happy weekend!

Saturday morning I woke up to yarn all over my living room! It made me sick to my stomach but luckily I found the sock still in its bag untouched, my bugger of a cat gnawed off the rest of the yarn to play with.


I spent about two hours untangling the mess and I'm back at my sock again. I've learned my lesson though, I will (hopefully) always remember to make sure my project bags are zipped up right!

I hope you've all been having a good weekend. Mine's been mostly fine other than my sock yarn mishap and now a bug that seems to have struck my oldest down this morning.

I'm finally catching back up on blogs, I cleared out a lot of stuff I don't read from my reader, so I should be able to stay on top of everyone's wonderful posts again! Here's a few I wanted to share, not all are super recent, but that's because I really fell behind!

Look at this patchwork CAT pillow! Lotte modified it from my patchwork dog pillow pattern. I'm so in love with this pillow, I need to find time to make one myself.
I really want to make a blanket using this pattern.
I love this way to organize school records, it's something I really should get on top of! This blog is full of great organizing tips!
Lisa shared a tutorial on how to embroider a "knit" heart, definitely something I will get to sometime!

happy friday!

I finally have glasses again, so I can get back to posting! Sitting at the computer was not easy without glasses, so I just didn't do it. I have quite a bit to share, so there should be a few posts up next week, including an update on my mood blanket. I am still working on it and enjoying it!

One of my crafty goals this year was to knit a pair of socks for myself and I'm doing it! After the holidays, I was given a gift card for babysitting my nieces, so I decided I would use it to get everything I needed to knit socks. My needles and yarn arrived a few days ago and I got started as soon as my glasses were ready.




I have been really enjoying knitting this, maybe I'll even have one done before the weekend is over! I'm using this tutorial, it's very picture heavy, exactly what I need. I planned on doing two socks at a time but I don't have a scale to divide my yarn, so I'm just doing one. I'll share more about my socks as I get closer to finishing them.

If you come over to the blog from your reader, you'll see that I changed up the banner! This is the banner I pictured when I had the yarn image made for the site, I'm so very happy with the look now. I also changed the banner in my shop too.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

a few random things & garlands!

It got quiet on the blog again, didn't mean for that to happen, things are a little off for me right now. I did get the tutorial posted for the patchwork dog pillow, you can find that here. I also posted a pattern for the solid mini squares that I used for the pillow, find that here.

Lately, I've been wanting to get rid of some of my in stock crocheted toys, there's too many in here, they're really taking over space! So, I'm selling them for 50% off right now! Just use the coupon code 'HALFOFF' at the checkout. Coupon is good for anything in the shop, not just the toys. Head on over to my shop to grab a toy for someone special! Christmas is coming up fast, so now would be a great time to order one (& save money too!). Coupon is good until October 31st.

I deleted the facebook page for the blog a couple weeks ago. There wasn't a lot of activity over there, so I'm sure it won't be missed. I don't miss it anyway. Since deleting that, I've decided to start using my twitter feed more often. I'm still trying to get more active there. Follow me @caseyplusthree if you aren't already. And of course, I'm posting pictures on instagram often, you can see a lot of projects that I'm working on before it shows up here on the blog.

Speaking of instagram, I recently participated in a garland swap to help raise funds for an adoption for It's Just Emmy. I made two garlands, one for my partner and one for Emmy to sell in an insta-auction (@itsjustemmy).

For my partner, I made a fall lace garland using this pattern. It screams fall to me, it was a hard one to give up, I really liked it!



For Emmy, I made a butterfly garland (pattern for butterflies). I used Lion's Brand bon bons in cotton to make them all. Those bon bons are so cute and fun, I'm so glad my store started carrying them! I have a lot of the yarn left after making this garlnd, so I'm eventually going to make more and maybe add them to my shop.


The blog shouldn't be too quiet for awhile, I've got quite a few finished projects to share! Thanks for visiting today!

bookmarked & random

First, if you're reading this in a reader, click over and see my new blog header! Rachel from Citrus and Mint created the awesome yarn and crochet hook illustration for me. I love it! Rachel draws really cute clip art that you can get in her shop here. I fell instantly in love with her style, so I was so happy when she agreed to work with me!

