Still Away...

Away from the snow & ice my family at home are dealing with. Sitting here in NC where the season is still "winter" but I can wear my flip flops and t-shirts comfortably. Yeah, some would say it is cold but I'm not one of them. I don't mind a cool breeze where I can get away with wearing my light jacket and not be uncomfortable. Now if I needed my coat then I'd say it's cold here. But so far so good.

It's been a pleasant, uneventful visit so far. Other than the fact that I've seen more Discovery Toys and have fallen in love with a few of their games. I would not look twice at it in the catalog or even online but playing with it person I'm hooked! I can't wait to play it with my granddaughters. What you wonder could I be babbling about? Wonder no longer it is called Flip Flop Faces and it is a very fun game. A bean bag game & you have several options for play. We chose to play where we needed to match the color bag to the bowl and we opted to play to a certain number of points to declare a winner (mind you 'we' are all adults & this game is for 4 yrs & up)... Needless to say for me to go on & on about it I must think it is fun!!! My mom played with us and determined she did not care for it at all. (poor mom, just could not make the bowls flip flop over and score some decent points). We return, to God please decent weather, early next week sometime.

The toys will come with us so Sarah can demonstate the toys & we can all play with them. Two other games that are very cool in my opinion are ~ Wiz Kids and Quick Call these are both games that adults can play with or with out the kids & enjoy. But there are still a few I haven't had the chance to play yet so I may be reporting on more later.

Finished the ripple afghan & it is lovely. I'm very pleased with it & will take pictures & report on it more when I am home. (can't do things to easily from someone else's computer).

Miss blogging will hopefully be back in full force when I am home with some pictures & more.

Wishing you all frog free projects!

Leaving in the morning... see you in Feb.

I'll be packing this afternoon. Leaving in the morning. Be back in early Feb. sometime. Hopefully with some pictures to share. Amusing road trip story to share??? Ya never know!
My mom has the "glamorous" job of keeping me awake on the road.
I'm bringing serval projects with me in the hopes that I can get them accomplished while I'm there.
Wishing you all "frog free" projects while I'm gone.

Ripple baby throw

All I can say is I'm totally "hooked" on this pattern. I've gotten through the first "color band" as I decided to call it ~ and it measures 8 inches which means I need 5 "color bands" to = 40 inches. I have 6 rows of blue, 1 of powder yellow (looks almost white until you put white next to it and then you see the color), 6 of lavender for the "color band". I will put one row of yellow between each color band as well. Then trim all around with one row of yellow, one of blue & one of lavender. I know my niece will love it, gender neutral and in colors she likes.

I have to admit I fell behind on my baby stepping but did manage to sort the old newspapers this morning before getting online. I'm going right back to the baby afghan and see if I can get another color band done before having to "do" something else. My goal is still to have this one finished before I leave for NC.

Wishing you all "froggy free" projects :) and if the weather is cold where you are ... stay warm, if you're weather is warm stay cool :)

North Carolina here I come :)

Okay I am not leaving this minute! But yes I will be leaving this week. Driving on down to visit with my dd & sil. My mom & I will have a nice visit with them and then we'll bring my dd home for a lovely visit and so that she can attend her cousin's baby shower. While she is home my lovely daughters in love (law) & I will host a Discover Toy party allowing Sarah to show everyone the great products Discovery Toys has available. (You can go to www.discoverytoys.com/SarahPollie to ck out her online catalog & you can order online too.) There is a sale going on right now that ends on Feb. 6th so if you have any toy needs (whether for birthday's or any other gifts or perhaps you are a day care provider you really should know about Discovery Toys. They have toys suitable for children with special needs.

Okay I'm not the toy consulatant my dd is... so go, look, bye!

As for my progress with my baby gifts OUCH!!! I'm still working on Heather's baby afghan ... started my niece's baby afghan (love the pattern by the way... using a free pattern from Lion Brand... spring baby ripple throw ??? I can't recall the title exactly but I think that was it)

And of course I will be getting back to that project so I can make some real progress on it. So just popped in to say I'll be leaving by/ before the end of this week.
Wishing you all frog free projects!!!!

Deadlines looming decision time...

So I have decided that as much as I want to go to the baby shower this Sat. for Heather I simply can't. I have a very small gift for her and have started the baby afghan for her but I really want to concentrate on working on my niece's baby shower gift. Of course if I could finish Heather's by Friday evening I could go to the shower on Sat. and not have to think about that gift any more... so I don't know what to do. I guess I'll give myself until tomorrow evening to complete the afghan & if I haven't then I will just stop & begin working on the other one that I need for Feb. 7th. There will be a second shower I can attend in April for Heather so I have choices.

Yes I will allow myself to continue on with Heather's baby afghan if I can get it completed by tomorrow evening then I will be very happy. If I can't then I still have time for it so no problem.
I think I'm making a simple granny square afghan for my niece but I'm not 100% sure I will have to be totally committed to whatever pattern I chose since I want it finished for the shower this Feb. 7th. And I want it finished before I leave for NC next week.

