Instagrams...

... going all the way back to this past November! Yikes!

 Christmas Joy... hand-painted on old barnwood.

 Lefse! A Scandinavian tradition.

 Twilight :) Grizz is always nice enough to come with me.

 A Thanksgiving Prime Rib. The tape is on the oven to remind us "NOT TO OPEN IT."

 Fluff mail. So, yes, the plan as of now is to try out some cloth diapers. I'll let you know how it goes ;)

 Ultrasound flowers. Grizz is great.

 More Christmas projects. Still working on my painted handwriting.

 Some random breakfast.

 Spritz. Spritz. Spritz. Christmas COOKIES! Geez, I'm starting to crave sugary goodness...

 Alma Mater men's basketball team traveled to Big Sky Country. We gladly wore our blue and gold to support them.

 The crib is up!!

 More goodness from the Alma Mater. Family and friends know just exactly what Scooter needs to wear once he/she arrives!

 A snowy day from a third floor math classroom.

 Scooter's quilt top...

 Scooter's quilt top quilted.

 A January walk.

 A Birthday Snow (maybe three or four days after the nice walk in the previous picture).

En Route to Yellowstone.

And finally... today's project while watching Downton Abby on Netflix. Scooter has a new hat! (Removable flower depending on which gender Scooter surprises us with).

Crochet Baby Throw

 I finally whipstitched all the blocks together...

 ... and added the border (a single row of double crochet stitches all the way around).

I enjoyed crocheting this blanket for my little nephew, and I relished proving my doubting mother wrong (I FINISHED IT!).

Check this post for the specifics - book, pattern, yarn, etc...

Baby Blanket... ALMOST DONE!

As a soon-to-be auntie (again!), I wanted to make something for the little man. His older brother will soon be 2, but back when he was born, I didn't have the time to make anything (finishing college and getting ready for my first year of teaching!). It's crazy how life changes in just two years. Now, I'm just a substitute teacher with time on my hands (especially when all I do is watch the same video five times during the day!). Thus, the crochet blanket...

Way back on Black Friday this past year, I bought this... Hip 2B Square Baby Wraps. At the time I was in the middle of crocheting granny squares for Christmas Stockings (see finished picture), and I had been searching the internet for granny squares with stars in the middle. I didn't find any that I fell in love with until I was waiting in the cutting line with a pile of fabrics (JoAnns was busy on Black Friday - I was in that cutting line for 3 hours!). I found this book and it had the perfect star block in it :)

 Right before Christmas, I bought the yarn and ever since I've been crocheting at school - remember, I only do it when the kids are busily working and behaving, during prep periods and during lunch.

 I finally finished all the blocks last week and am now sewing them into rows and columns.

I chose three colors - blue, green and cream - of Bernat Softee Baby yarn (also a JoAnn's purchase). I chose the star block and the quick eyelet block. Check out the book to get the patterns!

 Oops, I made a mistake while calculating how many of each block I needed. Instead of making two blue eyelet blocks, I made two star blocks. I quickly did two more blue blocks... but now I have two extra star blocks. What do I do with them?!

I really like the layout I came up with. The colors go diagonally up to the right and the star blocks go diagonally up to the left! Look forward to seeing the final product!

The Joys of CREATING

So earlier this year, I was on a reading streak... I couldn't think of anything else to do during the prep periods as a substitute teacher. It wasn't until I was stuck with a dilema - what should I do during a study hall or during a well-behaved class who doesn't need me walking around checking up on them? I still wanted to have an eye on the students, but I felt that reading took away my concentration (I feared that I would look up from an interesting part of the story and see the kids jumping on the desks or something).

The solution?! CROCHETING!

Momma taught me how to crochet when I was in elementary. I primarily made scarves for myself and blankets for my dolls. I did venture into reading patterns by making two hats once - one turned out fine, the other one turned into a doll's hat (I still haven't figured out why that one was smaller than the other... oh well!) Since my doll-days, I've made a few more scarves, but I never took the time to do anything bigger than that.

Well, then came the substitute teacher time in my life... since picking up the hook again, I've made another scarf for myself, some doll-things for little relatives, and slippers for myself.

The slippers idea came from pinterest (of course). There are plenty of patterns online for different types of slippers, but I think I found the easiest one. I made one foot last night and finished the other foot today during a prep period. I used the lovely baby-colored yarn because I have a lot of it (thanks Mom!) and I didn't want to use expensive yarn until I knew that the pattern would actually work. When I try making another pair, I plan on making a few changes, but for the most part, I love them!

I've been playing around with the idea for my next project for awhile now. Grandma made the Christmas stockings that I grew up with, and I never thought I'd be good enough at crocheting to even try to make my own. BUT, I really want similar ones for Grizz and I - plus, the parents will need a few more with all the new additions we've add in the family (the in-laws and the Cali-babies!).

So, I scanned the internet for patterns. Turns out, they appear to be rather easy. Here's the pattern I plan on using... LINK. It is almost completely made out of granny squares (something I guess is rather common in the crocheting world, but something I've never even tried before).

Today, because I had two planning periods, I tried making a granny square with my baby-yarn to practice. It wasn't perfect, but I know it's something I can improve on. Now, I have something to do during my prep periods, and it should last me awhile. Each stocking requires 12 squares, and if I make them for the parents (if Mom doesn't beat me to it... I think my excitement about crochet is creeping back into her!) I will need to make 7 stockings. Woot woot!

Here's the granny square from today... it's prettier in Christmas colors!