Yarn Creations

Hello Friends:

Three months have come and gone since my last blog post. I honestly can not believe it. I blinked once and February was gone, I blinked again and March was gone. If I blink too fast, Christmas will be here again. HA! I'll try to blink slow. ;)

Well besides working a ton, I've been working on a few things. The first being my wedding! We finally set a date for October 28 at a beautiful resort on Captiva Island, FL. 

Yes, we are doing a destination beach wedding. It took a lot of searching to find the perfect place, but we finally found one. When I say searching, I mean internet searching. We took the plunge and settled on a place without seeing it first in person. Brave I know! The date was all they had available at the end of the year. We didn't want to wait and risk it getting booked by someone else. I read many reviews by other very happy guests, so I'm sure we will be very pleased with our decision. We will take a weekend trip to go see it soon. I finished our wedding invitations last month. By the way, if you ever need nice invitations, but don't want to spend a fortune on them, go do a search on Etsy. There are so many talented artists that do great work for budget friendly prices.

In crafting news, I've been doing quite a bit of crochet and sock knitting. 

I was inspired to crochet some hats for summer. I found this adorable little girl's beach hat pattern on Etsy. It is crocheted in 100% cotton yarn. I sold this one and another friend asked me to make a baby sized one. Isn't it cute? This was sized for a girl aged 1 - 3 years old.

I started a new baby blanket. This was a kit I found that had the pattern and the yarn. I thought the colors were adorable. Truth be told, I re-started this blanket about 6 times before I got the pattern right. The pattern isn't hard at all. I just had a mental block with reading it correctly. Just when I thought I had it, I found a mistake and would have to start over. Now I'm on a roll with it.

I started a new sock project. This was another project I started that I ended up ripping out and starting over. I just didn't like how it was looking the first time. There were too many mistakes. Now it's starting to look like a sock. It's tough getting a good picture since it's on circular needles but you can see the cuff at the top. I knitted about 1 inch for the ankle before doing the back of the heel. You can see how its curved on the bottom for the heel and then curves left for the foot. Socks are definitely a project you have to do a couple times to understand the construction of it. 

That is all for now. I hope everyone has a fantastic week. It is Spring Break for us down here. My son gets a nice lazy week off from school. I have to work unfortunately. I hope Spring is coming around for you Northerners.

Until next time....

*Hugs from Sunny Miami**

Jen

Christmas Greetings

Merry Christmas! I know it was yesterday, but anyways, I hope you all had a great one. This year has just flown by and here were are about to say Happy New Year again. My mind is still processing where all of the days have gone. November I did quite a bit of traveling. I spent weekends in Gainsville, FL; St. Peterburg, FL and Orlando, FL. I love road trips for any reason. It's a nice way to get away from reality for a day or two.

It has been an extremely warm winter so far. That is honestly nothing knew in Miami. The cold tends to come in January and February. One year it would be nice not to have an 80 degree Christmas. I know for many of you it has been a rather cold winter so far. I'm sending you warm wishes and in turn you can send your cold ones to me. :)

I have been doing a little creating. I confess I haven't done any cross stitching since I finished that model stitch two months ago. It hasn't been published yet to my knowledge. I have been planning what I want to do for 2017. It will be the year of UFO's. When I moved to my house back in April, it really opened my eyes to the number of UFO's I have. It's quite ridiculous honestly so I'm going to focus on those more next year.

These are new items I created for my Etsy store. If you click on the link above the picture, you will be taken directly to the listing in my store.

Beaded Stitch Markers for Crochet and Knitting:

Blue Stitch Markers

Pink Stitch Markers

Pink and Green Stitch Markers

Blue and Yellow Scissor FOB

Blue and Pink Scissor FOB

Blue Scissor FOB

Ladies "To the Peak" Cap

Baby Beanie

Man's Beanie

Thank you for visiting! I hope you have a wonderful New Years!

**Hugs and Love from Miami**

Jen

A New Crocheted Hat Finish

Hello Friends:

I hope you are enjoying a pleasant Autumn so far. The rains are still visiting us down here in Miami, but they bring pleasant breezes. I will take those over high humidity and no breeze any day.

