Oh crap, Friday already? A doily to end the week!

Most people say "Thank God it's Friday," but I have so much going on that every day that passes by, I can't help but think about how little I'm accomplishing.

But I did finally finish that doily I mentioned a few posts back.  My parents recently donated their old kitchen table to us because they upgraded and their old table matched our decor.  It's still a perfectly good, sturdy table, so why throw it out when there are poor newlyweds to donate to?

One thing that bothered me about our last table was how plain it looked, even with a centerpiece.  I'm not sure why I never thought of it earlier, but I decided to try my hand at another doily.  This time, a wee bit more complicated than the last.  And not purple.







I messed up one of the curved sides, and I'm not really sure how.  To be honest, the pattern wasn't very descriptive and I had a difficult time following.  I think it was user error, though, more than than the pattern :)

For my second doily ever, I think I did a good job.  I found it much easier to work with the thread and tiny hook this time around.  I haven't blocked it yet, which is why it's so "lumpy", but I'm hoping someone will buy me some blocking board for my upcoming birthday - ahem ahem - on June 16th.  I'll be waiting patiently.

I hope you all have a great weekend!  Hubby is in Chicago for a bachelor party, so I'll be visiting my parents for the first time in forever.  I look forward to working on my final projects - yay...  But in between, I'll be working on a baby sweater.  I think it'll be super cute; I always love making those.  Happy crafting!

Yo-Yo Blanket in Progress!

It's officially June now, which means it's the perfect time to start making blankets, right?

Okay, maybe not.  But these yo-yo blankets aren't super heavy and the pattern is really fun.  I started this one about two years ago - before Hubby and I were even married - as a baby blanket.  Well, I got sidetracked and never finished.

This past weekend, I had finished up some projects I have yet to post about and didn't have anything special on my plate, so I picked it back up again.  And then I had to run out and buy enough yarn to turn this into a blanket for someone my size :)



Originally, I had found the pattern online, but it's since been removed because the designer published a book with Annie's Attic.  Lo and behold, wouldn't you know I had picked up the book a couple weekends back?  I lucked out for once, haha.

It looks more difficult than it really is, and the effect is amazing.  Doesn't it look like a bunch of little circles sewn together?  I promise it's not nearly as tedious as you think it is (though it does require some math skills if you want a bigger blanket).





Anyway, this blanket has been keeping me company every night this week between working on class projects and being at work.  I'm hoping to have it done within the next week or so, but we'll see what happens.  Probably not, knowing me!

Sidebar: I got eaten alive over Memorial Day.  I was up from 3-4AM on Monday night scratching away at my foot.  Seriously though, it's unbearable!  But other than that, it was a great weekend.  I wish every weekend could be four days long.  Maybe then my eye twitch would go away :P

Traveling Scarves 92 - Journal

For my traveling scarf group, we each have to create a little journal that accompanies our scarf on its journey.  I had found a really cute YouTube tutorial on how to make rolled paper roses and decided to go a bit overboard with my journal.  Exhibit A:



But I guess it was worth going overboard because it did turn out kind of cute :)



My journal page talks about what I'm looking for and I even included a photo of my mom and me.  I'm encouraging everyone to add a photo of themselves, but they don't have to - even though it would be nice to see everyone who's worked on my scarf when it gets back to me.



Over the past year, I've purchased a lot of scrapbooking supplies and keep telling myself that one of these days - when I can come up for air - I'm going to sit down and dive in.  Well, that hasn't happened... so this was my way of indulging for a bit!

I have plans to post tomorrow, but we'll see what happens.  I took tomorrow off so I can enjoy a nice 4-day weekend (and work on a ton of homework for class instead of relaxing outside with the halfway decent weather we're supposed to get).  In any event, if I don't get back, have a great Memorial Day Weekend!

PS: It's been sunny for the past two days.  I'm not sure if everyone else has had the horrible rainy weather or tornado warnings that we've had for three weeks, but I'm glad that's almost over!

Traveling Scarves - Lengthwise Scarf hitting the mail this Saturday!

This obnoxious beauty will be mailed out on Saturday:



Isn't it wonderful?  Because the group consists of both knitters and crocheters, I knit one side of the scarf in the super-sparkly Caron Simply Soft Party yarn, and crocheted into the other side using some yarn I've had in my stash of which I can't remember the name.  But basically, I'm gonna shine.  Literally.

So now I just need to pick up a nice big Ziploc bag before shoving it into my padded envelope.  The first person in my downstream lives in the UK!  My last traveling scarf group had a member from Canada (which was exciting in and of itself), but I'm absolutely loving that people around the world - for real - will be knitting on my scarf.

Seriously, these traveling scarf groups are so amazing.  You should join a group if you haven't had the chance.

PS: I recently introduced myself to Pinterest and it's become my new obsession.  If you're also on the site, follow me!  I pin (or in most cases... re-pin) fun crochet and knitting projects, plus other general crafts, music, and reading stuff.  I'm still new so I don't have much up there, but there will be more soon :)

Should I also mention that I started crocheting another doily?  I think I will.  There you have it!

Mother's Day Coasters! (Better late than never...)

Here are the Mother's Day coasters I promised photos of in my last entry!







I used cotton yarn and probably a bigger hook than I should have - they're big enough to pass as small wash cloths, too.  But overall, they came out really cute and I love them.  Amazingly, I even had all these colors in my stash to perfectly coordinate with my mom's colors scheme.  Not sure how I managed that.  Most likely, I just buy too much yarn.

I found the pattern from a link posted on one of the Facebook pages I follow.  You can grab it yourself over at the Yvestown Blog!

It was a fun, cute, and quick project.  I think it took about 10-15 minutes per coaster, and that's because I kept getting distracted.

Happy Belated Mother's Day!

PS: I did give these to my mom on Mother's Day.  I slack on posting about projects, not creating them by deadlines :)