Of new additions, and fall baby crafting...

Hello all, and happy Friday! I don't know about you, but I'm soaking up every one of these August days like there is no tomorrow. We have been enjoying so much lovely family time at home, and I truly do not want it to come to an end. I know we'll all adjust, but these halcyon days of summer have been such a blessing this year. 

And then we have this guy adding to our blessings!

This is Barney, and we adopted him about a week and a half ago. 😍 He's settling in so nicely, and everybody just adores him, especially the kids. We felt the time was finally right to add a furry friend to our family, and we are so glad that we finally took this step. We're still working out the kinks with getting on a walking schedule for our eager hound, but we're really getting there. 

In other news, I've been crafting away for some fall little ones, and Barney also shares my love of yarn. :-0 I need to keep my yarn project bin covered now! And he also tried to make off with one of my knitted gnomes the other day. 😂 I am in LOVE with this pattern that I used for my cutie pie next door neighbor:

Candy Corn Hat pattern is available for free!

Multiple size options are availaboe for that one, too. I chose the medium for a sweet toddler! I also made a pumpkin set for a baby in my dance troupe who is due in mid-October!

Pattern is Baby Sweater and is available for free! 

I adapted the green edging for the pumpkin theme, and the magnificent pumpkin button is from Black Sheep Studios MA on Etsy! I highly recommend her buttons. I also got a set of moose and plaid evergreen trees for Christmas projects. 😎

And of course, no October baby can go without a pumpkin hat:

Pattern is Berry Baby Hat, and is free!

This is one of my favorite free patterns of all time. I've made blueberry and strawberry versions, and of course this pumpkin version many times, there are so many possibilities. It doesn't fit Barney as well as it will the baby, but no matter. ;-)

OK, Next week is the final week in our Summer Book Club, and I will talk to you then! How is your summer going, working on any fall projects? 

A crafty June...

Hello all and happy Friday! We're enjoying the start to the summer over here in the home of the Catholic Librarian. The kids are nearly done with school for the year, and we're looking forward to some relaxing summertime activities. 

🌞

For my part, I've been in happy crafting mode, and I'm approaching my annual Christmas in July gift list planning insanity, so you have that to look forward to. ;-) Right now though, I'm making a few thing for myself. As I've mentioned previously, I'm making a hat every single month this year as part of the 2021 National Parks collection, and here is May's edition:

Pattern is Big Bend, by Kristen in Stitches

I am absolutely IN LOVE with the pattern and yarn this month! The pattern is linked above, but here is the link to the yarn if you must also have this lusciousness! The yarn is pooling in the most delightful of fashions as I work, must be my gauge, but I'm just so excited to finish this and wear it this fall!

I've also been working on a cabled messenger style bag, and this one took a bit of time, owing to all of the twisty shenanigans wiht the cable needle. Here she is, I'm planning to use this as a project bag:

Pattern is Quin Cabled Bag, and is available for free!

This was also a fun knit, and it had a few challenges in it for me (provisional cast on, braded icord strap, lots and LOTS of cables) but it was a great opportunity to learn and practice some new skills! I will say that the braided strap was a bit more trouble than it was worth in the end. :-0  Next time, I may experiment with other types of techniques for the strap. It was quite boring knitting that sheer volume of icord, and then they were tangling constantly as I worked to braid them (it's a 4 strand braid, rather than the traditional 3), and it was quite a chore to get all of the cords the same length. In the end, it's done, and I like it!

So my plan is to finish the hat, and then plan out some other fun projects for the summer, yay! Don't forget, we begin our Summer Book Club 2021 in just 7 days! We'll be discussion Section 1, and I can't wait! Just downloaded my Kindle copy of the book today. Check the link for all of the details if you'd like to join us!

An eye opening octave of Easter, and spring crafting as we journey towards Pentecost...

Hello all, and I hope you are well on this Easter Friday! I've been enjoying the season so, so much, and I've been continuing on with my journey in the Liturgy of the Hours. In fact, this was also the subject of my Catholic Mom piece for April. 

And here's something I didn't know! I guess I've never praying the Hours during an octave before, but...for Morning Prayer, you're literally using the same Psalms again and again from that particular celebration (Easter or Christmas) and praying them over and over for 8 days. Because the octave is a continuation of the celebration of that solemnity. That makes perfect sense, but I had not realized that that was how it worked before in the Liturgy of the Hours. One learns something new every day! It's one of the things that I love the most about our faith, the richness of the traditions and devotions. 

