking out at my snow-covered lavender field and happy to be on winter vacation, I am in a reflective mood.  2015 was a year of ups and downs for me, as I'm sure it was for lots of people, but I am very much looking forward to what 2016 has to offer.

One creative project I am looking forward to making is a Temperature Blanket.  This is an unfortunate name, in my opinion, so I will likely end up calling it something else.  The basic concept is every day, I will crochet a row according to what the high temperature of the day is.  I may end up adding a color or two, but here is a quick chart I made:

So, for the next 10 days, the high temperature here will be in the 30's.  That means my first 10 rows of 2016 will be Lavender Blue.  I have joined a Facebook group to crochet along with others, and many people are using lots more colors.  I think I will stick with just these.  I intentionally chose more purples and greens because those are my favorite hues. I hope to not have too many rows of red, but I guess we will see next summer what will happen.

One problem is going to be making sure this baby doesn't get too big, but with 366 rows,  how can it not?  Perhaps I will make two afghans, one from January 1-June 30 and the other from July 1-December 31.  This might be a good way to tell just how quickly climate change is taking place.  ;)

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I'd like to wish health, happiness, good fortune, and joy to you and your family!  Happy 2016!

Ozzie wants you to have an excellent 2016!

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PEACE.

                    LOVE.

                                        KINDNESS.

                                                                     COMPASSION.

                                                                                                       CREATIVITY.
                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                        COLOR.


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Gray fox amigurumi

It has been a tough week for me at work.  I sat in on three teacher interviews, we had our second annual French National Honor Society induction ceremony, and I came down with sinus/allergy issues to top it all off.  I took today off to recover and rest, and I am glad I did.

I was able to finish this sweet little gray fox amigurumi that my daughter requested.  I got the pattern from Pepika's Etsy store, and it is adorable.  Initially, I had a few problems figuring out how the head was made which resulted in this little guy's head being a bit too big for his body.  But that's OK.  I still think he is precious and so does my daughter.

 

What project are you working on?

Paz.

J

I Love Yarn!

It may be the beautiful colors, the soft texture, or the wonderful feeling of creativity and accomplishment that working with yarn gives me.  Whatever the case may be, I LOVE YARN!!!

HAPPY I LOVE YARN DAY 2014!!!

Yarn crafting projects in the works

I am lucky enough to be off most of the summer because of my chosen profession.  This down time is indeed soothing for my poor, tired soul.  However, I try not to idle too much because now I have much time to enjoy my hobbies, mostly undisturbed.

One of my most colorful hobbies is yarn crafting, especially crochet. I currently have three crochet projects on which I am working.  You may find it strange that I don't finish one project before beginning another.  But if you could see inside my brain at how my mind works, you would understand.  :)  

I love to crochet because I can turn a plain ball of yarn into a different creature entirely, but I get bored doing the same stitches over and over and over.  So I put one project down and start another, just to keep things interesting.  

My first project is a long-term one, a large afghan.  I have already made two of these types of afghans before, but this time I am making it big enough to fit on our king size bed.  I am using kelly green and white in Vanna's Choice yarn.  Two strands are held together and crocheted with a size N hook.  Using such a large hook enables the project to stitch up quickly.  Unfortunately, since I am making such a large afghan, it will also use many skeins of yarn.  I have already used 14 skeins and I have run out for the time being.  I usually get my yarn at Michael's or Jo-Ann but Vanna's Choice hasn't been on sale for a while so I am waiting until I can buy more.  It retails for $3.99 but many times it is on sale for $2.79 or even $2.50, and they give a 15% teacher discount, which leaves me paying around $2.37 or $2.12, respectively.  If I needed just a few skeins, that wouldn't be such a big deal, but I estimate I have at least three to five times more yarn that I've already used.  This is going to be one expensive and labor intensive blanket!  Here's a sneak peek of what it looks like so far:

My second project is called Americana Afghan.  I downloaded the pattern off the Lion Brand website.  It is absolutely gorgeous and made with a gorgeous yarn called Heartland.  Here is what the project looks like on their site:

This yarn in made in the U.S.A. and the different colors are named for various national parks in the United States.  The ivory shade is called Acadia, the blue is Olympic, and the red is Redwood.  It is super soft, 100% acrylic, and machine washable.  I currently have three out of the 20 panels done.  I had never made stars before and I am enamored by them.

For some bizarre reason, I thought I would have this done by this Fourth of July (I started it around June 29).  Yes, I realize I was off my rocker.  (Remember my brain is   But my friend Amy suggested I give myself another end date of Labor Day.  I think I can make that deadline, as long as I don't start too many other projects in the meantime.  

Speaking of which, the last project I have started was begun today out of necessity.  I was on kitchen duty this morning and I got lots of water on my wood floor. We haven't replaced the kitchen rug we got rid of a while back and so I mentally made a note of doing that.  But then my crochet-obsessed brain started thinking  "maybe I could crochet one".  I looked up a few online and decided that instead of buying more yarn (which I most definitely do not need), I should use what I have.  I went down in the basement and raided my yarn stash.  Here are the cotton yarns I have in my possession:  

I am going to just use a simple half double crochet stitch and make rows of colors  to form a 2' x 3' rug for my kitchen.  I think I will use the solids for sure but I'm not sure I'll used the variegated colors at this time. 

 Luckily, Michael's has these Lily's Sugar'n Cream yarns on sale this week.  Yes, I know I said I don't need more yarn, but I do need more yarn.  There is no blue and I can't make a rug without blue!  ;)  Here is my progress so far: 

So now that I have posted that I have started all these projects, I hope I will feel obligated to finish these projects in a timely manner so my readers can see them.  If you do see me in the coming weeks, please ask me about my progress on these projects, OK?  I am trying to motivate myself to finish them and that just might do the trick!  Thanks!  

(and get your projects done too!)

Have a cowl!

Today is our second snow day in a row and I am taking advantage of my free time to make awesome cowls. I used Amazing yarn by Lion Brand, following the 45-minute cowl pattern on Lion Brand's site.  I did change one thing, however.  The pattern says to use one ball and hold both ends of the ball together, but I found I didn't have enough yarn to finish my project.  Plus, getting both ends of the strand was harder than it seemed. So I just used two balls, holding a strand from each together to make the cowl.  I had a little bit of yarn left over from each ball, but I would rather have too much yarn than not enough.

Here is a sampling of the cowls I've made so far:

Rainforest

Glacier Bay

Aurora

Strawberry Fields

Mauna Loa

Wildflowers

All of them together.

I think my favorite is Glacier Bay.  I hope Lion Brand comes out with more colors.  I love how the yarn feels and I love how the colors gradually change from one shade to another.  

Do you have a favorite color?  Let me know what you think!  

Oh, and one more pic.  I sat down to grade with my pumpkin bread, coffee, iPad, and Nutella (today is World Nutella Day), and my cat Storm came to join me.  It appears she prefers Glacier Bay as well!