Month in Review: January 2015!

Beginning this year, a goal I have set for myself is to of course, blog more! 

In order to do so, I've decided to post interesting links, mostly crochet or geek related, sometimes both. I hope you enjoy! If there is something you’d like to see in the future, please let me know in the comments below.

NEW PATTERN RELEASE!!!                                                                           (New Paid Pattern)  

I released my very first paid pattern just before Super Bowl Sunday this year! Links are posted under the picture below.

Amanda's Super Bowl Scarf

This pattern is available for $3.50 USD on both Ravelry and on Craftsy.

I am super excited about this one! One of my amazing cousins, Amanda, created a leaf pattern inspired by the Seattle Seahawks 2015 uniform… here’s a pic:

Yes, it is a butt, however we're supposed to be looking at the green stripe!

Since Amanda is super sweet, she gave me the graph to create my own pattern from!

I had never tried a pattern with a lot of color changes until I created this one, and you know what? It actually ended up being a lot of fun! It was quite intimidating at first but I've learned a lot from looking around on the interwebs investigating different techniques to improve my work and color changing is something I must have retained!

What I have been working on: (Please forgive the dark pictures, I’m surrounded by inadequate lighting for proper photography in my home)

Cubone                                                                                                                 (paid pattern)            

Pattern Link:    https://www.etsy.com/listing/154708735/cubone-amigurumi-pattern-pokemon-crochet

My eldest son, Riley, is really into Pokemon, so much so that it has infected the rest of my family! I’m up to my ears in what I have deemed “poke-lingo” it sounds so strange when you have NO IDEA what is going on let alone being talked about… and yes, it has taken Amazing Adam too. *le sigh*

Riley usually has his profile pic as one of Cubone; to which I found out has a seriously HORRIBLE back story:

Team Rocket (I remember some of them from the cartoon) killed his mother in front of him when he was just a baby and now in honor of her death or in order to exact revenge or something, he WEARS HER SKULL! What. The. Heck! This is for kids? Really???

Anyway, I had wanted to get Cubone done in time for Christmas, unfortunately I decided to NOT stress myself out this year (last year?) and do what I could, so I spent most of January still working on Secret Squirrel Projects! This was the first one – seems as if I’m always making things for his younger siblings, so I put Riley on the top of the list.

This little critter has so many stinkin' parts! I stuck to the pattern like glue too, I had to seriously! Apparently, I switched the back spikes, but it doesn't seem to matter, he LOVED it! I was a happy mama!

Squirtle!                                                                                                                 (paid pattern)           

Pattern Link: https://www.etsy.com/listing/214644384/crochet-pattern-amigurumi-chubby?ref=related-0

Squirtle went to Aurora. After she saw that Riley got Cubone, she started dropping hints – like a typical Scorpio, trying to manipulate my will – that she wanted Pikachu; and like the Capricorn I am, gave her Squirtle!

Only modifications I made to the pattern were using 15 mm buttons instead of 15 mm safety eyes; which I would have had to make a special trip to the other side of town to purchase. Also, instead of 3 pipe cleaners in the tail to help hold the curl, I used 2 folded in half. Not only did it make it easier to crochet the end of the tail, but it made sure that sharp bits were definitely not going to poke out, as well as not ruining a pair of scissors cutting the ends off!

Assistance for selling projects & not underselling yourself!                                       Free Link       

I know a lot of people are always wondering what their craft items are worth if they were to start selling them. Well I found a link to a Craft Calculator – it seems as if it is also available in both the App Store and on Google Play as an app, making it completely convenient to use on your phones and tablets!

 Craft Calculator:                http://www.craftscalculator.com/

Faux Crochet Boots:                                                                                                        Free tutorial  

Not exactly a crochet item, but I LOVE the way these boots turned out! Created by Glamour 4 You, she turned a pair of boots into wearable crochet art, even out in the Washington weather, these would be adorable!

Faux Crochet Boot Tutorial:         http://www.glamour-4-you.com/blog/faux-crochet-outdoor-boots

FREE Dragon Scarf Pattern                                                                                           Free Pattern  

I love dragons, and I've been eye-balling some scarves around there, but this one is not only super cute, but it’s also free! Posted by Six Little Mice, this one is definitely on my To Do List!

Dragon Scarf Pattern:     http://sixlittlemice.blogspot.com.au/2013/08/dragon-scarf-pattern.html

Stitch I’m dying to learn: Crocodile Stitch                                                                   Free Pattern  

Saw this purse posted on Craft Passion and thought it would be a great way to learn how to make the oh-so versatile Crocodile Stitch. I’ve seen those scales on shawls, cowls, booties, slippers, scarves, blankets and so much more! Can’t wait to give this one a shot too!