And my supplements came!

I am IN LOVE. 😍 The Dominican supplement, in particular, is fascinating in it's depth of coverage for all of the Dominican saints and blesseds. And for major Dominican saints, even where they're covered in the main breviary, the supplement has additional stuff for them (for example, the feast of St. Dominic is a solemnity in the Dominican order). Now that we're past the octave, I'll be excited to dive in when saints in the supplement come up in the calendar!

This has all been such a lovely addition to my daily routine. Now I can't imagine my days without the cadence of Morning and Evening Prayer. I've also been doing some crafting, and enjoying that as well. I'm working on a series of hats themed after the National Parks, one each month for all of 2021, and it is so delightful. I'm signed up to receive the kit each month with the yarn the designer chose specifically for that month's pattern. I am currently working on March, called Crater Lake:

I just love the rich blue shades in here! I am a huge fan of hats, I wear them all the time. Now that it's spring, the weather is all over the place here in WNY. Sometimes it's mild, but sometimes it's freezing (hat AND coat), or it's chilly, so I'll just wear a sweater and pop a hat on instead of bundling up with a coat. Works out well!

I'm also working on a cotton project (cotton is a favorite of mine in the spring and summer!) and making a bag to carry my yoga mat in:

The tube shape is underway! It's pretty simple, and works up very fast since it's crocheted. Ultimately, it'll have a drawstring tie and a strap to carry it on your back. I've needed one of these for years, so I'm glad that I'm finally getting to it! I'm trying to use up some of the yarn stash that I have acquired over the quarantine period 😬 and this lovely orange sherbet cotton is one of those additions. We're getting there!

How has your Easter been going? Any spring projects that you've started? Let's hear about them in the comments. :-)

Winter crochet projects this week for Creative Idea Friday...

Hi everyone! I hope your wintry January's are moving along nicely. :) I know that I'm in the minority, but I actually like January, gray skies and all. Part of it is that my wedding anniversary is in January, part of it is that I enjoy the cozy feeling of deep winter. Speaking of wedding anniversaries, Mike and I celebrated ours on the 8th (16 years!) and as is the thing this year, it was different than usual. Romantic takeout, cocktails at home, and watching of The Crown marked our anniversary dinner this year, ha ha! But you know, it was absolutely delightful!

In other deep winter news, I've been hard at work on crafting. I started a baby sweater for Allison!

This is a Baby Surprise Jacket, one of my favorite baby patterns of all time. You knit what appears to be a blog, and when you sew 2 small seams, voila! It's a baby sweater. :0 It's moving along quite quickly, hoping to have a finished sweater to show you next week! 

But onto crochet, as that is our main theme for this week! I was listening to the We Crochet podcast this week (which I highly recommend, btw, if you're at all interested in crafts. I listen to their sister podcast, Connecting Threads, even though I don't sew, and really enjoy it!) and they got me all excited for a specifically crochet winter focus. The newest edition of their magazine includes a winter themed collection called Wintertide that I am really jazzed about now:

We Crochet Magazine, Issue 5

I do love projects that are themed after winter, as distinct from the holidays. I love holiday projects too, but they are different to me: there are holiday themed items, and then specifically winter themed items that have a cozy, warming feel, and often inspired by winter colors like blues white, and purples. Needless to say, this magazine is in my cart over at We Crochet. :0

Blankets are one of my favorite winter projects, because they keep you warm *while* you make them, so they do double duty! Each New Year, I am inspired by the Attic 24 blanket CAL (crochet -along) and despite having plenty of blankets in my house, I could not resist this year's edition, especially given our continuing pandemic situation. It's the perfect project to work on while snugged up at home! This year, the theme is a Meadow inspired blanket:

Attic 24 Meadow Blanket CAL

And aside from weaving in ends, I completed part 1 this week!

Once you get the stitch pattern down, this is a great and soothing tv watching project. If you're at all interested in crochet, I encourage you to give this a try! I would say it's advanced beginner level, and Lucy includes a step-by-step tutorial with tons of pictures, so you can do it, I know you can! Any yarn you like will do, but Wool Warehouse has the special yarn packs with the colors the designer picked specificaly for this blanket. Even with the current delayed shipping situation (and Wool Warehouse is in the UK), I got my pack within 2 weeks, which I think is amazing speed! But obviously you could also approximate these colors at your local craft store with a nice soft acrylic in worsted or dk. She just released part 2 of the colors today (it's week by week, but you can catch up super easily and work at your own pace!) and I'm sooooo looking forward to working on this over the weekend!

