Some Finished Projects

I've been piling finished projects on the coffee table next to where I sit crocheting in the evenings and it's about time that I show them to you. So here goes---

That's all of them piled up and now I'll get serious and show you the finished projects one at a time and give you the links to the patterns because all the patterns are free and online.

The following hats were all made from the same pattern and I used left-over yarn to make most of them. I like the little slouchy effect.


Red and white hat:

Christmas colors:

Teal green:

***

Two pairs of matching men's slipper socks:

***

Christmas stocking-- I left the shell edges off the cuff:

***

Crochet Seafarer's Cap--I love, love, love this pattern. It looks like a traditional hat for men.

I have used this pattern several times before with no problems. For some reason, this time the hat turned out sized for a child rather than an adult man. Maybe since my hands have stiffened up I'm possibly making tighter stitches. The next time I made a hat from this pattern I upsized my hook by 1 size and it seems to have worked out nicely as you can see in the next photo.

***

This next pattern I liked because it was easy to make and it came in several sizes. Crochet Slouchy Hat:

 After I finished it, it reminded me of one of the dwarf friends of Snow White.

This is all I have for now. Hope you're having a great week.

Hugs,

Sharon

Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs DVD

Monday's Link to Free Crochet Pattern (09 November 2015)

Sticking with the Christmas theme, today's link takes us to a vintage pattern for a Christmas tree shaped potholder. Should be able to whip one of these out pretty fast to use when cooking the holiday meal. 

Hope you enjoy this one and this is all for now.

Hugs,

Sharon

My Baby--

Just wanted to take a minute to wish my "baby boy" a happy 36th birthday. Happy birthday Justin!

Monday's Link to Free Crochet Patterns (02 November 2015)

Are you looking for some variety in projects you make out of granny squares? Here's a link to an archived page with a plethora of granny square patterns. The link is to an archived site and I did spot check several patterns and they're still available even if the link on the referring page doesn't have a picture--the pattern and picture both were available on the pattern page, I think you could have a lot of fun crocheting some of these squares.  I foresee many Christmas gifts made of squares! ;)

Have fun, 
Sharon

Added: Looks like I posted this a day early--very unusual for me.

The Granny Square Book

Turkey Pot Pies

The other day the husband and I had a very large turkey breast for dinner and we had quite a bit of leftovers. So, I got my kitchen creativity hat on and came up with this easy idea for making pot pies. I ended up with enough leftover turkey to have 2 big pies. A picture of 1 of the pies:

The crust isn't pretty because my kitchen talent is limited. So here's the guide on how I made my 2 pies.

• cube up left over turkey
• 1 can of potatoes cut in cubes or slices (drained)
• 1 can of mixed vegetables (drained)
• country gravy mix 2 cup size. Cook this a little bit but don't let it get too thick.
• store bought pie crusts (4 crusts, 2 bottoms and 2 tops)

Preheat oven to 425

1. mix all ingredients together
2. put bottom pie crusts in pie pans.
3. put filling in pie crusts
4. put top crusts on 
5. cut 4 "vents" in top of each pie

Cook at 425 for 30 - 40 minutes until golden brown. If your crust edges are getting too brown, then put foil around edges.

Husband, a very picky eater, said several times that it is almost like a Marie Callender pot pie. If you only need 1 pie, then you can either cook the 2nd one and freeze it or freeze it uncooked. I would just wrap it good in plastic wrap, pan and all and toss in the freezer. Let defrost in fridge and from uncooked state, follow the above cooking directions. From cooked state, let defrost in fridge and then heat in microwave as long as you used a glass pie pan. If you used a metal pie pan then I'd heat individual servings in the microwave. We're eating our second pie tonight.

I'm out of steam for now. Y'all take care.

Sharon

Many styles of pie pans available at Amazon

Maureen O'Hara--

One of Hollywood's great actress has died. Maureen O'Hara passed away on Saturday, October 24th, 2015. She was one of my favorite actresses. At birth, she was named Maureen FitzSimons. She was born on Aug. 17, 1920, in Ranelagh, Ireland, on the outskirts of Dublin. She was the second of six children of Charles FitzSimons, a clothing-business manager and part-owner of a soccer team, and the former Marguerita Lilburn, a singer. Maureen began appearing in school plays as a child and was accepted as a student at the Abbey Theater in Dublin when she was 14. Actor Charles Laughton convinced her to take the stage name of O'Hara because he claimed that "nobody would ever get [FitzSimons] straight."

Movies she starred in included “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (1939), in which she played the haunted Gypsy girl Esmeralda to Charles Laughton’s Quasimodo; the Oscar-winning “How Green Was My Valley” (1941), in which she was memorable as a Welsh mining family’s beautiful daughter who marries the wrong man; “This Land Is Mine” (1943), a war drama in which she was directed by Jean Renoir; and “Miracle on 34th Street” (1947), the holiday classic in which she played a cynical, modern Macy’s executive who tries to prevent her daughter from believing in Santa Claus. My all time favorite movie of her's was "McLintock" (1963) with John Wayne. Other movies include:

• The Quiet Man (1952)
• Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
• The Black Swan (1942)
• Rio Grande (1950)
• Our Man in Havana (1959)
• Parent Trap (1961)
• The Christmas Box (1995)
• Only the Lonely (1991)

I have tried to find links to watch the above movies for free. A few I was only able to find trailers for. 

