Monday's Link to Free Crochet Pattern (07 January 2013)

Here's a sharp looking crocheted hat for men or women. I'm making one now and I'll show it to you when I'm finished. For mine, I'm just using some navy blue Red Heart SS that was in my stash. I'm probably going to give this to one of my friend's grandsons.

Wishing you a wonderful week. My week started out great and I'll tell you about that in a later post when I have a little more time. Take care....

Butterfly Hat and Scarf

Here is a butterfly hat and scarf set for a little girl. I'm going visiting next month and wanted to bring something to my friend's grandchildren. I have scarves in my gift drawer for the big girls and this is for the little girl. Still have to figure out something for the 2 boys. Maybe they like to wash dishes and need new dishcloths? Nah, they might not be too fond of me if I did that! Here are the pics:

Hat

Scarf

I like the looks of this set because it's somewhat different than the most other hats/scarves that I was able to find.

Patterns:

• Hat
• Scarf

Thanks for visiting and hugs to all.

Stay warm w/ remote car starter

Warning for Car Owners

Happy New Year Everyone!

Addendum--

I have an addendum to this post where I made a slide show of all projects completed in 2012. I didn't think I'd make anything else but, I did. These are my absolutely final, finished projects for 2012!

 First off, I made the 2 yellow dishcloths. I retrieved a ball of yellow cotton that had been languishing and forgotten in a corner, under the couch for who knows how long. After digging it out, dusting it off, I spilled coffee on it. I decided to go ahead and make the dishcloths and then toss in the washer. No big deal if they were stained because none of my other dishcloths are pristine either. Take my word for it, working with cotton yarn that is damp in some places is not an easy thing to do.

For Christmas, I had given the gentleman next door some dishcloths. He thought they were potholders but they're not so I made him these to coordinate with his dishcloths. 

Then, the leftover yarn I had from these and a small ball of reddish stuff that coordinated, I made this dishcloth that I'll go ahead and have dh give to him too.

Patterns used:

• dishcloth
• potholder

I had a little extra time to crochet because dh and I were both down with the flu bug that's resistant to the flu shot given this year.

First project for next year is to pick up an ufo afghan. I only have about 6" finished.  I've promised to make this for someone and I really need to get my rear in gear and get it done. 

And this is it for 2012

Happy New Year everyone!!!

Boots, Ladies, Under $100

Monday's Link to Free Crochet Pattern (31 December 2012)

It is hard to believe that today is the last day in 2012. As I've gotten older, the years seem to go by in the blink of an eye.  When I was younger, I remember that "old" people seemed to frequently reminisce but now I realize they were talking about current events. I'm off topic here but I just had to share that thought with you. Today's link to a free pattern is for a baby vest . It has granny squares and is adorable. Check it out here for yourself. Thanks for visiting!

Roundup of 2012 Crochet Projects

Since I probably won't complete any more projects before the end of the year, I made my yearly slideshow up. I do believe I got a bit carried away with the slippers this year--I still have a stack of them in the gift drawer. Anyway, here's my yearly roundup of projects.

Kids in Their Christmas Sweaters

Opi and Nellie Belle wish you a merry Christmas.

Peppermint Bark

Last year when I visited with friends in Northern California, they had the most delicious peppermint bark. It was rather pricey so I decided to make my own. I found a simple recipe here. I improvised a bit. I used candy canes because they were already marked down in price and I used 1 1/2 lbs of almond bark. I chose this recipe because I didn't have to buy the peppermint oil. By pulverizing some of the candy canes until they were powder and stirring the powder into the melted bark, there was no need for peppermint oil.  Here's a picture of mine cooling.

Have a blessed holiday. Hugs to all of my wonderful family and friends.





More Peppermint Bark

Monday's Link to Free Crochet Pattern (24 December 2012)

It's almost Christmas and you forgot to get something for your sweet fur baby. You're in luck because here's a quick gift you can use some odds and ends of yarn to make and you won't even have to leave the house..

Happy Holidays....




More dog crate end tables

From My Family to Yours--Season's Greetings

Note: You may silence the blog's music player at the bottom of the page.

Today's Thought

Crochet Calendars

Favorite Cookies--Pizzelles

I love pizzelles and I try to make them every year at Christmas time. I thought I'd put the recipe here for you.

2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon ground anise
3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup margarine or butter, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla

• In small mixing bowl stir together the flour, baking powder and anise. Set aside
• in a large mixing bowl beat the eggs with an electric mixer on high speed about 4 minutes or until thick and lemon colored. With the mixer on medium speed, gradually beat in the sugar. The beat in the melted margarine/butter and the vanilla. Add the flour mixture. Beat on low speed until combined, scraping the the sides of bowl occasionally.
• Heat an electric pizzelle iron according to the manufacturer's directions. (Or, heat a nonelectric pizzelle iron on the range-top over medium heat till a drop of water sizzles on the grid. Reduce heat to medium-low)
• Place a slight rounded tablespoon of batter slightly off center toward back of grid. Close lid. Bake according to manufacturer's directions.(For a nonelectric iron, bake for 30 - 60 seconds or until golden, turning once. ) Turn wafer out onto a paper towel to cool. Repeat with remaining batter. Makes about 18.

