That, my friends, is a finish!

Finally, after a few months break from the hooks, I got back at it. This baby afghan was made for a friend who was expecting her first little one. The nursery was decorated in a Jungle theme and I thought the colors would go along nicely with it.

This stitch is so simple but creates a nice fabric for a warm blanket to snuggle in. It is simply sc in one stitch dc in the next.

The baby, Hunter, made his grand entrance on July 24th. His Mom was such a trooper, first child, no epidural, and 18 hours of hard labor.

I got the pattern and color idea from a afghan I found on Pinterest, and comes from Cap's Crochet & Crafts. I didn't follow it to a T but pretty closely.

The border I came up with on my own. To hook it:

Ch 4,

in the same stitch 3 tr crochet

skip 2 stitches and slip stitch.

repeat around the blanket.

After spending months away from the hooks it felt so good to feel yarn in my fingers again. I took a break to work on making hair bows and head bands for my girls and to try to sell. My seester and I took a table full of hair bows and headbands to a flea market in Pineville, NC to try to sell. After 5 hours in the 100 degree heat, booth rental, and gas expenses I cleared about $30.00. Totally not worth it! So all my ribbons, bows, clips, and headbands were put into bins and stuffed under the bed. Maybe I will bring them out again one day, but for now I will just stick with making bows for my girls.

I have a granny stripe on my hook and am halfway finished with it. Its going to be a Christmas present for my brother and his wife. I will show it to you hopefully soon. Also, I just want to say a thank you to all the followers who stuck around while I have been gone. It really means a lot.

TTYS!

Good Grief Ya'll!

So, Saturday morning I was enjoying some peace and quiet, coffee cup in hand, and enjoying a nice stroll through blog land. I was looking at this blog (go check out her Infinity scarf, gorgeous and she has a tutorial) when I saw my blog name on the side bar. Right under my name are the words "1 month ago". WHAT? That can't be right! I haven't blogged in over a month?!?  Bad Blogger, Bad! No excuses, I have got to do better than this!

Well, lets see, what have we been up to. Last time I wrote I was off on a vacay. We had a wonderful time at the beach, the weather was absolutely perfect, the girls and my Mom had a great stress free time. I love to watch the sunrises over the ocean. We began the September beach trips many years ago to take my MaMa Murry to see the sunrise on the ocean for her birthday, which would have been September 7th. It was bittersweet to see this sunrise, she passed away in March of this year. I think this is the prettiest one I have seen yet.

I got to see some friends who moved to Myrtle Beach a few years ago, and their children. I photographed their wedding 10 years ago, and while at the beach I photographed her Daughters Senior pictures. Here she is ready to take on the world.

This past Saturday we went to a birthday party for a very special lady.

This is my Great-Aunt Aline with her family. Happy 90th Birthday!

A couple of sweet little guys had birthdays recently also.

Caden Jacob turned one on September 20th. I introduced him in this post.

Thomas turned one on September 29th. Here was his debut on here.

Let me introduce you to Thomas' new little brother, Brayden.

Yes, Thomas and Brayden are less than a year apart. To be exact 21 days from being a year apart. Their Mother, my cousin Heather, would be very appreciative of any prayers ya'll would like to send up for her. :-)

Brayden was born on September 8th. The day after what would have been our MaMa's 90th birthday.

I think I will stop here. I have been up the last two nights with a sick 6 year old, sore throat, coughing, and fever. She has a doctor appointment at 2 this afternoon. We are hoping its not strep.

Look for upcoming posts with my crafty projects coming up soon. I promise it won't be a month before we meet again.

TTYS!

On to the next

I am feeling so accomplished these days. I got the blue and brown stripes finished and have started another afghan in the same pattern. These rows work so fast.

I love how the setting sunlight glows on the edge of the blanket in this picture.

I waited to late, again, to take the pictures but wanted to get them taken so I can wrap this up and take it to my cousin. I missed the baby shower this weekend, I was helping my Brother and Sister-in-Law move to the new house they have bought.

