Pretty in Plaid

I've been working diligently on the Plaid Granny Square Blanket I'm currently making for LM, and I love how it's coming along.  I've developed a real love for Granny Squares lately, I'm pinning them like crazy on Pinterest, I'm looking them up on Ravelry, and I'm taking books out of the library for inspiration.  I may have to break down and buy a few though, because many of the really cool Granny Square's I'm seeing and loving have come from books.  I've also made a realization about them - I never like Granny Square blankets before because they seemed like a throwback to uncool 60's and 70's crochet.  But here's the thing - it's all about the colours.  I've seen some blankets done in modern colour combinations, bordered in white, and they're beautiful.  Something I'd be extremely proud to display in my home.  I'm looking forward to giving them a try.

For now though, I'll just leave you with a picture of what I've done so far on LM's Big Boy Bed Blanket.  I'm actually a bit more done than this - I'm almost finished the second row.  Each row is 11 squares and there will be 11 rows in the blanket altogether.  The squares are 6" each, so the blanket itself should come out to approximately 66", or 5 and a half feet long, by 5 and half feet wide.  I'm using Patons Decor Acrylic/Wool yarn in 4 different colours - Winter White, Pale Country Blue, Country Blue, and Rich Country Blue.  I think it's going to match LM's room perfectly, and I'm going to use the colours as a guide when I hopefully repaint the toy box I got from my mom next week.

Isn't it pretty?  I can't wait until it's done!

It's All About The Granny's

I do not have an addictive personality.  Sure I smoked once upon a time, but when I decided to quit, I just quit.  Finished my last cigarette in the pack, said "Yeah, I don't think I want to do this anymore."  And then didn't.  Easy peasy.  If I'd had an addictive personality, I'm sure it wouldn't have been nearly that easy.

So where is this going, and what does it have to do with crafting?  Well, up until 2 days ago I had never crocheted a granny square. Can you believe it? I mean Granny Squares are kind of the starting point for crocheters, right? That's what many (most) people first learn to crochet.  I never bothered.  I jumped right in with hats and complex stitches and left the ugly old-fashioned crocheting completely out of the equation.  I mean, this isn't your grandmother's crochet right?

So, a couple of days ago, having gotten quite bored of hats, I decided that I wanted to try something different.  I'm still not nearly brave enough to attempt an article of clothing.  One day, maybe, but not now.  So I need something else, something easy but not boring - I need it to keep my interest. And something that will soothe my need for immediate gratification.

LM (Little Man) is 14 months old now, and I'm thinking that by the end of this year he just might be ready to move into the next step towards a big boy bed - converting the crib to a toddler bed.  So what better thing for that then his very own Big Boy Bed Blanket?  There must be a big boy blanket pattern that's easy, right?  But will still look cool.  And after searching for about an hour on Ravelry, I came up with this. The Plaid Granny Square Blanket. 

This thing is gorgeous.  Not too girly looking, so suitable for a boy, but still satisfying my need for pretty.  And easy.  In 2 days I've completed almost 1 entire row of squares, and stitched them together.  I've read that joining them is the most tedious part of granny square blankets, and the reason that a lot of them just don't get finished.  So my method is this.  I crochet all the squares of one colour in a row at once.  Then I begin crocheting the other colour squares.  As I get each square of the second colour completed, I join them together so that by the time I have all the squares in a row done, the joining is also done, and I can move onto the next colour.  So far it's working, of course I've just started, so we'll see how it goes.

I do have some pictures to add, but they're on my computer at home, so I'll have to do that in another post to follow soon.

So, back to the whole addiction thing, and what the heck do smoking and granny squares have to do with each other?  Well, I think I might be well on my way to becoming a Granny Square addict.  Wow.  Since yesterday, I think I've pinned umpteen-billion granny squares onto Pinterest. (Sorry friends, I'm probably boring the pants off of you!) I had no idea that Granny Squares could be so darned cool!  And the ideas that I now have floating through my head of the hundreds of different granny squares I want to create - it's mind boggling.  And overwhelming.  And a fantastic way to use up all those little balls of yarn sitting in my totes in my closet.  Oh yeah.  My husband shakes his head and thinks I'm a nerd.  Well, he won't be shaking his head when he's on the couch, all wrapped up in that warm granny goodness next winter.  Or maybe even this winter (since winter here goes until May, and I'm sure I'll have something done by then.  Maybe.)  But I can tell you one thing for sure.  Where 2011 was the year of the crocheted hat...

2012 WILL BE THE YEAR OF THE GRANNY SQUARE!!

Why Digital Scrapping Rocks! And a $10 off coupon code! (STMMMS37619 )

Once upon a time I didn't see the point in scrapbooking.  I thought it was sort of boring and Martha Stewart-ish to be completely honest, and the last thing I wanted was to be perceived as boring.  Or loving Martha Stewart.  I mean that woman is REALLY bad for the self-esteem.  And I really haven't gotten excited about putting stickers on paper since I was about 7 years old.  Aren't I a little old for that?

And then I got married.

