As promised, I whipped up this tutorial for the ponchos I posted about a couple weeks ago. This is my first tutorial, so bear with me. Writing tutorials is hard work. Especially when I could only work on it for mere minutes at a time. I’m hoping that I don’t confuse anyone with my directions.
Granny Square Poncho Tutorial
Materials: Yarn, Crochet hook, embroidery needle and safety pins
Step 1: Crochet four Granny Squares of equal size. If you aren’t familiar with how a Granny Square is made, read Purl Bee’s tutorial on the Classic Granny Square Pattern.
The size of the poncho is going to depend on the size Granny Square you make. The diagonal measurement of the square equals the length of the poncho from neck opening to the bottom of the poncho point, like so:
Step 2: When you’ve completed your squares (i’m sure they look lovely), arrange the squares according to this diagram and attach edges together using safety pins.
Step 3: Using an embroidery needle and yarn, begin sewing together sides. Remove safety pins as you go.
(Optional) Step 4: To create a smaller neck opening or to build up a little bit of a cowl neckline: Single crochet around the neck opening to the desired height. Done!
If you have any questions, feel free to comment of email me directly. I’m not sure such a simple project warranted such a lengthy explanation, but oh well! You’re welcome! :)
I also spent some minutes putting together a printable version of this tutorial, you know, just in case you’re like me and have binders full of project ideas that I never get around to doing. (Though, I really hope you try this one and tell me how it goes. Oh! And send pictures of your creations too!)
Download the Granny Square Poncho Tutorial here.
Enjoy!
– c.
P.S. Just one last thing before I let you get crafting, this pattern is for personal use only. Please don’t sell this pattern or any project made from this pattern. Feel free to share this and make as many as you please for everyone you know, BUT please please don’t sell them. Thank you!
Image by Christopher Paul via Designpiration
In the famous words of Tony Horton, I’ve been doggin’ it. Not sure what exactly that means, but basically, I’ve been slacking in my routine. I missed 2 days last week. I never thought I would feel bad about working out ONLY 4 days instead of 6. That’s what exercise does, it turns you into a crazy person! And last night I might have, maybe, possibly, just skipped doing Ab Ripper. Ha!
So, my solution to this problem is that every workout I miss I have to make up. P90X is a 90 day routine, hence the name. It’s been roughly 40 days since I started, but now am about a week behind schedule due to a combination of everyday life and laziness. But in all honesty, my main issue is that most days I can’t get to my workout until around 9PM. By that time all my enthusiasm, patience, and general good naturedness (not a word) has all but dissipated and I begrudgingly work my way through the exercises fueled only by negative thoughts and a desire for the workout to be over! It’s no way to live!
I really need to work towards being more positive. I keep thinking about all the bad vibes I’m putting out into the world with negative thoughts. And I don’t want to contribute to that.
On a positive note! I weighed myself this morning for the first time in awhile and I have officially lost 15lbs since the beginning of the year. Oh yeah!
-c.
UPDATE: So, not only does exercise make you crazy but it apparently also effects your mind’s ability to do simple calculations. I said I had been doing P90X for roughly 40 days… try 60!! Jeez, all that pain and suffering completely disregarded.
I think we paid $1 for this cuteness. (The jacket, not the boy.)
Last weekend we attended the bi-annual Kids Garage Sale at our local rec center. Twice a year you can browse, garage-sale style, an ungodly amount of baby and kid stuff all under one roof. Most of the stuff is a really great deal, especially if you hit it up towards the end. People are practically giving the stuff away just to get it out of their house! Though I have to admit, it’s a bit overwhelming. If you go with a purpose, it’s a lot easier to manage. This was our second time going and I think we made out pretty well. We got a few great outfits for Q and I think we spent less than $10 total. How awesome is this?
There are other items, but I haven’t had a chance to photograph them. But I will at some point. The cuteness is extreme around here.
-c.
Image by Andrew@CubaGallery via Flickr
This has been a long time coming. If you didn’t notice, we have a new header image! This is just the start of fun and exciting things to come. What those things are, I’m still not sure. But I am confident they are good things. We’re just sort of winging it around these parts, which seems to be the way to do things when time and brain function is limited. So, until these “fun and exciting” things start happening, you can at least enjoy the new scenery!
If you can’t remember what the header looked like (it was just yesterday people, c’mon!) this was it:
I still like the old one, but I just felt it needed to be…freshened up or something. Maybe I was just sick of looking at it. Whatever the case, I’m happy with the direction we’re moving in. Progress people!
-c.
My Mom just came back from a 5-month trip to the Philippines. (Welcome home Mom!)
As per usual, she came bearing gifts from abroad and these two beauties were amongst them. She has a small obsession with Sake sets. I don’t think she actually enjoys drinking it, but she sure does love collecting those little cups with matching pitchers. Pitchers? That can’t be the correct term.
-c.
Image by Smabs Sputzer via Flickr
Does anyone else have only a shower stall in their house? Has anyone else wanted to pull their hair out trying to bathe a one-year-old in a shower stall? Am I alone in my frustration with bath time?
