the lovelies that keep me up at night.

Since April, I've been on a bit of a journey.  By "a bit of" what I really mean is a "HUGE WHOPPING CONSUMING TREK."  You see, it involves my body. Before you roll your eyes and click away, thinking, "yeah, I'm here for crafty things, not this,"  hang on a minute.  I just wanted to write a post to explain a little more about me, Lauren, the girl with the hook.  There are a few reasons why my posts have been few and far between.  Here's a big part of what's been happening the past 8 months: In April this year, I was diagnosed with some health issues, some of them likely relating to my weight at the time.  I was pretty shocked.  I mean, there I was, at 29, a gal who never took any prescription medications or was ever diagnosed with anything other than a little near-sighted action at my yearly eye appointment.  Yep, I was stunned. (on a side note:  I've been overweight my whole life.  I honestly don't have the best eating habits

I know, I know.  It’s been too long.  I admit, I am not the world’s best at keeping up with much of anything. But I do have reasons!  I’ve been making some of these: Minion hats!  I found an absolutely wonderful little pattern on ravelry, and My goodness, people have been requesting non stop for me to make them/their kids one!  So, I’ve been hooking it up.  There are about one million more I would like to make for folks.  Alas, there don’t seem to be enough hours in my day… Another reason is that yours truly has been teaching a crochet class!  It’s offered through my work.  This all started when my office’s original instructor couldn’t teach due to a recent surgery, and since I’d  posted  a couple of pictures on facebook of my work… it got out that I know a bit about the basics of crochet.  I am a certified early childhood teacher, and I have taught at the college level, but let me tell you, I was nervous about this crochet class!  Teaching a group of students

The long awaited day has come: I give you….. The Epic Ripple Blanket:                                                 *cue theme from 2001:  A Space Odessey*  The edging is such a brilliant design from Lucy at  the attic .  The entire tutorial and pattern of hers is what mine is based off of.  I'm so excited to have something that goes with everything!  I really, really love that edge.  The little peek-a-boos of blue coming through the purple makes me warm and fuzzy.  Ahh, soft, soft blanket friend.  The yarn is mostly Caron Simply Soft, and Red Heart Soft.  Lots of time, lots of dc, lots of dc2together, many miles of yarn. I am so happy I have finished with this project.  Don’t get me wrong.  I enjoyed every single ripple-y minute of it.  I enjoyed randomly grabbing luscious color after color, weaving that fluffy thing into a candy ribbon of comfort.  It’s so rewarding to see Blanket finished at last!  I know this fall I will be spending many evenings out

So, since I finished that blanket, I've been dying to post pictures.  I worked on that thing off and on for a year.  Thanks to Lucy's awesome tutorials, I was able to figure out how to make some ripple-y goodness, and from there it just took off.  Now, I don't have the mad color matching skills that she does (or that most humans probably do).  I tend to just fluuuuuergh my colors everywhere, randomly.  I knew this blanket was going to be for me (and maybe my husband, if I decide to be nice and share.... :), and I never can decide on what colors I want to use.  Funny how that works - I can picture in my mind the perfect colors for a friend or family member, or a new design that I want to try and create.  But when it comes to me - well, I just love everything.  I want to use everything.  That's exactly what I did with this blanket.  And I've got to tell you - I LOVE the results.  I don't have any good pictures to post.  Unfortunately.  This massive monster blan

I can't tell you the last time I've posted something on here.  I just clicked on the "new blog post" without really even looking.  So hello again to my few viewers, thanks for stopping by.  It's been a busy few weeks moving things, traveling back and forth to finish packing our house and getting it ready to put on the market.  It's been a few weeks that I've taken a bit of a break from creating.  I think I'm ready to go back.  Here's what I was up to: I've been getting to know the neighbors.   Where we lived before, sure, there was a bit of wildlife here and there.  But nothing like what I get to see from my living room window now.  Our little apartment faces a courtyard, and there are some beautiful creatures I’ve spotted.  Blue jays, ducks, and quite possibly our favorite – squirrels.  The squirrels at our home in the city are brown colored and incredibly skittish.  Rightfully so, since they seemed to enjoy housing themselves in

Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.  ~ Helen Keller, American educator There are so many beautiful things in the world.  There are so many wonderful creations to see, explore, touch, and wonder.  Do you notice them?  I have made it a point in my daily walks to notice more about the world around me.  Beautiful places. Here is a very, very small sample of what I encounter on a daily basis.  I try to really appreciate it all. Solitude. The smell of honeysuckle makes my life instantly positive. A small pond through the branches. Sometimes this isn't easy to do.  When I have a negative encounter with people, when I feel snubbed by those I love, when my mind simply won't let me s.l.o.w. d.o.w.n. enough to enjoy - all these things make it difficult to see this amazing world for what it is.  But I try.  While all these people and situations exist, there are others who exist who add joy, peace, and patience to my life - a

Good morning, friends (even if it is only myself who reads this.   I’m still a pretty decent friend to myself, I must say… ;) It’s been a bit of a crazy past two weeks in Oklahomaland.   I am constantly amazed at what this weather does.   For example, the early afternoon, was sweet and nice, like this:   Now, exactly one week ago, it was not.   It didn’t look too ominous heading from our new home in the grasslands to our old home in the city:   The nice lady at the tollbooth asked us where we were going.   When we said “Oklahoma City” she replied “do you kids realize what’s about to happen there?”   While we had our weather radio on and were aware, I didn’t honestly think things would hit close to us.   Surely it would dissipate before it got to Oklahoma City, right?   But as we were driving into capital city, we realized otherwise.   We rolled into downtown OKC with tornado sirens going off and meteorologists screaming on the radio to “Get down now!   Take sh

I wanted to write a lovely post this week about the blanket I've almost finished, the blanket I'm working on, and the color themed owls that will soon be given away.  But I honestly don't feel that I can do that.  Too much has taken place, and it weighs on me.  While this is a crafty blog, sometimes life events take over.  I feel the need to post about this particular incident that happened less than 48 hours ago. I write this post with a very, very heavy heart.  Yet a thankful one.  Two days ago, a horrific tornado tore through the community just south of where my family's house is, taking lives and causing catastrophic destruction.  I spent the afternoon of May 20, 2013 glued to the computer in my office, watching in horror as this monster destroyed everything in its path.  Though I now live much further North and East (I moved 4 weeks ago) , my husband, parents, family, and friends are all in this area.  I felt so helpless watching this from 200 miles away. 

I do have reasons why I haven't posted my blanket yet.  Or maybe it's excuses.  Hmmmm.... #1:  It's not finished yet.   I know!  Ridiculous, right?  Two rows stand between me and a HUGE finished colorful piece of happylove.  And I keep putting it off.  I'm not even going to say "this week for sure" or even a "maybe I'll finish it tonight".  Because as you can read, I say these things, and many times don't back them up.  I'm starting to wonder if I've got adult ADD or ADHD or whatever it is that doesn't allow for people to finish what they start.  Yep.  Anyway, it's not done yet.  It will be.  Eventually. #2:  I've been making other things! See?  That's a pretty good reason/excuse, right?  I've been a-hookin' away.  With Mother's Day rapidly approaching, I found myself freaking out, thinking about what I could create for my mom that would be something spring-y, colorful (she loves bright, cheery colors

And just like that, two plus months go by without me doing any posting.  Very sad, indeed.  BUT I do have a very good reason for it, I promise.... For starters, I moved!  In mid March I went to an interview and lo and behold, was offered the position just a few days later.  Here's the catch - my new job is 2+ hours away from our house.  After my husband and I did some soul searching, we decided to sale our house and go for it!  He's been looking for a new job in the same area as well, and I just happened to get mine first.  So March/early April was very busy with packing, planning, and finding a place to live in my new town!  I'll admit, I've been a little nervous/wishy-washy about this whole thing.  I was born and raised in the same 40 mile radius my entire life, after all.  Even though the move is about 2.5 hours away from where our house is, it's still a long ways to me!  Leaving behind seeing family and friends on a regular basis, all my coworkers, and my life

Is it weird that my first real post is dedicated to a furry feline friend of mine? I hope so.   Because weird is simply what I end up being, no matter how much I fight it. This is Hazy.   She’s a rescue cat.   We got her because my husband simply refused to have a cat, claiming he was allergic, and there was NO WAY that we could have an indoor pet.   After a lot of persuading and pleading, he agreed to be a foster parent with me for the Humane Society.   Essentially, we would foster an animal for two weeks during a quarantine period, then the pet would be able to live in the Humane Society adoption center. Well…. Hazy was the first pet we fostered.   The husband simply couldn’t give her up.   Can you blame him? The day that we were scheduled to bring her into the center, my husband reached over to the chair where Hazy was laying, and said softly “maybe we could keep this one.”   And that was it.   Hazy has become a true member of the family, and now we can’t imagin