New Place, New Job - Next.. New Last Name

Well, my life has recently undergone several changes.  I've left my previous job of over four years and have started at a new hospital.  I have to say, probably one of the best things I've ever done in my life.  It's been the best couple of weeks I've had at work in a long long time. I have also recently moved into a townhouse with my fiance and my pups.  It's great.  I love it.  I'm still going through the process of cleaning/closing down the old place, so if any of you want to help me clean and finish vacuuming up enough corgi fur to create your own dog, lemme know! 

As far as reading goes, I haven't gotten to a whole lot lately.  Since I've started my new job, I don't have much time to read at work (actually, I have no time to read at work unless I read on my lunch break).  And since I've been packing/moving/unpacking/cleaning, I haven't had much time to read at home.  However, before the whole moving process, I was able to read 8 out of 12 books in a series called House of Night.  It's pretty nifty if anybody likes vampire books.  It's not like your usual vampire book though.  There's several new takes on it and it makes it pretty cool.  My advice to you, take it slow.  I burned through 7 books in about 1 week and completely burned out on it.  I'm halfway through the 8th book but I'm having a hard time convincing myself to go back to it.  Not because it sucks, which is really not true.  I literally just burned myself out on it.  I'll get back to it eventually.  Currently, when I have a chance, I've been re-reading The Mortal Instruments series.  The latest book out was released in April of this year, and since it's been about a year since I've read the first four, I'm trying to catch back up.  But, again, it's taking me forever. 

On the crocheting side of things, I've been slacking off as well.  I made a cupcake purse for Ally's third birthday. 

Cupcake Pattern

I'm also working on a blanket for myself.  It's been awhile since I've actually made something for myself, and I decided I was going to slowly, and I mean s-l-o-w-l-y work on.  It's a patchwork type blanket made of several different squares of various Hunger Games symbols.  Each District has it's own square with a picture of whatever the district is known for.  For example, District Four is seafood, therefore there is a 4 in the upper left corner and the bottom right side is a large fish.  It's pretty awesome and I'm really enjoying working on it.  I've completed the Mockingjay symbol, District 10 (livestock) and District 3 (telecommunications).  I'm not sure which one I'll work on next, but I'll post pictures and links to the patterns eventually.  It'll be a bit, since it's obviously taken me like ... 4 months to make another post.  I think I got somewhat discouraged because nobody was really commenting or appearing to read anything I've written, but ya know what?  I decided I don't really care.  I'm not here for people's opinions.  I'm here to show the internet world that I'm a good crocheter and I enjoy reading and I enjoy venting frustrations or making people laugh. 

Well, that bottle of wine is calling my name, so good night to all, and to all a happy Saturday night!

Mario Blanket

Two-hundred-and-fifty-two squares later, I finally finished Jason's Mario blanket.  Er... I guess technically I finished it a few weeks ago, (I gave it to him for his birthday).  Let me tell you something... it will be a LONG time before I undertake a blanket project again.  My hands were cramping so badly, it took me FAR too long to finished the last six squares. 

Total Color Count:
109 White Squares
54 Brown Squares
45 Red Squares
42 Peach (or Tan) Squares
2 Yellow Squares

Rough Pattern:
14 W
4 W, 5 R, 5 W
3 W, 9 R, 2 W
3 W, 3 B, 2 P, 1 B, 1 T, 4 W
2 W, 1 B, 1 P, 1 B, 3 P, 1 B, 3 P, 2 W
2 W, 1 B, 1 P, 2 B, 3 P, 1 B, 3 P, 1 W
2 W, 2 B, 4 P, 4 B, 2 W
4 W, 7 P, 3 W
3 W, 2 B, 1 R, 3 B, 5 W
2 W, 3 B, 1 R, 2 B, 1 R, 3 B, 2 W
1 W, 4 B, 4 R, 4 B, 1 W
1 W, 2 P, 1 B, 1 R, 1 Y, 2 R, 1 Y, 1 R, 1 B, 2 P, 1 W
1 W, 3 P, 6 R, 3 P, 1 W
1 W, 2 P, 8 R, 2 P, 1 W
3 W, 3 R, 2 W, 3 R, 3 W
2 W, 3 B, 4 W, 3 B, 2 W
1 W, 4 B, 4 W, 4 B, 1 W
14 W

When I was finished putting the rows together, I went around the edge and Single Crocheted a red trim (you just can't see it in this picture).


And, on a little side note, it took one of my dogs, (Logan) all of .... thirteen days to CHEW HOLES in this blanket... yep .. I have to face the music and remake some of the squares, but I'm silently... procrastinating.  I really don't want to have to fix it.  It took too long.  It only took 2 weeks, but since I was on a time crunch I was a crocheting FIEND for that two week period.

Mo' Projects, Mo' Money

There is one thing that I've realized after discovering all of these amazing projects that I want to accomplish ... the more I want to do, the more money I have to spend.  That makes me sad.  I've found TONS... literally... TONS of things that I want to do, everything from DIY (Do-it-yourself) Windex and Carpet Powder and Febreeze ... oh jeez.  I feel like I can build up sort of a ... stash of the usual stuff that I'd need .. but to buy all of these things at once, (like what I want to do because I'm so daggone impatient..) I'd be spending way too much money.  I spent like ... an hour at the local Michael's just wandering and daydreaming about all of the different things I wanted to buy so I can finally scratch my creative itch.  I suppose I could do the sensible thing and buy a few things at a time .. but who has the patience to do something like that??  I made a list.  Because that's what I do.. I'm a compulsive list-maker.  Even though I don't think I'll have the lists with me when I'm out shopping, I can look at it often (which I do) and try to remember some of the things I need so I can do these projects.  This list... is ... long, needless to say.  I think my friends and I need to get together and have a craft party.  Everybody bring one or two things on the list.  Then, we can all do a little bit of everything and that way we can make what we want and not have to worry about spending an arm and a leg in the process.  I think that's a hell of an idea... Now I just need to find about ... 15 friends so I can get everything on my list. 

