Tuesday, November 30, 2010

My Thanksgiving Week

Hey ya'll!!  Man how I missed everyone and their posts! And I learned something too. Some of the blogs I read are made so that you can't go back and see what you've missed. I never noticed that before. I guess because I usually check every day at least twice to see if there are new posts.  My loss....I guess I should check while I'm away from work huh?

Anyways....I was busy over the Thanksgiving week. First I was off all week and of course that went by way too fast.......for me anyways. I went to see the doc on Tuesday to get my blood work done. That went ok, but we dickered back and forth about my back. Do you know how regular docs don't like chiropractors? Holy cow. Well the xray I saw at the chiropractor looked nothing like the one I saw that my doc took on Tuesday. So tell me...where is all the pain coming from and why does it take three steps to straighten myself up after sitting for a bit crocheting. (And I had to laugh...I took crocheting with me while waiting on him. He walks in and gives me this look like I was doing something totally foreign. He said 'Crocheting???' I said 'Yea, I'm old...whatya want???' lol    Anyways....I guess he's going to refer me to a bone doc now. We'll see where this little trip takes us, and I'm betting it's somewhere I don't want to go.






So I did quite a bit of hooking last week. And I'll be hooking my little fingers to the bone til I leave for FL for Christmas. But I not only did hooking, one day I raked and burned my whole yard (I paid for it the next day).  I baked some pumpkin bread pudding that turned out awesome!! I cleaned out, categorized and boxed up 500 books (my whole collection) to take the flea market, along with bags and bags of marbles. Do you know not one bag of marbles sold? So I will soon (probably after the first of the year) be putting marbles on Craig's List to sell. I did get rid of all of my books and some other odds and ends that I took to the flea market. I made my money back on the booth rental plus almost $100 so it was worth it, even though I busted my butt coming out of the back of my truck and was seen by a few peeps. How embarrassing. So much for my back huh???

Well...whatya think of my hookiness up above? I made a soap turtle all on my own, no pattern. I'm not thrilled about the color choices but I just went with it. I want to make more but I need to rethink the head. AND colors. :o)

And I guess you could say last week was a scarfy kind of week??? lol. The bright colored one was done in colors that I got in a large bag of yarn from a town garage sale for $5. It was a garbage bag full of yarn. It's crafted out of a row of sc, a row of hdc and a row of dc then start all over. I made this scarf for a friend that has a blue bike with peace signs all over it. I think she'll like it and it'll match her bike.

The black and multi colored motif scarf is for a friend that her birthday is December 23rd and she was heard saying recently that she never gets anything for her birthday because it's so close to Christmas. Well...she's got a surprise coming. :o) The motif's were taken from a shawl pattern that I can't recall and I would have to dig to find it. I made them quite a while back and stuffed them away. But she actually saw me working on them at that time because I took them with me on one of the runs we had. None of the motif's are the same color, even though in the pic two of the red ones look like they are, but they're not. I love this scarf....I hope she does too.

The next one - the multi colored surrounded with purple is another one that I made the grannies a long time ago and stuffed them away and pulled them out to make a scarf with. The purple brings the purple out in the squares but now I need another color to put shells around the outside and can't decide what color to use. I was thinking a sage green, because there's a smidgeon of sage green throughout the grannies. What do you think? Would that look dumb?

And the last one is made up of sc and dc in the same stitch, skip a stitch. Though I'm really po'd at myself. Somehow about 15 rows or so into it I dropped a stitch and can't figure out how and why it's not messed up except that you can see where I dropped it. I didn't notice it until I was almost to the point you see I'm at now. I hate when I do that!!!!!! Does that ever happen to you?  Sigh...........

So then I had to get back up and go to work on Monday. Mr. Lick Lick surely didn't like that but I can't help it. Gotta do what I gotta do. :o)

Anyways, I'm  happy to be back and I haven't totally caught up with everyone's blog yet but I will. I hope your Tuesday is fantastic!!
TTFN
Kat
xoxox

Friday, November 19, 2010

Sigh.......