Crocodile Stitch Drawstring Purse:   http://www.craftpassion.com/2013/08/crochet-drawstring-crocodile-stitch-purse.html/2

A pattern for those you love!                                                                                         Free Patterns  

One of my all-time favorite patterns has got to be the Circle of Love Afghan by Moogly. It’s a free pattern posted on her blog and it is gorgeous! I originally made it in colors she suggested (reminded me of the school colors for Washington State University), then because I did enjoy working the pattern I followed the original with a Seahawks colored afghan:

Circle of Love Afghan:            http://www.mooglyblog.com/circle-love-afghan/

There you go! Links of January is complete! Please let me know what you think. I’d also love to see if you complete any of the projects posted above!

Remember to visit my Facebook page and let me know you came by to visit!

Merry Christmas 2014!!!

Just a quick message to wish all of you a Merry Christmas!

Today is my birthday too! So, since the Littles are at their mother's house until tomorrow, we're withholding our family celebrations until tomorrow (12/26), then it will be Christmas Morning in the afternoon and then birthday supper! Tonight, we wait for Doctor Claus to come visit us via the BBC!

I did crochet a fair share of gifts for family, however i didn't exactly take pictures of any of them. Goal for next year... pictures of all of the things!

Had a great time with Amazing Adam's family this last weekend, fantastic start to the holiday festivitites. I crocheted a beautiful tree topper Weeping Angel for our tree, a Jayne Cobb hat for Amazing Adam's cousin & she LOVED it!

Time to go, but we were lucky enough to find a chance to get a Santa picture:

Santa picture... obviously set up by a bossy older sister!

Merry Christmas!!!

The Roller-coaster Begins Again...

Yeesh! has it really been that long since my last post??? Jeez! I'm seriously so sorry about that! What could I possibly have been doing all this time you ask? Well let me see...

• Kids started school again - getting them ready is always a hubub and I know there are tons of others out there that feel my pain. Riley is now a freshman. Aurora started third grade. Jacob started second grade. What a spread, right? Luckily, they all go to schools that Amazing Adam and I have previously attended, and the two elementry school teachers were also teachers for Riley when he attended the same school. We're set up for a very awesome school year!
• Crocheting... if I haven't been blogging then I had better been yarning, right? Well, I've been working my fingers off! I finished a Seahawks version of Moogly's Circles of Love Afghan which I am currently trying to sell on my Facebook page. I also made 4 Pokeball inspired dice bags for the family. Photos of these projects are posted on Facebook as well. I'm currently working on Spider Mambo's I Heart Skulls Circle Cardigan for Aurora. She chose Caron Simply Soft in Neon Pink & Limelight. No missing that girl in the car-pool lane after school!
• Working. Working at my out-of-the-home job managing an answering service. New employees, former employees, company picnics... the usual. This is usually where I'm reminded that there are less than 100 days until Christmas. When I'm reminded of this, I usually send snide comments to the reminder.

Doesn't exactly seem like a lot, but there's a lot of time and driving and other energy put in to those events, right?

What is coming up next, you're asking. Well, I have a few things on my to-do list:

• I Love Yarn Day (10/10/2014) - I really want to post another pattern to celebrate I Love Yarn Day, unfortunately I don't think it will be free this year; it will, however, be discounted for the week of I Love Yarn Day. Stay tuned to Facebook and this blog for more details as we get closer.
• I still have the Penelope Bag and Sunshine Sack to post (I'm somewhere in the finishing stages), had another idea for a bag, but we'll see if I'll even bring it to fruition since I ran out of a "seasonal" yarn. (HATE that, nothing but a tease!)
• I also still have the pattern for my Submissive Hooters needing to be finalized.

I need someone that can sit next to me writing in "crochet speak" as I create these things, seriously! I'm thinking it should be considered a foreign language to speak "craft." 

Anyway, I just wanted to check in with everyone; I've seen a number of views increase over the last few weeks and I am incredibly humble and thankful that all of you have found my little blog. You have no idea how much squee it gives me.

For all you new followers: WELCOME! Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, don't hesitate to comment on posts here or on Facebook - haters too! You're all welcome! If I didn't want honest opinions, I wouldn't put it out there to be judged by the general public. 

So, here's to hopefully not such a long silence between posts! 

Have a great rest of the week!!!

School's Out: A Non-Crochet Rant

A lot of things have been going on lately, I got back into testing patterns - successfully, I might add. I also created a Pascha Bear for Crafty Is Cool. She found a video (below) that she found endearing and decided to create a bear for orphans in Russia, here's the original blog post that I participated in.

