neopolitan ripple baby afghan

Hello there! Today I'm bringing you a crochet post.

I've recently gotten back into the swing of crocheting again, now that summer vacation is near I will finally have the time to start lots of new projects and get back to work on some older ones.

Today I'm going to showcase one of the three baby afghans I made last summer. I found out in fall 2010 that I was going to become an aunt to two little girls! I have to brothers who are a year apart, and their daughters are two months apart. The first blanket I made for Cecilia is a simple, small, granny square using bright cotton yarn. My brother didn't find out the gender for Cecilia, so I made her blanket gender neutral but still vibrant and pretty!

The younger of my two brothers, however, found out that he was having a little girl! Trinity was born on July 2nd, 2011, and this is the afghan I made for her.

I decided on the Neopolitan colour scheme because my sister-in-law is a fan of brown/neutrals, and this way there's still a splash of pink for the little girl! I crocheted this length wise, and it felt like it took an eternity. The foundation chain was originally supposed to be the width, but I wound up making it way way way too big. I wanted to make the afghan a bit bigger than a baby blanket, so that she could still cuddle up with in when she's a bigger girl!

I wish I'd taken to keeping track of the sittings and hours it took to make my crocheted pieces. This is something I'll have to remember to do in the future!

 I had just barely learned how to make a ripple afghan using straight rows of double crochet. This is a pattern creating a series of triangles, to make a lacier effect. My grandmother and mother taught me this pattern from memory, and I've since made another baby blanket with the same pattern, as well as started one for myself!

 I love the lacy effect the stitches have thanks to the dc, ch, dc series of triangles!

Be prepared to see a pattern soon-- I've been working on writing one out!
What do you think? The cotton yarn is still surprisingly warm, and I've been told the girls love to feel the texture of their blankets.

Tomorrow I have my last two final exams, and then it's off for summer vacation! You'll hear from me again at the end of April.

good luck cookies

This morning I had my first of four final exams for the Winter 2012 semester at school. Know what that means? Summer vacation is less than a week away! Just three terrifying tests between me, and a nine day vacation to see my nieces!

But, how cruel is it that my first final is on Friday the 13th? We had such good weather this week I literally spent an entire afternoon crocheting adorable dishcloths on the porch. Bought a new dress, went to a bridal shower, played with my cat. Watched a LOT of True Blood, don't get me started. And then, last night I studied.

But, when I decided it was time to take a break i made a simple risotto for dinner, and used up the scraps of my baking supplies on these cookies. These cookies are phenomenal, everything you want out of an oatmeal chocolate chip. They're soft, gooey and perfect with milk.

After the clock rolled over to midnight it felt like all the evil friday the 13th bad luck, and this morning it really seemed like the day was out to doom me. But, after my allergies cleared up things didn't seem so bad! It was rainy and gloomy all morning, and now the sun is starting to shine, and I'm thanking these cookies.

these are my good luck cookies, because they make perfectly every time!

 They're so good I hardly have any pictures, they were eaten up so quickly!

Bright floral nails

Today I have an interview with my university's newspaper. I'm applying to be the payrolled Copy Editor, and it's pretty exciting for me! I can actually remember editing the current Editor in Chief's articles when I was but a volunteer. So now, I am studying away the style guide as I'll have to edit an article as a test part of my interview.

This is really exciting for me! This year was my first as a Communications Studies Major with an English minor. My passion is print media and I want to make a career out of it once I leave university-- hopefully this interview will go well and it'll be my first step towards my future!

Today I have a quick post of some floral nails I did yesterday in my spare time, inspired by Rebecca's. We've had several warm and sunny days here on the island, but today there is a snow storm. it is ridiculous. These nails have been cheering me up, and hopefully they make an impact in my interview!

Sorry for the poor quality of these cell phone pics :s

Colours used:
OPI - Did it on Em (background)
OPI - Pink Friday
OPI - Red Lights Ahead... Where?
China Glaze - Four Leaf Clover
And Seche Vite top coat, and OPI Nail Envy for base!
hope you like them :)

Nail Art Contest, first entry!

I've always been much too shy in terms of my nail art to really put myself out there and have it all on display. Obviously, I have a lot of learning left to do, and my pictures probably leave a bit to be desired (my boyfriend took these two pictures! He was being grumpy and rushed me).

My friend Rebecca, as many of you know, has a popular nail art blog (almost 3000 followers, wow!) and she had decided to host a nail art contest. So, I've really tried this time! I'm not certain if many will like my entry or if it will win, but since the theme was Rebecca's favourite things, I decided to go all out. I'd like to think I know Rebecca pretty well, and short of putting Jared Padalecki on my nails, I figured these were the next best things!

So in the nail art contest entry post Rebecca cites the theme as being "her favourite things", some of which include: gradients, animal print, bows, dots, and hello kitty. I decided to use Rebecca's three favourite colors, which are really easy to figure out, even just by looking at her blog layout. Teal, purple and pink! They became the base of my manicure.

I also have experience with skittles, and know how much Rebecca likes them, too! I would post a link to one of her entries about skittles as proof, but it is not working for me right now :)

I also know that Rebecca loves glitter, and with all these things in mind I set out and created this!

It's disappointing that you can't see the holographic effect on my pinky finger. I created a glitter gradient on my thumbs, freehanded the bow on my middle finger with a two-way nail art pen, and hope that the kitty on my pinky can be considered 'animal print' hahaha.

(I'm so sad about my cuticles in this picture :( stupid boyfran!)

My right hand sees another glitter gradient, a cameo by miss kitty!, a polka dot gradient that I am actually pretty proud of, holographic cheetah index, and another little free-handed bow on my pinky. I like this one especially because the bow reminds me of string that people tie around their fingers as reminders!

I hope Rebecca likes my entry, I hope some others do as well. I was really proud of what I had created, it just had to survive a day at work without getting messed up before I took pictures.

So that's my entry! Here's a list of polishes used:
Essie - She's Picture Perfect (purple)
OPI - Pink Friday (pink)
China Glaze - For Audrey (blue)
Wet N' Wild - Black Creme
OPI - Crown Me Already (silver glitter)
OPI - Divine Swine (purple glitter)
Essie - A  Cut Above (pink glitter)
Orly - Prisma Gloss Silver 
Layla Hologram Effect - Mercury Twilight (silver holo)














Hope you enjoy!