Review: Amish Confidential

I love to read. I was so disappointed in the book I recently finished reading that I felt compelled to put my review here. The other day, I finished reading the book Amish Confidential. I had enjoyed watching the television series on Discovery Channel but, I believed from the very first episode that I watched that many of the events on this show were scripted. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed watching the show. The last episode of the series promised that Lebanon Levi Stoltzfus was writing a "tell-all" book. I am disappointed that his definition of "tell-all" and mine are quite different.

I was mildly interested in the biographical information on Stoltzfus that was written in the book. He was one of seven children. His father died due to a farming accident when Levi was 2. Levi's mother remarried a widower with 8 children. Levi went a little "wild" during rumspringa drinking and received 2 DUIs. That may not be the norm but it's not surprising since many teenagers test boundaries and try their wings as they are entering adulthood especially when the strict rules they live by are suddenly eased.

The book also did a rundown on crimes the Amish were involved in or committed such as the shooting of Amish students at the West Nickel Mine School. Another big emphasis in the book was about a politician bashing the Amish and Stotlzfus bashing the politicians. This wasn't a surprise because the last few episodes of the show placed a huge emphasis on these events.

When we were promised a "tell-all" I expected to get the low-down on the Smucker family whose father was in charge of Amish Aid before Stoltzfus was. I was anxious to learn of the ties between Esther Smucker and Levi. I was disappointed to not read of any of this. The final episode showed that Levi had a baby with an "English" woman and there was no mention of this in the book.

My opinion of this book--Not worth your time or money if you had watched the show. This book read like it was just thrown together to make a buck and keep interest alive in the show. Don't waste your money; get it from the library if you still want to read it.

Star rating: 2 out of 5

Hope y'all are okay.

Hugs,

Sharon

Monday's Link to Free Crochet Patterns (27 April 2015)

I was surfing the Internet looking for something a bit different and upbeat for today's link to a free pattern. Twinkie Chan has done it again with a cute ice cream cone shaped pillow--TRIPLE scoop of course!  Here's the link to some high fiber ice cream.

Have a great day  my friends.
Hugs,
Sharon

Monday's Link to Free Crochet Pattern (20 April 2015)

If you've visited my blog a few times, you've probably noticed that slippers are one of my favorite projects. Today, I have a pattern for yet another pair of slippers. The pattern calls for "yarn group C." I had no idea what "yarn group C" is so I googled it and discovered that it is for a worsted weight yarn that has been discontinued. To see the yarn chart go here for more information.

Hope you are enjoying yourselves.

Hugs,
Sharon

Flag Etiquette and Crocheters

I have seen, and probably you have too, many beautiful flag afghans.

I had even bought a book of afghan patterns that included a beautiful flag afghan pattern that I was going to make until I was told about the flag code forbidding bedding with a flag design. I have also seen some cute models wearing flag-inspired swimwear. An applicable quote from the code is "The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery."

What about the depiction of the American flag on postage stamps? Does this violate the flag code? 

Section 83 of the Flag Code reads, "The flag should never be used in such a manner as to permit it to be easily torn, soiled or damaged in any way." It reads "[The flag] should not be printed or otherwise impressed on anything that is designed for temporary use and discard." Sounds like to me that these government approved stamps violate the government written flag code. (more information here about a third of the way down the page.)

What's the penalty for breaking the flag code?

There isn't one. The flag code is an odd duck in this regard. As part of the The United States Code, the flag code is technically federal law. However, the code doesn't outline any measures for enforcement or punishment.  Basically, the flag code is a set of advisory rules for Americans who want to know the proper and respectful way to display their flag. Even if the flag code did provide measures for its enforcement, it's not clear that the measures would be constitutional. Individual states used to have their own prohibitions on and penalties for desecration of  the flag, but the 1989 Supreme Court decision Texas v. Johnson invalidated these laws as infringements on free speech. Congress responded by passing the Flag Protection Act, which made flag desecration a federal crime. Supreme Court struck down this law in the 1990 case United States v. Eichman. (and more info here.)

This page is a gateway to much detailed information on flag etiquette and use. I do not mean to negate the talent put into the making of American flag crocheted afghans; because most of the ones I have seen are examples of very talented crafters. I believe that we need to spread the word about what is/is not allowed. Americans are not stupid people. We have intelligence. We do not need to establish more big government to rule us nor do we need to establish a system that fines or jails us for violating the flag. We just need to obey the rules! If you don't believe in the rules then as an American, you can write to your politicians or lobby to change the rules or in extreme cases move to another country.

I am a veteran, can I salute the flag at a military funeral, sporting events or other situation where the flag is flown?
Some thing that many veterans and service members might not be aware of is that Public Law No. 110-181 changes section 9 of title 4 permitting members of the Armed Forces and veterans who are present but not in uniform to render the military salute. I have done this at a few military funerals that I have attended. I felt a sense of pride to be able to send off my friends with the respect they earned as defenders of our Constitution and country.

