I've finished 3 of the family filet names for Christmas so far. Only 3 more to go. The last one went pretty quickly considering it was one of the longer names. I'm determined to get them all finished this year!!! The only problem is I realized after finishing the last one that I for some reason used a much bigger hook than I should have on the first 2 I started last year. They're very loose and floppy and I don't know if they'll look much better after blocking. I'd really like to redo them o_O

To prove I've either gone crazy...or am finally getting organized, I already have two afghans picked out to make for next Christmas. I just bought yarn for one of them yesterday and plan on starting it as soon as I can.

And just to help myself to never get anything done I've been thinking about learning to knit.

Not much to talk about lately. Still trying to get Christmas presents done in time and not start anything new until after. It's not that easy but I really don't want to end up decideing it's not gonna happen (again!) and then have to go out gift shopping at the last minute with no clue what to get anybody. Time is running out!! I can't believe Thanksgiving is in just a couple days.

Anyways, since the first one I made just barely fit Boo I decided to make another BICO in the 12 month size. It is way too big but, at least this one she can grow into. I'm sure my gauge was off on both of them since I've never made anything that it mattered with before. Anyways, most the guys in my family are all hunters and my dad said once that my daughter was going to be his little hunting buddy. I was going to make her a camo bib but decided a camo BICO would be much better!! ...with purple trim, of course. I finished it just in time to go to my dad's birthday and completly forgot to get a pic of her in it. She was swimming in it but everybody loved it!



I'm also attempting to crochet Boo's Christmas dress. Lets just say it's not been easy. From the very beginning I've had problems with finding the right pattern to finding the right yarn. After 3 (4?) restarts I think I finally have it figured out. It's now going along pretty good. Hopefully it'll be done in time.

Pics are clickable...I think

My first sock! I plan on getting the other one made tonight. My Sis-in-law loves crazy colored socks so guess what she's getting for Christmas. When I bought this yarn I didn't really care for the colors at all and almost got something different. As soon as I started working with it I decided I love how the colors change and was very excited to see it lining up in pretty rainbowish stripes. It's amazing how different the colors look before and after. I want to make some for myself now! They're actually pretty comfy. Hopefully her feet are about the same size as mine. Got the pattern from here.

I've started many doilies but never really finished any. On Friday I finally got my butt in gear and finished 2 and blocked one. It's my first time blocking anything and probably could have been better but Boo decided to demand my attention while I was adjusting the pins so I had to leave it like it was. It's about 6 inches across.






I wanted to make something with beads and found this pattern. I thought the pony beads looked way too big for the lustersheen so I was going to use some good old red heart instead. Except I didn't have enough pony beads so I decided to be real adventerous and use size 10 tread and sead beads. The only other change I made was to add beads to the last row on the top. I really like how it turned out. Was going to use it for a change purse but I think it's much to nice for that. Don't know what to do with it now but I may have to make some more for gifts.


I also made some leg warmers for Boo's Halloween costume but I gotta wait til Halloween for those pics. She has a bad habit of spitting up all over at the worst possible moment and I don't want to get the leg warmers all yucky before we absolutely have to!
Yes, I realize nothing I've shown lately is on my Wip's list. Do you seriously know anybody who sticks exactly to thier lists?? I really have been working on most the Christmas stuff on the list too, just haven't finished anything yet.

I joined the Baby, It's Cold Outside CAL at the 'ville. When they said it was a quick and easy pattern they weren't kidding!! I started it saturday night and finished it sunday morning. I'll surly be making more of these for Boo and her cousins.

I used Bernat Soft Boucle that was left over from other things. I just happened to have Christmas colors, unfortunately I don't think it'll still fit her by Christmas. She wore it yesterday while out visiting and everybody loved it. My favorite comment would have to be from Boo's great grandma "You could make $50 on Ebay for that!!!" But I won't cause it's not my pattern.

My camara doesn't seem to like the dark colors, even with the flash on.

So after making that hat I want to make some more stuff with beads on them. I found a couple patterns with beads that I might try, nothing too fancy, and one without beads that I think I could add beads too it I can figure out how many to add. Now all I need is more beads. I have tons from a couple years ago when I thought I'd make some jewelery but never did. The only problem is they're mostly seed beads. Way too small for yarn. I wonder if they'll fit on #10 thread, I have plenty of that. I'll have to see if I can convince dh to give me a ride to the crafty store, we were just there yesterday, but it won't be for yarn this time I promise!!

My reluctant model is wearing a hat I made for myself with a pattern from yarncat. That was my first attempt at crocheting with beads. I know, not that impressive, but a girl's gotta start somewhere. The thingy on her lap is a toy I made for her. As you can see she is very impressed with mommy's skillz.
The scarf is for my husband's grandpa for Christmas. I used the tunisian stitch for the whole thing with a sc border. I was planning on putting fring on the ends but I think I like it just the way it is. It's almost 8 inches wide and 6 feet long. Hubby assures me he will love it. Gramps is known to give his gifts away to whoever's sitting next to him if he decides he doesn't like it (I've seen him do it!). I'm very happy with how this turned out so I'll be very not happy if he does that with this scarf.






This is the beginnings of my ambitious star for the star afghan CAL at the ville. I say ambitious cause the plan is to make it big enough for our queen size bed. We'll see how long that ambition lasts. Yes, it's just coincidence that it matches the scarf. The scarf was actually started last year and meant to be for last Christmas (see what I mean about ambition?!) I ordered the yarn for the star before I even dug out the scarf from its year long hiding spot to finally finish it.