Okay so really loving the pattern I'm working with for Heather's baby afghan but don't think it's right for a "gender neutral" gift. I think it's lovely & if my color choice were different then maybe it would be good as a "gender neutral" gift but in the New Aran Twinkle it seems "girly" to me ... I may not think that way once it's finished but so far that is my assessment.

Gotta get back to the hook & yarn ... pretty little things won't make themselves!
Wishing you all Frog free projects.

Hook's been busy busy busy...

I've been sort of dragging my hook in the process of making all these baby gifts I need /actually want to make. I wasn't "thrilled" with the patterns I had before me ... mind you I only looked at about 50 to 75 so I could have kept looking until I found the "perfect" thing.
I have really enjoyed the Hexagon Granny baby jacket (I posted about it earlier it's found on Bev's site ~ Bev's Country Cottage) ... anyway I wanted something that easy but different.
I looked through an old book of mine titled The Pattern Library Crochet published in 1981 by Ballantine. And in there I came across a Flower Hexagon. So my brain working the way it does said hexagon granny folds just perfectly for a baby sweater why not use this motif and do the same thing???
Made the first motif (actually tried enlarging it on the first go round but quickly saw I was making errors in the process so had to frog back to the row before my attempt to "make it bigger" ... finished the motif as the pattern directed & really liked the end results. Made a second one & could not see how it would fold into the proper shape. You see you make petal shapes in this hexagon and it folds a bit differently then the granny hexagon. When I decided to simply chose two sides to make the back then did the best I could to 'fold' the rest into a shape that could be a baby sweater. I love the end results but will admit it has a unique shape to it which is probably what I love in the first place.
I tried it on my two 'baby dolls' one that is supposed to be the size of a real newborn and one that is supposed to be the size of a baby 3 to 6 months old. It looked better on the larger doll. But could be put on the newborn baby too. So I will give that to Heather for her baby shower (they are expecting a girl) then I was really excited to get started on a baby afghan for her as well but I still didn't care for the things I had started nothing seemed to spark any interest for me. Until I was playing online yesterday. I can't tell you what directed me there but this is where I ended up : http://www.crochettoday.com/freeprojects.aspx

There are free patterns listed there and I selected the Super Simple Throw (May '08) and sat to work the swatch ... loved it and so after finishing the baby sweater I started this super simple throw (not as large as the pattern calls for of course!) Using a "K" hook and baby yarn and so far loving it ... I'm so happy to be productive on this project. I might actually attend the shower coming up this weekend not sure. Depends on a few factors. (like if I can get this baby afghan finished in time ;-)

In the mean time I have many things going on and I'm preparing to drive to NC with my mom to visit my daughter & son in love. And when we return my daughter will come home for a brief visit. And attend her cousin's baby shower. So I'm busy busy busy these days with looking for just the right pattern to give me the results I want for these baby gifts.
Wishing you all warmth, peace, joy & happiness and that the frog will abstain from visiting your projects today :)

Emailed my beautiful niece & discussed the "colors" for the baby afghan I would like to make for my new great nephew or niece. We don't know who is about to join our family but we all are very excited to meet the newest family member when they arrive this March. I admit I did try to discover if she knew and was just keeping it a secret based on something my mil said but my niece stated that they really don't know so I believe my niece & chalk up my mil's comment to have been a mere misunderstanding. The result is that I will work with blue & lavender (possibly another color that works well with the two I have on hand) for the baby's afghan. It won't match the baby's bedding selection but it will be unique (I love that factor) and it will be in colors that my niece likes so she will be more inclined to use it rather than put it in a closet untouched. Now I just have to work out the design I have in mind & if that doesn't work I'll have to search my extensive pattern library to pick out just the right one.
I have finished the adorable white & yellow sweater for a newborn baby. (That will go to my niece.) I decided that for three of the baby gifts (1 boy, 2 girls) I will make simple sweaters & maybe include a small amount of money in the card or go out & pick up a cute little outfit to join with the sweater. Then my other friend I want to make a baby afghan & a baby sweater for her little girl. She doesn't want pink, she told me she would actually prefer blue for her daughter than pink so I'm using Red Heart Soft Baby colorway Laddie for the baby afghan I'm making her. Not sure what I'll do for the sweater as I don't plan it to be a "set".

So yeah I'm into baby mode! Besides all the crocheting I'm excited because I will be able to go visit my daughter & son in love and bring my daughter home for a visit with the family & she will be able to attend my niece's (her cousin's) baby shower. While she is home she will put on a Discovery Toy party (she is an independent consultant for Discovery Toys) http://www.discoverytoyslink.com/esuite/home/SARAHPOLLIE ck out her website if you need toys for someone special in your life. I purchased the working trio dump trucks and the giant peg board and the playful designs gave them as Christmas gifts & loved all of those so went back & ordered some other items that I'm waiting to receive. I know it is hard to purchase by description and much easier to decide when you see something in person & can touch it and actually play with it first. So the party will give all of us a chance to see what her new career looks like. It certainly sounds like fun playing with toys at home parties.

Wishing you all frog free projects and baby steps to accomplishing whatever your working on today.