Life Just Flies On By

Lord have mercy! The year is 2025.  I had a good sized post typed out and all of a sudden it's gone. Sigh....anyways....life happens and then it's gone. Poof! 69 is on the horizon for me. I do the best I can. Sometimes it's not good enough but oh well. I'll make it until I don't and then I'm with those who have gone before me. The way this world and US is going it will be a blessing.

If anyone reads this, take care and live your best life the way you want to. 

TTFN

Well, well, well

Well,

Long time no see. :) Life. What can I say? I noticed it's happened to a lot of bloggers. I still read some blogs at work when I have time. Like 3rd shift.

I am still working my very stressful job, still working swing shift. Minus one co-worker since the beginning of December. Which has made it even more hard because now the rest of us have to divvy up his work and our shifts are different. And even harder when one of us has a week of vacation because that puts us at 12 hour shifts all week. Money's good......BUT. At 62 it kicks my butt. BUT...on the horizon (hopefully.....all toes and fingers crossed) they have posted the job for the 3rd time (post all in itself) and one of the ladies from the other mill up the street is applying for it!!! YIPEEEEEEE! I am so happy. I want to get back to regular shifts so bad. I am only here for 2 more years and I am retiring. Good Lord willing and the creek don't rise and sweep me away.

So, enough about work. I saw my list on my last post and I'd like to go through it and see what I did and didn't do.   

) To try to stash at least $300 a month, all year  (this didn't happen)
2) To try to eat better and less (this did happen. A result of it is #3)
3) To be active and try to lose some of this fat off of my body(proud to say I lost 30 pounds!)
4) To replace all of my windows and my floors(nope.....dang it)
5) To try to get back into my crafts (crochet, sewing and woodworking) and make all of my birthday and Christmas presents(YES! I have and will continue)
6) To ride my bike (motorcycle) more, at least once a week, even if it's to the store and back Nope :(
7) To try to get out of the house more and not be such a hermit  nope....I have gotten worse
8) To be more patient (this has been so hard the last 5 years, and I don't know why) I've tried, Lord knows I have. 

So......some good, some not good. Oh well. We all are a work in progress until the end aren't we? I am anyways.

ruminate

[roo-muh-neyt]

||

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR ruminate ON THESAURUS.COM

---

verb (used without object), ru·mi·nat·ed, ru·mi·nat·ing.

to chew the cud, as a ruminant.

to meditate or muse; ponder.

verb (used with object), ru·mi·nat·ed, ru·mi·nat·ing.

to chew again or over and over.

to meditate on; ponder.

And just the other night, I learned something about myself. Well, I already knew it. Just didn't know what it was called. Rumination. I ruminate. Thereby adding more stress to the stress I already have at work. Only I take it to the extreme, about situations that happen in my life that bother me. But I read an article on how to stop it when it happens. https://www.everydayhealth.com/depression/depression-and-ruminative-thinking.aspx

So anyways......I will post this. Whether anyone reads it is another thing. I am alive and well (for the most part) and just trying to make through each day like everyone else. I hope to be back soon but you know how that goes. I hope everyone is doing good.

TTFN

Kat

The New Year

As I contemplate another year of my life gone, I wonder how much of it I have left. And although that really doesn't matter, because I have no control over it, I know I am on the downhill slide.

This always brings me to remember a conversation I had with Jeff, not too long before he left this earth. He asked me if I ever thought about how much of my life I had left. Was I halfway? Was I close to leaving? He was 46 when he had a massive heart attack. His prediction in that conversation was that he would live to see at least 70. So that he was over the hump on his downhill slide. Oh, how wrong he was. Oh, how I wish he was very wrong.

So as I think about how much life is left, I think about what I should do to see that I have as much as possible.

I am not good at resolutions. I think about them. I have made them in the past. And like a lot of people I have abandoned them not long after making them. They are work. You have to make a conscious effort to keep them. And truth be known, with me, failure is inevitable.

So with that being said, I will make an attempt at some New Year's wishes....not resolutions.

1) To try to stash at least $300 a month, all year
2) To try to eat better and less
3) To be active and try to lose some of this fat off of my body
4) To replace all of my windows and my floors
5) To try to get back into my crafts (crochet, sewing and woodworking) and make all of my birthday and Christmas presents
6) To ride my bike (motorcycle) more, at least once a week, even if it's to the store and back
7) To try to get out of the house more and not be such a hermit
8) To be more patient (this has been so hard the last 5 years, and I don't know why)

Honestly, #3 & #7 are going to be the toughest. With my job and the hours that I work, it's going to be very hard.