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The topic of crocheting flag afghans has become a discussion in a crochet group I follow on facebook. A member got a little testy and said that making flag afghans is okay because of how veterans use the flag. If you have visited my blog before, you may remember that I am a 100% service-connected disabled veteran. As such, I am expected to follow the same laws pertaining to the flag as anyone else and I do so with pride.

It is a sad situation if Americans think it is okay to violate federal laws because they can get away with it.

Monday's Link to Free Crochet Pattern ( 13 April 2015)

I was recently looking for a different pattern for an afghan that wasn't too difficult. I found this one and the few rows I've done have been fairly simple to do. When finished, this is a surprise for someone. Here's a look at what I've done so far--

Hope everyone is okay. We're back in Kentucky and I'm happy to see my sons again. Nellie Belle is happy to have a yard to run in and I'm happy that we don't have to go on "duty walks" several times a day. Hope that Nellie Belle loses some weight because she gained almost 2 pounds over the winter and that's a lot of weight for a little chihuahua.

This is all for now folks.

Hugs,
Sharon


Sorry, but this pattern has disappeared off the Internet and I can't get it on the Wayback Machine either. There are similar patterns but they are made with double crochets and this is single crochet.

Here's a Bunch More Finished Items

I'm catching up with posting my finished projects. I had a lot of them and I made a few more things. Here we go--

This is a hat made from chunky (aka super bulky) yarn. The pattern is the Nifty Newsboy Hat. My version turned out a little big (I crochet loosely). If I make this hat again, I will use a smaller hook. This pattern is easy and was fast to make.

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Here's a neat looking slouch hat. It is the Amazing Grace Blissful Slouchy. It is a cute pattern that I found out I had to pay attention to what I was doing and not get wrapped up in the television like I do many times.

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These next hats are made from my favorite slouchy hat pattern Rubylene. You can make it slouch more or less by changing the number of shell rows.

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Next is a hat I just whipped up because I wanted something easy to make. I left off the pom-pom because I don't like pom-poms for adults. I'm not terribly fond of this design. It's easy but it just seems so skimpy and not a good choice for cold winters. This is the Adult's Easy Crochet Hat.

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This is a hat for a gentleman. It is made from the Crochet Seafarer's Cap pattern.This is my favorite hat pattern for men. I believe it is the most manly pattern for a man who likes basic, conservative fashions like my guys do.

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This next hat is made from the Woman's Granny Hat pattern. This was a fun, easy pattern to work with. The final row called for a reverse single crochet but I changed that to my own design because I am not coordinated enough to do the reverse single crochet.

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I made a Granny Scarf to coordinate with the above hat. Both patterns were designed by Suzette of Suzie's Stuff blog.

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The last hat I made is the Elegant Hat designed by Kim Guzman. I like to change out the decoration on the side of this hat when I make one. This is the only pattern I make that turns out small. I usually make it with a larger hook but I forgot to this time so this hat is for a girl instead of a woman. Wish I had my "heads" here to model these hats. In a week I'll be back to my stash and supplies so in the near future new hats will be displayed better.

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I'm caught up with posting my finished objects. I don't even have a project on the hook right now. That will change tonight when I sit down to watch  Mike and Molly and 2 Broke Girls.

Take care my friends.

Hugs,

Sharon

Monday's Link to Free Crochet Pattern (30 March 2015)

Good morning everyone! Last week I got a good deal on Bernat Collegiate Chunky yarn. It was on clearance at Joanns for only $4.97 for a 14 ounce skein. That's a good score but I've been surfing the Internet, for hours, from one end to the other finding out what I can make out of it. I think I have finally found a project. The pattern is for a cute beret reminiscent of Bonnie of the criminal twosome Bonnie and Clyde.

One week from today and hubby and I will be headed back north. It's been a nice and warm winter at our Camp No Mo Sno but it is time to put our shorts away until summer and head back to Kentucky. I will miss our cosy winter get away but I will be happy to see my little family again.

Hugs,
Sharon

Videos of Bonnie and Clyde

Monday's Link to Free Crochet Pattern (23 March 2015)

I've been noticing ponchos more and more lately. As a matter of fact, it seems like they've been in style for perhaps the last decade or so and are having a spike in popularity lately. There are so many different patterns available to choose from besides the big granny-square looking ponchos that were popular back in the 70s.  Here is a pattern for a beautiful, lacy poncho that I think you will enjoy.

Hugs,
Sharon

Still Catching with Posting Finished Projects :)

Here's a scarf that I almost finished a few months ago. My CADD (crochet attention deficeit disorder) kicked in and I didn't get the ends woven in. I should really, really weave ends in as I go along; for some reason I don't heed this lesson. Here's the scarf--

Pattern

I used a J hook and Homespun yarn to go with the coral/apricot color that I picked up at a thrift store. This scarf is to go along with the slouch hat I finished in December.

