Crocheted Beanie Fun

We arrived home from our trip to Arizona and the Grand Canyon yesterday. Like all vacations, it did not last long enough. It was amazing though. Arizona is a beautiful state. We did a lot of driving. I took some great pictures, but I will save them for my next post. It certainly was an exciting and memorable holiday trip.

I anticipated really cold weather for this trip, at least cold by South Floridian standards. The weather forecasts kept saying 20's and 30's for the days we would be there. Wouldn't you know it, it was in the 60's and 70's at least in the day time. The night time was different, but we stayed in. So much for the new winter coats I bought! I hope we get a cold snap in Miami so we can at least wear them once this winter. 

All of this winter weather planning got me inspired to make us hats before we left.  I've never crocheted hats before, so I went on a search and found a cool pattern on Etsy right here.

These were super easy to make and came out awesome. I was really happy with the results. It also taught me how to crochet in the round. A technique that I didn't know how to do.

My son's Beanie.

My Beanie:

My Boyfriend's Beanie:

Even though it wasn't that cold, we still wore our beanies. I told the boys I wanted some family pictures with our beanies on at the Grand Canyon.

These are such a fun project. I made a second one on the plane in the same colors as my boyfriend's and listed it in my Etsy store. He actually has a few co-workers who want to buy some beanies from me too. I was very surprised. A couple of the girls asked for matching scarves too. I'm very excited about this. If you would like one for yourself or as a gift, feel free to ask.

Thanks for stopping by today. 

**Hugs and Love from Sunny Miami**

Jen

Painting in a Sports Bar

Yes, you read the title correctly. I recently took another painting class, but this time it was at a sports bar restaurant. Sounds kind of odd right? My step mom found a company called Paint Nite on Living Social.com and signed us up for a painting class. This class caught her interest because it was being taught right down the street at the Ale House, literally a 3 minute drive away. I thought it was a bit odd to have a painting class at this restaurant. It is your typical Sports Bar type restaurant with low lighting, TVs everywhere and screaming sports fans.  Not the same class like feeling as the other painting class I recently did. That was at an actual studio. However, my worry started subsiding when I saw what we were painting:

Naturally being the Disney fanatic that I am I was ecstatic to see that we were painting Jack Skeleton from The Nightmare Before Christmas. My step mom and I decided to sit really close to the instructor. She had a microphone but even still it was hard to follow her. They didn't seem to think that having a painting class at a sports bar on the same night as Game 7 of the World Series and also the same night of the Miami Heat's first game was a bad idea! Ooops!

This poor instructor didn't seem to consider the lighting issues either otherwise she would maybe have chosen a painting with brighter colors. I happened to be sitting in front of a crane game. That was my light for the evening. So here are my progress photos.

I am very pleased with how he turned out. There were some parts of him like his hands that were a bit tricky, but I made them work. His little dog "Zero" was a little challenging to paint too. 

I'm glad he turned out well because honestly, I was a little stressed out painting him. The restaurant was so noisy and trying to concentrate on the instructor was difficult. It was not a relaxing experience like painting should be. I did tell my step mom that I would do another class, but not one at this location again. We shall see!

Thanks for visiting with me. I hope those of you up north are not getting too buried in snow. The weather has been sort of chilly in Miami, but nothing too cold. I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving. I will be here next week!

This will be our first time seeing this magnificent site in person. Can't wait!

**Hugs and Love from Sunny Miami**

Jen