a slew of grannies!

Finally got my crochet act together on this never ending blanket.  When did this endeavor begin?  Umm, May?  Well, actually March or April if you count those first squares I created with no real sense of what I was in for.

I learned a whole bunch from this project. And isn't that why we do this work, to learn something?  First, I learned how to crochet better.  I learned oodles of new stitches.  I learned the difference between front loops and back posts and everything in between.  And, yes, I did get a teense bit faster at crochet.  I learned that as much as I like to pretend I am organized, when it comes to creating I am an organizational nightmare! These squares were scattered throughout every room in our house.  Patterns were folded and crumpled up into more bags than I knew I owned.  It took me days to get everything to the state it is in now so that I can actually write an organized blog post.  So let's get on with it, shall we?!

I'll start with these three that I cannot for the life of me figure out where the patterns came from. 

{hanging my head in shame}

Whew, feels good to get those out of the way!  It only gets better from here, trust me!

The next set of squares come from this very awesome book by Jan Easton.  If you are looking for a variety of beautiful squares all bound up in a book, this is a must have.

Each of the following blocks are numbered with their corresponding number from the book.

block #99

block#38

block #94

block #13

block # 18

block #42

block #31

block #88

block #35

block # 16

That block was one of the first ones I made and it's when I learned the power of "blocking."  Here's a great tutorial for spray blocking--the method I used to block my squares.

If you are looking for free patterns of crochet grannies, you must, must join Ravelry (it's free!) and there are hundreds of free patterns for download and printing.

Circled Square by Meg Prescott {pattern here}

Flower Granny by Silja Devine {pattern here}

Dimensional Flower by Rhonda Rowley {pattern here}

My Daisy by Cindi {pattern here}

Multi Stitch Granny by Dayna Audirsch {pattern here}

Star Flower by Rhonda Rowley {pattern here}

Windflower by Beverly Button {pattern here}

So there they all are: 60 granny squares ready to join.  Uggh, wait...you mean I'm not done? I still have to join all these together?  Yikes!

I am kind of looking forward to this part of the process.  Well, maybe not the joining part, but the laying it all out and then actually having a useful, purposeful blanket to cozy under this winter.

3 Grannies, 3 Layouts and a Skirt

Lately, I don't feel much like writing, not that I'm ever super witty or anything, but I just don't feel like trying to find the words.  So I'll save us all the mindless banter and get right down to the good stuff: some crafty projects.

First, the grannies for the slowly growing blanket.

Magnolia by Michele Thompson {pattern here}

The pattern for this square was sized at around 5" so I had to add a couple of extra rows of SC.  It still measures a bit small, so I will be going one more round of yellow SC in the back loops only to finish it off.

Circle of Friends by Priscilla Hewitt {pattern here}

 Adding this one to my list of favorites.  The TRC form these great dimensional stitches that border each round.  When I saw Mossy Owls' blanket on Pinterest (you must check it out--it's stunning), I knew I had to add this block to my blanket.  Now I want to make a whole blanket of just these in a rainbow of colors.  {sigh} so many crochet projects, so little time.

Winter Burst by Aurora Suominen {pattern here}

This is a beautiful pattern, but I had to leave out the last three rows.  Because of this, the last row is a bit wonky.  I almost ripped it out and did some HDC and SC along the mid-sections of each side to square it up more.  Oh well.  It's homemade, right?

Now for some recent layouts.  I did a couple more with July kits from Scrapbook Heaven:

 

A super quickie page for a SH summer crop Friday challenge: stripes only.

And this one slipped through the cracks when I did the July kits reveal post.

I promised a skirt in this post, so here it is:

Isn't that gorgeous?  We took a trip to the mall to get out of the heat this past week.  And the boys graciously allowed me a quick pass through Anthrolpologie.  Knowing my time in this store was short and precious with three tired boys in tow, I put my mad speed shopping skilz into full gear.  I plucked this beauty off the rack and had it on my body in 3 minutes and 24 seconds flat.  A glance in the mirror, and I knew it was coming home with me.   

I would never dream of spending $128 on a skirt for myself, but I had a generous gift card to use.  Happy day! 

That's all I've got for now.  Hope you are all having a fantastic and crafty weekend!

Crochet Grannies and some layouts

Yup, it's definitely summer around here.  Not much posting, but a whole lot of fun happening.  

We've been on vacation, on day trips, and on a bit of a stay-cation.  I love summer!

