Monday, February 23, 2015

granny blanket : princess

Good Monday Morning!

Time for another square for our blanket.

WEEK NINE || Princess


I'm a big fan of the popcorn stitch and flowers with dimension.  This square has both.  

I've been thinking about the join I want to use for my blanket, and haven't decided yet.  I have edged each square in gray (had to go back and frog the last round on two of them to replace them with grey). 
I was thinking about a join-as-you-go.  That way I can see my blanket taking shape through the year, and won't be left with the overwhelming (and boring) task of joining all the squares at once.  
Does anyone have a joining method you like?

ps.  I started a new blanket project over the weekend, and I can't wait to share it with you on Wednesday!

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

on my hook : hanger and sachet

Over the weekend I worked on a covered crochet hanger and sachet.  

It is the February project of Linda's Flower Yarn-A-Long.

I had never covered a hanger before, but have always admired the beautiful ones on Pinterest and Instagram.  It was a fun little project and I love how it turned out.

Linda's design is filled with beautiful details like these stripes,

this floral collar,

 but my favorite part is the cute little lavender scented sachet:

Thank you, Linda, for sharing your beautiful pattern with us.


Monday, February 16, 2015

granny blanket: odyssey

Happy Monday!
It's school vacation week around here, and I am looking forward to a week's worth of crochet projects.  I've got lots to work on like this ripple blanket

And these fingerless mitts

And a new project I started yesterday (because when you have too many projects in progress {PIP's} it makes perfect sense to start a new one, right?!)

Here's the real reason I'm writing this post today: it's week #8 in the 12 Inch Granny Blanket Project

WEEK 8 || Odyssey

This was a fun one to hook up.  I really liked the round of treble cross stitches: something I had never done before.  Of course, after that round I noticed that my square was going to be too large for my blanket, so I had to alter round 14 and omit round 15 altogether.


Rework of Round 14: 3sc in each corner space.  Work the following, one stitch per each stitch along each side:
2sc, 1hdc, 3dc, 4hdc, 13sc, 4hdc, 3dc, 1hdc, 2sc ending with 2sc in corner space.



Monday, February 9, 2015

granny blanket : grandma's heart

Guess what it's doing outside right now?!
It's snowing.  Again.  
It's a snow day. Again.
It feels like this winter is never going to end. Ever.

Each week that goes by on my #12inchgrannyblanket is a reminder that we're one week closer to spring and some warmer weather.

WEEK SEVEN || Grandma's Heart
by Carola Wijma
I first attempted this block when I made my first granny blanket in 2011.  It was a fail as I had no idea how to follow a crochet diagram.  I wanted to give it another try and between the diagram and these written directions by JeLire, this time was a lot easier.  


If you are having a hard time with this one, an alternative pattern is "Center Heart Square" by Ginger Badger.

Happy Valentine's Day!
and 

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

on my hook : pincushion

A week or two ago, I came across a fun YAL (yarn-a-long) on Instagram.  It's being hosted by the lovely Linda at Wild About Yarn.  The theme is flowers (my favorite thing!) and each month she will share a stash-busting crochet project and the pattern to go with.  Please check it out and join us!

January's project was a gorgeous Crochet Granny Pincushion.  I had never thought to fold a granny like a little envelope to create a pillow--genius!


I love how it turned out.  I did already have a cute pincushion, but can you really have too many pretty pincushions?  






 Wouldn't these be the perfect little gift for your sewing friends.  It came together in an afternoon, and   forced me to pull out the old sewing machine and some fabric (to create the cushion insert).

The February project is already posted if you want to hook along!



Monday, February 2, 2015

granny blanket : patriot's pride

Happy Monday! 
It's time for this week's blanket square, and I'm so happy to be posting this following a Super Bowl 49 win for the Patriots.  While the Pats were battling the Seahawks out in Arizona, I was cozying up in the rocking chair under an electric blanket anticipating another snow storm and snow day for the boys (number 3 in a week), and hooking up this square.

WEEK 6 || Patriot's Pride

I had to choose this pattern once we found out the Patriots were going to the Super Bowl.  April has a bunch of other 12" granny square patterns on her site, so I'm sure I'll be linking to her again.