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.

Something new

And in more positive, uplifting news, I received my doily from Ulla in Sweden! A free-form doily with lots of flowers and leaves. I am so impressed. Thanks so much Ulla!! I Love It!!








And I've actually managed to knit my first pair of socks. A month or so ago, I bought the book 'Knit Socks' and some Cascade 220 yarn. I've been working on these little by little every since. I'm amazed that once I bound off the yarn and wove in the ends, there were actually two socks and they fit! Hubby has requested a pair of himself, so I've got the yarn ready to go for his pair. We will definately have warm feet this winter!



Another view of a complete sock, just because I am so thrilled that these came out as real socks!

FYI

www.mississippirecovery.com

Some photos from the Mississippi Gulf Coast - http://dancingwithkatrina.blogspot.com/

Closer to Normal

Life is turning back to something closer to normal here in Jackson, MS. The 3-hour gas lines have disappeared much to the relief of us all. I walked into a local convience store yesterday and was impressed by the fully stocked shelves - rows and rows of soft drinks, chips, gum, candy bars, even doughnuts and sweet rolls! Amazing how I've always taken stuff like that for granted but, after more than a week of stores with very little on the shelves, it sure did look good. Restaurants are opening back up, even if they don't have a full menu. The local Burger King, which sustained a bit of roof damage, is selling burgers again (don't order a fish sandwich because they don't have any).

One of the stranger after-effects of Katrina has been the failure of the 1-800 phone systems. I've been doing buying for the hospital this week and we are still having difficulties getting through on vendor's toll-free numbers. I can pull up their websites but I've been amazed at how many companies do not post their local number on the web. Been having to get rather inventive to get in touch with different companies.

I traveled south down highway 49 over the weekend to check on the folks and saw so many vehicles headed south with supplies. There was a military convoy, 4 Cobra helicopters, RV's and motor homes, and all sorts of out-of-state service trucks that I couldn't even began to identify. Although if you know about Shaw Electric, they were staging in Mendenhall. (I think they may have been a little lost but I'm not sure.) Then there were the trailers filled with weird, complicated looking equipment, including several trailers filled with multi-colored port-a-potties.

And the news from the country folk - Cell service has been set up back in Lone Star and now Daddy no longer has to go up to the top of the hill to make a call. Cellular South has really done a fantastic job getting service back up through the state. While we were there a truckload of ice from Maryland pulled into the local volunteer fire department. I've never quite figured out how news travels so fast out in the country, but there were a lot of people coming up to get some of that cold ice! There has been a give-away of MRE's. Daddy says they are pretty good once you figure out how to open them without burning you fingers.

We went on over to Collins to survey the damage. Collins had a lot of older oaks, many of them hollow, and there are trees down everywhere! (I forgot my camera at home or I would have pictures here.) Anyway, the local grocery store has suffered a lot of damage, including all the front windows being busted. So, the store is now set up in the parking lot and there were quite a few customers as we drove by. There was another ice give-away going on at the Collins Fire Department. The local Sonic opened up for business with just potatoes - they had french fries, tater tots, or hash browns. It is good to see how people have banded together to help one another!

There are still thousands of evacuees here in the Jackson area. It's just so sad how many people have been left with no where to go.

Random Thoughts

My mind keeps jumping from one thing to another. So much has happened lately and I'm having trouble processing it all.

My dad called me yesterday on his cell phone!! If he goes to the top of the hill, he has cell power, apparently from the tower in Collins. They still have no power but the pumping station in Collins has been brought online so he has been able to get gas. Yeah! I did call the power company yesterday to see if they had any idea of when the power might be back on in the Lone Star community and was told probably 2 to 3 weeks.

Dad called me again today but our phone service here in Jackson has been screwy today, both the cell and wall phones. So I wasn't able to speak to him but my cell shows it as a missed call.

Our church is sending supplies to Hattiesburg, MS and people to help clean-up. The Hattiesburg-Laurel area was hit pretty hard. There's a good article about Jones County here. The church has two large 18-wheelers that is being filled with supplies today. Response has been great. (Started to say overwhelming there, but I've been using that word way too much lately.)

Interesting web site here. There are satellite images from the NOAA. Click a box and you can see a detailed satellite image of how different sections of the Gulf Coast look now. My husband and I traveled down to the Gulfport-Biloxi area twice this summer. I'm still trying to comprehend the total devastation down there.