Well, I lied. I didn't get a pic of the Pink Booty Lady. And although I was ok with her yesterday, I am not today. I got to looking at her legs and was totally put off by them. So I worked on making her clothes. Maybe I need to make her a burka (is that spelled right?) and close up the bottom like one of those baby sleeping bags.

Sorry....I feel failure is in my vocabulary today. I'm kinda bummed about it.

She sits just as pretty as you please....well she has to, look at the booty on her would ya?

Sigh..........I'm really kind of embarrassed to take a pic and show you. :o(

Happy Friday.......hope yours is way better than mine.
TTFN
Kat
xoxo

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Big Bags




I went to the mailbox at work this morning and was pleasantly surprised to see a package in there addressed to me. I had forgotten that Paula was sending my give-away prize. Instant smile. :o)


I love it! The Christmas colors put you in the mood...know what I mean? I think I am going to use it for stashing my blankie wip's. :o) That way I'll be able to see them through the mesh and they'll be in the forefront of the brain for maybe quicker finishes??? I have 3 in progress right now.......ooops I lied. 4. Sorry. I forgot about my son's.


In other hooky news......remember Bella's baby? Welllllllllll.........I got down the thighs as shown in the pic and was so perplexed on how to proceed to get the rest of the legs done with them at resembling a little bit an actual leg and foot. (I didn't take a pic last night but I will try to remember to tonight when I get home from work.) I made two and then attached them. They kind of look a little funky because of making them separate and then attaching them but I think if I can figure out how to make a dress that will cover long enough she might pass Bella's inspection. Remember, this is my first attempt without any kind of pattern, just my trusty hook and yarn. The Pink Booty Lady is ready to get facial features and hair! Yikes!! lol She's not so much a baby. The baby grew up into a lady with the biggest booty. She definitely has a LOT of junk in the trunk.
So that's it for now. I will try to get pics tonight and post tomorrow and ya'll can let me know what you think. I hope your Friday Eve turns out wonderful for you!!
TTFN
Kat
xoxox

Monday, November 15, 2010

Critterville











Happy Monday! One more week for me and I have a whole week off of work!!! Yay! BUT I do have a dr appt on Tuesday for a wellness check up. It seems my insurance company wants more money from me, but if I get a wellness checkup and supply them with some numbers then I get a reduction/discount, whatever you want to call it. So I will be foregoing my cherished coffee until after they poke me, take all my blood, and bruise me up. I also need a flu shot so that will be combined. Poked again.

One thing is Mr. Lick Lick will be one happy camper with his mama home all week. He's been right up my behind. He's loving this cool weather because he gets to snuggle under a blankie on the couch next to mama. He was funny yesterday. I moved my car so I could wash it, it was horrible with dust and dirt on it. (I live on a dirt/sand road and when it's dry the dust flies horribly and sticks to my car like a magnet) So I opened up the door and said come on....mama's moving the car. Well you would have thought we were taking a trip. He was good though, he wasn't bouncing all over the place. But I did notice that he had to check out each vantage point and hang for a while. At one point he was laying down and his little eyes were getting very heavy. But he finally had enough and wanted out. I was almost done anyways. I had to laugh at him though because it was as if he was trying out which place had the best view.

Anyways...I don't have any hooky goodness going on other than what is on the hooks right now. So I thought I would show a couple of pics that I took of critters in the woods of eastern GA.

The dragonfly pic stunned me. I don't know if you can see it or not (click on the pic to make it bigger) but there are sand particles on his/her eye! I can't believe it let me get this close to it. Maybe it was momentarily blinded??? LOL But how cool huh? I actually had taken a bunch of pics and only two came out. My lens fogged up because I had been in the car with the a/c on on the way home from work.