Then among all crochet projects flying around our home, we also reached the end of the school year, Jacob completed 1st grade, Aurora completed 2nd grade! So happy for them, they've really learned a lot over the last year - despite Aurora's teacher being a complete idiot!

On top of the Littles completing their school years, my eldest son, Riley completed his last year of middle school, 8th grade for us. I was soo excited thinking this is great, he made it – maybe not with the most spectacular grades, but he made it. I will officially be the mother of a high school student this next fall. He also turns 15 in September, and we all know what that means.... impending driver's ed!

Riley was scheduled to have a “moving-up” type ceremony/gathering on the last day of school. Both Amazing Adam and I attended this same school when we were in middle school, so we thought that the event would be along the same lines; granted it’s been about 20 years since then, but still, something along the same lines, right?

First of all I’ve been dealing with panic and anxiety issues as much as I can lately; for which I’m currently NOT medicated for. I enter the school, thinking I’m going to be a basket case because my baby is “graduating” middle school. Well, I was a basket case, but not for the reason I thought. I was a basket case because this event was the biggest fiasco that I’ve ever attended! The seating was crap. I needed an easy in/easy out location – a lot of which was reserved for staff. (eff that!) Then due to the fact I selected an easy in/easy out location I didn’t deserve to watch the event at all as I was blocked by a metric ass-ton of people who were more deserving than i. Seriously people, who stands in front of EVERYONE and makes no effort to make sure people behind them can see? I couldn’t stop the crying from that point forward, I kept trying to keep it under control but I couldn’t. I began to realize that this was NOT like any other moving-up ceremony I’d ever attended.

At this point Amazing Adam wrapped his arms around me and stayed that way for the better part of the event. We sat that way through the principal’s speech – felt like I was in church, but in church, I can see what is going on!

The 1st student speaker.

A choir performance.

At this point they listed off ¾ of the 8^th grade class that received awards

Another student speaker; which if you’re making a “commencement speech” please refrain from using street lingo. If I were that kid’s parents I’d have been incredibly embarrassed!

Then another ¼ of the previously awarded students were mentioned again for another award.

A 3rd student speaker.

A quartet performance.

Last but not least, a slide show. Anyone who’s not been part of the “popular” kids, sportos, princesses, whatever… would know that they have a slim chance of ever being caught on film, right? Well, folks my son is not a “popular” kid, I was unable to see him in the slide show due to being surrounded and that there was only 1 picture of him dissecting a salmon (totally cool).

At the end of this “event” I was so incredibly pissed that I could barely contain myself. I grabbed the Littles and headed out to my car as Amazing Adam told Riley where to find us when he was ready to leave.

To keep this story moving, I eventually got home after celebrating Riley’s achievement and the last day of school in general at IHOP… and wrote the middle school principal this e-mail:

I would like to thank you and your staff for ruining the entire ceremony for my family today.

My son was an 8th grader at CMS this year and was at the ceremony today. My experience during the ceremony was one of the worst events I've ever had the displeasure of attending.

Instead of having the opportunity to see my son having a moment of final recognition for his hard work and reaching another momentous milestone, I was given nothing. I had the unpleasurable benefit of being surrounded so thickly of people who felt it was completely acceptable to stand in front of everyone and block every bloody moment from our view. I had a continuous panic attack during the entire ceremony due to the fact I was surrounded, couldn't see anything that was going on and acceptable seating was reserved for staff. I did what I could from my easy in/easy out location, but your staff did nothing effective to make sure the event could be potentially enjoyed by all families.

Both my husband and I were students of CMS; we had the opportunity to walk and receive our certificates individually, thereby giving our parents a moment they could share with family members for ages to come. I HAVE NOTHING. The poor planning of this "ceremony" ruined this event forever and instead of something beautiful and rewarding, I am now dealing with anger, and the disbelief that this actually happened, that I actually have no memento of my son accomplishing middle school.

I realize that a lot of the photos in the slide show were of the "popular" kids, that's fine, that's the way it has always been. Then to NOT recognize the average students, the ones that also worked hard, but didn't attend last night's dance, who didn't participate in sports, or the group Olympics, is immeasurably offensive. It ROBBED each and every one of those families, who worked just as hard, of a moment of accomplishment that cannot be replaced. I can assure you I'm not the only irate parent that feels this way - I may be the only one to reach out to the staff about it.

I will reserve commenting about the speeches as it would be my personal opinion and detract from the point I'm trying to make; which is this: next time, just invite the families of the kids who got 20+ stickers, the families of the kids in the majority of the pictures, then we - the average family - won't feel as if we were insignificant or forgotten, we'll know it as a fact, but you wouldn't have wasted our time. Every single student that didn't get their name called received exactly zero praise or recognition from the school; so much for "once a warrior, always a warrior", more like, "well, if we called your name or got pictures of you, you're still a warrior."

