Christmas Archives - Grid and Bloom

Posted on December 8, 2018January 9, 2020 by Karen Stewart

Christmas Chains, Yarn and Crochet

Christmas chains, yarn and crochet; there isn’t much painting this week. The studio is full of soft goods right now, quilts for small grandkids, yarn from Black Friday shopping, products to ship and projects to finish. Are you ready for a small breather in your hectic schedule? I know that we are. Some time off doing what we love, maybe a little home repair, a little deep cleaning, a ton of family time, church time and time to reflect. Like you, we live a rather normal life; well, as normal as it can get. Family time has been a little more intense the past several months. It is good to see that some crochet is starting to happen again. It fills a deep need to create and is more portable than painting and it keeps me balanced.

Yarn Shopping

This post contains affiliate links

Crochet has been filling my time more since Black Friday shopping. My crochet momentum is back, finally! The family knew when the soft squishy packages started arriving that Black Friday shopping had been a serious occupation for the Studio. Good thing that some of these projects have used up a little of the yarn. Hopefully, the projects planned for the yarn will work up quickly and fill the Etsy shop. A few photos of the beautiful colors soon to be coming your way with new patterns (hopefully) or remakes of older patterns in new colors.

Crochet

Here is a little of what I have been working on these days.

The Baby Hexi which seemed to take all summer.

A new take on the Ruby Red with Lion Brand Landscapes “Twilight” (Amazon link) just to give folks another viewpoint of the Ruby Red in colors other than pink/red.

I also worked on a cute crocheted paper chain style garland for the Christmas tree. Super simple to crochet. I used all of the silvery yarn on hand and created two separate chains. The instructions are included below. Here they are in process. These chains were fairly quick and I crocheted a bunch in one color and then joined them with the other color. Super fast and easy, great for beginners or children for learning to crochet. Also great for using up small bits of scrap yarn!

Here they are on the tree.

A few more more links will be added when there is a little more time. They were crocheted out of silvery grey and red Stylecraft Special DK but they would be beautiful out of bright cotton yarns or all white, even tropical colors would be beautiful. Crochet them any color and it will still add a fun look to your Christmas tree.

Christmas Chains Garland Pattern

Supplies

DK weight yarn in Red and silvery grey,
Size G crochet hook
Scissors
Large eye needle for sewing links.

Link:

Chain 25,

First row: HDC in the third chain from hook and HDC across the chain, keeping the chain untwisted.

Second row: chain 2 HDC in each stitch across the the previous row. Tie off and cut with a long tail.

Sew one end to the other using whip stitch.

Finished one chain. Continue creating links being sure when sewing to link the chains together to create a Christmas Garland.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year everyone. All online shops are open this year for the next several weeks. We have family visiting and hubs in off work for weeks between December 17 and January 1st. Should you need any help on any crocheting or orders, please bear this in mind. I will be stopping by to check on things but not as often. The last day to order from Etsy and Amazon for Christmas delivery is Tuesday Dec. 11th.

Merry Christmas and Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on December 28, 2017January 10, 2020 by Karen Stewart

Temperature Afghan

Temperature afghans-if you have crocheted any length of time at all, then you have seen them all over the internet, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram at the first of the new year for the last several years. If you do a search for Temperature Afghan you will probably come across a variation of this photo. This afghan wasn’t created primarily to be a temperature afghan, though someone on the internet did use this photo to portray one.

Temperature Afghan Tips

What is a temperature afghan?

It is an afghan crocheted one row a day with the color related to the temperature of that day. Blues and Purples for cold weather and yellows/oranges/reds for warmer temps. Greens for the middle temps. When completed there is a visual representation of the year’s daily temperature and 365 rows of beautiful afghan.

Problems with a temperature afghan?

They can be huge! 365 rows of huge crochet blanket.
It is a long commitment. You must know that you will stick with a project for every day of the year (not my thing.)
They can be ugly if your regional temperatures zoom up and down like ours in Oklahoma where it can be 80 degrees F one day and below zero the next.
It can be boring.