I've also been busily learning to play my finger cymbals, but that's a post for another day. 🤣 How are you doing this week, dear reader? What projects are you working on this January? Sending you lots of hearts this winter!

Cozy wraps and cozy mysteries as we move towards fall...

Happy Friday everyone, it's hard to believe that it's the end of August, but here we are. I wish I could say that I felt like September will be better, but I don't think that it will, and all we can do at this point is keep up our spirits and sense of humor about it! :-0 The semester starts at the university for which I work on Monday, but all of my classes will be totally online. I'm actually rather sad about it, but it is what it is. I miss my colleagues so much, and I'll miss the students. At least I'll be home (working, but still home) if the kids need to be home from school. We'll try focusing on the positives!

I've definitely been working on lots of happy distractions lately, and I hope you have as well! My autumn quilted bird bag from Bradford Exchange arrived this week, and looking at it immediately lifts my spirits:

Just look at those cute blue jay crests!

And, as ever, I've been crafting. This week, I finished a wrap for my good friend Emily, and this pattern is just super cozy!

Pattern is Perfect Pockets Shawl

Unfortunately, it's been so humid that I was sweltering when I took this photo :-0 but soon it'll be time for cozy wraps, and now Emily will be all set! If you crochet, even if you're a beginner, you'll be able to make this wrap! YouTube is our friend, and I had to watch a video on the wrapped stitch that appears in this pattern, but after that I was good to go. :)

I'm also back to my cozy mysteries, and becoming absorbed in the universe of the Amish Candy Shop series by Amanda Flower is exactly what the doctor ordered right about now. There are a number of books in the series, and my current position is with this Mother's Day themed installment:

After this is the very newest book, "Marshmallow Malice," so let the candy shop antics reign on! 

This week I was also chatting with my friend Irena, who mentioned this book:

...which immediately went onto my Amazon wish list for Christmas, hee hee. Book recommendations always stimulate my mind and creativity! Do you have any new books that you've read recently, or that are in your queue, to add to our list? Pop them into the comments! :-)

Early fall novenas, and knitted gnomes and garments that are no longer a mystery!

Hello all, and I hope that you are having a wonderful week! It's a week of novenas on my end, and I have to say that I am enjoying it so, so much. I finished up Our Lady Undoer of Knots on Sunday, and I think I already have the answers to the questions I was praying about (not necessarily the ones I was hoping for in all cases, but answers are answers, yes?). I also started St. Monica on Tuesday. I had forgotten that her feast is in late August, and I absolutely love this one! I pray for conversions of heart back to faith, and it always gives me so much solace. Coming up in the early part of autumn, we have the archangels (Sept. 29th), St. Jerome (patron saint of librarians, Sept. 30th), St. Therese (Oct. 1st), and guardian angels (October 2nd). It's a wealth of riches! I think I'm going to start updating and publishing the novenas tab on the blog again, with what novena I'm currently praying and the link to the relevant prayers. Look for that to start again in September if you'd like to follow along. :-)

Speaking of prayer, both of my kids are slated to go back to school full time in early September. Since they go to Catholic schools, the lower numbers of enrolled kids means that they can accommodate the health mandates more easily. My kids really miss their school environments, and so I'm happy it worked out this way, although I'm worried about how it will go and if it will last. All we can do at this point is pray for the best! My teaching this semester will be mostly, if not all, online, which I'm a little sad about, but we'll get there.

To distract myself, I've been crafting, as per my pandemic usual. ;-) The mystery gnome that I was knitting is no longer a mystery, so meet the new member of the family!

Pattern is Nice to Gnome You

He is currently frolicking with our house plants, and I'm just so pleased with how he came out! This is my first gnome, and apparently there is a whole gnome crafting universe out there, WHO KNEW?! I am totally into this now. This designer specializes in knitted gnomes. Did you ever? And her next gnome MKAL (mystery knit-along) will take place during Advent.

😱

I literally cannot wait! I'm so excited for this!

I also finished the red cotton top that I was knitting for my mother-in-law:

Pattern is Kelda Tee

I kinda wanted to keep it :-0, but I managed to resist. But not before purchasing yarn to make one for myself in another colorway. ;-)

I'm also hard at work on my Advent doily:

Pattern is Wispweave Oval

This one is just SO PRETTY. The pattern is definitely a bit challenging for a beginning doily crocheter like myself, but so far the progress is good, albeit slow. I just love the different textures that this design is forming! I'm thinking I can use it for under our Advent wreath. The border is going to be silver. 😍

Do you have any novena plans coming up this fall? What is your September looking like? I know it doesn't look like it usually does for any of us! I'd love to hear from you in the comments!

