Spring has Sprung

Happy Spring everyone!!  As most of you know, today is the first day of spring, and honestly I couldn’t be happier about it. I am certainly not a winter girl, the cold short days really take their toll on me. But now that the days are getting longer, warmer and the opportunities to get out and play in the sunshine are more abundant, I can shake those winter blues like Annie shakes off the dead winter grass from her back. It’s quite exhilarating, shaking the winter blues that is, not shaking grass off my back.

With spring upon us, I’ve been enjoying a few spring-y touches around the house.

yellowdafodils

Daffodils, they’re so sunny and bright, they almost smile.

moredaffodils

They make me smile right back at them. I’ve also discovered glitter covered eggs from the dollar store.

glittereastereggs

They maybe a little tacky, but at least my table looks Easter-y.

Recently, I’ve been seeing my sweet momma a lot, and finally got to give her the Valentine’s gift I’d stitched up for her.

momandgoldie

The scarf came out huge, apparently I have gauge issues.

laughingmomandgoldie

But sweet momma tried it on, anyways. Under Goldie-dogs watchful gaze, of course.

Oh, and spring not only brings with it daffodils to my table and finally a grass free dog, but also new birds to my yard!

northernflicker

A male Northern Flicker Woodpecker.

northerflickwoodpecker

Guess the bugs living in between the stepping stones didn’t stand a chance. I couldn’t get a shot of him flying, so I borrowed a shot taken by Laura Meyers, who obviously has a quicker shutter finger than I do.

Via

Doesn’t this guy have a gorgeous undercarriage? The one munching on bugs in my backyard had more of an orange-y undercarriage than the one pictured above. But he still took my breath away. It’s not too often we get birds other than pigeons and doves hanging out back there.

Now that spring has sprung and the sun is shining brightly, I’ll be taking my leave out of doors. (And maybe cut back on my BBC viewing.)

Happy Spring Everyone!

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How to Crochet the Lazy Girl Way

Lately I’ve been trying to be a little craftier, apparently idle hands are the devils playground. At least that’s what my grandmother used to tell me. So, I’ve taken up crocheting in the evenings while I watch re-runs of Friends and impatiently wait for Season 7 of Doctor Who to arrive on Netflix. Because ya know, I can’t spend the $14 to buy 6 episodes of my most recent television obsession, that would be too easy. Anyways, during my TV time the past couple of months I’ve been making this:

pinkcrochetbabyblanket

A baby blanket, a WHOLE baby blanket. That’s like 20 scarves all put together! I’m a beginner when it comes to crocheting or crochet?? What would be the proper terminology here? See? I’m that new I don’t even know the proper verb or pronoun whatever the correct terminology one would use in this situation. But I digress, I’m new to this craft and have only really mastered the single crochet, so that’s how this blanket was woven together (and love, woven with lots of love, you can’t have a handmade item NOT contain love!). Nothing but single crochet stitches and the chunkiest and softest yarn I could find, Bernat Baby Blanket, in Baby Pink. I found the cheapest selection at Wal-Mart, it was $2.97 for a 3.5 oz skein. Certain colors can be purchased in a huge 10.5 oz skein, which is what I did with another blanket I’m currently working on, but that’s another story.

singlecrochetblanketI LOVED working with this yarn, it’s the perfect material for a beginner like me who tends to be a bit fumbly with the crochet needle. By the way, I used an N needle with this super chunky yarn, so the project was super easy and super fast. If I had worked on it for more than an hour or two at a sitting and if I were more nimble in the fiber arts I bet this could have been churned out in  a lot less than a month and a 1/2.

But the one caveat I have about using this yarn is that it tends to be a little knotty, and I don’t mean it stole grapes from the grocery store for “tasting”. There were random knots within the skein, like they had knotted two different skeins together. Maybe it was just that I purchased my yarn from Wal-Mart, which sometimes doesn’t have the best quality of merchandise or maybe it’s just the nature of the product. By the way, I’m not slamming Wal-mart. They do tend to have the best deals on certain products. And yes, I realize there are lots of people out there who are very anti-WalMart, I can be one of those people at times, but I also like a good deal. Either way, the knots kind of annoyed me because it made the final product look a little messy. Or maybe it was just me making it messy with my beginner crochet-er ways.

bernartbabyblanketyarn

But all in all I am happy with the final product, and have happily wrapped and shipped this handmade gift to a friend of mine who is happily awaiting the arrival of her new baby girl in just a few short weeks.

packedandready

Have you started up a new hobby? Or have you mastered an old hobby? Any crochet tips from the pros out there??