The answer to fixing the boring part and huge commitment is to crochet last year’s temperatures. Find the temperatures for last year on the internet. Print them out and then you can sit down and crochet the whole thing in several weeks! Which is what I would do if I were going to crochet one.

How can you adjust the temperature afghan to fit your crocheting style?

There are so many ways that you can use to crochet a smaller version.

It could be the temperatures for the month a baby was born or your birthday month.
A scarf illustrating the temperatures for 3 winter months.
It could be a granny square blanket with 2 or 3 daily temperatures.
Crochet a special year to memorialize someone’s life.

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Life is Fun

Right now, life is fun. I am figuring out how to get around and do daily living activities while not putting any weight on my right foot. Which means that I am not getting around much at all.

Before Christmas

I spent my time crocheting these dino hats for the Grandkids and then also finishing up their sequined Christmas Stockings. Which did need me to be down and immobile for several weeks to get them finished. Sometimes I go without the boot when I am sitting around but it doesn’t mean that I am walking on it yet! I am still following the Doctor’s orders

The looked cute on the grandkids with the dino tails to match. The dyno hats crocheted up quickly and are fun to make.

The tails are wonderful and were created by www.etsy.com/shop/kidhub. She did a great job and I was able to custom order the colors to match yarn that I already had on hand.

Beautiful Moments

There have been (what deceptively looks like) beautiful moments like this.

Where it looks like I spent all day snuggled under a crochet afghan drinking yummy hot drinks. When I got about 3 micro seconds of this bliss before I spilled the coffee in my lap. Which goes to show that photos do not often tell the whole story.

The second photo above makes it look like I am incredibly organized, and getting some work done. I am not sure about the quality of my work due to the pain meds I was taking at the time. It is time to go back and review my work. We have had a downturn in the weather this week and we went from shorts weather to a dusting of snow before Christmas and it is now brrr cold with a bit of ice due on Saturday.

It was beautiful, and I bribed a child to go out and take some snow photos for me.

I also got in my pre-Christmas yarn order that I forced myself not to open until the hats and stockings were finished. Sometimes I need a big carrot to get the job finished. This is always fun and if the colors seem odd, I was filling in some missing colors from Yarntopia. I did miss some vital colors that will have to go in another order.

After Christmas

Since Christmas, I have been doing a ton of organizing paperwork, thinking, planning and talking with friends. I haven’t had this much sit down or chat time in months. I just move too fast and jump from one thing to another without stopping to force myself to slow down and do nothing. It is good to be able to sit and think but it also means a certain amount of boredom has set in. Binge watching tv is now done and over, I have seen all I want to see on Netflix or Amazon. So, I have moved on to business planning and thinking about coming new year.

So now you are caught up with where I am and what is going on at Chocolate Dog Studio. Things are good, and the foot is healing as quickly as can be expected. I am thrilled at the thought of a New Year and the new crochet projects ahead of me.

Talk to you later,

Karen

P.S. I hope that your Holidays have been wonderful and relaxing. I would love to know what is going to be on your list of crochet projects to do this year?

Posted on December 11, 2017January 10, 2020 by Karen Stewart

Christmas Countdown and the Holiday Sale

Here we are in full on Christmas countdown mode and gearing up for the Holiday Sale. The days are shorter and filled with activities. Music events, church, children’s programs in addition to work and living life.

It is always a rush to get the perfect gift for each and every person on our gift list. It is such a struggle to make sure that no one is forgotten or left out.

The Holiday Sale

There are some good sales happening at the Etsy Shop and also here on the blog in the next four weeks. This is the first 25% off any $20 or more purchase. Everything handmade is on sale in the Etsy shop including the afghans. The patterns are on sale here and the Etsy shop. Take your pick and finish out your shopping! The last guaranteed Christmas arrival shipping day is the 16th of December.