In other crafting news, I finished the model stitch for X's and Oh's that I was working on. It came out really cute. I can't show any pictures of it yet since the pattern hasn't officially been published. I will post pictures as soon as it's published by the designer. Honestly, I'm quite happy I finished it because now I can move onto other projects I've been wanting to do, like this hat:

The pattern is called "Pink Pearl Cap" by Expression Fiber Arts. It is a free pattern. The yarn is also by EFA. It is Merino Silk Pearlescent Yarn in the colorway "Carolina Sunset".

That is all for now. Now I have to figure out what long lost stitching UFO I can go back to stitching.

I wish you all a: 

Be safe and eat lots of candy!

**Hugs and Love from Sunny Miami**

Jen

Simple Creations

The summer is coming to an end and the kids are almost back in school. Crazy isn't it?! Enjoy these last few weeks of summer. Tomorrow is my son's 12th birthday. He will be in 7th grade this year. That hasn't hit me yet.

****************************************************

I have some new creations to share.

Even the simplest of projects brings me joy, especially when I can finish them really fast!

Coasters!

These were all crocheted with 100% cotton yarn.
These sets are listed in my Etsy store.

What project are you currently working on?

**Hugs from Sunny Miami**

Jen

So Much to Share!

December has been a wonderful month full of surprises and fun. Christmas was lovely. It was an interesting first year trying to have a Christmas tree up with two cats in the house. I had to keep ornaments and garland away from the bottom. Other decorations I didn't bother putting up cause I knew my kitten would go after them. I didn't do brunch at my house this year either. I had way more family in town this year, than past years and there was no way I could entertain them all in our little place. Maybe next year since we are planning to move in 2016.

This month we had our Christmas Disney trip. It was magnificent.

If you ever go, I highly recommend the Old Key West Resort. It was so peaceful and gorgeous.

And this kind of sort of happened that weekend too...

YES! I got engaged! It was a whole surprise that my family was totally in on. My dear boyfriend (now fiance) originally told me he couldn't go with us cause he had to work. Well he pulled a few strings and surprised me while we were in Hollywood Studios. I had a feeling he was up to something, but not this! It was a perfect early Christmas present in a place that is so magical to me.

*****************

So after our fun weekend, it was back to reality and planning for Christmas. Like every year, I have the best intentions to finish gifts early before the big day, but stuff always comes up. I did manage to finish some gifts in time.

I made two more scarfs using perlescent, worsted weight yarn from Expression Fiber Arts. This yarn is so squishy soft, I bought too much! Again I had the best intentions on making more...

A scarf for my sister.

This red one I finished like 30 minutes before we needed to leave to my parents house on Christmas morning. My stepmom loved it.

I also found a cute tutorial by Shabby Fabrics for these cute box bags. You can find many helpful tutorials on You Tube by following their channel. These were a very last minute Christmas Eve...Evening project. They are meant to be a quick project, but it took me several hours of watching the You Tube video over and over before things started making sense. I think they turned out real cute and they took almost no material to make.

Well that is all I have to share today. Its been a great month and I can't wait to see what 2016 has in store for us. We don't have a wedding date set. We are going to focus on getting a new place in the beginning of the year first and then we will focus on wedding plans afterwards.

I wish you all a fabulous New Years. Be safe and we will chat again next year!

**Hugs and Love from Sunny Miami**

Jen

Crocheting Away...

Just as the title states, I've been crocheting away when my free time has allowed. It's been a busy couple of weeks. Not to mention, a yucky bug decided to visit me and ground me on my couch with a fever all day Saturday. That wasn't what I had in mind for a relaxing Thanksgiving weekend! I did manage to finish a hat and scarf set on Friday for my Etsy store. 

The scarf measures 3 1/2" wide and 65" long without the fringe.

Here's a closeup of the yarn. It is a soft bulky acrylic yarn with iridescent metallic weaved in. It gives the white such a lovely, elegant glitz. I'm sure it would just sparkle beautifully in the sunlight.

I am having so much fun crocheting scarfs that I've decided to make a couple for Christmas presents. I will post a pic of all of them once they are completed. So far I've made one out of four that I have planned. I'm trying to pace myself to get everything done before Christmas. I have some bags in mind to sew as well. I also have my nieces baby blanket to finish for Christmas also. My sister brought the baby all the way from Hong Kong and they will be in town till after New Years. The baby is so adorable!

