One of my ongoing projects is making a set of books with the alphabet, numbers, colors, and a busy book for the two youngest grandchildren and one of the great grandsons. So far I have finished up with the alphabet books and now am working on the number books. I am doing the books with plastic canvas and yarn. They are pretty durable books. Each page is pretty simple and can take some time in stitching, but they can work up quickly if I don't have to put them down. And on our recent trip, I took this particular book with me to work on. I had completed all the pages and was working on the bag that holds the book.
What I will do is give two books to the first granddaughter that turns 3 next August and the great grandson will turn 3 in November. They will then receive the last two books in the set at Christmas time. So this takes care of their birthdays and Christmas for next year.

I made a set of the books for one granddaughter several years ago for her 3rd birthday and the following Christmas or vice versa. She loved them.

Here awhile back this pattern was a free daily pattern at Annie's Attic. I fell in love with the pattern started thinking about how this would make a perfect birthday gift for one of the granddaughters. I am sure she will fall in love with it. And the colors will go perfectly in her bedroom. I do believe that if she can keep her little sister's hands off of it, I will have to make one for her also. I used double strands and it went quickly. I didn't have to have it ready until March of next year, so that is one birthday down for next year.

Yes, another project done with. I have all this left over lavender thread in my stash and decided that I wanted to work a pineapple doily with it. So here it is. This doily was designed by Priscilla Hewitt and is a free pattern on the internet. I love pineapple doilies and had made quite a few over the years. I have a plastic storage crate that is almost empty. I have a few doilies in there for gifts when needed. My thoughts are to fill this crate with all kinds of doilies. That way I would have lots of gifts when needed or to use through out the house.

I have been told that my great grandmother would be proud of my work. Well, she is a hero of mine. She lived to be 93 years old. And she crocheted with thread until her death, even though she had trouble seeing. For my marriage to my first husband, she crocheted a thread edging on a towel. Which I do have in my cedar chest to hand down to my son. Most times she would make her great grandchildren tired just trying to keep up with her. She was 16 when she had my grandmother and was bringing children into this world for the next 28 years. There for awhile, she and my grandmother were having children the same years, just months apart. And my great grandmother took care of my father's family when my grandmother couldn't. So she helped to raise my dad's family.

Marshal came to me today and says, he and a friend are headed to the mountains on the ATVs. And was I staying at home???? He finally decided that maybe he better find out if I wanted to go with. Good thing!!! So we went after the friend, loaded up Angel in the basket and off we went. Marshal decided that he wanted to go to a small place south of us called Cherry Cheek. At one time there was a small community there, but as time has gone by, most residents have moved to town or some place else. There is an old cemetery still there and he wanted to visit the cemetery. We both like checking out the old tombstones. And I make sure that I have my camera with, so that if a name stands out, or a possible genealogical connection, I have the picture.

We wanted to go down the frontage road along side the freeway to Cherry Creek. Well, that didn't work out, as we found a very locked gate. So backtracked several miles to Two Mile Canyon road and headed back over the mountain. We have been on Two Mile Canyon several times in the past and it is a nice drive. From Two Mile Canyon, we took the Ridge Road to the turn off for Mud Springs, Cold Springs and Cherry Cheek. Having never been down that road, I went slow. Good thing. In several spots it was rough, even for the ATV. Finally after going back over the mountain, we arrived at the Cherry Creek cemetery. Saw some interesting tombstones that were quite old. One, not real sure on this one, but the man was buried with a wife on each side. Possible that he had both of those wives at the same time.

While at the cemetery, I took these pictures of Angel in the basket. The blanket is for padding and to help keep the wind out of her face, if she would use it for that. Plus we are able to put our water and the camera in there with her.

After being gone for several hours, we finally got back home. It was an enjoyable ride.

Another free pattern on the Annie's Attic Free Pattern for the day website. Saw this and thought it would be just right for that special boy this coming Christmas. It is made out of plastic canvas and yarn. Worked up fairly good. With plastic canvas, I find that the cutting out of the individual pieces usually takes up most of my time. I missed the handles at the top of the container that a child can hold onto.

