Starburst-sunbursts and possibly the 2nd rainbow reveal

Lots of this again. Yay!!

Link to tutorial and pattern

I've gotten back into the groove with this blanket which has sat in the pile of WIP's since early summer. In fact, last time I crocheted these squares, I was pregnant! :O 

After making what feels like 10000000 crochet Christmas presents, I was definitely wanting to make something stress-free and all for ME. 

What delicious colors, I could play with these all day. 

I've even been a good girl and I've been following a "sew-in-all-the-ends-rule" every 5 squares. 

I've made 33 squares and I'm thinking of making it an 8x11 rectangle...so just a few more squares to go ;)

I took the pictures below for my Ravelry account.

I realized I had never updated the picture there to show the final product even though I finished this blanket before Miss Muffin was born... 

Now I wonder if I ever revealed it here...and I'm too lazy to go back and read so here it is! :)

By the way, I highly recommend having ravelry account if you like to crochet or knit. TONS of patterns there and lots of inspiration. Plus, if you upload the pictures of your projects to your account, it's a nice reminder of things you've made. I post most things to this blog, but to see projects, I'd have to search labels etc... On my ravelry page, I can see them all ka-bang right there!

Other than crochet, I've been baking. A lot.

Scones have been my latest conquest, something I've been trying to perfect. I love them with coffee!

I baked brownies today for a guest and covered them in whipped cream and sprinkles. I love the picture, I just want to swim it or something. Is that weird?

These two!

I loves 'em!

Miss Muffin started crawling this week (super exciting). 

She's still pretty slow though so life hasn't changed all that much. Yet.

Bubba is sweet as ever and hang out with her. She was cracking up at him licking his leg...  :D 

 Well that's it. For now. 

I'm trying to get back into a blogging groove. 

I kinda have missed it.

And it really inspires me to take more pictures of every day life... which is priceless later in life when every day life changes and these small moments are forgotten. 

See ya around! :)

Sun, sunbursts, and seed starting

Snippets of the last few days...

Admiring Kissa sitting in perfect kitty form.

She's been mowing the lawn... and those Easter eggs have become some of her favorite toys. Tsk tsk...

 

I've started on my new blanket.

This is the stash I'm trying to use up. Blues and greens!! Also a bit of gray... 

 

I've been using the infamous Priscilla Hewitt's Sunburst Granny Square Pattern which I have linked there.

 I used this tutorial to help me fumble through the first square, but since I've started making these daily, I must say, the pattern is easy to memorize once you get the hang of it!

This tutorial by Eda's Crochet Room was helpful to learn with since the pattern calls for some stitches I don't think I've ever made before. 

I bought more little tete-a-tete narcissi. :)

 

We've had such gorgeous sunny weather and since today was my day off, we sat outside and I crocheted and soaked in the rays. 

 

I had a grand seed starting afternoon. Zinnia, asters, pumpkin, decorative gourds, corn, sunflowers, marigold, snapdragons, watermelon... I still have more seeds to plant, but the irony is running out of the 10 liter bag of particular seed starting dirt that I went all over town to find.

Also, I am running out of containers to start them in! I have egg cartons, washed out meat tubs, yogurt cups, sour cream cups, microwave meal and soup dishes... I've been saving all these things for weeks, even going as far as purposely buying particular foods for lunch at work to be able to save the container they come in!!

:D 

And it's still not enough!

I think I'm just gonna have to ask folks at work to save me their yogurt cups and the like. 

I don't know how many more microwave meals I can eat either. :P

 Hey, does this count as gardening post #0.5 of 2013?

Hahaha... 

I can't wait for the snow to be GONE so that I can stomp around the garden in my blue boots again and think about where exactly I am going to plant everything. 

Even though I've made at least two plans on paper already, lol!

Well, that's it for me. 

Off to bed soon, even though it's fairly early. This pregnancy fatigue is kicking my ass. 

Pregnancy -- which reminds me!!

The pictures of the baby blanket that blogger wouldn't upload a few posts ago...

Here ya go!

Thanks for stopping by! 

See ya around!

Baby Rose Blanket

Here's the big reveal!! :) 

 

The pattern can be found here from Lion Brand's website (requires free registration to see it): Rose square baby afghan

There was a total of 25 squares and the total size was approx. 70x70cm. 

I used Gjestal Silja yarn and a 5mm hook. 

Because I thought the blanket would just be too busy and too much with every square a rose, I made a simple granny square and alternated the pattern. 

Doing this, I ended up with a slightly wonky blanket.

...Which I then made worse by hand stitching a fleece backing... but I thought of those little fingers getting all tangled in the backs of the flowers (this pattern is rather hole-y), and I knew it had to be done!

I don't know if I will ever sew a blanket to fleece again... there was a lot problems with the yarn blanket stretching and the fleece stretching... Annoying!