It's going to be a busy month! There is lots to do. I have another weekend trip to Orlando planned, again to Disney! I am waiting for Winter to make its annual three day appearance, hopefully its longer than that. The rain just doesn't want to go away it seems.

Thank you for visiting. I hope you have a fabulous week. Thank you for all of your lovely comments too.

**Hugs and Love from Sunny Miami**

Jen

My Finished Scarf and Other Progress

Yes the title did say Finish! My lovely Unforgettable Scarf is finished.

******

******

I am very pleased with how this turned out. So pleased in fact that I bought a few other colors to make more. I actually had two skeins of this same color so I went ahead and listed this one in my Etsy store. The next one I'll keep for me. These colors are just absolutely lovely, and the scarf pattern is perfect if you just want a lightweight accessory scarf. This is definitely not a scarf for warmth. 

I also made some progress on other projects.

I knitted 16 rows on my niece's baby blanket. It is officially 1 foot tall. I need to keep going until it's 39". Still have a ways to go on this project.

I also made some good progress on my new sock project.

I finished the cuff and proceeded onto the leg part. This pattern I am using is called a "Vanilla" pattern. In other words, a very simple sock pattern. The pattern is repetitive with no special pattern changes or anything. I was afraid this one was going to be boring but surprisingly this pattern works up quickly. I am loving the colors. As you can see they are taking on a "pooling" effect not a stripping effect. This would drive some knitters crazy, but not me. 

Finally, I also did some stitching this week on my Lizzie Kate Christmas design I started back in September for the Christmas SAL blog.

It's nearly there! Only a few more presents to finish on the left and then I have to stitch the last word "Tangle". After that, it will be done just in time for Christmas.

Well that's all for my project progress this week. I was able to do quite a bit on my projects last weekend when I was out of town. I had a lot of down time watching TV and movies at my aunt's house. It was the perfect opportunity for some crochet and knitting. My son, my one aunt and myself did go to Epcot at Walt Disney World the Friday before Halloween. It was a beautiful day. The Food and Wine Festival was great. I will tell you all that Disney really makes hand over foot at that event. After going a few times, I have determined that the food is a better value over the alcoholic items for sale in the different countries. You could pay $8.00 for 2 ounces of a drink that you could probably make yourself at home or buy at a liquor store. 

Halloween was okay. It seems that every year it gets less and less exciting. People don't decorate their homes or even stay home to pass out candy to trick or treaters. We came upon homes that were decorated, but the candy was just in a bowl at the door for the taking. The essence of Halloween fun just doesn't seem to be around like it used to. Has anyone noticed this as well?

I hope you all have a great week. It will be a long week for me. My mind is heavy at the moment as I heard news this morning that my grandfather had passed away. He had been in hospice since last Thursday so the untimely news of his passing was expected. I'm just glad he's in a better place. The last few years have been really difficult for him and I am relieved that he went peacefully and lived out the last week of his life resting comfortably. 

Thank you for visiting and listening to me ramble a bit. Till next week.

**Hugs and Love from Sunny Miami**

Jen

P.S. I am running a Christmas sale in my Etsy store from now until December 18th. Use the Coupon Code XMAS2015 for 15% off anything. I will be working on some new items for the store this month also. 

Trying this Sock Knitting Stuff Again.

I decided to jump back into a new sock project. I had some beautiful yarn in my stash that was just calling to me. I chose a lovely yarn by Expression Fiber Arts. I heard this yarn was really nice to knit socks with so I was eager to try it out. I would be farther along with my sock progress except I ran into this little problem first:

It took me six hours last week to untangle this mess. It was my fault. I untwisted the hank and didn't think to put it around the back of a chair before I started winding it into a ball. It was a true test of patience getting it sorted out. 

Now I have this:

Much better right? This is the cuff of the sock. The colors look great I think. The stitch definition is so nice. I used an easy sock pattern this time around. 

I have also crocheted some more on my Unforgettable Scarf that I showed in my last post. It is coming along nicely. I have already bought some new colors to make a couple others in the near future. In case you missed my last post, here is my crochet scarf in progress:

I will continue working on this until it is 55 inches long. Right now I only have about 38 inches done.

