Crochet Shawl for Mother’s Day

When your parents reach a certain age it becomes more difficult to find gift items for their special occasions. I don’t really like to give money, but sometimes that is what works best. If I can, lately I will try to make something unique for them  like I did last year for mother’s day and my dad’s birthday. Since I had already done the machine embroidery thing I decided that this year for Mother’s Day I would use my new hooking (crochet) skills to create something special for my mom.

I’ve been following a few crocheters blogs and one of them, Teresa Kasner, made a beautiful shawl that looked like one I might be able to tackle. The pattern is available on Ravelry for a small fee so you couldn’t see the pattern before purchasing it. I like to see a pattern before I download it (many are free) so I can see if I think it is one I could manage. This one had a fairly low difficulty rating so I took the plunge and purchased the “Ruby” pattern by Anastasia Roberts.

I decided to use the same yarn that Teresa used in her shawl so I took a trip to Joann’s to see what they had. The yarn is a sock weight from Deborah Norville called Serenity Garden. As soon as I saw the hibiscus color I knew that was the one for mom. Red is the most popular color she wears. I also liked this yarn because it is soft, made of Dralon Microfiber and is fairly light weight.

 

I wanted to make sure the shawl was big enough so she could really wrap herself in it. The pattern starts at the top edge and you keep adding rows that get bigger and bigger. The nice thing is you can make as many sets of those rows as you need for the desired size.

 

The shawl finishes off with a more lace like pattern.

 

This section was a bit challenging and I also determined that the pattern wasn’t written correctly on one of the rows, but I was able to make an adjustment that worked perfectly.

 

I blocked the shawl on our spare queen sized bed and you can see that one side is as long as the bed is wide. I probably could have done without a few of those rows, but I wasn’t sure how large the lace border would turn out. I figured that more was better in this case.

 

The day I gave my mom the shawl she of course was wearing an outfit that the shawl worked perfectly with. I think you can tell that not only was she surprised, but very happy with the finished product.

Wordless Wednesday – Stop Action Wrestling

Millie & Walter sure do enjoy wrestling.

If you can’t see the video you can go here to view it.

Coming Soon – The Pet Blogger Mall!

Have you heard all about the upcoming Pet Blogger Mall? Ever been surfing all over the internet looking for just that perfect gift but couldn’t find what you were looking for? Do you like to support fellow pet bloggers? Well we have the answer for you. The Pet Blogger Mall will be opening soon and will be a gateway to a wide variety of items created by your fellow bloggers.

The Pet Blogger Mall was founded by several pet bloggers to create the perfect option for online shopping: an all encompassing outlet showcasing the creative works offered for sale by pet bloggers worldwide. With so many retail options out there, it is a way of supporting and promoting the work of the pet blogging community.

Keep up to date with new developments at the Pet Blogger Mall by following the PBM Blog. If you become an official follower you can also win a fabulous prize courtesy of the Crabby Girls.

But wait there’s more! Stay tuned for a Sneak Peek Shopper Day!

The shops are beginning to be set up in the Mall and we need You to test out our Shopping System.  After the first five Shops are ready to go we’re going to Open the Doors for ONE DAY ONLY.

You can Window Shop or You can Shop Shop – it’s up to you.

- YOU WILL NEED A SECRET CODE TO GET IN -

PBM will be including the SECRET CODE on the Sneak Peek Shopper Day post – you’ll only be able to use it for One Day and then it will no longer work. So keep an eye on the Mall - you won’t want to miss the Day of Sneak Peek Shopping Fun!

One of the featured shops available on the Sneak Peek Shopper Day will be my Etsy shop Cindy’s Thread Craft where you can find a variety of pet toys and bags that can be custom designed just for you.

Weimaraner Clutch in Faux Suede

Make sure you don’t miss out all the new developments at the Pet Blogger Mall by becoming a follower of the PBM Blog and you might just win a prize too!

 

Granny Squares…Lots of Granny Squares!

It’s been almost a year since Lynne posted her first tutorial for the Blogville Ladies Crochet Society and I took my first steps into learning crochet. I had wanted to learn how to crochet ever since I saw the amazing things she made and exchanged with her friend Melissa and was thrilled when she offered to create some tutorials. We started with dishcloths and potholders, moved on to  amigurumi pebbles and finished with learning how to make granny squares.

I never posted about the granny squares because I was making them as gifts and didn’t want to spoil the surprise but now that they have been given away I can tell you all about them. When I first started making the granny squares I didn’t know what  I was going to use them for. At the same time I was working on the Blue Moon Magic Raffle Quilt for the Genesee Valley Quilt Club. I’m the kind of person that likes to show my appreciation for people that help me on a project so I decided to put those two things together so to speak. There were about 70 ladies all totaled that helped create the raffle quilt and I decided to make a pincushion for each of them.

 

My mom helped by sewing and stuffing all the little pillows. We used one of the left over fabrics from the quilt that also complimented the yarn I was using for the granny squares. I used the cotton yarn I had also used to make some wash clothes I sent to the Warmth for Warriors project. There are 5 different colors of yarn and I was able to make it so no two cushions were alike (sort of like snow flakes). I loved how they turned out.

 

Here is a close up of a few of them. I had to improvise what to do for the back of the cushion and it took a couple of tries to get the size just right.

