Time for Fun!

Duck





Duck








Goose

Goose

Goose

Goose





Feathered friends at Lakeshore Park! The geese are young Canadian geese. (Canadian geese even though many of these birds will spend the entire year here in Mississippi.)

Little Princess Baby Blanket

Pattern: Blanket designed by Pamela Wood - pattern is in the April 2004 Crochet World. Caterpillar designed by KristieMN - pattern is here on Crochetville.

Yarn: Caron's Simply Soft

Notes: I started this blanket (maybe about 2 years ago) but put it up when I got tired of doing all those flowers. But, in hopes that a good friend of mine will have a baby girl after 2 adorable boys, I pulled it back out and finally finished!
It is a cute blanket. Pattern has a huge error though - one row was totally left out. It was an easy error to notice so I was able to compensate.
I had yarn left over, so I made a matching toy. I love Kristie's patterns!
Ain't it just a precious set? Gee, I hope that baby is a girl.

DIY Crochetville Team

Such an exciting day! So many good things to be thankful for!!

First, I'm officially part of the Crochetville team to apply to be on Uncommon Threads on the DIY network. Wow! Now I'm much more of a crocheter than a designer. I so thankful to all the great designers out there who design such wonderful items. And I buy a lot of patterns each year making me a designer-supporter. So Pfft! to all those low-lifes who copy patterns and spread them all around. (Okay, I'm getting off topic here...)

Then, if you go to the post about the finished Sunflower afghan, you'll note that none other than Kim Guzman herself has left a comment! I 'bout fell out of my chair when I saw that. And she has a blog post up today linking to this blog!

So, it's been a good day.

Scarf Swap 2006

I got a package from the land down under, also known as Australia! Isn't this exciting!! I tore off outer wrapper, then tore through the bubble wrap, and found...happy smiley faces wearing sunglasses. Ain't that just so cute? I stopped tearing stuff, made sure that Hubby properly admired the cute wrapping paper, and took a picture.

Very carefully, I finished unwrapping the package and found all sorts of goodies inside. Let's see, there's candy (and it was very delicious), an Aussie postcard, a souvenior tray with Koala picture, some "g'day"leaves, a flip-flop magnet, and a duck (love the duck). The round thing with the flowers opens up into a very nice bag, which I'm taking on our upcoming short vacation. And the scarf - yellow, orange, and green - to match my blog. With duckies on each end. I love it! I love it! Thanks so much Cupcake!!

FO: Bell-Sleeved Pullover

Pattern: Bell-Sleeved Pullover from the Tahki Crochet book. Designed by Doris Chan.

Yarn: Tahki Yarn's COTTON CLASSIC, color 3931 (100% mercerized cotton DK/worsted weight)

Notes: This was a wonderful soft yarn to work with. I will have to use it again.
The pattern was well-written and easy to follow. I couldn't figure out how this went together when I first read the pattern. But once I got pass the first 2 or 3 rows, the design began to come together.
And I really like the pullover. I've worn it twice so far. The fit is great and the sleeves are just the right length, that is they aren't so long that the bell part gets caught on stuff. I was overjoyed to find a matching shirt at Sam's! Especially since I was expecting to really have to hunt for what to wear under it.
And this is a GREAT pattern book. There are so many really great patterns inside and I'll be making some of them in the near future. The book is available at Patternworks and also at Dreamweavers.

Hey, my back-yard needs mowing! Any volunteers?

Closet Clean-Out

Cleaned out my closet this weekend. I don't know how I managed to stick so many things into one closet but what a trip down memory lane it was! Thought I would share a few of the things I found covering 3 decades of my life.
From the 1970's is this afghan made by my Aunt E. If you didn't live thru the 1970's, particularly the year 1976, then you can't possibly understand the excitement that gripped the USA as the bicentennial year drew closer and closer. Everything was colored red, white, and blue. And this little afghan was given to me. I love it and, God willing, I will still own it when I die.

