Quick Note.

I have endeavored to keep my blog posts free from political themes. However, today I feel I must put my 2 cents out in blogland. Many of my fellow Americans have given our new president less than 24 hours to demonstrate that he is trying to work for the betterment of our great nation. Women have marched in our capital and in other parts of our nation. Hoodlums have rioted, demonstrated, and caused injuries. All this was done without giving President Trump a chance. A single word that demonstrates this is "prejudice" and it is NOT a pretty word. His former opponent, Hillary Rodham-Clinton has tweeted her support of the marchers. If she truly was a patriot, she would have urged her supporters to get behind the president and if his actions were intolerable, then follow the proper protocol to make changes.

I could go on and on but I will stop here.

Peace,
Sharon

A Couple Baby Blankets...

One of my sons recently asked me if I would make a couple baby blankets so that he could give them to friends who were expecting babies. He did not know the gender of the anticipated bundles of joy. I decided to use gender neutral colors that were popular in my younger days--pastel green and yellow. I also decided to make the main color an off-white color (Aran by Red Heart). I think the blankets look "antiquey," Here's the pics--

For this blanket, I made 4 of the squaring the big circle squares, joined them and then treated them like a big square (guess that's what they became) and continued making rounds until it was the size I desired. The final round was done with a shell stitch,

For the 2nd baby blanket, I used the cuddle and coo pattern. I did not, however use the edging that the pattern called for but rather did 3 rounds of single crochet. I was having problems with the edges "rippling" so I just did a simple edging. This pattern, except for my incompetence with the edging, was very easy to make. I will probably try this one again and play around with different edgings.

It has become our routine, to head to Florida for winters. This year however, I am unable to travel. I'm not feeling "bad," but I have blood clots in both legs. No biggie, I have what is known as a vena cava filter that "catches" the clots and prevents them from traveling to organs such as lungs, heart or brain. I have had problems with my legs, especially left leg, swelling and feeling uncomfortable, no real pain. This was going on started in August when I was in the hospital with back pain. I had always thought that blood clots cause PAIN, not just achiness or discomfort. The point I want to make is that if you have any of these symptoms that you should seek medical attention. I was fortunate to have the filter put in as a precaution before I had a surgery. 

I hope y'all are warm and cozy. Have a great week.

Peace,

Sharon

Nellie Belle's New Sweater

Nellie Belle is our baby. She is 11+ years old, not in the best of health but don't tell her that because she thinks she's a teenager and likes to romp and play and act the diva. We may not make it to our snowbird home this winter so I decided to make Nellie a sweater to keep her warm. She's not too fond of clothing so this is more of a thing for me than her. Anyway, here's a picture of her sporting her new duds.

She's staying close to her daddy, hoping for protection from the camera wielding mom.

Here's the pattern. I added a flower, and you can find the pattern for it here.


Have a great weekend and stay warm.

Sharon

A Couple Completed Things and Coffee...

Just finished a lapghan last night and a dishcloth that I made to have a little break from working on the lapghan. Sometimes I find I need a little change of pace and a small project like a dishcloth or even slippers, a hat or a scarf will do the trick. Anyway, before I "talk your ear off" here are the pictures.

Pattern

No pattern, just solid grannies of 6 rounds except the center one is 12 rounds. I am still making these lapghans to donate to the new veterans' home here in our town in Kentucky.

Moving on to the 2nd half of this post, I want to share my happiness over a Christmas present I received. Hubby bought me a Keurig K55 coffee maker. 

I'm in love with it; however, I am not in love with the price of the coffee to go in it. I suppose if I only drank 1 cup per day it wouldn't be too bad. To be honest,  I drink 6 cups or more everyday. So I put on my thinking cap and thought about what money saving idea I could find. 

I bought a reusable filter. Works great but 1 filter is over $7 at Walmart. I did buy one because in the long run it will save money. As I was browsing through Dollar Tree the other day, I noticed that they had a 2-pack of reusable filters for Keurigs. Bingo! We have a winner. I bought a couple packs and pre-filled them.  When I'm ready for a cup o' joe I just pop one in the brewer.

Another thing, I wanted to have a little variety by having some flavored coffees. Since I drink decaf (like all post-menopausal women should) I found it hard to find much variety in decaf coffees. I spent quite some time on Amazon searching for a good deal on some flavored decaf coffees. I found a variety pack of 6 flavors, 96 count for only $37.90. Score! A smaller size for $13.30 is offered but it costs less per pod by ordering the larger size. I got my order in today and have already tried 3 flavors and I definitely recommend  them.

Today I have been rather chatty so I will let you go for now. 

Cheers (as I raise my coffee cup to you)!