The border was just a row of granny stripe in blue using the Bunny Mummy technique of getting a flat border.

Then I made a row of dc in pink and a row of sc in blue again.

I really love the blanket and the colors too. Perfect for the little girl I made this for. :)

I hope she likes the contrast as her little eyes develop, and the flowers when she's older and understands that it's just straight up pretty!

I've said it before, and I will say it again; I really love crocheting with loved ones in mind. Especially babies! Every blanket I've made, I've put so many well-wishes and love into for the little ones. As I crochet, I sit and think of what kind of amazing person they will grow up to be and all the amazing things they will experience and accomplish. 

Ah, such a beautiful thing! :') 

Thanks for stopping by!!

Have a wonderful week!!

I will try to be back soon with the beginnings of my latest project! Woohoo!

Spring flowers and crochet

 Happy Easter Weekend!! 

My weekend started on Wednesday and ends tonight. Unfortunately I work the next 4 days, but hey... I'm one for looking on the bright side (every now and then), so I'm thinking about how nice getting holiday pay will be. ;)

On my wonderful three days off though, we've been busy! 

Wednesday, hubby and I ran errands and then I spent the evening crocheting. 

Yesterday we went to Ikea and bought a new patio set, new pots for summer flowers, crib stuff, a new bathroom rug, new bedroom curtains, and all that other random s...tuff that finds its way into your cart. Lol! 

Ah, and today, we've sat in the sun enjoying our new patio furniture with the hubby and my friend. 

Sipping tea in good company, sunshine on my face, and yarn in my hands. Happy day ♥

 We've had gorgeous and sweet smelling spring flowers to enjoy these past few days (thanks to my mom's wonderful friend!) :)

Nothing more inspiring to take out the camera than some pretty flowers!!

"Paper weight narcissi" or "perunanarsissi" in Finnish (which translates to potato narcissi)...

How could I resist crocheting a few sweet Easter egg amigurumi? Here is the pattern I used from the wonderful Greedy for Colour blog :)

Brought back memories of learning to crochet and being ALL ABOUT amigurumi!! 

...counting rounds... 

 

Kissa keeps our Easter grass freshly mowed...

And no, I still haven't gotten over how much I love this orchid. Unfortunately, I think it's glory days are ending. As you can see, one flower has drooped and all the buds that were once closed, are now open and blooming... I saw this via pinterest about making orchids bloom again. I wonder if it works! 

I've crocheted more than just the eggs though!

I finally finished the baby blanket for my friend's daughter. I hope we will see them tomorrow so I can post about it soon (I've been trying to keep it a surprise!). I have the pictures taken for the reveal already! :) Stay tuned for that for sure!

So other than fiddling with little eggs, I've been fiddling with little flowers. 

The pattern I've used is from the fantastic Lucy at Attic 24. 

And TA-DA!!!

I told you I was almost done with it!

This is the baby blanket for my little girl. ♥

Just need to finish it but hey, I have until at least the end of May, right? ;)

 It's all that pesky sewing in ends and crocheting squares together and adding a border business that I just don't have the interest in doing right now. 

But wow! Love LOVE love, the rainbow look! 

I had a couple more pictures of this, but stupid Blogger won't upload them! :( I'll try to add them some other time to another post. You get the gist pretty well with the sad picture above though.

So that's what I've been up to.
I think I will crochet some more eggs and flowers tonight if I have time.
Time to really buckle down and think about what kind of square to make for my next blanket. :)

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Rainbow of yarn

I did inventory of my stash. Again.

This time I laid it out and marveled. 

I might have an addiction, but hey, it's only yarn!

As I laid it out, I thought of projects past that some of this is leftover from.

I thought of how generous my aunt, mom, and other folks have been by giving me so much yarn over my short few years of crocheting.

I thought of what projects are to come!

And I thought, "please stay asleep in the other room, Kissa, and don't steal my yarn while it's spread out so prettily" 

She didn't stay asleep. But she didn't steal anything either. ;)

On the crochet front:

 I've been finishing up the baby blanket for my friend.

Fantasizing about the blanket I want to make in blues and greens for the couch, as well as the other blanket I want to make for our bed. (Hence the necessity of inventory...)

I have resurrected the baby blanket I started making for our baby (before she was even conceived! Lol!), it's only missing two more squares + the borders and joining. 

I want to make some kind of spring flower wreath for the front door... but we'll see if I can get it done in time to be considered "spring". ;)

Because this is my blog, here are a few flower pictures I took last week. :)

I want to buy more flowers, but I think I will wait till Tuesday or Wednesday so I can enjoy them on my three days off (Wed-Fri), and throughout the Easter holiday. 

Ummm, how is it Easter next weekend ALREADY?!

