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So, I am still new to Blogland. I kept an online journal for years on Open Diary, which sadly is gone now.  I hadn't realized until I looked into it that it was actually the first blogging website, launched 6 months before even Livejournal was.  Back then it was just a way to get all my thoughts and feelings collected, and I type so much faster than I write.  I can't help but feel old and outdated when I don't even know what all the blog features and such are anymore.  I keep seeing blogs I'd like to follow, but I don't want my email overflowing (as if it isn't anyway) and I don't want to have to join 8 different communities to be able to see when the blogs I like have been updated.  That being said, I'm not exactly sure what Bloglovin even IS, but I see it as an option to follow blogs quite often, and so I am giving it a wingding and connecting my blog to it (and it wants me to post a link in a new blog, and so in this entrey is where I will post it).  I also have started a Facebook page (separate from my personal page) for The Button Buffalo which you can see here.  Feel free to pop by and give it a like if you want, and let me know about your pages as well so I can visit them!  There's not much on the Facebook page yet, but I just started it this week and I am still trying to figure out exactly what I want to do with it.  I think I may spend some time today on blogspot trying to get THIS blog to look like I want it to.  I want to share with people the other blogs and things I love.  I just need to figure out how to do all that!
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A Late WIP Wednesday

Well, it's late Wednesday, and I was going to make a post for WIP Wednesday.  but I decided instead to keep working on my road trip scarf, which seems to be a very popular project right now, and was designed by Zelna Olivier.  I've been seeing loads of these around the internet and wanted to try one, and although I always think they are beautiful, I just wasn't sure the scarf was really "my style."  I finally decided to quit drooling over them and to just hook one up.  Besides, if I didn't like it, it would make a wonderful gift for someone, right?

I finally was able to find a couple of skeins of Red Heart Unforgettable in the Sunrise colorway.  This colorway and the Stained Glass seem particularly difficult to find.  Even when I look online, most of the time those colorways are always out of stock.  The Sunrise colorway grabbed my attention because of the bright oranges (which is my favourite colour) and the wonderful contrast of the blue.  Now that I've worked this colorway up, I find myself wishing that the blue was a little more frequent. The colours are bright, shiny, and vibrant.  It's a wonderful combination for Fall.  The bottom picture shows the colours more of how they actually are.  You'll have to excuse the poor lighting in here.  It was a grey, gloomy day here, so I didn't have good natural lighting to photograph in.  Perhaps in a few days when the weather clears up I can try again. The bottom picture I took before I added the flowers.  I almost left it totally plain, and the scarf still looked nice.  The pattern has 8 flowers and some tassels as well.  In the end I decided that it would be a shame not to adorn it in some way, even though I usually prefer my things to be more on the plain side.  I went with 5 flowers instead of 8, and decided to forgo the tassels altogether.  I'm looking forward to trying it out once things cool down just a tad!

We Are Groot!

Looky, looky!  It's Saturday (not by much) and here I am posting again!


This week was mostly filled with Groots.  All of the Baby Groots were shipped off to my friends, and I'm happy to report that they all love their Groots!  I did get a picture of them all together before I shipped them out.
The first picture here is before I "planted" them. Awh, look at the little Groots!  The second picture here is the "post planting" picture.
I gave my friends an option of what colour they would like me to paint their pot.  Some of them wanted just plain terracotta, and others went for a brighter color.  Anyway way you slice it, these little guys are super cute.  The best part was seeing how happy it made my friends to receive them!

I had thought that I was finished with Groot for awhile.  In fact, I even had time to work on some Christmas presents this week.  But then a friend said that he wants to be Groot for Halloween and his little boy is going to be Rocket Raccoon, and he was looking for costume ideas.  I told him that I might be able to design a hat for him.  And so I got to work yesterday on it (which just happened to be International Crochet Day), and finished it up last night.  I'm pretty pleased with how he turned out, and I'm proud to be able to say that the design is my own.  Since his debut, I've had a couple more friends say they'd like one of these.  So I may go ahead and write a pattern out for them.  But for tonight, I think I've earned a bubble bath and some reading time!