I will be 60 this month. How did I get to be this old, so quick?!? Where did my life go? It goes by way too fast. But at least I made it this far. So many die young.

The best of luck to you all for 2017. My wishes for this world are for more kindness & understanding, less violence & hate, and more love, laughter and happiness.

TTFN,
Kat

Winds Of Change

Wow, I didn't think I'd be back here.

I've been reading some of my posts. A little bitter sweet to say the least. So much has changed, and yet so much is the same.

I no longer work for the same company that I did for 15 years. That was a life changing experience for me. I was lost. But things have a way of working out eventually. I now work for another large company making more money. I also work swing shift work....changing shifts every week. This week I am on 3rd shift. I work in a man's world. There are not many females 'in the field' here. Tis ok. I can weather it.

I no longer have my canine babies. I now have feline babies. My most spoiled of them is Nubby, who I love with all my heart. She makes me laugh. I think I might have written a post about her on one of the other blogs that I abandoned. I have a total of 6. Two inside (Mister is an inside/outside kitty, Nubby is total inside), and 4 outside, one of which is totally feral. The four outside are due to negligent people. Two are from mama....only the two girls are left. Thomas was killed by a car out at the road and I found him in the ditch back in the fall. Joker has been missing for over a year now...he just disappeared one day. Swinky just appeared one day, and the total feral I believe is Thomas' father because of his coloring and markings. He lives in the woods next to the shed and my pump house.

My crochet has been pretty much non-existent. I have crocheted some hats. That is about it. I have a room full of yarn and all things crochet.

I taught myself how to sew. So I have 2 sewing machines and bunches of fabric. I was gung ho for a while making purses. That too has fell by the wayside. I don't know what is wrong with me. I know my job is part of the reason why, because of working different shifts every week. My 3rd shift week all I do is eat, sleep and work. NOTHING gets accomplished that week. Being almost 60 and working like I do it takes a toll on you.

One thing that hasn't changed is that I am still single. And I'm ok with that. I don't have time for myself, much less time for a guy. Men are time consuming. :)

I did something last fall that I've never done. Cut all my hair off. It was so dang short. Shorter than Sharon Osborn. I've had long hair my whole life. I'm growing it back out. lol.

The only bill I have is my car....and normal monthly bills of course. I'm trying to fix up my little dump and stash cash at the same time. I'm in relatively good shape at this age in my life.  I can't complain, there are others out there in this world who have it way worse than I do. I am thankful for what I do have.

Not sure if anyone will read this, I probably am not on any reading lists anymore. Tis ok......I'm just one little fishy in a big sea of blogs. It's basically one little piece of my history and timeline. When I'm gone I doubt any of my family will know that this exists, and it'll be lost in time and space.

Anyways..........

TTFN
Kat

Turning The Page

Here.

Mr. Lick Lick

Leo & PeeWee               Misty         

AKA Leo, aka Lelo, aka Lelo Pelo, aka Pelo Pelo, aka Mr. Mr, originally known as Leo Canetta.

It is with so much sadness that I am here to tell you that my beloved Leo has crossed over Rainbow Bridge, hopefully into the loving arms of his human daddy.

Born March 30, 1998 Leo was one of 6 pups born to PeeWee and Misty. He is predeceased by his doggie parents and by his human daddy, Jeff. He leaves a loving grandmom/mama behind.

His life was one of grandeur. His daddy had him for 10 years and spoiled him rotten. He fed him from the table with his own fork. His daddy left the door open for him all day while he was at work, with the a/c or heat on, so Leo could go outside and go potty. His daddy cooked special spaghetti sauce and put it on his dry food. Leo always had his own steak and baked potato.

When his daddy passed on he went to live with his original mama again and went from a city dog to a country dog and loved it. He chased squirrels, birds and lizards to his hearts' content.

He was a lot like his doggy daddy in his demanding ways and sense of humor. His doggy mama came out in him in his loving nature, barking and tenacity in getting a laugh from his human grandmom/mama. He had his mama's looks and coat. His bark was a combination of both his mama and daddy. He was a stubborn little boy who sometimes wouldn't listen and just did his own thing.

After I posted last weekend my boy had two seizures. I knew at that point that it was time. Actually past time. I originally had made the decision to put him down a month ago, and a friend of mine in FL guilted me into not doing it. Against my better judgement, to satisfy my selfishness of wanting to keep him with me longer. I hate it when I don't go with my gut. After seeing him seize I was totally mad with myself because I let my weakness get the better of me.