That is all of my crafty progress for this week. Tomorrow night I will be leaving to Orlando to visit family for the Halloween weekend. We have plans to visit one of my favorite places while I'm there.

I can't wait to try the yummy foods from the different countries! The weather is supposed to be perfect too.

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week and a fun spooky Halloween weekend with lots of candy.

**Hugs and Love from Sunny Miami**

Jen

My Unforgettable Moment and Scarf

I recently started a new project (like that's any surprise HA!). As you know, since I enjoy to knit and crochet, I have acquired a crazy yarn stash. I have become better though because some of what I have I bought before I understood what different yarns were for. I've learned that type and quality is way more important than just the pretty color. I will say that Ravelry is a crochet/knitter's best friend. There is so much inspiration on there for projects using different kinds of yarns.

This is a scarf I started using Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable Yarn in the colorway "Candied". It is 100% Acrylic with a little fuzziness to it. I'm using a pattern I found on Ravelry called "One Skein Unforgettable Scarf"

It is a combination of simple V stitches. It crochets up quickly and brings out the color changes so nicely in the yarn. I will say this yarn may not be everyone's favorite. The yarn is not consistent in thickness as you go because it will go from thread thin to thick in texture.

So what is my Unforgettable Moment you were wondering? Well yesterday we took a drive down to the Florida Keys to Key Largo which is about an hour away for a wedding that we were invited to. We get to the venue, a hotel, and went to the lobby to ask where to go. We told the front desk person the wedding we were there for and she looked as us with a quizzical look. It turned out the wedding we were there for yesterday was actually TODAY at 5:00pm. Needless to say since I am the keeper of dates in the house, my boyfriend gave me flack...in a loving way. He reveled in the joy of telling me I messed up. He is partially to blame though. He had the invite in his e-mail since January and didn't forward it to me till two weeks ago. He swore it was a Saturday also, not a Sunday. So we made the best of it and had dinner on the water since we were down there.

Time to go get ready for the wedding...again! Looking forward to the hour plus drive....again.

Hope you have a fabulous week. Thanks for stopping by as always.

**Hugs and Love from Sunny Miami**

Jen

Some Stitchy/Knitting/Crochet Progress Today

Hello Friends:

June has flown and now its time to say Hello to July. The summer time down here means that our A/C is working overtime. 

Since the bowling season has finished for me until August, I now have much more time to spend on my projects during the week. 

*Stitching Progress* 

 Sunflowers in Summer by Country Cottage Needleworks

Before:

After:

The Cottage is looking more like a cottage.

Olaf is my cheerleader on this project. He cheers me on to keep stitching.

*Knitting Progress*

I am still working on my first sock. I believe the last sock picture I posted was my first attempt on smaller needles that I decided to rip out. I found the sock to feel too tight around the ankle and it worried me that if I kept on going, it would continue to feel too tight. I decided to frog what I had done and start again with the next size needle to be on the safe side. It worked out so much better.

I am a short socks kinda gal. Most sock patterns are designed to be really long up the leg and those don't appeal to me. I decided to just do a 1/4" ribbed cuff to prevent the sock from rolling down at the ankle and jumped to the heel flap part of the pattern. I can't wait to finish this sock so I can start the second sock. I know exactly what mistakes I made on this sock and made note on what to do different on the next one. The second one will turn out much better. I'm also starting to accumulate a sock yarn stash so I better get to knitting!

*Crochet Progress*

I haven't let my hook sit aside for long. I try to rotate my time between my stitching, knitting and crochet so each project gets some work done on it. It's a strategy that's actually working for me. This is a finished set of coasters I crocheted using cotton yarn. The yarn was a self-stripping yarn. The color changes on each coaster are different, but I think this set turned out lovely. These are currently listed in my Etsy store since I'm crazy to think I can possibly keep everything that I make.

I also have a new beanie hat in progress and I've made a couple more cup cozies. I will save those for another post.

Thank you so much for visiting with me today. I am counting down the hours till me and the boys go to the theatre to see Jurassic World this evening. I've loved Jurassic Park since I was a kid. The trilogy has been on TV so much this last month that I've probably watched all 3 movies a dozen more times each. I never get tired of them.

Have a wonderful week and Thank You as always for the lovely comments you leave me.

**Hugs and Love from Sunny Miami**

Jen