Sharon

Monday's Link to Free Crochet Patterns (02 January 2017)

Happy New Year everyone. Today, I am sharing a link that will take us to a pattern for what looks to be a sturdy tote bag. This bag would be nice to put a to-go crochet project in or to take shopping since in many parts of the United States and other countries, free shopping bags are becoming a thing of the past. Here's the link.

Hope you finished up 2016 on a positive note and are headed for good health, happiness and peace in 2017.

Hugs,
Sharon









3-in-1 Multifunction Breakfast Center

A Quick Look at 2016 Crochet Projects

Here is the slide show of the projects I completed in 2016. I got the photos from my ravelry account under the tab for 2016. Of course, as I was looking at a similar folder I have on facebook (after completing this slideshow video), I noted that I missed posting one project on ravelry so I actually completed 168 projects, not the 167 that are shown in the video. I know that 167 sounds like a big number but I really got hooked on making dishcloths for a few months and they don't take anytime at all to make. I don't know why I had this fascination; I just did. Here's the video with some royalty free music added to spice things up. Thanks for viewing.

Hugs,

Sharon

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A Couple Hat and Scarf Sets

Didn't want to share these with you until after Christmas. We had a quiet Christmas. Husband, his mom, son #1 and I had Christmas dinner together. Husband did a nice thing for my Christmas. I had lost the diamond in my engagement ring and he had it replaced as well as re-enameling the lettering on my Hawaiian wedding band and a Keurig coffee maker. Back to the subject of crochet, here's a couple hat and scarf sets. One is for a young lady and one is for a gentleman. Here's a look at a few pictures.

I used the Drops Pattern called Broadway with the addition of a flower.

I love the yarn I used to make the red white and blue scarf. It is a Red Heart yarn called Americana. I made this scarf using the granite stitch aka moss stitch so there wasn't a pattern. I know many people use this stitch for color pooling but I haven't had much luck with it but I like the texture of the finished product when using this stitch with most yarns.

This gray hat is what was called a watch cap when I was in the navy. This pattern calls it a seafarers cap. 

This scarf is made the same way as the red, white and blue scarf. In real life, I didn't notice the argyle-like design; looks like I might have had an inadvertent color-pooling success.

This is it for now. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.

Hugs,

Sharon

Stockpiling a Few Pairs of Slippers

I have enough slippers made for Christmas gifts this year but I made a few extra pairs because I never know when I will need some additional pairs for unexpected or last minute gifting. Here's a look at the ones I am stockpiling.

If you've been here before, you probably already have the link to the pattern for these because they are one of the most frequently made items here at Sharon's Eclectic Retreat. For the newbies, here's the pattern's link. 

Hope y'all are keeping toasty warm. Happy holiday season.

Hugs,

Sharon

Barbie dolls

Shades of Purple--Hat and Scarf

Last night, I finished a hat and scarf set for my neighbor. It's her birthday party tonight and even though I'm having problems with my leg and won't be going, I wanted to send her a little something to help wish her a happy birthday.

Here's some pictures--

I made the hat a little "slouchy" and added several rows to the scarf to make it wider. Another change I did was I made the fringe with 1 strand of yarn at the end of each row. I included the end of the row yarn changes in the fringe and that way I had zero ends to weave in.

Pattern info:

• scarf
• hat

Have a great weekend.

Sharon

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Scrap Lapghan Finished

Not too long ago, I showed you the squares I had laid out to sew into another lapghan to donate to a local veterans home. It is completed now and I think it turned out nice. In this one, I exclusively used scraps and partial skeins and the ones I used were to complement the color of a couple squares that had some I Love This Yarn in camo color.

Hugs to all...

Sharon

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More TENS Units

Another Lapghan in the Works

Getting ready to assemble another lapghan. I am making these from a ton of leftover scrap yarn  for the veterans home that is opening in our town. Currently they are scheduled to open after the first of the year--at least a year behind schedule. This lapghan is exclusively out of scraps the colors loosely coordinating with the camo colored yarn in a few squares.

Enjoy the season and stay warm!

Sharon

Intex Pillow Rest Classic Airbed with Built-in Pillow and Electric Pump, Queen

A Different Take on Santa's Hat

Santa wanted a different look for his casual hat hence the tweedy and soft white of the hat in this picture. I have made this hat in traditional Christmas colors many times and enjoy the ease of this pattern. I do like the look of this one; it reminds me of the stocking hats that were so popular in my childhood.

Pattern

Seasons greetings to all,

Sharon

iPhone 64GB I Flash Drive

Another Lapghan Finished

This is another lapghan for the donation stash. This is the one I was talking about yesterday. It is made partially out of leftover yarn and some new too. I used solid grannies to make this.

Hugs,

Sharon

Fashionista Barbies