 

I ended up doing 7 rows of double crochet (15 stitches long). To join the front and back I used single crochet around the edge. I’m happy to say that the ladies who received them were surprised and happy with their unique gifts.

After making 70 granny squares I’m pretty sure that I can now make one in my sleep. Towards the end it started to seem a bit tedious, but it felt good to get them done. Thanks again to Lynne for turning me into a hooker. I really enjoy having this portable hobby.

Millie’s Musings – Surprise Pressies!

Hi everyone it’s Millie here! I have to tell you about an amazing surprise we all got last week. Mom said she wasn’t expecting any packages so when the mailman drove up the driveway and dropped something off we had no idea what it was.

 

It was addressed to Walter and I and if you don’t recognize the last name on the return address you wouldn’t know that it was a pressie package from the Dachsies With Moxie! We couldn’t wait for mom to get that box open.

 

Everything was well wrapped so I had to do some digging to get at the pressies. With some help from mom all was revealed.

 

There were three great toys in there!  A giant tennis ball, a green dog with extra rope on the side of his head and a cool red and blue toy that looked like it was the same shape as a dachshund! The big envelope was some embroidery stuff for mom {boring!}. There was also this great letter from our cousins Tasha, Chip and Snoopy.

 

The timing of the pressies couldn’t be better since my birthday was only a few days away. I decided that since the note said it was to welcome us to the family that I should probably share them with Walter too.

 

We took them up to the bedroom for a complete inspection and test drive.

 

Walter really liked the green one…

 

and I liked the red one and the ball. Mom and dad won’t let us play with any stuffed toys without supervision since we have a tendency to rip them apart, but the ball is one of our permanent outdoor toys. Something about it being too bouncy for inside the house and knocking things over. We have a great time chasing the ball and playing keep away with it and I make sure to tell mom or dad to get out the stuffies so we can play with them often.

I just want to say a great big THANK YOU to the Dachsies With Moxie for this fantastic surprise. If you don’t already know them you should hop over to their blog and say hello.

Flowers on Friday – Azalea & Viburnum

This weeks update features some beautiful color with our azalea to start. So far only the evergreen varieties are in full bloom. We have three colors in our yard.

Fuschia Azalea

 

Red Azalea

Dark Pink Azalea

These are just close up pictures of some of the blossoms. The shrubs are covered with hundreds of them making each shrub look like a colored ball.

Korean Spice Viburnum & Japanese Maple

The other prominent shrub in bloom in our yard right now are all our viburnum. Here are pictures of a few of them.

Korean Spice Viburnum

The fragrance from the Korean Spice is wonderful. When the wind is blowing there are certain places around the yard that you can catch a whiff of their sweet smell.

Snowball Viburnum

The snowball viburnum has started blooming and eventually will be even more full than it is now. The blossoms appear in these cute puff balls on the branches.

Double File Viburnum

The double file viburnum is also just starting to open. Right now the blooms look like some varieties of hydrangea. Eventually all the buds will be fully open and each cluster will look like a little white plate. These are just a few of the viburnum varieties we have in our yard. It is difficult to photograph some of them because they are so tall and behind other shrubs.

Bleeding Heart

This time of year there aren’t many perennials that are in bloom, but one of them is bleeding heart. We have both white and pink, but the pink hasn’t bloomed yet.

Bleeding Heart

I love the way the delicate flowers hang in a row on each stem. They really do look like pants hanging on a line like their old fashioned name Dutchman’s trousers.

 

I will conclude this post with a shot of one of my favorite parts of our yard. I love the way the bright yellow of the barberry sets off the red of the Japanese maple tree. I hope you have enjoyed a peek into what is blooming in our yard right now.

Walter’s Words – Meet the Grandparents

Hi everyone it’s Walter here. First Millie wants me to thank everyone that stopped by to wish her a happy birthday. It was a great day and you all helped us raise lots of money for Rochester Animal Services. Mom decided to make the donation the full $50. Some people visited our previous post and left comments there and we had the largest number of hits on our blog ever that day! You can still sponsor her by clicking on the Sponsor Millie button to the right.

 

Now on to the real reason for this post. Last week I got to meet my grandparents (Cindy’s mom and dad) for the first time! I always love meeting new people and they both gave good scritches. We hung out in the back yard since the weather was so nice. Millie and I played in the grass and we walked around the yard looking at all the flowers for a while.

 

Later we all hung out on the patio. I liked holding paws/hands with Grandpa Chuck. He really seemed to enjoy having me put my paws on his lap.

 

Grandpa Chuck and I exchanged a lot of kisses. He would pucker up and then when I planted one on him he would laugh really hard. It sure was fun!

 

Grandma Claire was pretty cool too. She wanted to get a good look at my cute face so I got up close with her too.

 

And of course I didn’t hold back on the kisses for her either. I’m pretty sure she enjoyed it too.

 

Don’t worry Millie was there getting scritches too. I had a really great time getting to know my grandparents and can’t wait until they come again some day. Mom told me that when she talked to grandma a couple of days later that Grandma Claire was sure to mention how nice both Millie and I are. You’re pretty nice too Grandma Claire and Grandpa Chuck. Come back and visit any time!