This is the next afghan I have started, frogged, and started again. I am making this one for my Aunt Donna and Uncle Kim's Christmas present. She asked me to make an afghan in Autumn colors about a year ago and I think I got them about right. 

The first attempt started with a chain of 210 and ended up being about a foot and a half taller than me. My Uncle is a tall man and would have still been way to long for him. My Aunt is just over 5 feet tall and I was scared she would tangle up and suffocate in all that. So I ripped it all out and restarted with a chain of 189, it is still long but better. I am doing a row of sc, granny stripe, sc in each color then changing to the next color. It really works fast and may just be my go to pattern when I need something done quick.

Now it's time to brag a little. I have lived in South Carolina my entire life, never would I want to live anywhere else. I am a Carolina Girl through and through. I tell everyone I was raised on three basic beliefs:

1. God

2. Family

3. South Carolina Gamecocks.

Last night the Gamecocks baseball team won the College World Series! This is the second year in a row they have won and I am so proud! Way to go Boys! Now its time to get ready for some Gamecock Football! I love College Football, could care less about Pro Football though, even with the Carolina Panthers less than a hour from me.

I hope you all are having a great week. We are getting ready for the 4th and all the parades, cookouts, and fireworks that go along with it. We have a small community near where I live that has a parade every year on the 4th and anything can be in it as long as it is decorated with American Flags. It is fun to see just what people come up with. My girls ride in it with my Aunt Ann and Uncle Phillip. She is on the four wheeler, he is on his Motorcycle and each take one of my girls. They love it!

Whatever plans you may have, have fun, stay cool, and be careful. Hope to see you here soon with pictures of all the fun, festivities, and fireworks.

TTYS!

New baby blanket in the works

This is the start of a new baby blanket I am making for my cousin Jennifer's first baby.

Braxton is due to make his appearance in August.

I have been looking for a pattern I liked and could not find one. I know she has many patterns in the nursery, baby blue and brown diamonds, stripes, and paisley with circles. I started making diamonds and sewing them together but was just not happy with them. I decided to do a granny stripe but added single crochet in between the color changes.

Here's how I did it:

Started with a chain of 120.

SC for 3 rows.

Granny stripe for 6 rows.

SC for 3 rows. Change color.

SC for 3 rows.

Granny stripe for 3 rows.

SC for 3 row. Change color.

repeat

I will finish the other end in the baby blue I started with, with the 3 rows of SC, 6 rows of Granny stripe and 3 rows of SC.

I love how it is turning out, and of course I am using I Love This Yarn! The colors are #70 Soft Blue and #160 Brown.

I have been looking at these hooks for a while now and finally gave in a got a couple of them. I got a H hook and a G hook. Oh My! You would not believe the difference these hooks have made with my hands. I can crochet longer without my hands getting achy. I have been doing some Amigurumi lately for my Pre-K class and a G hook makes my hand hurt after using it a long time. Not now! I will be going back and getting all sizes in these.

Look what my child came running up with last weekend. A little Mockingbird fell out of its nest and of course she found it. This child will pick up any kind of bug, insect, and animal. I have found Granddaddy Long Legs, Lady Bugs, Lightening Bugs (fireflies to people who are not from the south! :-}), and most recently 2 bull frogs and a tree frog in the house recently.

She ran inside and got a bowl for it, and was even digging in the yard looking for worms to feed it. Ugly little thing ain't it! I made her put it back and we have been watching out for it making sure the Mama bird is feeding it.

WARNING! DIRTY CHILDREN AHEAD!!

What could be better after a long afternoon playing outside than a nice slice of cold watermelon? We spent pretty much all afternoon outside playing so they were sweaty, sticky, dirty, and very happy! 

I have been listening to a few rumbles of thunder while typing this up, so its time to grab a cup of coffee and head to the porch to watch a storm blow in. I love thunderstorms, and can always be caught on the porch during one with my camera ready to try to catch a photo of lightening. Crazy? Yeah I know but I love it so much. Hope your having a great weekend where you are.

