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