Here about 2 weeks ago, I found a pretty pattern for a centerpiece doily on the internet at one of my free pattern sites. I fell in love with the pattern. I couldn't think of any reason to make it, as I have been involved with other projects lately. Then it hit me. I could make this doily as a birthday gift for someone. So I went to my stash and there was plenty of one shade to make it. So I started on it with a passion. It only took me a week to make the doily up and that includes some frogging (unraveling) a couple of rows. I was working on one on of the rows that had a lot of stitches in it and it was taking me forever to do that row. Got almost done and realized that I had made a mistake in the previous row. I tried to correct the mistake, but wasn't able to. I ended up tearing out one whole and almost a finished row to get back to the mistake and correct it. What was surprising, I was able to get those two rows done in no time at all. I finally finish this doily last night. It is 30 inches in diameter. The recipient loves it and knows exactly where she is gonna put it.

Now to my next project. I found another free pattern at Annie's Attic for a learning tool made out of plastic canvas. Was looking for similar project to make for my grandson. Has the different shapes with a container with corresponding holes, so the shapes can be put in. It is called a Primary Shape Sorter. Want to have it done for grandson for Christmas.

As ya'll can see, it was his first birthday. A milestone for the guy. He looks so much like his mother. So he probably has his father's temperament. Oh I do feel for my DIL if he does. That means she lives with two of a kind!!!!! LOL

Recently my DIL took some pictures of my guys and here they are. Yes, I am very proud of both. Especially the little one.

I haven't done anything on the blog for quite some time. Been pretty busy around home, Senior Center and church. I did do some work on another State Square afghan. It is closer to being done, but not quite. As I use this project as my fill in project when I have nothing else to, it goes slowly. I am working on projects for future Christmas and birthday gifts for the grandchildren. I have found a couple more projects that I do want to work on in the future. A rug for the floor in front of the kitchen sink, a rug for a little girl's room and maybe something else for the house.

I have bookmarked several sites on the Internet that feature free patterns and check them daily. I have managed to collect quite a few patterns that are either crochet, knit or plastic canvas needlepoint. I do know that these free sites have saved me hundreds of dollars.

I have also been busy with a serious cleaning on my house. It was and still is needed in some rooms. But am getting them done slowly but surely. We do want to do some traveling close to home this summer. Husband wants to get out and do some fishing. So hopefully we can fit a short trip into the budget this month and another next month.

One project that I have been working on is plastic canvas. This is a set of books for toddlers and pre-schoolers. It is a set of four books. ABC's, Numbers, Colors, and Activities. With a bag for each book. I have finished up the first book of the series. They are fairly easy to do, the hard consuming part is cutting the plastic canvas into the shapes that are needed for each book. And it really isn't hard, just time consuming. I have included some pictures of the ABC book and bag that I have recently finished up.

A few days I finally finished the first of 3 knitted states afghans. Each square is a different state. The squares measure like 8 by 8, with five squares across and ten down. So it is long and narrow. I started it as a project to use up some of the extra yarn that I have. Also thought it would make a nice gift to grandchildren when they are studying geography of the states. This is a project that I will work when I am not working on other projects. I still have two more to finish, and each one has only 3 more rows to do. And the border. The squares work up fairly easy, most in one day. That is when I have the time to sit down and work on them.

I also have finished up one more of the beaded purses. Working on the last one of those that I need to do. At the same time, I am also working on a plastic canvas project. It works up in 4 parts. First part is the Alphabet Book, then Colors, Numbers and then How To Do. Each book is then put into it 's own bag. I am making three of these for Christmas and birthday gifts for the 3 youngest grandchildren. When I finish up with the first book, will post a picture or two.

At 8 1/2 months old, this is my pride and joy. He is absolutely the most handsomest boy in the world. He is doing a dry run in the big boy car seat. The pacifier is my son's answer to the boy not using his thumb. Which I think he should be allowed to use. Yes, it does look he has red hair. Hope so. If he does, that means he got it from his grandma. Can't wait until I get to see him again.

Here are my latest projects. These are several rugs that I knitted and crocheted. They are made out of cotton yarn. The blue shades and white are from a pattern from Aunt Lydia's free patterns. The pattern calls for two strands of Denim thread, but I used one strand of the cotton yarn. I have done this pattern before using the cotton yarn. Those two rugs we use in our MH bathroom for in front of the shower. And that is what gave me the idea for these two rugs. We will use them in the house, in front of the shower. There will be some shrinkage when they are washed, but not much. The knitted rug is just a pattern I found on the internet. I used a multi-colored yarn paired with ecru for the color. Have no idea what I will do with this rug. May give it away, or use it around the house.
Viewers will notice some blue toes. Mine. Got them when I was taking the pictures. Also you will notice a four legged boss checking out the rugs. My thinking, she was wondering if she would get them for her bed or would I let her stay with the blankets she already has in her bed.

