~ baby blankie #14b ~

This baby blankie measures 23" x 29" and is crocheted with various brands of 4-ply worsted weight yarn - RHSS, ILTY!, Impeccable, TLC Essentials and Vanna's.  Each square is 3 rnds of granny, 1 rnd of dc, 1 rnd of sc and then assembled with the flat-braid joining (link is over on the right sidebar).

It was very easy to crochet this blankie - and there was only 1 end to weave in on each square.  Perfect.  :)     

~ and the winner is..... ~

.....Eileen!!!   Yay!!   Send your mailing address to me at dlyrs@juno.com and I'll have your purse handles in the mail to you as soon as I can.  Congratulations! 

Thanks to everyone that entered the giveaway.  :)

~ a granny square ~

I received a granny square from Emma of 'The Log Cabin' yesterday.  She also sent along a nice Christmas ornament too.  Thank you very much Emma.  :)

I'm really enjoying this granny swap ladies.  Now I have to decide whether I want to put the granny squares together as I get them, or wait until the end of the swap.  I think I'm leaning toward putting them together as I get them.

Thanks to all the ladies who are participating in the granny swap.  This is alot of fun.  :)

~ purse handles giveaway ~

I switched out the basket where I store my purse handles and decided that I could part with these. 

The clear plastic pair measures 6" x 4.875" - the small round wood pair measures 5" - and the large u-shaped wood pair measures 8" x 5 1/2".

For a chance to win these - be a follower of my blog and leave a comment on this post only.  I will announce the winner's name around 9:00 a.m. ET on Saturday, Dec. 31st. 

Good luck.  :)

~ Two on Tuesday ~

                                                   ~~join me if you'd like~~

Two things that make me happy:

* being called 'young lady' by an older gentleman at the grocery store - (that made me smile) 

* all my blogging friends.  No one in my family or any of my friends crochets so I'm very fortunate to have you guys to share with.  I also love all the comments you are kind enough to leave me - makes me feel happy.  :)

~ Merry Christmas to all ~

Merry Christmas to all my blogging friends.

~ Michael, a granny square and baby blanket #13b ~

I found out Tuesday afternoon that my cousin Michael passed away.  He was only 36.  No one knows why yet.  He was not feeling well for about 2 months and did not go to the doctor.  Monday evening he told his wife that he would go to the doctor the next day - he stood up from the couch, collapsed and died.  His funeral was yesterday.  Michael was a good man and was much too young to die.  He will be missed.  <3

I tell you this because I want to say to everyone that if you're not feeling right - please go to the doctor.

~~~~~ 

I received my granny square from pattas - her blog is 'Hooks and Books' - the day before yesterday.  Thanks very much Pat.

~~~~~

Here is the next baby blanket - crocheted with all brands of acrylic worsted weight yarns.

~ Two on Tuesday ~

Two things that make me happy:

* getting grannies in the mail for my granny swap
   - these grannies are from Christy of 'Crochet Happiness' and Grace Ann of 'Would You Like Yarn With That?'

* spending the day out and about with Vince on his day off.

~ it's Blogday ~

Today's blog in the spotlight is Angelique's 'Made with Love'.  Angelique's blog is another blog that has to be translated (it's in Dutch) but it's worth it. 

Angelique's crochet is varied - she crochets a little bit of everything - squares, bags, gloves, and amigurumi (you've got to see the little monkey she crocheted - he's really cute). 

She also does sewing and cardmaking.  A little while back she won a giveaway from me and she thanked me by sending me a handmade card.  It was really neat - she sent it anonymously, so I had to figure out who it was from.  I had fun with that.

Pop on over to Angelique's blog and say "hi" - you'll be welcomed happily.  :) 

~ cupcakes square ~

What do you think?  Does it look like cupcakes?  This is the same pattern as the ice cream cones square.  :)

The pattern is here:

http://hooksandyarns.blogspot.com/2011/07/4-heart-square.html

~ round in circles blanket ~

Voila!

Finally finished the little fill-in squares last night.  I love this blanket - lots of pretty colors - and it covers me perfectly.  I slept under a quilt and this blanket last night and I was very warm.  In fact, a little too warm.  I woke up once and had to move the blanket aside.

Here's the stats on the blanket:

* it measures 38" x 58"
* there are 96 circles
* and there is 77 fill-in squares
* all yarn used is 4-ply worsted weight acrylic
   - RHSS
   - Red Heart Jeweltones (discontinued)
   - Red Heart Sparkling (discontinued)
   - Bernat
   - Impeccable
   - Vanna's
   - Sayelle (old, bought from the thrift store)
   - ILTY!
   - Caron

