Playing Hooky

Shhhhhh.  A couple days last week I played hooky from work.  Just blasted an email to my co-workers saying I had some things to take care of at home.  Little do they know these "things" happen to be of a hooky nature, hehehe.  Sure I feel a little guilty...but it will pass. 

  Given that no one from the office knows about my blog, and that 90% of the staff is male and have absolutely zero interest in crocheting, chances are no one will discover my ulterior motive.  However, I must qualify that with the fact that their wives and girlfriends make up a majority of my knitting club!  They don't know my blog address yet, so I think I'm safe for the time being.

Needed to do some stash busting, so I did what a hooker usually does...start a granny blanket.

I chose a rectangle granny pattern from the Lion Brand website, but became confused and ended up having to figure it out on my own by studying photos of other rectangles.  There are a couple different methods, but the pattern that matches mine closely is probably this this one.  Once that first row is done the rest is a breeze.

Crocheting round after round after round in my favorite outdoor chair.

Growing nicely into what will be a massive granny.

I think it may even grace our picnic table this summer as a tablecloth.

Ahhhh...playing hooky is my kinda day.

 

Have a great weekend whatever you do :-)

Noro Newbie

I had heard of Noro quite a while ago and then saw it at my local fancy yarn boutique.  I held it, squeezed it and mooshed it in my hands...it was quite nice.  Until I saw the price for one skein.  Nicey, but pricey... never mind, Noro could wait.

That is until last summer when I decided to pop into the same fancy yarn boutique one day.  The lovely store owner pointed out to me the small clearance section in the back.  Lo and behold, way down at the bottom, hidden by piles of skeins, was a full bag of 10 skeins of Noro Taiyo in the same dyelot.  $50 for all of it.  Ooohhh what a deal :-)

So here I am a year later, knitting with Noro for the first time and enjoying it immensely. 

The fiber is a combination of cotton, silk and nylon.  Despite the Fall/Winter-ish colors, it's actually lightweight and comfortable to knit with during these warm days of Summer.

It's fun to see the striping take place...and the funky colors unfold...you don't really know what you're going to get.

The plan is a poncho...basic stockinette stitch in a rectangle layout, then sewn up the sides leaving an opening for your head.  Or it may become a simple wrap.  We'll see what it feels like when all is done...

Have a great end of the week!  Maybe you'll discover something new to try :-)

7174 Miles / 11,546 Km

That's how far this little package traveled.  Over the big blue Pacific Ocean from Terrie in Hong Kong to my humble abode in California.  Terrie had a giveaway and it was my lucky day!  I won this lovely little Nuno felt bag that she made.  Once you peruse Terrie's blog, you'll see that she's a very crafty lady, who at the moment is crazy about Nuno felting.

Everything about this bag is handmade, including the flowers.

Thanks, Terrie, for such a sweet handmade gift!

Back soon with some crochet and knitted things in progress.  In the meantime, hope you're all enjoying summer :-)