I have two more children that will potentially attend CMS in the coming years; I hope that this "ceremony" will be modified to include EVERYONE, not just the more popular students or the overachievers.

The only saving grace of this entire fiasco is that my son enjoyed it. That's all I have. He saw a glimpse of himself in the slide show, that's all, just one small snippet, but to him it was fine, so I'm sure the students had a great time. Now, I hope that your staff takes a moment to realize the amount of brokenhearted families you have created buy allowing today's ceremony to commence the way it did.

Highly disappointed,
X

I did all I could to express myself in a way that could not be misunderstood. I felt better and honestly that’s all I really needed. I had hoped for some kind of response, and I did receive one the following week:

Hello Ms. X,

I am very sorry that you did not appreciate the moving up celebration that was held last Friday. It is not our intent, at all, to hold a “commencement” type of graduation ceremony. Philosophically, I believe that a graduation ceremony, in which every student walks across the stage and receives a certificate, should be reserved for high school graduation. The intent was to bring the students together to recap the year together, and to offer them our congratulations as a class for completing middle school. I am glad that your son did enjoy the experience, though.

Best Regards,

(withheld name for privacy)

My only thought was “Really? This is what I get?” Now, not only disappointed in the school but feeling as if my intelligence was being insulted as I received a pat on the head; I responded with:

It was not my desire to have pomp & circumstance type commencement; my feelings are that every single student deserved some kind of individual recognition. Call all the kids names for each "hall" that completed middle school; eliminate 2 student speakers, and 1 music bit and there would have been plenty of time to allow for a sense pride and completion for each and every single student that worked hard both years.

I would have been camera happy just to have my son stand up and have his name recognized - as I’m certain A LOT of other parents would have been too. All the families of average students got shafted, plain and simple. I would honestly be ashamed if I were responsible for that event and would offer a public apology.

However, I am only one parent. My original note will probably bring some chuckles to you and your staff. I don't care. I said my piece; I appreciate your response at least letting me know that it was received and read, thank you for your time.

When did the education system become so disappointing? Did my mom have to fight this hard against common sense among the staff members? I know for a fact there was some ruckus caused by my mom when I was in school – I still get to hear those stories, but what happened? 

Since when is it OK to overlook all of the hard work of the “average” student? Everyone whines and complains when someone gets offended, but heaven forbid we pat a student on the back for doing their best even if it doesn't compare to the overachievers. Don’t get me wrong, if your kid sucks and failed to meet standards then there are consequences to be had; my Riley just barely scraped by last year (he was quite lucky that they don’t “hold back” kids in middle school).

What do you think? What would you have done in my position? Let me know in the comments below, I'd love to hear from you!

Merry Christmas to All!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

I absolutely love this time of year; family time, great food, traveling around the area to visit friends, the songs and celebrations, and most of all: my birthday. I do love it ... usually. I have found in the last few years that my anxiety levels skyrocket because I feel that I'm falling short of the Christmases my mom gave us when we were little. It always seemed that she had time for EVERYTHING! I could be wrong, people including Amazing Adam and my Mom have said that I'm wrong. For what it's worth... it still bothers me.

That being the case I have decided to change my life a bit to ease stressful situations.

ANNOUNCEMENT #1: 
I will no longer be accepting custom orders as my main motive of selling crochet items.

Whew! That one was a difficult decision, let me tell you... I find that when I crochet custom orders, I have a tendency to fizzle out, I get tired. I get sick of the colors or the repetitive stitches. I can't find all the time I need to put into a deadline. All those are reasons that it is not fair to the customer, let alone to my family or most importantly, myself.

ANNOUNCEMENT #2:
In the coming year I hope to open a shop where people can buy ready made items.

I anticipate a lot of new patterns, new yarns, and other items that fall off my hook to be sold! This is exciting for me. As I'm not only learning more advanced techniques of crochet, I hope you all will follow a store listing to buy my items.

ANNOUNCEMENT #3:
On occasion I will both accept custom orders - within certain parameters - and I look forward to not only creating my own patterns and posting/selling them, but also continuing to assist testing patterns for other designers as well.

This I do look forward to. Yes, there will be deadlines, but nothing that I cannot commit to. I will not forget my lovely geeky followers, but I also look forward to continuing to develop this blog. (Can't believe it has been almost 3 months since the last post!)

So, here's to the new year, and all the new developments in 2014! Thank you for all your love and support in 2013, I never could have imagined that I would have almost 5,000 blog views!