Pinterest is going to do me in.  I swear, if my fiance doesn't leave me for some other reason, he'll leave me because I spend almost every waking moment of free time I have just browsing Pinterest.  He'll glance over at me after I snort at some ridiculous picture or he'll shoot me an annoyed look when I interrupt his football game so I can tell him about the latest project I have in mind for our future house or for our future little ones.  I only have a limited amount of brain space to store these projects, so thanks be to Pinterest so I can store them on my To Do board.  If any of you don't actually have a Pinterest account, I strongly encourage it.  Especially if you're a thrifty & crafty person. 

My coworkers and I pretty much talk about Pinterest all day long.  I even talked to my boss about it to see if his wife would like it.  It's like ... I'm endorsing a drug.  You literally become hooked and you can't shake it.  I wouldn't go as far as to say I get the shakes or throw up if I go too long without a hit, but I find my mind wandering while I'm holding onto a psychotic dog, trying to imagine what's the newest thing posted on Pinterest.  Oy vey. 

My poor Kindle has been neglected also.  I finally picked it back to up today since I've made my Pinterest account.  I couldn't make it a page of reading without mentioning something to Liz about what I saw on Pinterest or her showing me a pin on her phone. 

But, I can say one thing has not been neglected since my newly discovered habit... my blog has gotten so much love (well, I don't know if I'd call it love.. but maybe.. attention.  People come to find crochet patterns.  I doubt they read much, and certainly none of them comment, but I'm happy that it's at least getting some recognition.  I know I'm anonymous and I'm assuming that nobody really reads much past the patterns, but I certainly do feel ... tickled that I'm getting hits on my blog.  It also helps that I posted patterns on Ravelry.com also.  That most definitely helps.  If you are ever looking for me on Ravelry, I'm under Polka Dot and also my Pinterest board are www.pinterest.com/polkadot87

Come at me, bro!

Horizontal Stripe Scarf

Even though this picture is kind of garbage, you get the idea.

Materials:
Crochet hook size 5.5mm
Two colors of yarn (I used red caron brand and black Red Heart Super Saver)

Pattern:
With color A, chain 26.
Single crochet (SC) in the second chain from the hook and in each chain across. Chain two, turn.
Double crochet (DC) is the third stitch from the hook and in each stitch across. Chain one, turn.
Keep alternating between the two stitches for however big you want the block to be.  I did three of each, making sure I ended on a DC row so I could always start the next color with a SC.
When you get to however thick you want it, attach color B to the chain and proceed with the SC in the pattern.  Make however many blocks you need for the length you need.  When finished, fasten off and then go through and burn the edges of the yarn throughout the scarf.

Voila!

Vertical Striped Scarf

Materials:
Size 5.5 hook.
Yarn needle
Two colors of any kind of yarn (I used red Caron brand & black I Love This Yarn)

Pattern:
Chain however many you want to make it as long as you want.  I didn't keep track, I just started and kept going until it was as long as I wanted.  Chain one more then, turn.
Single crochet (SC) in the second chain from the hook and in each chain across. Chain one, turn. x3
Switch to second color.  SC in the second chain from the hook and in each chain across.  Chain one, turn. x2
Switch back to first color.  SC in the second chain from the hook and in each chain across.  Chain one, turn.
Switch to second color.  SC in the second chain from the hook and in each chain across.  Chain one, turn. x2
Switch back to first color.  SC in the second chain from the hook and in each chain across, chain one, turn. x2
Last row: single crochet one in every stitch, tie off. 

Sunglasses Case Pattern

Materials:
Crochet hook size 3.75mm
Scrap yarn
Button

Pattern:
Chain 16.
Row 1: Single crochet (SC) in the second chain from the hook & in each chain across. (15 total).
On the other side of the chain, SC in each stitch across. (15 total).  Slip stitch to join.
Chain 2.  SC in each stitch around. (30 total) x3
Then, just SC in each stitch around for as long as you need it to be for your sunglasses.  For one exactly like mine, use color A for 13 additional rounds.  Then, switch to color B for 5 rounds.  Switch back to color A for 10 more rounds.  Then, SC in opposite direction for 18 stitches.  Chain 1, turn.  Do this for 6 more rows.  On the 7th row, SC 8, chain 2, skip 2 stitches, then SC the remainder.  This will be your button hole.
Attach a pretty button at the correlating spot on the case.

Voila!

If you have any questions or are confused about something, leave a comment and I'll try to figure it out for ya! 

Pinterest

So, I've recently made a Pintrest account ... and lo and behold I've like ... tripled the number of views of the blog in the twelves hours I've had the account, so I'd figure I'd go ahead and post links to the patterns.

It'll take me awhile to track down all of the patterns, I'll just keep updating this blog post until I've got them all listed.

Paw Print Stocking

Holly Stocking

Mom's White Lacey Scarf

Dinosaur Hat

Giraffe

If you're in a hurry and you really want one I haven't posted yet, comment or something and let me know, and I'll hurry it up for ya.

Also, keep checking back! I'm constantly finding and making new creations! I don't always use a pattern or if I do use a pattern, I don't always stick to it 100%.  Let me know if there are any suggestions!