Babies, Some Bamboo, and a Book

Here is a super duper post for everyone, so I will start with the first part- babies. John and I have some friends who are expecting (we will find out the gender in a few weeks, yeay!!) and I have started a baby blanket for them.

The picture came out dark and makes the colors all look really "blah", but I am taking a (long) break from homework to write this post so when I am done with it I will post a good picture taken in good light to give you the full effect. It is a motif that I got out of the book "Beyond the Square Crochet Motifs" and I am really pleased with it. Of course, I am using the new love of my life for this project- Caron Simply Soft Eco and so far I have estimated that five plastic bottles will be used. Of course, the softness and the durability of the yarn will be perfect for baby. On a not entirely different note, one of my friend's sister is expecting a baby and I will be teaching her how to crochet as well so maybe I will actually have a craft buddy now! *crosses fingers*

So, going out of order and moving onto the "book" part of this post, I went to my local thrift store today and was pleasantly surprised at a few awesome finds! The first was this book Your Guide to Creativity that I found for only five bucks and it has tons of information that makes me want to add way much to my to do list. It is an amazing reference for a ton of stuff and really wish that I would have had this book when I was making the floral arrangements for my wedding! Some things that I want to now do (we'll see just how many I actually do) include:

• making pillowcase covers for our old couch pillows
• slip covering the kitchen chairs
• creating a nice looking table piece for the kitchen and the living room table
• try some new ideas when I scrapbook next
• making my own ribbon flowers for . . . something that has yet to be determined

I really didn't need this book to help me add to my to do list, but at least I am now adding items that are not homework!

Now moving onto the 'bamboo' part is the other fun finding that I came across in the thrift store, a package of four bamboo handles! Now, if you look closely at the picture you will notice one problem. Four handles . . . three different sizes. This was something that I noticed after I got home and opened it and I was frustrated at first (who wants two handles that don't even match?!) so I went to do some homework. And then took a nap. And then, came up with an awesome pattern idea that I will be making up for a purse that will only use one handle. The best part? There will be a knitted version and a crocheted version so everyone will be able to make one! And I am going to write a pattern for a normal, two handled purse as well. But I am pretty excited about the One Ring Purse pattern idea and so far I haven't seen anything else like it online so hopefully I will have a few people looking forward to a really neat pattern coming up!

That is all for this post, back to the homework for me . . .