I hope everyone has a great and wonderful holiday season, remember those of us who are truly gifted with caring families, a talent which can feed families and put food in bellies, but don't forget those who need the help of our talents, some of us aren't so lucky. 

Merry Christmas! 

Happy New Year! 

See you all in a few weeks with a refreshed frame of mind!

Just Keep Swimming? Just Keep Swimming!

I must offer my most sincere apologies for my extended absence. It was never my intention to let posting lapse this long, but I’m sure I’m not the first blogger that this has happened to.

I have been quite busy with not only crocheting, but getting kids ready for school, keeping my head up at work, and finding time to keep my yarn moving on my hooks, all on top of increasing anxiety/depression issues. I don’t know what the deal is but sometimes it feels as if my golden chaos has barbs!

I have been spending a lot of time testing patterns for KT and the Squid and Cuddle Me Beanies (both can be found on Facebook). I love testing patterns, but as I've been testing, I find that keeping to the required timeline has become increasingly difficult. Therefore, I’m pledging to be more selective in the items/timelines I test. Testing patterns is a truly honorable thing to do and I find great joy in it, however living up to your end of the test is of utmost importance.

Other than that, I've finished a family of Seahawks football hats (pictures available on my Facebook page, hopefully), a few other hats as test patterns, including a skirt, and a few bags and owl cuddlies. I hope to post pictures in the near future.

Being that I’m backing off of testing patterns, I hope to dedicate more time to quality blog posts. Some ideas flowing through my brain are:

·         Posts detailing my personal opinion of very inspirational blogs or great access to patterns, some pay for and some for free

·         Posts of techniques that I find useful…

·         My experience with expanding my color acceptance… not everything has to be paired with black – I know shocking huh? J

·         Links to posts/patterns that I've used the in past and my personal opinions on their structure and finished product.

I’m in the process of becoming more organized (seriously, I have a pile of notebooks on my couch as I speak!) and am seriously trying to figure out this blogging thing!

I'd love to hear any comments or recommendations you have including your suggestions for links, designers to check out or ideas for blog posts!

Hidden Projects!

I have been remiss in posting ALL my little projects that I have crafted between other projects. This is my attempt to rectify that.

I have attempted to enter links to either the inspiration for or the pattern for the projects I have done. If you find that I have missed something, please let me know in the comments area after this post.

Cherry Blossom Necklace - Crochet Today Magazine, July/August 2011

Pattern by Crafster, Sandy Meeks

I saw this pattern featured on the Crochet Today Magazine website and loved it! I made it for a co-worker's birthday and now, my Mom wants one with a matching bracelet!

Not only was this pattern adorable, but it was easily completed in just a few hours, mostly after work during the week. Very easy to follow instructions that also allow for your own customization of the pieces. I loved it.


Cat Butt - Inspired by Crazy Socks Crochet

The feared One-Eyed Unicorn!!!

After seeing this idea on the blog for Crazy Socks Crochet, I couldn't get it out of my mind! It was too hilarious! So, after a few trial runs and a bit of unraveling this is what I ended up with. I made 5. One for each of my co-workers/employees and one for myself. This is defiantly one I'll end up making again!


Easter Bunnies! - Pattern by The Green Dragon Fly
I wanted to make something special for each of the kids this last Easter. It was already postponed for about 2 weeks because all the kids were with their other parents for the holiday & we waited for our Family Weekend.

When I saw the pattern for these adorable bunnies I figured that not only would it be adorable, but it would also give me a chance to use the pom-pom makers I received for Christmas!

Riley's bunny was based on a Star Wars idea I had. Riley normally wears a lot of black, but the red represented the Dark Side and the blue the Jedi side. Here's a front and back of his bunny:

Little bunny nose!

Cute red pom-pom tail!

Aurora's bunny I nicknamed "Neapolitan" because the colors of the yarn reminded me of the strawberry, vanilla and chocolate ice cream! Which lead to reminding myself of the "Ziggy Piggy" ice cream scene from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, but that's another story!

Starting to show slight loving, it may get a twin !

Love how these colors worked together!

Then darling little Jacob, his bunny was "garbage truck" colors, greens and browns etc. I saw a quote somewhere along the interwebs this week that said "boy" was noise with dirt on it. That is totally Jacob. Here's the bunny he received:

 

Crooked ears, I stitched them on before he was stuffed.

Still loving the sunburst patterns on them.

Yes, these bunnies may get twins, mostly so they can have something from Amazing Adam and I at their other parent's houses. Just so they remember that we love them no matter where they may be. 

