on my hook: fingerless mitts

Happy Wednesday!

The sun is shining today and it looks deceivingly warm outside (but only 18 degrees...brrr)

So I am keeping warm by the space heater and working on an ancient old WIP:

Adeline Fingerless Mitts: first blogged here

This week I went through all of my old works-in-progress.  I have a terrible habit of starting projects and not finishing them.  I blame it on my Crafty Attention Deficit  (or too-many-projects-too-little-time syndrome).  Please tell me you suffer from this, too!

To help me stay organized, I created a "Crochet Projects" sheet for my planner:

I can log all the important information so if the hook gets separated from the project, or I have to use some of the yarn for something else, I'll be able to look at my planner and pick up where I left off.  When the project is finished I can glue down a photo and move it to another binder of finished projects (hmmm...that binder might be empty for a while!).  Or maybe I'll just burn the planner page in celebration of finishing something!

So, how 'bout you?  Are you hooking anything up this week?  Are you trying to finish some of your WIP's?  Please share about it in the comments!

Happy Hooking!

mood blanket monday week 4

Good Morning!  

We are four weeks into January, and I am still going strong on my mood blanket.

My moods for this week:

Spent time in the stUdio working on some Tinkerbell invitations for a friend.

Day 19

The dreaded stomach bug hit me at 3:00 in the morning on day 20.

Day 20

I spent two days in bed.

Day 21

I could have spent a third day in bed, but there was too much to get done before I headed back to work.

Day 22

Finally feeling more like myself, but still nauseous and tired.  Being sick sucks (and it doesn't look good on my blanket!)

Day 23

Feeling calm and philosophical on day 24.

Day 24

Stayed home most of the day in my sweats, making beef stew and cleaning the house.  Finished the day with a family movie night.

Day 25

scrappy saturday: hello 2014

{on Sunday}

I got sick this past week.  Being sick sucks.

And because of it, I am behind on all my blog posts for the week.

But that's where a little post dating comes in.  Blogger saves my sick butt!

Be sure to scroll down for this week's crochet posts.

Week 3's scrapbook page is a little ode to my One Little Word: {nourish}

Boy #2 took this photo of me back in the summer.  It's very rare for me to be in front of the camera, but I'm grateful that I had this pic to use for this layout.  

The creativity was running a little dry when I sat down to work on this today, so I looked to my i♥MEMORY.KEEPING board, specifically this pin, for a little inspiration.  I loved Karine's collage of mixed papers at the top third of her layout, and the graphically typographic title in the bottom 2/3rds.  I used papers from one of the American Crafts Dear Lizzy paper packs and coordinating Project Life 5th and Frolic cards.  My title is cut with the Silhouette using Bebas and Mr. Keningbeck fonts.

Thanks for looking.

stripey stocking (in progress)

Last Christmas (2012), I had this awesomely stupid idea to crochet our family a new set of stockings. Yeah, in the last month before Christmas.  On top of all the other Christmas craziness.  Needless to say, I did not finish a single one.  

Then I readjusted my goal, and thought I would have them all made during the year and in time for Christmas 2013.

I did finish. One.  

You can read about here.

Well, it's a brand new year, and I'm back at it again with the stockings.  At this rate, I figure I'll have all 5 complete for Christmas 2017!

The pattern I'm using is from Lily Sugar and Cream and can be found on Ravelry.  

I'm sure this one will  make several appearances on "What's on my hook Wednesday" before it is completed!

mood blanket monday week 3

Hello Monday!  And hello to my happy little crochet mood blanket.

It's slowly coming along, and I am very pleased with it so far.  For dark, dreary and cold January, I have to admit I'm a bit surprised that my blanket is so bright, cheerful and warm!

So far, I have only repeated 1 yarn (the pale green in the top right and bottom left).  Yesterday I broke down and placed an order for more yarn from Love Knitting in the UK.  You can use the coupon code  moodblanket10 to receive 10% off your order.  They also have free shipping on orders over $50.  Can't wait to get some more pretty yarn to add to my blanket.

Here are my moods for the week:

Day 11

Day 12

Day 13

Day 14

Day 15

Day 16

Day 17

Day 18

Thanks so much for stopping by!

scrappy saturday: layouts 1 & 2

One of my goals for 2014 is to create a scrapbook layout once per week.

Last year, I created a pitiful 10 layouts.  Ten.

In my defense I did attempt Project Life and got about 15 weeks finished.  Still, pathetic.

