Crocheted Tablecloth

Many, many years ago my grandma and grandpa crocheted this tablecloth. Since "the move" I have been slowly going through stuff and documenting handwork from the past. My grandparents crocheted this together. You cannot tell who crocheted which pieces. It is so wonderful. It is rectangular so it looks different on my round table but it is so beautiful.

 

 

 

You really cannot get the perspective. Perhaps I should have laid it on a bed.

 

 

Imagine the amount of time it took to crochet all these little stitches.

 

 

I love it.

Merry Christmas!

The Night Before Christmas

Cold!

Cold weather finally arrived. It "snowed" at my house. Well just a dusting but still it was snow. Unfortunately I'm still having picture issues so I can't post my chairs with snow on them. Here is the good and the bad. Too hot and I feel awful, too cold and it can be tolerable or wack me out. It was 24 degrees yesterday morning. That's pretty chilly for Texas. I love that we are having cooler weather but it does tend to play havock with my joints, seems lately especially more in my back. But I refuse to let it get me down. I've gone Christmas shopping with the girls and Monday night went to Jo's Christmas program at school. As long as I am on all my meds if there is an issue usually good ole Tylenol will help. I have discovered that it has to be "Real Tylenol" not generic. Because of the meds I take I can only use Tylenol not Motrin, etc. So I am enjoying the cool weather because it is a nice change and with that still crocheting up a storm. Wish I could share pictures of projects. Once the issue is corrected there will have to be a big picture post.

Fast And Furious

I am still here, crocheting as fast and furious as I can. I am having issues with posting pictures so sadly I cannot show you what I am working on. Some things will have to wait till after Christmas anyway. Hopefully I will have the picture issue straightened out by then. When my doctor asked me if I needed something for all the stress that has been going on around here I said nope, I just keep buying yarn and whipping up new projects. We are supposed to get some cold weather here tonight so perhaps winter is arriving.

It Is Too Hot For December

This looks nice. Yes I know in a few months I may wish for some warmer weather but really, it is December 3rd and it has been 83 degrees today. We are wearing shorts, t-shirts and flip flops. We have broken records for high temperatures the last few days. Perhaps we do not have to go to the snow extreme but could we at least have some fall temperatures?

True No Matter How Old They Are

A friend of mine posted this on Facebook. This is so true no matter how old your kids are. You can do or say whatever you want to me/or about me (those who know me know how quiet and reserved I am...haha) but if you mess with my kids you have crossed a line that you can never backpetal fast enough for you to ever be my friend again.

Shawlette

Sister JE sent me a lovely shawlette a while back. Somehow in all the goings on recently I did not get it blogged. Here are a couple of pictures. Look at the shawl, not me. Euroflax linen and I believe the color is called Flamingo. It is lovely.

 

 

 

Thank You

To all those who have served or currently serve our country, thank you.

 

My son Joseph and Jo

 

 

My Dad

 

 

Joseph with Uncle Chappell, retired Army colonel.

 

 

Play Day

Allison and TJ had a wedding to attend so the girls came over to play and have lunch at McDonalds.

 

 

Love that playground.

 

 

 

 

Cracks Me Up

 

I don't think there is anyone who can drag Halloween out as long as Scout.

Great Idea

 

A friend posted this on Facebook. Love it.

Another New Hat

 

I made my little neighbor a new hat. I am confident that someday soon  we will stop having this summer weather. We will probably go from 80 to 35 in one day. I made this pattern for Jo many years ago out of a yarn that the color was called Pom Pom. I have called the pattern the Pom Pom hat ever since even though it has no pompoms. Super easy. Cast on 56 with 11's and switch to 10's. Purl the first row.

K2,P2 for rows 2-27. Decrease rows 28-40. I have used many colors and combinations of colors.

This is knit with Joann's Sensations Sincerely yarn, #K627-Royal Blue. Very soft yarn. Pattern fits a 1-2yr old. The K2,P2 stretches to fit many sizes.

 

VOTE!

 

 

"Voting is the best revenge"

Barack Obama

 

"Don't vote for revenge, VOTE FOR LOVE OF COUNTRY"

Mitt Romney

 

VOTE!

 

Cool Card

If you have checked out Pinterest you know they have lots of things that you can add to your list in the craft area. Crazy Aunt Jane loves scrapbooking and LOVES making cards. I had to show the absolutely darling card she made Jo for her birthday. Coolest idea I have ever seen.

The candles on the cake are rolled up "dollars". This is so cool.

 

Jo's cake.

 

Monster High cake with Frankie Stein. Allison out did herself again.

It was a great party.

 

Happy Birthday Jo!!

Seven years ago today I became YoYo. Me and Jo.

 

Jo and her Uncle Daisey

 

Jo loves her chickens

 

Enjoying McDonalds

 

Sisters - Jo and Scout

 

 

Happy Birthday Jo! I love you bunches!

 

Cute Hat

My neighbor is going to be a grandma tomorrow. I made this cute little baby hat for her to take to the birth. My "birth hat" pattern knit in Bernat Baby Jacquard #6412, Berries and Cream. This is really great self striping yarn.