Today the boys and I spent much of the day making duct tape wallets.  I forgot to photograph, so maybe that'll be a post for another day.

Anyway, here's a bunch of mish-mash stuff that I should have probably been posting for the past month.  

Did I mention how much I love summer?!?

More squares for the blanket that is sssssloooooooowly coming together:

This square adds a circular twist on the traditional granny.  Whips up quickly--would make a great blanket done up in various color schemes.

Colorful Square by Drops Design {pattern here}

I really liked making this one.  The center is done in puffs and bobbles (even if you don't crochet, doesn't that just sound fun!), so it has lots of texture.

Carseat Blanket Square by Mary Ellen Wells {pattern here}

And speaking of texture, this square has lots of it.  I love the popcorn stitched flower and the way the four double treble stitches are worked on top of the square.  This was a fun one to figure out.

Flower Tile by Mary Jane Protus {pattern here}

Here's a closer look at it:

I'm taking a little break from squares to stitch up a chemo cap for a friend's client.  I'll share it and the pattern when it's finished.

Now onto some scrapbook schtuff.

Layouts for the Scrapbook Heaven Summer Scrapsation Crop:

And a few sneaks of the July Kits from Scrapbook Heaven.

 July Elite Sneaks:

 

Here's a look a the fabulous kits Shannon put together this month:

 I can't decide which one I love more.  

The full reveal will happen Monday, so stay tuned!

Happy Weekend!

Square-A-Day: The final 3!

I know it's mid-June, but I'm on my own creative calendar with these crochet squares: the deadline-free, do-it-for-fun kind of calendar.  So here we go with the FINAL THREE!!  Yippee!

Day 28:

So this is anything but a peace sign.  I simply followed the stitch pattern and ignored the color changes.  It took me a few tries, but I figured out JudyK's RVS (reverse v-stitch).  I really like how that formed the corners of the square, but now that I am looking at my square I'm noticing an error.  Can you see it?  I knew it was a bit off, but I was rushing to get it finished to include in this post.

Peace Sign by Judy K {pattern here}

 Day 29:

 This was one of my faves.  I love the scallop edges and the dimension.  And I learned the proper way of doing a BP double and single crochet!

Yarn Clouds by Amelia Beebe {pattern here}

 And a look at the beautiful texture:

 

Day 30:

 Of course I loved this one--it's a flower.  This one was deceptively easy and was simple to convert to the smaller size.   I especially love the hexagon center and the texture created on the base of the block (green on mine).

Kaleidoscope Blossom by Chris Simon {pattern here}

The Crochet-A-Long is over but my blanket is not big enough for a real blanket.  My goal is to make it about twin-bed sized.  I'm a little more than halfway there.  So I've searched through Ravelry and fave'd some of the squares I'll be making in the coming months.  This project has no deadline (it's a present for myself), which may not be a good thing.  I'm going to shoot for winter so I 'll have something to snuggle up under while cozying up with a good book and some cocoa.  

Here's the first block I've completed:

Popcorn Parade by Melinda Miller {pattern here}

Sorry for the totally messed-up photo.  The block is not this crooked in real life, honest!

Thanks so much for checking out my blocks during this C-A-L.  I had tons of fun.  And a huge thanks to Melissa for organizing it all for us!

Square-a-Day: 23 through 26 {and a work in progress}

May is over, June is here and I am nearly done with my squares.  Some of these last ones hung me up as I tried to resize them. Here we go:

Versailles by Melinda Miller {pattern here}

 It's hard to pick a favorite, but this one is definitely in the running.  I just love the way it came out: the sun burst inside the circle and the shell border.  Not sure how much I'll be loving those shells when it comes time to  join this square to the blanket. 

Bright and Cheery by Dayna Audirsch {pattern here}

This was a fun square that worked up quickly.

Birthday Flower by Chris Simon {pattern here}

This one took a bit of finagling to resize.  This is another one for my list of squares to make in 12" size.

Blooming Lace by Melinda Miller {pattern here}

 I think I said it before, but I really love Melinda's patterns.  I'm sad that this one didn't have room for the beautiful lace.  Another one to make 12".

I'll leave this post with a work in progress shot:

Granny's More Complex Star by Tiggerbee  {pattern here}

This is day 27, a beautiful square, but I'm trying to decide what to do: do I follow the pattern and end up with a square too big for my blanket, or do I try to turn this hexagon into a square...hmmm.  This crochet business is not as easy as it looks!