The kids gain a small sense of normalcy, and summertime crafting continues...

Hello all and I hope that your week has gone well! Ours here actually gained back a bit of a sense of normalcy with the kids having actual activities to do, yay! Henry has been working at his Catholic high school to earn money towards his tuition, and Anne has had Girl Scout camp, both virtual and one day of in-person. She's also back to her martial arts classes, in-person, and this is all helping her so much, as she was struggling with everything just being online. It's been more running around, ferrying the two of them places, but it has felt SO GOOD for them to have real socializing with their peers, and to see more smiles on their faces this week.

In other good news, twin baby robins have hatched in our backyard! We've been having such a wonderful time watching them grow. No pictures, as Mama Robin is very protective and is never far from the nest. Anytime we're back there, she's giving us the hairy eyeball from a perch atop the power lines. 😂 She and Father Robin also "escort" any other bird or squirrel out of the yard that happen to wander in. :-0 It's provided hours of entertainment out our back window, to be sure.

I've also been continuing my crafting quests, and made great progress this week. My mother-in-law's summer top is coming along beautifully:

I kind of want to keep it for myself, but I'll try and restrain. ;-) I'm on the second of Mike's Steelers socks:

And Dianne asked about how my crochet thread was working out, and so I rembered to post a photo of my very first doily!

Pattern is Simple Beginner's Doily, and is available for free!

I'm very pleased with how this came out! I did use one of the skeins that is size #3 thread (thicker than the others are at size #10), sort of a training wheels approach, if you will. Now I'm going to make one with the thinner thread. But this looks great on our table! Really brightens things up. I've never been particularly into doilies, they seemed lacking in purpose to me or something like that :-0, but I appreciate how they cheer up a surface. I think we could all use a little cheer this summer, yes?
I'm plotting lots of these for gifts, and also some cotton dishtowels and cloths. I'll post pictures as I make things!

In Catholic news, I'm currently finishing up the St. Anne novena, and my Anne makes her first communion next weekend! What I ended up doing last weekend was taking just Henry to Mass, and this weekend I'll take Anne. It's definitely an easing in process with the kids, after them being away from Mass for so long. But we're getting there. I tried to use the car ride to talk to Henry about faith stuff, and I'll do the same with Anne this Saturday. In this way I can single the kids out a bit for individual faith attention. Pray for me! :-0

How is your week going, dear reader? Chat with you soon!

Crafty times in quarantine...

Hello all! And we've made it through another week, I'd say that's a win at this point. ;-) Plus, we made it to May 1st! I have to admit, I'm a bit apprehensive about what this month will hold, but I do feel like we'll be a bit more emotionally prepared than we were in April. This is all positive news!

My family and I are also adjusting a bit better to our "new normal." In many ways, I feel like it'll be difficult to go back (which we've all been longing to do!) because it will mean a big change again, and the change is what I struggle with the most. But it's still an improvement over where we all were back in mid-March when this first began. The kids are much more adjusted to doing school from home. Henry, in particular, being a teenager, is completely fine. He's happy to sleep in, do his school work in his pj's, and socialize with his friends via the online games they play together. Anne, on the other hand, has definitely been suffering more. But we've been doing what we can for her to set up online things for her to enjoy, and she's doing a little better.

For my part, I've been keeping up with my dance and fitness classes, and I'm performing in another online dance show tomorrow. Although it all feels a bit weird, it's what we have for now, and I'm enjoying them in their own way. I'm trying not to think about what I miss about performing and taking classes in normal, in-person situations, because I have no control over that and I have no idea when that will happen again, so focusing on it only makes me unhappy. I'm doing what I can, and it's helping!

I've also been crafting up a storm. I mentioned this Breathe and Hope shawl last week:

...and I received the yarn that I ordered for it yesterday!

😎

This was all in support of National Local Yarn Shop day, and it makes me so happy to support that! Relatedly, the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival was supposed to be this weekend (cancelled, of course), so it's going online this year, and one of their big vendors is putting her coveted, special festival colorways online. I partook in that too, naturally. ;-) I just joined the online festival group on Facebook, and am excited to experience a little crafty community time this weekend!

