Bits and Bobs and a Ripple

Good morning! How are you today? Im excited because guess what?! Elliott bought me a new phone for my birthday and I now know how to link to websites on my blog from my phone!! Yay! Apparently the app I use has the ability to do it but my old phone was very outdated and didn't function properly in order for that feature to work. Thank you technology for being wonderful again!


Instragram is also really fun, as are a bunch of other games I couldn't get and/or play with my other phone. It was the 3G iPhone which was very old, and it was starting to be a real drag because I couldn't do hardly anything the iPhone is capable of doing. Now I can view blogs AND comment on them, open things with one touch instead of the press and hold then press the open button. Ah, easy again. Anyway, enough of that.


Are you having a fun weekend? We're not doing much this weekend, just cleaning. Earlier, Amelia and I were laying in bed and she was whispering furiously in my ear, "I'm just gonna help you..." as she probed her freezing fingers into my face and stuck her freezing feet on my arm. Then she ran away and threw Barbie at me. It was all pretty unpleasant but I loved it none the less.


Alyssa got a new car seat because my big girl out grew her infant seat. I would be sad about it but she was so heavy in her infant seat to carry around plus she hated that seat.


Sorry her face is kinda whited out, it was really bright out. But she loves it. It's bigger and more roomy for her. Plus she really likes to ride in the carts at places instead of being in her car seat. It's the end of an era. But it's better this way. Still no crawling from the babe yet, though she's taking 3-4 "steps" and then falls down to army crawl her way to where she's going. For a non-mobile baby, she's pretty mobile.


Amelia and I have been playing with the camera on my phone. She loves to see herself when we take pictures. She's such a ham!


Big ham! I put her in the Mai tei just to see what she would do and she actually liked it and she was pretty weightless in it.


I put Alyssa in it while we cleaned the kitchen yesterday morning and she put her head down on my back. She was so sleepy. Speaking of sleepy! If you have children, have you noticed their sleeping habits being crazy because of the weather changing (or other unknown factors)? Amelia has been sleeping so weird lately. Alyssa's sleep problems stem from regular baby things though.


How's it going on your crafty home front? I've done nothing more but love my new ripple blanket. Elliott and I decided it should be for one of the girls. Probably Amelia, and the little hexagon blanket will be made for Alyssa. Especially since Amelia is always trying to steal mine and Elliott's blankets.


I am loving the neons from ILTY. They're thicker than the regular ILTY but still very soft. I started the blanket last weekend and I'm already (or just however you look at it) 21 rows in with a starting chain of 210. So it's wide and will be 140ish rows long. Hopefully she'll be using it for forever because she'll grow into it, but I know her tastes will change once she's older.


Oh, I do love a lovely ripple blanket. I hope you have/had a wonderful weekend! Have a great week! ☺

Fiber Adventures

Hello! Are you enjoying this lovely Sunday in your neck of the woods? I am very much! My dad, Amelia, and I went to fund raiser and we got our fingernails painted. Yep, my dad let Amelia pick out two colors for him and he got his thumbnails painted. Before he came over, Elliott and I cleaned up our bedroom. Not that it was so dirty or is that big, we just did a deep clean. And before that I got to sleep in until 8! How awesome! Now everyone is quieted down and the two A's are taking naps. And I'm here talking to you! I have a few things to show you. Sorry it's been so long, but I was having severe blanket crochet withdrawals. You think I'm kidding but I'm not! I actually went a few days without picking up my hooks at all. But in that time I did make something super neat.




It's called a mai tei. I got the tutorial HERE:
My sister gave me my birthday present a little early, a gift card to hobby lobby, and I bought duck canvas and minky in pink and the hot pink calico plus some other little odds and ends and made myself this carrier. The pocket was my own add on. Just a simple envelope pocket.




Alyssa loves it. She loves to be worn.




I love it because with this carrier I can wear her on my back. So with Amelia running around when we go out, and especially if I'm by myself, this feature is so helpful. Just the other day, I took the girls to the park on and put Alyssa on my back...