She wrote an autobiography, 'Tis Herself: An Autobiography that came out in 2005. Other books about her include "Maureen O'Hara Unauthorized & Uncensored," and Maureen O'Hara: The Biography (Screen Classics).

For more online reading, you  may be interested in:

• http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-27429621
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maureen_O%27Hara
• http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/oct/25/maureen-ohara
• http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/25/movies/maureen-ohara-irish-born-actress-known-as-queen-of-technicolor-dies-at-95.html?_r=0
• http://www.nbcnews.com/news/photo/maureen-ohara-irish-stars-life-pictures-n450891

The world has lost one of the few remaining great thespians. Rest in peace Ms. O'Hara.

Sharon

Oh My Goodness--

Early, early this morning when I mentioned the interesting tidbit about being related to Cinderella, I wasn't thinking about the new Cinderella movie. My great great Grandmother Cinderella married a Mr. Madden and in the movie, Prince Charming aka Richard MADDEN married Cinderella. WOW, what a coincidence!

Cinderella Costume

Monday's Link to Free Crochet Pattern (26 October 2015)

Keeping with my plan to post Christmasy pattern links, today we have a link to a Christmas tree skirt.  I need to make one of these too although, I don't have the time right now because I have a gazillion things going on not to mention getting side-tracked with the family genealogy. I almost forgot to post a pattern because I've been glued to my computer looking up my ancestors so it's all those old guys fault that I'm forgetful. ;)

I don't know if I've ever put in my blog that I'm related to Cinderella. Yes, it is true. Cinderella was my great great grandmother. Her maiden name was Pell and her married name was Madden. Her husband wasn't Prince Charming though; he went through 4 wives.

I stayed up all night so now it's time for a nap to get me through the day.

Later,

Sharon

Cinderella movie now at Amazon

What 2 skeins of Yarn Makes

I almost forgot that I usually make my doctors at the VA something small for Christmas. Because I'm leaving the state in a few weeks I had to quickly revise my Christmas crochet list. I made slippers for them but had extra yarn left. If you've ever used the pattern I use to make slippers, you know you need 2 skeins because the slippers are double stranded. Here's a look out of what I made out of just 2 skeins of Red Heart Super Saver.

With 2 skeins of this:

I ended up with 2 pairs of slippers:

This hat designed by Kim Guzman:

This hat called "Rubylene":

And a little bit of left-overs to use in granny squares:

My Christmas to-do crochet list is about finished. It has been modified quite a few times and I've "snuck" a few projects in between Christmas projects to put some variety in my hooking.

This is it for now. 

Best wishes to all...

Sharon

Amazon Fire TV

Monday's Link to Free Crochet Pattern (19 October 2015)

We've been holding off turning the furnace on. It's nice not having to run the furnace or the air conditioner and pay the big utility bills but, after sleeping with the down comforter and another blanket, we decided it was time to crank up the ol' furnace. This is also the time of the year that my afghans get used a lot so, for today's free pattern I give to you a link to the Christmas Wreath Throw.  It is classified as an easy pattern but nonetheless, it is very stylish.

It is hard for me to believe that Christmas is coming so soon. I mean it comes on the same date every year but the older I get, the quicker it comes. This is quite unlike the Christmases of my youth when they appeared to take 4-5 years to come around! Life is strange, seems like time goes so fast now that I'm in my 50s. 

This is it for now folks. Hoping y'all are warm and cozy.

Hugs,
Sharon





Fire Tablet 7" Display, Wi-Fi, 8 GB Under $50!

Just Off My Hook

I finished the last pair of women's slippers for Christmas the other night. With the leftover yarn, I made a slouchy hat. This hat pattern is by Kim Guzman, one of my favorite designers.

Pattern

Pattern

I am making a comfort food supper tonight. We're having sausage gravy and biscuits. Definitely not high on the healthy eating scale but it is a cold weather favorite that we have a few times during the cold months. After supper is out of the way, we head into the family room to watch a bit of TV and I get my crochet fix in. I'll be under an afghan of course. Hubby goes to bed earlier than I do so after that happens, Nellie Belle comes over to me and we both make use of the afghan. She has to be the last one to bed so she doesn't miss anything the nosey little wench!

That's all for now folks, 

Sharon

Boye 4-in-1 Crochet Hook Tool

Charity Lapghan Finished

Finished this lapghan for charity donation last night. So happy to be finished with these squares. You may remember, that I received many of these squares from a thrift store. I made a few more with the yarn that was included with the squares. I have a problem with determining what size hook to use when I pick up someone else's project to work on. I think that my hook might have been a little too big because there is a slight wave to the sides. I minimized this once I noticed it by doing every few corners DC CH2 DC. This took away most of the wave quickly. So here's the pic:

This is all I have for now.

