Hello, Summer of Us!

It's the first day of summer holidays, the first day when I can sleep in, so of course I woke up wide awake at 6:00am! We're heading up to Dan's old family cottage this weekend for some nostalgic R&R with cousins and Dan's brother's family. So really, I should be packing and getting us closer to our goal of leaving by 8:30am. However, Dan's sleeping in the attic (no, I didn't kick him out, my Snoogle and I just hogged the bed last night).

I could pack my bag for the weekend...but it's in the attic! I could wrangle together a collection of yarn for the trip, but it's up there, too. I suppose I could pack the cooler...but that seems like a last-minute job and sitting on the couch writing this blog and feeling my little clownfish swim around inside me is much more appealing.

Summer vacation has officially begun. Report cards are over. I do have a few more hours of classroom organization to do, but that can wait until after the weekend. I have decided to start my mat leave at the beginning of September, so I won't be going back to work this fall. My due date is not until the beginning of October, so I have three months to slowly but surely get our new house in order...and time, of course to make lots of crafty things.

My report card distraction blanket didn't get very far, a sign that I was focused on work more than play. Here's what it looks like now:

More of a short scarf than a blanket at this point.

I also have a rainbow granny stripe blanket started, using scraps of mostly Bernat Satin Sport from a giant tote...but I can't decide if I want to keep going with that, or if I want to frog it and turn it into triangle bunting for our yet-to-be-established nursery.

This crochet granny triangle pattern is a great way to use up scraps and have some fun with colour play. Plus we've decided to keep the nursery it's plain boring taupe colour since the house was freshly painted when we bought it a few months back...and any child of mine better have lots of exposure to bright, cheerful colours!  Some bunting, some blankets, maybe a quilt and we'll have it rainbowed-up in no time.

Oops. And there goes my actual alarm clock. Guess I'd better get off the couch and make this prepping for the weekend thing happen.

I love thrift shopping

The school year is quickly coming to an end.  We've had some hot days, where I'm so exhausted melted by the end of it all, that I just draw the blinds in my classroom and head straight home.  On Thursday, I was away at a P.D. meeting--blessed with air conditioning and ice water for the full day--and I actually had energy left by the time I made it back to town.  On a whim, I hit up Value Village, hoping to maybe find a cheap piece of maternity clothing.  No luck there, but when you're thrift shopping, you always find what you're not looking for!

Here's most of the haul: two short-sleeved summer shirts for Dan...(That pink and aqua plaid one was a risk, but it actually looks so good on him!  He has attempted to wear it twice already, but agreed to let me wash it today before he wears it out in public)...and two too-cute baby beanies for our little bean.  (The Paul Frank one is my favourite...made of t-shirt material and only 99 cents.)

As I mentioned, no maternity clothes, but I did find this purse for me that had me singing the song from the VV commerical:

The find....THE FIIIIND!

It's made of candy wrappers and it's in mint condition...for $4.99.  VV isn't always the cheapest place to get stuff, but occasionally you find some really great deals!

The best part is many of the wrappers are not in English.  And it has several Ritter Sport wrappers, which were my obsession after our jaunt to Germany last year.

I don't know who made it or where it came from, but it has a functional zipper and sturdy purse hardware.  Can't wait to fill it up with all the necessities (book, phone, wallet) and head out on a little adventure!

Oh, and all this for $30.46.  Not too shabby...and all kinds of chic. ;)

A summer stitch-cation! Don't mind if I do.

A summer stitch-cation!  I'm committing to doing this.  I'm posting the link here so I don't forget about it. (And hoping that someone might decide to join me.)

http://thecrochetcrowd.com/summer-stitch-cation-afghan-challenge-announcement/

Our exciting announcement

This pic debuted on my Facebook page a few weeks ago.

Yep! We're expecting our own little baby to dress from head to toe in crochet and other craftiness.

He's coming in early October.  He'll be in good company:
-both sisters are expecting (due June and July 2014)
-my sister in law is expecting (due November 2014)
-I have 3 coworkers expecting (all due August 2014)
-our neighbour friends just had a baby this week
-just heard via email that long-distance friends of ours have another baby on the way (November 2014)

Boom, baby boom, eh?

I wonder how many baby crafts I can make between now and then.  Hmm?

p.s. The pattern for the baby booties is "Easy Booties" from the Lion Brand website.  It's a free pattern if you register for a free account.  I used Bernat Mosiac yarn and a G hook (the pattern recommends a much larger size) to work up this funky mismatched pair in about 2 hours.  One ball would probably make 3 itty bitty pairs like this.

Look What I'm Making Now!

Here's my latest work in progress. It's report card time, so I needed something repetitive and mindless to get my hands busy when my brain starts to slow down. Nothing like a few rows of crochet to make you feel like:
(a) you're accomplishing something and
(b) there's a steady rhythm to life

Both if these are great feelings when report cards begin to feel like a never-ending job that's taking way longer than you thought it should!  (Side note:  It always takes longer than I think it should.  About twice as long, in fact.  But there is comfort in the fact that I won't be writing these again for a while.)

This is a return to an old pattern. It's not my pattern, but you can find it online for free. You can also check out my previous adventures with this pattern from June 2013 and December 2012 in my blog archives. And, hey, if you're lucky, you can come back and view the finished product on my blog in a couple of weeks...or maybe less. Crochet progress is typically inversely proportional to progress with everything else in life.

A day of crochet

Okay, so this is an old post.  And it's kind of unfinished.  But I'm going to post it anyway.... So there. ;)  From skeins of yarn to a blanket in about 7.5 hours. :)

Today is a crochet day. (Technically, it's crochet and laundry, but nobody wants to see pictures if the latter!)

6:49 a.m: Up and awake, despite my best efforts to sleep in! Curled up on the couch to work on a bright purple baby blanket and catch up on "The Next Chapter" podcasts.

Blanket is 11 rows long at this point.

7:40 a.m: My first Russian join. Looks messy. Let's see if it holds up!

9:30 a.m: Third skein of yarn and second Russian join. (The first one was rough. The second was a lot easier!)

11:20 a.m: Blanket is now a square. Added one round of sc as a border to give the blanket some shape. Now to think about a fun border...and sort laundry as I do so.

1:15 p.m: Picot border added in black. Ends worked in. Finished!

How many stitches are in this thing? 36 ch and 67 dc in each row, plus a ch 101 to start.

Pinned it, made it: tea wreath

I love giving presents. I especially love giving homemade ones. The challenge of what to give/make for the person who has everything can be a fun one.  This is especially true when it comes to grandmas.  I mean, they are old enough to have everything they need and more and yet we don't want to overlook them at Christmas.  I found a tea wreath on Pinterest (from Kojo Designs).  I thought the wreath was a good fit because it's consumable, so it doesn't sit on a shelf and take up space. Practical, pretty, crafty...everything I look for in a simple gift. :)

Here is the version from Pinterest...

...and here is my interpretation!

The photo is a little blurry.  It was a quick snap with my iphone before we headed out the door to family Christmas.

I used two file folders wrapped in washi tape as the base of my wreath.  It has 16 clothespins holding in the tea bags (2 bags per clothespin) and I wrapped a bit of Christmas tree tinsel in and around them for colour, texture and sparkle.  The snowman is an oversized gift tag that I found in my Christmas giftwrap bin. :)

What the photo doesn't share is just how great this project smells.  A multisensory gift for sure.