I've been trying to get into using Etsy for more than just my shop lately. I've been browsing forums and have made two treasuries so far; crochet to cuddle and on the wall.

10 Fun & Free African Flower Motif patterns, my dishcloth pattern is included in this list.

Alyica from Habitual Homebody posted her first crochet pattern for a crochet hook and accessory case, great to keep all your hooks in one place!

I love granny squares, check out this pattern for an awesome granny square bag! The next time I want to stash bust my toy making yarn, this is probably going to be the first thing I make.

This crochet bag is gorgeous! It's simple looking and I could definitely see myself carrying around one like it. There's no pattern for it but it doesn't look too hard to figure out, I might make myself one soon.

Meme Rose recently decided to stop blogging but before she did she posted a three part pattern for a really cute crocheted owl, part one is here.

Because I don't want this post to be picture-less, here's a monkey I recently crocheted for my nephew. He's my second blue eyed monkey, he's pretty cute I think.


Have a great day!

bookmarked.

I'm sharing some of my most recent bookmarks from around the blogs today! First are these cute crocheted daisies from Caught on a Whim. I've already started crocheting a bunch!


Check out this pattern from Lulu Loves for a Round Ruffle Cushion. I haven't crocheted a pillow in awhile, I may make one of these soon!

I'm ready to start knitting or crocheting some swatches after seeing this knit swatch wall art gift put together by a knit group. I would love a wall filled with these!

Cute printable mini bookplates from Mollie of Wild Olive.

I bookmarked this one awhile ago but haven't been able to start on the blanket I wanted to yet, Maybelle Square pattern. I still want to make this eventually though, the pattern is super cute!

I recently discovered a new to me blog with lots of blog design help, SillyGrrl. There's lots of helpful posts on this blog, perfect timing for me to change the blog again. If you visit the blog in the next few weeks, you'll probably see mismatched stuff while I try to figure out a new design.

Thanks for visiting me today!

monday randoms

Today's post is a bunch of randomness. Just a few things I wanted to share with you!


Remember the overlay mandala I turned into a pillow for a CAL? Voting is now open and you can vote for your favorite mandala! I'm not getting my hopes up for winning because there's a few that definitely have a lot of fans. I had fun participating anyway! Go vote for your favorite!


I made this Roose Monster on Thursday and mailed him out Friday, so I didn't get a better picture than this. The cute monster is off to a son of a friend, the family experienced a heartbreaking loss of their youngest boy last week. My son thought that their other son should have a monster to hug when he's sad.


I participated in a swap held in the FreshStitches ravelry group recently and I made this gnome to gift. It's really cute and I'll be making my own soon. The bottom picture is what I received this week, I love the alien, it's a pattern that has been in my queue for quite some time.



Lastly, google reader is shutting down in July, so that means you need to switch to a new reader if you don't already use something else! I started using Feedly over the weekend, I wish I had found this one sooner! I love how it looks, it makes reading blogs through a reader enjoyable. I even managed to catch up on a lot of blogs I kept skipping for months.

Have a great Monday!

instagram online

Instagram now has online profiles so you don't have to have the app to follow instagram users! My profile can be found here. Come check it out, I post pretty regularly on my instagram and I share a lot more of my daily life, something I don't really do here anymore. I also post a lot of sneak peeks of what I'm working on before I get them posted to the blog!

Are you on instagram? Leave me your name so I can follow!

thank you

I have received a few awards in the past and I'm so horrible about actually posting thank you's on the blog, I'm sorry to everyone who takes the time to pass them to me for that! I do make a point to thank the person, I just manage to forget about blog thanking. A new one I received is the Sunshine Award from Linda and Barbara, thank you to both of you!



The rules are:
1. Thank the blogger who nominated you. CHECK
2. Answer the 10 questions on your favorite things.
3. Nominate ten blogs to receive the Sunshine Award and let them know they've been nominated.