One of the things I fear most living where I do is rattlesnakes. They are literally in my backyard. And if you want to be technical about it, I am in THEIR backyard. But I fear them not only for myself, but for my babies.....well baby now. All I have left is Leo. Pee once got bit by a baby copperhead years ago when Misty was alive. They had cornered it and were doing a gang upon it and Pee got nailed. That landed him at the vet overnight. I was so freaked out over it. But a rattlesnake will most definitely kill a dog. And there are some mighty big ones in this neck of the woods. I, myself, have seen one that was at least 8 feet long and not sure how much bigger because the tail part of the snake was in the bushes. It was halfway out in the road (my road) and like I said the back end of it was in the bushes. And the thing was that I had taken Pee and Misty for a walk that day with only enough light left to go to the top of my road and back. I had my pistol in my back pocket but you can't hold on to two jack russells who are deathly afraid of guns and try to shoot a rattlesnake that's 50 feet away. It just doesn't work. So what do you do? Well while the light is fading to blackness, you pick up and chunk whatever you can to make that joker go back where it came from. Which is what I did but oh was I scared. And Pee loved snakes. He would go after one in a heart beat. That's all I needed to do was try to go by that big joker and Pee try to get it and the snake get one of us. By the time all of this drama was over I did not make it back to my house before blackness. And it's literally black at night where I live. You cannot see your hand in front of your face when there is no moon. ANYWAYS....this snake was a dead rattle snake on my road about 1/10th of a mile from my driveway. It's about average to see one this length. Surely you've heard about this biggest rattlesnake? That was found in the next county up from mine. I'm talking not even 20 miles from me!! I'll tell you what...I do not walk in my woods in the summer time. EVER.

Ok.....let's get away from that...you keep it in the back of your mind always and pray you never see one.

The last two pics are that of an empire moth that I found on one of my pine trees. I was totally blown away. I have never seen anything as beautiful in nature as this. And it was hairy too! Look at the hair on this moth. Can you believe it? I was beside myself and took probably 100 different pics of it. I watched it for hours until I had to go in. The next day obviously it was gone but I was so in awe of it. Where do they go? Never mind that...where did it come from? I never saw it's cocoon. It had to be quite large because he/she was quite large.
I hope you liked visiting critterville. We have a lot of different ones that's for sure. I had one in my house this last week and I finally got him out yesterday. An anole (lizard) had found his way in the house somehow. He ended up in my bathroom hanging out with the two orchids I brought inside for the winter. I decided yesterday that I needed to get him out before he starved to death, I just hope he won't freeze to death....I don't know which death is worse. I got him to jump on me then quickly walked outside to let him go. I don't know what Leo was thinking but he was hot on my trail out the door. And it worked. Mr. Anole was on my head until I went to pull my hair together and then he jumped off into the plants on my front porch. The ones I still haven't brought in!! sigh.......
Here's hoping your Monday is wonderful!
TTFN
Kat
xoxo

Friday, November 12, 2010

GIVE AWAY AT THE CROCHET SLUTS!!!

Yepper, you heard it right.........Paula is having a give away and time is running out! Are you going to let me and Pammy Sue be selfish???????????

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Giveaway over at Jenni-Mac's!!

Jenni-Mac is having a giveaway of a wonderful cookbook -Williams-Sonoma Thanksgiving Entertaining. It looks to be a wonderful cookbook full of lucious food. Check it out!

Post of the Crochet Kind






















Ok.....I have several pics to show you. A couple of my wip's and a couple of fo's. :o)

I am working on a ghan for my son. The pattern is from Pammy Sue's Good & Plenty. Mine is of the blue persuasion. It started out rumpelly but I think that was my fault. I tried to make the foundation chain loose but I guess I did a poor job of it. It's coming along slow but nice. I do at least a couple of rows a night. (I have to divide my hooky wip's up each night for variety)
I made a hat for Kylie's noggin. Actually I had just whipped one up and thought it could be for one of Bella's babies but discovered it fit Nellie Noggin perfect. :o) So it found a home. Whatcha think about Nellie's little smiley friend? I made that for my sister to put in with her birthday card when I sent it, but I changed my mind. I made her a little fishy instead and stupid me didn't get a pic of it before I sent it. Oh well.
And....don't laugh.......well ok, go ahead and laugh....look at the butt on that doll would ya??? I know the pic is bad but that was the best I could do last night. I have made this doll from scratch, no pattern, just me and my hands and trusty little hook and pink kid's yarn. I'm stuck with the legs right now. I'm bummed because one leg is smaller than the other. And I think I know why but I am NOT going to tear it back out. It's for Bella and she won't mind. Until she gets older and notices.....hey....why is that leg bigger than the other???? LOL. But I had a heck of a time from the butt to the legs. It shouldn't have been complicated but it was.
And last but not least.......the purse I made for Jen. I looked for the pattern last night....I must have stuck it somewhere because I couldn't find it. It's called a Flower Burst Bag. The yarn is Bernat worsted. I love the color, it's a dusty purple kinda. That may be the name of the color but I'm not sure. Thank you Yasmin for sharing this lovely pattern. I love it! I may make another one. It was pretty simple to make.

