Greetings from the Back Porch!

Yes, Phoebe and I are in back porch Sunday Heaven!  With some country tunes playing in the background, a back drop of crochet...well...it just doesn't get any better than this!

You see how she approves of the Octi-blanket.  It is coming right along and gets prettier and prettier, at least I think so.  That is basically what I have been doing, crocheting octagons...I can do them in my sleep!! 

The back porch has my crochet mojo in full swing!  The light and temperature out here is perfect.  I have finally been able to get the layer of pollen off of everything and all the plants back into their places.  This is their home until next fall arrives.  What a great feeling it is to get it all back to the way it should be.  All that's left is to replace the ceiling fan out here...easy enough project!

Here on the back porch the reds and greens are in their element.  And I am high off the ground, so it's like sitting in a tree house.  Pretty cool!

Phoebe and I wish everyone a great Sunday and rest of the week as well.  We will both meet you back here next Sunday...bring your yarn and hooks with you!!!

Baby Booties

How do you like the little pair of booties I knit up this weekend?  These are so much fun to do and super quick!  You can get the pattern here.  If you need a cute little baby gift in a hurry, these take all of a couple hours to do.  They are done on straight needles and seamed up the back.  I have started another pair, but changed up the pattern.  I am doing them on double pointed needles so there is no seem up the back.  It is working very well. I will share them with you when I finish and write up the pattern. 

Octagon Blanket is making good progress.  I am crocheting up octies and sewing them together as I get a good pile done. Working this way works best for me, I can actually see the blanket coming together!  Working in the evening with seaming up black octies with black yarn has been a bit challenging.

I found a girl on flicker who has totally impressed me with her crocheting skills.  She had pictures of this pillow, which has totally inspired me!!  You can find her blog here, and be sure and visit her flicker photostream...you will not be disappointed!

I will leave you with a sweet little picture of Phoebe.  I snapped it with my camera phone, so the quality isn't the best.  (I was standing next to her treat jar!  LOL!)

Miss Fluffy Pants!

Tah-tah!

Granny-gon Progression

Just a quick little Sunday evening post to let everyone know I am progressing with my blanket.  I couldn't stand it and had to sew together some of the octagons to see how it was going to look.  I Like it Much!!  I am so anxious for warm sunny weather to get here so I can get pictures of it outside in the proper light.  Here it has a purple/pinkish look.  Red is so hard to photograph.  It is truly red!

More to come next week!

Granny Blanket in the Making

Here lately I have been inspired with all the granny squares I have seen people doing on flickr and ravelry.  Needless to say, I had to join in!

Once again the Granny Square bug has bitten me.  I am now officially obsessed with cranking out these red and black octagons!  I have been wanting to do a granny blanket with black in it for some time.  And I do love red!!  So I grabbed some yarn from my stash and started putting colors together.

After crocheting up a few of these octagons and laying them out I knew I had the makings of an afghan.  I think this is really going to be pretty.  I plan on joining my octagons with a tapestry needle and black yarn, it will be a lot of stitching, but I think it will be well worth it.  The tones of red along with the one variegated yarn are really pleasing me. 


I used Square #31 from the Crochet Motifs book.  (I do love me this book!)

I also managed to put some left over Noro to some good use with another Queen Anne's Lace scarf!

I was in JoAnne's Fabrics and saw this book!  When I got home I grabbed my new book and a cup of tea, I couldn't wait to sit down and look it over from cover to cover.  As I was flipping pages I thought to myself, "this really looks familiar".  Well...it should be, because I had a copy of this same book on my bookshelf.  LOL!!  Can you guess I have a lot of knitting and crochet books??!  I could take it back, but I decided a crochet bud will enjoy having this so I am giving it to her.  If you haven't had a chance to check this book out, I totally recommend it.  It is truly full of inspiration!

I hope everyone has a great week!

