Whitniffic Whatnots

I can't believe how fast fall flew by... it seems like I just barely hung up my fall decor, and now it's time to switch to Christmas! My fall dining room leaf garland turned out really cute. I gathered a bunch of maple and oak leaves at the dog park one weekend, and then I pressed them for a week or so. I decided to cover them with glitter... which was really fun! I found a great glitter sample pack in fall colors at JoAnn's, and there was just enough in each little pouch for two or three leaves. I absolutely love the bright reds! I hung some of the festive garland under our buffet window, a couple little strands from the pretty wood columns (these were anchored with rocks I grabbed from the back yard :)), and also from the chandelier. The ones hanging from the light didn't quite look right with one side the natural dry, crunchy brown of dead leaves, so I sprayed them with a hammered finish copper spray paint. Such an interesting texture! To make the garland,

Here is the chart I worked off of for the football blanket... it is sized for a baby afghan, about 36 by 48 inches, but the chart can be easily modified to make it bigger. I worked the entire blanket in double crochet, and the white laces in the center were made with the tapestry stitch, in which the color not being used is carried across the top of the work and the stitches are made over it, concealing the color. Here's a pretty good tutorial for the tapestry stitch, although as I stated earlier, I did all double crochet for this project, but the concept is the same. For this particular blanket, I used five balls of Bernat Waverly yarn in brown, and almost a whole skein of Red Heart Super Saver in white for the lines and laces. I believe I used a size J hook, which made the project go nice and quick. Adjust the size of yarn and hook to fit your needs- everyone crochets differently! Happy crocheting! :) Update: if you love this football blanket, check out my football