So this year, I am setting aside more time to scrapbook.

And I am declaring Saturday to be Scrappy Saturday:

Here are the first two weeks' worth:

Going back 5 and a half years to my 12 year old's 6th birthday celebration at the same school I now work at.  I look at these photos with new eyes: knowing how fast my little kindergartners will grow and how happy the small and simple things make them.

layout #1

For this page, I used the Prima Build-a-Page sketch:

My middle one had a tough week this past week.  As I created the page, I just wanted to tell him know how proud I am of him, and that love, kindness and honesty are what matter most.

layout #2

 How about you?  Do you have any scrapbooking or other crafty goals for 2014?  

a peek at my planner

I love calendars and planners.  I'm a list maker, a list checker, a measurer of productivity.  I'm a planner, a mapper of my day, and I like to know what I accomplished at day's end.

So today, I though I'd share a little peek into the planner that I use.

I purchased this cute floral binder at Target last fall.  It measures approx 7"x9" and is the perfect size to fit in my large purse and holds 5.5"x8.5" pages (a half sheet of paper).  I used to have separate notebooks and calendars for each of these: a to-do notebook, a calendar book, a blog idea binder, etc.  But this little binder keeps everything organized in one place, and lets me remove pages each month or year, and refill as needed.

I divided my binder into 6 sections:

1. big picture (monthly calendars)

2. days gone by (weekly calendars)

3. list maker (to do's, house projects, grocery lists, wish lists...you get the picture)

4. blog (blog post ideas, schedules, posts to write, etc)

5. make stuff (crafty projects to make, crochet patterns I'm writing or using, crochet projects with hooks and yarns)

6. design ideas (sketches, drawings, color schemes, etc)

I created my pocket dividers using this file from the Silhouette online store

I resized the scalloped border and slash pocket ones to fit the binder and cut them from double-sided Bella Blvd paper.  I then mixed and matched the pockets and trimmed the scallops off to create binder tabs.

The first section contains a monthly calendar printed from here.  I am choosing to focus on my One Little Word in this section of my planner.  I have color-coded the different areas of my life that I am working to Nourish this year, and making a point to document how I nourished them each day.

This section ends with a monthly page where I will log each book I read.

For the weekly calendar pages, I created a printable customized to my week:  Mon, Thurs, Fri are my work days, so I can't plan a lot for those days.  The rest of the days are segmented out by the hour.  I have found that this is the best way for me to manage my time--it's not for everyone but it works for me.  I also have space to joy some notes, a quote or some sort of inspiration I came across that day, notes about my mood for my blanket, things I definitely need to accomplish that day.

Next up is the "list maker" section:

I'm a list addict.  Sometimes it's daily, sometimes it covers the span of a few days.  But I love the feeling of accomplishment I get when I can check things off.  Also, I have a terrible memory and will certainly forget it if I don't write it down.  Making a list helps me get it out of my head and onto paper.  This section also holds any long-term projects I want to work on and break-down lists of how I will accomplish them.  

The "blog" section contains more lists and general blog planning ideas.

The "make stuff" section helps me keep track of projects I'm working on.  Crochet patterns, crochet projects with yarn and hook sizes, hand-made gift ideas, things I want to make, brainstorms anything that centers on making stuff.

And finally, I filled the "design ideas" section with grid and lined paper.

Here's where I can sketch out design ideas, chalk art, layout and card sketches, blog design ideas (want to do my blog over this year), and any other design ideas.  This is also where I would keep my Project Life design pages (but not this year).

So there it is, a look at my planner and how I organize it.
Do you keep a planner, or are you a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of girl?

granny coffee cozy

made with the Rhonna Designs and Snapeee Apps

I have decided to designate Wednesday's here on the blog to crochet.  I'm very excited to share whatever bit of crochet I am working on and to hear about what you might be hooking up as well.

I work with a fantastic teacher with an ice coffee and hot soup addiction, so for Christmas I hooked her up a granny square coffee mug cozy.

I used a traditional granny square pattern to create two granny squares.  I joined the two squares on one side with a series of single crochet (long enough so that the 2 squares and the band would fit around the mug).  I framed the whole piece with a row of single crochet.  Next, I made three bands to connect the handle side (again in sc), and stitched on some buttons.  The buttons simply fasten in the spaces on the granny square design.

I wish I had more of a precise pattern to share with you, but it really isn't too difficult to make.

Now it's your turn: What's on your hook?