1. Favorite Animal: cats
2. Favorite Number: I never thought about it, I don't have one.
3. Favorite Non-Alcoholic Drink: Pepsi and I would choose it if alcohol were an option too.
4. Facebook or Twitter? Facebook, I like to play the games there. I'm trying to tweet more though, twitter is fun to use but I get too many spam messages when I post, so my tweets are pretty infrequent.
5. My Passion: Again something I never really thought about but I think that crochet is a pretty big one for me now.
6. Getting or Giving: Giving! I'm bad at getting, I tell people not to give me presents usually.
7. Favorite Pattern: I don't think I have a favorite anymore, whatever I'm making at the moment becomes a favorite.
8. Favorite Day of the Week: Sunday, it feels like a lazy day.
9. Favorite Flower: Sunflowers.
10. Favorite Country: Canada, I've never been anywhere else.

I'm not going to nominate anyone because there are far too many great blogs that I read and not many do these blog award things. You can see some of the blogs I like under 'blog reading', that's just a few of them, I need to update that list!

Have a great rest of the weekend! I'm going to try catching up with the granny sampler afghan CAL.

a WIP & other things

I planned on getting this blue owl done over the weekend but I ended up not even doing much crochet. I finally sat down to work on it today, it's almost done now. I had a rough time with this one for some reason, this is the third time I started the body, the other ones just didn't work out right. I see the light at the end of this project though!

I got an iPad this Christmas and I've been using it to look up my crochet patterns. It's much nicer to use than my printed out papers that I need to keep in order. I've also been using instagram on it! I'm finally not missing out anymore. My name is caseyplusthree if you want to follow me there, I've been having a lot of fun with it!

One last thing, I signed up for the Dessert of the Month Club by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery. It's a cross stitch sampler of desserts, each month you get a new pattern to stitch. I'm really excited to have a year of cuteness to cross stitch. If you want to join along, you can sign up right here, it's on sale for $10 until the 10th (tomorrow), so move quickly!

That's all I've got for today, I'll try to blog more regularly again!

happy birthday!

I started blogging when I was pregnant with my youngest, today he is THREE years old! He loves Mickey Mouse, so that's what he's getting for his birthday. I spotted these on pinterest a couple weeks ago and knew that I had to make them! Mine aren't nearly as good looking but I think they're still cute.

Happy Birthday my big boy!

A-Z

I haven't done a fun survey in a long time and since I'm in such a funk right now, I thought it might be fun to do one. This is one I've seen around the blogs lately, so here's mine! If you have done this one already or do it now, I'd love to read yours as well, just leave me a comment with the link!

A. Age: 27, I will be 28 at the end of this month!
B. Bed size: King. I love it, although it still doesn't seem big enough somehow.
C. Chore that you hate: The most? Probably laundry, I hate having to fold it all.
D. Dogs: I don't hate them but they scare me a little, they used to be one of my biggest fears when I was a kid. I was even a little scared of our dog growing up.
E. Essential start to your day: No tantrums. A tantrum early in the morning doesn't make for a good day usually.
F. Favourite color: I don't have one favorite color, it always changes depending on my mood or the weather.
G. Gold or Silver: I like them both.
H. Height: 5'6"
I. Instruments you play: I played the ukulele in grade 6 (years ago!) None now.
J. Job title: Mom
K. Kids: Three, 2 girls and a boy, they are a handful!
L. Live: Saskatchewan, Canada
M. Mother's name: Norma
N. Nicknames: No one calls me anything but my name, except the mister calls me Rae.
O. Overnight hospital stays: Every time I had my kids I stayed in the hospital and once after I had my son, there was too much hospital & doctor visits after him!
P. Pet peeve: People who can't put garbage in the trash can
Q. Quote from a movie: "You shut your mouth when you're talking to me!" from Wedding Crashers
R. Right or left handed: Right
S. Siblings: Two, brother and sister, both younger.
T. Time you wake up: usually 6am, not by my choice though
U. Underwear: I wear underwear.
V. Vegetable you hate: Asparagus. yuck
W. What makes you run late: An uncooperative child
X. X-Rays you've had: I don't know if I've had any, maybe when I was a kid but I don't remember.
Y. Yummy food that you make: Meatloaf
Z. Zoo animal: Elephant

for Japan