granny blanket : velvet & lace + mistletoe

Hey there!

Remember me?  The girl who's been working on a 12" granny square blanket since January?  I'm back with two more squares, and am admittedly feeling a bit relieved that next week is the last square before joining {breathing a little sigh of relief}.  Big projects are often like that, aren't they?  They begin with a burst of excitement and anticipation and then, by the end, teeter off with exhaustion (at least that's how this one feels for me).

WEEK FORTY EIGHT || Velvet & Lace

by Priscilla Hewitt

WEEK FORTY NINE || Mistletoe

by April Moreland

granny blanket : fountain of roses

Hey, hey, hey!

I was really hoping to get this post up on Monday, and then it was Tuesday, and well, the week got away from me from there.  But better late than never, right?  And we are quickly approaching the end of our square patterns and it will soon be time to begin the daunting super fun task of joining 50 squares!

WEEK 47 || Fountain of Roses

by Shan Sevcik

This is such a pretty square.  I love the center clustered flower, and the way it poofs up when you stitch the backside.  I wish my square had more room for the beautiful roses around the outside.  Lots of interesting combinations of stitches here!

crochet : christmas baubles

Hello, friends!  Thanks so much for popping in.  

Yesterday, here in the States, we observed Veterans' Day to honor the people who serve in courage to protect our country and freedoms that we so often take for granted.  I spent the mid-week day off from work hooking up some Christmas baubles.

They are super fun to make and work up fairly quickly.  I am excited to make bunches of baubles to give as gifts this holiday season.  

If you would like to hook up some of your own, I am happy to share the pattern with you:

Materials: size F hook, dk weight yarn (or light weight worsted), 3" glass or plastic ornament bulbs

Finish each round with a slip stitch join and fasten off.

round 1: in a magic circle, ch3, 11dc {12dc}

round 2: working between each dc from round 1 (not in top of stitch) work 1 hdc, ch1around {12 hdc, 12 ch1 spaces}

round 3: 3dc cluster, ch 1 in each ch1 space. (YO, insert hook in space, pull up loop, YO, pull through 2 loops, repeat 3 times, then YO pull through all 4 loops) {12 3dccl, 12 ch1 spaces}

round 4: sc in each of the 2 stitches of the clusters (the large stitch of the cluster & the chain stitch), dc in space between stitches {24 sc, 12 dc}

round 5: dc in each of the 2 sc from rnd 4, ch1 sk dc (24 dc, 12 ch1 spaces}

round 6: 2hdc in ch spaces, 1hdc between 2dc from rnd 5 {36 hdc)

Make 2 and don't fasten off the final round of the second medallion.  Weave in all ends.  

Place the two sides together, right sides facing out, and slip stitch all the way around to join.  Go around about 3/4 of the way, insert the bulb and continue slip stitch joining.  

I gave a full tutorial on Periscope and the replay from Katch is embedded below.

You can check out the rest of my crafty Scopes at Katch.

Join me on Periscope for more crafty scoping fun!

granny blanket : chocolate delight

Good Monday Morning!

Holy smokes!  I'm on time with this week's square!

{and I ordered our Christmas cards this weekend!}

I think I've been abducted by aliens.  This is on not like me!  But I like it.

On to this week's square:

WEEK FORTY SIX || Chocolate Delight

by Dayna Audirsch

Have a wonderful week!

granny blanket : lotus pavilions & kata

Happy November!

How is it November already?!  Halloween is over, and Christmas has hit the stores in full force.  And we are winding down with the last handful of granny squares to complete our blanket.  

WEEK FORTY FOUR || Lotus Pavilions

by Helen Shrimpton

This is another favorite square.  I love the way the back-post crochet makes the stitches pop, and the lines the pattern creates.

I did omit the last 3 rounds, ending instead with round 12.  My round 13 went like this:

in corner: 3sc

*sk 1 stitch, sc in next 5, {dc 2 tog, sc in next 2} x2, dc 2 tog, dc, hdc, 2sc, sc 2 tog at top of point, 2sc,  hdc, dc, dc 2 tog, {2sc, dc 2 tog} x 2, sc in next 4, sk 1 stitch, 3sc in corner Repeat from * around and join with sl st to first sc.

WEEK FORTY FIVE || Kata

by Penny Davidson

I had hooked up this block for the first granny blanket I ever made.  It's a beautiful square and fun to hook up the various clusters.  

granny blanket : 2 more squares

Hello, there!  

Is it just me, or are these weeks whipping by faster than I can chug down a Pumpkin Spice Latte?!  I can't keep up these days, and I've stopped pretending that I can.  

My planner is chock full of places to go and things to do.

Life is pulling in every direction.

I've got more thoughts in my head than I have hours in the day.

And sadly, this blog is the first thing to fall to the bottom of the list.

Well, let's get on with it.  There's grocery shopping to be done, a car to drop at the shop, a kid to take to the orthodontist, homework to be done, dinner to make, oh and I'll be thrilled if I can squeeze in a five minute shower.  