Thanks for stopping by. 

Hope you enjoyed the rainbow as much as I did! 

What I've been up to....

Oh my goodness!!

I've been a BAD BAD BAD blogger!! I can't remember when I last went so long without blogging!

I promise I've been busy though! I've even worked!!

But mostly, I've been preoccupied. It happens. Oh well.

Oh, and I realize I've been working a lot. Since about April, it's been long clinical training to summer job to long clinical training... no wonder I'm exhausted!! Lol! I guess I have been in need of rest and relaxation!

So I've been sleeping. A lot. 

I've been lazing about when I feel like it. A lot. 

And, I've been crocheting. A lot.

I finished a small granny square baby blanket for a friend due next month.

I crocheted a little baby hat for another friend due in December.

 Pattern here.

I've been crocheting the granny square blanket for my godmother. Up to 44 squares now!!

 I've started adding the row of ivory around the edges so that I can slowly start joining rows instead of storing a billion little squares. ;)

But oh those little ends... I've been bad this time around about sewing them in!

I've also started another baby blanket project. This one for a friend due in February... but don't want to show a picture until it's done in case she reads this ;)

I don't know where time is going but I am happy and excited and looking forward to it all! Lots of changes coming my way... the first being graduation in December! And only 50 days until we go to Florida!! Woohoo!!

Thanks for stopping by! I'll try to make it back before long!

Crochet, crochet

Ah, a crochet post. Again.

How refreshing after all this time posting about everything but. :)

I've had a crochet weekend.

I've come to find that I always get really excited and inspired to crochet in the fall. I suppose it's the cool weather combined with the rain. Nothing better than sitting back and enjoying some color therapy via yarn. 

I picked up some Novita Puro (my favoritest yarn ever!) yarn on Friday from the clearance section. I guess the color "aallokko" (=waves) is going out of production. 

Needless to say I snatched up two 50g skeins...

And then decided after my fall foliage post that I need fingerless mittens for photography purposes.

Voila!

 Pattern loosely followed from here. 

Then I decided that it's probably wise to sew the ends in for my godmother's blanket. I hate sewing in ends. I know most crocheters do, but ugh. 

I figured I'd better sew them in before I crochet another round of 12 squares.

 

I've also been a bit stumped by how I should arrange the squares. I've laid them out many times but have come to the conclusion of doing dark-light-dark patterns. It's just so hard to envision the final product without the white borders, I guess.

(yarn shopping, yay!)

Then I started another baby blanket. I seem to have more and more friends with buns in the oven. I'm loving it! :) 

 This is using the leftovers and the most boyish colors I had in my stash of the softest merino wool (Viking baby ull... or something like that).

 I'm going to make a big granny square because... I'm obsessed with granny squares. STILL.

While looking for the yarns above, I did inventory on my rainbow granny baby blanket. I have 40 squares already! Holy moly! 

I started making this blanket for whatever offspring bless us one day... but the more I look at it, I think my other prego friend would love it just as much as I do.

And hey, I can make myself another. ;)

Laying this one out and deciding on a pattern is a challenge too. I rather like this diagonal pattern.

 I should add the final row of gray and sew them together. Looks like I'm missing just a few more squares till it's complete!

♥ Colors ♥ Yarn ♥ Crochet ♥

Today, I'm trying to focus on my thesis. 

This is the fuel, along with coffee.

I'm almost out of fuel. :(

(--> ending up here!)

Hope your Monday is off to a good start. :)

Don't forget to check out my other blog 

www.projectliveandbreatheit.blogspot.com

It's hard keeping up with two blogs!!

 

Gray granny blanket ta-daah!

Ta-daaaah!

It's complete! 

I actually completed this on Sunday night... just been lazy to getting the pictures uploaded. 

 

I ended up making a shell edge for the blanket. Simple, improvised, pretty.

 

My mom said she loves it. And I do too. :)

 

So on to the next blanket. Thank goodness this one is going to be smaller! 

Our tomatoes have done the impossible (kind of). They've thrived, grown huge...and are starting to bloom!! I can't believe we might have actually pulled this off! 

(The little jalapenos haven't done so well...especially with the cat eating leaves here and there....)

We bought a chili plant from the market a month or so ago, since the ones we grew from seed were struggling. This one has managed to survive somewhat the damage from the cat and is actually blooming and on it's way to producing jalapenos. 

 

Due to work and rain, I haven't been lucky enough to make it to the garden.  However, my parents and my hubby have been a few times without me to pick the strawberries. Mmmmmm.... I've eaten strawberries in yogurt, on salad, plain (the best!), and in a fruit salad. 

Ohhhh summer tastes so good!

So that's it for me tonight. 

Just wanted to share my finished blanket! 

Thanks for popping in! Hope you've had a nice Wednesday! 

:)