Candy Corn Pumpkin

I'm having so much fun with these pumpkins. Last night I tried one in candy corn colors. To find these colors, I had to get Red Heart Super Saver, so I have practically a whole skein of each left. Oh well, I guess I can make 100 more!

Crocheted Pumpkin

The calendar says it's fall, but the weather says otherwise. We have at least one more week in the 90s here in central Tennessee. I'm so ready for fall! Using inspiration from Megmade With Love, and Whistle and Ivy, I crocheted this little pumpkin.

Holly Christmas Ball & a Buffalo Check

This is one of my favorites. I have posted a photo of one earlier, but never put the pattern on. I also used styrofoam balls inside these, and love how they are nice and round. The stuffed ones never seem to be quite round. But these were sort of fiddly to finish with that ball inside. I put it in at after the 2nd decrease row, so it went pretty fast, in spite of being fiddly.

 This one I made myself lately, using a gingham chart I found on Pinterest. It looks a little pinkish in the picture, but it is made with red, wine and black.

Some Fall Crochet

I made these from a free pattern by Megmadewithlove.

Back at it on the Christmas Balls

The class that Larry sponsors went on their senior class trip to Orlando a couple weeks ago. On the way I started back on Christmas balls. I've been looking for something with buffalo plaid, but couldn't find one, so I just made one up myself.

Some More Baby Crochet

Boy, it's been awhile since I've posted. We started building a house in June of 2015, and moved in over Thanksgiving break. The bonus room over the garage is my sewing/craft room, but it wasn't until this summer that I got it organized (somewhat - it still needs some detailed organization) and could even begin working up there. Then the AC unit went on the fritz, and I sewed in some extreme heat for a few days. Mostly working on a Roman shade for our bathroom. Here's the kitchen one I made last winter:

 And here's the one I finished this summer:

 

We've also been doing some yard work this spring and summer. The yard was a blank slate.

 

 Crape Myrtles along the driveway. I just can't wait to see them grown up and blooming.

 

Begonias and rose bushes I planted as soon as the weather warmed up. I wish I had taken the time to put down landscaping cloth first - the weeds have been terrible!

 We also put porch rail on one side to finish the porch. The stair rail is still waiting to be finished.

 A random photo of Andy looking cute.

I found this door pocket at Hobby Lobby, and tried my hand at making a summer door arrangement.

I've been having lots of fun with the mantel -- I've been wanting one for decades!

My nephew's wife is due with her 3rd child in September, and requested some Mickey Mouse booties. I found the pattern and tried my hand at it. I thought they were cute, so I made the hat, diaper cover and yellow booties too.

Patterns from hopefulhoney.com, repeatcrafterme.com and a Youtube video.

Pumpkin Hats

I've been working on some pumpkin baby hats for gifts. They are so fun, and knit up quickly.

 These are little, like preemie sized.

 This one's regular infant sized.

So cute!

I took a break in between to try crocheting a basket. It's small and a little floppy, but I definitely want to try more! Maybe try crocheting over rope, and see how that works.

More Crochet Projects

I have been busy, and having a great time. I'm loving learning to crochet, but have a couple of knit hats I also want to make. Here are a few I've crocheted lately. I'm about ready to send them off to my friend to photograph on an actual baby. I have no idea if any of these will fit or look decent.

Projects

I actually have been doing a little knitting this year, and a lot of crocheting. Here are some pics of some of what I've been working on.

I've also made a few newsboy hats, but unfortunately, don't have a model. My friend Cynthia at cynthiaroelle.com will be using them as photo props. These baby pictures are ones she took. I may start an Etsy shop once things calm down around here - we're going to build a house!

Crocheted Scarf

One of the nice things about living here is that there is a Hobby Lobby about 20 minutes away! I can go there any time I want! In Asheville we had no Hobby Lobby, and the closest one was an hour away. Since they weren't open Sundays, we don't shop on Saturdays, and I worked full-time, I rarely got to go.

I found some purple multi-color yarn called Aurora Borealis there to make Mia a headband-ear warmer, and then decided to get a red version to make myself one, and also a scarf. If I had to knit a scarf, it would probably not be done until next season, so I found this pattern on Pinterest that is crochet, but looks like a knitting rib stitch. And it's easy enough that I can do it! I'm about half done with the scarf already. I do wish I had used a little bigger hook, but that's okay. Next time I will.

Back to knitting

I don't think I mentioned on this blog that we moved in July. From western North Carolina to central Tennessee. After nearly 26 years in the same house, it was quite a chore! Plus we are living on a school campus in a rather small house, so downsizing has been hard. I have no room in the house for any of my sewing, knitting or craft stuff, so we purchased a 10 X 12 foot storage shed and put it out back. I call it my yarn barn. I got kind of discouraged the other night when Larry and I were out there working on putting up a tabletop, and found several wood roaches. UGH I hate those things!! I have sprayed a bunch, and put out sticky traps. We will caulk and seal the thing this weekend, and hope it's less buggy. Finding time is a real challenge. The school keeps the kids busy with lots of activities, and we attend most of them.

Faculty pre-session started a week and a half after we arrived, and during the meetings, one of the other teachers knitted a sock and started on another one. Alas, I couldn't find any of my knitting! What a waste of good knitting time! Finally I found it, and have started back on Christmas balls. I knitted one in a day on the bus ride to and from a school picnic, and the other in the evenings before dropping off to sleep.

I want to do a whole bunch of blue and white balls and put them in a bowl or something to display.
Better go and walk my attention-starved dog. (Haha - he probably gets more attention than any dog on earth, but it's never enough for him!) I hope everyone has a good weekend. The schedule is slow here this weekend, so I'm hoping to get a lot of rest, and a lot of things done.

My own market bag

Mia's bag is almost finished - I just need to sew the strap on, and I'd like to find a cute button to put on it. I went ahead and started my bag next. I really like this color - "Swimming Pool".

Mia's Market Bag

I started on Mia's market bag last week. I think it's going to be really cute - I love the colors in this yarn!
As I was resizing this photo, I noticed what looked like a dropped stitch in the upper lefthand corner. I panicked and went to check it out. I'm NOT good at fixing dropped stitches, especially in a pattern stitch, but luckily it's just a tail from where I changed balls of yarn. Whew!