 

 

A First

I did something today I have never done before. I voted in Early Voting. I wasn't going to but we have some things going on and I did not want to miss Election Day. I used an electronic voting machine, another first. We usually used the "color in the circle with a Sharpie and drop it in the counting machine" method. I love the voting process. I love coloring in the circles. I don't mind standing in line waiting to exercise our freedom to vote. On election day after voting I would come home and all evening enjoy watching the election results, well most of the time. So this year I will have already voted even though I joked I could just go stand in line just for the fun of it. So this is an early heads up. Go and vote. Because remember if you don't go vote, you shouldn't gripe if you don't like the results on election night.

Blake's Hat 2

I made Blake another hat. He is the new baby of our infusionist at the doctor's office. Actually he is 6 mos now. Back on September 28th I made him a bigger hat, (picture of it on that post). His mommy showed me a picture of him last week and the hat fit great. So babies being what they are I figured he better have a second one for back up. Here it is.

 

Sensations Sincerely Royal Blue # K627 (from Joann's)

Red Heart  Soft White #0316

 

The Sensations yarn is very soft and comes in a 7oz skein.

I so believe in hats that cover the ears. It helps avoid those nasty ear infections.

Hats are also good "therapy". No wonder I make so many.

 

 

Jo's Hooded Scarf

Jo wanted a hooded scarf but could not find a pattern she liked. We were not too big on the ones that have a point on top of the head so we just created our own pattern. I used Red Heart Team Spirit yarn in Red/Grey #0988. I cast on 20 st and knit for 16". I then added 35 st more for the top of the hood. After knitting 24" I decreased back to 20 st and knit 16" more. We played with the pattern while I was knitting to get what Jo and Allison thought would be a good length. We thought of using lion buttons at the neck to pull the hood closer in. The lion is her school mascot. It was hard to find lion buttons and after we got them we did not like that idea. So we ended up seaming the top shut. Because we really were making this out of the air when we seamed the top the stripes did not match but Jo liked it.

 

What I liked about the fact that we just experimented was that the scarf is wide enough at the back of the neck that when Jo wears her coat it fits right over the scarf.

 

 

I love how this turned out. No cold wind blowing down your neck.

We decided to add the tassel so the hood was not pointy. I think I got a little carried away on the size of the tassel. I braided the strand to hang it from and added the tassel. Before I gave it to her I told Jo I would redo the tassel. It really is a little big, but she liked it.

 

 

This yarn stripes itself and comes in many school colors. It is a little rough as a lot of Red Heart is and if I use it again I will use the soften idea (earlier post) before I begin the project. But I liked the self striping.

 

Apparently Jo liked her hooded scarf enough she decided she would wear it a bit longer....in the house.

 

 

 

 

Monster High Hat

Jo's birthday is coming up and I finished her Monster High hat. I went ahead and gave it to her today because I won't see her on her actual birthday.

 

Covers the ears great. I also made it big enough to go over her ponytail.

We were going to a couple of fall festivals today and the girls wore their costumes.

 

Here Jo is with her Frankie Stein costume on, including the wig.

I asked for a nice picture and then said she could be scary.

 

This is what I got. Pretty scary.

 

Scout was not a happy camper at this point so no picture.

Maybe next time.

 

Little Girl Hat

A friend of Allison's recently had a new grandbaby. Out went the call for a hat. This one was Allison's idea and I think it came out really cute.

 

Bernat Satin Worsted #0423 Flamingo

Bernat Boa #0416 Chick

 

I used a base row of worsted yarn and then switched to the Boa for five rows. Then I returned to the worsted and finished the hat in it. This is my standard newborn roll brim hat . It is a great pattern and so versatile.

Have A Laugh

I ran across this cartoon Emily had posted at Chronic Curve (site located below my blog list). I laughed out loud. Matthew, aka Uncle Daisey, came through his surgery and is now recovering and this made me think of him. His surgery was no laughing matter taking 7 hours but we are confident he is on the road to a full recovery. So because of that I thought hey now we can have a laugh.

 

Trying Again

I went to Michael's today and exchanged the Loops and Threads Fabulous yarn I posted about yesterday. Here is hoping this one works better. I actually went ahead and checked and balled up the skein and there were no "ties". So here's hoping that the Christmas garland will turn out.

Is There Any Good Yarn Out There?