She fell asleep. Haha! I asked a stranger if she looked ok, he said she looked as comfortable as could be. When we left some high schoolers laughed at me for the way I had to take her off my back. I wasn't worried about it, I know I'm super cool, don't need no high schoolers to tell me! But I keep the Mai tei in my car and I get butterflies when I get into the car because the fabric makes it smell like Hobby Lobby. I love that store.




But with the rest of my gift card I bought new yarn for a new blanket! It's I Love This Yarn's neon colors and grey. The grey is called greybeard! How fun!




And here's my inspiration for the blanket, A sock! Elliott got these socks for me last Christmas and Amelia has been wearing them on her hands like mittens. I ran into ILTY neon when I had to pick up a skein of brown to finish a project and Amelia picked up the fuchsia and we both fell in love with it.




It's another ripple with no specific purpose except to make me happy while I make it. I might make it for one of the girls or just toss it over one of the couches. But it's bringing the joy of crochet back to me. Don't get me wrong, I'm still working on the granny square blanket, Amelia's hexagon blanket, an everything else I'm working on, but as I've said before I really missed the gentle flow of a larger blanket.




I made Alyssa a hat out of the fuchsia, so I need to make Amelia one now instead of the periwinkle.




If you remember this one. I got the pattern from HERE.
And for Amelia's hat I chained 42 and doing what Barb has written for the pattern for 60 rows. Amelia's head is 19 1/2 inches. For Alyssa's (her head is 17 inches) hat I chained 38 and did Barb's pattern for a total of 52 rows. I wish I would have made Alyssa's a few rows longer but this pattern has fantastic stretch. I hope you try it!




Besides all that, we've just been doing our thing.




Alyssa is sitting up all on her own in the middle of the floor. And she's growing so much! She's in the 92% for her height and 80th for her weight.




And Amelia is just an amazing big sister. She helps me so much, and for awhile I tried not to ask her to help because of Alfred Adler's birth order theory (I was a psychology major in college and he says that the first born is basically a little mother/father. I didn't want to out that one her trying not to set her up for that role, but she was born into it. No pun intended!) But she just wanted to help and be a part of it all. She's my right hand sometimes. And Elliott's back is much better now, thanks for asking! Also, because of my lack of drive for crochet, I'm behind on my crochet along. Oops! I'll catch up soon, I promise myself.




And I got my hair cut! My hair is naturally curly but my hair dresser/one of my closest friends, always flat irons it when she cuts it. I LOVE it! That's about it for now, I hope you're outside enjoying the beautiful weather! Happy Fall beginnings!

Crochet is Crochet is Crochet

Apparently it is not!
Good morning! How are you this beautiful day? I'm well, not really looking forward to later today because my poor Alyssa has to get shots.


This little girl is six months 4 days ago. Still no crawling but why would you need to crawl when you can roll and spin in circles like a helicopter all day?


She is doing the splits, some baby downward facing dogs, and definitely scooting backward, mostly to end up under things.


Eating rice cereal like a big girl, but not oatmeal. We, I mean I, find this out the hard way while wearing Alyssa in the ring sling on a walk after breakfast one day. She threw up all over the inside of the sling. Not spit up. This involved the reflexes and included the sounds of actual vomit. Don't worry, I'm not scared of any kind of throw up. But I was worried she was sick. I placed her in her bouncy seat and she threw up some more. At one point I walked away to get Amelia something, because at that time she hadn't thrown up for a few minutes and came back shortly to find her red faced and choking. Mama bear instincts and reflexes kicked in and I grabbed her, flipped her face down on my arm and patted her back firmly with my other hand. She moaned softly and spit on the floor, going a little soft in my arms. I rubbed her back and talked to her and she started to squirm not too long after. I squeezed her and told her I loved her and she was ok. That's the scariest thing I've gone through with Alyssa. The scariest thing with Amelia was when she fell down the back deck stairs about 7-8 months because she went through the doggy door when we still had it. Then another day we tried oatmeal again. Same result without the choking so we've stayed away from oatmeal.


