Crocheting for Myself

One of my friends (Thanks Jenn!) shared a link to a crocheted sweater pattern that is basically two hexagon granny "squares"  with a little alteration.  This time of year I wear heavy sweaters day and night, and this pattern looks like it should be warm.  I decided to start one for myself.  I'm using a red acrylic yarn -- in deference to my husband's wool allergies and because it is machine washable and dryable.  Red because it is a color that makes me happy.

The original pattern is here:

https://makeanddocrew.com/day-date-easy-crochet-sweater-pattern/

Prayer Shawl Project

I picked out this soft cotton and acrylic blend for a crocheted prayer shawl for a family friend whose husband passed away.  I’m using a free pattern I found online at the Red Heart site.

It is called Top Down Shawl. 

It’s underway and my kitty, Zen, finally gave up trying to help. 

Abstractly Chic Shawl Crochet A Long

I'm working on a shawl for the Abstractly Chic Shawl Crochet A Long.
If anyone is interested in the pattern, it is free.   https://marlybird.com/free-crochet-patterns/abstractly-chic-shawl-week-1/
I went with inexpensive Red Heart Yarn from Walmart in various purples with black for an accent.

I've finished week one's pattern release.  I think I like the pattern, but next time will make it with a larger hook for a looser finish.

I think there is a good chance I may kill the yarn on this one to make it drape a little better, but all in all I love the color combination and expect to get a lot of wear from it.

Monday's Retro Makings

I have three ongoing projects that I wanted to share.  They're all at various stages of completion, and I feel like they need to be completed. The hardest one is going to be the quilt, but I'll keep plugging away at it.

Feels so good!

It feels so good to have yarn back in my hands.

I'm about 7 rows from finishing the white shawl.

Christmas Continues

I know it is now the middle of January, but my side of the family was going to have our Christmas celebration on Old Christmas.  Mother Nature kind of put a few kinks in our plans.  Of course, as things have gotten busier we have had a hard time getting us all together.  We’ll keep trying, but for now we are just exchanging our gifts as we see each other. Mama bought me a beautiful apron with a Christmas design on it and  she also made me a beautiful red rose doily.  I love red and this fits perfectly on the stand in my entryway.  In fact, it couldn’t have fit any better if she had measured and custom designed it.

Finished Shawl

I've finished the skull shawl for my best friend's birthday gift.

In fact, I think it will make it to her a little early, which is fine with me.

She loves to collect skulls and Steampunk type items so I am hoping she will love this.

Last Week's Frugalities

We were spared from the wrath of hurricane Irma, but prepping for her turned last week into a less frugal than planned kind of week. I spent right much on supplies, but I was careful to only buy things that could be rotated into our meals.  The only exception was a few disposable plates, bowls, and silverware.  If we had found ourselves having to treat water or use what was in storage I did not want to have to use it on washing dishes.  Technically even those items will be used for future things -- perhaps another hurricane, a spell of sickness, or even an impromptu gathering.  

 We also opted to run the dryer to speed up the laundry process just to be safe, which is not on my frugal list.

 However, I did do some frugal things:

 1.  We cooked from our food storages and I cooked enough in the evenings to cover lunch for the next day.

 2.  I bought 13 books at the 50 cents book sale at our local library.  One was the cookbook I referenced and the rest are pleasure reading.  I'll read these, pass them on to Mama, who will send them back to me, and then I'll redonate them to the library.  An amusing cycle, but a great way to support the library and to introduce myself to some new to me authors at a low cost.

 3.  I did our stock up supplies at Aldi, with the exception of some extra water I purchased at Sam's Club.

 4.  I ordered two cushions I needed online.  Target was advertising them on sale, but the local store didn't have them.  I ordered them online and managed to get a 10% additional discount on the sale price.

 5.  I continued to entertain myself with my research project and the shawl I am crocheting.

And my shawl is growing:

Labor Day Weekend

We're having a quiet weekend at home.

Since the weather is rainy and blah I'm planning to read, crochet and watch movies.

The bottom five books are for research for a current project.

The top three books are for pleasure reading.

For the movies, we have decided to do a James Bond themed weekend.

As far as the crocheting goes, I'm working on a "Lost Souls" skull shawl.

The End is in Sight

Those three quarts of purple hull peas represent the last of my quart jars.

The concord grape jelly is finished and cooling.

I'm down to about 20 hodge podge smaller jars that I will fill with small batches.

One of the perks of canning -- for me anyway -- is that I have to stay with the canner.

I'm finding lots of time to crochet as a result of that.

These still need the ends worked in, and I am out of starch.

I'll get those things done and these will go in my Christmas gift pile.

The blue/white combination is for my brother.

I think I am going to keep the red, white, and blue for myself to use in July.

How many days until Christmas?

I always start January with the best of intentions.  I promise myself things like "I'll make a gift each month" or some such nonsense. It just never seems to happen.  Tax season starts, other holidays roll around, birthdays come and go, and life just gets busy.   