My latest project was a football dishcloth. The pattern worked up fairly easy and I was able to do it like in one night. I decided that since it was just one picture, I would scan the dishcloth, instead of using the camera. The picture is dark, but the pattern does show up nicely.

I have built up quite a nice stash of different yarns over the years. Plus several years ago, a cousin gave me her stash, as she really can't crochet anymore due to a health issue. I have been working on 3 state squares afghans here and have quite a few smaller balls of different colors to use up. I got thinking that a log cabin quilt afghan pattern would be good for using up some of these small balls. This is the completed afghan. As to what I am gonna do with it. Don't know for sure yet. But it is nice to have it around handy just in case for a gift.

Yes, another dishcloth. I am building up my stash of dishcloths for gift giving, or just for my own kitchen. This I knitted along with a group on Yahoo that I belong to. This is called Heart and Bow. It was a fairly easy pattern to work up. Helps keep my knitting skills stay active.

I have several sites that I check daily for free patterns. Let me tell ya, the internet sure is nice for free patterns. I get an idea of what I want to do and then search for a pattern to fit. I haven't bought any patterns for several years now. Saves money, I think. I use the extra money for buying yarn and thread.

This pattern is from the JPF Crochet site. Julie Bolduc posts free daily crochet patterns and this is her pattern.

I happen to have quite a few pony beads floating around for using when making scrunchies. Thought that this would make a nice bag. And it does using a varigated cotton yarn and the multi- colored beads. I am thinking that a solid color yarn with beads to match would really be nice. Have to put that project in the list to make in the future.

The pattern worked up quite fast, even though I was working with the beads. It is a fairly easy pattern to work with.

Crocheted Socks

I was sitting here the other night with freezing feet. I was wearing my everyday thin cotton socks with my knock off Crocs. Wanted something to keep my feet warm. Now for a few years been fooling around with the idea of making me some socks. I do happen to have several pattern books for crochet socks. So decided to make a pair. Went to the pattern books, found a basic pattern to work on. Also, another requirement was yarn to come out of my stash. And it all came together. I now have this pair of socks to wear. But I haven't stopped there. I am now working on a pair of knitted socks. These are worked on two needles, not the double pointed needles. What I am doing, found a pattern on the internet, found a pair of size 2 needles, and some baby yarn. I work on them for about 10 minutes, then have to rest my right hand. The pattern I am using calls for 4 ply sock yarn, which is very thin and size 2.75mm needles. There is no gauge, so have no idea if I am close to what the pattern is. But, oh well, when I get done, if the sock is the wrong size, I can always pull it out.
I do have a pattern to make tube socks using double pointed needles. But I am gonna modify it some and use two needles. Have done that before with something else and it came out just fine. Other than I did have to seam the item. Will see how it turns out.

More pictures out front. My wind mill is not covered due to the wind blowing, but you can see how the snow if drifting. The other is looking to the house across the street.

It is now middle of the afternoon, and it looks like the snow is slowing down. May have to go out and move some snow. Been watching the kid that lives catty corner from us moving some snow out of his grandmother's drive. This snow is heavy and wet. He is having trouble moving it with an ATV.

These pictures show our front porch before it was cleaned off. Those bushes are my rose bushes and they are covered up by several feet of snow.

More pictures of the snow. The left one shows our deck and I did open the door, but could not open the screen door to get closer to the snow. The railing around our deck is like 4 feet high. The other picture shows our front walk. If you look close, you can see the path that husband shoveled earlier this morning. Still no end in sight.