Besides all that jazz, I haven't been up to much hooking lately. I made Amelia this hat from a new pattern I was trying I'll link up to it in my next post because I'm planning to make Alyssa one too. But it's easy and fast. I was just hooking along with the hat when some dark yarn showed up woven in the periwinkle I was using. I thought it looked pretty neat so instead of cutting it out I left it. By the way, Amelia is wearing underwear in the picture. I cannot keep clothes on my child. Not since she's been potty trained. Oh yeah! She's been potty trained for awhile now and she is amazing at it! She'll stop doing something sometimes and say, "oh! I gotta go pee!" and run off to do her business. I still have to bribe her to poop sometimes but she's good at that too.


Alyssa likes the hat too so she's definitely getting a matching one. But my hooks have sadly been very quiet lately because I have been crocheting hats and squares but I really miss the smooth, relaxing movement of a blanket. Long chain, double crochet, turn, double crochet again to end. I miss blanketing. But I'm gonna get one started again soon. But not soon enough for my hooks.

Tales the Hook Weaves

Hello! How are you doing? Good I hope! I'm doing good, just gearing up for the Christmas season. I actually started some of my Christmas projects last month, I don't want to be finishing up presents the night before Christmas. But I have things to show you! But first... After my post on Sunday, Elliott and Alyssa both went down for naps and Amelia and I went up to the store to get some stuff. As we were about to turn into the parking lot, I saw something up ahead.


Laying on it's side, tied to the ground was a hot hair balloon. One of the Mason temples was doing a fund raiser and they were calling it "Touch a Balloon." You got to go inside the acutal balloon and run around.


But I think the sheer size of the balloon terrified Amelia. She was crying and kept saying she needed to go home.


We didn't stay long, but it was neat and I wish Amelia would have enjoyed it more. Later she told me the fan (that was used to keep it inflated) was the thing that scared her. And since Monday after visiting the chiropractor, Elliott has been feeling a little better, still has some pain and stiffness, but he'll be better soon. I hope.


For starters, here's a little peek into my little nook, aka our bedroom. This is my night table with all of my crochet goodies. Along with my kindle, my big book of crochet techniques, and some delicious lotion. Plus my awesome lamp that Elliott named the porch light because it's always on when he comes home from work. Just thought I'd share that little piece of me.


Anyway, I've been hook, hook, hooking lately. Mostly with that bernat great value yarn that has consumed my life. I love it! It's a dream to work with and I can't wait to see how it washes up.


Of course you'll probably recognize this. It's Lucy's, from attic24.typepad.com, Blooming Flower cushion. I've been wanting to make one for awhile and Becca from beccadoodle.blogspot.com made one and I just couldn't stand it any longer! So I started one and I can't wait to do the back and get the round pillow insert for it. It's going to be lovely, I know it!


And this is the main reason I bought all that yarn. To make a blanket for the living room. I decided on a granny square because I'm obsessed with granny squares and just never found the time to make one. But now seemed like the best time. I'm being honest with the ends because I'm doing the join as you go method and seamless joins among the rounds. So hopefully, there will be a minimum amount, or none at all, of ends to weave in.


I just finished this little stroller blanket for a family friend's grandbaby.


The colors are not done justice in these pictures. They're very contemporary and girly and very bright. Ripples grow fast, but baby ripples grow fastest. I hope to give it to her before the baby is born, but that's not looking like it'll happen.


This is a hexagon blanket I'm working on for Amelia since she's the only one in the family without an "I Love This Yarn" blanket. I'm doing it by rows and completely random with the scraps of color from previous blankets (mine, Elliott's, and Alyssa's). The little hexies work up in no time and I join them with a slip stitch through the back loops as I go. It's so soft and is just Amelia's style.