I called the vet Monday morning and made an appt. for Saturday morning at 8. This past week has been so hard on me, knowing I was on a countdown of having my boy with me. I have taken this coming week off from work because I need the time to myself. I will probably jump on the bike and take off for a few days and just go where it leads. I need to feel the wind in my face and try to come to grips with this unfortunate event. This is the first time ever in my life that I have been totally alone. Friday morning was the very hardest. I didn't sleep well all week, but Friday morning I woke before 2, laid in bed for an hour and finally got up at 3. It hit me that this day would be our last routine morning, routine night. One more sleep and he will be going to his daddy again.

So if you don't hear from me for awhile rest assured that I am just trying to heal. If you don't have or never had animals then you don't know the void they leave in your life when they are gone. There is a huge hole in my heart right now.

TTFN
Kat
xoxo

Sunday Love And Did You Know?

Happy Sunday!
Just wanted to send you some love today. We all could use a little extra love right? :o)
And did you know that crochet has made it's way into country. It's small but something you may or may not know. If you are a country music fan, which I am 40% country, 40% classic rock and 20% a mixture of other music, crochet is involved in one bands' almost every appearance, and a crochet amigurumi animal is in another's video.
Zac Brown of Zac Brown band always has a different crocheted cap/hat on. I noticed today on a clip of his on CMT that he had a cute blue and brown one on. I'm always checking out what he's wearing now since I have a love affair with hats. :o)  I like the band and their songs. I just wonder who it is that makes his hats. Just curious mind you. I think it's pretty cool. :o)
Taylor Swift's new video has a part where she's talking on the phone to someone and there on the bed  next to her is a cute amigurumi animal, it looks like a bear but I could be wrong. But how cool that our craft has made it's way into country music?
On the crochet front, I started a lapghan for someone for Christmas and was so stoked because it was flowing so smoothly and quick. Smoothly......yea, so I thought. I feel like a complete moron but I finished the 1st half of the second part of the pattern, Drop in the Pond by Elizabeth Ham, and held it up and discovered that I erred, somehow, how I don't know, but after the 1st row of the second part you would have thought that I would have noticed it. I am so ticked with myself that I am not and have not crocheted today. If you have been reading me you know that I love little projects and just struggle badly with big ones. The enthusiasm and energy I had for this one was being utilized quickly, that is, until I discovered my error.












So today has been a laundry, cookie making day. I baked some cookies for a back sale for a family going through a rough spot in life. I originally thought I would make some muffins. But then I opted for easy because I had planned on finishing the aforementioned project. Procurement of dough was had yesterday morning with the intention of baking today. Which happened.  And I was a good girl. I only had 4. 3 Peanut Butter and 1 Chocolate Chip.
It's also a rainy day in Georgia. We are receiving weather that's coming from Texas. It poured last night and guess what??? My venture on the tin roof was not for naught!! NO water pouring through my porch roof directly in front of the door. Hallelujah!! :o)  We are supposed to have rain for the next few days. Which is fine with me. We need it and the temp is moderate. And I think all of my hummingbirds have flown the coop. I haven't seen any in a few days. I'll keep my feeders up for a few weeks for the stragglers headed south.
I hope your weekend has been everything you wanted. Cya soon!


TTFN
Kat
xoxox

Kat On A Tin Roof

Haha……….yes the title is correct. I, the dumbo that I can be sometimes, got up on my roof this weekend. Believe me, I paid for it and am still paying for it. I actually did a lot of work outside this weekend and between my back, hips, legs and arms, I don’t know what hurts worse.  But I digress……….back to the roof.  Since I moved here I have not cleaned the roof off except to get up on the back of the bench closest to the house (I have a bench that goes around the whole back deck, with the exception of the stairway down, and the bench has a back ledge about 6 inches wide) and with my rake, rake off what I could reach. I am surrounded by pines, oaks and sweet gums. The majority over the house is pine and oak. So I had a large build up of pine straw, oak leaves and acorns. We are talking 13 years almost.  The last 3 times it’s rained I have had water leaking on my front porch right in front of the door. And that is due to the fact of the buildup of pine straw, acorns and leaves and it was backing up under the flashing. I had to do something. And I’m too proud, stupid, whatever you want to call it, to call on one of my guy friends to come do it for me. I hate asking for help.

