I've been RAOK'd!

I was so excited when I received this little package in the mail. My hubby called me at work to ask me if I mailed myself a penguin. What? He said he was calling to make fun of me for putting my address on both the mailing and return address. He thought I was crazy. It took me a minute to realize what he was talking about but when I did I couldn't wait to get home and see!

I am so touched that someone would take the time to send me such a wonderful package. It means so much and really brightened my day. The yarn is 100% bamboo and it is so incredibly soft. I have never used anything like it before and I am now looking for the perfect project. The little penguin has certainly made himself right at home amongst my daughter's toys. It was so neat to see him and so fitting because she loves the penguins in Happy Feet. What a perfect gift.

Thank you so much to my Fairy Godmother (whoever you are) for the wonderful gift and sweet card. You have really made my day.

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. Although the weather turned a bit cold we had a wonderful day visiting with family and eating entirely too much food. I wanted to share some pictures of my daughter's first Easter. I looked for weeks trying to find the right dress and finally settled on this one. I’ll tell you that its not easy to get a good picture of her in a dress. I knew little girls liked to pull their dresses up over their heads but I didn’t realize it started at such a young age. I'm not sure she cared to much for most of the day but boy did she love that grass. I have a feeling I'll be finding it for weeks to come! Hubby's grandma gave each of her great-grandchildren a chocolate bunny and of course being responsible parents we couldn't let the baby have the chocolate right? So thinking only of her well being we were forced to eat the bunny. Tough job huh?

I also crocheted another hat for her. This hat is the same style as the St. Patrick's Day hat except instead of crocheting a flower, I decided to weave in a pink ribbon to match her dress. Enjoy.

St. Patty's Day, A Little Late...

Okay I know St. Patricks Day is already over but I've been traveling visiting family so I haven't had a chance to update the blog lately. We spent the day driving across Oklahoma to see family but made sure we were decked out in green, so dh wouldn't pinch us too much.

We found her this little green outfit at Old Navy but since it was rainy and a little cool I decided she needed a hat to match. So I crocheted this simple little hat before we left. Amazingly enough she actually left it on her head!

No More Paperclips For Me!

I discovered recently that I would have to drive over an hour away to get stitch markers that would work in my amigurumi. All the ones I could find locally had clasps that were too large to fit into the small stitches. Of course driving so far just to get them didn't seem like a reasonable idea so I was making do with a paperclip. However, the paperclip fell out one too many times and I decided I needed to make something with a clasp so I wouldn't lose my place. These are what I came up with.

I haven't gotten a chance to use them yet because I made them last night and have been at the office all day today. I made them using metal pins so they are pretty stiff. After I made them I wondered if they would be better with just beading wire so they have more flexibility. Of course then I thought the beads might get in the way if that was the case. Anyone with experience either way out there? I have a couple new patterns I want to try out though so I'll be putting these to the test soon. A few of these are going to make their way to a new home to someone on the ville, hopefully she will like them.

This is my kind of deer.

Those of you that know me are aware of the fact that my husband is an avid hunter. You've heard of the phrase "hunter's widow" right? Yep that's me. I consider myself lucky to see him for an hour a day during deer season. Unfortunately it doesn't stop there. During the off season there are deer to spot, feeders to fill and a million other things that are deer related. This includes driving around to see if there are any deer that travel through our area. The majority of the time these trips are pretty boring and we don't see much, but this trip was different. We spotted the cutest baby deer and we couldn't resist loading her up and bringing her home with us.
Okay you got me. She's not really a deer. But she is way cuter than any of the deer I've seen.

A good friend of my husband gave us this little outfit and I couldn't resist snapping a quick picture. So what do you think, would she make the cover of Field & Stream?

I've Been Tagged!

Angela tagged me! I've never been tagged before so here we go.

The tag rules are:
1. When tagged, place the name of the person and URL on your blog
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Write 7 things about yourself
4. Name 7 of your favorite weblogs
5. Send an e-mail letting those bloggers know they have been tagged

Seven things about me huh? Lets see...

1. Mt. Dew is my favorite drink right now.
2. I think the funniest thing about my dd right now is she likes to sleep sideways in her bed.
3. Spiders scare the crap out of me.
4. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.
5. Dh and I have been married for almost 2 years.
6. I love all my online friends.
7. Cowboy boots are my favorite shoes.

These Birds of a Feather,

Really do flock together! I crocheted these this week for my dd to play with. All of her toys seem to have some type of plastic somewhere on them and when she plays she tends to get really excited. I thought these would hurt a lot less when she hits herself in the head with them! I based these birds off of Hannah's pattern but as you can see I made each one a little different. Her pattern is wondeful; It is super easy to follow, they work up really quickly and the result is obviously adorable. Dh had to stop me from making an entire flock!
I used I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby and embroidered the eyes and beak on so there wouldn't be any potential hazard to the baby. Then I stuffed them with fiberfill and inserted a small rattle into each one to keep them entertaining. After all, I have never seen a quiet bird. DD loves to throw them around (birds need to fly right?) and I love that she has a safe, soft toy that was made right here in the USA.

National Crochet Month

No, I didn't make that up. March really is National Crochet Month, so pick up those hooks and let's get to celebrating! This is the perfect time to try a new pattern, finish some of those projects you have half way done (don't think I don't know about them!) or crochet something for charity. Tell everyone that the housework is just going to have to wait and they must fend for themselves for dinner. Afterall, its a holiday.

This month I will be working on charity squares for the Hooking For a Cure Contest on crochetville to benefit cancer research. Its a great chance to use up some scraps, try out some new patterns and really do something to help out. Check it out.

I'll keep you updated on my progress once I start going. I have to finish some birds I'm making for dd's Easter basket first. Come on everyone, off the computer and let's go crochet!

Baby It's Cold Outside!

What do you know I think I finally have this thing working correctly for me! Woo Hoo!

I made these wrist warmers, from Julee's pattern, yesterday while we were at the luncheon for dh's grandma's birthday. I'm glad I took a project to work on because we were there for a while and I was able to complete this set. I'm glad I did too because the weather is once again frigid. You'll notice there is only one of them in the picture and there is a good reason for that. It is very difficult to take a picture of both of your hands while you are using one to hold the camera! But you get the general idea, the right handed one looks the same as this one so I didn't feel like you really had to see both of them to get the full effect. My neice fell in love with these while I was making them so I'll have to start another pair for her because her hands are smaller but that shouldn't be too hard now that I have this figured out.

Lions and Tigers and Bears...

Oh My! Here is our little monkey on her first trip to the zoo. Definitely cuter than the ones already there!

She was largely unimpressed with the entire thing, but it was still nice to get out and enjoy the nice weather. It was beautiful and 75 degrees which was a welcome change from the below freezing temps and dreary weather we have been experiencing. The problem was with the sun and the wind, she hated them both. I hadn't realized before now how little time she has actually spent outside. I suppose that is one of the downsides to being born right before winter, it has been too cold to take her outside much. She did enjoy the inside exhibits much more. The Amazon Rainforest building was her favorite. There were fish, colorful birds, and monkeys for her to watch so it was a big hit and well worth the entire trip. We'll try again when she is a bit older and more acclimated to the experience of being outside.