I've been looking all over for Christmas yarn and finally found exactly what I wanted at Walmart last night. It's Red Heart Holiday. I bought some Aran/Gold to make some angels and Holly/Silver to make some garland and a stocking for Boo. I bought some Sugar and Cream Mistletoe a couple weeks ago for the garland but there's just too much white in it for me.

Anyways, time to get some crocheting done before Boo wakes up from her nap.

New and improved list...maybe I should spend some time sewing on buttons
*= for Christmas

WIPs

1. Whitney's afghan - 6/24 squares
2. Centerpeice - 48/60 rounds
3. MoEz graphghan - 75%
4. *Family names filet - 1.75/6 done
   
5. *G & C - 80%
   
6. *Surprise #1 - 99% (needs button)
7. *Surprise #2 - 20%
8. *G. Sellen's scarf - Done!
9. 2 bibs - first one 99% (needs button and patch)
10. Poncho/shawl thingy - 99% (needs buttons!!!)
    

CALs

1. Star blanket - started 10-4
2. Skipping stones circular afghan - need yarn
3. Doilies

• 1 12inch
• 4 10inch
• 3 8inch
  

UFOs

1. Pony - will finish someday
2. Celtic afghan - my tension has changed a lot, frog and start over?
3. Shawl thingy - leave as is and finish off or continue going with original idea

WIMs

1. Baby blankets

• Paige - purple
• Averi - cream
• Steph's baby - green

Been working on a lot of random projects here and there. Don't really have a lot to show off since a) I have yet to finish anything and b) half of it is for Christmas. But, I did take a couple random pics just have something to show off.

<-- This is my humble stash, most of it anyways, minus a couple wips that are in the living room. The green bin is empty, the black bin is full of mostly lionbrand homespun and a couple other random yarns, the blue bin has some odds and ends that I don't know what to do with and the clear bin is my filet projects. I also have stacks of magazines and booklets all over the place waiting to be organized....someday. The kitty is my first baby girl, Jasmin. She likes to hang out with me in the computer room.

The Between Meals Centerpeice from Annie's Attic. There's only about ten rounds left to do but it takes soooo long just to do one round that I haven't touched in in a couple weeks. Been working on Christmas stuff remember?
The beginnings of my friend Whitney's afghan, and it only took
me about 2 years to finally get it going. The squares are supposed to be 12 inch but they're only coming out 10 inches. For some reason I'm crocheting these pretty tight and have to remind myself to loosen up when I work on other projects.



Sorry for the cruddy pics. Thank you to those who have commented so far! It's nice to know there's some people checking out my blog already and I love getting comments. Now can someone please tell me there's an easier way to post pics in this blog! Everytime I add an image it sticks them at the top of the entry and it's a pain to move them down to where I want them in this little box they give you to type in. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

The other day I put Boo in her excersaucer and sat down on the floor next to her. I figured I'd get a couple rows of crocheting done before she decided she didn't want to be in the saucer anymore. After a minute or two I realized she was being very quiet and I looked up at her and she was just watching my hands. She must have sat there for about 10 minutes after just quietly watching me crochet. This is the girl who wakes up talking and squealing every morning and makes noise all day long just cause she can. She did it again last night, Adam was trying to play with her and she was completely ignoring him and watching my hands instead!

So, how early is too early to put a hook and yarn in her hands? Maybe I should start her stash now so she won't be stealing from mine!!

FYI - Boo is my 4 month old daughter, her nickname changes almost weekly tho Boo seems to be sticking the longest

I was cleaning this morning instead of crocheting (what was I thinking?!?) And I found what I guess would be my first attempt at designing. I wanted to make an afghan and had this "super cool idea!" I made 3 really long stips of just one row each of dc's then braided them together and sc around to hold it together. I really liked how it came out but then realized, since it's only maybe 2 inches wide and 5 feet long, I'd have to make a bazillion of these these strips to make enough for an afghan. My ambition completely deserted me. So a year later I find this poor forgotten thing in the bottom of a bag of yarn and have decided that if I add another round of sc to the border it'll make a super cool scarf!!

I think for now I'll let other people do the designing.
Speaking of patterns, yesterday I found the Blue Ribbon Crochet book by House of White Birches at the grocery store of all places for only 5.49! Add another couple patterns to the mile long to do list.

WIP's

Between Meals Centerpiece - 80% done
Baby bibs - 1st one 40%
Gwen's 12 inch doilies - 0/2
Ryan's 7 inch doilies - started 1/6
Whitney's afghan - 1 half done / 6 squares
Celtic Lace afghan - 30%
Family names in filet - 2/6
Pony - 70%
Grandpa's scarf - 50%
Surprise afghan - 70%

Hello and welcome to my new blog!! This is mainly going to be about my crochet adventures. I've been trying to get a bit more organized with my many projects and hopefully this will help. I can now show off my many works in progress and hopefully someday show off some finished projects!! Someday I'll get back into customizing my little ponies and will most likely show those off here too. Please excuse my randomness and PLEASE excuse the lameness of my blog name. This was a spur of the moment sort of thing and that's the best I could come up with.

And just in case there's any confusion,
FadedBlue is my crochetville name
Pikaboo is the name I use just about everywhere else
I was going to use FadedBlue for this blog but it is apparently already in use by someone else.

K, enough excuses!! Time to make some lists.