So, here I am, up on the roof. I got up there real easy. Just put the 10 foot ladder on the back deck up to the roof and climb up. The tricky part for me was getting down. Yea………….    And I couldn’t even trim up all the trees over the roof because every time I tried to get close to the edge enough, my head and my stomach would start doing whoopdeedoo’s and my legs would turn to jello. AND to top it off I had the wrong shoes on to do the job. The tennis shoes I put on, to do yard work in, were slippery on the roof. Early on I took them off and tossed them down to the back deck so that I wouldn’t slip and fall. (Oh, and I did have my cell phone in my back pocket) I am also paying dearly for that too. Even though I sprayed myself all over before starting yard work on Saturday, I am covered in chiggers. :o( For those of you who do not live in the south and don’t know what chiggers are, consider yourself lucky.  They are little microscopic bugs that make you itch. BAD.  They live in the trees and spanish moss.  I think I was ok on the ground but once I got on the roof is when I think I got them. My ankles are covered, I have them on my legs, I lot on my underwear line on both legs and top, and a couple on my torso. Uh huh. Yea, sux to be me now doesn’t it?

And to top it off I couldn’t get off the roof. I had to call one of my friends’ husband (because she didn’t answer her phone or text messages as she was taking a nap) and plead with him to come get me off the roof.  He laughed, and he came to help me down. And while he was there he got up on the roof and finished off what I could not. Lesson learned. NEVER AGAIN WILL I GET UP ON MY ROOF. Now I’m waiting for it to rain so I can be sure that nothing else is going on up there. I’m pretty sure it was the buildup. It was pretty bad.

                                                                

My view from almost the peak, looking toward my driveway.

                                                                         

My boy, Sunday after I got done cleaning off the back deck of roof debris.  It was kinda funny, while I was up on the roof he was pacing down on the ground looking for me. I had both doors open to the house and he was constantly on the move. I called to him several times but he couldn’t hear where I was calling from and he couldn’t see me up on the roof. I felt sorry for him.

                                                                 

Another snake. Saturday morning when I was just getting started on the yard work I happened to look down and there was this baby snake. It was chilly, 50’s, so he wasn’t moving too much but I had no clue what this snake was. So I smushed it’s head. Come to find out it’s a milk snake, a non poisonous one. How was I to know? I wasn’t taking any chances. Leo can’t see but he likes to smell them, which he did with this one when I was standing on it’s head. Well, he’s a dead milk snake now. I was on the lookout all day for more. I sure hope Leo doesn’t come upon a rattlesnake while I’m at work. They’re looking for food now to hibernate soon.

                                                                

So I thought this was interesting. See that see-through thingy at the top? A while back, I don’t remember when exactly but it’s been quite a while, I started folding the sleeves from the yarn and putting them in this container. I pulled them out Friday night to throw them out and thought I’d see what all I had. These are a lot of the yarns, not all, that I’ve either finished a project with or started and the sleeve fell off. It looked like a lot more when I was sorting them out but now it doesn’t look like much does it?

So that’s it for me for now. Our weather is awesome right now. Not too hot, not cold. Goldilocks weather.   I hope it comes to you soon, where ever you may be.

TTFN
Kat
xoxo                                                              

FO’s……mostly

I realized not long ago that a lot of my posts show UFO’s, not FO’s. So I thought I would show some FO’s with one UFO in the mix. :o)

                                                         

This is the top of the beret in my last post. It’s ready to go, along with the others, to be donated.

                                                           

This is the band on it.

                                              

I hand made my cards. A while back when I was in Hobby Lobby I came across some stamps that I loved. So I bought some heavy paper and cut it up into sizeable pieces. I stamp my stamps, make a cute little flower to attach and put my care instructions handwritten inside.

                                               

I had quite a range of comments when I posted this pink full face hat on FB. In my mind I envisioned something totally different than what came off the hook. Oh well………it’ll keep someone (female), who rides a motorcycle in winter, warm.

                                         

This is my UFO. I had started this as something totally different, a pillow cover for a pillow for Kylie, and trashed the idea and put it away (because it didn’t work out like I planned). A week or so ago it came to me that I had this in my bin and I could use it to make a book bag and fill it with books for her birthday (instead of the stupid pillow idea). She loves to read and I think that’s a better idea anyways. :o)  So I crocheted both ends up. And it was interesting the way I did it.  I made a sc, ch 1 all the way along and then when I got to the end I came back up with sc on each side post of the sc’s. Then when I got to the top I chained 2 and came back down the other side repeating the sc on each side post and fastened off at the end. I should have taken a pic, darn it. The way I did it reinforces the seams. This is a rather large book bag. I wanted it to be strong enough to carry the load that she would put in it.  Like my flower for the side? I got the pattern for it from Crochet Garden by Suzann Thompson.  I have to tell you that this is the second flower I’ve made from this pattern and I’ve changed the inside of the flower both times. BUT I had the same number of stitches required before starting the petals of the flower. Do you know that both times I ended up with 11 petals instead of 10??  I don’t know how I did it but I did. It’s a pretty cool looking flower too.   Also I bought a couple of straps for this bag from Jo-Ann’s but now I am thinking I won’t use them. The only reason being that I want her to be able to wash this and I don’t think the straps are washable. :o(  So it looks like I will have to come up with something else.