TTYS! 



It is Finished...

Finished!!!!  Sorry, it feels so good to actually have finished something that I just had to shout it.

I love how this little baby blanket has turned out. Perfect colors for a little baby boy.

They match the colors of the Jungle themed nursery.

Please ignore the weed filled flower bed in the back ground, just concentrate on the blanket. :-)

Speaking of finished, yesterday was Marandas last day of Kindergarten.

A picture of her on her first day of school in August. Look at all that hair.

And a picture of her on the last day of school.

It is so hard to believe I have a first grader now. Next thing I know she will be starting college.

I Love Spring!

This is one of the reasons I haven't been crocheting as much lately.

Every year I  plan where I want to put flower beds.

And fill pots full of plants.

To fill the side porch,

and the ground.

So this year I decided to quit just planning and start doing!

The walkway going to the side door. The door we use all the time.

My oldest picked out these. She likes the name of them (Snap Dragons), but always calls them Snapping Dragons.

This is me. I promise I have on pants, they are pale pink PJ pants! Ha! That is also a sweater I have on because Mother Nature is so moody this year and decided we needed cooling off.

Now as promised. The progress on the Blue Granny.

Only 15 more squares to go then the rounds of border. I just got to get going on it agian.

Maybe when I finish this. This is a new baby blanket I have started. It is going to my Cousin Heather. Remember her from this post? She is due again around the first of September! Thomas will turn one on September 29th! Two babies less than a year apart. She is having another little boy. This will make 1 girl 4 boys! Lord help her!

The pattern is Sunny Spread by Ellen Gormley, found on Ravelry. I am doing 5 squares by 5 squares and about about 12 rounds of single crochet for the border. Only two more brown squares to make and then just joining and border.

Tomorrow morning Maranda graduates from Kindergarten! So hard to believe, my babies are growing up  so fast. Tomorrow Kindergarten, next week College.

I hope you all are having a great start to the week. TTYS!

Little Boy Blue

 

This little fellow is Thomas. He is my cousin Heather's newest addition to the family!

There have been three new additions to my family this year, and all within one week of each other. I am so very glad I didn't drink the water at the last family reunion! God knows I would have loved to have a house full of kids, and would have been thrilled with a little boy, but I am thankful for the two little girls I was blessed with!

This is the blanket I decided to make for Thomas. It is a Leisure Arts pattern from leaflet #460. It is more commonly referred to as the NEVER ENDING blanket from Hell! A friend of mine was crocheting one from the same pattern at the same time and it seemed neither one of us would ever finish.

I like how it turned out, and so did the Mommy.

I am still not sure about the white near the edge, but wasn't going to buy another skein just for that little bit.

We are in a recession after all!

Happy Fall Ya'll!!

A friend that I work with asked me if I would make an afghan for her 1 year old niece for Christmas. Well of course I would! I tried about 3 different patterns and just wasn't "feeling" any of them.  Then  along came Pammy Sue with her Good & Plenty afghan, so I tried it. I really like the look of it and just love how fast it works.

I followed the pattern from Pammy Sue, but decided to have the stripes going vertically instead of horizontally.

I think it turned out all cutesy and girly! Stephanie loves it and said she may keep it for herself.

I told her if she would be nice and give it to her niece like planned I would make her one for a wedding present in different colors.

I didn't use the same edging she did. I single crocheted 2 rows of pink all around, one sc row of white, and two sc rows of purple. Then I added a ruffled edge from The Garden Bells Dark Side of the Moon afghan. If you get a chance check out both of these ladies sites, http://www.scottys-place.blogspot.com/ and http://www.thegardenbell.blogspot.com/. They both have beautiful crochet items, recipes, and Pammy Sue's dogs are just adorable.

I love this time of year! The trees around here have finally started putting on a show. Just one week ago this tree in my side yard was still green, and look how beautiful it is today.

I love the colors of this season.

Happy Fall Ya'll!!!