It's Play Time!

I "splurged" last night and decided to treat myself. Thanks to Swagbucks I spent a whopping 65 cents on this baby. Darn that $11.70 shipping fee!

Annie's Attic It's Play Time!

Even though it only cost me 65 cents out of pocket, I still count this as a splurge because as a general rule I don't buy crochet patterns. I figure there's more than enough free patterns to keep me busy until the day I die available online for free. It's got to be good to get me to shell out the bucks and I'm really hoping that this book doesn't disappoint.

The reason I dug into my hoard of Swagbucks that I've been saving up for Christmas? Someone special got a play kitchen for his first birthday from mama and papa! I've been Googling like crazy for free play food and kitchen items that I can crochet for A. for his Christmas present this year now, and I stumbled upon a blog that mentioned this book when I was looking for a frying pan.

I'm expecting to get my $8.95 out of it based on the cover alone (on sale for $3.95 on the Annie's Attic website if you want one too!) I'll definitely be making the frying pan and spatula and egg, and will most likely do the baking set (in manlier colours naturally). And that tool belt set is just too cute!

Hopefully USPS isn't too slow getting my package to me. I personally have this theory that they have a secret room where all my packages go that I really want, until they feel that they've tortured me long enough and decide to deliver it. It's estimated to arrive between April 14 and April 21, so we shall see!

New Year, New Start

I'll admit it. I'm a bad blogger. I always start off ambitious and then lose momentum. I'm also bad at following my own goals for myself.

Yes, this means I caved to the Michaels Boxing Week flyer and bought more yarn. About 12 balls, with a plan for them at least. Hopefully I can use them up quickly.

Worse yet, I got a subscription to Crochet Today for Christmas. This was a good gift and a bad gift. You see, I am a complete sucker for making hats for little A., and clearly this Valentine's Day one was too cute to pass up:

He'll be having a blue and white version of this hat because you know, he's a boy. Thanks to some incorrect signage at Michaels, I got the yarn half off too and I should have plenty left over for other hats or who knows what other projects I'll dream up.

As for the good side of receiving the subscription, I found a pattern that will help me use up my oodles and oodles of Red Heart Baby Clouds yarn:

I love this kind of yarn. I was actually skeptical about it at first because I don't think it looks that nice when its in a skein, but once you start making it into an afghan it turns out so beautiful and soft and fluffy. Another plus about it? It's very bulky and works up quickly which I love. I'm definitely glad I grabbed some on clearance to try out. Little man got a blanket made from it when he was born, and most recently a friend's baby girl got a flower one made from this yarn too. Sadly, pictures of those blankets are on my old laptop that decided one day it wasn't going to turn back on and lazy me hasn't tried to recover data off it yet.

I also managed to find my pattern book made specifically for this yarn at my Grandparents house over the weekend, so hopefully I can get some cute baby things made up and I can make myself stop buying yarn and using up what I have.

Change of Plans

Turns out that it was a good thing I didn't have time to start making my slippers. After I finished balling up some yarn that I have for my amigurumi projects I found a free pattern sheet I found at Michaels recently. It turns out the pattern calls for the yarn I was thinking of putting towards the slippers and it just so happens to require 9 balls of the yarn, which is exactly how many I have.

The yarn I originally bought because I loved the colour of it and it was $3 a ball instead of somewhere in the neighbourhood of $7-$8. Even when Michaels has it on sale, you're still paying at least $6 a ball. I've searched numerous times and come up just short on the required amount of yarn, or occasionally too much which would force me to find a second smaller project.

So the new plan as it stands now is that I will be making a Ripple Effect Throw (though it will have to be a solid colour because that's all I have). Slippers will have to be put on hold now because I'm not certain which yarn I have that I will use to make them now, but I will be using up 9 balls that I really had no clue what to use them for.

It looks cozy doesn't it? I can't wait to get started on it!

Return of the Belly Roaster

We're officially one week into fall here, and it's certainly starting to feel like it, where I am anyway. The heat is on in my apartment which means as soon as the cat realizes this, she'll have her favourite place to sleep back:

Yes, the belly roaster has returned. It's a shame she hasn't realized it's on yet. I turned it up this morning for her so it would be nice and cozy, but she was only interested in sleeping on the bed today. Ironically though, as I was turning up the heat, my friend was telling me about turning her air conditioning on again.

The chill in the air means lots of cozy nights on the couch with my stud beside me, watching whatever takes our fancy on television because I'm not so fond of the freezing cold. But in the mean time, I get to wear cute sweaters and boots while we get our fill of fall activities before the real cold hits.

Unfortunately though, when I'm not wearing those cute boots, my feet can get a bit chilly. This brings me to this next project I may start this evening if I'm feeling ambitious and I can find the supplies I need later this afternoon:

My slipper socks that I bought last December on Boxing Day are currently dying a slow death and will soon be in need of replacing and these slippers seem to fit the bill. Though I'm not so interested in the flowers that these slippers are decorated with, this pattern is exciting because the designer is from my city, and so these are the slippers that will be made. If all works out and I can use the yarn I think I want to for these, I should be able to make some slippers and a new snuggly blanket for those nights on the couch.