Hey…….it’s hump day!  I hope you are able to get over the hump with relative ease to the downhill slide to the end of the week. Cya soon!

TTFN
Kat
xoxox

Happy International Crochet Day!

I know I will have my hook in hand when I get home today. Gotta do some crochet on International Crochet Day right? :o)

I’ve been the bad blogger but we all know about the life thing. If I was independently wealthy I would be blogging daily in my jammies. :o)

So, on to a little bit of what’s been on my hooks. The below beret was a spur of the moment whim with some yarn that I purchased online, a while back, that was on sale. I was disappointed when it came because it wasn’t what I thought it was but oh well, it was on sale. It’s called Sunday’s Best. It’s a finger weight  yarn that is wash only, no dryer. I bought quite a bit of this yarn. I only used one gray and one navy to make this beret. Turned out not bad though huh? I like it. Not on me, but I like it. I will be donating it to BG LRC along with the next two hats you see for the next run. 

                                                                     

                                                                     

I love this next hat and scarf. The yarn is ILTY and the color is jazz stripe. The scarf originated from the leftovers from the hat and then I wanted to finish it and rummaged through my stash and found a skein of ILTY Terracotta.  It matches really well. Of course the colors in none of my pics is true but it’s pretty darn close in this one.

                                                           

I finished this hat last night. I worked on it  for 2 nights total. These colors are not true in the pic. This hat is so warmy.

                                                    

I sent my niece the hand puppet from my last post for her first born, and I crocheted this little chew toy kinda thingy for the second born, I think Noelia is 6 months old now.  I made it from cotton. It’s funny because she can hold onto it and chew it. The arms kind of curled as did the legs. Almost like it’s posing. But look at that face…..lol.  I am horrible with faces. You may recognize the pink hat from a previous post that Mr. Lick Lick was posing next to it. The hat was sent for Noelia too. My niece said she looked adorable in it and the oldest of her children, Cece, said the puppet was her frog. LOL.  A frog with teeth! I added teeth and hair to it before I sent it. What a goofy looking thing it was, but she loved it.

                                                     

I started this shell hat the other day. I really need to sit down and finish it. Maybe when I get home today. It’s the rest of that Terracotta.

                                                      

I had also started a real frog puppet in cotton but I put it down for a little bit. It was wearing on my nerves. :o) Sadly I don’t have a pic of it.

That’s all that’s going on with me as of this moment. Busy as all get out. Leo is hanging in there. We take it day by day these days. We have felt fall in the air here FINALLY! It’s been 60’s/50’s in the morning and 80’s during the day. My air hasn’t come on the last two days at home. Glorious weather!

I hope the rest of your day is better than the first part was. Cya soon!

TTFN
Kat
xoxo

Happy Friday Eve!

Hello, hello!  It's almost Friday. Time is just zinging on by. School here is back in session, for the most part. Before you know it Thanksgiving will be upon us and then the big C! There are 123 days left before the big event. I know you don't want to hear it. I was shocked myself when I looked on the calendar.

My time since the last time I posted has been busy. I'm trying to decide all of my handmade gifts for the big event. I'm behind this year and that has me a little concerned so I guess I need to buckle down. I kind of have some sense of what I want to make for everyone. It's just a matter of doing it. And I have to apologize. I don't have any links for any of what you're about to see. I go all over the internet looking for patterns as well as I get those emails and I print them out and then forget to get them when I take my pics.

I think this will probably be Kylie's for either Christmas or her birthday, haven't decided yet. Of course it's not done. I actually have a hat and two purses done, one of which I didn't like so I made another one and don't like it either! This is from a pattern for a woman and a poodle, although I'm not sure I will do the poodle.

These are hot pads. I like all three of them. Two I had patterns for and the square is a motif from one of my crochet books, I believe from Beyond The Motif. I just used cotton and bigger hook.

This hand puppet, some of you may recognize. The pattern came from one of my magazines, maybe Crochet World. I didn't like it. I had a hard time with the mouth. It's cute, but it didn't come out as I expected it would.