By the way, did you know it's super hard to take pictures of things on the floor with kids and dogs? Just a little FYI. :-)
The first time she saw this she brought it to me and told me it was her blanket and that it was so pretty. I love that girl! She's quite possibly my biggest fan.


Then there's this, a Christmas present for someone I love. Not you, mom. This person doesn't read my blog, I don't think, but still I won't say who. It's worked up using Dottie Angel's ordinarily extraordinary blanket how to, http://dottieangel.blogspot.com/2010/06/ordinarily-extraordinary-blanket-how-to.html?m=1
It's grows fast too.


And last but not least, and most certainly not truly last really, there are other things I'm working on still. I have joined a crochet along on Ravelry. I've been a member of Ravelry for two years an have barely used it but lately I've been really into it. Epsecially since I want to branch out in the crochet community more. We're doing a CAL using Jan Eaton's book 200 Crochet Blocks, a booku brother bought me for my birthday last year, and we're doing roughly two squares a week starting officially on the 1st of September. So if you'd like to join there is still time! It's 200 blocks crochet with Rachell. The theme that was voted on was "cottage garden," and the colors are completely up to how you see it. I'm really loving it.


Here's my first block.


An my second. I'm using ther Bernat for my blocks too. I will definitely be blocking my blocks before I join them. I can a least do that much the right way since I don't gauge or swatch my yarns. So don't judge the wonkiness! Please.


I'm glad you stopped by, it was nice to see you. Have a wonderful rest of the week!

Sunday Morning

This morning I woke up to the usual. Amelia handing me Denny, the ankylasaurus, so she can get into bed with Daidai under her arm while I throw the covers over her. To the sudden realization that this child is yet again up before I'd like to be, but 7:30 is better than 6:30, and Alyssa wasn't up yet. Then I listened closely, there were no shrill cries of locust but the soft tweeter of finches in the yard. It's been raining, misting, and gray since yesterday. You know what else I saw yesterday? For the first time in weeks, I saw a robin with a worm in his mouth.


After Amelia watched her Loony Toons videos (about 2) on my phone, she hopped down and knocked down the baby gate to get to the kitchen and get into things. She has a Minnie Mouse lawn chair she drags around to climb on the counters.


How convienent for her that it's so light. We've taken it downstairs countless times. But she had only just gotten into the cabinet when I finally pulled myself out of bed.


Sometimes, if I get the camera just right, in pictures it looks like we don't have neighbors. After I picked up the bits Amelia did get into I looked out the back door. We have two hummingbird (honeybird if you ask Amelia) feeders and just had to put the oriole feeder back up. We got some in the beginning of summer but then they left, but because there's no food (I.e. Bugs) they've come back looking for food. Elliott had a theory they were back because one of the honeybird feeders was super low after early morning, not like it should have been. The same day he told me his theory, before he told me, I thought I heard the croak of an oriole. He was right about them getting into the feeders and when they flew off they would slosh "nectar" from the feeders.


This is the best picture I could get of him. Little fingers had smudged my camera on my phone and when I had cleared it, he was gone. The honeybirds have been going crazy lately too, Amelia and I sit out back and watch them after Alyssa goes to sleep at night.


After fixing Amelia up with her morning fruit and milk, I had a nice snuggle with Alyssa. I always lay my hand on her back if I'm not rubbing it. I love snuggle time. After I had bragged to you about the 11 hour night she had a major sleep regression and was waking ever 2-4 hours at night. But last night was the best night we've had for at least for a month. She even woke up at 530 and out herself back to sleep! Knocking on wood that it wasn't a one time thing though, she'll be 6 months on the 8th, and still only pre-crawling.


Elliott threw out his back last night and is laid up on the floor, but the girls don't mind. And if you don't mind the mess, it's a cute picture. So I don't think we'll be getting out of our jammies anytime soon. I hope you have a great Sunday and I'll be back hopefully tomorrow with some stuff to show you.


Happy days!