When I received my disk of pictures from my photographer, I realized that I had 600+ pictures to figure out what to do with.  I don't have that much wall space - seriously, what on earth was I going to do with all those pictures?  You can stick them on Facebook, and that's fine and all, but then what?  Don't you want tangible proof that those pictures actually exist?  One day, don't you want to be able to look at them without having to boot up a computer?  So obviously I was going to need to print them out.  But then what do I do with a stack of 600 pictures.  I could stick them in a photo album, for sure.  But what about the important ones - how do you make them stand out if they're all 4x6's, 6 to a page in a photo album sleeve?  What about the ones that tell a story?  If you just stick them in a photo album, how do you tell the story?

A-ha! That was the moment I realized I was going to have to look into scrapbooking.  I began with paper scrapping but found it really frustrating.  Let's face it, I'm no artist, I can't draw to save my life - my stick figures barely even resemble people.  So I need to buy things to get the effect that I want. Sometimes multiple things, because I'm also incredibly indecisive.  I discovered that I need to move something around eleventy-billion times before I'm happy with it's placement.  That's a little difficult when you've already happily applied the glue before realizing you'd like it much better if it was a half inch to the left...  And finally the biggie - the time it takes.  Every time you want to scrap a page, you need to go to your little stash and spend about an hour deciding which things you want to use, dragging them out, and then laying them all out on the table before you even get to begin to stick those things on paper.  And then what happens when you realize that the perfect page needs that one thing to finish it?  Do you guess where it'll go and put the rest of the stuff on the paper and hope for the best?  Or do you run right out to the store (assuming you have one close by and it's not 11 o'clock at night) and pick it up?  And spend a bunch more money while there buying more stuff.

Alrighty, so after all that you realize that paper scrapbooking really is more work than it's actually worth.  And if you're me, you're never really 100% happy with how your pages have turned out anyway.  And so when your house gets ripped apart and your kitchen moved into your dining room (where you always did your paper scrapping) and you realize that you're facing months of not being able to scrapbook because you don't have 1 single spot in the entire house that's not covered in reno-fallout, you go looking for another solution, and that's when I discovered digital scrapbooking.

Digital scrapbooking met all my needs. It addressed all those things that I didn't like about paper scrapping.  Set up is instantaneous - in my case, just pop open my laptop and open the program.  All the papers and elements and alphabets you could ever dream of are right there at your fingertips, just a mouse click away, and they never go away - when you've stuck a button on a page, you can turn right around and use that very same button over again. And again and again and again.  It's like magic.  You can work on multiple pages at once, so if you're like me and you have craft ADD you're not going to get bored easily.  And clean up is as easy as hitting save and shutting down the program.  No mess, no muss, no fuss.  Awesome.

When I got pregnant and had my son I used the program to make birth announcements and Christmas cards, I just grabbed a template, popped my pictures into the blanks, and had them printed at Costco.  It was so easy!  My son is now 14 months old, and I've finished his first year album.  Finished.  Not many people I know can say that!

So just for fun (and because I love to show off how adorable my son is) here are a couple of my favorites from the past 2 years.

Dinoroar Kit from Just So Scrappy

Baby Mine Boy Kit from Just So Scrappy

Boys Will Be Boys Kit from Just So Scrappy

Boys Will Be Boys Kit from Just So Scrappy

OK, maybe more than a couple.  It's hard for me to play favorites, I love them all so much!  Anyway, you get the point.

If you're interested in checking out digital scrapbooking, I have a coupon code for the program that I ended up buying.  I checked out a few different programs, and My Memories Suite met all my needs the best. I loved the fact that I could use any kit I found online in the program, including all the cool free ones available on the net.  And there are a ton of freebies on the net if you look for them, you don't even need to look that hard!  I also loved how completely idiot-proof the program is.  It's just really really easy.  The program is available at the My Memories Suite website, and the coupon code is STMMMS37619

Give it a try - you'll be amazed how easy it makes your life!!

Hats...

I craft, therefore I am.

If that's the case, than I not only exist, I actually exist in pretty much every nook and cranny in my house.  And in my car.  And at work.  And if that's the case, I guess I maybe only half exist?  Because I often only get things half finished.  And then I get bored, and I move onto something else.

A year and some months ago I was getting to the end of my very first pregnancy and felt the urge come on strong to make something for my as yet unborn son.  With only a month or so to go I needed to figure out something I could finish quickly to have ready by the time he arrived.  A blanket or afghan of any kind was out, and I've never once had success at crocheting a sweater.  But a hat - aha!  That I could do.  And so I made my very first hat for Little Man.  It was the cutest little bear hat.  A touch big for a newborn, but it had been a long time since I'd actually spent time with a newborn and my memory of the size of their heads was a little bit skewed.  By the time he was 2 months old it fit perfectly, and I'd discovered a new love.

Hats.  Baby hats.  Boy hats and girl hats.  Plain hats, animal hats, flowered hats.  Striped hats.  And because my poor child only had one head, and even in the greater frozen north winter eventually ends, I ended up with a plethora of hats.  I began selling them, just because I loved making them and figured, hey - I could make a little bit of money this way.  And I learned a very valuable lesson.  As soon as you start getting paid for a hobby it becomes much less fun.  It becomes an obligation.  You can't just put a project down because you're bored with it, because someone is waiting for it.  You have to suck it up and finish it.  And that's how you start to lose the love.

And so I decided I was no longer going to try to make money selling hats.  I'll still make them, because I love them.  And I may even sell them now and again.  But I won't make things to order, I'll make them because I love them and I want to make them, even though I have no idea what I'm going to do with them.

And crafting will become fun again.