From the 1980's, is something else that I can't bring myself to give up. My genuine Levi 501 button-fly jeans. Never again will I be small enough to fit into these, which is okay because I almost wore this pair out. These jeans were HOT! I happened to be in Atlanta, GA when they hit the market and I immediately bought a pair. The pants came with instructions sewn to the waistband, because you had to "shrink to fit" for a personal fit. I remember spending a whole afternoon in a laundermat washing, drying, and putting on my new jeans until they were just right.





And my crochet habit started in the 1990's. That's when I made this broomstick lace cardigan. I found the original pattern dated 1993. I thought that the border with all the little roses was so cute. I still do but the cardigan no longer fits. This may well be the first wearable that I ever made. I washed it and hung it back up. Some things just can't be given up.

In other news, I finished two things! (Boy, I've been busy this week!!) Pictures will be coming soon, but hubby's socks are done and I've finished the bell-sleeved pullover.

Works In Progess

WIP No. 1 - The bell-sleeved pullover is coming coming along. This was a great project to start after the afghan. The pattern is well-written and the cotton yarn is so smooth. I'm really enjoying it and it is looking good (if I do say so myself). I do need to find a little top to wear under it because nothing in my closet will do.

WIP No. 2 - I've got a good friend who is having a baby. Now she already has 2 boys, so on the off chance that this one is a girl, I want to be prepared! I pulled out this half-finished baby blanket that I put down because I got tired of doing all those flowers. (Have I ever mentioned that I have lots of unfinished projects stuck all around the house?) I do plan to finish this up before the middle of June. It's a cute pattern with the pink center and a border of pastel flowers.

WIP No. 3 - No picture, but I'm still working on hubby's socks. It's become almost a never-ending project because I messed up on the heel of one sock and didn't notice until I finished both socks. The horror and frustation that I felt upon noticing the mistake, and it was a Big Boo-Boo, almost made me chunk both socks. And, if they had been socks for me I would have. But in the end I got to practice on frogging my knitting, putting the live stitches back on my needles and now I'm just trying to finish.

Future WIP - The Baroque Jacket from HH. This pattern was the reason I bought the book. I had planned to get it from the Stitch Diva's website anyway. The yarn came in this week but I'm not starting on it until I finish one of the three projects above.

So I've got plenty to keep me busy.

Oops...

So I laid the afghan on the floor, turned around for one minute to grab the camera, pointed the camera at the afghan, and suddenly, there was The Cat all nice and comfy-like, perfectly content to lie there and have her picture took. Now why do cats do that?

But the real oops is that there is a mistake in the Sunflower Afghan!I laid this blanket out many, many times as I was working out and I've spread the finished blanket out a few times to show off, and it always looked fine. It wasn't until I was reading thru my thread at Crochetville that I happened to look at the pic I had posted and noticed a dreadful error! One of the 8 sunflower blocks is upside down! How in the world did I miss that? The dark green front-post double crochet stitches, which should be framing the front of the flower are on the back. I've double-checked on the actual blanket and, yep, it's upside down.
One rainy day when I'm bored and looking for something different to do, I'll pull out the border, cut the seams, and turn that block over.

FO: Sunflower Afghan

Project: Sunflower Afghan designed by Irena Janiashvili

From: Kit purchased from Mary Maxim
Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver

Measures: 50.5 inches wide, 72 inches long




Notes: This was a bear of a project from the get-go. The kit was on back-order for a couple of months, and I had given up on actually receiving it when it showed up at my door. The yarn included was Red Heart Super Saver instead of Mary Maxim's Starlette. I've never used any of the Mary Maxim yarns so I don't know if this was an upgrade or not. (I did get a $5 gift certificate for having to wait so long and I've got several full skeins of yarn left over.)
The pattern has several errors and was a bit difficult to figure out at times. I ended up completely changing the last row of the border. The pattern featured crocheted tassel-things, which I thought looked just awful, and I ended up finishing the ends with a row of shells instead.
All in all, I'm really pleased with the way this turned out. It was a challenging project with lots of different stitches. And The Cat seems to think it is all comfy.

Next Project: The Bell-Sleeved Pullover from Tahki Stacy Charles Crochet book. I'm also still working on a pair of socks for hubby and I want to finish a baby blanket I started a while back.