I've been working along on my Find Your Fade shawl, and it's about 85% done at this point!

That's the second to last color I just added in. I also started a new Crochet -along, and this is my first block:

Pattern is Renata and is currently free!

This is all contributing to my quarantine happiness, to be sure. *halo*

How have you been keeping busy in isolation this week? I think things will start opening back up in the next 1-2 months, and suddenly that doesn't seem as long of a time as it did back in March! We'll take it. I'd love to hear from you in the comments!

A fresh new year start, and soothing winter crochet -alongs...

Happy New Year everyone, I hope that you had a wonderful holiday season.

*hugs*

I did, it was very relaxing. I pretty much spent nearly 2 weeks in my pj's, knitting, drinking tea, and watching a Little House on the Prairie marathon. 😂 I really needed the down time, and I loved it. The fall was unexpectedly quite stressful, as I've written about before, and spending the time at home unwinding with Mike and the kids was just awesome. We also got to spend a lot of time with my parents, which was absolutely delightful. Now that it's the new year, I'm feeling all refreshed and excited to go on my goals for dance, faith and family! I'm starting off by taking a workshop next weekend that focuses on acting and stage presence for dancers - should be interesting, eeks! :-0

In other news, I'm terribly excited to be participating in another crochet -along (abbreviated as CAL in craft land ;-)) with the Attic 24 blog. She does one each January - March, and releases the color sequences a week at a time. This year's edition is called the Dahlia blanket:

I've participated in these CAL's the past two years, and the experiences have been so fun and soothing. I love being a part of a larger community, and there is a group on Facebook called "Hooked on Attic 24" dedicated to these CAL's and it's so lovely to be joined in there. The winter is a perfect time to have a giant blanket project going, and I love the challenge of finishing up the stripe sequence each week. She does offer options wherein you can pick either the varied color sequence that she favors, or a colorwash version wherein the colors fade into each more, or a mirroring stripes option. She puts together yarn packs each late fall through Wool Warehouse, but obviously you could use any yarn you like and either try to match up the colors, or come up with your own color scheme. It's such fun! The first sequence came out today, and I have to admit that I got up with an excited feeling in my stomach to go print it out. :-)

Do you enjoy having a community that goes along with your hobbies? Anybody tempted to crochet a blanket with me this winter? ;-)

Summer crafting updates...

Happy Friday everyone! We're coming up on the last weekend in July, which is an art festival weekend for my dance studio every year. Although I love dancing, I have to admit that doing so outside in heat and humidity is not my favorite. But I'm sure that it'll go great, and that I'll have a wonderful time with my dance girls. Updates on that next week, festival weekends are always amusing. :-0

I promised a craft update this week, and in between dance rehearsals, that has been keeping my mind and hands busy, which is a good thing. As otherwise, I'd be a puddle of worry by the end of the summer. ;-)

Summer is always Harry Potter time in my house, and we re-watch all of the movies and I continue on my quest to read the entire series. This summer, I'm reading Half Blood Prince. I'm going to be honest and admit that I could not finish Order of the Phoenix last year, and I feel super guilty about this. 😬 From what I hear from others, I am not alone in my feelings that, although the story was compelling, this particular book was just far too long. I kept reading, and reading, and reading, and my Kindle progress would move up a single percentage point. 😂 I think I got to about 70-75% when I finally gave up. It just wasn't holding my interest, and consequently, I wasn't picking it up enough and my progress got even SLOWER. Half Blood Prince is going WAY better, and I'm already quite absorbed in the story.

When we start re-watching the movies, I start wanting to create some Harry Potter crafts. And so here we have Hedwig:

Pattern is Hedwig the Owl, by Erin Shirley, available for free!

Don't you just love her wings?!

Anne, who was clamoring to bring this Hedwig up to bed with her that night, was trying to make the case that Hedwig didn't need wings, but let's be real. Hedwig has to deliver the mail, she needs wings. ;-)

Since I had originally intended Hedwig for my desk at work, and Anne stole her, I decided to make another one. This one has different eyes, so Hedwig #2 has her own new look:

She's keeping me company at work and I just love her. *heart*

Over in my Hogwarts at Ravelry group (where I'm Gryffindor Head Girl *beams*) I'm participating in a Mystery Knit-along and Mystery Crochet-along hosted by Ravenclaw. Both items are dishcloths, and clues are being released one per week, alternating between the cloths. This has been a lot of fun! This is the in-progress MKAL cloth:

Definitely looks like a bird :-0

And this is the MCAL cloth:

The clue that we'll be receiving this weekend is for the MCAL, so that will be the one to grow this week. I love how the variegated colors are working up on that one! Yarn is Knit Picks' Dishie Multi in Cabin (colorway is unfortunately discontinued).