After Q grew out of his baby bath tub we tried a few different things that worked with varying levels of success. Mostly low levels of success. We’ve tried the kitchen sink, our modified galvanized tub bathroom sink, a blow up ducky bathtub, and our recent incarnation of a bathtub being a big plastic flex tub/bucket from Target. Here are my issues:
Kitchen Sink: Too much water everywhere! Dude likes to splash and trying to rinse his hair with minimal spraying outside the sink area is nearly impossible.
Bathroom Sink: We have an unusual bathroom sink. It’s pretty much a round galvanized tub that we converted into a sink so it’s deep enough for him to bathe in. The splashing is a factor again here too especially since there is an electrical outlet right below the sink (don’t ask). Spraying is not an issue, since there is no sprayer which sucks just as much.
Blow Up Ducky Tub: This worked okay for a little while and is great if you are traveling. We took it with us to NYC with us when Q was about 7 months old. But he’s grown too big for it.
Plastic Flex Tub: This is what we are currently using and Q seems to like sitting in the brightly colored tub. But there’s no drainage so it’s basically the worst thing ever when you want to empty the water before rinsing.
Another frustrating thing about bath time is that Q seems to have an aversion to standing while bathing so it’s hard to get him rinsed well. He’ll only stand during a bath if I’m holding him up even though he is fully capable of standing on his own. This is also another reason we haven’t yet tried to just bathe him directly in the shower stall. We try to clean our shower often, but we still don’t feel comfortable with him sitting directly on the shower floor. I know there is a simple solution to this problem but it’s evading me with all it’s might.
How do you get a one-year old to stand during bath time? Is a thorough rinse even that important? What if he peed in the water? Am I over-analyzing this?
Anyone have a solution to this nonsense?
-c.
Image by Molly | Orangette via Design is Mine
I’m on day 64 of 90 in P90X. I missed my workout yesterday, ugh. Yeah, I know it sucks. That just means I’ll be working out on Sunday instead.
Tonight is Chest, Shoulders and Triceps PLUS Ab Ripper. This workout kicks my ass so hard. I can’t do push-ups to save my life and this workout is pretty much all push-ups. It’s so dumb. I complain throughout the whole thing every time. Ab Ripper sucks too, but I’ve actually seen improvement in my performance during that workout so I don’t hate it as much.
So, I know I talk about the workouts a lot but I don’t think I’ve elaborated much on the diet. This part sucks too (but not as much as I thought it would). Basically, for the first 30 days you eat a ton of protein and veggies with a little bit of fruit, a tiny amount of carbs, and no sugar. For the next 30 days it’s basically the same, but with a little less protein and a little more carbs. I was pretty strict for the first month, but I’ve relaxed a little now that I’m further along in the program. I still limit carbs and sugar, but I’m not a freak about it.
If you’re wondering, I eat the same thing almost every day with the exception of dinner. And weekends can be a crap shoot but here is what I eat most days, if you care to know such things:
Breakfast:
2 Turkey Sausages
1 Egg
1 Whole wheat bagel – OR – 1 cup of oatmeal with a banana and berries
1 cup of Tea with skim milk, no sugar
Morning Snack:
1 small/medium Apple – OR- Banana
Lunch:
Salad with Chicken and Balsamic Vinaigrette
Afternoon Snack:
Cheese or Yogurt
I drink water unless I want a special treat, then I drink flavored seltzer water. Dinner is usually whatever Andrew feels like making. He’s good about taking my diet into consideration, plus Q eats what we eat so it’s usually something pretty healthy. We try to be conscientious about what we feed Q. We keep processed foods and sweets out of his diet as much as possible, so I started thinking this would be a good rule to live by: “Don’t eat anything I wouldn’t feed to my son.”
I think it’s important to enjoy eating even if I’m trying to lose weight. So I treat myself , but only on occasion. Anyone else have any tips for staying healthy AND happy?
-c.
Image via oliviathebig
I started a new job at the beginning of the year. A few days into my new job my team of co-workers in the marketing department decided to start a weight-loss challenge. I figured, why not? I had some baby weight that I still wanted to lose, so I figured it would be good incentive to try to get back to where I was before I got pregnant.
I guess I should preface the outcome of this story with some information about me. I am naturally a small person. I eat healthy (though I do have a pretty bad sweet tooth) but I never got into the habit of exercising on a regular basis. I’ve remained basically the same size throughout my adult life and hadn’t had to lose any significant amount of weight for someone my size. Until I had a baby.
I wasn’t one of those lucky ladies whose body agrees with pregnancy and who comes out of it looking and feeling better than they did before. For all of you who aren’t familiar with the rules of pregnancy and such, the recommended weight gain for someone who is of average weight is 25-30lbs. I gained 50. Both Andrew and I were baffled especially since I had gestational diabetes and was on a diabetic diet (low carbs, no sweets) for a good part of my pregnancy. After giving birth and losing the initial post-pregnancy weight I was still 20lbs over what I was when I got pregnant.
The weight-loss challenge started on January 5th and today was our final weigh in. Aaaand……. I WON!! Awesome, right?
I honestly didn’t think I would win. And really, I wasn’t trying to. Pretty much for the whole month of January, I didn’t do anything. But then in February I started P90X and have since lost 9.42% of my body weight.
I didn’t start P90X to win the weight-loss challenge. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to win and feel like I really accomplished a goal. But ultimately I just really wanted to get healthy and feel good.
Just 5 1/2 more weeks of P90X to go…
-c.