I was just surfing around on Amazon and I did an impulse buy. I like the shawl-like patterns that have sleeves and this just might be an interesting book of patterns. Although, I often get excited about a project I want to make and then something in the corner of my eye catches my attention and whatever it was that previously had me all excited becomes forgotten.

This is all for now folks. I have a few more things to post but that's for another day. Take care and I hope you are having a great spring.

Hugs,
Sharon

Today's Finished Objects are Mostly Hats

Here are 3 hats made from the same pattern. There is a little bit of slouchiness to these hats. The solid blue one is more slouchy because I made 1 more row of shells in it (10). The other 2 hats I did 9 rows so that I could have every other row a different color with the start and stop rows of shells the same color. Here's the pictures--

Pattern--Rubylene Hat

Last but not least is a dishcloth that I made from a pattern in the book Dishcloths 11 Crochet Designs. I used the pattern on page 26 called "Shells." This book is one that is carried at Walmart.

This is all for now folks. See you later gators...

Sharon

For Your Saint Paddy's Day Pleasure

I was searching for something a little on the educational side to post in honor of St.Patrick. Then, I saw this movie and I decided to post this instead. This is a cute movie and fun viewing for the day.
Enjoy everyone

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May there always be work for your hands to do; 
may your purse always hold a coin or two; 
may the sun always shine on your windowpane; 
may a rainbow be certain to follow each rain; 
may the hand of a friend always be near you; 
may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

Hugs, 

Sharon

Monday's Link to Free Crochet Pattern (16 March 2015)

Here is a pattern for a beautiful scarf to honor those battling breast cancer or survivors of breast cancer. You can change the color for awareness of other diseases such as red for AIDS. Anyway, here's the link.

Thanks for visiting!

Sharon

Breast Cancer Awareness Tshirts

It's Raining Slippers

It's raining slippers around here. Nah, but I noticed that many, many of the pictures of Ravelry's completed projects from this pattern were made by me (I'm "boksie"). Am I addicted to this pattern? You betcha! I have it memorized and when I don't know what else to make I make a pair of these. I love them and they've been popular among some of my family and friends. I've even super-duper sized the pattern for big guys. Here's what I have for you--

1.Ladies

2. Ladies from left-overs.  I ran out of yellow and had to finish up with more of the gray. I'll keep these for me to wear around the house.

3. Mens

4. Kids--I tried painting different designs with puff paint to make these non-skid.

 A Picasso I ain't. 

 Boys

Girls

• Pattern for adult slippers
• Pattern for kids' slippers

I still have a few more things to post but I'll save that for another time. Hope you are having a great day.

Hugs,
Sharon

Fascinator Hats for Easter

Baby Blanket in Blue

I have a couple baby blankets for girls made for last minute gifts so I decided to make one for a boy. This should be a warm blanket because the stitches are close. I enlarged the original pattern because the blanket would have only been 21" wide. I started with 119 chains vs. 62 and this is pretty much a "regular size" baby blanket. My big complaint with this pattern (and many other patterns) is that it says for the edging to crochet down the sides and not how many stitches to make. So for at the end of one row I put 1 stitch and at the end of the row that has chains I put 2 stitches. Here's a few pictures--

Pattern

Take care everyone!

Sharon

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite with Special Offers, Wi-Fi, Black

Catching up with Hats Post--

Today's projects that I am sharing with you are some hats that I've made. The first hat is a Santa hat in basic black. This pattern is easy to follow and fun to make. I can make one of these in just a little over 1 evening watching TV. Ladies, most of us like our LBD (little black dress) and Santa likes his LBH (little black hat) for everyday wear. Here's his--

Pattern

Here are a few Seafarer Caps that I made for one of my sons. The bright yellow one is an attempt to make him more visible when he's at work. He works outdoors and I think that yellow might be good for visibility. I've made this pattern before and the first few times I didn't care for it but then as I got more familiar with the pattern I started liking it. I like the looks of this one because it has a more "manly" look to it than many other crocheted hats.

Pattern

Pattern

I still have more little projects to share with you but I will leave them for another day. Take care my friends.--

Sharon

St. Patrick's Day Green Running Shoes!!!

I'm Still Here

I'm still around, just haven't been blogging. Have you noticed that many old-time bloggers aren't here any more? That many newer blogs are blatantly commercial? There are some blogs I totally enjoy visiting because they're written by and for REAL people.

Even though I haven't been here lately, I have been working on some small projects. I will be posting them over the next week or so. For today, I will be showing you some dishcloths I've made and the links to the patterns. Here we gooooooo--

This is a scrappy dishcloth that I made for everyday use. I like to minimize waste.

Patterns:

• Shells in a row dishcloth
• Bubble dishcloth (sometimes a black box pops up and says something about the owner needing to pay for their blog. Just click the "x" in the corner and you will be able to continue on to the pattern.)

Lodge LCS3 Pre-Seasoned Cast-Iron Chef's Skillet, 10-inch