To my New England fans

I decided everyone, other then my kids, were getting handmade items this Christmas. That made my decisions quite difficult for my dad and brother. Then I came across a hat somewhere online, and it gave me an idea. My brother is a huge Red Sox fan. No pattern in particular, I just did a basic beanie hat, and the scarf if done with HDC 20 or so st across, 5 feet long, give or take.

I used Red Heart Super Saver yarn, a little more then a skein of the Windsor Blue for both, and just an ounce or 2 of the red

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And for my dad, the Patriots. This picture makes the red, white and blue at the bottom look a little funky. It doesn't really look like that. Again, I used a little more then a skein of the Windsor Blue, and just an ounce or so of the red and white. The hat is the same pattern as I did here, but I made the brim a lot shorter and used a smaller hook, H instead of I. So this is more of a tighter fit then the other

I also made another keyhole scarf. Modeling this lovely, is my equally lovely daughter :)

This is made with 2 yarns held together. Homespun Cotton Candy, and Caron Simply Soft Eco Baby Blush.

Winter wonderland

Day 6 and there are still around 70,000 people without power. My town, according to the electric company website, says 95% will be restored by tomorrow. That doesn't help the 5% that may not have it back by Christmas. There are still some towns that the damage is so extent, they can't even begin to estimate a completion. With that said, we awoke to this, this morning

This area is expected to get 2-5" and another system is moving in for Friday, bringing who knows what. Because of the power outages, our high school has been turned into a shelter, so there had been no school Monday and Tuesday. Yesterday afternoon, we recieved the call all parents were waiting for. Whether or not school would be cancelled the rest of the week. And yes, no school all week. Sounds great, but starting next week, the kids start their winter break. A 2 week winter break. So now, the kids will not be back in school until January 5, 2009. This extra week off means the end of school will be extended, but that is everyone's last thought right now. Last year with all the snow we had, around 120" yes 10 feet, they went to school until June 18, or somewhere around there. Well this year school's last day of school, without any snow days, is June 16. We haven't even had the first day of winter yet!

My poor son can only sit and watch the snow fall. He has only one pair of snow pants. His only pair of snow pants went to school with him last Tuesday, and you guessed it, did not come home with him. I talked to his teacher on the phone Thursday night, and she tracked said pants down. They went home with a classmate, and he would bring them back Friday. Well Friday came, bringing us ice, no school and no snow pants. Hopefully, the weather won't be so bad this weekend, and we can take a trip to the mall and find him some. I am less hopeful then I was yesterday, at the prospects of finding snow pants. Now with all this white stuff, I imagine ski pants will be slim pickins!

A couple more down

Christmas is approaching far too quickly. I do only have a few other items left, so it's not so bad, although we have yet to start on the kids. Looks like day before shopping. That's ok, not much to choose from the day before, therefore, we won't buy too much useless stuff for them. :)



Here's another glamour girl scarf

A cute shopping bag. I'm not crazy about the handle but the bag is great. I will be making many more of these. This was made with Lily Sugar'n Cream cotton yarn, Light Grape

This hotpad is so pretty. It was a little tricky figuring how to assemble the motifs, then I realized there was a video that showed how to. I'm glad I saw this, otherwise this would never have been a finished project! This, and the washcloth below, is also made with Lily Sugar'n Cream cotton yarn. The solid color is Light Sage and the varigated is Peppercorn Ombre.

State of Emergency

On Friday, December 12, 2008, the Northeastern part of the United States woke to disaster. A little more then 1 million people woke to no power. Amazingly, little old New Hampshire alone made up almost half of that! We were quite thankful not to lose our power, one of the only neighborhoods in my town that didn't. Because of that, we opened our home, and shower, to a few friends. At the height of the power outages, more then 400,000 homes in NH were without power. Today, 4 days later that number is finally below 100,000. They are talking that some homes may not have power restored by Christmas. Here's a video of the damage to our town. Here's another
Although disasterous, the trees were beautiful. I took a few pictures, below, and you can click here to see some from our local news station's website.

2 more

My Christmas gifts are almost done, although, I am leaving a blanket for last so that should take up a week or two of my time. Being as Christmas is in what, 5 or 6 weeks, I guess I should start.

This is a fun little scarf for a girl.

This hat was very easy, looks hard though. I do admit, it took me quite a while to get it just right though. I don't know if there was an error in the directions, or if it was on my part. The latter is more likely. I had an extra stitch that was throwing me off, so I just added a bpdc to the beginning of each round after the ch2, starting in round 6. Came out great, and I love this hat. I think I will be making us all one. I am not good at adjusting patterns to fit the size I need, so the children will get one too, just a tad shorter. I can't make it smaller in diameter. They don't care though, so long as they can see!

Another scarf

This was such an easy scarf. One of those patterns that looks difficult if you don't crochet, with the slant detail in it. I made it with Red Heart Super Saver, Grey Heather. I used about 7 oz or so.

This isn't the best picture, but you can see the slant stitch in it.

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Scarves galore!