TEST PATTERN: Aviator Hat - Cuddle Me Beanies

This last weekend I took on my first TEST PATTERN!!! I volunteered my time to test the pattern to an Aviator Hat for Cuddle Me Beanies. I had about 48 hours to stitch up the pattern all the while looking for typos or anything that may help the potential customers follow the pattern easier. It was a lot of fun!

Jacob's birthday is this week and fortunately he has a large noggin, so I agreed to the Adult sizes and when I was done, I had both Amazing Adam and Jacob pose for pictures:

Instructed to give me his best "to infinity and beyond!" pose!

So excited to have his hat, he was practically VIBRATING!

I had a lot of fun with this pattern and found that I loved testing patterns! I just have to keep my eyes open on Facebook to see who else is wanting help!

There you go folks, my last few busy weeks in between other projects. I have finished Part 1 of Jacob's birthday presents, pictures and all, but I'm hoping to make another post of just those - after I finish Part 2... if only I knew what I was making next!

Please let me know what you think about these projects - I'm dying to hear any feedback you can give and thanks for reading!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the folks out there that play a "Mommy" role in someone's life.

Since my son had plans with his father of this weekend he wasn't able to spend Mother's Day with me for the first time in 13 years. (sad) Instead of celebrating it on Sunday without him we started Friday night when we had all the kids with us.

I don't know how he did it, but Amazing Adam, being as amazing as ever, was able to find time in his running errands, playing school bus and chaperoning a field trip to the Children's Hands on Museum to get prizes for me.

When I arrived home, there were flowers waiting for me on the table, which my initial thrill was damped by darling Aurora walking in behind me and claiming that it smelled like pee in the house. (gee thanks!)

Pretty aren't they? I love the daisies and Adam's favorite is purple carnations!

Close up of the card... yes it does say "With Deepest Sympathy"!

Then as things settled down and people found some calm Amazing Adam called the children forward and each handed them a gift. The first one was from Aurora:

Love it! 

And a view of the poem on the reverse side:

So sweet!

I adore the fact that her teacher let her make two crafts as she still had one for her "Mommy." I brought this project to my desk at work to display proudly.

The the other prizes started revealing themselves from behind backs, under shirts and out of pockets!

A Hot Wheels '71 Plymouth Road Runner - black with flames
A Hot Wheels '66 Chevy Nova - blue and black
A Michael's Gift Card (of yarn) from Riley's pocket

Blind Box LEGO Mini Fig from Amazing Adam's pocket

So overall, it was quite a thrilling evening of prizes. Riley went off with his dad early Saturday morning with the warning that if he fails to call his Mother on Mother's Day he will be on a certain shit-list for the next 364 days. 

On Saturday, we had a great evening at the local speedway for car racing. Lots of crashes and fires under speeding vehicles. Amazing Adam's co-worker races there, he even took a break after his races to come visit us. You'd think Sponge Bob just came and sat with us from the way Jacob kept wanting his attention!

All the while on both Saturday and Sunday I was trying to get my project done for my Mother. She just got an RV so I wanted to make something to make it a bit homier, so I came up with the idea to make coasters with a holder for her. 

I found a pattern for Daisy Coasters by Whiskers and Wool and the inspiration started. I knew that I still had scraps of Lily Sugar & Cream cotton yarn at home, so I thought I'd start and see where it took me.

Finding that I still had rainbow colors, here is what my coasters ended up like:

Love them, odd tweak in the blue one, but oh well...

Then I thought that they'd be in the RV, rolling around flying everywhere as they went driving all over hell an' gone, so I wanted to make something to hold them in. This is what I came up with:

An adorable rainbow bowl to put them in! I free handed the base starting with red then every two rows changed colors, narrowing towards the top so they didn't need a fastener to keep them in the bowl. Just cram the stack in there and they stay!

I love this! Thinking of making more...

She loved them! I also made her a small white trinket bowl so that on their adventures if she found a rock or a shell, she'd have somewhere to start placing them, a collection of memories!

After we got home from delivering this to my mom, I finally received a Facebook message from Riley: "Do I still have to call?"

Boy, lemme tell you, I unleashed the caps lock on him, "YES!"

So I got the call from my little boy. I was happy.

Finished off the very last few minutes of the night, realizing that Amazing Adam had given me one of the best Mother's Day weekends I can ever remember. I had time to crochet and watch numerous episodes of Supernatural, I had prizes, I attended an event (more to his benefit than mine, but had a great time), and best of all, I have an amazing family.

None of us are really "morning people," we all have a tenancy to be quite cantankerous, quite a few of us want our way one way or another, but when push comes to shove, there is almost always one moment everyday that I can think of that is nothing but pure chaotic perfection. I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Please let me know in the comments below if you have any questions or would like to see patterns for anything I've posted, previous or current. 