February 3 Winter Storm

Well, this morning we woke up to about 8 inches of snow on the ground and the wind blowing. It was definitely drifting the snow also. I took some pictures to show everyone what is going on here in southeast Idaho. We already had about 18 inches of snow on the ground from previous storms. Since it has been so cold also, very little snow has melted since December. These two pictures are taken out the back upstairs bedroom window. Tried to stay inside to take pictures. That black thing behind the grainary is a two wheel trailer that is almost buried. Next to it, if you can see them are two peach trees, that are about 2 feet high. They are just barely out of the snow. The other is the fence out along the side of our property. It is like 5 feet high. Give ya some idea how deep the snow is getting.
Have no idea how long it had been snowing when we got up, but there was about 8- 10 inches on the ground. Husband had put one of the pups outside around 1am and he said it wasn't snowing then. When husband went out for the paper, he did shovel a path up the front walk. When I got up about an hour later, that walk had about 2 inches on it. And it has been snowing all day long. According to the weather alert on my computer, it is cloudy. So have no idea what that white stuff is coming out of the sky.

Since I have some time now days. Very little that is. I joined up with a couple of Yahoo groups that do monthly knitted dishcloths. This is the first one for me this year. Picture really doesn't show the pattern all that well. The one thing I didn't like about this pattern, it is just too big for a dishcloth. It is more a hand towel size. And that is what I will use it for, or whoever gets it, will be told that.

I am not real sure, but think that the pattern is suppose to be hearts. In celebration of February being Valentine month.

After staying away from dishcloths for several months, I realized that my stash of handmade dishcloths was getting low. So I decided to get back into knitting and crocheting some dishcloths for the stash. These make nice last minute gifts as needed. And if all else fails, then I can use them myself. I like them much better than the store bought ones. They stand up a whole better than the store bought ones do. I finally had to throw away a crocheted dishcloth that I had made over 20 years ago. It finally wore out.
This pattern I found on the internet. It called for a size N crochet hook, but to me that was just too big. So I used a size J hook. As it was, it did work up quite quickly. The pattern was quite easy to do.

I find almost all my patterns on the internet now days. Sure does help the pocketbook. There are so many free patterns out there, that a person would not have to buy any more patterns for the rest of their lives.

I have decided to crochet one dishcloth a month. Or more if the mood strikes me!!!! LOL!

January, 2008

After staying away from my blog for quite some time, I thought that it was time for me to get back to it and show some of the projects that I have worked on. This is just a couple and they were done here the past month. First off, is a bag, purse, and coin purse. I made two sets for birthday gifts. The bag and coin purse were taken from patterns that I found on the internet. The purse was taken from a pattern book I have here at home.

I have two birthdays in March that I was needing gifts for. These are two girls, one turning seven and the other nine. Thought that they would like to have something like this. Especially the younger girl who asked me for a bag quite some time ago. All three projects are crocheted. The bag out of knitting worsted weight yarn, purse out of cotton yarn, and the smaller purse out of thread. Three different mediums really. They did work up quite quickly.

I belong to a monthly CAL/KAL dishcloth group at Yahoo Groups. Each month, the moderator picks several patterns for us to choose from. The group votes on their favorites. When voting is over, we then pick up our crochet hooks and knitting needles. Here the past couple of months, it seems like I have so much on my mind, so only have been able to do the crochet dishcloth. If the knitted dishcloth seems just a tiny difficult, I have to pass on it. This is the crochet dishcloth and I have done it in a varigated color of purples. I reallylike this pattern. I am now working on squares in baby yarn for a small afghan. Maybe it will end up a large afghan. Never know.

On my Monthly Dishcloth group, we knitted a dishcloth for Valentine's Day. This is called Hearts. It has nine hearts knitted in pattern. A fairly easy pattern to work with. And right now, easy patterns are in for me.

I have just completed the latest in dishcloths. This is a KAL on the Monthly Dishcloth group on Yahoo. It was fairly easy to work up. I am enjoying doing the monthly dishcloths as it helps with my knitting skills.

In my monthly dishcloth group, we just voted and chose Lacy Mock Cable for the knitted dishcloth and Sunflower for the crocheted dishcloth. I have just completed both last night. It doesn't show in the picture, but I picked a purple for the Lacy Mock Cable. Shows it more of a blue. On another Yahoo group, a member mentioned slipping a stitch as the first of every other row to give a nicer edge. I have been doing that and it sure does make a nicer edge. I like it and will continue to use it. These cloths worked up pretty fast. I did frog the knitted one several times, as I felt like I wasn't doing it right. But was.