In non-Harry Potter Land, I'm working diligently on the back piece of Mike's long awaited cabled cardigan:

Pattern is 0-850 Rambling Man, by Drops Design, and is available for free!

I'm taking my time with this, but I'm determined to finish it up for Christmas! I'm almost to where I'll need to divide for the arm holes, so I have to figure out how to do that. ;-)

And finally, the long term work-in-progress I decided to pick up this summer in order to finish for fall, is this:

Looks like an unexciting rectangle, I know

Although this currently looks like nothing special, it will ultimately turn into an adorable poncho, perfect for autumn:

Pattern is Oakwood Poncho, by Nikki Wagner, available via Knit Picks

Rather than the blue, gray and black stripes you see in the original pattern, I chose forest green, burgundy and brown stripes for mine. I'm excited to see how it turns out! I'm just now diving for the front panels, so things have gotten more interesting!

I'm really happy with my summer crafting plans. I also have additional Christmas gift ideas, which will be implemented very soon.

😇

Do you have late summer crafting or gardening plans? I'd love to hear them!

Crafting updates, and summer reading plans...

Hi everybody, and happy end-of-May! Ugh, how did that even happen? :-0 I love May, I really don't want it to be over, but there you have it. This year, more than ever, I'm actually looking forward to the summer. I don't like the hot and humid weather, but this was a LONG winter, and I'm excited about enjoying what the summer has to offer in terms of being outside, dance festivals, gatherings with friends and family, and lots of good grilled food!

Another thing I do every summer is craft, which is counter intuitive, since one would think that the heat would mean I wouldn't want yarn hanging out on my lap, but one would be wrong. :-0 I do tend to shift away from blankets and wool sweaters to socks, mittens, and garments made with cotton, but all the same, I love summertime knitting and crocheting. It's also a tradition that I plan out my Christmas crafting list, but I won't subject you to that just yet. ;-) That tends to be in July, so still some more time to procrastinate and work on finishing up works-in-progress! And I've been working hard on those wip's. In fact, I've been so good this year, I HAVEN'T BOUGHT ANY YARN.

*sharp intake of breath*

I know, right?

I came to the realization that I have a lot of yarn.

*delicate twitching of nose*

Yes, I'm aware that I have had a lot of yarn for approximately 10 years now, but that's neither here nor there. I've been motivated and angelic about the situation for *this year* so we'll take it. Plus, I know that come fall, there are yarn festivals and Thanksgiving sales that mean that the chances of me buying yarn are 100%, so I might as well keep my halo perched while I can!

😇

And in terms of works-in-progress, not buying new yarn makes one more productive with finishing those babies up! I recently finished the Sweet Pea blanket that I was working on all winter:

And now I'm back to a shawl that I'm calling my Wintry Clapotis, which obviously was NOT finished by this winter like I had originally intended. ;-) This is a great free pattern, one of the most prolific on Ravelry, which utilizes a drapey effect caused by purposely dropped stitches. Oh, the naughty feeling of deliberately freeing a stitch from your needles and helping it to pull all the way to the bottom! :-0 It's wonderful, I tell you. I've made one before, with the worsted weight yarn that the pattern calls for, but I've always wanted to make a fingering weight version so that it would drape even more freely, and I chose a gradiating yarn for it:

It has sort of a "Frozen" thing going on, and I really love it. I'm more then halfway finished, and am aiming to have this done by next week! I also made a Tunisian crochet hat and baby jacket for a friend who is due this summer:

So we're getting there! After I finish the Clapotis, I want to make a list for the summer! Cotton will abound, to be sure. And I need to get back to the Great Crafting Obstacles List!

I'm also thinking about summer reading, because summertime seems to have it's own flavor for that, right? Sort of like Christmastime, I have specific types of books that I read in that season. This year, I'm continuing my summer Harry Potter tradition with "The Half-Blood Prince," and also planning to read lots of the light-hearted Love Inspired titles that I enjoy so much, and that I have *ah hem* many of on my Kindle. Seems that buying yarn and buying books are related in a way, yes? ;-)

What is on your reading and crafting list this summer? I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

Of sick days, dozens of Christmas movies, and crafts gone wild...