Recovery

I am recovering nicely and spent more than half the day sitting up and taking care of this and that computer chore. I am feeling better and can’t wait to get downstairs and see the Christmas tree. It has been 2 weeks since I have navigated the stairs. Crutches and stairs with a half turn in them plus pain meds have worked to keep me upstairs. Tomorrow is the day that I finally will see the downstairs. I knew it had a been a long two weeks in bed (mostly) when one of the kids saw me sitting in the chair and said “Oh, you are sitting in a chair!” like it was some really strange event to see me anywhere but bed. Everyone has been incredibly kind and helpful even when I am less than my best.

Crochet

I have had one little Grandchild visit in the past two weeks . He spent the time talking about Grandma’s big booboo (the boot instead of a cast.) I am missing those little people desperately. I have not been up to seeing them but we do have a cookie decorating event coming up soon. So, I will get to see them then. I have had the crochet hook out after I finished up this sequined stocking that I had promised.

I am starting work on some Dinosaur hats as a little grandkids Christmas gift. They are receiving dinosaur tails for their Christmas gift from Grandma and Grandpa.

The tails velcro on and were custom made by the Etsy Shop- Kid Hub. Jennifer did a great job and everyone loves them. The hats are a fun add on to the tails and can be worn to pre-school even if the tails can’t. Imagination stretching gifts are my favorite gift to give.

Kid Hub

Talk to you later,

Karen

P.S. What are you shopping for this year? Are you crocheting any gifts? How is your Christmas Countdown going?

Posted on December 22, 2016 by Karen Stewart

The Merry Christmas Post

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Things are truly crazy around our house lately. We’ve been under the weather with a virus (for what seems like months, but is only a couple weeks) and sticking pretty close to home. I wanted to post a beautiful photo of our lovely tree, all decorated and twinkling, but I’m settling instead for a photo of me wrapped up in an afghan. Yes, that’s how sick we’ve been around here!

I’m writing this a bit in advance because I want to take a mini-vacation; I want to spend time with my family instead of my computer during these few days before and after Christmas. But, I want you, my readers, to know how much I appreciate you!

May God Bless You and Your Family this Christmas,

Karen

Posted on December 13, 2016 by Karen Stewart

December Memories

Christmas seems to bring to mind so many memories. This year is no exception as I think about Christmases from the past with my Granny and Papa. It wasn’t often that we saw them in December. Memories of them during the Christmas season are few because we were living in other states and countries for years.

To Grandmother’s House We Go

I do vividly remember one particular Christmas with my Granny — probably because it was the year I was learning to play the bass clarinet. If you’re not familiar with a bass clarinet, let me just say it’s a wind instrument. Looking at it, you wouldn’t think it would be loud. But it is. Especially in small homes filled with people. That year, the band director thought it would be a wonderful idea for us to practice for 21 hours over Christmas break. My horn barely fit in the enormous trunk of my parents’ sea green Pontiac with all the suitcases, but we got it in and made the drive from Denver to Oklahoma.

My Granny and Papa lived on an Oklahoma farm. Which means that while they had chickens and cows, the cows lived in the pasture and the barn was used for hay, not milk cows. The barns were built about the time of the land run. I remember them as old, weathered, and silvery-gray.

Free Concerts

Granny saw the horn and told me that I could practice in the hay barn. It wasn’t really cold, but the air was nippy enough that a coat and hat were in order. I took the chair, stand and huge instrument case down to the hay barn followed by a couple of faithful farm dogs. I played quite a bit that Christmas trying to finish up the 21 hours of practice required by my Band director.

FamilyÂ members would drift down from time to time and listen to me play. It was kind of cool to practice in the big hay barn to an audience of one and a couple of the farm dogs. Except the dogs didn’t hang out for long. But it was cool anyway.

December Memories

Do you have any favorite (or funny) December memories? Tell me about them in the comments, and we can reminisce together. And may you have a very Merry Christmas this year!

Karen

P.S. Don’t forget to sign up for the Use Your Stash Challenge!