So it's Friday Eve!!! I'm hoping tomorrow is quiet here at work. This week has been a horrible, stressful week for me. I was about ready to lose it this morning but went out to lunch and came back feeling better for having gotten out in the world for a little while. I didn't need to spend the money on lunch but the renewing of my sanity made it worth it.
I hope your day was one of contentment and happiness. Here's to a million just like that! :o)
TTFN
Kat
xoxox

Veteran's Day




I will do two posts today. First and most important is to thank a veteran today. Thank ALL veterans today. We are able to enjoy freedoms that we so often take for granted because of our military, our veterans, from all of the branches. They and their families sacrifice so much for the rest of us. Some sacrifice their lives.




If you do nothing else today take a moment to think what it would be like, or could be like, if we didn't have these men and women looking out for us. Collectively they do a job that helps keep our country safe from terrorists. Just think how it would be without them. There would be so many 9/11's and our country would be in chaos. I shudder to even think about things like that.




When you see a person in uniform shake their hand and say thank you. Just that simple little gesture means so much to them. It makes what they do seem worthwhile to them. That's not so hard to do is it??? I don't think it is.




To all of our service men and women - THANK YOU!! I appreciate you and what you do for our country. You are my heroes!




xoxoxo


Kat

Friday, November 5, 2010

Cold Friday




Brrrrrrr.....it's a tad chilly in GA today. The rains went through yesterday and now it's clear and cold. My heat was definitely on this morning. And it's supposed to be in the low 30's this weekend but I bet out at my place it'll be in the high 20's. And I still haven't brought in my plants yet....I don't know what I'm going to do. It's always colder out in the country than it is in the city. I'm amazed at the flucuation of temp from the city to the country. It's anywhere from 5 to 10 degrees difference.


I have started crocheting on a doll for Bella for Christmas. The head is done and I have stuffed it and moved on down to the shoulders. I had an idea, one of which I hadn't seen done on any of the dolls or amigurumi's. After I did the neck and started graduating out to the shoulders I did 3 sc in one stitch and when I got to the other side (directly across from it) I did another 3 sc in a stitch and just kept going with sc. After 3 or 4 rounds I had this hump on either side that when pushed out from the inside out looked just like regular shoulders! So then to even them out and keep on sc'ing the body, I came off of the shoulder and did a row of hdc over to the other shoulder, crocheted sc around that shoulder until I came back around and then did that row in hdc so that the row around was back even all the way around again. Has anyone done that do you know? I've looked at a lot of patterns and don't recall this happening in any of them. I meant to take a pic of it last night but it got late (7:30) and it was time for bed. But anyways, I crocheted the hdc as tight as I could so that the fill won't show, but I may try my hand at making some clothes for this doll.


That will be a first for me, making doll clothes. I wanted to try to put some breasts on her but I think that may be a bit too much. I think an easy dress will be the order of business as far as clothes go. But I am liking how she's turning out so far, even though she's not even half done.


I have also started (another wip) crocheting a motorcyle. I emailed Gudrun for her pattern and oh man....it's 26 pages, very detailed. Of course I started off with the tires as her pattern starts off and came to realize real quick how hard it is to work with black thread. I should have known because I have a hard time with black yarn too. I can only work on it so long and then I have to put it down because I get a headache squinting, trying to see the stitches. And that's underneath a light with my readers on. (Have I said before how I HATE growing old??) I am determined on this one though and after it's all done this is one project I am not giving away. It's going in my curio cabinet. :o) But check out some of her other stuff. This woman is a talented individual.