The little squares are crocheted in.  They are the beginning of a granny square, then a round of sc with the corners being (sc, ch 1, sl st to the blanket, ch 1, sc) as I go.

 
~~~~~

I have started a baby blankie with the leftover circles.  I am attaching them in a different way so I won't have to do the little squares.  :)

~ ice cream cones square ~

What do you think?  Does it look like ice cream cones?  I bought the Impeccable yarn from Michael's - it's called 'neopolitan'.  :)

The pattern is here:

http://hooksandyarns.blogspot.com/2011/07/4-heart-square.html

~ Threadbared ~

Vince and I were out today and we went to the Dollar Tree to get some Christmas bags and a few other things.  I went down the aisle where they have books and I found this one.  It's called "Threadbared - Decades of Don'ts - from the sewing and crafting world".  It is written by Kimberly Wrenn and Mary Watkins.  The picture on the cover is worth the $1.00 purchase price for the laugh it gave me.  Here are a few more pictures:

This poor lady looks like she was in an accident of some sort.

                     
I don't know what to say about these girls.

This is just plain awful.

Love the 'super hero' pose of the girl in the poncho.

The see-thru dress actually wouldn't be all that bad if the lady would of had enough sense to wear a slip.

All those Bigfoot sightings?  It's actually these people.

I like what the authors wrote about this thing:

"Crafty Mary Ann knew just how to keep her friend Robin from gnawing on the itchy stitches from her lady surgery."

This kind of reminds me of an octopus - missing 2 legs of course.

Such a handsome family.

This is absolutely my favorite one in the whole book.

~ more ornaments & a granny square ~

(click on picture to make it bigger)

To Barbara - here is a collage of a few of my Christmas ornaments.  There's the ones I've already showed you, plus a few with the craft paint swirl, glitter paint, ribbons, beads and pom-poms. 

~~~~~

I received my granny square from Marion of 'Marion's colorful handmade world' yesterday.  She also sent along a few surprises too.  There is a snowflake, a little granny star, and 2 little tea-light candles.  See - I told you she was a sweet lady.  Thanks so much Marion.  :)