 I saw Anne's post (found here) on how to make Christmas boxes from old cards, and I immediately asked myself how many days until Christmas.  It wasn't that I hadn't been thinking about it, because I actually had.  When my children were little we had a tradition of holding a week-long Christmas in July celebration.  We made Christmas cookies, watched Christmas movies, and listened to Christmas carols.  I don't have any little ones at home anymore, but that didn't stop me from listening to my favorite carols and crocheting. 

 I now have two people marked off of my list.  A sister-in-law and my sister.  I'm sharing a photo of the gift for my sister-in-law, but since my sister reads my blog, you'll just have to take my word on her gift until Christmas comes around.

This red doily is all starched and blocked.  One of my sister-in-laws loves the color red so this is perfect for her.

This yummy blue is called Peacock.

Truthfully, I wasn't sure about the color on the spool, but the more I crocheted with it, the more I fell in love with it.

Now I just can't decide if I want to part with it or not.

My sister's gift is just waiting to be packaged and I'll mark these two off my list.

Busy Hands

Pretty much everyone knows the saying about idle hands.  Well, I've been doing a good job at keeping out of trouble.  

I've crocheted and lightly starched a Victorian Fans Collar.  

I have my pearl buttons ready, but my eyes are tired so I am going to sew one on tomorrow.

When I finished crocheting the first collar, I hopped right onto a second one.

This is a "Daisy" patterned collar.

It has been starched and only needs a button as well.

This collar is going to my pen pal, who lives in Rhode Island.

This beautiful lady and I both share a love of Victorian things.

Since I was up extremely early today (Monday), I had finished all my chores today by 9:00 AM.

Needless to say after I finished starching and shaping my collars, I still had some time on my hands.

Another darling lady (and pen pal), who lives in Pennsylvania, has been on my mind.

I wanted to send her something, but I was kind of tired of crocheting.

I pulled out this beautiful shaded pink thread and tatted her a cross bookmark.

It is starched and ready to go.

I have one more thread project going -- a bookmark for my penpal, who lives in Texas.  

We all met via a group for ladies who love Victorian history.

Toddler Friendly Minnie Mouse

It has taken some work and some alterations to make a toddler friendly Minnie Mouse, but I think I have captured her essence.   The original pattern is more of a decorator piece.  It calls for wire in the ears, wire eyebrows, eyes glued on, and other things like that.  So totally not safe for a two year old child's toy.   I think the resemblance is near enough that my niece will recognize her and hopefully she will like her gift.

Crazy Week(end)

Last week was such a crazy week, as far as me being off my routine goes.  My daughter was gone for spring break, I traveled to work with my husband, and then I had a couple of days where Mama came to stay with me.  I'm so behind in my blog reading I am not sure when I will catch up.

 However, I did have a great week. I continued to work on the usual -- eating things we have on hand, using up craft supplies, etc.

In the food department, we ate everyday...lol...something and I cooked it from ingredients we had on hand.  Of course, I didn't keep a list.  I remember making a big pot of soup for one day and eating on it for a couple...lol.  We had fried chicken in there somewhere.  Oh, and chicken pasta from the freezer.

 On the craft supplies, I actually worked on 4 placemats that I have had lingering in my stash for years.  They are a Christmas pattern, and I always tell myself I'll make them for Christmas decor.  Yet, when Christmas time rolls around I'm too busy doing other things to finish the project.  This year I am going to get them ready in advance.

 I also made a trip to Hobby Lobby while Mama was visiting. I did buy a few things that I needed.  I'm trying to be careful and only buy things needed for finishing an ongoing project.  I bought three packets of bias binding for the placemats and a rotary cutter blade.  Then I picked up three skeins of yarn for ordered projects.  (I'll share those in a second.). I also bought two pieces of decor.  Both were marked down, and they are designated for the top of a shelf I keep in the upstairs hall.  

These are the projects I bought yarn for -- mermaid tail cocoons and matching headbands.

I've sold three and had an order for a fourth.  (I am buying more yarn for the fourth today.)

They're sized newborn to 3 months and go up to the underarm....most people are using them in photos.

Then one of the pieces for the upstairs shelf was a "color me" canvas.

I settled in with my favorite markers and colored these cute little birds.

Operation Minnie

Operation Minnie has commenced! My youngest niece will be two in April, and she loves Mickey and Minnie Mouse.   This project is one of my goals for this month.

The plan is to make her Minnie for her birthday and then to make Mickey for her Christmas present.

I'm hoping to find the gumption to go ahead and also make Mickey this month to put aside.

Time will tell.

Eeyore -- The Finished Product

Eeyore is a pretty big guy.

He has 274 strands of hair (more or less) in his mane.

I love the details -- a pink bow for his tail, a tack to "hold" his tail on.

He's just adorable.

"Sits and Thinks"

  My husband's favorite quote (or one of many) ---  "Sometimes I sits and thinks and sometimes I just sits." That seems to sum up my day yesterday.  

I'm not one for sitting for hours on end.  I'm forbidden to go up and down the stairs alone.  Forbidden to lift anything.  For someone who is a constant piddler, this is quite stifling. I'm spending an excruciating amount of time sitting and thinking.   The highlights of yesterday were limited.
I'm rewatching the Inspector Morse mysteries on Acorn TV.  