Well I guess I will sign off of here for now. Have a wonderful weekend where ever you may be!
TTFN
Kat xoxo


PS/Up top is a bib I made for a friend's grand baby and a little bit of my desk eye candy. I have quite a bit of hooky goodness around my desk area. One of these days I need to take a pic of all my desk eye candy.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Geeze Louise


They're back...phew. All of a sudden, just like when they left, they are back.


I don't know about ya'll but I read all of the blogs I follow and catch up when I've been away for a while. I love each and every one of them and feel like I know a little bit about each person. There are a few that I'm really partial to that I don't like missing at all. Sounds like I need to get a life huh? :o) I have a life, believe me, I just like to get lost from it, from time to time. What better way than to see what others are doing in their little world?


I sometimes feel connected, or disconnected, as the case may be. I feel like I am not the only one out there who feels like they do. It makes me feel better when someone is like me in regards to one thing or another. Then I know I'm not so weird after all! :o) lol....I think we are all weird in our own little ways. Ok then, idiosyncrasies (I had to look that up and I had misspelled it with an i instead of a....I just knew it didn't look right). I love dictionary.com.


So....hooky wise I have been working on little things here and there. I made a purse for my daughter. Sorry I don't have a pic of it but I will do that soon and post it. It turned out really nice, I was surprised. I did follow a pattern. And don't you know that I tried to cheat and leave a row out and it came back to bite me in the butt crocheting the handles on it. And I knew right away what the deal was, why it wasn't right. GRRRRRR....I was mad with myself.


I am trying to design my own purse but guess what? It's not coming out like I had imagined. So I don't know what I'm going to do. I put it down for the time being. And the thing is that I actually had written each row down as I went. Figures huh? I have like 15 rows done on it.


Pammy Sue (Scotty's Place) has me intrigued on a blanket she is doing that is supposed to be quick and easy. I'm anxiously awaiting her pattern on that so I can bust out some of my stash. I was thinking I have way too much and need to get rid of some. What better way than to make a blankie? My blue/purple/green tub is overflowing with color. I cannot fit another skein in there.


Yea, I have tubs color coded. Like I said, I have a blue/purple/green tub with all shades of each. I have a red/pink/orange/yellow tub, a white, cream, brown, black tub, a variegated tub, a thread tub, a cotton tub and last but not least a softee tub. That's all my softee yarns. The bottom of my closet is filled with yarn tubs. Yea, I'm a yarn ho........so??? lol


Anyways, I better get to doing something here......what I don't know cuz I'm all caught up. I do want to say one thing..........GO VOTE! Heaven knows we need to try to pick someone who will do US in the US some good. I'm really tired of all these crooked politicians who only care about themselves and not the people who put them where they are. Don't they realize that when we are taken care of that they in turn will to be taken care of?? It's really not that hard is it? I don't want to get on a tangent here but geeze Louise, all this money they raised for all of the negative ads they put on tv and radio and roadside to torture us with.........why can't they put that money to GOOD use and put people back to work, pay down our deficit, pay our troops better wages for the sacrifices they and their families make........on and on and on. I don't know about you but I'm damn sick and tired of listening to their crap about this one and that one. They are ALL CROOKED!! Every last one of them. They all have the wherewithall to fix our country and put people back to work. Why can't they JUST DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


K.....I am off my soapbox now. I hope you have had a great day and that your evening will be better, filled with love and laughter.

TTFN

Kat xoxo
PS/I kinda stole that pic....well not really......he sent it to me a long time ago but we aren't friends anymore. But that's why you see the big c in the circle. I still love the pic...he absolutely knows his way around a camera now. The pic is one of serenity.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Screaming at the TOP of my lungs

Not really but......Ok....I don't know what's up but all of the blogs I follow are missing in my dashboard. What's up with that??? I filled out a form. Hopefully it'll be fixed soon.

I found it when I went to add one. :o(