Traveling Scarves 92 - Journal

For my traveling scarf group, we each have to create a little journal that accompanies our scarf on its journey.  I had found a really cute YouTube tutorial on how to make rolled paper roses and decided to go a bit overboard with my journal.  Exhibit A:



But I guess it was worth going overboard because it did turn out kind of cute :)



My journal page talks about what I'm looking for and I even included a photo of my mom and me.  I'm encouraging everyone to add a photo of themselves, but they don't have to - even though it would be nice to see everyone who's worked on my scarf when it gets back to me.



Over the past year, I've purchased a lot of scrapbooking supplies and keep telling myself that one of these days - when I can come up for air - I'm going to sit down and dive in.  Well, that hasn't happened... so this was my way of indulging for a bit!

I have plans to post tomorrow, but we'll see what happens.  I took tomorrow off so I can enjoy a nice 4-day weekend (and work on a ton of homework for class instead of relaxing outside with the halfway decent weather we're supposed to get).  In any event, if I don't get back, have a great Memorial Day Weekend!

PS: It's been sunny for the past two days.  I'm not sure if everyone else has had the horrible rainy weather or tornado warnings that we've had for three weeks, but I'm glad that's almost over!

Traveling Scarves - Lengthwise Scarf hitting the mail this Saturday!

This obnoxious beauty will be mailed out on Saturday:



Isn't it wonderful?  Because the group consists of both knitters and crocheters, I knit one side of the scarf in the super-sparkly Caron Simply Soft Party yarn, and crocheted into the other side using some yarn I've had in my stash of which I can't remember the name.  But basically, I'm gonna shine.  Literally.

So now I just need to pick up a nice big Ziploc bag before shoving it into my padded envelope.  The first person in my downstream lives in the UK!  My last traveling scarf group had a member from Canada (which was exciting in and of itself), but I'm absolutely loving that people around the world - for real - will be knitting on my scarf.

Seriously, these traveling scarf groups are so amazing.  You should join a group if you haven't had the chance.

PS: I recently introduced myself to Pinterest and it's become my new obsession.  If you're also on the site, follow me!  I pin (or in most cases... re-pin) fun crochet and knitting projects, plus other general crafts, music, and reading stuff.  I'm still new so I don't have much up there, but there will be more soon :)

Should I also mention that I started crocheting another doily?  I think I will.  There you have it!

Mother's Day Coasters! (Better late than never...)

Here are the Mother's Day coasters I promised photos of in my last entry!







I used cotton yarn and probably a bigger hook than I should have - they're big enough to pass as small wash cloths, too.  But overall, they came out really cute and I love them.  Amazingly, I even had all these colors in my stash to perfectly coordinate with my mom's colors scheme.  Not sure how I managed that.  Most likely, I just buy too much yarn.

I found the pattern from a link posted on one of the Facebook pages I follow.  You can grab it yourself over at the Yvestown Blog!

It was a fun, cute, and quick project.  I think it took about 10-15 minutes per coaster, and that's because I kept getting distracted.

Happy Belated Mother's Day!

PS: I did give these to my mom on Mother's Day.  I slack on posting about projects, not creating them by deadlines :)

The art of productive procrastination

So the good news is, I've gotten my knitting/crocheting ambition back.  YAY!

The bad news is I have barely any time to indulge.

I crocheted some super cute coasters for my mom for Mother's Day.  I do have photos, but haven't gotten around to uploading them yet.

I started the seed for the new round of "Traveling Scarf Group" I joined.  My theme is "anything bright and cheerful, sparkles encouraged, and absolutely no pastels" - it's so obnoxious.  I finished my portion last night, so I'll be taking some photos later.

I received the angel scarf from my last Traveling Scarf Group.  One of the ladies lost another ladies' scarf in her house - no comment - so we decided to start another one for her.  It's really cute and I want to take  a photo of that when I'm done, as well.  Which reminds me - I need to ask if she wants me to bind it off for her or let her do the honors!  I'm the last one to have it before it finally gets home... a year later...

Classes are starting to take their toll on me.  This week, I have an assignment that includes answering a ton of questions, plus an exam (pretty much a paper) for my other class.  And I need to get moving on the final projects so I'm not scrambling at the end.  On top of my full-time job, trying to help some friends with their work, starting yard work around the house (still haven't gotten there because we're barely around on weekends), and planning a 30th birthday party for Hubby that's gotten nowhere.

Needless to say, I'm going out of my mind.  I feel like I have 10 people each asking for 15% of my time - there's already no time left on my schedule, so when am I supposed to get time to enjoy myself?  And I'm not feeling productive at all because I have to keep going from project to project to meet deadlines and keep everything moving forward.  I barely see Hubby anymore because I come home from work, set up shop on the couch, and read for class until my eyes bleed.

So knitting, crocheting, and The Other Boleyn Girl on audiobook from Audible has been keeping me somewhat sane when I need a break.  And my family is coming this weekend to install our new washing machine that won't turn my clothes black!  I believe some breakfast at IHOP will be involved, as well.  So things aren't that bad.  Just stressful.  And I miss spending time with my husband and friends without feeling like there are 15million other things I need to be doing.

Sigh.  Okay, personal venting over :)  Photos soon!