WEEK FORTY TWO || Anticipation Mystery

by Margaret MacInnis

WEEK FORTY THREE || Ribs and Lace

by Joyce Lewis

This square was hooking up a little large (which I knew it would based on the pattern and the hook size she used). I had to make a few alterations and omissions, and I even wrote them down, but now that I read my notes, I can't quickly figure out what I wrote to be able to translate it to you. :(  What kind of blogger am I?!

It is week 43 friends, but I have not hooked up this week's square yet.  Hoping I can snag some crochet minutes this week and share two more squares with you next Monday.  You can find the pattern here.

granny blanket : fan dance & birthday flower

Happy Monday!

I have missed you all.  I'm here to day to share 2 of the 3 squares for the 12" granny blanket.  No time to chit chat; I have a boatload of stuff to get done today (including grocery shopping so that I can feed my poor family this week!).

WEEK FORTY || Fan Dance

by Polly Plum

 I discovered in the last round that I made a mistake in the yellow round.  Someday, I may go back and fix it, but a bigger part of me wants to leave it as a little symbol of imperfection.

WEEK FORTY ONE || Birthday Flower

By Chris Simon

This square is in honor of my husband's birthday.

I will be sharing two more squares next week to be caught up on this blanket.  To see the list of patterns we're using, please see this post.

Thanks so much for visiting!  

Have a fabulous week!

granny blanket : fall blossom

Hello, hello!  Happy Monday!  It's not morning, but at least it's still Monday so I'm officially not late.

This week's square is a bit of a doozy.  And I have to admit that I thought about giving up on it {more than once}.  Luckily, Aurora, the designer, included helpful videos to walk me through where to place the front post stitches in the blossom.  

WEEK THIRTY NINE || Fall Blossom

by Aurora Suominen

It is a pretty square.  If I had it to do over again, I would have made an additional color change in the flower to accent the petals a bit more. But after ripping this one out so many times, I honestly just wanted to be done with it.

I did add a white trim of sc around the flower and tacked the petals during round 10 rather than round 11.  I also ended the square after round 12 with a round of sc to make it fit my blanket.

granny blanket : september flower

Good fake Monday morning to you!  I don't know where this week went.  I swear it was just Sunday. No matter, it's already almost the weekend again!

WEEK THIRTY EIGHT || September Flower

by Jessica Phillips

I did alter the pattern when the circle became extremely wavy.  I was going to frog the whole thing, but checked with others on Ravelry who had hooked the square.  I followed the recommendation of one crocheter and ended up making the following changes to the pattern beginning with round 8:

Round 8: instead of 4 dc in each middle stitch from round 6, work 3dc (48 dc, 16 ch1 spaces)

Round 9: follow pattern for a total of (64sc)

Round 10: follow pattern tacking with every 4th sc in top of trc petal stitch. (64sc)

Round 11: follow pattern for a total of (64sc)

Round 12: Begin corner to right of any tacking sc on any petal with [{2trc ch1 2trc} in same stitch.  Into each stitch across side, work: trc, dc 2x, hdc 2x, sc 5x, hdc 2x, dc 2x, trc. ] Repeat [ ]around for 3 more sides and corners (76)

Round 13: corner [{2dc ch2 2dc} in corner ch1 space  Into each stitch across side work dc 2x, hdc 4x, sc 7x, hdc 4x, dc 2x.] Repeat [ ] around for 3 more sides and corners (92)

Round 14: follow pattern (104sc)

Round 15: instead of sc, work dc (112dc)

Round 16: follow pattern with sc around (120c)

Round 17: instead of sc, work dc, with {dc, ch2, dc} for corner (124 dc)

granny blanket : 2 squares

Happy Labor Day!  

I'm so grateful to have this 3-day weekend to do a ton of catch up.

We returned to school this past week, and I went from staying home full time for the summer to working 5 full days. It's been a bit of a shock to my system after 74 consecutive lazy-dayz of summer!  Slowly, I am adjusting to our new normal around here, the routines, the homework, the hockey practices, the dinner planning, prepping and cooking.  It has been one heck of a week!

But I do feel like I am crawling back on top and will hopefully be organized by tonight for the week ahead.  So let's get on with last week's and this week's squares.

WEEK THIRTY SIX || Drop in the Bucket

by Janie Herrin

 This was a fast little square to hook up.  The pattern was very easy to follow and predictable.

WEEK THIRTY SEVEN || 10-Petal Flower

by Joyce Lewis

 This was a fun square to hook.  I love the look of the surface crochet in the center of the flower created in the last round of the pattern.  I did three different color changes: yellow for round 1, white for round 2, and pink for rounds 3 & 4; as opposed to the single color the pattern calls for.  I also added a round of hdc between rounds 9 & 10 to fit my blanket.

join in the first periscope crochet along !

I am super excited to share with you an upcoming project.
Introducing the first #periscopecal!

