February 2008 Archives

Sign the petition to Save Friday Night Lights! It's a great show!

I have a crush on bad-boy Tim Riggins!

When I heard about the Clover Reflections crochet hook sets - colorful acrylic resin and elastomer with the ergonomic Soft Touch-style handles, I just had to have 'em! So I bought 'em on eBay!

There are 2 sets: small and large; both include a clear acrylic methacrylic resin case for storing the hooks. The case is round, however, which makes it very likely to roll off a table - it would have been better to leave one flat edge.

The small set includes G, H, and J crochet hooks (4 mm, 5 mm, 6 mm). The large set includes K, L, N (6.5 mm, 8 mm, 10 mm).

• Size: 35 inches x 50 inches


• Colors: Leftovers (mostly Caron Perfect Match)


• Pattern: Granny Square Lap Blanket - White, Tan, Greens, Pinks, Yellows, Blues - Design by Cheryl Lambert


• Hook: I


• Date: start February 10 using leftover squares from blanket just finished; finish February 12

I had 5 squares leftover from the previous granny square lap blanket - 1 pink, 1 yellow, 1 blue, and 2 green. So, I crocheted an additional square using purple and grey, made a white and sage border around each, joined them, and put a border around the whole thing. Didn't take very long!

• Size: 35 inches x 59 inches


• Colors: Leftovers (mostly Caron Perfect Match)


• Pattern: Granny Square Lap Blanket - White, Tan, Greens, Pinks, Yellows, Blues - Design by Cheryl Lambert


• Hook: I


• Date: start January 22, 2007; put aside early February after 20 squares; picked up again May 28; put down again May 29, 2007; finally finished February 10, 2008

It's longer than it should be for a lap blanket, but it's done. This one took me a while to finish. I wasn't exactly thrilled with the brightly colored squares together, but when I added a wide white border, it pulled together.

• Size: 42 inches x 47 inches


• Colors: Dark Sage, Sage, Light Sage (Red Heart Super Saver)


• Pattern: Pinwheel Filet Granny Squares Lap Blanket - Greens - Design by Cheryl Lambert


• Hook: H


• Date: start January 2; finish January 14

That's Jasmine (Jaz!) helping me layout the blanket for the photos!

Build your own M&M character!

Imagine meeting with an IT manager who actually seemed to listen. and care. and be willing to do more than just mouth words. Wonderful! Over the next few months, I hope to feel much more secure about a few web server-related issues at work. Whew.

Free crochet pattern for an oval-shaped motif or rug or other object from Sandi Marshall at about.com:

Basic Instructions for Crocheting an Oval Shape

Free crochet patterns for half circle-shaped motifs (aka round granny squares!) from Sandi Marshall at about.com:

• Half Circle: Single Crochet (sc) Stitches
• Half Circle: Double Crochet (dc) Stitches

See also my post about the Triange Granny Patterns.

[Since the copyright statement very clearly says "Do not redistribute, in any form.", I've hotlinked to the images on the about.com website (which is 99.9% of the time not the preferred action).]

• Size: 33 inches x 45 inches


• Colors: White, Cranberry, Claret, Dark Safe, Medium Sage, Sage (Red Heart Super Saver)


• Pattern: Flower Picture Afghan - Design by Cheryl Lambert


• Hook: I


• Date: start January 21; finish February 7

This is a simple picture afghan of a single flower, stem, 2 leaves, and 2 fallen petals. The free chart of the flower pattern is to the right.

The squares were crocheted following the Two-row Granny Square Pattern for Patchwork Quilt Picture Afghans I posted a few days ago. The border is something I made up as I went along: almost the same as dc in a standard up-down ripple pattern: 1 row white, 3 rows cranberry, 1 row dark sage.

Hubby bought himself a new toy Monday night! Today was the first day I could see it since mornings are dark and evenings are dark!

A 2008 Chevrolet Colorado LT Crew Cab in Ruby Red. With the higher gas prices and about 9 miles per gallon, random things going wrong here and there which needed fixing on his 1997 Chevrolet Silverado Z71, and a $200+ registration fee coming due, he wanted a new, more dependable truck with better gas mileage. So, here it is!

Most of the time, his toys are more expensive than mine!

His: New truck, motorcycle, table saw, etc.

Mine: Small digital cameras, sewing machine, fabric, crochet books,… - even the Dell XPS 400 desktop computer I bought in April 2006 was only $2,245.

Crochet food patterns seems to be big lately, although not with me. However, I thought this free crochet pattern for a heart-shaped Box of Chocolates was delightful! Perfect non-calorie treat for Valentines Day!

This is a free crochet pattern for an easy 2-row granny square that can be used for patchwork quilt picture afghans (smaller granny squares can make more detailed pictures), like the above blanket with sailboats and fish (in this Leisure Arts leaflet: Perfect Patches -- 5 Afghans to Crochet (Leisure Arts #3888)) or the above quilt-like afghan with flowers (in this Leisure Arts leaflet: Patchwork Afghans Thru the Year, Book 2 (Leisure Arts #3223)"). See also my blog post listing lots of books and leaflets with picture afghan patterns.

Solid Color Granny Square Pattern

Row 1: ch 4, join with sl st (loop formed); sc in loop then ch 2 (this is first dc), 2 dc in loop, ch 2, (3 dc into loop, ch 2) three times, join in top of first dc. Turn.

Row 2: sl st in ch 2 space; sc in same ch 2 space then ch 2 (this is first dc), 2 dc in same space, ch 2, 3 dc in same space, ch 1, (in next space: 3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc, ch 1) three times, join in top of first dc. Finish off - leave tail of about 8 inches to use to sew together granny squares to create the desired pattern.

Two-color Granny Square Pattern

Colors A and B.

Row 1: With Color A, ch 4, join with sl st (loop formed); sc in loop then ch 2 (this is first dc), 2 dc in loop, ch 2, 3 dc into loop changing to Color B at end of last dc, ch 2, (3 dc, ch 2) twice, join in top of first dc. Turn.

Row 2: Continuing with Color B, sl st into ch 2 space; sc into into same ch 2 space then ch 2 (this is first dc), 2 dc into space, ch 2, 3 dc, ch 1, (in next space: 3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc changing to Color A at end of last dc), ch 2, (into next space: 3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc, ch 1) twice, join in top of first dc. Finish off - leave tail of about 8 inches to use to sew together granny squares to create the desired pattern.

I just found these great Tony Stewart items on Target's website! 6-can cooler / lunch box $9.99; pet jersey $29.99 (high!), and toddler-size race car $229.99 (higher!).

I'm thinking seriously about the lunch box!

The 2008 NASCAR season starts soon!!! As much as I have a crush on Tony Stewart, I think Tony's new teammate Kyle Busch is gonna win it this year.