Thankful

(Warning: non-professional, unrelated photos included.)

I am thankful for my husband.

My family was lucky enough to be invited to my big brother's house yesterday for Thanksgiving. It wasn't that long of a trip, only 1 1/2 hours, but it was well worth the drive.

I am so thankful for the ability to bear children.

Growing up, my Dad would pile 3 crazy, wiggly, and prone to fighting in small places kids into our van and we would drive the 5 1/2 hours to Grandma's house. Yes, over the river and through the woods, lots and lots of woods.

I am thankful for my children.

I wish with all that I could wish with that I could do the same with my children, maybe next year we'll make the trip. Grandma and Grandpa would more then welcome me and my large-ish family, but I think that my 2 boys would just drive them up the wall. The week of Thanksgiving is the first week of hunting season in West Virginia, and there are lots and lots of hunters that drive all the way out to our family property for good game. So, the prospect of hiking and playing outside is greatly diminished. And the thought of 4+ kids in a 600-700 square foot living space is just scary at times.

I am thankful for my family.

Back to yesterday.

I am thankful for the love that we share.

My brother put on quite a spread, and I was very happy to be his wingman for the day. And, I must say I was pleasantly surprised with the sweet potato casserole he whipped up. I think I might actually be able to make and eat sweet potatoes now. The texture of them gets me, yuck. But, his were delicious!

I am thankful for curiosity.

I put together a little craft for the kids to work on, and of course Oma was right in the middle of it all with me. We made placemats, I got the idea from this tutorial for woven placemats, I really liked the finished size of these. However, I didn't find any large construction paper at JoAnn's, so I went with a pad of watercolor paper that was the same size. Wouldn't you know that my kids didn't even want to do it?? So, me and my niece & nephews cranked some out. They quite enjoyed it, as did I.

I am thankful for holiday and projects with the kids.

As this is a time to be thankful for the things in our lives, I am of course thankful for quite a lot. My family, my faith, our health, our home, our talents, and of course our love are just a very few of the things I am thankful for. Some of my most favorite pastimes of the season are crafting with the family, making handmade gifts, and of course baking more cookies/cakes/treats than I should make even in an entire year. I look forward to doing all of this all over again in the next few weeks. Hopefully I can get my living room painted and done before the Christmas decorating really gets rolling though... we shall see.

I am thankful that I live in a land of plenty.

I hope you all have an amazing holiday season!

Crochet Shower Puff

Looking for a quick gift?

This one can be made in less than 2 hours!

So, I tried a few different patterns for making a shower puff. I didn't really like the finished product that I got, one was too big, one felt hollow in the middle, and another just felt so dense.

What's a girl to do?

Make a pattern, of course. The pattern can be finished in about 2 hours, with intermediate skills.

This is a great gift that is very quick to produce, just incase you need a last minute something....

Without further ado, here it is:

Materials:
-1 skein Lily Sugar N Cream 100% cotton yarn
-size G crochet hook

ch= chain
sl st= slip stitch
sc= single crochet

Ch 35, sl st to first ch. This is the handle.

Ch 6, sl st into where you just joined the loop for the handle.

Round 1- Ch 4, sc into smaller loop. *Ch 3, sc in smaller loop*, repeat from * to * 18 more times, making 20 loops total.

Round 2- Ch 5, sc into first loop of Round 1. *Ch 4, sc in same loop. Ch 4, sc in same loop (total of two times). Ch 4, sc in next loop.* Repeat from * to * all the way around. You should now have 60 loops.

Round 3- Ch 6, sc into first loop of Round 2. *Ch 5, sc in same loop. Ch 5, sc in same loop. Ch 5, sc in same loop (three times total). Ch 5, sc in next loop.* Repeat from * to * all the way around. You should have 240 loops now. I know it sounds like a lot, and if you don't have that many, know one will know but you ( ha ha ha, in my best evil chuckle).

Tie off, weave in ends, and call it a day, you're done!

I was able to make 2 puffs out of one skein of yarn, I only had about 3 to 4 yard left though, so be careful.

Happy Hooking!

Edited to add: I would LOVE to see any projects you create with this pattern! Feel free to join & share in my Flickr group: Your Lyanna Jean Designs.

Just a reminder, my patterns are for your personal use and enjoyment only. They have not been tested, so if you find an error feel free to let me know at lyannajeandesigns@gmail.com.

I feel productive... well somewhat

I finally got my computer back, and actually hooked it all up. Why is it so terrible to actually plug all the junk in sometimes??

Better yet, why didn't I think to get my hus to do it?!

So, that isn't my 'productiveness' I'm referring to in my post title, though somedays it sure feels like things like that are my only ounce of productivity for the day... yea.

In case you haven't notice, I managed to put together a new blog header:

I quite like it. My first photo montage one. And, yes, I know it's at the top of the blog, but I wanted it in a post so that if someday I feel like making a book out of this nonsense, then it's in here.

Also, I managed to bind & wash the custom quilt I'm making. It's my first one!!

I'm off to deliver it today, it was requested by an acquaintance, and I'll be in the area she works today, so it works out great. Besides, this way I don't have to take 3 kids to the post office... we all know how fun that is (either personally, or watching the poor woman behind you do it).

Have a great last weekend before the holiday madness! Yup, Turkey Day is next week.

A Day in The Life

Yesterday was a long one.

Woke at 4am- sew for 1 1/2 hours.

6am, Breakfast for the masses

7am, Off to School

9am, Inchworms class at the Y for my little man, his first day and he's not too sure, but LOVES it! (I get to crochet in the waiting room for about 1 hour, score)

11:30am, Pick up the big man at Pre-K, but we're a little early so I get to squeeze in a little knitting (I keep some in the car). He had a good day today.

12noon, Lunch, Daddy comes home today and our little princess is overjoyed.

1pm, Time for a nap (not for me, bummer), and more crochet time while I wait (watch) for them to go to sleep.

2pm, More sewing to do... man, am I glad I like to do all this, haha. The big man has decided that today is not a good day for a nap for him, apparently working on his letters is more important today....

4pm, Everyone's up, and Daddy comes home to tell me MeMa is on her way, and just the grow ups are going to see a movie!! (By the way, Red was good).

(This is what happens when you try to get them to actually sit together for a photo.)

7pm, Home from an impromptu date night (I didn't even get to get all cute... how could he be spontaneous?? No, really, I was wearing faded jeans and a hoodie.)

Now it's bath-time, 3 in a row.

8:30pm, Little miss princess has retired for the evening, now we just have to wrangle the boys to be quiet and not wake her, and by quiet I only mean prevent them from yelling/screaming. (Apparently when there are 2 boys instead of just 1, there is no sense of volume control.)

10pm, finally we all get to sleep. And, I get to start all over again at 4am.

You know, I think I would die if I had to do a 9 to 5...

*All the photos were taken on a different day. Don't you just love the 80's look? haha