Size of Needle question

Been asked what size knitting needles I use for a particular dishcloth. Most of the patterns that I have used call for size 7 needles. But I think that a person should use what they are comfortable with. I have seen some patterns call for size 7, 6, or 5. Gauge isn't all that important in making dishcloths.

December KALs and CAL

I was recently asked about a pattern that was used for a CAL in December. The pattern is at this link, http://www.jimsyldesign.com/~crochet/dshrevstar.html

This is a great site for finding all kinds of dishcloth patterns, crochet and knit.

In fact, the internet is a fantastic place for finding all kinds of patterns for crocheting and/or knitting. A good start is to type into your search engine on your browser, the kind of pattern you are looking for. Like crocheted dishcloth patterns, and you will end up with thousands of hits.

These are my latest washcloths. I did these in Bernat Baby Tots. I wanted the softer yarn as they are for a baby that is expected in June. Will be my first grandbaby, so only the best for him/her. I have added these to the rest of the layette I have done so far, which include an afghan, bibs, burb cloths, booties, and socks.
On one of the Yahoo Lists that I belong to, a poster talked about making the edges neater by slipping the beginning and end stitch of every other row. The washcloth to the left was my first try of doing that. I found that it made the edges much nicer. I also did it with the cloth on the right. From now on I am going to use the slip stitch method on all of my dishcloths and washcloths.
I scanned these cloths using my brand new printer that I had to purchase last week. I do like scanning the cloths much better than taking a picture with the camera. By using the scanner, I am coming up with the pictures much quicker and with less steps than with the camera. If I think of it, will do this also in the future.
Tomorrow I will start on a new KAL with one of the Yahoo Groups that I belong to. I am anxious to see what this new pattern will be.

This was the KAL in the Monthly Dishcloth group. I was thinking several other objects before it was quite clear that the pattern was a rocking horse. This is another easy pattern to work on.

This is called Christmas Ornament. It turned out quite a bit larger than a normal dishcloth. It is more of a small towel to my thinking. The pattern is fairly easy to work up and I was able to get it done quickly.

December KALs and CAL

This pattern is called the Reverse Star. It was fairly easy to do after I figured out the pattern. It is a smaller dishcloth than what I normally do, but that is quite all right.

I have been asked on several occasions what Yahoo groups I belong to. One that is most asked about is the Monthly Dishcloth group. Here is a link to that group.

  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MonthlyDishcloths/

I have enjoyed being a member of the group. 

I hope the color in this dishcloth shows up better than the last one. This is my latest KAL from a dishcloth group on Yahoo. The KALs are a mystery until the dishcloth is usually 3/4 of the way done. I thought with the bobbles, it was probably holly leaves and berries. But it turned out to be a poinsetta. This is good for the season. Poinsettas are a symbol of Christmas. I have not done the bobbles before, so it was a new stitch for me. I enjoy learning how to do new stitches.

Here is the latest in dishcloths that I have knitted. This was done as a KAL on a Yahoo Group that I am a member of. It is a picture of a turkey. Which is appropriate for the month of November.

For the knitted dishcloth, it is a pattern called Thanks. I hope you can see the pattern. It is the Horn of Plenty with the word Thanks above it. Even though I have worked several knitted dishcloths with patterns, some are fairly easy and some are hard. This I would classify as medium. It is getting easier to work the patterns as I go along.

I belong to a Yahoo group, NCB Dishcloth Mania. Each month we vote on a choice of four or five crochet and knitted patterns to do that month. We one of each craft. There are several that either can't knit or crochet, so they do what they can. This month for the crocheted dishcloths, we did a Diamond and a Pumpkin Pie dishcloths.
The dishcloth on the right is the Diamond pattern and the one on the left is the Pumpkin Pie. It was even easier to work on. Was able to get these done in just a couple of hours.

Update to my blog for today. Haven't wrote anything here the past couple of days. I just finished my latest Christmas project. This is an afghan that will be used as a gift. Won't say who, as that person may check out my blog and see what they are getting. This is called a Stained Glass Afghan. The pattern calls for different colors of yarn. So I looked in my stash and was able to pull enough yarn out to do the afghan. This pattern is in a book called Scrap Yarn Afghans, Book Two and was put out by Leisure Arts. It is done in strips, then the strips are put together. It is a fairly easy pattern to work with. This makes the second in this pattern that I have done.