TGIF all!

*weak smile*

You'll notice there is no Tea Time this week. That would be because I am on Day 2 of a 2 day sick day spell, and though I am a bit better today (albeit home with a now sick and whiny Anne. Joy, so much joy) I am still SUPER stuffy, and do not want to subject you to my congested voice. Or my neck-wide fever rash in the video. Now that we've had our TMI moment of the morning...

I have lots of fun dancing news to cover in Tea Time, so we'll do that next week. Until then, I thought I would check in briefly from the sick bay. In summary, I have been doing lots of knitting and crocheting while I sit on the couch and watch Christmas movies. ALL the excitement, right there. Besides wrapping gifts and napping, this pretty makes up my life when I'm sick. I adore the Hallmark Channel. 24 hour a day feel-good Christmas movies push all of my happy buttons, especially when I am laid up. Yesterday I watched 3. No shame, no sir. 3 movies and part of a fourth. Plus I set the DVR to record several more. Always good to have those on reserve for couch time! I mean, they're on 24 hours a day, so no worries, ever, but I like to be able to choose my theme and fast forward through the commercials.

*beams*

And now I've discovered Hallmark Channel's adorable cousin, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries.

*swoons*

I am in love. Christmas movies, PLUS they're promoting some sort of sweet and sleuthy Nancy Drew-looking show that will debut after New Years. I may have to quit my job so that I can just watch full time.

"A Nutcracker Christmas"

"Journey Back to Christmas"

"Operation Christmas"

"The Christmas Pageant"

Coming up with unique titles must be a challenge, and consequently I cannot remember a single one of them, but that little factoid notwithstanding, I am one happy customer.

So, lots of movies it is. And while I watch them, I have been working on Henry's Harry Potter scarf, as well as finishing up a few other handcrafted gifts. Mike was pretty relieved when I finished up the project involving this borrowed visitor to our household:

When craft projects get creepy

But you want hats to be shaped properly. ;-)

Happy finished product about to be mailed to its new home

And the scarf is nearly done, finally. Scarves always seem like they stay the same length (approximately 800 feet long) and not *quite* long enough to wrap the way you want, for at least a month, while you continue to slave away, adding more rows. I think I'm finally on the last 2 color blocks of this one. Mostly because if I go any longer than that I will run out of yarn. So we're almost there! All of the couch/Hallmark movie time has certainly been aiding this cause.

I'm hoping that by Monday Anne and I will both be rash-free and feeling better, and able to go back to our regular routines. And somehow, coming up is the 4th Sunday of Advent, and so next week is the week before Christmas. I don't feel ready (typical), but am trying not to panic. :-)

How is your week ending, dear reader? It would really cheer my sick spirit to hear from you in the comments!

Happy Thanksgiving week, and Advent plans!

Hi all! I am home on vacation for the entire WEEK. The children are in school, I am in my pj's drinking coffee and crocheting non-stop, and I am downright blissful about it. I realized this weekend that this semester really started to eat away at my spirit. I lost my passion for my hobbies and the creative endeavors that I derive satisfaction in. I felt down and downtrodden a good portion of the time, and on the whole I was just beleaguered. Over the course of the semester, I held onto my love of writing via our Autumn Prayer Journal Curators/INSPIRE series, and in November, my choreography endeavors and holiday crafting revived that dormant creativity within me just begging to come alive again. It feels really, really good.

And so on this wintry late November day here in WNY:

First snow!

I am excitedly planning several things. First, this winter, I am planning lots of new dance and crafting stuff. Stay tuned for all sorts of posts on those this upcoming season!

In that vein, here is my current work-in-progress that I began this weekend:

Gryffindor scarf for Henry! The pattern is available for free here.

It's Tunisian crochet, which is a totally new craft for me. You use a crochet hook to pull up stitches in a long row, then do a backwards pass to finish them off all at the same time. This uses the Tunisian Knit Stitch, which makes the front side look just like stockinette knitting, but provides a much thicker fabric on the back. It's fascinating!

And on the dance front...my mind is completely awhirl. I'm taking a choreography workshop at my studio that starts in January, the spring hafla is in April, and I'm contemplating going to an out-of-town workshop with a well-known dancer in June. Just thinking about it all makes me feel so  happy.