Meep! Where'd the Time Go?

Wow, it has been a while since I last posted hasn’t’ it?

Well the time has not been wasted believe me! For a while I was working on a straggling Christmas present and a baby shower gift – both of which couldn’t be posted until they were given to the recipients and I didn’t’ want to take any chances!

I found a pattern for a Owl Granny Square Pattern on Repeat Crafter Me. I immediately thought of Amazing Adam's mother - she loves those birds and knew i had to make one for her.


Detailed picture of the Owl Granny Square

In the pattern it calls for buttons on the eyes, I didn't want to put hard plastic nubbins that close to the neck, might be uncomfortable, so I winged it on the eyes, but I think they still look adorable.


Completed Scarf with Owl Granny Squares

I had a lot of fun making these little squares. Granny Squares are quick and quite easy once you get the hang of them. Not to mention that they open up a whole world of variations even with the "normal" patterns for them. I love how these owls were combined with the square, really brilliant concept if you ask me.

I made a total of 6 owl granny squares and 6 normal granny squares. I attached them so that there were 3 owls on each side and the normal squares would be where it wrapped around the neck.
The next present I made was for Amazing Adam's cousin, I made a small baby blanket, inspired by the granny squares. I didn't embellish it, just a plain and simple blue and brown color scheme in a size that would fit into a diaper bag or that the baby could carry around with him once he's older. I loved it. Hopefully, she'll find a use for it.

Tag-a-long sized baby blanket

Over the last few months of rather disappointing “Winter” weather here in the Great Northwest, it has been cold, but no snow. It has even been cold in my office; often times my nose and hands are quite cold; I’ve been dressing to be comfortable at work with a minimum of 4 layers of sweaters, t-shirts and tank tops, but still finding that my fingers are cold. What do I need?


Scarf? Have one, exceptionally long and soft, but difficult to work at a desk with. (Lion Brand Homespun in Gothic) *sorry no picture*

A cowl? Ok, we can try that… Adorable! I’m hoping to post this pattern here in the near future. What else could I use so I can be warm... at work... inside?



Finished cowl

Fingerless gloves! Still currently in mid-creation with those, found inspiration from a pattern, winged it on the rest. Picture and possible pattern (hopefully) will follow.

Then I was on the search for a new inspiration something that would drive my hook on its own power! I found … squat. So I dusted off some UFOs (UnFinished Objects). Top hat with Viking horns for Amazing Adam –kind of a franken-project and unable to find an acceptable pattern for horns; therefore I’m now on my own for that project, got one horn started and came to a stall, haven’t lost all hope yet.

Then I remembered a while back I promised a Little Big Planet Sack Boy for one of my employees. Found a few patterns way back, found the yarn and partially completed sets of limbs – winged the patterns a bit.

All the bits and pieces to this little creature were so stinkin' small! I almost gave up a few times, but I got it done, and it's too cute. Successfully completed and delivered!

Now we’re into tax return season. Last year my reward was my beautiful tablet – I’m still in love with it even with all the issues I ended up having in November. I don’t need nor do I have the abundant resources I did last year for such an exuberant prize. I’m going to make a few purchases that will pay out through the year. I’m going to create a crochet gift prize. Maybe some hooks, maybe some yarns, but definitely paper copies of a few magazines. I’m still doing my research but I may be close to deciding exactly which ones I’m going to subscribe to.

In doing my research I have purchased a few magazines off the stands and in the process found some ADORABLE warmth keeping items that I’m dying to get to in addition to some brilliant ideas that I may be able to modify away from the stick figure models into something that a curvy female such as myself may be proud to wear. We’ll have to see how it goes.

Tonight is going to be an adventure for me. I joined a yarn crafting group through MeetUp.com a few months ago, and as I spend most of my "school nights" chasing 2-3 children until supper and bedtime, I wasn’t able to work any of their scheduled Tuesday evening events into my calendar - until tonight!

I’m super excited and can’t wait until work is done to get over there. I packed my yarn bag last night and am already to head straight over there after work. Hopefully, I’ll be able to update all of you when I get home as Amazing Adam won’t be done with work until much later than that.

Now for my final photo for this post. It's Amazing Adam proving he's still a big kid at heart, playing with Jacob and Aurora. I love it!

Riley was a witness behind my shoulder as I took this picture.

 I love this crazy family - chaos and love all rolled into one. I wouldn't change it for the world.

Happy New Year!

What a year it has been! Amazing Adam and I rang in the New Year as any couple without kids for the night would do... we slept! Amazing Adam was coming out from under a hangover from the night before when he met up with his coworkers for some holiday festivities. That may be the last time he goes out with the guys unsupervised! Not really - it was kind of nice being the only one home for a few hours.

