My Blanket

Here is what my blanket looked like a couple of days ago.  I am on another color...the yellow was the last one in this picture, or the beginning of the yellow, now I am on a blue and hopefully, I will be onto another color today. 

I have to tell you about how this thing is morphing...my hubby decided he wants this blanket to fit our king size bed.  So, I had his permission to go buy more yarn.  Yep, he said he wanted it big so, more yarn was needed.  I haven't used acrylic worsted in ages, I am happy with the Caron Simply Soft, it isn't as nasty as the Red Heart.  The Red Heart is freaking rough.  It makes my fingers peel. 

So, the blanket is coming along nicely and if anyone wants one for themselves, I am not making another one.  This is it for this pattern.  I will gladly hand them a crochet hook and some yarn.  I will teach you to crochet.  It isn't hard and if you can knit or crochet then you are ready to make yourself some cash. 

I figure it can help you out in life.  When you need a blanket, make your own, it will be better quality than what is out there.  Why do you think hand knitters charge so much for hand knit sweaters?  They are sturdy and not likely to come apart when you wear them once! 

More pictures as it gets bigger will follow. 

Learning Something New

I spotted a blanket that seems to be very popular right now.  Several people are working on one and I noticed that it would do something wonderful for my yarn stash, use it up.  It is sometimes called a wool eater blanket.  It is Bavarian Crochet.  I found a book, and started working on a project.  I am using acrylic yarn as my first one.  I had some in my stash and decided to learn with cheap yarn and then make another one with wool yarn. 

I have mastered the pattern and I am working on my blanket.  So far, easy, if you can treble crochet, you can do the thing.  If you can chain, then pretty much you are on your way.  Mine is going to be bright.  This is a stash busting exercise.  Hubby wants one for the bed. 
 
Right now, we have our afghans on the bed, his and mine.  They are comfy warm and snuggly.  The cats love the things.  I had made one for us to share and found out that two people do not fit into it at all so, I made the hubby his own.  I found that I was a afghan hog.  Yep, it is nice for one person to wrap up Native American style in the thing. 

It is official, Summer is here.  It has been freaking hot here so, we are in for a harsh summer once again.  Not a great time to work on a blanket but, what do I care, I am inside most of the day keeping cool. 

I went grocery shopping today with my sister and niece.  It was okay, when is grocery shopping ever exciting?  Never!  I came home with some blue cheese stuffed hamburger patties.  Those things are good.  I used my Cuisinart Griddler to make the burgers.  I had to buy a new one since the plates in the old one were worn out.  It costs more money to buy new plates for the thing than it is to even buy a new one.  I am serious.  So, I decided to get a new one.  It is cheaper.  I would have loved to get new plates but, when they are $45.90 each, and you need two plates.  It has 4 plates total.  The grill plates are the ones we use the most and they are completely worn out.  The new one is very interesting since it is reversible.  No longer do you need 4 plates, it only comes with 2 plates. 

Hubby was supposed to cook tonight but, I was starving and he wasn't hurrying so, I cooked.  It was nice.  He gets to cook tomorrow night.  I bought a whole chicken and he is going to rotisserie that sucker.  I have no idea what he plans to do to it but, that isn't my problem, that is his problem.  :) 

Fun in the Sun, Sunburn, and a Massive Water Slide

Saturday, we took the plunge and headed out to Sheridan, Texas for a day of fun in the sun.  Armed with spf 100 and facial sunscreen of spf 70, we were ready.  Hats on heads, flip flops on feet, cooler packed with water, fruit and food for the day.  We arrived and immediately put it all in a locker.  We looked around since this was our first trip to the water park.  We headed for the lazy river to cool ourselves off.  It was hot out there and it would get hotter.  The place was packed so, apparently the only affordable water park around Houston is now known.  So, we dealt with the crowd, it wasn't so bad actually for it being so packed.  Everyo
ne pretty much obeyed the rules of it being a family water park and I really didn't hear any bad language for the most part. 
 
First thing let me just say this, I am afraid of heights, I do not like them.  Hubby convinced me to ride the 6 story high water slide.  I have no idea how he convinced me.  I guess because you can only die once and that pretty much summed it up for me.  We get to the top of the thing and I admit, I had to stop a couple of times to rest, it was a long haul.  I had my water mat and I was ready.  The little kids at the top were fearless, I was curious.  It is covered at the top so, you can't see how bad it really is.  They are nice about that.  My mat got stuck as I was trying to push off and I had to do some maneuvering to finally get it right and then I was off.  My first thought was, this isn't so bad, I was still in the covered section and couldn't see what was ahead of me.  Yeah, this should let you know, how bad it was about to get.  I hit the first bump and I still hadn't picked up speed.  I hit the second bump and caught serious air, I was starting to freak out.  Then I was okay until I landed.  That was an experience in pain.  I smashed everything on the front end, I felt as if I squished all of my fat out of my front end into my back end.  My hubby was looking for me and when I came speeding by him, he realized that I was still with him.  He thought I had chickened out and walked by down the stairs. I don't think so.  I can say to all of my nieces and nephews that I was on that thing and I will never go again.  No thank you. 