P.P.S. She is also the Granny I crocheted countless nose warmers for when I was a little girl (actually a wad of crochet on two strings), which she put into her china cabinet because they were special to her.

Posted on December 23, 2015 by Karen Stewart

Vacation time

This time of year I take someÂ vacationÂ time to enjoy my family and spend time not connected to a laptop or a project. Â I am pretty close to burn out by this time of year and it helps me to spend time with family. We tend to pull in pretty tight as a family unit this time of year. October and November are increasing in intensity and then add in the Christmas season, it is pretty overwhelming.

I have completed the bi-annual gifts for the dogs. I sewed new dog beds up for them. The one photographed above was created for Sebastian, our son and daughter in law’s dog. He is a little smaller than ours and fits quite nicely in his new bed.Â

It needs some paint but I liked the fact that it was printed with the bulb brand on the front so I left it.

Our dogs loved the new bed as well. Here they are testing the finished product.

My kitchen has been in a semi-useful state the past couple of days as we were changing out the lighting. The old fluorescent fixtures needed changing out as the ballasts were bad and half of the bulbs bad. Here is a photo in a half done state.Â

Removing the ceiling texture is next on our list. It is looking much brighter and I think the LED lights will save us some money. Â I was worried that the constructionÂ would put me behind on Christmas cooking and baking but I think it will be ok. I worked on some other things that needed to be done. This Christmas is just family and the kids are here to pitch in and help.

We have been watching The Great British Baking Show and I am inspired to try baking some new things. So, baking is in the plans for today.

There are great sales happening in allÂ shops and I will keep them open but they won’t be shipped until after Christmas from the Etsy shop. Vacation time has come and it is sorely needed. The time to putter in the kitchen, clean and decorate just a bit more is badly needed.

I will be back before the New Year with a round up post and then BOOM 2016 will happen. There are wonderful things in the works for next year and I can’t wait to tell you. There are new projects, new plans for both shops, new designs, tons of bright new yarn already waiting for the crochet hook! I pray that your Christmas is merry and bright! May you have the peace and joy of the season, may you renew old friendships and make new ones!
Talk to you later,

Karen

P.S. If you still need to shop you can find the shops here:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/ChocolateDogStudio

https://www.etsy.com/shop/ChocolatesBabyShop

http://www.amazon.com/handmade/chocolate-dog-studio

Posted on December 31, 2014 by Karen Stewart

The Shop is on Sale!

Everything in the shop is 30% off. I really want to start the year off with a clean slate in the shop! WooHoo! So, my desire to start with a clean slate is your opportunity and when opportunity knocks you really should answer! All this to say…shop to your hearts content!

Everything, absolutely everything in the shop, including aprons, hats, scarves, infinity scarves, blankets, cozies, ornaments, and crystal, is all 30% off! It will never ALL be this low again. I may put bits and pieces of the shop on sale but not ALL of it.

I did some organizing and cleaning yesterday and I will do more today in preparation for the new year. I can’t wait to get started on the Use Your Stash Challenge. It starts pretty soon… so figure out the rules for your challenge. It can be a short and sweet WIPS challenge or a giant 300 items in 300 days Challenge. It can be make 20 items in 50 days or you can simply finish that One thing that is driving you nuts. I am gathering my items together and planning out how it is all going to happen! This is why I am having the huge sale. I do so want to add new things to the shop this Spring! We are not going to start on January 1st. I am giving myself some time off. I have my daughter home from college and I want to enjoy her visit. I have some cleaning to do in the studio. I also need to get youngest Â daughter started with her schooling before I jump in with both feet to create anything new. The anticipation is growing and I can hardly wait to get started.

The Use Your Stash challenge is the 12 of January. You can read more about my rules for my Challenge last year here:Â http://www.chocolatedogstudio.com/2014/01/17/1-thing-for-100-days-challenge/Â You can see most of the completed items here:Â http://www.chocolatedogstudio.com/2014/04/14/100-items-in-100-days/

Thanks,
Karen

Posted on December 16, 2014 by Karen Stewart

Christmas is coming!