This is a larger hot pad. I found the pattern online and it had a number to it, but it seems to me that I saw this pattern in one of my books. And although I looked I couldn't find it. It was vaguely familiar. It's a real easy pattern. I'd love to do an afghan with panels of this stitching.

And these....geez....I was going to make slippers with them (well I needed 6 more for the second slipper). But I changed my mind.  I think I'll use these for a hat. The sage didn't photograph too well. It's a real pretty color green. And actually the red is a deeper red too. Crappy photography...what can I say?

And my last crochet for today are the colors for a CAL that I am in with Stitchy, Glor, Vikki and Faith, of the Sarafia afghan. I actually took a pic of two of the squares I already have done but the pic was very blurry. This yarn is StyleCraft DK from the UK. I love it. It's more like a sport weight but it's really soft. The front color is a soft peach. It looks almost white in this pic. The CAL is at our own pace. I am working on so many different things at the same time but it's ok. I get bored easy with projects. I jump from one to the other. They eventually come together. :o)

We here in the south are on the watch for the next few days or so. There's another storm brewing out there called Isaac. Where it goes depends on how far to the east the current high goes. There are actually two highs next to each other and then the jet stream is dipping low into the south above both highs. The high in the east is the one that will move even further east and when it does it'll allow that storm to come up between the two highs.  I have a couple of friends that just left to go on a cruise today for the weekend. I hope Isaac doesn't mess that up for them. There are so many places that need rain. I hope he heads their way and not ours (up the east coast).  I guess we'll see how he plays out.

Last today is a pic of my boy. He's not been doing good lately. I took him to the vet Saturday and got some steroids and pain meds for him. His back legs are going out on him. The vet told me I might have another 6 months with him. For now the steroids are working. A co-worker this morning gave me some Cosequin for him that she said should help him too. She said they have it in Walgreens and CVS now. He's 14.5 and his weight is a good 14 pounds 12 ounces. I was surprised at his weight. I thought he was lighter. So maybe with the help of some meds he will make it to see 15. I hope so.  
Anyways....happy Friday Eve y'all!  May the rest of your day be more than what you hoped for when your feet hit the floor this morning!

TTFN
Kat
xoxo

Not Much Monday

 

Yes, I don’t have much to talk about on this Monday morning. Time is flying and I feel like I’ve fallen way behind. The big C is just around the corner already and I am not near where I was last year at this time. And I just don’t have the motivation to get started either.

I did finish another hat. This is what I worked on in my funk. Didn’t take me very long either. I love these two colors together. Although as usual the picture doesn’t show the true vibrancy of either one.

 

Saturday I  started AND finished a baby rattle for one of my friends son’s newborn. I kind of improvised on the rattle part. I didn’t feel like running to the store so I got one of my dog’s old med bottle (cleaned out of course) and put 3 pennies in it and stuffed stuffing around it. Of course I told the mother of the baby so that if by some chance the baby chewed through and it came out then she would know. The baby is only 3 weeks old right now so it’ll be a little bit before he chews on and rattles it but still, she has knowledge. And below is the pattern. I made mine with Peaches and Creme camouflage and a G hook.

                       

Well that’s all I have been up to crochet wise. I did work on a couple of other little things. Oh, remember the two yellow smiley faces? I was going to make a pillow, then Debi suggested making a purse. I decided to make a reversible hat. I started doing single crochet to make it hat-like and then while watching Casey Anderson on NatGeo yesterday (he is so dang cute and sexy) I sewed the other smiley on the back of the first smiley so that the hat can be turned inside out. I like how it turned out. It’s not done yet as it’s a bit tedious working in sc (with an F hook) in rounds but I have added a few rounds onto it.  I will definitely show it to you when it’s done. I’m not sure who will get it but I’m leaning more toward Kylie. It for sure will put a smile on anyone’s face to see it.

Hope your week is one of grace, beauty and love. Cya soon!

TTFN
Kat
xoxo

What I’ve Been Up To

Another work week has begun and I’m sure it’s going to be jam packed full. So before I begin I wanted to post, since I didn’t get to post last week. It wouldn’t have done me any good because everything I have touched has turned out not so good. Have you ever had those weeks? I have way too many of them.

The bolster pillow covering that I was working on was one example. The cover I originally started working on just didn’t do anything for me so I abandoned it and started another one. WELL….that one turned out too big too, but I thought what the heck, I’ll try to make it work. Yea, ok. A word to the wise….don’t ever try to make something too big fit something smaller in size. It just doesn’t work.  I put the zipper on it, which was no easy feat for me, as I am not a sewer (so-er). I then stitched up both sides and they look horrible. Thus no pictures because I was so unhappy with the whole mess. Needless to say it’s laying to the side staring at me until I get up the gumption to frog it and either start over or abandon the project altogether. I normally don’t let something like that whip me but twice I attempted it and failed.

