2011 Craft Goals

I've never made a New Year's Resolution. I know myself too well and that I would never stick to something for a whole year. I'm lucky if I stick to something for a week!

I have however, decided that there are a few specific things that I have wanted to make myself for a while but just haven't gotten around to.

1. I would love my own crocheted granny square afghan.







I have no idea about the color scheme or if I even want one or if it will be random colors but I do know I would like it to just be a classic granny square (there are a million fancy granny square motiffs out there). I don't want a giant one for the bed, I would like one to go over the back of the couch and use while lounging around.

2. A crocheted cardigan.







I love cardigans, I wear them almost everyday. I see them as my "grown up hoodie". I pretty much lived in hoodies as a teenager and in my early twenties (holy shit, I feel old saying "early twenties") I love t-shirts and tank tops but when it's cold out I need something to wear over them. So cardigans are a new staple item in my wardrobe. I would really love to make my own. I think this will be a little more difficult since I've never crocheted an article of clothing and the whole "blocking" thing is kind of intimidating. But I really would like to have at least one that I've made myself.

3. I would like my own "Hoop Love" wall.







I am going to try to join one or more of the Craftster swaps so that I can incorporate embroidery hoops from fellow crafters. I also really want to use some of the patterns in the folk art cross stitch book I got at the VNA Sale.

I'm sure I'll be making a bunch of other things for myself throughout the year but those are the 3 major things that I have been thinking about and would really like to try to complete.

Wish me luck! (isn't it so rude when someone tells you to wish them luck?! I mean what if you don't want to?!)

Wonderful Sunday Part 1

Last Sunday I had a wonderful day with my bestie Liz.
It was just a Fall Activity filled day!

We started the day off apple picking at Melick's Farm in Oldwick, NJ. There's a giant apple orchard and a cider mill. The people who worked there were so friendly and this one woman took so much time explaining all the different apples to us (we were killing time finishing our coffees). I was worried it was either going to rain or be Mud City because it had been torrentially raining almost all week! We were so lucky that the rain had stopped on Friday so the ground had plenty of time to dry up. It was an absolutely beautiful day! Picking apples was a lot of fun, we both got a basket full. The orchard was so pretty, trees everywhere. All differnet sizes and shapes and colors, it was beautiful! I also got some little pumpkins and gourds.
After getting all our goodies we hung around a while, sipping some cider and basically just people watching. We got there pretty early (well early for us) and thank God we did because when we came out of the orchard there were a million people there, all families and their giant SUV's in the country for some family time I guess.
Sheesh!!
My camera died after about 4 pictures which really sucked so I only got a few pictures.

Here's my apples in their basket!



And here are the cute little displays of gourds, corn, pumpkins and hay they had all over.





These are the cute little pumpkins and gourds that I bought to decorate my apartment...



And this is what I did to the little white ones. I poked holes in the one and dripped paint out to make it look like a vampire bite. The other one I just dripped blood down the creases and around the stem. I did it last year and thought they were so cute, I had to do it again!



Apple picking was a great way to start the day!
On to Part 2...