"Talk" to you later,
Sharon

Adult coloring books

Monday's Link to Free Crochet Pattern (12 October 2015)

It's just about the middle of October and before you know it, Christmas will be here. I plan to post Christmasy patterns the next few weeks to give you, and me, ideas.

Today's link to a free pattern is to Funky Santa. This is a cute, Santa doll done in nontraditional colors. This is a cute decorative item or a toy. I am almost done with Christmas crocheting yea! I am working on some small projects in between the last few Christmas gifts I have left to make to keep the crochet mojo going.

This is all I have for now. Hope you're doing well. Hugs,

Sharon

Santa Dolls--Decorative, Toys or for Crafts

For a while, my blogger font was small when I was using a "normal" size font when I typed a post. If I tried to resize it to "large" it was too large. After some playing around and googling for some answers, I figured it out. It was very simple fix. I put together this slide show to show you how easy it is to correct this problem

After thinking about it for a while, I may have unknowingly made some changes to the font when I "redecorated" my blog. Oops!!! Don't know for sure though.

Hope this may help you out and save some time if you run into this problem.

Hugs,

Sharon

Just Playing Around with Genealogy

Last night, I went and became a paid member of Ancestry. Since I had a DNA test done through their site, I could only have a 2 way dialog with my matches if I became a paid member. There was a special on for $49 for 6 months so I joined. One thing about Ancestry, it seems as if the price of membership depends on the page you find yourself on. I may be wrong, maybe the price changed after midnight or something.

I found a couple black sheep! They were on my family tree already but I did not know that they were crooks. It was my great grandfather through my dad's side of the family. He robbed his own father!

Click to easily read:

Clipped from Alton Telegraph, 7 June 1872, Page 3

I always had funny feelings about this branch of the family. Charles was divorced from his first wife. Two of his children from the first marriage were fostered out and allegedly their foster parents hot footed it to California with the children without notice or permission. His daughter from a later marriage (my grandmother) was vehemently opposed to divorce. Charles's father Jacob was a very prosperous farmer and ordained Baptist minister. He also dabbled in politics and ran for school superintendent. He had 16 children and outlived 4 wives, In my childhood, I remember family members talk about a pioneer in the family migrating to Illinois from Tennessee with a new bride and a new mule.

I decided to see if I could fill in some blanks in my husband's genealogy. There is an eBook that has his genealogy from his grandmother back to the the Cherokee connection of Gosaduisga born in 1750. As a young man, hubby's great grandfather Joseph Adam Mitchell went to prison at Leavenworth for breaking in to a warehouse and stealing a variety of items from canned peaches to gold watch chains. Here's his mug shot that I had to use my camera to take a picture of the kindle image. You have to feel sorry for Joseph in a way because his mother died when he was 9 and his stepfather abandoned him and his sister. The kids hunted and cooked small birds until they were placed in an orphanage.

That's all for now folks!

Sharon

Book: The Franklin Reed Mitchell Family of Adair County, Oklahoma

Christmas Stocking Finished

This stocking was lolling around for several weeks minus toes and cuff. Last night I finally finished it.

This is similar to another stocking I made. The other one has red heels.  I think this one might be mine and I will fill it up with goodies for me. I was wondering, am I the only person who fills their own Christmas stocking with goodies?

This is an easy pattern. This is my 3rd time using it. I have 1 more stocking to make.

That's all folks!

Hugs,

Sharon


Assorted Christmas Yarns

2 Pairs of Men's Slipper Socks.

Here are a couple more pairs of men's slippers that I've finished for Christmas gifts. I'm in like with the brown pair.

Pattern

Nothing exciting going on around here. We're trying to get caught up with our "chores" before we leave next month and that's not exciting at all!

Take care everyone,

Sharon

Boye 4-in-1 Crochet Hook Tool, Blue

A Zippy Loomed Scarf

I recently saw a neat looking gadget when I was at Michaels. It is a loom that looks like a comb for a cartoon giant.

I brought it home and started to make a scarf with it. The problem was that the scarf came out rather thin and that didn't seem right since I was using 2 strands of super bulky weight yarn (6). I read a bit more in the instructions and discovered that I could buy another loom and there is a way to connect 2 or more of them together. A few days later I grabbed my purse and another coupon for 40% off and headed back to Michaels. Now I was in business.

Utilizing 6 pegs, I used the e-wrap stitch which is very similar to writing a cursive "e" (another good reason to continue teaching cursive handwriting in schools). I may have gotten a little carried away with the length but that's ok because many women like longer scarves.

Close up:

The yarn I used was Bernat Blanket yarn in vintage white and countryside (off white, gray, blue). I like this scarf but alas it's not for me and it's in the gift drawer for a special person at some other time.

Guess this is it for now. Hope y'all are having a great week.

Sharon


Zippy Loom