Something that made my week though was that I was the lucky winner who won the give away at River Bend Farm blog! It was in the mail when I got to work this morning. So  my week started off with a smile. I can’t wait to use this pan and I have a lot of recipes to go in the recipe book(although I don’t do a lot of cooking anymore in my singledom).  The pan will be my banana bread pan and all things sweet. :o) The hand towel reminds me of Halloween, which is just around the corner. And you don’t find many paper bags anymore. I guess we are saving trees by not making them. Maybe one day I can visit the store where this came from, Texas Hill Country Furniture & Mercantile. I love anything wood. I see a picture of a wooden mesquite bathtub…I’d love to have that! I could definitely spend some money in this place.  Thank you Berte, I love everything!!

I have managed to work on some little stuff to ease my discontent after the bolster fiasco.

 

This is the hat that accompanied the piggy. I thought I made it for a child but apparently she had a small head and it fit. :o)  

 

This is the two smiley faces for the little pillow I was going to make for the empty end of the bolster.  I think I will still put these together and stuff it. I threw them to the side with the bolster.

When I am in a funk I revert to hats. They are mindless, quick, easy and I can’t mess them up. They sooth me. So does my boy. He’s giving me heck here. Can you tell by the expression on his face? :o) Quit taking pictures mama and pay attention to ME!

And this is a birthday present for a friend. It’s not much but it’s from the heart, made with my hands with love. It’s also made out of Lion Brand Cotton. Has anyone used this cotton? I liked it on FB and they had a pop up sale on it. OMG…..the balls are huge and I love them! The gauge is somewhere between Peaches and Creme, and Village Yarn offered on the Herrschner’s site, which is a thinner cotton than all of the others. I ordered these two colors and a purple. I really, really like them. I can’t wait to make a hat out of them.

So this is what I’ve been up to besides work, work, work. I’m ready for a slow down and some cooler temps. It sure has been hot here in GA. Although I really can’t complain because the midwest has been hotter than we have. We’ve been having a lot of storms. It’s that afternoon heat of the day thing. And I can’t complain about that either really because at least we are getting some rain. Others are not.

I hope where ever you are that life is treating you kindly. Cya soon!

TTFN
Kat
xoxo

Gee

A quick post. I have been busy as all get out here.

I am bummed. I sold the piggy security blanky from this post for only $15 and made a cute little hat to go with it. The girl I sold it to was not there. She had seen it twice on my FB page and loved it, raved about needing it and wanting one like it.

So I finally said ok...I will deliver it to you at lunch. She said how much? I said how about $15, is that fair? She said OMG yes!! So when I get to her work and go in she isn't there but she had left $20. I said 'oh...I don't have change.' The girl says that's ok she said keep the rest. So I was like cool.

I didn't even get to where I was going for lunch and she texts' me and says 'Just got back. I didn't know so small. Can we switch back. I knew I should have been here. Sorry. And. There was a hat in the bag. U gonna b this way. I can leave up front.'

I'm like WHAT??? She saw the pic of it on the bin/tub that is in my post.

$15.  Is that too much?? I mean, my time alone was worth that to me. PLUS I threw in a hat.

I'm bummed.

TTFN
Kat
xoxo

My Favorite….

Day of the week is here! :o)  Happy Friday y’all!

Also I have been working with a couple of my favorite colors too. The last time I was at Hobby Lobby I bought a pillow that is long and round. I think it’s 20 inches long and 6 inches in diameter (which is actually an 18 inch circumference). I decided that I would make a cover for it for Kylie’s birthday in October. It’s almost done being crocheted, except I made a boo-boo. Dang it.

When I made my foundation row it was the size of the length of the pillow. Unfortunately I didn’t check the length again until about 5 rows into it and guess what? It’s too long. I was bummed to say the least. So I put it down in frustration. Then I started thinking that maybe I could just make a little ‘addendum’ to the pillow, that is to say, another small round pillow to take up the space that is lacking inside the cover by the extra length. I’ll make a little smiley face pillow inside, sort of as a surprise for when my daughter goes to wash the cover. :o) I hope I can pull it off.