Elegant Poncho

Pattern: Poncho from the Fall/Winter 2005 issue of Family Circle Easy Crochet

Yarn: Paton's Divine, 3 balls Soft Earth

Notes: The pattern calls for the knitting to be done in rows and the crocheting to be done in rounds. Nowhere does the pattern mention anything about seams, which I try to avoid anyway. So I got a circular knitting needle and did the knitting in the round too.
This is currently the favorite item I have made. I've worn it several times and it wears well and looks good! (A great combination for wearables.)
And it was fun to make. The top half is knit ribbing while the bottom is crocheted shells.

Remaining soft, fuzzy yarn went towards a kitty blanket (which The Cat refuses to actually lie on).

Circle Time

And I have finally achieved a Sunflower Circle with 4 corners! Now on to the borders.
This has become known 'round here as the "deviled egg blanket". The first time I spread it out, hubby and I both looked at it and thought "yum, plates of deviled eggs!" Now I can't get the image of eggs out of my mind. But trust me, these are sunflowers - that's what the directions say.

And the Work Goes On

Work is continuing on the Sunflower Afghan. I've got 8 completed sunflowers and 3 totally completed motifs. This should all connect into one big circle of sunflowers.

I'm really pleased with my progress so far. I am trying to become more project, rather than process, oriented. I started crocheting, and knitting too, because I am just fascinated by the process of taking a single strand of thread or yarn and a couple of sticks or a hook, and creating something that looks nothing like a single strand of thread or yarn. There is just an endless variety of stitch patterns that can be created and I want to learn them all.

So what happens is that I find an interesting pattern and I pull out my supplies and set out working the pattern until I see how it all goes together. As a result, I have way too many works in progress (WIP) that I know I will never finish. Need to break this cycle because, honestly, the WIP are starting to pile up around here.

And that means that I am going to finish this afghan before I start any thing else. Then I'll finish up hubby's socks. Then there's this really neat top in the new Tahki crochet book that I want to make. And I've got yarn for another pair of socks for me. And the list goes on....

Decoupage & Crochet

So the subject of decoupage has come up on Crochetville and reminded me of these plates I made a few years ago. I had made several mini doilies and when trying to find a use for them, I came up with this idea. It's actually a set of four, but one plate doesn't look that good so it will remain private. I took clear glass dessert plates, centered a small doily on the backside, covered the doily with blue tissue paper, and very carefully brushed a layer of Mod Podge over the entire back of the plate. Sprinkled glitter over it all and let it dry. The glitter didn't become very glittery, but it did come out looking rather snow covered. I've actually used these for cookies and such.

The afghan kit I ordered from Mary Maxim in January has been on back-order but it finally arrived! Joy & glee has spread across the home because I had just about given up on ever receiving this kit and I really, really wanted this pattern. I love this design and I already have a good start on it. It is a bit of a challenge but I'm having fun with it.

Yarn Bee Topper

Hubby surprised me with several skeins of the prettiest yarn. A bit fuzzy, but the most wonderful autumn shades. I knew I wanted to make a coat and, after a couple of days of searching for the perfect pattern, I settled for the Colorwaves Topper from Interweave Crochet fall 2005 issue.

Yarn is Yarn Bee brand from Hobby Lobby. I've lost the labels so I don't know what the color name is.

I added rows (without the increases) to make this longer than the pattern. I also made a belt to tie at the waist. This yarn is almost too slippery to be tied though.

The coat turned out great. It is soft and a little fuzzy. Kinda has a swing-coat style. I really like it and I've worn it several times.

And another pic just to keep you informed as to what really goes on 'round here:

My Grandma

This is one of my favorite pictures of my Grandma, Narcie Delilah Magee. It was taken on Christmas day 2004 and she is modeling the hat I made just for her.

She passed away on Friday, Feb 17th, 2006 at the age of 96. And she will be missed.

Grandma was a very honest person and could be quite outspoken with her honesty. She had a strong Christian faith in the love of God and the power of prayer. She firmly believed that one should always do the right thing and never try to cheat or hurt others. And she has left a legacy that will be passed on down.

