How True...

This morning I was reading some of my favorite blogs and this one had a great cartoon posted that I'm sharing with you. This blog always has relevant articles to read about politicians and the state of our country. Check it out.

A New Link Added for a Dog Dress

I found the cutest pattern today on Sew Doggy Style's blog. On the link page (listed under my blog's header) it is listed as Bib Dress. This is a sewing, not crochet project. Hope everyone is having a great week. It's cold and rainy here. Bah!

Updated List of Links for Round Afghan Patterns (09 March 2011)

I found another free pattern for a round afghan today. Don't know how I missed this since I had already linked another one from this site. Hmmm, guess it's better late than never. Under my blog's header, you can find the link to the page for the links to free round afghan patterns. Patterns are listed by the date I posted them. Hope you enjoy!

ps--if you find any broken links or patterns that I may have missed, let me know and I'll edit my page.

Found a Chance to Win a Great Crochet Book

Go here for a chance to win this book.

If you don't win it, you can always buy your own copy from Amazon. :) Go to --> Cuddly Crochet: Adorable Toys, Hats, and More to order yours.

Bargains--

When I was in Florida, my uncle took me to several thrift stores and flea markets. He knows how much I love them! I was fortunate to find sheets for my bed, a California King Size, for only $20. One set was 800 count and the other was 850. I got dh a couple ball caps with the Navy logo on them for only $2 each. My biggest excitement came from the crochet patterns I was able to grab at bargain-basement prices.

These were only 75 cents each:

Don't know if I'll make these but it is great to look at the pictures.

Few hats and baby things in here that I might make.

Regular Price:

Paid regular price for this at a book store. I have NEVER found
any of Drew's books at a store before.

50 cent items:

There is a cute long-sleeved version of the green sweater that I've been drooling over.

Only 25 cents for these:

One booth had crochet hooks with wooden handles similar to the Bates bamboo hooks. They were only $5. I was going to get a G-hook but they were all out. I thought the price was well worth it. 

Don't you just love a good bargain? I better get busy around here. Birthday or not there are chores to do. :)

I'm Happy to Be Back--

Hi everyone. It is good to be back here the "regular" way. Blogging via text doesn't work for me very well. On my trip to visit family in Florida, I took 2 skeins of yarn with me to make a scarf. I was actually able to make 2 scarves from it and went to the store to buy more yarn. The week I was gone, I almost finished 4 scarves in the evenings while we chilled out.  The pattern I based them on is this one I blogged about before I left. Of course, I modified it a bit because I didn't want such a skinny scarf. I wanted it to be a scarf that would warm a person's neck. This is a very easy scarf to make and I recommend it to someone looking for an easy, quick pattern. This pattern is easily adjusted to make longer or wider. Here's some pictures:

Red Heart yarn, color "Ocean"

Red Heart yarn, colors "Paddy Green" and I'm not sure of the other one, it is a teal color.

Here's a close-up of the chain-like fringe on one scarf.

All 4 scarves.

It is great to be back with dh and the chis but I sure wish I could have moved home down to the warm weather in Florida instead of coming back to the cold. It was nice and warm, probably in the mid-70s when I left Orlando, FL and it was 35 when I arrived in Louisville, KY. It's nice to come home because there is always a little honeymoon phase when dh and I are apart for a few days. 

Today is my birthday. I am trying to figure out how to have birthdays without getting older. I tried to stay at 30 but that's not working because my kids are in their 30s now. Hmmm, I need to figure something else out... I did like Florida.  I was able to have lunch with a high-school chum and her son. We hadn't seen each other since I graduated in 1975. Also liked that I was "too young" for many things such as discounts, living in certain neighborhoods and that sort of thing. I did feel kind of young down there. A phrase I read several times in various newspapers was "women of a certain age." Sounds mysterious doesn't it? I think I'd rather be mysterious than old so next year when I'm 55 I'm going to start using it. Y'all have a great week...

e it will be possible to send pictures. Take care everyone. I hope your week is going well.

Enjoying visiting with family. So far everyone has liked what I've crocheted for them. This is my first post from my cell phone via texting. One day mayb

Testing

Monday's Link to Free Crochet Pattern 28 February 2011

Here's a pattern for a pair of cute slipper socks. Recently I was on a marathon slipper making binge and I've been on the lookout for different patterns. These look a little challenging but nice. Have a great week

I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane...

Looking forward to going in the morning but I know I'll look forward to coming home too.

Search Amazon.com for john denver

Change of "To-Go" Project

Change of plans. My printer wouldn't print when I tried to print the pattern to take with me. I kept getting an error message for a paper jam. I did all the troubleshooting steps HP recommends, but no luck. So, I went to the laptop that has a small, el cheapo basic printer to use and I was going to print with it. PDF files won't open on the laptop! GRRRRRR. When I come home it will be time to do some additional troubleshooting. So, I dug in my stash of patterns and found this scarf:

In this book:

It isn't something fancy but it will be something to occupy my hands on the flights. I have a pretty variegated yarn that I will be using. For some reason, I don't expect my colors to line up like the ones in the book do. Hope everyone's weekend is going well.

Day Before I Leave Chaos

Tomorrow morning I'm leeeeaving, on a jet plane (kinda like the old song). Anyway, since dh isn't going it's a bit hectic. Yesterday I went to the commissary and picked up all sorts of his favorite, frozen dinners like Hungry Man tv dinners, salisbury steak entree, small packs of instant mashed potatoes and that sort of thing. He's really a junk food fiend when I'm not here. My packables are laid out on the spare bed, ready to go in the suitcase. It's cold here but warm there so I'll have to probably wear my winter coat to the airport and leave it in the car. To-Go project is decided on and supplies to do it are ready to go. Paperback is bought to read myself to sleep as is my habit.

