Little Shruglets

My childhood family friend in Edison, NJ, has a new member in her family. Mia. Aint she cute? And chubby. Her brother, Gerard, thinks so too. So all chubby babies deserve a little "shruglet."





So I made a little shrug for Mia. It is a 6-12 months size (those babies grow so fast. I cant keep up). I have got hooked onto this pattern--I have a lot of worsted yarn, and this pattern is a basic template for a top down baby crochet sweater. I am making several versions based on this pattern (Yap. Get ready).










Pattern: Crocheted Baby Sweater
Yarn: Bernat's Denim Style in white
Hook: 5.5mm
Modifications: I did not work the sleeves after I connected the body. The sleeves are little "caps" now. Also, worked fewer rows for the body.

Lovely Week.

1. I visited Buffalo last Wednesday.
2. Diane got the flu Wednesday evening.
3. Amy's car was stolen Wednesday night/Thursday morning.
4. Diane got locked out of her new (and beautiful) new home Thursday afternoon.
5. Amy and I got locked out of her apartment Friday morning.
6. Though it was snowing like crazy, Amy and I went to school on Friday. Only to find out the library closed early because
7. A snowstorm was on its way.
8. Amy canceled her dinner party Friday night because of the storm.
8. It snowed (and snowed) the whole of Friday.
9. Saturday -- silence.
10. Snowstorm again on Sunday.
11. Amy and her partner, Robin, got stuck in snowstorm Sunday.
12. Come Monday, my flight back to NYC is delayed.
13. My butt still remembers two falls because of slippery snow.

Some candid (and now very funny) pictures from the storm. We were digging out Diane's car from the parking lot (ok. I was taking pictures).










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My friend and crafter, Shweta, is having a baby boy in January. She recently moved from this part of the world to California. (Oh, how much I miss you). We both enjoy crochet, and we both love granny squares. So I made a giant granny square blanket for the baby...and I call it "For the Love of Granny" baby blanket.







Pattern: Target square from Jan Eaton's 200 Crochet Blocks for Blankets, Throws, and Afghans: Crochet Squares to Mix and Match
Yarn: Red Heart Soft Touch (Blue) and Red Heart Designer Sport (Purple)
Hook: 5mm
Size: 35 inches x 35 inches

So cold.

It must be the coldest winter ever. When we visited Suketu's parents' home in NJ this weekend, Suketu helped me take pictures of the scarf I made for the Sit N Knit Holiday Exchange. He took one candid picture of angry me...cursing the cold wind.



But all in all, it was a great weekend. The Sit N Knit annual Holiday party was fun...filled with food and wonderful handknits. I got to hang out with my crafty friends and work on what seems like an endless baby blanket.



Angela and me



Nicole and Carolyn

For the exchange, I received a super cute hat from Jessica. Here is me with her, modeling my new hat. Thank you, Jessica!



My "winter white ripple scarf" went to Rebecca. She mostly knits, and does a little bit of crochet, and was super happy to receive her first crochet item.





The pattern of this scarf is actually from an afghan pattern. I worked one repeat of the pattern, in chunky yarn. All in under three hours. Bliss.







Pattern: Easy Ripple Afghan; one repeat of the pattern
Yarn: Plymouth Encore Chunky in off-white
Hook: 6mm

Dessert anyone?

Over the next several weeks (months?), this blog is going to periodically talk about the crafty things that happened at our engagement party. (I made our friend-photographer, Alex, take so many pictures, at one point, he thought I was nuts. Then I told him it was for my blog, and it suddenly all made sense to him).


Suketu and I love playing host to family and friends, and we wanted them to go home with something personal, special, and meaningful. We both love dessert...especially cupcakes. (Ok. Suketu likes cupcakes more than I do). I love Chinese take-out, but not any kind of Chinese food. It has got to be Indian-Chinese cuisine (Oh. How much I miss India). So we ordered an assortment of cupcakes from our favorite cupcake store, Elenis, and put them in Chinese take-out containers from Pearl River.





Each of the eighty containers had something written and drawn on them. All of them came from the top of my head, as I kept writing. Some of them were nostalgic, some of them sentimental, and some plain silly.



But most of the containers had something about Obama. Our party was just a month before the election, and that is all what most of us thought about. I wrote and Ami drew a picture. It was wonderful. Now every time Suketu and I have a cupcake, we remind ourselves that there is hope, and change is really possible.