Happy Hooking!
Darrah

About August

I know, I know... a whole month and no blog?!  Actually, I wrote up a whole blog about some bunting I made around the middle of the month, but it didn't save for some reason, and I was too frustrated with it afterwards to redo it.  You can see pictures of the bunting on my Ravelry project page. August was a very busy month for us here at home.  We live in British Columbia, and currently our teachers are on strike, so that means the kiddos are still at home, and we've been doing school lessons here in our house.  It is fun and rewarding, but of course, is also time consuming.  I think I'm going to pick a day of the week and make that my "I really should blog day."

So what's been hooking over here?  Oh, all sorts of this and that.  I've been working on some Christmas presents for my family.  I haven't photographed them yet.  Perhaps I'll have them ready for next week's blog.  A friend of mine asked me to make a minion hat for her little guy.  The end result was this guy over here to the left.  He was a pretty simple make, but was fun!  It was a nice change to hook up something with a loser gauge, as I've been doing a fair amount of amigurumi lately that calls for pretty tight tension. 

I had been working on designing a bag for my Mother in law to carry her Kobo (e-reader) and her tablet in the same bag.  I made this bag using King Cole Riot DK in the colour "Cool".  It's a beautiful wool/acrylic blend that I really love.  It does hook up very beautifully... but it is VERY unforgiving.  I found this out the hard way when I had the bag about half way done before I realized I had flip flopped the height and width on the bag, and it took my husband and I as a team nearly an hour to frog it.  I decided that since this was for electronic devices that I should really line the bag.  I'm not the best seamstress (especially since I don't have a sewing machine and I have to do it by hand), but it turned out pretty good!  I made the separate compartments by using a sheet of plastic canvas, putting quilt bating on either side, and then sewing the liner over that.  She really likes it and has gotten several compliments on it.

We have now gone to see Guardians of the Galaxy twice (once at the theater, and once at the Drive-in).  Our kids love it, and so do we.  My son's favourite character from the movie is Baby Groot.  He asked me to make him one, and I couldn't disapoint that little face.  So this is what his finished Baby Groot looks like.  He said that Baby Groot would be happier if he had some "skinny rainbows" on his pot, and so I found a way to make both him and Baby Groot happy.   He loves his Baby Groot!  I posted a picture of him on my Facebook, and my friends went nuts!  Nuts enough that five of them wanted a Baby Groot of their own.  And so I got to work on five more Baby Groots.  I haven't photographed their finished ones yet, but I do have a picture of all the Baby Groot heads while I was working on them.  They were a fun make, but a lot of sewing and cramped up, aching hands.  I think the cramping may be from too much hooking in general, but sometimes I have to actually push my fingers back into a normal position.

I discovered a new favourite yarn!  It's still pretty new, and hard to find in my area, but it is called Landscapes by Lion Brand.  I was only able to get one skein in the color Apple Orchard.  It's a 100% acrylic self-striping yarn with a beautiful shine and vibrant colors.  Since I only had the one skein, I decided to make a cowl scarf with it.  It turned out great and it is SUPER warm!  I usually wear a sweater nearly all of the time, but I had to take my sweater off when wearing the scarf.  I can't wait until the Joann's in Bellingham starts to carry this (I'm hoping they will, anyway) so I can get some more of it!  I also have one skein of the Boardwalk, Mountain Range, and Tropics colors.  They are also beautiful, but I might wait until I can have more of it to make something bigger than a scarf.  It is fabulously soft and silky, and it feels like a dream on your hook!

The last thing I'll share today is the little pouch I made for myself.  I wanted a little something that I could easily throw into a project bag and take with me on the go without fear of my hooks, needles, stitch markers and scissors falling out.  I have never worked with this type of clasp before, and I didn't use a pattern.  This is not my best work, and I was hesitant to even put it on my blog.  But now that I've had some experience with this sort of frame, I think with a little practice I could see some very cute little pouches or coin purses coming soon!  I love these colors with the fabric I chose for my liner!  It has a very Autumn-ish feel too it, and since out leaves are already starting to fall here, it couldn't bee more appropriate.  I really love the foxy fabric!  It's cute without being babyish.  The yarn is Bernat Mosaic (which, much to my heart's dismay, has been discontinued) in the color Medusa.  I'm considering making a cushion for my couch out of these.