Sunflower

"Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow.

It's what sunflowers do."

Helen Keller

This photo was taken by my bestest buddy, Kim Hill. I was so taken with it I asked her if I could share it on my blog!

Yarn Swap = Too Much Fun

Yarn Swap!
Originally uploaded by Buckster's Pics

Looky what was on my doorstep when I got home from work this evening! My swap partner, Gloriana, sent me this box full of goodies, yarn & chocolate! She also tucked in a couple of other pretties as well! Thanks so much Gloriana! I love it...That red yarn is totally yummy! And I do so love red! And thank you Alessandra for organizing our swap!

This was my first swap to participate in, and it has been so much fun. I so enjoyed shopping for my swap partner and putting her package together, and cannot wait to hear how she likes it!

Everyone have a great day!

Ponchette

Poncho
Originally uploaded by Buckster's Pics

As I am waiting on an order of yarn to arrive at my doorstep and I am at a standstill in working on my scarf, I thought I would resurrect an old favorite. This is a little ponchette which I knit up in a variety of yarns. It is mostly garter stitch with a row of drop stitches intermingled every few rows. The color combination is random. My method is purely impromptu by selecting colors and I knit! This is my favorite way to knit ~ no pattern ~ just go with it. And look at the result!

There has been a little inkling in the back of my mind - giving me the urge to pick up my knitting needles! My yarn stash is in such disarray right now and needs to be put back into order. When I begin to sort it out and get it organized I start putting color combinations together...resulting in something like this little ponchette!

This yarn thing is such a sweet addiction! :-)

Granny Square Scarf Progress

Granny Square Scarf Progress
Originally uploaded by Buckster's Pics

Just a little peek at my progress. Funny how this always seems to happen. I have all these leftovers from my Babette Blanket...so I say to myself, "hey, I should make a scarf from my extra yarn"! It makes perfect sense, right?! So what happens, well I run out of the navy blue. Go figure! And it definitely is not long enough.

So I put in a new order yesterday to Knit Picks. I do love this Pallette wool. The colors are so vibrant! Well, I am happy to say I ordered more navy blue and about five balls of other colors! LOL! You know, I couldn't order just one ball of yarn...that's insane!

Kar, if you are reading this your package is on it's way! I am enjoying this swap thing. This is my first one. We are swapping two skeins of yarn and some chocolate...it's too much fun!

Everyone have a good day!

Sunday on the Back Porch

Good Sunday Morning to all my bloggy friends! Welcome to my screened in porch! The ceiling fan is on making it nice and cool out here.


I thought it would be fun to bring you my vast collection of granny squares which have ended up in the "idea basket". This the place those left over squares go when they leave my hook and do not fit into what I am currently working on. There they share a space with those that I work up to find the perfect combination of colors. I have gathered them together to give everyone a little picture show!


I thought I would begin with the squares I crocheted from embroidery floss. This one was an experiment in brown and pink. I changed colors on the diagonal to split the square into two triangles, one of browns and one of pinks. I thought this had a lot of design possibilities!


I am sure some may be familiar with this little square, which is the one I use in my "red hot mama vest". I think it is one of my faves! Once again you can see how much I love to change colors, and I do it randomly in this square leaving the outer rounds of the square devoted to reds.


This is a traditional granny done in different color rounds of embroidery floss. I believe these were left over from a purse I made a couple years ago.


Here are a couple of pineapple grannies, which I had totally forgotten about! Very time consuming, but very rewarding. This was simply an attempt to satisfy my curiosity of how it would look in embroidery floss as well as a learning experience. I think they are very pretty.


These little squares are a result of some in between time on a couple projects and some left over yarn. I thought it would be fun to see how they would look joined in different ways. One way seamed together...


and joined by crocheting them together. I like both!


These are two squares left over from a very funky retro scarf. I really want to make another one of these scarves! Let's put that on the list of things to do!


Some bright little octagons from left over yarn!


Cute...done in cammo colors!


Pink & black...kinda cute.


More pink. Another where I randomly changed colors in each square. Kinda funky!


I really like these! They just weren't right for the skirt I was working on.


And More!

I would love to share some more in this post, but I believe I have run out of space!
Blogger won't let me upload any more photos to this entry...so for now...I will leave you with this much. And hopefully I have inspired some bloggy creativity!

I am off to a Sweet 16 Birthday Party for the coolest little 16 year old in the world!! Happy Birthday Savanah!

Lost & Found

Greetings to all my blog buddies! Things are good here. This past weekend while organizing my yarn stash, I realized how much yarn I had left over from my Babette blanket and decided it needs to be put to use. And upon further inspection, lying in the bottom of the basket buried under balls of wool I found a little trio of four rounders that had been forgotten and did not make it into my blanket. OH THE INHUMANITY! They are much too pretty to stay there, so I posed them with the beginings of a new granny square scarf, which I will definitely felt, and a little patch of crocheted octagons.



These colors rock!!

I crocheted the octagons out of simple curiosityof what they would look like done up in this yarn. And boy are they small! I should have laid something familiar in there to give you an idea of the size. For now, they will remain as is while I finish up my latest scarf...but they will definitely not be forgotten. I will add to them!




I also found this poor little lone granny square amidst the pile of yarn. It's very pretty. I am not sure if I am the only one that does this, but many times I just play with different yarns and work up odd grannies just to see if I like them. I have a drawer full of these! Actually, that would make a great blog posting...odd squares! (I can hear the wheels in my brain turning as I type!)

Also, mixed in with all that brightly colored wool I came across this yarn and six completed squares. I immediately seamed them together. I love em! There is enough yarn there to complete something, whether it be a scarf or a pillow!



These soft muted browns look so pretty in my favorite yarn basket (woven by yours truly years ago)! Yes, I used to make baskets regularly. But after hand surgery it was a bit hard on my hand so I had stopped. I once again have that desire to pull out the basket weaving materials and start on something. Basket making is so rewarding. I suppose it is because your finished product is so useful and practical, yet it is like a little piece of art! Much like crochet is to me. :-)


I have to sign off with a picture of Phoebie and her owl toy, affectionally named "Hootie"...because he makes this strange noise that is supposed to resemble an owl hooting. LOL...it does not. But she loves it. "Where's Hootie?" That's all I have to say and this is what follows. Sometimes I cannot stand all that cuteness!!

Pretty In Pink!

After finishing up with Babette, which used a Peruvian wool sock yarn in very vibrant colors, I felt the need to take a complete turn. I had a craving for some simple acrylic yarn and a traditional granny square! It started with a trip to Hobby Lobby where I scoped out their home brand of yarn, I Love This Yarn, and began looking at the pinks. WOW...they were gorgeous...they had so many it was hard to decide. I love pink and brown together so I grabbed up some of that yummy acrylic in two shades of pink, a chocolate brown, and a pretty creamy white for accent...loaded them into my cart, checked out, and headed for home.

The first granny square came together not much later. One square became two, then three...you get the picture!





This is the result. Took me just a couple of evenings to get it done. I think it will end up in my etsy shop, but right now it remains on my dress form for me to look at every time I walk by it.

It's a given that I had to do something with my left overs. I had a good amount left for another scarf, but wanted to do something a bit different.

So I began crocheting up octagons. This was so much fun because of the join-as-you-go method. I am really becoming a fan of this joining method.

This is my outcome. I wasn't sure about it at first, but the more I look at it the more I like it. Especially paired with my favorite brown sweater! Would it not look awesome with a pair of jeans, boots, a cream colored turtleneck sweater and this sweater!



I do have a little bit of yarn left in each of these colors which will go into "the stash" and come out later more than likely paired with some different yarns to be made into a scarf!

I just have to share my first gourd with all my blog buddies! Isn't it precious? LOL! I know it is silly to get so excited over such a little thing but I can't help it. I have always wanted to grow some gourds and dry them. This is my first one. I planted the seeds in late spring.



I love these vines. The swirly tentacles on it facinate me. They grow out straight and then once they grab ahold of something they curl up. As you can see I have two different varieties growing.

This weekend is unfolding to be a pretty good one. I plan on making cards most of the day tomorrow. I have a new crochet project started. Movies to watch. And a little bit of house work. I will tackle each of these tasks in just that order, too!

For those of you that do not know me, I am a closet card maker! It is such a fun and creative outlet. I don't really blog about it. I am trying to post a little slideshow of cards. Here's hoping it works!

My Finished Babette!!

When I got up this morning I was a bit lost. My routine is to feed the dog and get her business done, pour my Diet Pepsi for that boost of caffeine, sit down on the sofa putting my feet up, and then picking up my crochet...but this morning I had no crochet in the basket! It seemed so strange. Finishing a project always does this to me. It leaves me a little lost in the morning. But this will not last long!

Believe it or not, I am not sick of looking at her. Many times, and I am sure some of you know what I am talking about, I get burnout when I spend so much time working on one thing. This didn't do that to me. In fact I cannot get enough of looking at my Babette, or touching it for that matter. Which leads me to my next thought! I have been seriously thinking about felting it. It is a bit scratchy since it is 100% wool. I thought lightly felting it would make it a little softer. Thoughts anyone??

I felted an extra square. I should have photographed it. I will do that and get a picture of it uploaded. I really like the way it turned out.

But for now, I am going to bask in the sea of color that this blanket has. It's like a painting...Painting with Yarn!

I will leave you with a little shot of me posed with my Babette.

Happy 4th everyone! I'm off with camera in hand, and Babette in the other hand...I need more pictures. :-)