days of nuwanda

Penguin hat

A friend-of-a-friend crochets some amazing things--mostly without a pattern, just making it up on her own. I asked her about a penguin hat, and in less than a day she sent this off in the mail to me. Isn't it adorable??

Finished blanket

This blanket I began who knows how long ago is finally done. The sad thing is that it sat in my closet since March needing only one last row of the edging in order to be complete. So when my crochet phase hit me again this week, I finished it, and today Jacob helped me take pics of it. He told me it should be his blanket, since I already made one for Grace when she was born and he doesn't have one yet. Talk about guilt! :) I love the brights colors and the Caron Simply Soft yarn. I used the limelight, mango, watermelon, and grape in rows of 8 hdc, 4, 6, 2, 6, 2, 4, 8 and repeat and then a little edging pattern I found. I will definitely use this yarn again. Here are the pics...

Do you know how rare it is to get him in a pic these days?

folded in half

my very cooperative little model (in fact, it was his idea)

Brite stripes blanket

This fever and flu has had me huddled on the couch since Thursday, and I haven't done much except crochet. I started this baby blanket w/ some cool non-traditional-baby yarn (watermelon, mango, limelight, and grape) I had stashed away. Isn't it cute? Who says babies only like pastels? Doesn't research indicate they prefer bold, bright colors? I'm definitely onto something here... I'm about 1/4 of the way done so far.

Hubby said these colors/pattern would make a nice scarf, which is an idea I will hang onto come winter. Still I carry on w/ my baby blanket marathon. I am totally stuck on crocheting baby blankets, as though that is the extent of my craft. Really, I can be more creative than making the same thing over and over, but it's the only thing that appeals to me right now. And I seem to have plenty of "down-time" on my hands this week. It's not a cold like what hubby had. I just have the feverish aches where you don't want to do anything but loaf. And crochet is the perfect loafing activity.

Another finished blanket

I got kinda stuck on this super easy baby blanket pattern, and finished my 3rd blanket today in lavender. (My camera flash makes it look periwinkle here.) Think I'll hold onto it for a rainy day.

Now I'm moving on to this afghan from Adventures of a Stashaholic is also easy, as it repeats the same pattern into infinity, but it's new to me. My attention span w/ 2 kids is admittedly short, so I appreciate these repeating kind.

Last day of freedom

So this is it, my last day before returning to work. Right now I'm sitting at the same desk, using the same computer, but today it's for fun, and tomorrow it'll be for work. *sigh* Maternity leave sure was grand.

So here are my big plans for this last glorious day of freedom---CROCHET! I finished the purse in a day (minus the handles...yah, yah, yah, don't lecture me about being a quitter. I will get those handles done!) and have started another scarf w/ the boucle (color: Gelato) and fun fur (color: Violet) yarns. This yarn stretches to high heaven. The first one I made this summer was originally about 56" and seems to have stretched to about 70". Every time I pick it up, it grows. So I'm going wider and tighter this time. This is another quick don't-have-to-think-about-it pattern, just the kind I enjoy right now in my dayquil haze.

Any of my readers crochet? I have found a bazillion blogs about knitting, so I guess knitting is more popular than crochet. Perhaps I'll try that next. I grew up w/ a mom who crocheted all the time, but she made doilies, lace collars and afghans, things that just didn't appeal to me. When I was 10 or so, she tried to teach me, and I pretended to be interested for a while, but it just wasn't me. 19 years later, I am realizing that crochet IS fun if you are making something you actually like. I'm definitely not a lacy doily girl, but I do like furry scarves and baby blankets and little purses.

If you're interested in crochet, I recommend this book/crochet set, I Taught Myself to Crochet. The book is detailed enough that even I could follow along and learn stitches. It has a few patterns in it, but they are kinda outdated (1987 fashions are very interesting!). It comes w/ a few crochet hooks to get you started too. I literally picked up this book in an afternoon and started crocheting right away.

Still fighting it

Baby Grace and I are still fighting this cold bug, and now hubby has joined our fight. Our night last night was not a good one. Grace was having trouble breathing, so I got the vaporizer out which helped a little. I couldn't sleep at all for some reason. I didn't want to take nyquil since I needed to be awake enough to listen for Grace, and my body couldn't rest w/o it. I woke this morning feeling the same yuckies PLUS my back and my chest hurt. What a glorious Monday! :-)

I spent the weekend in (except for one absolutely necessary grocery shopping trip Saturday afternoon) and did nothing but drink OJ and crochet. I finished the pink baby blanket for my very pregnant neighbor. Here it is folded up.

It's pretty big. It was a pattern for a 28" square hooded baby blanket, but I didn't like the hood idea and I wanted it bigger, so I adjusted it. Here is a close-up.

It was super easy...one of those brain-dead patterns that just repeats the same row over and over. But for me, the novice crocheter, it was ideal. I'm still learning to keep stitches even throughout an entire project. I'm proud of myself--this my 2nd completed blanket and my 5th completed project!!!Pretty good for a girl w/ a short attention span for most things. Crocheting is very relaxing. After finishing that pink blanket, I started a purple one in the same pattern (just because...I have no plan for it as of yet). Then I got to thinking that if I want to make Christmas presents for the nieces, I need to get started on those. So I broke my rule of absolutely finishing one project before starting another one, and started a purse. And all I can think about today is finishing that purse. I start back to work in 3 days, so I'm living it up until then!

Hope everyone out there is feeling better than we are!