Wednesday Love

Hi! I'm back. Sorry I haven't posted for a while. I was really busy at work before Leo's surgery and then we left the next day to go to FL for Christmas.

Leo had to have two teeth pulled. His two upper incisors, which are located between his canines, had to be pulled because they were abscessed. He was not a happy camper with me. But I had no choice, it was either that or him be in pain and I risk losing him because infections like that are usually fatal in dogs. So I took him in a week ago yesterday and left him at 7ish and they wouldn't let me pick him up until 5:30. He came out of it ok but very sore. He had antibiotics and prednisone to take. He's done really well. I haven't looked because I can't bear to but he doesn't seem to miss them.

The next morning I packed us up to head south for Christmas. I'd had his cage in the back seat to take him to the vet (he doesn't travel well). So I opened up the door to the car and left his cage door open and he climbed up in there and stayed until we left. He would not come out. I left around noon, which turned out to be the best time to go. Surprisingly traffic wasn't too bad. I-95 through Jacksonville is usually a booger. I don't like traveling through there but there's no other choice. It was a 5 hour drive that was fairly uneventful. Thankfully. Except Leo doing this high pitched whine under his breath the whole way. I thought I was going to go insane listening to it. I was really glad to get to my sisters and let him out of the car.

Christmas was good except for no sleep Christmas Eve because the people behind my daughter's partied, loudly, all night. She called the cops twice, to no avail. Why do people not have respect for others? I'm not going to tell you the thoughts running through my head of what needed to be done to get the quiet we needed to sleep. But I digress. Part of my Christmas present to Kylie, my 8 year old grand daughter, was 3 crochet hooks, the 'I Taught Myself To Crochet' book (which I mostly learned from), and a bunch of yarn. She was so happy. And I tried to teach her in the little bit of time we had together. She was a bit slow but managed to get chains down pat. We will be skyping together so I can show her more. I'm excited! I wish I had learned when I was her age. I'm hoping she will keep learning and soon be making all of us crochet treasures!

On the crochet front for myself I have been making some hats. I think I have 9 or 10 that I have done and given away. Everyone has told me that I need to sell them. So I think that is what I'll do. All of the hats but two were made with double yarn and all in half double. They're quick and easy to make and also a great stash buster. I also have started on Bella's baby doll, like I made Kylie for her birthday. Only Kylies had brown hair and Bella's will have yellow hair. Respectively like the girl's own hair color.

OK, I need to ask for some advice or input. I have a new I-Pad, with which I am posting this from. I just found out that I cannot upload photos from my I-Pad on blogger to the post. I suppose I could upload the pics to flickr but really didn't want to go through the hassle. So I was entertaining the thought of changing over to Word Press. There is an app on I-Pad for Word Press called Blogsy but there isn't an app for Blogger. My browser is Safari so the url up at the top isn't blogspot.com, it's blogger.com. I haven't even tried to put a link in the post but my most important mission is to be able to input pics with my post. What'a a post without pics?? Boring as crap, that's what. lol. Does anyone who reads me have an I-Pad and is posting on blogger? Or do you know anyone that does? Any input would be greatly appreciated!! I've been checking out WordPress but wanted to research it thoroughly before making any drastic changes. I can post from work as time permits but I'd love to be able to post from home or mobile also.

So that's what's up with me. I still have a lot of catching up to do on blogs. Please bear with me. :o) I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. New Years is a few days away. I can't believe it. Hopefully I will post more soon with pics! Cya soon!

TTFN
Kat
xoxo

Christmas Carol

I received an email with the following youtube Christmas Carol done with all animals. It is so cute.

For those of us who love our fur babies, I think you will enjoy this as much as I did.
Kat

Crochet Magazines & Update on Leo

Happy Friday ya’ll!  It’s a chilly one here in the south today. Although the temp is supposed to get up to 63. Yesterday it was clear and sunny but that wind cut right through you and if you were in the shade it was pretty chilly. 

A couple of days ago I received my first of 4 ‘Quick & Easy Crochet’.  I have to say that I am very disappointed in this magazine.  In my opinion it’s not worth what I paid for it. Not to mention that I paid for it way back in June and didn’t receive the first one until now. And it was definitely not worth the wait. I will not be renewing this subscription. 

                                                       

The only pattern I had an interest in doing was the very last one in the magazine for a pair of slippers. And even that was disappointing. The pattern is written supposedly for 3 different sizes. I used Red Heart Painted Deserts medium yarn and an H hook, which is what the pattern calls for (except color).  I figured I needed to make the large size, as I have large feet. I’m an amazon after all. lol  So I get going on it and the very first round has how many chains you need for the appropriate sizes 25 (27,29). So I made 29. When you get to the end of the round there are 2 chains left. I did it twice, thinking I had screwed up, even though I counted right.  So that tee’d me off right away. First I’m disappointed in the magazine and then the one pattern I tried is screwed up.  So I started AGAIN. I went with the 25 starting chain. The pattern works for the small size……..they forgot to put the additional stitches in for the larger sizes. :o(   And it seems that maybe my foot is getting smaller??? The small size fit me. I also left out quite a few different rounds. The top is supposed to be higher than that but I like that height. And where the bottom meets the side there is supposed to be 2 rounds of cross stitch. I only did 1 round (which I discovered I didn’t see that there were supposed to be 2 rounds of cross stitch until I started to make my second slipper).

                                                                      

As for my little Leo, the boy has been miserable.  It seems he may have an abscessed tooth. We won’t know until after he’s done with his medicine. If it comes back then that’s what it is. They want to make sure, although wouldn’t you think an x-ray would show if it is or not?  He is much better today. He has two meds, an antibiotic and a steroid, and then eye goop. He’s been really good about taking his meds. Although his antibiotic is a pill and he has to take a quarter of one pill twice a day and I put the piece in one of those pill pockets. Those things are the bomb aren’t they? You just put the pill in it, smush it together and voila! So he has to take his meds for 10 days. If it is his tooth he’ll have to have it out and that will have to happen before we go south for Christmas.  I can’t make him wait until we get back. He’s been in enough misery. He was so bushed from his excursion to the vet that he slept all day Wednesday in my bed after we got home.  Poor baby. You can see the bump on the other side of his snout in this pic. They think it’s his left canine that is abscessed.

                                                 

That’s all that’s going on with me. Trying to tie up loose ends for Christmas and getting ready to head south. Less than two weeks I will be in the sunshine state. I hope it’s warm and sunny the whole time I’m there. I’m looking forward to being with family. I don’t get to see them enough as it is.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and it’s filled with so much love that you can’t fit another ounce in. :o) Cya soon!

TTFN
Kat
xoxoxo

Random Things

 

Happy Tuesday! The countdown is on. I saw a post on FB yesterday from one of my co-workers that there is only 13 working days for her and then vacation. So I looked at my calendar and sure enough.  Mine is 11 from today. Holy cow! It will be here before I know it. And then it’s off to FL for me to see family.

I wanted to show you a pic of the contrast of my Christmas cactus. I have two colors, fuschia and a pale yellow.  I have not seen a lot of the pale yellow around, I can’t even remember where I got it from. I also have a small red but it didn’t produce blooms this year. Maybe because it’s small and I’ve only had it for maybe six months. It was from a trade I made of the pale yellow for the red. The red has a name but I forgot what it is. I was really hoping it would bloom this year. Maybe next.

 

                                                                   

The next two pics are small Bella gifts.  I made this little bag for her with the idea that it would be big enough to carry stuff in. It’s not real big, but was a booger to do. I had this idea in my head and it didn’t quite come out as I planned. She’s 3, almost 4. She’ll be happy to have a purse/bag of her own. :o) The colors in the first pic didn’t come out and it’s kind of blurry. Sorry for that. You can see a part of it in the second pic and those are the true colors. I believe it’s Caron Baby Ombre. I might be wrong on that. I love the colors though. In the second pic is the Kitty Hat from Ann of Bella Crochet. I added a row to it though. It just didn’t look long enough. And the yellow/magenta are wristlets. And I’m betting they are too long on the finger part. I just winged it. Oh well. I’m sure there are baby dolls that can wear them. :o)

                                                                    

                                                                     

Below are some dabbles. I saw some crocheted earrings somewhere in my blog travels. So I went to AC Moore and picked up some hook earrings. It’s not as easy as it looks. :o) But I am giving it one heck of a try!  In the first pic on the right are two bobble earrings. They’re just bigger than a quarter. The two next to them don’t match, I was just messing around. But the ones in the second pic are going to be for Kylie for Christmas, along with a barrette that I crocheted to match. Now that was not easy. I guess I could have crocheted it and hot glued it on, but I’m not a big fan of hot glue. There is a hole on either end of it so I started at one hole and crocheted a chain to the second hole and went into that hole and came back out on top and proceeded from there.  The single hold on either end was not enough. As I continued to crochet in the oval it curled up on the ends. So on my last pass around the oval I went back into the one hole and under the loop, came back out, finished the pass and then ended in the last hole. It was harder than I had anticipated but I did it. 

 

The last pic is a motif out of one of my books. It ended up bigger than I had imagined. And kind of crappy too. See the large stitches on the right hand side of it? :o( Oh well…….I can use it for a stitch marker or hey…maybe as a rear view mirror adornment! lol.

                                                                     

                                                                      

                                                                      

That’s about all I have today. I am still doing little odds and ends but I’m mainly done.  Tomorrow I need to take my little man to the doctor. He has all of sudden developed an eye infection and last night I noticed that he has a lump on the same side on his snout! This has all transpired over the weekend.  You can see him in the background of the last pic laying in his chair. Hopefully the snout thing is related to the eye infection. I hate when he’s not feeling good.

I hope your week is wonderful! Cya soon!

TTFN
Kat
xoxox

A Few Things

 

Good morning! Happy Friday Eve!! And it is December 1st. Where did this year go?

I just wanted to stop in briefly to show you a few things. The first is this ad out of a magazine that came to work for an ex-co-worker. See the scarf and hat, and right next door is the mittens that are knitted? They are crocheted and knitted from Nepal.  Notice the prices. The scarf is $59.95!  I know our time is valuable but I wouldn’t have imagined charging/paying that much for a scarf. Or am I just out of touch??  I have only charged for a couple of book marks before and really felt bad about charging for them but the person buying them insisted.  I just don’t have a clue as to what is a fair price to charge for things like this.  I guess that’s why I don’t have an etsy shop huh?

 

                                                 

Next up is an ad out of my newly delivered Crochet Today! magazine. Isn’t this a cool idea?

                                                  

And lastly today, my ta-dah! I finished the Elise Shawl last night. The pattern I have says to use an I hook and approximately 400 yards of sock weight yarn.  I used Paton’s Lace yarn and an F hook, thinking that I could get away with one skein, since the skein of Paton’s Lace is 498 yards. Right?  Wrong. This is crocheted with 2 skeins. Thankfully I had the presence of mind to order two of the same color. They were on sale.  If I had started it with only the one skein on hand I would have been so mad at myself.  It’s kind of short for me but I am a big/tall person. The person this is intended for is a lot smaller than I am so it should be ok. I learned a lot from this project. But overall I am happy with the results. I just hope she’ll like it. (I need a dummy/mannequin badly)

                                                   

Well that’s all for me today. I hope your week has been a good one. It’s almost the weekend again and I am hoping to be done with all of my Christmas gifts. We’ll see. :o)  Cya soon!

TTFN
Kat
xoxoxo

Much To Share

 

 

Good morning! Happy Monday! I know….I hear the grumbles in the background. I was grumbling this morning when I had to get up to come back to work after a wonderful 4 days off.  But I got a lot accomplished in those 4 days. I was one of the ones who didn’t go anywhere, just stayed home with Leo. He so enjoyed mama being home and not having to get up early. I observed him in the bed this morning staring off into space and then all of a sudden his eyes would start to close. He did this a few times and all I could do was laugh at him. But anyways….it’s back at it for a few more weeks until my yearly jaunt south to go home for a week. These first two pics are my crochet table in such a disarray. But ya know what? I knew where everything was and what needed to be done, it was all right there. By the end of the weekend it was cleaned up quite a bit. My table was definitely full of color. The variegated brown in the first pic is a shawl I am working on for someone out of Paton’s lace. It’s coming along nicely but I am quickly running out of time and I can only do so much before I put it down to work on something else. I think if I work on it every night this week when I get home from work that I will have it done. This is the Elise Shawl. It’s the one I mentioned in a couple of posts back where the pattern is basically the same as the South Bay Shawl.

See the colorful granny behind the shawl? That started out as a pillow cover for Kylie but has ended up in the wip box because I need to frog a bunch of it and don’t have time now. I’m really bummed about that but oh well. 

                                                                            

I couldn’t remember if I showed you this or not but this was a wrapper from one of the balls of yarn that I received in my large shipment from Michigan.  Purchased from Walmart, for $.37.     I found it odd that there was no date on it. Until I went to look at newer wrappers, and there was no date. I don’t know why I thought there were dates on them.                  

                                                       

And next up is Leo. Well, Leo’s rear end.  He was being really quiet and I found him like this. As soon as I took the pic he came up out of the covers. Guess I spoiled his nappy. I found it hilarious that his head and feet are covered but not his body and butt.

                                                       

 

Below is a small project I started and just laid on the table (with all the other wips).  Sorry for the blurry second pic but I wanted to show you that I lined it.  It’s a granny square purse/bag for Kylie. The thing keeping me from getting it done was sewing the lining together and sewing it inside the grannys. I had the two grannys done and crocheted together but none of the rest.  I decided Saturday to work my sewing machine to get done all of the linings I needed. (4 of them) This was the only one I finished totally.

                                                   

A friend of mine got married Friday, and I was privileged enough to be a part of it. This was what I made them for a wedding present. Their wedding invitation was the picture in the middle taken by them as a self timered shot. And the back of the postcard told the date and time they were getting ‘hitched’ at the chicken coop. Which the wedding was on their back porch. It was one of the nicest weddings I have ever been to…….simple, intimate and beautiful. And she is not as pregnant as she looks in this pic. She’s not far along at all and doesn’t really show. But they got this idea and for fun she put a towel in her overalls. They talked about getting pregnant, then getting married. Not the traditional way but they did it in their own way. They’re married now….who cares? :o) And what I love about it is that he will be a stay at home dad. She will remain working. Again…..they’re doing it their own way.

                                                                       

I know I showed you the ‘Tude Blonde before, but I wanted to show you the hat I mad her and the box she will be in until Bella opens her at Christmas.  I found boxes like this at AC Moore’s for $.99 each!  I love them! I got one for Kylie too and put the Hello Kitty hat I made her in it.  I think I may go back and get more if they have any left. The Hello Kitty hat turned out good I think. I should have put the bow up higher but I don’t think Kylie will mind. Hope not anyways. :o)       

                                                         

Below is part of my marble keychain fobs for Christmas presents. I wrapped these up Thursday for their recipients. As well as the little rose bag.

                                                              

And lastly I started another baby yesterday and this one I am writing the pattern down for it, to share with ya’ll. I know some of you don’t do thread but I think it may work out with yarn for a bigger baby. I’ll have to try it when I get done with the thread one.

                                                                                        

So folks….my weekend was very productive. I wish I had more time off but not until it’s time to head home. Most of my Christmas is done. Just a few more odds and ends.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I missed out on a lot of food but hey….my butt, thighs and belly didn’t need any of it. I enjoyed fried broccoli and left over fried lemon pepper chicken. (Fried them both in the pan with seasonings. OMG)

Enjoy your week! Try not to stress too badly about Christmas. It’ll soon be here and gone again. Much love from me and the Leo'-myster.

TTFN
Kat
xoxoxox

Happy Veteran’s Day!

It’s Friday AND it’s Veteran’s Day!  To all veterans, past and present, still with us or gone, and their families……this day is for you and to remind the rest of us that you all give so many sacrifices so that the rest of us have our freedoms. I salute and honor each and every one of you. You are never far from my mind and are always close to my heart. Your unselfishness has allowed me to have the life I do today, and for that I am eternally grateful.
I finished my Warrior’s Walk hearts. And I am totally in love with this pattern. I shared it in the last post along with one of the other hearts that I made. I think my most favorite is the one just below. I love the red, white and blue together on it. The yarn is Caron Simply Soft. I have a whole tub full of Caron yarn. It works up so nice doesn’t it?
                                                                           
I am in awe of my creations this time.  I sit in my chair crocheting and am always thinking. I was fretting this time about what kind of hearts would I make and I went with my standby pattern on the first heart that I posted in the last post. And although I love that pattern, I wanted something different. Then I received in one of my FaveCraft emails the pattern for these and I was blown away by how easy and quick they crocheted up and how ‘heartly’ they were. I know that’s not a word but I don’t know what other word to use. I know this pattern will be worn out by me because I love it and it will come in handy for a lot of projects, big and small.
                                                                    
I love this pic. Do you see Mr. Lick Lick’s shadow (and actually part of his body)? He always has to be in on the action! These are the 4 that will be adorning our adopted soldiers trees until Memorial Weekend. They’ll be replacing the last ones we put up and they’ll be placed there with love and respect and a moment of reflection.
Happy Veteran’s Day……..remember them all in your prayers and know that their sacrifices were not in vain.  Thank a vet for what he/she has done for us!
Cya soon!
TTFN
Kat
xoxoxo

Neglect

That's what I did yesterday in my post. I should have added the link for the hearts. Sorry, I was trying to hurry to get my post done in between stuff. So you can find the hearts pattern here.  Thank you, Pammy Sue.

And what I did was I made the small heart in the pattern (there's large too) but on the humps I only crocheted up to round 6 and left out round 7. The red heart was done with all 7  rounds but I didn't like how humped they were. The white was the second one I did with only 6 and it looks much better, not so humpy. :o)

I started on one of the large hearts last night and I'm going by pattern but it's going to be 8 rows of red, then 6 or 7 rows of white, then the rest blue. (I think there's 22 rounds to the large heart if I remember correctly).

I also finished another different heart last night. Check it out.

I made the heart, then crocheted I think 25 or 26 rows of 25 sc in white, then sewed the heart on it with the blue and then made a border of blue dc with 5 dc in each corner.  I need to put ties on each side to tie it to the tree.

So after making the red, white and blue heart I will only have one more to make for Warrior's Walk. Hopefully the third multi-colored heart will be done tonight and something else will pop in my head for the last one.

So that's 2 posts in a row in 2 days for me! But I have to scram now. Hope your day is going great! Cya soon!

TTFN
Kat
xoxo

What I’ve Been Up To

 

It’s that time of year again for Warrior’s Walk.  I’ve been doing other things and really hadn’t thought about it until I saw something the other day that reminded me that it’s the time of year that I make the hearts for the 4 adopted soldiers.  The pic below shows a 3D red, white and blue heart joined together and all I need to do is put a hanger of some sort on it to hang from the tree. I’m really loving those hearts. I have something different started for the second one and then two more to do. Not sure what I’ll do with those.

 

                                                                                       

Remember my little blonde with an attitude from my last post?  I made her a little jacket to go over her dress. I need to put a couple of buttons on it don’t I?  I really enjoyed making her so I think I see more like her in the future.  I think she needs a sister or two. :o)

                                                                                        

Guess who was hanging with me in the shed as I was doing some burning? :o)  I happened to turn and saw just his ears sticking up so I grabbed my phone to take a pic and his little face popped up like ‘Whatcha doin?’. 

                                                                           

I was burning this. I thought it turned out pretty good for not having burned in a while. But then I went and messed with it more the other day and messed it up. Of course you won’t get to see that one, just the one before the mess up. :o) I was bummed. This is on cherry wood. And I didn’t realize how sappy cherry wood is. Anyways….I don’t know what I’m going to do with it. I’ll mess with it some more and maybe I can figure something out so it won’t look so bad.

                                                                                       

Don’t look at my wrinkled hand (geeze I got old quick), I tinkered with making a bracelet.  It was pretty easy, or easier than I thought it would be.  This was an experiment that turned out pretty good. I was pleasantly surprised. It kind of sets off my tat huh? :o)

                                                                            

Time change is this weekend folks. I used to love the time change when I was younger. I guess getting the hour back was more important to me than that extra hour of daylight at the end of the day.  Now I hate the time change.  Sure, I like getting the hour back, but I don’t like it getting dark earlier. I don’t see why they have to mess with it anyways. Just stay the same time all year long, that would suit me just fine.

Not much else is going on with me other than very busy at work still. Same old same old. Before you know it……..well crud…..3 weeks from tomorrow is Thanksgiving and a little more than 5 weeks after is Christmas. Where did this year go?  2012 is upon us already.

Hopefully your day was the very best. Mine flew! Cya soon.

TTFN
Kat
xoxo

Baby Dolls & Bad Boys

 

Happy Friday Eve! I haven’t been able to post because I’ve been swamped at work and could get snippets of time to try to read any blogs at all. This is end of month, end of quarter and end of fiscal year for work so they’re trying to stuff as many orders as they can into my days. This week has flown for me. It’s good to be busy though instead of idle.

I started another doll but this is a very little doll, she fits in my flannel shirt pocket. And she is made solely out of #10 thread. I made her for Bella, my  youngest granddaughter, for Christmas.  I wasn’t real tickled with her hair but it’s kind of grown on me. I think she’s a blonde with an attitude. :o)

 

     <<< This is what she ended up from this:             Somehow the eyes give her the attitude look. Can you see how the smile is more of a smile without the eyes?  Or is it just me?  I thought that was weird.

The blue pile of crochet behind Miss Attitude is a cowl I’m working on for someone for Christmas.  That’s one of my wips that I will do a couple of rows on then get bored and want to do something else.  The same with the Elise Shawl that I am working on. Which by the way, did I mention before that the Elise Shawl is basically the same as the South Bay Shawl? I discovered that fact while going through my patterns looking for a certain heart pattern.  I didn’t take the time to look for the difference because I was in a hurry but I kept the other pattern out to find the difference, when I pick back up the one I’m working on.

So anyways…….I’ve covered the Baby Doll. Now on to the Bad Boy.  If you’ve read my blog for any time you know that Leo is getting up in his years.  He will be 14 in March.  I have been having a problem with him peeing in the house lately and it’s only gotten worse. I was to the point of every day coming home and searching out his desired place of vengeance for me leaving him at home by himself.  And that’s exactly what it was, vengeance. There’s nothing wrong with him other than he has a bad case of separation anxiety.  And he proved it once again the other day.  I have tried everything I can think of and nothing has worked. I even crated him and he peed in his crate and then laid in it. So you know what that meant right? Coming home after a long hard day at work and having to clean the crate and give him a bath, before I could sit down to enjoy a nice glass of iced tea.

Well, a few weeks ago I decided I’ve had enough. So I started making him stay outside all day while I’m at work. I have a fenced in yard and the only thing I was worried about (two things actually) was him digging out, which he hasn’t attempted, and snakes, which it’s getting colder and they are hibernating now (for the most part).  Anyways, he gets highly upset when I go out the gate and he jumps up on me, getting me dirty, and then barks his head off…..the ‘I know you can’t leave me out here all by myself’ bark. 

The day before yesterday I left, went out the gate, got in my car, started it up and started down the driveway when I discovered I didn’t have my glasses. Dang it…I’d left them in the house. And there was no way I could go to work without them. So I had to back up, turn the car off and go back in the gate and to the house. Well, Leo was right there like ‘Cool! I get to go in the house!’ Which he did and when I got my glasses and headed back out the door he was like ‘No way…..I’m not going back out there!!’ So I had to scoop him up (which he ran from me) and put him back outside. He was 10 times worse than normal.  He wanted back in the house so bad that this is what the little snot did:

                     

This is vengeance with a passion!!  What you’re looking at is the back door, with a hole dug into the wood.  Granted, I have some rot going on, the wood is soft, and that’s why the two by fours are in front of it, to keep it from getting worse until I can get it fixed, which he’s accelerated, thank you very much Mr. Lick Lick. But he pulled that two by four out with his paws and proceeded to dig a hole to try to get back in the house.  My Leo is smart but I think he’s also losing his mind. Can you see his thinking behind it?? Dogs are not dumb. His little pea brain’s gears were definitely smoking, wanting to get back in the house.  And me??? I was highly pissed when I got home and saw it.  I don’t know what I’m going to do. I think I may get another enclosed fence within my fence and put one of those igloo houses inside of it and put him in there when I go to work.  I’ve done everything else I know to do. Nothing has worked. And if I didn’t love him so much I’d put him down. His destructiveness has caused me much stress and anxiety, on top of my other life stresses. But I can’t put him down for so many reasons. How can that sweet little face that I have tattooed on my leg be the cause of so much stress????  He’s killin me.

So that has been my week. Busy, busy and busy. :o) The weather has been oh so nice. Very cool at night, warm during the day. I wish it would stay this way.

I hope your little piece of the world is filled with love and light today. Cya soon!

TTFN
Kat
xoxoxo

Marbles, Spider Pads & Wrist Splints

Happy Tuesday!  As you can tell by the title, not much crocheting has gone on. Some, mind you, but not a lot.

Another lovely weekend passed in which I felt pretty good because I got a major job on my plate done.  My shed has needed to be cleaned out for a long time.  The power company sent a notice with the last few bills that they  had contractors in the area to pick up old refrigerators and they would send you $35 for an old working refrigerator picked up by them. So I jumped on that bandwagon, and it was the push I needed to get my butt out there to clean out a bunch of stuff. Which I did……half a truck bed load of stuff to chuck out!!  I can now get in there and move around and do some wood burning again! I am psyched about that.  I also wanted to take a pic of my marbles to show you what 400 pounds look like. Although after I took this pic I realized I had 4 more boxes behind a rolling cart. I said the heck with it…you get the idea.

So, in my last post I told you about my carpal tunnel and what they want me to do for 6 weeks until I go back. Below is my elbow spider pad for my left arm, I have a matching one for my right arm. These, to me, are doing more harm than good. They itch like crazy, they hurt, they make my arms and elbows raw and hurt. I’m supposed to wear the pads on the outside of my arm (as in the pic) during the day, and then turn them to the inside to wear at night.  And the wrist splints (second pic) are just to be worn at night. The splints are ok and I can deal with them fairly well at night but I can’t stand the spider pads. 

Frankly, I think that insurance has a lot to do with why I am having to wear them.  Glor left me a comment in the last post saying that she’s worn the splints at night for years I think.  And Vikki asked about how I was crocheting. Well to answer Vikki’s question – I haven’t been doing a lot of crocheting, but as much as I can handle until my hand/wrist starts hurting.  I’m starting to get behind on my Christmas crochet. That’s not good.  And Glor – I’m wondering, not to be nosey or anything, but do you have insurance?  I think that they can’t just operate because the insurance company wants the doctor to not be so ‘cut’ happy and try an alternative first – such as the pads and splints.  And I truly understand that, but seriously? I can’t see it getting any better because I’m on a computer all day at work, then go home and crochet til bedtime (minus a few chores).  I’ve been on a computer at work for over 12 years now… 5 days a week….and I will be that way until they kick me out the door. There are days when my hand is killing me trying to hold the mouse.  Sigh………. I just want it to be over with and not hurting anymore. 

What little bit of crochet I’ve done in the last few days is minimal. I did start a shawl for my ex-boss/co-worker for her birthday. It is the Elise Shawl and I am using Paton’s Lace.  Midas, I think, is the color I’m using.  I wasn’t thrilled with the Paton’s Lace at first because it’s so fine and splitty. But I’m getting the hang of it and I love how the shawl is looking. I haven’t taken a pic of it yet, I want to get more rows done on it. Other than that I’ve not done anything since messing with my marbles. ;o)

I hope this week finds you well and happy. We are about to get some rain until tomorrow when it will clear up and be ‘cool’…or so the weather man says. I’m betting I will have to turn my heat on at night. We’ll see. We need the rain. We have a deficit of 9 inches presently. As long as it’s a soaking rain it’ll be ok. I don’t like the torrential downpours that we sometimes get.  Anyways…..ya’ll have a good one. I’ll be back soon as I can. Cya soon!

TTFN
Kat
xoxoxo

Finally Friday!~

I went to the doctor on Wednesday for my carpal tunnel.  They gave me a script for prednisone and spider elbow pads and wrist splints. And I need to go back in 6 weeks. It seems I probably have it in both wrists, just that the other one hasn’t popped yet. So we’ll see what they say in 6 weeks. I know it’s bothering me and the spider pads make it all hurt worse.  Sigh……

 

I don’t have a whole lot going on.  I’m still messing around with marbles. I tried to take a pic last night of the fob I’m working on.  It’s black thread with yellow marbles inside.  The top one has a face in it and it looks like a Ninja. It looks better in person. :o) But I think I’m going to make this one long…like at least 5 marbles high. I like how the  yellow and black go together. Though I’m not a fan of black thread, it’s hard to see the stitches, even with my readers on. But the  yellow just pops out.

Bad storms came through last night but after they left the weather has turned nice. Not hot during the day and cool at night. I can’t remember the last time I used my a/c. And I’m going to hold out on turning the heat on as long as I can.

I hope you all have a great weekend! Cya soon.

TTFN
Kat
xoxox

It’s A Rainy Day in Georgia

Happy Monday!  Today it is raining. It actually started yesterday afternoon and hasn’t quit. We needed it badly. Texas too and they are getting rain! Yippee!! Ours has been a nice soaking in rain. I did hear on the news this morning that San Antonio had a tornado. I hope it wasn’t close to my niece. I haven’t heard so I guess that’s a good thing.

The below pics were taken yesterday. I don’t drive my truck on a regular basis because it’s too costly in gas (11 mpg). But I do drive it on the weekends to keep the battery up. When I left the house yesterday before the rain started I was going down the road and noticed this lizard on my hood. He wanted to go for a ride! He didn’t have the sense to jump off before I left the house. Who knows where he ended up. I saw him at the gas station and tried to catch him to let him go but he was quicker than I was.  He made me make a fool of myself!  And yes, my windshield is cracked. It’s been that way for 3 or 4 years now. A tractor trailer kicked something up and it hit at the bottom of my windshield in the middle. The next day I had two cracks come out of where the missile hit, one going right and the other going left. They are both low enough that my vision is not impaired.  As much as I drive the truck I’m not going to worry about it.  And the second pic is a caterpillar that was on my back deck and Leo started sniffing it. After the attack of the saddleback….lol….I wasn’t taking any chances with my baby.  So I put it up on the post to photograph it. It reminds me of a cucumber!

       

I was messing around this weekend with my crocheting (What else is new?). Didn’t get anything major accomplished but managed to make some little doodads.

                              

 

                             

I found something else to do with the 400 pounds of marbles I own. You can see the first one I tried with the big marble in the first pic. I actually made another 3 marble piece but I guess I didn’t get a pic of it. It wasn’t all that great. But I’m super happy with the one in pink. See the faces I made? One is in the second from the bottom and the other is in the top.  I know it’s hard to see but the marbles inside are green. I actually think they are chinese checkers marbles. I have a gazillion of them.  In the top left pic I also love the flower hexagon motif. The pattern for that is out of one of my Harmony Guides books, as well as the pattern for the pink flower with the purple border. That one was kind of aggravating with a bunch of picots around the next to the last round. But it turned out pretty. I think I may make a pin cushion out of that one.

Other than that my weekend was pretty quiet.  Any weekend I can spend in the country with my boy and crochet hooks is a good one for me. I had the doors open all weekend. That’s one of the reasons I love this time of year. Pretty soon the clocks will be turned again and it’ll be dark early and cold again. I’m not looking forward to that. And forgive me but there’s only 70 something days til Christmas. Where is the time going???

I hope you had a nice relaxing weekend too. Let’s hope our week ahead will be an easy one. Cya soon!

TTFN
Kat
xoxoxo

Christmas in October!

Happy Friday!  This wonderful day finds me doing ok, I hope it finds you doing much better!

Yesterday was like Christmas for me.

Last weekend I met a woman who’s elderly aunt had passed 3 years ago and her aunt was a very crafty lady.  She had a craft room larger than most of our living rooms. She did everything from sewing to looming to crocheting, to knitting. You name it, she did it. And when she passed, Sam (the lady I met) and her siblings had to clean out her aunt’s house. Sam boxed up all of the leftover yarn and thread and it’s been sitting ever since.

When I told Sam that I am an avid crocheter, that it consumes my life, she told me about having all of this yarn and thread left from her aunt passing. She asked me did I want it. Of course you know what my answer was. :o) I asked her what she wanted for it, she said nothing. So I offered to pay shipping on it because it was in Michigan.  So I gave her a check and she had her brother send it via UPS. Yesterday I received it at work. It was all I could do to not tear into those boxes before I could get them home.

The majority of the yarn was wool and was made for rugs or tapestry. There are some yarns that I will be able to make a blanket I think, those that are piled in colors. I had to separate them in type and color. Those are the Parisian yarns below. The rest left over sitting on the loveseat are mostly dark colors. But my best present of all was this box below, filled with threads! Christmas!!! I couldn’t believe it.

The yarn brand names I have never heard of. Bucilla is the name of the OD Green (Avocado), Orange, Brown, & Blue Below.  The yarn in the bag on the right behind the maroon yarn is German yarn.

  See this thread in the pics below? The thread is knobby – for lack of a better word.  I have never seen thread like this. Yarn I have but not thread. I think the name for the yarn like this is Boucle?  Well I tried to crochet with it last night as you can see by the little swatches in the first pic. It’s not easy. So I picked up a blue thread about two feet long I had laying on my table and combined it with this thread and it was much easier to crochet with and the stitches were better defined.  I think there are at least 8 balls of this thread in that box. I think it will work well as hair for dolls but other than that I don’t have a clue what I am going to do with it.

 

And lastly on the glorious Friday – here is Leo laying in mom’s chair while she sorts out her Christmas packages.  He could care less about thread and yarn….only thing he cares about is being in mom’s chair where he’s not supposed to be. 

Have a wonderful weekend! I’m not sure exactly what’s going on in my world but one thing that’s a given is crochet. Cya soon!

TTFN
Kat
xoxoxoxox