I made 2 batches of these tonight. For some reason the batch I made with Splenda instead of sugar turned out heavier--the batter was more like a dough. Maybe it was the Splenda or maybe I added too much flour (I was making a double batch). Anyway, the "normal" ones turned out great.

I may have posted this recipe before but this year I upped the amount of anise I use by adding an additional 1/2 teaspoonful. 

Here's a few of the pizzelles I made tonight:

It's time for some hot chocolate and a pizzelle to dunk in it. 

More pizzelle irons<

6 More Dishcloths

Here are 6 more dishcloths. These are for Christmas gifts.

Pattern Link

Miscellaneous Things on My Mind....

The Sister Wives show has started to irk me. I used to watch it and feel kind of sorry for the wives and I believe that their upbringing and shared husband  have brainwashed and manipulated them into an unhealthy and illegal lifestyle. Now, with each wife getting her own home with over 3000 sq ft of living space and in at least one a wet bar I think that WE are being taken advantage of and that TLC is being irresponsible promoting an illegal lifestyle. The family is selling overpriced jewelry and are expecting the public to purchase it and support their lifestyle. Yeah, I know, most of us have broken the speed limit and that's breaking the law and shame on us if caught we're going to pay a speeding ticket. These people just got a free pass and the prosecution of them is off. I wonder if stud muffin will get hitched again if ratings go down??? Soon these ladies, models of fashion, will soon be selling clothing too. I don't really think I want to base my wardrobe on what they consider fashionable.

Recently I went to the facebook page for their jewelry. They have designed some beautiful pieces but they are definitely not for the budget conscious  I probably shouldn't have, but did, leave a note that even though they seemed like nice people, I wasn't going to support an illegal lifestyle by purchasing from them. Boy, was I slammed by some readers. I deleted the post but not before saving a copy of it.

Gun control is another thing I have strong feelings on. Do I think that we should make guns illegal? Nope. I don't own a gun and don't plan on purchasing one either. I do think that comprehensive background checks should be done, that anyone with felony convictions should not be allowed to own/use guns and that limits on the number of weapons an individual can own should be put in place. I heard one gentleman on television (can't remember his name, sorry) say that guns are not biodegradable and the millions of them that are already owned will not go away. That means that there may always be guns involved in crimes and that those wanting to purchase a gun for target shooting or self-protection won't be able to.  Convictions on using guns in a crime, illegal ownership of guns, loaning out of guns used in crimes or illegal attempts to purchase a gun should result in life in prison--at hard labor, sort of a chain gang type thing. Penalties for many crimes are not severe enough. This is a bit off subject but the neighbor and I were talking not long ago about how if a person abuses a pet the pet will be removed permanently from the home but if a child is abused, the abuser will be ordered to classes/treatment and will get a 2nd chance with the poor child. Sometimes I just don't understand how such a great country can be so irresponsible.

OK, that's out of my system. I've been making some dishcloths lately and I'll post some pictures of them when I finish the one I'm working on. I'm going to make some cookies later on today.

I'm off my soap box now. ;) Have a great day....

Beautiful sterling silver jewelry from Amazon

The Christmas Story According to Children

Here is a wonderful video of kindergartners and preschoolers telling the Christmas story. I dare you not to smile.

Note--If my blog is playing music, the music player is now located at the bottom of the page and you may turn it off to better hear this video.



Thanks to my friend Mary for sending me this.

More Children's Bibles

Christmas Music at No Cost!

Here is some Free Christmas Music from Amazon. I don't know how long this will last so check it out soon.I've been playing loads of Christmas music to get into the spirit of things. Enjoy!

More Christmas Music

Sadness...

Acts of terrorism are vile and horrendous. Compound these acts with the fact that they are done by Americans rather than foreigners makes it even more frightening. To an extent we can keep foreigners out but when it is the quiet, intelligent young person next door who goes into a school and kills 20 young children we find  reason to be in a heightened state of fear, reason to not trust our neighbor and a need to always be on guard. I don't have the solution to this. I do know that we need to return to basics in this country and that's putting more emphasis on our families, not material things but getting to know each other by talking, playing and working together without the interference of electronic devices. I wanted to find a special prayer to post here for victims of crime/terrorism but couldn't find one. The best prayer is probably the one that comes from the heart.

May God give the people in Newtown, Connecticut the strength to handle the horror and losses they are suffering.

Remembering...

Rest in peace Mom.

JoAnn (nee Jungles) French

16 Nov 1936 - 14 Dec 1969

A Couple Dishcloths Finished

Here are a couple dishcloths I finished last night. I think I'm going to like these. I especially like the "texturedness" of them.

Pattern