Grandma loved to sew, quilt, and crochet. I can't even begin to imagine how many dresses, quilts and afghans she made over the years. She was raised on a farm, lived her life on a farm and knew what a hard day of work was.

And she was a pretty good cook! When I was a child, she would make these great big teacakes that I just loved. (And I never got the recipe for those.) She would also make fried apple tarts and the best creamed corn ever. Now she has told me how to make her creamed corn and I've tried it a few times, but I've never been able to make creamed corn like hers. (Gonna miss that corn 'cause she would always make some up whenever I went down to visit.)


But, there are plenty of reminders of her left here. Grandma also loved flowers and her yard is full of bulbs and plants. Jonquils, larkspurs, roses, and camelias will bloom all through the yard. The picture here is the remains of the pecan tree that fell over during "The Storm". The jonquils came up and bloomed last week, growing sideways on the root ball. A remainder that life does go on regardless of the circumstances.

(And I need to remember to dig up a few of these bulbs for my yard.)

Love ya Gran-ma! I'll see you later.

Awww...

Ain't this just the cutest site? ** http://cuteoverload.com/ **

Funny what one can stumble upon while surfing the internet.

Crochet Stuff

Child's Crocheted Poncho

Made from Wildflower DK cotton yarn with Fun Fur Trim.

Pattern is in the Annie's Attic booklet Poncho panache!

Not quite the same

Merry Christmas from Jackson, MS! It's a pretty skyline.

But we are still dealing with the effects of Katrina.

Here in Jackson there are dots of blue roof here and there.Further south there are big blue roofs everywhere you look.

Big shady yards once full of trees now seem empty and bare.

And just look at what Katrina did at my great-grandmother's house!

Headline from today's Times-Picayune (the New Orleans paper) - "Louisiana gains from neighbor's influence. Mississippi senator pushed hurricane relief package." I'm just so proud of Thad Cochran and Haley Barbour. Nature slams us with a major hurricane and Mississippians roll up their sleeves, throw a tele-thon, get a grant, and then go to work rebuilding!

Katrina's toll in Mississippi (statistics from the Sun-Herald)

$125 billion - Estimated dollar amount of damage caused by Hurricane Katrina
231 - Identified dead statewide
5 - Unidentified dead
67 - Missing
65,380 - Houses in South Mississippi destroyed
383,700 - Mississippi insurance claims filed (Katrina and Rita)
$5 billion - Claims paid (as of Nov. 21)
141,000 - Insurance claims filed in South Mississippi
$1.3 billion - Claims paid in South Mississippi
44 million - Estimated cubic yards of debris in South Mississippi
21.8 million - Cubic yards removed as of Dec. 5
20,447 - Red Cross staff and volunteers in Mississippi
5,543,006 - Red Cross meals served
42,768 - People sheltered by Red Cross
229 - Red Cross shelters opened
$185 million - Red Cross money spent in South Mississippi as of Nov. 30

No, I haven't disappeared

So I've been asked why I haven't posted lately. Well, the honest truth is that I got bummed out on most everything when Bud-Dog died.

But I'm trying to get back up with taking pictures and writing again. I've done a bit of crocheting lately so - Soon - I promise - there will be a post with pictures.

Hey, here's something, it's a painting I like called 'The Lady of Shalott' by John Waterhouse. It is based on a poem by Alfred Tennyson. I want a nice framed print of this. The colors are wonderful and I am mesmerized by the look on her face.

Sad News

See that black dot. It showed up on Bud-Dog's belly about the middle of August. It quickly got larger and I took Bud to the vet once I got a chance after Hurricane Katrina. The vet removed the growth and sent it off to the lab. The diagnosis - Hemangiosarcoma. A form of cancer that affects the blood vessels. Not good, not good at all.

Bud died at home, in my arms one week ago today. I miss him so very, very much. He was such a loving little lap dog - that's my chair he is laying in here, waiting for me to sit down and hold him. There is a huge hole in my life right now and I suspect it will be there for a long, long time.