Stopped by Wal-Mart today to get some baking soda to get the odor from the fridge. No baking soda and very little bleach, no frozen pizzas and very few canned veggies, but they had plenty of some fancy labeled Organic Cane Sugar. For some reason that really irritated me.

I need to stop watching all the television coverage of this because it is really getting to me but I can't. We keep turning the TV over to Fox. I've got a soapbox here I could really climb on about how this is all being reported on but I'm not. I have a roof over my head, food & water in the fridge, and air-conditioning. I know that my family is safe and sound. I am blessed.

A few pictures

Monday, August 29th, Hurricane Katrina arrives in Jackson, MS and the screen door to the back is already being pushed inward. I had left work about 11, picked up hubby, and the power went off as soon as we walked inside the house, about 12:30.
Rescued The Cat who was sitting inside next to this screen getting soaking wet.


I actually had to rescued The Cat two more times from the wet. Poor kitty was just fascinated by the wind and flying debris.
I stepped out front once during a short lull to try to figure out what were the large dark things flying through the air. Discovered lots of shingles from our house lying in the yard. This also explained the popping sounds we kept hearing on top of the house.

Fourteen hours later it was still raining but we told ourselves that the wind had subsided a bit and went to bed. Woke up a few hours later and stepped out the survey the damage.
Our yard was, well the back yard still is, covered with debris, including this large limb which had been stripped of leaves.



Bud-Dog absolutely refuses to go out so we give up on that and try to figure out what to do.
Power is still out and I can't get anyone on the phone so we decide to drive to work and see what was what. Going down Highway 25, there were lots of snapped power poles like this one here.



This is the street light outside my office. Obviously Katrina didn't like caution lights! This particular light has still not been fixed.
Roads are full of leaves, sticks, and downed trees. One woman died in the neighborhood near where this photo was taken when a large oak tree fell on her house.


Everyone tries to find somewhere to get gas. Gas lines have become a fact of life here but many, many areas do not have gas so we are lucky on that score. Police are now posted at all gas stations and only allow cars to enter the pump area as pumps become available.



The line for the station above. Notice there are no prices posted. I don't even look to see what the prices are at the pump. You got to have gas to get to work so we all just take what is available and hope we have enough money. I filled up on Wednesday, getting in a line at 5:37 am and pulling away from the pump with a full tank at 7:04 am.



Work sent me back home, so these are from my neighborhood. This is the view of my back neighbor's yard as seen through the newly acquired hole in our fence. We have since put some chicken wire up so the dogs won't roam off.


The dock on Oak Street. Power lines down over the entrance. There is a truck and trailer there, but I can't imagine why you would want to go boating with all that was floating in the water.





Another view of Oak Street. This street did not get power on until today.





A two-for-one special that I'm sure this homeowner didn't appreciate. Actually, it was a three-for because there was also a tree down on the other side of this house.




Downed trees sitting on power lines all over the place. This is at Arrowhead Trail.







A cut power line on the ground in front of the fire department.







Low power lines over the road.






My parents, my sister and her family, my grandmother and aunt live in rural Mississippi. I was able to get down there Thursday with three 20lb bags of ice, some water, batteries, and canned goods. This is the only picture I took down there and is a pecan tree behind my grandmother's house. I remember being a little girl and picking pecans with my grandfather under this tree.

While a lot of media attention has been given to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast (and Lord knows those people are in really bad shape), Mississippi and Louisana are still mostly rural areas and the country folks are facing some hard times. They have no power and it will be another 2 to 3 weeks before power will be able to be restored in some outlying areas. The really lucky communities have someone with a generator and gas to run it. In my parent's area, two generators are being shared from house to house to try to help people out a bit. (Thanks Joel!) Clean drinking water is running short and once folks eat what food they have, there is no way to run up to the store to buy more. There's no phone service, no gas, no power and no TV so they are really isolated and do not yet fully understand the enormous impact of Hurricane Katrina.

I want to thank the American Red Cross for all they are doing and all they will continue to do in the future for this area. If you want to help, please make a donation to their hurricane relief efforts. I'm also very grateful to Brookshire's grocery stores. They have been bringing in truckloads of ice and giving bags away (1 per person). This is how I got the ice to take to my family. And Jackson radio stations Mix 96.3 and MIS103. Mix 96 got us through the storm by airing the television weather coverage all day. Country radio 103's signal was reaching as far south as Hattiesburg. They gave up their music format and became talk radio as people from across the state called in and gave what information they could.

It's just all so overwhelming, and sometimes, it quite frankly seems hopeless, but we southerners will survive!!