After that, I went on several more of the water slides and really enjoyed myself.  I knew we had a sunburn each of us, I just didn't realize how bad.  I had my first sunburn of the season already since I do swim every day.  I managed to get a burn this time around, the hubby has a sunburn and I have been applying the lotion to him and he has been applying it to me.  Our faces were fine since we had spf on them along with hats on our heads.  I was surprised at how inexpensive their snack bar was.  Most places charge an arm and a leg for their food.  I even came home with a season pass for the water park. 

I will be going back for some more fun.  :) 

Another Mesh Wreath in the Works!

I started another mesh wreath and well, this one is in red, white, and blue colors for the front door.  Hubby looked at it and agreed with me that it needs some spangly crap on it.  Yep, I have to go buy some stuff to add to it to make it mine.  Fun!  I know, right? 

I have another blank wreath frame and left over fabric for the next one.  I can't decide what to do with it.  I might have to think about that one for a while. 

On the knitting front, I am actually making progress, albeit, slow progress on the Cranbourne scarf.  It is slow knitting since I am using my lace weight yarn.  It is pretty!  I have a picture of it around here, someplace. 

I hand dyed the yarn in this lovely shade of green and the variations of the color are just the way, the yarn dyed up.  I have to do 32 repeats of chart b and I am only my 3rd repeat of the pattern right now.  More to go.  I am moving slow on this one. 

 

We have been in tomato hell over here.  We have so many tomatoes that we are trying everything we can think of to make with them.  We have canned salsa, pasta sauce, whole tomatoes, cut up tomatoes, fresh salsa with the cherry tomatoes, etc. 

Today I had a fresh tomato on my sandwich for lunch.  It was sweet and fantastic. I have more tomatoes to use. 

Then there is that stupid game on FB, Candy Crush Saga, it is eating my brain.  Gack!  I am trying to get past level 123 and have been for days.  I almost had it today but, then one lousy jelly got me.  GRRR! 

I have been spinning my birthday fiber and it is turning out nicely.  I am still debating on the color to ply it with.  I have to dig through my fiber stash to see what would look good with it. 

Pictures of the wreath will follow when it is finished.  I found another place to order the deco mesh from.  It is called Mardigras supply or some such thing.  They are out of Louisiana, I believe Baton Rouge so, I am going to see how well they do.  My last order was from a place out of Missouri but, they were so slow in getting it here to me.  They had great prices but, two weeks to get it here, I think it must have come by dog sled or some such critter. 

Yesterday, we found out that tree frogs can swim.  Yep, the one that was on the umbrella, hopped onto the hubby's shoulder, then plopped into the pool. He even crawled out of the pool on his own and plopped into the tomato garden.  That little sucker can hop! 

I never knew they could swim.  Now, I know. 

 

Stitch Markers and Glow in the Dark Beads

I make stitch markers for myself and for other knitters.  I found some really cool glow in the dark beads and decided to go ahead and use them.  Can't find your knitting in the dark, get some glow in the dark beads and make yourself a set.  The light charges them nicely and then when you are searching for your project, there it is! 

How to make a set of stitch markers: 

Supplies:

beads, get an assortment
wire, it comes on a spool, I use plastic coated.
crimp beads, I use heavy duty
crimping tool, or a pair of needle nose pliers
cutting pliers or dykes

Cut wire to 3 inches.  Fold it over, do not flatten, it should look like a rain drop on one end, next slide beads over the two ends, they will be together.  When you have your beads on the wires and you are finished adding beads, place crimp bead over end and crimp the bead.  This will keep the beads on for as long as the stitch marker lasts.  One marker finished. 

Continue in this manner until you have as many markers as you want. 

 

This is my glow in the dark stitch marker.  I made 4 of this type. I used a copper colored wire coated in plastic, Czech druk beads, the glow in the dark bead is also Czech, and heavy silver crimp tubes.  I use the heavy crimp tubes since they hold up better than the cheap ones. 

 

Where do I shop for my items?  I shop at my local bead store and also on line for the Czech druks.  Fire mountain gems is wonderful for buying Czech druks, they have a huge assortment.  I also use Artbeads, they have druks that I haven't seen any other place.  Generally, I get 6mm beads. 

 

Local craft stores also sell beads, wire and crimp tubes. 

Happy crafting! 

 

I Broke Out the Wheel

Today I decided to clean house and well, I have to admit, it went to the wayside.  I spotted my new fiber and well, it struck me that I needed to spin.  I found a new bobbin, they are hard to come by over here, and started drafting my new merino/bamboo fiber.  It was a birthday present to myself.  I painted it in Acid Rain, one of my new yarn colors.  I started spinning it. 

Then I realized why I haven't used my spinning wheel in a long time.  I had partially torn my lateral ligament about three years ago, and two years ago, I tore it again.  Talk about pain, it was awful.  So, I started spinning and the pain stopped me cold.  I had to get up and walk it off.  I was limping something awful and after climbing the stairs, to find my crutches, I was able to stop the pain.  I think moving it around and making it work helped out. 

I keep eyeing my spinning wheel, you know I will be back over there spinning.  I will have to take breaks and walk to keep the ligament happy.  I love the yarn the merino/bamboo is creating, it spins like butter.  I am trying to figure out what yarn I want to ply it with.  I have going to have to go dig through my stash to see what I have available.  I might ply it with yak down.  I have some of that I have been saving for a special project.  My cat loves that yak down, she tries to break into the fiber container to get at it.  Her yarn obsession is worse than mine and that is saying something.