A Thankful Giveaway

Hey friends! Ben fussed at me Saturday night for not posting in so long. I really meant to do better through the holiday, but my goodness we were just having so much fun that I never stopped!

We had our very sweet friends from New York, Brandon and Katie, and their four sweet babies, staying in our home through Thanksgiving. We had such a good time! Their kids, who usually don't get to play outside because they live in the city, LOVED staying on a farm for a week! It was so much fun to see them playing with the animals and in the good ole southern mud for the first time. They would literally roll out of bed every morning, put boots on over their footie PJ's, and head out the door to see the "sheep" (Our goats!). My kids loved teaching them how to get dirty, and showing off their animals. It's so cute how proud of their animals they are. I got to sit in my chair, catch up with close friends, and collect kisses from the seven kids that kept this house full of giggles for an entire week....it really doesn't get much better than that, does it?

Now I guess I should  get to the title of the post! A Thankful Giveaway! Guys, I am so grateful that you all come here and bless my family with your kind comments, prayers, and support. I'm not always good at answering every question or participating in every blog game, but you all love me anyway and keep coming back! I am so thankful for all of you, my blog friends! To show my appreciation I want to do a little giveaway! You will have the chance to win the pattern of your choice, and for every ten comments I'm going to pick one winner (pretty good odds!). All you have to do is leave a comment telling me what you did over the Thanksgiving holiday, or your favorite part of Thanksgiving, and be sure and leave me your email address so that I can get back to you. I will leave the comments open until Wednesday evening (probably around 5 PM).

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! I can't wait to read all of the comments! xo, Sam

Claire's Booties

Little Claire has some booties to match her blanket now! Yesterday I started on these cute little crochet booties that I found on Ravelry. (I bought the pattern here. If you go to her shop, look around, there's all kinds of cute things there!) They really came together fast and the pattern was well written. I don't normally follow patterns well because I like to put my spin on things, but yesterday was one of those lazy sort of days when I just wanted to follow a pattern and not have to think about it.

The pattern calls for two soles, one is gray and one is pink. I think the two soles give the bootie a real shoe feel, because it holds it's shape nicely. I may crochet a pink pair too (with a gray sole), and I think I'll try just one sole this time and see how it goes. I don't mind it being softer and more like a bootie, especially in the size 0.

I still haven't started on the Little Silas booties yet because I've been waiting on a knitting book to get here! I thought about making him a pair of these while I wait. :) Pretty cute huh?

I better run! Today is "Paw Paw Day" and we've got to get out the door! I'm taking the blankets along to keep me busy. :) xo, Sam



My Girls

I thought that it may be about time for a new bump update, and I couldn't resist sharing these two pictures of some of my most favorite girls! I think you already know these two cutie-pies. The bump is definitely coming right along, sometimes now I can even see it bouncing and moving out of the corner of my eye! This little one parties a lot during the day, let's hope that the "daytime" part doesn't change. :)

These two are pretty special too! On the left is my baby sis Rae (Lily, Iris, and Abraham's mama) and on the right is my sweet sis-in-law Cristina (Luke's mama). All three of us Caffee women are expecting little ones in the coming months! (Yes, Rae is a Caffee too because she is married to Ben's baby brother Jake, but you probably already knew that.) I'm telling ya, the "Caffee Tribe" just keeps getting bigger! Rae's little "Violet" will be the first, then a few weeks later (hopefully a FEW) my little Silas or Claire will be here, and then a few months later Cristina will have a little one (we won't know what "kind" she's having for a while yet).

I've got so many crafty ideas bouncing around in my head right now! This week I have lots of grand crafting plans, we will see how much I actually get done. If we get some sunshine soon I'll be back with pictures! What are you working on this week? xo, Sam

I did it!! I knitted something!

Lately I've been thinking about how knitted booties look much more boyish than crocheted booties, so I decided that I need a crocheted pair to match the Claire/girl blanket and a knitted pair to match the Silas/boy blanket. Then that got me thinking about how I need to get past the "swatch" stage of knitting and learn to knit something useful. I watched a few You Tube videos, and spent waaay too much time on Ravelry (a girl can get lost there ya know), but I finally called my friend Cami who last time this year was knitting boy booties for her own little one.

She came over yesterday and walked me through this simple little baby sock/bootie and I was really surprised at how easy it really was! I can knit! It's not perfect (at all) but I didn't expect to get this far! Now I want to try these booties in the gray yarn that I'm using in the boy (Silas) blanket. I can't wait to see how they turn out!

I'm going on a little outing tomorrow and I wanted to swing by the bookstore to look at knitting books. Does anyone have a good suggestion for a beginners knitting book that has baby projects? Or are there any good knitting blogs out there that I need to know about? xo, Sam

P.S. Do you like how I snuck in our baby names?

Filled in Granny Square Baby Blanket Tutorial

This is the "filled in" version of the original granny square baby blanket which is very lacy. I love this pattern because the result is a nice warm blanket with a beautiful mitered look. The pattern is also great for beginners because it is so easy that you can have it memorized by the end of this tutorial. To achieve the striped look in the blankets above, you will just need to follow this tutorial and change thread colors every two rounds. For the blankets above and in this tutorial, I used a US size G crochet hook with cotton sport weight yarn. Here we go! (Click on any picture below for a closer look.)

Chain 6.

 

Slip stitch to beginning chain to form a loop.

Chain 3, this counts as your first double crochet. Work 2 double crochet through loop.

Chain 2. Work 3 double crochets through the loop.

Work the pattern - chain 2 and 3 double crochet - until you have four sets in the loop. Slip stitch to the top of chain 3 (in row 1). You now have your base square.

Chain 3.

Now the pattern will stay the same in every row from here on out. Double crochet in every double crochet.

In every corner you will work the following pattern: 2 double crochet, chain 2, then 2 double crochet (as seen in the last two pictures).

Join with a slip stitch at beginning chain. Then just chain three to start the next row.

To continue your blanket you will just keep going in rounds using this pattern:

Double crochet in each double crochet.

In each corner work 2 double crochet, chain 2, 2 double crochet.

Slip stitch at the end of each round, chain 3 and repeat the pattern from the beginning.

When the blanket is the size you want it, chain 1, single crochet in every stitch around. If you used the cotton yarn and feel it looks a little wonky, all you have to do is "block" it. You can find blocking instructions HERE . You can now add your favorite edging! I will add a picture of my finished blanket soon.

If you find anything in this tutorial unclear let me know! I need you experienced crocheter's help, we don't want any beginners stumped by such a simple pattern. I hope you all enjoy! xo, Sam

A girl's got a right to change her mind. Right?

So, I changed my mind about the girl blanket. For some reason the purple was just throwing me off, so I started another one with pink, gray, and natural......then my crazy pregnant brain kicked into overdrive and I thought about changing patterns, changing colors.....You get the idea. I finally decided to stick with what I had because I was obviously just going crazy and clearly incapable of making a rational decision. (That's not like me at all. I'm usually fearless when it comes to making decisions with colors or patterns!) 

Then I went to the store, sticking with my decision, to get more natural yarn.....and they didn't have it anymore! So I got to change my mind again, but it couldn't be helped. I got the new "natural" that they were selling (which is really off-white if you ask me) and when I got home I changed the order of the colors up just a bit and now the phycotic pregnant woman is happy. Very happy in fact! Now I'm thinking of making a little off-white dress with pink and gray flowers to match! Oh! Now it was worth being tortured by those mind changing hormones, because I have another project! And aren't those colors just perfect for a winter baby?!

The boy blanket is coming right along too, but I haven't yet decided on what outfit to make to match it yet. I'll keep you posted on that. :) xo, Sam