Shenandoah National Park Picture Post I

WIP Wednesday

My family and I went to Shenandoah National Park over the weekend, and I have a lot of pictures to show but first WIP Wednesday, which I didn't want to skip, especially with a new project on the hooks and an itch to pick up the needles.  A few teasers from Instagram:

Crescent Rock Overlook

Sunset

Progress on the therapy crochet afghan have been halted.  I think I wove in one end and gave up.  (That's one end itself, not the ends on one square.)  And I have quite a few ends to go, along with around 20 squares in light yellow and pink to brighten things up a bit.  Maybe I'll join and then weave in all the ends at the end.

But why has progress stopped?  Because of these next two projects:

My mom's birthday present, made from African flower motifs, which is unfortunately late.

And a granny stripe cowl!  Free pattern to come soon.  I'm using Knit Picks Palette, which is a dream to work with, though it is thin.  No squeak of acrylic on my hook, just rows and rows of bitty, fluffy granny clusters.

And despite all this crochet, I'm tempted to pick up the needles and cast on for a shawl!  We'll see...

Therapy Crochet

Therapy crochet afghan's squares are almost finished!

I have 18 more to make, in pink and a soft yellow (to brighten things up a bit) before weaving in the ends, which I'm dreading, and then I can join in beautiful teal!

WIP Wednesday

I've been having a hard time in the Life in General department, and it has bled into my crafting life so much so the only WIP I really have today are my solid grannies. I call it my therapy crochet.

Hopefully I'll be able to knock out of this depression soon, and get back to work.  I need to work on my mom's birthday gift and some other patterns I've found while browsing the web.  A lot are ones I have yarn in my stash for, so I'm really excited about that.

So today's WIP is a different one.  A living WIP.  My garden!

We're growing a lot this year.  We have blueberries:

grape tomatoes:

Cajun belle peppers:

And three types of onions, this one a red onion, and I think it's ready to be picked.

I also have candy and white onions, along with 'husky red' tomatoes, and 'purple beauty' peppers, the peppers we haven't seen any of.  I think that plant needs to be repotted.

And just a shot of one of my favorite flowers, some black petunias I've found the past few years.  I know it's not in focus but I like the vintagey and snapshotty feel. (thanks Hipstamatic)

And here's poor Pip; all he wanted was to go outside, but if he does he'll probably leap over to the neighbor's deck so he's a window watcher.

Find the new and improved OnePinkHippo HERE

I moved!

Find the new and improved OnePinkHippo HERE

Granny Squares

Recently I've been lacking inspiration, especially in crafting.  I don't know what project to start.  I have WIPs but none of them are calling me to work on them.  They're too small and fiddly, or I started it such a long time ago and my skills have progressed much further than that and it looks sloppy.

So I decided to just make granny squares.  Doing the 3 dc clusters around and around just calms me down.  Mindless crochet.  I started using the leftover worsted weight acrylic scraps from the blanket my mom is working on until I had about 10 squares.  Then I ran out of small balls and only had those large skeins that Red Heart Super Saver and Caron Simply Soft come in, and I didn't want to make a blanket that's overwhelming yellow with bits of color thrown in.  But Saturday morning I decided to do a bit of cleaning and came across this:

A ¼ of the way finished afghan and it had scrap balls of acrylic in it.

Crafting with Prudence

I decided to hibernate the hexagon afghan (previously known as the amoeblanket) and start working with that worsted to make more squares.

Now I have a collection of solid squares in different colors and little scrap balls that will be perfect for granny daughters.  I'm also incorporating solid grannies from the long dead Lake George blanket, so now I'll have more colors and it will have a nice random and kaleidoscope effect.

Introduction

Hello, and welcome to the new and improved, and hopefully final incarnation of One Pink Hippo! After unfortunately abandoning my other two blogs, plus a tumblr, I’ve decided to start a more official blog and try my hardest to keep it up. I hope to have features as well such as WIP Wednesday, Favorite Things Friday, Dolly Shelf Sunday (Blythe!) and maybe stick in a My Week in Photos.

First a little about me. I’m a 27 year old knitter, crocheter, amateur photographer, and Blythe collector who dabbles with sewing and embroidery. I’ve been knitting and crocheting since my grandmother taught me in 2005 and I have been hooked (excuse the pun) ever since. It’s been a great stress reliever and has been an amazing outlet for my creativity.

I look forward to making this blog a source of inspiration for you, reader, and a way for me to get back into the swing of crafting.

Thank you for reading!

My Week in Photos #2

Love is all you need
Fredericksburg, Virginia

Sunrise at Virginia Beach

❤

Bitty crochet!

Sunsets in Manassas 

My Week in Photos #1

I found some great shoes at the thrift store.

Arwen has enjoyed chewing on my garlic plant.

Nordic Shawl progress.

An epic Jenga game with a friend.

Made a new Labbit friend.

Lake George blanket progress.

Roses.

Isaac Mizrahi yarn is now available at Michael's.

I couldn't resist.

It was begging to be knit into a chunky scarf.

Nordic Shawl: Beginnings

After waiting, getting rid of bags of yarn, buying new yarn, and waiting for that to arrive, I've finally been able to start my Nordic Shawl!

Here are the first few rounds.  I'm using yarn that's a bit thinner than what she used, so it's coming out smaller.  It really bothered me at first, but I'll either have a scarf, or just have to add extra rounds.  I've read on Ravelry others who have added rounds, and it seems to work okay in the pattern, no complicated math involved.

And here are my colors.  I'm using Knit Picks Palette in Silver for the main body, the Blossom Heather, Tumeric, Cream, Edamame, Ash, and Pool for the color part.  

My Rose Valley just made some Nordic style wrist warmers, so I think I'll make a matching pair. 

I'm excited to see how this comes out! 

Happy crafting! 

Lake George

I've decided the nature themed afghan is going to be one that represents Lake George.

Lake George is beautiful, my favorite place in the world, in upstate New York, the Adirondack Mountains.  My grandparents had a house on the lake, but we've unfortunately had to sell it.  

So these grannies will remind me of the lake, the mountains, and being out in pure nature.

Here's a stack of 33 grannies I've done so far.

The plan is to do 99, 11 of each color, to make a 10x9 blanket.  

I've got my eye on some green for joining and the border; maybe I can make a ripply one with some of the blues.

I'm really excited about this! 

Around here we have...

...a yummy snuggly squishy wool blend working up on large needles.

I'm thinking it'll come out like this:

Except garter stitch.

...84 squares of my mom's kaleidoscope blanket! 

It's so pretty!  She has some really great color combinations in there.

I want to sneak it for myself!

...a natural/neutral themed blanket.

Mom and I are slowly but surely working through the acrylic stash.

The next one to conquer is cotton.  

I have so many little balls of Sugar 'n Creme and Peaches 'n Creme, I could start a store. 

Also this:

Pip has 8 extra legs!

Happy crafting x o