By good yarn I am not talking about wonderful Alpaca or cottons or wool, I am talking about good acrylic. Oh yes, I can hear it now, acrylic...yuk.. the stepchild of yarns. Well sometimes you need a good acrylic. Acrylic is good and sturdy for fast growing kids, hats and scarves for deployed soldiers, hats knit for needy children who would not have a hat otherwise. Arylic is suggested for many charity projects because it can be treated roughly and still comes out ok. Sometimes we may not be financially in the postition to fork out $75 for some really nice yarn we like. I am also not going to make something out of expensive yarn for a 4yr old who gets their afghan caught in their bike spokes. This has actually happened in my family. Fortunately we were able to repair the beloved blankie. I have had several projects for fall that I have needed to use acrylic yarn. It seems that crappy yarn spans the spectrum of companies. I got some Red Heart, not my favorite but the colors worked. There is a previous post on trying to "soften" this yarn. Not too far into the pattern I found the yarn had broken at the factory and had been tied together. Now we all have to tie yarn once in a while but usually where we want not just out of the blue. I got some With Love Red Heart Yarn and some Caron Simply Soft. Same issue. You get knitting or crocheting along and bam right in the middle there is that tied together yarn. Aggravating. Today was what sent me over the edge. I had purchased some Loops and Threads Fabulous Yarn from Michaels. 

 

Cool looking yarn. You simply knit the edge of the yarn and it gathers up. They had a scarf on display but I got to thinking that it would make a cool garland for the Christmas tree.

 

 

I used size 7 needles and cast on three stitches. I am merrily knitting along when I found the first tie. What? Dang ok I am not too far I will just start over. That is the chain at the bottom of the picture. So I recast on and am merrily knitting along thinking this is cool yarn but not something I would use a lot and bam, a second tie-together. Are you seriously kidding me!! Now I am mad. See the second chain. All I wanted was to knit this yarn up and have a cute little garland. I did not want to spend half the time having to "repair" the yarn. Obviously the people who process yarn are not knitters or they might have a solution to "their" problem. Oh, hey I have a solution already. Any skeins that break could be sold as smaller skeins or hey they could be marked as broken skeins and then you would know what you were getting. I mean I do not mind getting them if I know what I am getting and can work around my pattern. Ok, rant is over. It is frustrating though to deal with this problem. I am thinking I will just cast on again and then see how far to the next broken area. Eventually I will have to tie it all together, but, seriously...isn't there a solution somewhere?

Cute Hat, But Does It Work?

I am working on a birthday hat for Jo. She will be having a Monster High birthday. I did not want her to know about the hat but was unsure about how it was turning out. It seemed wide and even though I had found the pattern on Ravelry it seemed to not be coming out the way I wanted. Solution, tell her this was to be a surprise but I need your help and opinion. She loved it, said it looked cool and fit great. So here is a pix of a half done hat. Full info to follow soon.

 

Funny girl.

 

 

Covers the ears even over a ponytail, very important.

She liked it so much she did not want to take if off , even unfinished.

So I will finish this up this weekend and give the full info on the pattern and yarn.

 

World Arthritis Day

Today is World Arthritis Day. I first showed the symptoms of Rheumatoid Arthritis when I was 21 years old. I was never really diagnosed with RA because one, I did not go to a rheumatologist and two, it went away and I thought it was just a passing thing. It flared again when I was in my thirties. Again it went away. I should have been thinking it could be RA because my Dad and my Grandma both had RA. I was busy raising kids and living life and just struggled through it. In 2001 RA struck with a vengeance and has never gone away. I am lucky to have a wonderful rheumatologist who provides me with great meds. Most people do not know I have RA because these meds keep me moving. But... it never goes away. I deal with some form of pain or other issue that comes with RA every single day. One thing that I love to do is knit and crochet. I am so lucky to be able to continue to do these activites. When I was discussing my hand hurting at one doctor appointment I reminded my doctor of my yarn activity. He stated, "I will never tell you to stop. You know when to rest but that is a good activity for your hands." Today we are so lucky to have the medicines we do to help us live with all the different arthritis diseases.

 

World Arthritis Day is a day to raise awareness of all the different types of arthritis. One good informative website is www.iaamovement.org . Check it out.

My New Picture

I went to Jo's Open House at school recently. She had made me a picture.

 

It is now framed and on the wall. I absolutely love it.

A Little Bit of Luck

I found this little four leaf clover pattern on Pinterest. Matthew likes four leaf clovers and Jo wanted to find one to give to him. I told her they are hard to find but I could make one for her to give him.

 

Caron Wintuck yarn #3251 Holiday Green

 

I sewed a safety pin on the back so they could be worn as pins. One is for Uncle Daisey (Matthew) and the other is for Aunt Corteney. It was a very easy pattern and I think turned out great.

Ack!

Recently on Pinterest they had a post on how to soften yarn. I thought I would try it on some Red Heart I was going to use on the skeleton and pumpkin hats. I followed the directions. Take off the label, loosen the yarn a little, put it in a small laundry bag and wash. I followed the intructions. This is what I got.

 

Before

 

 

After. Yeah.

 

 

After about two hours it looked like this. I used this yarn for the previously posted pumpkin hats.

 

 

Interestingly this is how the other two came out. Fine.

I decided I had loosened the skeins too much so I tried it again. Took off the labels, did not loosen the skeins, put it in the laundry bag  and threw it in the washer.

 

This is what I got. Crazy.

 

So I decided that it must have to do with the skein itself and it is a toss up as to whether you will have yarn barf or not. I guess it is theraputic to untangle the yarn. I do know it does make it softer, although I did add some softener to the rinse.