Tuesday Trivia

Did you know that Grateful Dead are technically a one hit wonder? I find it amazing that such a popular and hugely successful band had only one hit. Anyway, that's my favorite little bit of trivia. Just thought I'd share. :)

Drum Roll Please!

I have 2 big announcements...

FIRST:

As you all know I'm really good at starting afghans. But look, I can finish them too! Yes, I amaze even myself. :)


It was a very breezy day and not the greatest day for picture taking, but I still managed to get a couple of okay shots.


This afghan started when I decided to write a basic Multi Color Granny Square pattern to share. When I chose the colors and started the square I had no idea it would turn into a full fledged afghan. But when I saw how great the colors of the finished square looked I knew it would be perfect for Cyndi's MIL. Her favorite colors are green and purple. I can't wait for her to open it on Christmas! I really think she'll love it. :)


The inspiration for the "square in a square" design came from Lucy's Big Blanket over at Attic24. Her blog is great, you should check it out if you haven't already. :)

I still plan to do a join-as-you-go tutorial. I took plenty of pictures as I was making this ghan but because I used soft white to join the squares the pictures look a little washed out and nondistinct. So I'm going to have to re-do the photos with different colors. Hmmm... I wonder if that one will grow into a whole afghan too? You never know with me... >:)

SECOND:

I hope this doesn't come as a shock... But I have decided not to continue the monthly square crochet alongs in 2010. We will finish up the Calendar Ghan for this year, and I will still design and post squares to this blog, just not in the CAL structure and not on any kind of a time schedule.

HOWEVER, I will be conducting a CAL beginning January 1st. Click here for more details. I hope you'll join us! :)

What can Brown do for you?

I received a very special UPS delivery today.


And the delivery guy was the cutest I've ever seen!


I even paid him for his services.


Who says UPS doesn't deliver on Saturdays?

Frugal Shopping & TONS of Pics!

We spent a very long and exhausting, but quite productive, afternoon in Springfield yesterday. After lunch at the Chinese buffet, we went to Goodwill where I scored ALL kinds of AWEsome finds!

First off I spotted this sweater. It's 85% wool so I'm going to try and felt it. I love its stripey goodness and can't wait to figure out what to create with it. But it will have to wait a while... we currently do not have a washing machine at home (we are working on remedying that) and our local laundromat does not have hot water. :(

Cyndi and I both spotted this adorable candle holder, but she was the first to grab it so it went home with her. I do have visiting rights though. :)


Spotting this Circle of Friends candle holder made me forget about the cutesy flowered one though. I've had my eye on one of these for the longest time. And now it's mine!


These are some things I picked up with my son in mind. He's very much into the celtic/medieval/dragon/sword kind of thing but without being kitschy. I gave him the cross right away, but the candleholder and basket I'll hold until Christmas. I could tell he really like the candleholer (the purple rectangular thing). He kept commenting on it but I told him I was keeping it. "It will be perfect in the living room," I said. I'm so evil! >:)


I also found some cool hand stamped stone coasters. The back of one of them is stamped and signed "Hand-stamped with love (C) Stamin' Up Tiffany". Thank you Tiffany, I just love them!



I just realized we got a lot of candle holders! Here is yet another one... A lantern to be exact. It holds a small tea light. I love the bright colors and the butterfly cutout.


I fell in LOVE with this bright orange martini style glass. Now I just need to buy a shelf to display it! LOL


Now on to the real reason we're all here... YARN! I bought 2 of each of the 4 stripes shown below. They are for the Mystery Project I mentioned in my last post. I don't know if I'm feelin' the Autumn Stripes though... It's a little too brown & drab for my taste. I may end up replacing that one with another bright one. BUT, I haven't given up on it just yet. It may look entirely different once it's worked up.

I did get more yarn than this at Hobby Lobby but I can't show it just yet as it's for a Secret Santa partner and I don't want to give away the secret. ;)


At Walmart I went a little crazy stocking up on the Red Heart. Our local store sells it at $2.59 a skein, but Springfield prices it at just $2 even! I guess because they have competition with all the other craft stores in town. Whatever the reason... I decided to stock up on some basics. White, Soft White, Black, Claret, Frosty Green, and Orchid. In total I walked away with 21 skeins. I was disappointed they only had 2 of the new RH colors. I was really hoping to grab some at the lower price. *sigh*

And last but not least, I just couldn't walk past the Halloween section without getting some yummies to fill the candy dish. :)

She's at it again...

I've said it before... I have crocheter's ADD. Yes, I am the Goddess of WIPs. I can't help myself. I'm easily distracted by pretty colors. :)

I thought I'd whip (was that a pun?) up a quick granny square the other day for my Multi Color Granny Square post. Then I liked the colors so much I decided I need to make an entire ghan in this colorway. So I have yet another Grannyghan on the hook!