The other part of my planning process involves Advent. I have started compiling a few little somethings for the kids for the feast of St. Nicholas, and those have begun to arrive, like precious little St. Teresa of Calcutta here:

Shining Light Saint Dolls

Henry is getting St. Dominic Savio this year, he is still on his way. And I'm thinking that we'll definitely do an Advent series right here on this blog. I'm calling it "Anticipating Joy," and each week we'll have a theme and write in to each other with an anecdote about our week related to that theme. I'm going to be using Advent with St. Teresa of Calcutta, but I also have a new prayer journal and an additional devotional, and my theme could be inspired from any one of these. Your anecdote can be related to something you found in a devotional, or just something from your life generally. I'll probably post them on Wednesdays, I think that mid-week slot. Sound like a plan? We'll begin next week!

Speaking of next week, that is when I will be blogging again. I will be on blogging hiatus for the remainder of this week for the holiday, including Tea Time. But it's going to be a GREAT Advent and Christmas season this year, I just feel it, and I love that we're sharing it together. *heart*

What are your plans for Thanksgiving, dear readers? Mike and I are hosting our parents and my grandmother, so we're in full-on cooking and house cleaning mode. How about you? Write in and tell me all about it! And I'll be with you again next week. Until then!

Crafty Wednesday: It's lacy scarf & shawl season

It's usually a "happy Wednesday!" to you all, but this week is a bit of an exception. ;-) It's a busy day, complete with early reference shift and an English Composition class later in the afternoon, during which I'll be observed by one of my colleagues who wants to get into teaching, so you know - PRESSURE. :0 It'll be good, just not a relaxing day.

I was dwelling this morning as I readied for work on what I wanted to write about today. To be honest, a myriad of ideas popped into my head. Some are more personal, some are more of a religious nature, some are complete humorous fluff (but we all enjoy those, don't we? ;-)). I went with crafts, because I know some of you out there are also crafty and like such updates, and plus I'm still sorting through all of the other stuff I mentioned. It's "heavier," if you will.

Inside Tiffany's Brain: The True Story

Everything else will filter out over time, trust me. So here we are in this first glorious week of Easter, and I've been enjoying preparing for the upcoming summer shawl and scarf season. This is dependent upon your climate, to be sure, but I LOVE all manner of wraps and neck-wear in the spring and summertime. The weather can be unpredictable around here, and when the breeze picks up, I love the touch of warmth these provide. As well, when it's hot outside, but the air conditioning is alive and kickin' on the inside, these are perfect so that you don't freeze your giblets off.

Our first contender is a lacy scarf, crocheted from an absolutely *angelic choir inducing* silk yarn base from the always fabulous Expression Fiber Arts:

Pattern is Panda Silk Spider Lattice Scarf, and is available for free!

Expression Fiber Arts is my new Yarn Kryptonite. I am powerless against her merino and silken wily ways. And the colors!

*swoons!*

This one is from her January yarn club, which had a snow and ice theme, and the colorway is called "Ice Crystal." It positively glows and is absolutely magnificent. After I wound it from a hank up into a ball and began chaining my first row, Mike peered over at it sitting innocently on the table beside me:

"What is that yarn over there? Is it new?"

I froze. Mike says nothing about my yarn stash, because he knows that I use and enjoy it. But the less he knows about how much is actually IN it, the better. :0

"Yes. Why do you ask?"

*paranoid*

"It's so pretty!"

He really said that. This is why I love him so much.

"Oh thanks! Yes, her yarn is really special. The colors are just so saturated and rich."

*I take a sip of my Chardonnay*

"What are you making with it? Socks for me?"

*promptly choke on sip of Chardonnay*

"Sorry darling, no."

It's not possible to love someone THAT much. ;-)

My other ongoing project is also crochet, and it's the infamous Downton Abbey Mystery Crochet-along shawl. I have been zooming right along on it, and am currently on Clue 7. Here's my progress:

Lookin' good in the fall Hayride colorway!

I just have a few rows on the edging left to go in order to finish up both Clues 7 and 8, and I do love the result. The pattern has been a bit of a pain in the tuckus, but I have persevered and I am glad that I did. If any of you are working on this version, feel free to message me if you run into difficulty. I've troubleshot a good number of issues with the pattern. A little bit of swearing was involved, but it's all worked out now, so we're golden. :0

How are your crafty projects going, dear readers? Do write in and let me know! I've also got a bunch of fun stuff swirling around in my little head for summer projects (generally, that is, not just crafts!), and I'll touch upon those on Tea Time tomorrow. Join me!