I also am working on a crocheting project.  I have three skeins of the variegated yarn and one solid gray.  When I mentioned Christmas gifts I forgot to add that my uncle gave me two skeins of yarn for Christmas.  The gray was the second skein he gave me and it seems to be going well with the variegated from my stash.  I am hoping the four skeins will produce a decent sized throw.

 

The second skein he gave me was a variegated yarn and I believe the color way was called Woodlands or something similar.  I crocheted a really cute bucket hat with it.  It used the entire skein except for maybe enough for the center of a granny square.

 

 

I also cooked supper with my daughter's help.  It was a simple meal, but it seemed to take twice as long as it normally would.

I cooked rice and soy curls stir fry.  I used the Instant Pot to cook the rice and made a double batch.  I also made enough stir fry to send lunch with my husband and have leftovers for myself.  

 

This was my first time trying the soy curls and I was pleasantly surprised by how good they are.  Since I wasn't sure about the yield, I cooked the whole 8 ounce bag.  It looks like a fourth of the bag will be enough for one meal for my husband and me.  I have the leftovers in the fridge to use in a different meal.  I'm leaning toward some kind of casserole or perhaps a "chicken" soup type dish.

 

 

Even with the soy curls, this was a pretty frugal meal.  I buy rice in bulk, the peppers were some I bought on sale and froze myself, the broccoli was an Aldi purchase, and I made my own sauce using corn starch for a thickener.

 

After dinner my husband took me for a short ride just so I could get out of the house.  I came home, he helped me shower, and it was back to my trusty recliner.  So I could "sits and thinks" some more.

 

Bits and Pieces

 

I can't believe how fast the month flew by.  We've made it through Christmas and had a lovely family time.  My surgery wasn't as simple as they were expecting and I will be down and/or limited for 4 to 6 more weeks.  (I've been down almost 2 now.)  Due to this I will not be taking any classes this semester and I've been left wondering if I will go back at all.  Time will tell I suppose.

 

These are just a sampling of some of the many things we've been cooking.

The eggs in the wrap are my first taste of vegan eggs and they were actually not bad at all.

Of course, chili seemed perfect for our recent snow storm.  I even baked the goodies to in tins to help get my family  through the housebound time period.  The casserole dish has a roast dinner of cauliflower, carrots, potatoes, herbs, and vegan kielbasa...all cooked in the air fryer. 

The noodle mixture is a cajun bean pasta over kale, which I served with "cheese croissants" and next to it is "sausage" stuffed buns.  The pizza was my first taste of vegan pepperoni and it wasn't too bad.

Soups, pastas, etc.  lots of comfort foods and my newest doily. 

Then the vegan shepherd's pie was what I had for Christmas dinner.  It was excellent.

 

I made a homemade seitan that is fabulous. 

top (left to right)

bbq "chicken" seitan, mashed potatoes and peas

Gardein "fish" sandwich and slaw

blueberry pancakes

"fish" dinner with red potatoes, slaw etc.

"chicken" casserole

fried potatoes

grilled "cheese"

orange "chicken" stir fry

beans and rice

 

 

I'm spending a lot of time in my recliner with my kitty sitting with me.

I've used up a cone of cotton making dishcloths.  My mom received the yarn for Christmas, but she doesn't like to work with it.  I made her 10 dishcloths and 1 scrubby.

The doily is for my dining room table.  It took more thread that I expected, but I used a free vintage pattern and I really like the way it turned out.

Just before my surgery I worked on piecing a new quilt together.  I've slowly started hand quilting it now.

I also placed an order for some vegan supplies from Amazon.

 

Life sounds kind of boring around here, but I promise it has been full.

 

I got a couple of great Christmas gifts.

2 12" pizza pans from my mom

(These fit in my toaster oven and I love them!)

5 thrift store find soup mugs from my son and daughter in law

(My request if she could find any and I love that they are recycled.)

2 Christmas music CDs from my daughter, who knows I listen to Christmas music all year

1 large purse -- a Vegan brand and big enough to hold all my medical supplies -- from my husband and daughter

2 pair of earrings from my husband

a wall hanging from my brother

 

I loved that everything was practical and so me.

 

I hope everyone is doing well and had a great holiday season.

 

Sweater Coat in Progress

My husband and I are planning an anniversary trip for early October.  I don't think it will be cold enough for a heavy coat, but still cooler than what I will be comfortable in. I think a sweater coat will be the perfect piece.  So after pulling through all my yarn stash and looking through my patterns I settled on a yoked, chunky weight sweater jacket.  The yarn is an expensive yarn I bought years ago and gave to my mama.  Neither of us liked the original planned pattern and sent the yarn back to me recently.  I think it must have finally aged enough, because I am liking this sweater.  It also helps that I love the mix of the red, burgundy and purple.  I'll post more progress as I go along.  Basically, as far as I am concerned this is a free sweater coat for me....lol.  She decided she didn't want the yarn and all I am out of these 8 years later is my time to spend crocheting it.

Minion

One of the things I have missed most during my school time has been working with my hands.

The first thing I did is crochet this minion for my grandson.  It has been mailed and I am waiting to hear how he likes it.