I am slightly addicted to making scarves for some reason. So, guess what everyone's getting this Christmas? Normally, people who first learn to crochet or knit do this as gifts, ha! Now I am on a mission to find all sorts of patterns, and of course reciepients of said scarves. I won't tell you who all these are for, incase any of you are looking at this ;-)

This is what I have so far:

This one is an adults keyhole scarf and matching hat. To fit an adult I did have to add a round even though the pattern says its for an adult. I found the pattern was perfect for a toddler/small child when followed. I made this with 2 strands of yarn. A little more then one skein of Homespun Montana Sky Blue, and 1 skein Caron Simply Soft, something in the blue family the label was missing. Its super soft and so warm!

This is the same pattern. I used 1 strand of Homespun Sierra and Caron Perfect Match Cream.

This one is a toddler size. I used the same pattern for the hat just a smaller hook and less rounds. This is the scarf pattern. Again, I used 2 strands of yarn. Red Heart Super Saver Pink Camo. I think It was about 1 5oz skein. I used 2 and had combined, probably, 1 left when done.

Lastly, this is my favorite. Its so pretty. Its folded in half for the picture so it's not this short. I couldn't tell you how much yarn was used, not a lot. Few ounces of each. There's 3 colors here, single stranded this time. The most used was the varigated one. Red Heart Pink Camo, like in the previous picture. Second was Red Heart Super Saver Light Raspberry and the last was a light pink. Again, label was missing.

Fake food

I've started Christmas presents. I have a few things going on, and when I get more motivated to actually finish them I'll share :)

I have done some great food though

Now off to find all the patterns I bookmarked months ago, and get going. Christmas is closer then I want to admit :)

I am still here!

Oh my goodness, it's been so long! I am still here, and have started many projects for Christmas. If anyone is still reading this, please please check back in the next day or two. I will be posting what I've been working on. I have not worked on any blankets, sorry. Summer was great, once the rain decided to stop, we spent it outside mostly playing. Now the cold weather is upon us, so I am back to the hooks and yarn. I have a few fun projects I have started I can't wait to share.

Raverly

I just joined up with Ravelry My screen name is monkeemom2000 if you want to look me up. I have never heard of this site before, but it looks really cool. I'm excited to look around.

Another blanket

This blanket is approximately 35"X40"

Texturally, this is one of my favorite blankets made. The center variegated yarn is worsted. The rest of it is so soft though. The dark purple is Lion Suede. The pink and light purple are Caron Simply Soft. It is just a soft soft blanket and I'm so happy for some little girl to receive this!

Blanket

My first blanket is complete

It's approximately 34"X40"

I will probably make a few more before donating them. I am excited to check out the store that has the drop bin though.

Pattern found

Thanks to Beth, who commented on my last blog entry, I was able to locate the square I used. It's called Bobby's square
Also, I assembled the squares with a HDC, instead of the normal whip stitch normally used. A friend of mine had made a blanket assembled this way and I think it gave such a neat texture to the blanket. Then I just finished it with two rounds of black done in DC.

It's complete

After, what seemed like forever, I have completed my dear husband's blanket. It is approximately 48"x84" give or take an inch.

Almost

We are in the midst of a major heat wave here in New Hampshire. Of course, I choose now to finish up my husband's blanket. It's the size of a twin blanket, and very very warm laying over me as I assembled all the squares. Last step, and I won't do that until the sun goes down later tonight, is the edge and it will be done. I told him last night when he got home from work that he better appreciate this blanket, as sweat was pouring down my face. I will get photos up as soon as its done. This blanket, for some reason, took me forever to do. Now that it's close to done though, I am excited to finish it up and see the finished project!

I'm getting there

So as I feared, I do not have enough yarn to make my dear husband his blanket. That's quite alright though. It means a trip to AC Moore! I can't go in and buy just 1 skein of yarn now can I? that wouldn't be fair to all the other yarn in there.
I believe I have 7 maybe 8 squares made, yes out of 24. I really need to get moving. The nice weather is here, for now, so I spend the day outside with the kids. They play on the swingset, I make squares.

3 down

21 to go! Before I start making blankets, I must first fullfill a promise I made my husband, ages ago. To make him a blanket. I have made everyone I know it seems one, and he's been hounding me for one. So here are the first 3

I can't seem to find this pattern for the life of me, so if anyone wants it sorry! I know I got in online, but it's MIA.

I am making this with Caron's one pound, color Lace. I have 3 of these, not sure how many squares I'll get out of it. Each square is 12" and plan is to make the blanket 4x6 squares. I have never been any good at telling how many oz of yarn I use to make things, so again if you want to know, I'm not the person to ask : )

So looks like as long as I get 8 squares per skein, we're good. I will more then likely edge it with black, another color I have a lot of.

As soon as this is finished, I will move on to Project Linus blankets. Again, looking for any yarn donations if you happen to have any. The drop box for these, is at this fabric store, so I may get into trouble going in there to drop off! I may try my hand at those fleece no sew blankets too. Baby steps though, I'm not that crafty.

Locks of Loves

I have been growing my hair out for years. I've decided I needed a new look, and what better way to convince me to cut my hair, then to donate to Locks of Love So I went in to my hairdresser's with a photo of a very short hair cut, and asked to chop it all off. 15" to be precise.

Here I am before the change

Here I am now, much lighter and curlier