This one will be for Cyndi to give her mother in law for Christmas. Kathy's favorite colors are green and purple, so she's going to love this one. It won't be a plain granny square afghan though. I'm playing around with joining smaller squares then bordering them to make a larger square. There will be a total of 6 large squares. I'll leave any further details a mystery for now... >:)

I haven't been working on the bright grannyghan lately. I'm still fretting over how to arrange the squares. *sigh* :(

We'll be going to Springfield today (Saturday) for some more yarn/holiday shopping. The last time we were at Hobby Lobby they had some new striped ILTY. I restrained myself at the time and only bought 3 skeins. I've been KICKING myself ever since. I found the PERfect project to use the stripes with. Not just one of the colorways... but 4 of them... all in the same project. Yes, it sounds ugly, but trust me... it will be totally AWEsome. I've even received Cyndi's approval, and trust me, that truly means something! :)

Then Sunday I plan to work on a join-as-you-go tutorial for traditional granny squares. I hope to have the tutorial finished sometime next week so be sure to look for that!

WOOHOO!

I have lots of happy things to report today...

First is a BIG WooHoo! Several weeks ago I finally figured out that I was essentially poisoning myself with the high volume of aspartame I was consuming. After "detoxing" I am so happy to report that I have been feeling very well since I gave up the fake stuff. No more feeling nauseous. No more feeling lethargic. No more just plain feeling like crap. Woohoo!

And an even BIGGER Woohoo for a new and amazing product I discovered. Sun Crystals. I had read a little about the Stevia plant when I was researching sugar alternatives. Then Melani told me about Sun Crystals, an all natural sweetener made from the Stevia plant. No chemicals! Woohoo!

It's a bit pricey at over $6.00 a box, BUT... It's WAY sweeter than aspartame. Where I used to need 6 packets to sweeten my HUGE Rt. 44 tea from Sonic, I only need 1 packet of the Sun Crystals. So in the end it's essentially the same price. Woohoo!

Yarn Update: Our local Walmart cut its craft section drastically this past spring when they did a remodel. As a result, the yarn selection here in town was cut by at least 50%, if not more. So when I recently started seeing clearance tags on several of the yarns they still carry I was feeling a little nervous. Several Red Heart colors, all of the Simply Soft Eco, a few of the Homespun colors, and some of the Vanna's Choice were all marked down. I was happy to get a good deal, especially on the Homespun, but it still worried me. Walmart is the ONLY yarn store within 50 miles! I wasn't looking forward to traveling an hour just to get the basics.

Well today I was happy to see the reason for all the clearance yarns. They were making room for new colors AND new yarns! WOOHOO!!! Cyndi and I spent a while drooling over the new yarns and the new colors of Red Heart. I bought 2 skeins of a gorgeous new (to me) RH green called Tea Leaf, and Cyndi bought some Cherry Cola. I could have bought SO much more yarn, especially the new BULKY yarn they have, but I am on a yarn diet for now. I still had fun looking and planning potential future projects though. :)

Pattern Update: I finally posted the Multi Color Granny Square pattern that I'm using for the grannyghan. I also updated my Solid Granny pattern. Something I've been meaning to do for AGES. It's basically a standard granny, the only real difference with mine is that I prefer not to turn after each row as many patterns do. Next on the agenda will be creating a tutorial showing the join as you go technique for the Granny Squares.

And now a sneak preview of what's to come...
I totally amazed myself and finished up November's square AND wrote the pattern this past Tuesday. So it will actually start on time next month! WOOHOO!

Multi Color Granny Square

Multi Color Granny Square

NOTE: Please realize that although I am not the designer of the common Granny Square and cannot claim copyright as such, I do however claim copyright on these instructions as written by me.

Finished size: 4 rows = 5 1/2 inches

Materials: Worsted Weight Yarn*: 2.5 yards color A, 5 yards color B, 7.5 yards color C, 10 yards color D; US size "I" hook; Tapestry needle for weaving in ends.

With color A ch 5, sl st in 5th ch from hook to form loop

Round 1: ch 3, [2 dc, ch 2, (3 dc, ch 2) 3 times] in loop, join with sl st in top of beg ch 3, fasten off.

Round 2: Join color B with sl st in any ch 2 sp, ch 3, (2 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) in same sp, ch 1, * (3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) in next ch 2 sp, ch 1, rep from * twice more, join with sl st in top of beg ch 3, fasten off.

Round 3: Join color C with sl st in any ch 2 sp, ch 3, (2 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) in same sp, ch 1, 3 dc in next ch 1 sp, ch 1, * (3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) in next ch 2 sp, ch 1, 3 dc in next ch 1 sp, ch 1, rep from * twice more, join with sl st in top of beg ch 3, fasten off.

Round 4: Join color D with sl st in any ch 2 sp, ch 3, (2 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) in same sp, ch 1, (3 dc, ch 1) in each ch 1 sp across, * (3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) in next ch 2 sp, ch 1, (3 dc, ch 1) in each ch 1 sp across, rep from * twice more, join with sl st in top of beg ch 3, fasten off, weave in ends.

*Yardage given is for a 4 round/4 color Granny Square. For a larger Granny Square , repeat round 4 until desired size. For yarn amount, increase yardage by 2.5 yd increments. i.e. Round 5 would use approx. 12.5 yds.

Pattern written by April Moreland
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