So anyways…this is the cover, shy of a few inches of being done before I assemble it. And ya know what? Darn….I’m such a ditz. I forgot to get a pic of the ends of the cover. I crocheted 2 African Flowers for the ends. One in pinks and one in purples. 

This pic above is my ‘bin of color’. I put all of the colors I am using in the bin to 1)contain them all in one spot nice and neat, and 2)be able to coordinate the colors so I can see what should go next, pinks are at one end and purples at the other.  This worked out real well  because when I was ready for the next color I just pulled the end up from the bin. The bin saved space and time for me. I had gone through all of my stash and pulled out my medium #4 yarns in purple and pink. I have a mixture of RH, ILTY and another yarn that I can’t remember the name of right off hand. I had more purple than pink but oh well. Kylie will love it because it has so many different shades of the colors that she loves.

Speaking of Kylie…..here she is at swim team practice. She is growing so quick. 8 years old and looks 3 years older. Look at those long legs! She is going to be tall like her daddy.

Another project that I started is to the stage of making a lining and assembling it. Another purse. The body and strap are crocheted. I love these colors together. I used a lilac, purple and bright yellow in a 3 row lilac, 1 row purple and 1 row yellow sequence. The strap is 3 rows lilac on each side with one row each of purple and yellow in the middle. The pic is blurry, sorry. The material with it is what the lining will be made of. It’s a lot darker in this pic than in actuality.

Do any of you have electricsheep.org screensavers? OMG. I have it on one of my computers at work. There is crochet inspiration of a different kind.

     

See what I mean? And there was one that I did not capture that I sooo wanted to, because it would have made an awesome motif. One that I’ve never seen. And it happened so quick that I couldn’t get it.  Twice actually. That’s when I decided to sit in front of it for a bit with my camera on and see if it wouldn’t come up again. Sadly it didn’t but I caught these two.  I know, I’m weird. If you’ve followed me for a while you know that. :o) I’m so weird that I could have sat there for hours waiting for good ones to come up to get a picture of. Some of the colors were so awesome.

So last today, I gave my friend that moved to VA her son’s hat and I also made her a going away little something. She loved it.

I hope you have a wonderful Friday and weekend too! Pray for those affected by the jerk who took other people’s lives in his hands when he decided to go to the movies with the intention of killing people. Such a sad state of affairs. What is our world & country coming to???

Cya soon.

TTFN
Kat
xoxo

PPPPPiggy

Happy Monday! I am back to work. It’s not where I want to be but if the boy and I want to eat it’s where I need to be. It was so hard to get up this morning and get in gear again.

The rest of my week last week was pretty much uneventful.  I did manage to work out in the yard a little. At least I got inside and outside of the fence mowed. That was a job in itself.  I also managed to clean my closet up some too. That needed to be done for a long time. So my vacation wasn’t a total waste of time doing nothing. I’m happy to have accomplished a few things. 

I went to Hobby Lobby on Friday. I shouldn’t have because I always spend way more than I should. This time wasn’t any different.  The Oh Baby! Crochet book was one of the items that came home with me. It has quite a few patterns that I’d like to attempt. One of them is already completed. Of course it’s not totally like the pattern but almost. The colors, ears and snout are different. And I think where the head attaches to the blanket is not how they attached it but I kind of like how I did it because it makes it pretty secure to the body. The blanket itself is not that big because it’s a security blanket, it’s only 10 rounds plus the 2 round edge. I think it’s pretty cute myself.

                                               

 

  

I couldn’t resist this pic of my boy. He never even woke up when I took his pic. This is his couch and his blanky. This blanket came from his daddy’s. He had it before his daddy died. It’s a crocheted blanket that looks like it’s done in tunisian stitch. Sometimes he will lay on it like this and other times he’ll lay at the green end on the couch and scrunch up the blanky for a pillow. He’s hanging in there for now. His eating has dwindled down again. He sleeps a lot too. He did drink a lot of water while I was home last week. But he won’t drink any while I am at work. I just don’t understand.

I hated leaving him this morning. Oh, I did manage to move his dog house out front underneath the carport thingy. He wasn’t using it out back anymore so I moved it. The funny thing is that when I came home from Hobby Lobby on Friday he was laying underneath it, instead of in it.  I purposely brought it out front so he could get in it and not lay in the dirt. I even constructed a front stoop out of 3 cinder blocks covered with an old truck mat from my old Ford Ranger. I guess he’d rather lay under the palace instead of in it or on the porch. Go figure.

Well I best get to it here. It’s going to be one of those days for me and probably a pretty full week. Here’s hoping your week is a good one! Cya soon!

TTFN
Kat
xoxo