Crochet yay!

I have been working the last few days on some crocheting. I knew that I missed it, but I didn't realize I missed it this much! Sewing is really fun and usually much faster than crochet (to finish a similarly sized project) but I love the construction of crochet. I can change the shape of my creation with every stitch - its thrilling!

Oh man, I just totally geeked out. Those of you reading this will understand, though. :)

I especially love creating my own projects from scratch (sewing and crochet), but given my limited crafting time, it has been faster for me to use patterns lately. In the last few years of my crochet life, I have come to love patten diagrams. They make so much more sense to me than the written pattern directions. I can read a written pattern, but I have to really think about it and picture it in my head. With the diagram, I look at the picture and I automatically know what to do. If you are a crocheter and haven't tried using a diagram, you should! A good place to start would be to pick up and issue of "Crochet, Today!" They have started putting a diagram for every pattern as well as an explaination of how to read the diagrams in the back of each issue. *side note: I am a subscriber, but you'll see that this is obviously not a compensated endorsement. I'll be honest, not all the patterns are winners (in fact, some of them are downright hideous), but they do come up with some cute ones too, and it would be an inexpensive way to try out reading a pattern diagram and if you don't dig it, you still have the written directions.

I have been working on a couple of cute hats for some friends who have baby girls on the way and some amis for another gift (so I can't show you those yet). I need to find some real baby models for the hats because I have tried two different versions using different hook sizes and it still seems big (and mushroom-y). This is odd because my tension usually runs tighter than the pattern calls for. I tried the first hat on Ruffin, but he's older than the baby I'm making it for (since she hasn't been born yet, haha) so it was hard to tell on him. That, and he hates wearing hats, so he pulled it off immediately. :) I'm a little dissapointed because it looks so cute on the little girl in the pattern picture! Maybe I have Ruffin has a stuffed animal that I can try it on...

More to come on this...

Home again, home again, jiggity jig

"To market, to market to buy a fat pig,
Home again, home again, jiggity jig."

My parents used to say that when I was small and we were approaching our house in the car. I just got back home from spending a week with them and I still hear it when I'm coming up the driveway. I had so much fun, but not as much as Ruffin and Grandpop! I love watching them play together. Ruffin also loved the garden and its fruits:



My new favorite face:


Its even funnier accompanied by the silly sound he makes with it (don't worry the bottle was empty). Now back to the quilt! I can't wait to start the quilting this week (I hope). I also started a crochet project - finally, I know!! I am SO excited about it. I have so many friends who I need to make gifts for (before their babies get here!) so we'll see what gets done. How is your summer going?