Wow, It has been almost a month since I have written anything for the blog. I have been incredibly busy and I am pretty sure that life is just going to speed up in the future.

We finally got our Christmas tree put up this past weekend.

You can’t see much about it and it looks department store pretty in this photo. The reality is that it is full of little kid made ornaments. Some from my childhood and some our kids made. Tons of glitter and glue were involved. Each year I try and make new ornaments for the tree but this year the ornament making is sparse. The kids are getting too big to create construction paper ornaments with glitter and glue. I have run out of time to sew, crochet or knit anything. Â I have been pulling Christmas ornaments off the tree every time one of the kids moves into their own home.

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on November 12, 2014 by Karen Stewart

Washing Some Burlap

I have been procrastinating by washing some burlap bags. I have been trying to get the house cleaned up in preparation for the college kids that come to our house for Thanksgiving. It is a busy time but I love having them visit. We have spent 6 weeks or so cleaning out my Mom’s old house so she could move into a smaller place. I have tons of new (old) things that need to find a new home. So, I am unpacking and starting to think about putting them away in a more permanent home. Today, I am doing that by washing the burlap sacks that I picked up out of her garage. I am wanting to use them in some craft projects but they are dirty and smell like burlap!

My Mom and Dad used these on the farm to pick up pecans and haul things around. They are really useful but really dirty. They also got these from the feed store, ages ago and they have been lying around in the garage for years.One is a coffee sack with cool writing on it. I am getting ready wash them with bleach and then dry them, several times. I hope the bleach doesn’t take out the writing. My washer regularly washes dog beds so I am pretty sure that it can handle these with no problems.

So this is the first wash. We will see how it goes.
It is pretty linty. The lint trap was completely full and I stopped the cycle so I could wash it again.Â

It is pretty gross. Thankfully, I am going to use the lint to make some fire starters for the fire pit but the burlap really needs another wash cycle, or two.

it is starting to look better than it did and it IS softer. We will see what a total of three washing and drying will do for them. I am going to stop the dryer cycle half way through and clean out the lint trap. I am also going to shake them out outside and get rid of the little pills of lint before it goes in the dryer.

Ok there was even more dryer lint the second time Â but I think that third time is the charm! The burlap bags are much softer and smell less than they did with the first wash. I will show you how it comes out next time and also the cute projects I am wanting to try.

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on August 29, 2014 by admin

Friday DIY Gift Countdown

If you are going to create gifts for your family for Christmas it is time to start creating! Fridays for the next several weeks will include a DIY Gift Countdown. This weeks DIY gift countdown if for the guys in your life. My guys are all college age or above and I have no babies in my life, though I will include them. Here are some of my favorite ideas that use supplies I already have on hand. I will also have to buy some supplies as I am trying to personalize their gifts as much as possible.

A paracord belt!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32YAvNdYvAM

A personalized coffee cup for my guys!

http://diyopolis.wordpress.com/2012/11/24/94/

I am counting on the fact that one of my guys is too busy to read his Mom’s blog but I will be crocheting this for him for Christmas.

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/doctor-who-season-16-17-crocheted-scarf

So there are a few of the guys things I will be making this year, butÂ I am also looking at these ideas as well.

I have made these in the past and will probably whip up a few new ones for the gang this year. I am also thinking about making a couple of these for some of the family., in more masculine colors, but not reversible.

http://www.newgreenmama.com/2010/12/reversible-messenger-bag-tutorial.html

I am also going to make some of these quick fingerless gloves and add hats, without the hearts and in a more masculine color.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/178258980/crochet-fingerless-gloves-pattern-pdf

Also a couple pairs of these.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/164527383/pattern-diy-fingerless-gloves-crochet

I had better get started as time is running out and there are others in my family that I want to crochet for.

Talk to you later,

Karen