New pattern alert! If your name is Erin, stop reading this now and check your mail in a week.

Here is the pattern for the Granny Block Blankie. It was fun to sample the fishnet stitch. A few years ago, I made a blanket for a friend. She came back to me with all of this information about how breathable crochet is, and how all of the research she had read suggested using a handmade holey blanket to cover up babies when going outside.

The fishnet may be a little too holey, Erin will have to give it the old Pepsi Challenge.

Note: because of the fishnet stitch, this blanket would be inappropriate at my former place of work. Fishnet, even on infants, and even thought it may have been appropriate in the 1980s, is never appropriate in the present. This is especially true if the fishnet stitch is confused with patterned tights under a long skirt.

While I’ve got some down time, I’ve been able to do so many fun things.

I’ve started on a baby blanket in some of the softest wool I’ve ever found. This summer my mother-in-law, Diana talked about making a baby blanket out of granny squares. I’ve made many baby blankets, but most of them were some variation of a half-double crochet with baby acrylic. The granny square approach was a must try.

Craft-wise granny squares are very portable too. I can take one or to skeins to the bar to watch a game, or to a college reading/slam poetry event. I have a feeling if more people knitted or crocheted in bars in this dry Faulkner county, there would be more bars.

Maybe I’ll post the pattern when I’m officially done. In the past, I’ve only made yellow/gray/green blankets for babies. Boys tend to get too much blue, and girls tend to get too much pink. This yarn is perfect for this blanket though, and I only have pink and white.

My collection of crocheted keepsakes is very small. This is a hexagon throw in acrylic. Despite the scratchiness, I really love having it around.

My friend Sarah made these crocheted flowers. She knew about the tradition in my family to keep all of the bows from the bridal shower(s) and then put them all into a bouquet for the wedding rehearsal. These served as the bow on the gift she gave us, and were the center piece of the rehearsal bouquet.

Last week I finished a bag. It will be a gift for a friend, but in the past, I’ve made bags only to have them seriously get stretched out of shape later.

Last week, I also began bringing home the contents of my cubicle at work. Tyrone asked me, “Hey, isn’t that bag going to be a gift?”

“I’m just QA-ing it,” I replied. Quality assurance, quality control, I wanted to see that it could stand up to the strain, and stretch it out with heavy items, so delicate eggs and tomatoes wouldn’t have to do it.

Here are the pictures of the bag, and I am excited to say that one lucky reader is going to get it:

So what is next? Sunday I went out to a craft gathering where everyone was decoupaging tins and bowls with terriers and Bill Murray. It was a great time crafting with folks I don’t usually get to see to often. I also taught my friend Liz how to do the long-tail cast on method. She wasn’t looking for a new cast on, but once she saw how stretchy it was, she dug it.

Got a 10×10 inch square quilted in an hour last night, and did the same this morning.  I’ve got 16-6 inches on each side left to do before I can start finishing the quilt.  The coming days will involve some sort of business plan on what I can make quickly and possibly sell, but also what I can decrease in size to pack for the move.

Ok, now I have to go work out. HAHAH. That feels great to be saying at 10am.

I wanted to post this on Friday, but the time escaped me.

I made her some little hair flowers in two sizes with variegated embroidery floss.

I ended up putting green leaves on them too. Didn’t get a picture after I put the leaves on. Still have the one all the way on the left. It looks more like a star or a good luck charm than a flower.

My friends at the Star City Scene message board are talking about plastic bags vs. bring your own bag here.

This is a post dedicated to bringing your own bag…from recycled pants:

or from recycled plastic bags!

Classic bags:

Made some ornaments on-the-fly over the past few weeks.

Here they are:

I’ll post some patterns later. Good luck running into green plastic bags! My sister found a huge green one for me at her vet clinic.

The tree is pretty easy, I’ll try to write the pattern.
G hook,
green “plarn”
row 1: ch 3, dc in 1st ch
row n: ch 3, dc in every dc + 1. (usually i increase in the middle somewhere)

when you decide it is long enough, sl to the center, ch 4, tr, ch4 back to the body of the tree, tie off.

at the top, yellow “plarn”
ch2 from first green ch. sc counter clockwise as many sc’s as can fit (usually about 10-15), sl to join. sl behind the round of sc’s to the top of the ornament, leave 2-3 inches of tail to hang ornament.

The trees in the picture are 4-5 inches. I’ve made more that are only 2-3 inches, and they are MUCH COOLER. Hang a tree on your tree!

After Thanksgiving break I got a craft bug and a cold bug at the same time. It is time for a post though.

First off: last night’s experiment took precedence over the bundle of gifts headed out to NY state this year. Saw an example on this blog page (the first two crafts). (WARNING: SENSE OF HUMOR REQUIRED) These toys are totally appropriate for fun-loving adults, and remind me of something my Aunt Jean would make if she didn’t have to make 20 of them for her Christmas Craft Botique.

So last night, I started teaching myself the fine art of Japanese Amigurumi. It is a form of tight crochet with small yarn and small needles, where the crochet stitches are so close together, that the object “stands up” and can hold stuffing. It is used mostly for doll-making, but is also used for making containers. Also for the crocheters out there, everything is done in spirals, not in rows. No pictures on that experiment yet, but judging from last night, it would take me about 5 hours to make one of the dolls above, so only a very special person is getting one, and one very special aunt if I have time after xmas.

Ok now back to the backlog. Here are some blurry-close-ups of some holiday gifts I’ve been making:

Tomorrow…recycled holiday ornaments….

Put the finishing touches on it last night. Worked on it a little at the lake while having a sort of relaxing anniversary picnic on Sunday. The sweater is from _The_Happy_Hooker_ crochet book.

Started working on this in the Catskills. It is an excellent summer sweater for dealing with extreme cold temperatures in the office.

I’ll put up a modeling picture soon, along with possible next project!

No pictures yet, but I’m about 3/4 done with the half sweater on the front of this book.

In garden news, Ty bumped the tomato plant when he mowed yesterday, and 3 green tomatoes fell off, so he added them to the eggplant parmesan last night.  Tasty!