As you already know, I have fallen completely down the rabbit hole of Periscope.  And I am dipping my toes into the possibility of interactive crochet with my first Periscope Crochet-a-Long.  Eeeeeeks!

The Dates:
September 13 through October 17 (5 weeks)

The Pattern:

{NOTE: Please don't Pin this photo--it is not mine.  Please click on the link below and Pin directly from the original site.  Thank you for your cooperation!}

The Carnivale Cushion
by Michelle Robinson of Poppy and Bliss

Isn't it gorgeous?!!

The Gist:
Each week, we will work on a part of the project.  Every Monday at 11:00am est, I will Scope mini-tutorials for the stitches and techniques used in the project.  Every Thursday at 11:00 am est, I will share my progress so far and then open it up for a Pass-the-Cast for anyone else who would like to share their progress.  If you haven't Scoped yet, this would be the perfect time to jump in on a supportive community (hint, hint)! If you are not able to join live at those times, the replays will be available on Pericsope for 24 hours and on Katch.Me.  Please share your progress on your social media outlets using the #periscopecal.

The Schedule:

{Please note the change in time for the 1st three Scopes below}

Prior to September 13: choose your colors and gather your yarn and hook.
Scope: 9/10 at 11:00am 4:00pm est
to share my yarn picks

Week 1: 9/13 to 19
Cushion Rounds 1-7
Scope: 9/14 at 11:00am 4:00pm est
to go over this week's stitches
*magic circle
*invisible join
*standing stitches
*double cluster stitch
Scope: 9/17 at 11:00am 4:00pm est
to share progress

Week 2: 9/20 to 26
Cushion Rounds 8-14
Scope: 9/21 at 11:00am est
to go over any questions/review stitches
Scope: 9/24 at 11:00am est
to share progress/talk options

Week 3: 9/27 to 10/3
Cushion Back
Scope: 9/28 at 11:00am est
to go over front post double crochet
Scope: 10/1 at 11:00am est
to share progress/talk about blocking

Week 4: 10/4 to 10/10
Pillow Insert
Scope: 10/5 at 11:00am est
to go over any questions/review
Scope: 10/8 at 11:00am est
to share progress

Week 5: 10/11 to 10/17
Finishing
Scope: 10/12 at 11:00am est
to go over joining and pompoms!
Scope: 10/15 at 11:00am est
to share our finished projects!  Woohoo!

Along the way, I will be sharing my progress on Instagram and posting weekly updates here on my blog as well.  All Periscopes will be saved on my Katch.me and I am hoping to embed them in each week's blog post as well (have never done that, so hope I can figure it out).

If you are planning on joining us, I would love for you to leave a comment in this post or send me an email (link in side bar) or comment on the post on Instagram.

I am super excited to begin this project with you and see how it all goes!

granny blanket : cocoa puff

Hello!

This is the last square of the summer.  It's bittersweet; while I am sad to see the poolside-lounging days and stay-up-late-cuz-you-can-sleep-in nights come to an end, I am looking forward to getting back to routines and schedules and mostly a new school year with a new group of first graders!  I truly have the best job ever!

This week's square, I won't lie to you, takes a bit of concentration.  I awoke at 6:30 this morning with the expectation that I could hook it up in an hour.  I tuned into some teaching podcasts and got started.  Now maybe it was the distracted bit of multi-tasking, but I had to tear out several rounds sometimes more than once.  Maybe it's just me, but this may be one of those squares you'll want to give your undivided attention to.

WEEK THIRTY FIVE || Cocoa Puff

by Melissa Green

It is a lovely square and turned out to be the perfect size for my blanket.

crochet : another baby newsie hat

Here we go!  I'm on a roll!  It's post #3 for Kid-Free Catch-Up!  Blog posts for days--wooohoo!

Today, I'm sharing my hands-down favorite baby boy crochet hat to make.

Soooo cute, right?!

I've shared the pattern before on this post, so hop on over and check it out, k?

quickie crochet hearts

Welcome to post # 2 in my Kid-Free Catch-Up Blog Series!  Gosh, that makes it sound so official, doesn't it?

I have some super cute and super quick crochet hearts to share with you today.
I made these to give as gifts to my students at the end of the school year (yeah, before this summer started--told you I was in catch-up mode!)

I found an adorable and colorful quote on Pinterest

Then it was just a matter of sitting for a couple of hours (listening to podcasts, of course) and hooking up 85 of them.

To make them even easier, I left the tails on (can I get a boo-yah for not having to weave in ends!), tied them in a knot and stapled the hanging part to the top of the printable. 

 After telling the kids how much I love them and how fabulous they are going to rock the second grade, I gave them a tip for those first-day-of-second-grade-in-a-new-school jitters: 

Put this heart in your pocket and remember how much all of your teachers at ___school love you!

The pattern is simple:

In a magic ring, ch3, 5dc, ch1, 1trc, ch1, 5dc, ch3, slip stitch.

That's it!  How easy is that?