A Family History Rich in Crochet

Pretty much every Sunday I grab Lil' Phoebe and head to my mom and dad's for some lunch and just plain hanging out.  Phoebe loves it because she loves going in the car and has an added bonus of visiting my dad's dogs.  Today while I was there working on some crochet while waiting for lunchtime, my mom asked, "Have you seen the tablecloth my aunt crocheted?"  Have I seen what?!!!  Hold up...why haven't I heard about this before!    Well, she got it out, and oh boy, I went nuts!  I absolutely love crochet, and to get my hands on something a family member made had me so excited!!! 

Check it out!

It's condition is pretty close to perfect.  I cannot even imagine the time put into this.  And I do believe the crochet stitches are actually the smallest I have ever seen.

I asked mom if she had an old spoon or something I could put in the picture so you could get an idea of just how fine the stitches were.  "Oh yeah, I have something right here."  Then she pulled out this old silver that belonged to my great grandmother.  Okay, so by now I am absolutely losing it!  How neat is this?  I didn't have my camera, so I did the best I could with my phone camera.

I will upload some more pictures to flickr if anyone is interested.  I am so thrilled to have something like this in my family.

Here is a picture of the Anderson Family taken in South Dakota about 1910.  My mother's Aunt Alma is the oldest daughter, born in 1900.  My grandmother is one of the twins, we don't know for sure which is her and which is her sister.

I could go on and on with things I have learned about this family, but it would make this blog post so long...and there is crochet business at hand.  I will say before I get to that, that I have a family history of women who crocheted.  It is so rare to have a tablecloth handed down in such good condition is so rare and I am so fortunate to actually get a chance to run my fingers over this is a blessing!  I imagine it is at least fifty years old.  We are really not certain.   

This week I have finished a granny square scarf which I am so happy with!  I also finished up a Queen Anne's Lace Scarf which has been sitting on hold for a very long time.  After relearning the pattern, I made two little cuffs and added some vintage buttons to them.

 

 (I had to put my grandmother's cameo on this, because it just looks so Victorian to me!)

If I had to do this again I wouldn't use this yarn.  The variance from very fine to bulky was a pain in working this pattern.  I continually lost count.

 

I used some vintage buttons from my button box.  Pretty!

I did modify the pattern just a tad on the first motif to get it to look symmetrical.

This one I added a vintage button just for looks.  I think it turned out quite pretty.

And it slides onto the wrist.  The yarn has just enough stretch that this works perfectly.  You can see I just joined it through two of the loops.

Needless to say, I have some beautiful buttons that are just screaming at me to use in more of these.  It's like a Lay's potato chip, "You can't just make one!"

I hope everyone has a great week!

I Love....

Crocheted hexagons in pretty yarn,

cute little snow people, and

a crocheted ruffled scarf with some bright white eyelash yarn!

Saturday evening I gathered together some leftover Palette yarn and got out my hook and began to play.  Then it happened...I got my granny square mojo back!  So now I have the beginning of a new scarf.  I love the colors and it is so light and airy.  It's so nice to be doing grannies again...how I have missed it.

I posed my latest snowman on those grannies.  Not to worry, I am not giving up snowmen, I am working on both.  I have quite a collection of them now.  They almost look like a little village.  

It has been a long Monday, and I am ready to sit back and work on my scarf!  Bye for now!

Smiles, Scarves & Hats!

Wow...I am just realizing how behind I have been!  I have been productive though.   

I have finished another pom-pom snowman.  Or should I say snow-girl! 

And here is Mr. Helmet Hat.  There is something about this little guy I love.  He makes me smile. 

Now...this little pair of snow people have really made it to my favorites.  I made her a brimmed cap with a flower and a little cape.  Her partner has a top hat.  These were so much fun to make.  They definitely belong together.

I managed to get a little bit of crochet mojo going with another ruffle scarf. 

The red yarn is from my stash, the remainder is from a Big Lots score!  I just love a good yarn score.  $1 a ball.  You can't beat it!  It worked up really pretty.  I did a shorter scarf using a chain 90 instead of the 150. 

I made the ruffle a little thicker too by adding an additional row.

I am off for now.  I have a little snowman on my needles that is calling to me!  Buh-bye!