~ yarn scraps ornament & granny squares ~

I bought alot of these clear glass ornaments from Joann's last year after Christmas and I even bought a couple from the thrift store.  I filled them with ribbons, pom-poms and beads - and I swirled craft paint and glitter paint on the inside of some (that takes forever to dry).  I had one ornament left, so I decided to fill it with yarn scraps.  I borrowed the yarn scraps from the lamp I filled a little while ago.

~~~~~

I've received granny squares from palynsea (no blog) and Renee from 'Renee's Crochet' and I love them all.  I'm starting to get excited thinking about putting these squares together.  Thank you very much ladies.  :)

~ Two on Tuesday ~

Two things that make me happy:

* driving in my car and the radio is playing all my favorite songs

* seeing Santa Claus waiting (for Mrs. Claus, I presume) in his minivan at the grocery store.   



~ 'round in circles' blanket update ~

I've finished attaching all the circles together for my blanket and now I'm working on the little fill-in squares.  2 down - 75 more to go.  :)

These are my leftover circles - I'm going to make a baby blanket with them.

 

~ it's Blogday ~

Today's blog to highlight is 'Marions bunte Handarbeitswelt' (or 'Marion's colorful handmade world').  Marion's blog is in German, and it really doesn't translate very well - but you get the gist of what she's saying.

I enjoy visiting Marion's blog to see what she has crocheted.  All of her projects are very pretty and colorful.  Between her pillows, bags, hats, tissue covers, and everything else, it's hard to pick a favorite - but I do love that giant flower pillow.  Oh, and the lovely blue shrug too.     

Marion is just the sweetest lady - she always has something nice to say, and she never fails to put a smile on my face.  Hop on over for a look-around - don't forget to say 'Hi'.  :)

~ our Christmas tree ~

This spiral tree is by far, the easiest and quickest way to put up a tree.  No more fussing and fueding about who's going to put the tree together or who's going to put on the lights.  Lift up, insert the pole and voila - a tree to decorate and make pretty. 

This manger scene is one I created years and years ago - 25 to be exact (I just went and looked at the bottom of one of the pieces).  I bought the set in it's 'green' state - cleaned it and had it fired - and then painted each one with the tiniest paint brush I could find.  It's a good thing my eyes were much better back then.  (The little shelter is 3 1/2" tall and baby Jesus is 1 1/4" long.)   

Here are a few of my favorite ornaments.  A popsicle stick star with Ya-ya spelled out with letter beads that my grandson William crafted for me in 2008.

A Santa face that my husband's Grandma crocheted and sent to me in a Christmas card years and years ago.  It's always right out front where everyone can see it. 

A Grinch ornament that Erica gave to her Dad in 1998.  "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" is my husbands favorite Christmas show.

  And here we have a Washington Redskins ornament - I should just open the front door and throw this out in the yard.  Jeez - this team stinks.  I think they're like 9 - 3 now.  I keep telling Vince that I'm going to send them an email telling them that me and my sisters, and even my Mom, can do better.  They probably wouldn't like that.  :)

Merry Christmas to all.  :)

~ Christmas wreath ~

Materials:
- 2 1/2 oz. green 4-ply worsted weight acrylic
- 3/4 oz. white novelty yarn (I used Bernat Boa)
- J hook
- 6" diameter plastic ring

Size:  approximately 9 1/2" across

Directions:
Rnd 1:  Join green with a sc around ring, continue to sc around ring to completely cover.  Join with a sl st to 1st sc.  Ch 1, turn.

Rnd 2:  Sc in same st, ch 2.  *sc in next sc, ch 2.  Repeat from * around.  Join as before.

Rnd 3:  Sl st into ch-2 space, (ch 3, 2 dc) in same space.  3 dc in each ch-2 space around.  Join with a sl st to top of ch 3.  

Rnd 4:  Ch 3, dc in same st.  2 dc in each dc around.  Join with a sl st to top of ch 3, ch 8, sl st in same st as joining.  End off.

Rnd 5:  With white novelty yarn, join with a sc to 2nd dc.  Sc in each sc around.  Ch 1 to skip loop, join with a sl st to 1st sc.  End off.

- decorate as you'd like

***Debi Y's version***  

~ kitchen towel looper ~

Materials:
- small amount 4-ply worsted weight acrylic
- heart shaped kids bracelet (I bought mine at the dollar store)
- I hook
- one 3/4" button

Size:  crochet part (not including loop) is 2" x 7"

Note:
- the ch 4 counts as a dc and ch 1 space.

Directions:
Row 1:  Join with a sc around bracelet.  Work 6 more sc around bracelet.  Ch 4, turn.  (7 sc)

Row 2:  Skip next 2 sc, 3 dc in next sc, ch 1, skip next 2 sc, dc in last sc.  Ch 3, turn.

Row 3:  Dc in each ch space and dc across.  Ch 4, turn.

Rows 4 - 13:  Repeat Rows 2 - 3.  At end of Row 13, do not ch 4, chain only 1 and turn.

Row 14:  Sc 1st and 2nd dc together, sc in next dc, (sc, ch 7, sc) in next dc, sc in next dc, sc next dc and ch 3 (which is the last dc) together.  End off.

- sew button to Row 3.

***Debi Y's version***

~ Two on Tuesday ~

~ Two things that make me happy:

* finding a penny on the ground when I am out and about.  Each time I am reminded of my Grandma.  Many, many years ago, she taught me this saying:  

Find a penny
Pick it up
And all day
You'll have good luck. 

* settling down on the couch in the evening with my crochet and NCIS.  

~ more miscellaneous stuff ~

*  Oh my goodness - in all my excitement from this morning, I completely forgot about Blogday.  Sorry.  It will return next Monday.


* To all my granny swap friends - I mailed out your granny squares this morning.  Thank you all so much for participating.  :)

*  Blogger is screwing up my followers list.  Blogs that I don't follow are showing up and some blogs that I do follow are not showing up.  It's very irritating to say the least.  Are any of you having this problem?   

~ awesome crochet blog award ~

Kathryn from 'Crochet Concupiscence' has awarded my blog the 'Awesome Crochet Blog Award 2011' for 'best crochet ripple work'. 

Hop on over to her blog to read the nice things she has so kindly written.  And while you're there, look around at all the great things she offers.  There will be more awards, her '31 Days of Giveaways', yarn reviews, crochet artists and videos, crochet in the news, and much, much more.      

Thank you so much Kathryn.  I really appreciate the honor - you have certainly brightened my day.  :) 

~miscellaneous stuff ~

I've brought my Christmas decorations down from the attic, so today and the next couple of days will be spent decorating.  This is kind of early for me this year - I usually wait until the middle of December - but all the commercials I've been seeing has me kind of in the spirit.  Speaking of commercials - am I the only one a little weirded out by that crazy Target lady? 

Erica asked me to crochet her a red hat just like the hat I crocheted for her (I think) last year.  I used Vanna's Choice in 'scarlet'.  I photographed the hat on Missy because I haven't given it to Erica yet - maybe I can get a better picture on her.

The pattern is posted here:  http://hooksandyarns.blogspot.com/2009/12/ericas-hat.html

I've finished the 10 granny squares I am swapping with my blogging friends.  Hopefully I'll be able to get them in the mail within the next few days.  p.s.  Madeleine and Grace Ann - can you email me with your mailing address please?  My email is dlyrs@juno.com

I've also gone back to working on my 'round in circles' blanket.  I've been missing it.  Everything else will be on hold for a little while.  :)

To Susanne -

~~The ch 2's do not count as a st.~~

Rnd 1: Ch 3, 12 dc in 3rd ch from hook. Join with a sl st to 1st dc. (12 dc)

Rnd 2: Ch 2, 2 dc in each dc around. Join as before. (24 dc)

Rnd 3: Ch 2, 2 dc in 1st dc, dc in next dc. *2 dc in next dc, dc in next dc. Repeat from * around. Join as before. End off.

For the joining border, I use the flat braid method. The link to that is on the right sidebar.

The circles are connected by 4 loops on each side.