We had a great Christmas - celebrated 12/28-29 for our family because of parenting plans. I finished my final crochet project in the wee hours of our Christmas morning. Luckily enough, the kids - all of them - slept in until about 8:30am.


This year, I tried to get as many projects done as presents for the entire family as I could. I was able to finish this bag for my mom (in white), a cousin (in mustard yellow), and my sister (in jewel tones). This pattern can be found here as a free Ravelry download.

This bag worked up quite quickly after I learned the stitch clusters necessary to get the flower motif on the bottom. Now, it's not so bad to do - there's a lot less unraveling!







Riley has been playing a lot of Magic: The Gathering lately and has discovered the Penny Cards at our local comic book/geekery store; which has resulted in not only his collection of cards increasing exponentially but Amazing Adam's collection as well. So for Christmas this year, I found a Dragon's Egg bag pattern as a free Ravelry download, here.

I even successfully lied to Riley as I crocheted the bag right in front of him. Told him it was for someone at work.




At more than one time this past year, darling little Aurora became increasingly annoying by sitting in the van or walking around the apartment and meowing rather than using her words, therefore she got a kitty hooded scarf, pattern was found here.

This picture does nothing to the color pink she was litterally covered in - she looks like a pink highlighter vomited all over her! I can't seem to get away from this color pink, but she doesn't seem to mind!

She owns a shirt stating that her favorite color is rainbow, so I'll have to start working with those in mind too. This was a fun pattern to make, it should definately keep her warm.





Jacob is our race car and super hero fan. So he got a Lightning McQueen hat. I did find a pattern for it here but since I was working with a serious deadline, I made the decision to work with hat patterns I have worked in the past.

Due to the differece in yarn weights, I ended up combining two of them... yes, I probably do have issues, but it worked out great. I used this pattern for the body and this pattern to work the ear flaps. No, everything did not come out perfect, but with a bunch of stitch markers and quiet time to count stitches I think it turned out great.

The front "eye" part of the hat was pretty easy, placing the eyes not so much, it's hard to see what it is going to look like with the ends in the way, then sewing it on, I had to unstitch a couple times because it was crooked.

Then I had an idea for a lightning bolt in the back, like "CAA-CHING" thing that he does, right? Have you ever tried to crochet a lightning bolt??? Well there is a serious lack of patterns for them on the interwebs out there! My attempts ended up looking like malformed yellow carrot noses!


So, I picked up a hook and some yarn and thought, what's the worst thing I could do? A single chain and put his numbers on there... well that turned into how can I make the yarn bend? A few tries later I ended up with two squirrley pieces of yarn that successfully made the "95" on the back of his hat!

It felt like a glorious breakthrough! I know they're crooked, but dangit, I don't care (too much anyway) even if I didn't write down the pattern. *sigh*

Jacob also got some Iron Man fingerless gloves. I had made some a few years ago of the most simple pattern and they've since been lost or misplaced. I saw the pattern for these and thought they were perfect for this little boy! I had a difficult time with these, the pattern I found here was confusing to read and not the best print out in black-and-white printing. The last straw was when everyone was up, we were supposed to be leaving for my parent's house to open Santa presents and I realized that the thumbs were both on the same side! I had to figure out how to make them match & get those blaster thingies on the same sides! I turned one inside out. I didn't have enough time to make another one, let alone WANT to make another one! No one's noticed and I don't really care. The most important thing was that he loved them.

 

Then on the night of the 29th, we celebrated my birthday:

 

I did get some great goodies for crochet... I received 3 rosewood crochet hooks, sizes G, H & I. I was using the G hook on a scarf for my mother-in-law and the hook snapped off! Sadness!! So, now I'm down to just the H & I. I loved using them, they're nice and long and very light weight. (GEEK TRIVIA: Fleur Delacour used a rosewood wand.) I also received like 5 pom-pom makers. Those will be so much easier than trying to figure out how to make different sizes and what I should make them with.

 

Overall, we all had a really nice Christmas and New Year.

 

Kids go back to school tomorrow, we'll have the same ol' full house tomorrow night - I've kind of missed it.

 

What would I like to see for this new year? I'd love to move, move into some where that we're not always under each other's feet, but not too far away from each other. I'd love to build up more stock for another craft fair or two. Another garage sale in the summer? More sales of crocheting things? Who knows... all that truly matters is the important things: health, happiness and love, and in the aspect of achieving those things, I'm truly thankful.

 

May you find your happiness, keep your healthfullness and feel loved in the New Year.

 

And because I can... a picture of my Mom's dog Chewie