I'm Cheating!

I already know which blocks the next two people have chosen for the Craftster crochet-along that I started. They chose #189 Willow and #18 Traditional Granny. I'm going to go ahead and make those today! Will post pictures when I'm finished!

P.S. BGR says my yellow block is really a funny color of tan--it's called "Sandstone" so that makes sense; it just looks more yellow to me than tan. Regardless, I think it looks nice with the other colors I've picked out (Robin Egg, Off White and Light Celery).

New Craftster Crochet-along

So, Saturday, I posted an idea for another Craftster.org crochetalong. This time it's for people who have the book 200 Crochet Blocks by Jan Eaton. We'll be making 24 blocks total--one every two weeks. Everyone is encouraged to participate, but the first 23 people who pm'd me would help me choose which patterns we'd be making for the rest of the year! Well... a BUNCH of people looked at the thread (like 173), but only 7 people responded. However, that's still I nice number; since we can each pick three blocks.

Anyway, I declared myself the first person to pick a pattern, and I chose #64: Sunshine Lace. It's an easy/1-hook pattern.

I initially thought I'd keep up with the blue and green theme I'm doing on the 12" blocks, but I went to Joann's today and found some nice lt. blue, lt. yellow, lt. green and off white that was on sale, and that will make a nice blanket.

My goal is to make FOUR 6" blocks every two weeks and sew them together (somehow--I'll have to figure out how to do that part later) to make a 12" block.

Here's what my two Sunshine Lace blocks look like. I made two of them in blue before I hit Joann's today. And that other one DOES look yellow, doesn't it? The color is called "sandstone" which I think of as a brown-ish color.

Anway, I made the yellow one with TLC Essentials yarn and a 4.5mm hook; it turned out exactly 6" square. The blue ones I made with 4.0mm hook and Lion Brand Pound of Love yarn. It's a little shy of 6" and I had to strecth it out some and block it to get it to size.

Iggy Prints

When we had the appraiser in the other day to re-appraise the house for our mortgage refinance, the first words out of his mouth were: "it looks like you guys just moved in!" Which is true because we don't even have living room furniture and we have NOTHING hanging on the walls.

So, anyway, today I decided to buy little Iggy art prints that I can have matted and framed for our walls. I got three watercolor prints from ElleJW on Etsy and another long skinny one (7.5" x 24") from a website called dogstuff.com. I also got an Austrian tobacco trading card with Italian Greyhounds on it on an eBay auction. Oh, yeah, and I got an "Italian Greyhounds Playing Poker" mini poster for $10 to put in BGR's office.

Last year, I found a really cute Italian Greyhound watercolor print on Etsy, that for some silly reason I didn't buy. Now that I want to buy it, I can't find it. I believe it was called "Iggy Bus."

I'll post photos when I get them and have them matted and framed.

Beyond the Square Crochet Motifs by Edie Eckman: a review

I forgot to write that the other day, Edie Eckman, author of Beyond the Square Crochet Motifs found my blog and wrote a comment that she hoped I liked her book! How cool is that?!

The book got here a couple of weeks ago, and I love it! First thing I love is the spiral binding. This is especially helpful since both hands will be busy (attempting crochet) and I can't hold the book open. Second of all, I really liked the tips and tricks in the introduction pages. There are sections on sizing and gauge, how to follow instructions, reading charts, making starting loops, beginning and ending rounds, and "tidy joins"--all stuff that a more advanced crocheter would skip through, but that a beginner like me appreciates.

Next up are the motifs. I have to admit that I haven't made a single one of them, yet, but I've repeatedly flipped through the pages and oooohhhh'd and aaaahhhh'd over each them. I can't wait to try out a few. I really like that there's written directions and then an accompanying chart. I'm still learning how to read charts, but I like that I can look at the chart if I don't understand the written directions, and can usually figure out what I'm supposed to do.

Overall, this is a great little book, and I'm glad I bought it!

Batik Crochet Hook Roll

Here's the batik crochet hook roll I made to house my new bamboo crochet hooks. Pretty cool, huh?

February 2009 Two Tone Crochet Square

Oh, yay! I finished my "Two Tone Square" this afternoon. It's by Dayna Audirsch, and I really like how it turned out. This is the February 2009 Ravelry square. This is the first time I've used the recommended hook (an "I") and been able to make the square turn out 12" like it's supposed to! Good for me! I guess I'm getting better at crocheting, huh?!

The only problem I see with this square is that the two colors are SUPPOSED to be the same weight, but they really may not be because where they join is kind of gnarly looking. Maybe when I block it, that will calm down some??? I hope so.

Fostering Puppies

Writing about the dog rescue lady reminded me of our time fostering puppies for the Humane Society.

Our house in Paris, with the enclosed sun room out back, was just perfect for fostering puppies. We had 16 little mutt puppies over the summer of 2006, and placed all of them with no problems. They were ALL so cute and sweet.

I learned a special secret to placing the puppies we had. All we had to do was have a pretty collar on ONE puppy when people were looking at them. The people ALWAYS picked the puppy with the pretty collar! Isn't that funny!?

Here are some of the puppies we had: