Fall Friday

Ahhhh.....finally it's nice weather. Cooly in the mornings, nice breeze and warm, not HOT during the day. I actually had my door open yesterday because it was cooler outside than it was in the house! It's going to be a wonderful nice weekend too. :o)

So anyways...some of my hooky goodness that I've been dabbling in, I just had to show you. Bella's blankie is getting there slow but sure, but I think more slow than sure. After putting it on the floor to snap a pic of I think I like the colors and how I've placed them. Now I just need to finish it.

The basket I made one night and morning for one of my Bomber Girl sister's boyfriend. He is so nice. He gave me a purple harness for Leo and one of those thingys you hook into the seat belt of your car so that the dog isn't all over the place. Leo hates me for that, let me tell you. I tried it on him. He would stand next to me but when I went to pet him he moved to the passenger side of the car. As if to punish me for doing that to him. Well.....I have to go to FL in December and to have to ride 6 hours with him wanting on my lap was not my idea of fun. Now Mike has made it possible for me to relax a little bit and not worry about having to try to restrain Leo the whole way. So I made the basket for him and I gave his mom (who I had just met and she was from close to where I was born - it's such a small world) the cupcake pincushion I had in my done stash. She makes quilts. She was really nice too.

And last but not least - I started on the Kaleidoscope Blossom by Terri Simon and was happy with how it was turning out......that is.....until I discovered that the flat part was BACKWARDS!!!! Oh I was so mad at myself. So after I discovered it I dropped it and left it for when I feel like picking it back up and tearing it apart...oh 3 or 4 rows...to fix it. And the yoyo's in the pic are I think Teresa Richardson's??? of how to join yoyo's. I'll have to look again when I get home. I could be mistaken. I can't remember sh** anymore.........errrr sorry......but it's true.

So anyways....hope your weekend is very comfortable and good. See ya next time! :o)
TTFN
Kat
xoxox

PS/I won a mandala from Pammy Sue's giveaway! How cool is that?? Red, white and blue - patriotic. Thank you Pammy Sue...it will definitely be loved!

PPS/I published the post without my pics..........bad, bad bad...........

Clara's Giveaway

Clara is having a giveaway in honor of her 100th follower. What she is giving away is a secret inside of a lovely black and gold bag. She will reveal what is in the bag when the winner is picked. You can find her at http://clarascrochetroom.blogspot.com/2010/09/claras-crochet-room-giveaway-other.html .

Checkerboard madness

Hey there! Gee, it seems like forever that I've posted. Time seems to slip away from you when you're busy in your life. And I've been pretty busy. At least trying to keep busy to keep my mind occupied. August was a really bad month for me and September started out bad too.

I lost my dad in August, then lost my aunt and cousin at the beginning of September on the same day. Not together though. He was in FL and his heart gave out on him, and she was in CO and age gave out on her. She was my dad's sister. My cousin was my uncles' (my dad and aunts' brother) son. That basically leaves my uncle with no immediate family. I feel really bad for him.

I am so ready for this year to end.

Sooo....on that note, I just finished up with a swap. Shown is what I made (a microwave runner and coasters)and I was so enamoured with the finished product that I have started another one in maroon and a pastel pinky/orangey color for my daughter. The color combination is awesome! But then again so is the green and red that I did for Paula.

This particular 'stitch' pattern is in the Interweave Press book of 250 stitches. It's called 'basic patchwork'. It took me a while to get the hang of it. As a matter of fact I had the first one halfway done when it finally clicked in my brain and I pulled the whole thing apart and started over. Which was a little daunting because you're working with two colors of yarn so then you pull one color apart for 5 stitches then you come to the other color for 5 stitches and so on. The yarns get very tangled up. And they tangle while you're crocheting too. I had to stop at the end of every row and detangle the balls. Working with two strands, holding one while working with the other is not an easy task if you've never done it before. But it was worth it in the end. I love the finished product!!

I have gotten this 'hat bug'. I want to make hats. A lot of the patterns I've looked at and tried are mostly for 21" heads. So I'm thinking that I need to go up a hook size or two to come up with the right gauge for a 23" head (mine). (I know...I have a big head..lol) I've even used the right hook but added a row or two. They always end up bigger than the 23" then I have to decrease and add rows to make them fit. What's up with that? And if I don't know someone's head size....how do I know how big to make them so they fit? Does anyone know of a universal pattern that I can make that will fit almost any size head?

I'm asking for a couple of reasons: 1)I want to be able to make hats for presents and 2)I want to make hats to give as door prizes for our runs. If I had a quick crochet hat that would fit almost anyone that would be wonderful!

So that's what I'm presently up to, besides trying to get Christmas done. I have a couple of people that I just don't know what to do for them. Men....they're not as easy as women. Other than that it's coming along nicely. I have a couple of hours after work every day to crochet and a couple of hours on the weekends. Life is full.

And I think fall is FINALLY here. After that front went through yesterday it's supposed to be in the 50's at night and high 70's during the day. To me that's the perfect weather. But somehow I don't think it'll last too long before the COLD sets in. I guess we'll see.

I hope your corner of the world is full of love and laughter today.
TTFN
Kat
xoxox

Blah

I am having a hard time with the blahs. The month of August was the pits, starting with dad leaving us. I lost another friend, two of my friends lost their parents (one lost her mom the other lost his dad) right behind me losing my dad.

AND THEN I get home from work on Tuesday and in the mailbox when I open it, is this big envelope. I see it's from a friend of mine who has had/is having a really rough life. I had sent her one of my heart shell motifs a few months back hoping to put a smile on her face. Well, she returned it.

On the outside of the envelope were a few written things and one of them said 'This is my way of saying GOODBYE'. I thought...what the heck??? So I open it up and inside was the motif with a letter written on the backside of my letter to her. And she explains that maybe someone else can better use it and at the bottom it says again that this is her goodbye. I am freaking at this point.

So I go in the house and grab the phone, looking for her number on the caller ID. I call it. I get a message saying it's no longer in service. Now I am in panic mode. I don't know what to do! I am so frantic that I can't remember anything - what her sister's last name is, her brother's first name, her other friends last name. NOTHING! By this point all I want to do is get in the car and head south 370 miles.

Then it hits me - my sister lives in the same community as my friend and she's only a mile or so from her!! So I call my sister up and ask if she can go check on my friend. She says she can so I give her directions to the house from her house. She says give her 10 minutes or so and she'll give me a call when she gets there. Huge sigh of relief.......somewhat.

The call comes....no answer at the door. All curtains are closed. She goes to the neighbor next door and the neighbor is certain she saw the mailbox flag up the day before and a light on the night before. I'm freaking again. What to do? Does my sister need to call the cops? No...need to get ahold of a relative first. The neighbor next door was the 3rd cousin to the other friend that I couldn't think of her last name. Go figure huh?? Small world. So she's going to call her and in the meantime I will do some digging to come up with a relative's name so I can hunt down a number.

Now mind you....my friend's relatives are not on very good terms with her except for one that I am aware of. This other 'friend' has been described by my friend to me as 'taking advantage' of her. (My friend has several severe medical problems and has to use a walker to walk - obviously she does not work - she's basically sitting in her home waiting to die. This is my observation of when I last saw her at Christmas) Anyway I get online and I start searching obits in the area (hoping to not see hers), anything to try and remember names. FINALLY.....

I remember her brother and sister-in-law in Gainesville. So I look online at the white pages. VOILA!!!

After another hour of STUFF........and to make a very long story shorter than I want to type today.....I finally get her on the phone. She's alive and I am in tears.

I have had so much grief this past month that could last me the rest of my lifetime. I am so wiped out by it all. Thankfully I have my Mr. Lick Lick to talk to and hug and love on. I don't know what I would do without him.

Since the beginning of August I have been pondering life. All aspects of life. Why we are here, the cycles we go through in life, the end stages of life, death, where we go when we die, why we can't talk to those who have left us. I have examined it all and keep examining it. Thinking death is a daily thing for me now and I'm literally sick to death of death.

I never really thought about it too much except for those I've lost to death through the years, and mostly because it was in my far-off future....right?? Not to the extent that this last month has brought death to the forefront of my being. It's getting more and more frequent. And now I am fearing death. I don't want to die, I am selfish. I want to stay here forever. I don't want to leave my loved ones. How crazy is this.....I have been trying to finish up all of my unfinished crochet WIP's so that if something happens to me they're done. I know it's not really that crazy but it's crazy to the point that it's making me crazy. I have been crocheting at least. I guess that's a plus.

I won't go into the religious aspect of life and death....my views on religion, as I know it, are another very long post.

I haven't been able to post because death is on my mind constantly and it's consuming me and I have just been eaten up with the blah's. And nevermind that the 2 year anniversary of my best friend's death is Monday.

I keep thinking and hoping for some respite. I wish I had a switch in the back of head that I could just turn off my brain sometimes so I wouldn't have to think.

Hope I haven't brought you down. I also hope very much for you that life in your corner of the world is very bright and wonderful!!!

It'll get better...........
TTFN
Kat xoxox

PS/Love my little fellow up above....he's my whole world.

Flyday Friday

Good morning. This week has flown by so fast. Before you know it Christmas will be here, huh? To tell you the truth I am so ready for cool weather.

This heat has worn us down. Me anyways. I hate when I get home and it's too hot to even stand outside. I love being outside. But when you're doing nothing but standing and you're pouring sweat, forget it. I'm off into the house. I get more crocheting done but once in a while I like to be outside.

I had promised Kylie some wrist warmers and then that little project kind of fell to the wayside because of others, until she said to me one day on Skype, 'how's my wrist warmers coming along granny?' So I had to whip them out, and whip them out I did. I was mad with myself because they only took me one evening and I could have had them done right after I told her I would make her some. So I sent them to her, along with a couple little somethings for Bella because I can't send one something and not the other. I didn't tell her they were coming.

I had colored the outside of the box with hearts, peace signs, balloons, a KilRoy (do you remember, or know what that is?), flowers, a kitty face and a very poor imitation of Leo on the box end with 'Where's Leo?' written on one of the sides. I bet the people at the post office that saw the box laughed. I had a wonderful time coloring it up for my grand babies. :o) And Kylie had the best time looking at it. She didn't know what the peace signs were. And she giggled when she saw the 'Where's Leo?' then looked all over the box before she found him. She asked me why there was only one kitty. This granny is not an artist....that's why. LOL. Hey, I got my giggles and smiles so it was all worth it. She loved the wrist warmers too. She wants me to make her some more out of the school colors so that she'll be able to wear them to school (they have uniforms and can only wear approved attire/colors). So she was supposed to ask yesterday at orientation if she would be allowed to wear certain colored wrist warmers. I haven't heard back yet.

I really love Skype, especially since it's free. It warms my heart to see Bella and she says 'hi granny'. Before our Skype life she had no clue that I existed. Sad huh? And Kylie...what a character that child is. My daughter tries to shield her from so much so that she'll have a normal childhood. But there's only so much you can shield them from.

Case in point - My daughter and her girls had been out somewhere and came home. One of the neighbors was out in her driveway looking not so happy. So she(my daughter) asked what was wrong. Well it seems that a boy down the street (who just happened to be out in his yard at the time) took the neighbor's child's bike right out of their open garage. Another neighbor saw it happen. To make a long story short, now Kylie is worried (nervous was her terminology) about her stuff that she cherishes being taken from her. She went through this long, detailed explanation of what she did to hide her most cherished possessions (including the afghan I made for her)so that he wouldn't find them and take them. I felt so bad for her and tried to explain that it was doubtful that this person was going to come take her possessions and that her daddy had put up her and Bella's bikes so that no one would take them. But my heart still went out to her. 6 years old and having to worry about someone coming to take her stuff. A 6 year old shouldn't have to worry about things like that.

I hate what this world is coming to and frankly I don't see it getting any better. I didn't have to grow up like this and I wish kids growing up now didn't have to either. Of course this is a 'head in the clouds' attitude, kinda sorta, but I can't help how I feel either. We're supposed to want better for our kids, grandkids, great grandkids, etc. And I do, but I don't see it happening, at the moment anyways. Sigh....I'd love to scoop her up and tell her that she won't have to worry about anything like that but sadly I can't.

Well time to get to it. I think it's going to be a busy day and a busy weekend. Pray for cool!!! LOL. I like heat but it's been way too hot for way too long this summer. I hope where ever you are that you stay cool and have a wonderful day and weekend!!
TTFN
Kat xoxox

PS/Vicki's HD hotpad turned out fairly decent. The pics don't do the color justice. It's so hard to get true color pics. The coasters I made for a lady who offered to do our 'glamour shots' for free. Mine was crochet themed. I was behind Bella's 12 point star blankie that I'm working on and I look naked behind it (though I have on a shirt and shorts). I can't wait to see how they turn out!!

Life

Gee, I don't know where to begin this post. I've been away, so to speak. My father of 53 years passed two weeks ago tomorrow. When I say 'my father of 53 years' I mean that he was my father for 53 years. I know everyone goes through this, and I am not an exception, but I'm having a really hard time dealing with this. For many reasons.

He was 81....would have been 82 on Dec. 7th - Pearl Harbor Day. He's been sick recently, had pneumonia a couple of times this year, and he's had a pacemaker for years. But my dad didn't die of sickness. He died because he forgot. He was changing out three electrical receptacles for insurance purposes to bring them up to code (GFI), had turned the electric off to change them out, had turned the electric back on to test them to make sure they worked and forgot to turn the electric back off to push them back into their holes and put the plates back on to cover them up. He somehow grounded out and shorted his pacemaker out. My son found him.

Three very important men in my life have left me in the last two years. Jeff first, my best friend, Leo's human daddy. His 2 year anniversary is Sept. 6th. PeeWee, Leo's biological daddy, left me this last February. And now dad. I know I'm being selfish, and that I should be thankful for having them for as long as I've had them. Somehow all of that is escaping me.

Dad didn't want any services, no obituary. All he wanted was to be cremated. As a matter of fact he told me in the last two years, several times, that no one would know that he was dead and gone until long after it happened. That included all of his children. I gave him hell several times about that. And I thought I was selfish! I told him that wasn't fair to the rest of us who loved him.

As it turned out we all were notified that he was gone. Thankfully. I'm not sure that I could forgive him that, if we weren't notified. But we did respect his wishes on the other stuff. That's what he wanted, that's the way it went down. I guess he didn't realize that maybe some of us needed that kind of grieving. That we may have needed to get together to tell some of the stories of our youth and share some love and part of his life, now gone. He just wanted it to be another day in life. That day in life left a void in my heart. A void that wasn't there for 53.5 years of my life.

I've always heard that death is for the living. Maybe he never heard that before. I would have thought so because he was with us through the death of our mother from cancer, at the tender ages we were. My youngest sister was 7, I was 14, with 3 others in between. He somehow managed to forget my birthday that year because her funeral was on my birthday. I didn't have a 15th birthday. I forgave him a long time ago for that, and he never knew for a lot of years until one of my sisters told him, and even then he didn't believe it until he asked me about it. Like I said, I forgave him for it a long time ago, but it's had it's repurcussions on me my whole life. My own private hell, if you will.

I just wonder what he thought we were going to do...go about our daily lives as if nothing had happened? I have been really lost since this happened. Two of my sisters said that there's really no reason to come, that I might as well stay here. Which they're kind of right, because there's nothing I can do there. But by the same token I was so upset that I couldn't work here. Work sent me home. So there I was at home, me and Mr. Lick Lick (thankfully I have him), I couldn't crochet or do anything. It took me 3 days to finally be able to sit and crochet. But all I could do was sit there and think, about my whole life and him and how there was now this hole again in my heart.

And wouldn't you know it......all of a sudden there were questions I wanted to ask him. Why in the hell couldn't I have thought of them before? These were questions that no one but him could answer. These were questions that I now could not get answers to.

I did somehow have the foresight to send him a little letter back in May that basically told him how much I loved him, and I thanked him for several things in my life. He had just gotten out of the hospital with pneumonia and I wanted to say those things to him before it was too late. I never had a chance to say anything to my mother. I was blindsided by her death, as all of my siblings were, she passed away while in surgery. So I was very glad that I did that. It doesn't lessen my pain but I am very thankful I did that. And my stepmother said he cherished that letter for the little time he had it. I asked for that letter back, mostly because he held it.

My dad lead a simple life and was happy with it. I guess that's all anyone can ask for isn't it? That he was happy with his life as it was.

I was driving home from work one day last week and I saw a vehicle with someone's initials in loving memory and a date on their back shield. And so I thought I might get one like that for my dad. But then I realized that I couldn't do that.......could you just see 'PMS in loving memory 8/3/10'??? (Seriously - those are his initials)

:o) I love you Dad, I miss you terribly.

TTFN
Kat xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Birthday Project of the Harley kind

Happy Monday! I had a few minutes and was just itching to post! It's good to see you. :o)

I knew one of my friends' birthday was coming up, just couldn't remember exactly when in August. So I slowly started on her present and it was going really slow because of all the projects I have been working on. So she calls me Friday and says hey...my birthday is next weekend, can you believe it? Bingo - bongo.....crud...I better get my butt in gear now! So all weekend in between cleaning and laundry and Mr. Lick Lick, I worked on it. I have it all done except putting it together with the outside edges and I will work on that the next two nights at home. But I wanted to give you a sneak peek. I am so happy with this, I hope she is too. She is a 'Harley' collector. Anything that is Harley. Her whole house is nothing but Harley. So I thougth this would fit right in.

I made a chart, and the plan looked feasible but in my crocheting I messed up. I was one post short when I finished the first side, the black side. And I only had the one ball of black and didn't feel like going back to the store for another ball. So I had to refigure and fudge it. Although the end product looks a lot like the chart, it is not. The only thing that is relatively (and not even because I had two go rounds')the same is the bar. The top and bottom are reconfigured. I worried myself for the better part of Saturday trying to figure in my head while crocheting the orange side, how to reconfigure my screw up. I just couldn't get my head wrapped around how to fix it and ended up with a headache. That one missed post really gave me fits in my mind. (Is it an irritant to an OCD thing?)So when it came time I just sat there and did it in my head and counted my x's and put markers where everything would end up so that I didn't screw up again and have to tear out parts. Above is the end result. I am very happy with it.

I guess I can't get in trouble with Harley for it because it's not exactly the Harley bar and shield, so it's not a copyright infringement, but it's close enough for me and my friend - I hope. I think she'll like it.

I also took a break to clear the cobwebs out and made the little smiley man. Isn't he cute? I'd like to make more of his kind. It didn't take me that long and took my mind off of my dilemma for a bit. And he put a smile on my face. I think these would be great to make a bunch and take them to the children's hospital.

So you know I had to include a pic of my little man. He's my life, what can I say?

I hope you had a wonderful weekend and hope the week ahead is just as good if not better! My, how the weeks are flying.......
TTFN
Kat xoxox