I get nervous when I leave dh and the little chis. Usually dh is able to make a quick trip home at lunch time to let the chis out to do their business. They are such spoiled little guys I really believe they get lonely when they're home alone. I picked up some special treats for them yesterday too. I got them some of those bacon-looking treats and we break them up into 4 pieces. I'm catching up on a little laundry. I want dh to finish the taxes so I can take the laptop with me but I don't know if that will be happening. I will be doing some computer teaching with my uncle. He's going online (I hope).

Son brought over some pictures to give the uncle to show him the renovation work he's doing on his home. I used Picasa and made a slide show/video with the pictures and set them to music. Can't post video online because the music is copyrighted and we know that is a "no-no." Anyway, I put this picture of him as a toddler and captioned the picture with "Come see what I did." He was such a cutie then and I think he's a handsome man now but he's very modest--really odd for a young man (his modesty not him lol).

I better get back to work. Maybe I can fit everything into 2 carry-ons.  Hmmm, it's worth a try...

Decided on a "To Go" Project

I went stash diving (distantly related to dumpster diving) yesterday and decided on a "to go" project for when I go visiting family. I'm going to make a hooded scarf. The yarns won't take up too much room and I will be using some pretty yarn that has only been languishing in my stash. I've always wanted a hooded scarf and for some reason never got around to making one. I'm not sure of how warm this one will be even though it is a heavier weight classification (6 super bulky) because of the yarn itself and the larger hook size. I'll post a picture and you can see what I mean. I did several rows last night to get it started and I think it is going to be pretty. The pattern I'm using is on ravelry. Time to go and pack this in my carry-on. Have any of you taken larger crocheted gifts with you and had to check baggage only because of that? Besides numerous pairs of slippers, I am taking an afghan with me as a gift. Southwest Airlines doesn't charge for checking a bag so that's why I like to use them and their rates are cheaper too.

A Bit of Editorializing--

I've been a bit distressed lately over some of the grumbling that has been going on in several of the blogs I read. People jumping in at one lady because she treated herself to some small pleasures in life--a fancy washcloth, strawberries, cut flowers and a shirt from a thrift shop. How can she be frugal? Why didn't she donate the money to the less fortunate? My heart really, honest and truly hurts for folks who are legitimately doing without necessities in this time of economic crisis. My mil is a good soul and donates time to the local food bank and this organization also helps out folks about to have their utilities cut off. These people have to bring in their "budget" or I should say proof of their expenses. Many of them have the premium cable channels, cell phones with many of the bells and whistles and huge car payments. Now tell me, if a person really has a limited income, doesn't it make sense to minimize expenses? Get one of the new antennas and voila, great television reception for the local channels. Cell phone expensive? Don't use it! Get one with a minimum of minutes or pay as you go and restrict usage to absolutely necessary calls only. Internet on the phone? That would be nice and fun but really, is it necessary? Internet and computer at home--nice, but with free Internet and computers at the library ones at home are not necessary. Expensive car payment? I will admit, a car is almost (you notice I say almost) a necessity where we live because there is absolutely NO public transportation other than a few cabs. Let's get real, a big SUV with 8 cylinders is not an economy vehicle. This is the sort of  thing many of the poor are paying on as necessities in their lives and then coming in for help with utility and rent payments. They get the food cards to buy groceries with for themselves and children. Then, instead of packing lunch for the kiddies to take to school they are able to "double-dip" and the kids get free lunches at school and in some places free lunches are available in the summer too for kids. Don't get me wrong, I never, ever want to see a child go without food but the free food money needs to be spent responsibly so that it goes farther. The food cards can actually be used to buy already made cakes at bakeries and you know they cost way more than a box mix and tub of icing; better yet, go to the library, get on the Internet and look up recipes for cakes and use the ingredients already "bought" with free food money.

OK, now that I got that out, I realize that not all "poor" people are milking the system and are actually thrifty people having a legitimate hard time of things. Really, probably most of them are it is just the few that are taking advantage of the system that irk the living daylights out of me and are so noticeable. It is tax time again. When we bought our fixer-upper house at auction (there's a long story about that for later) we were able to only have a modest mortgage on it and at our ages, that was great and when we refinanced a few years later we were able to get a 15 year mortgage with an escrow account to pay insurance and taxes plus equity money to add a large bath off the master bedroom and our payments went up only $150. Ok, that's great right? Yes and no. We don't pay enough interest on our mortgage to deduct from taxes. So, as a responsible taxpayer, we helped bailout banks that lent money to the financially irresponsible who couldn't foresee that balloon payments or ARMs would cost them big bucks after a few years. Our children are grown and gone so no deductions there either. What does taxes have to do with the "poor?" At the time of our lives where we should be able to enjoy our money, our tax load is increasing and as far as the "poor" and their tax refunds, there are some who are getting back MORE than they paid in and where do you think that comes from? The working stiffs that's who. Do I donate to the "poor"? In the traditional sense, I'll put a little in the bell-ringers bucket at Christmas, donate gently used books, clothing and other goods to charity thrift shops and give canned goods for the periodic food drives. Do I feel obligated to do more? Only on a more personal basis if a neighbor, family or friend is going through tough times then I have gone to my freezer and given away "extra" foods that "the two of us can't eat before they get freezer burned so you might as well take it."  The ridiculous amount of taxes we pay takes up the slack in my charity giving. I too am going to take a little get-away next week to Florida. I will be visiting family there. DH is staying home with the chis. Is this trip a necessary thing to waste money on? Yes, my husband worked hard for the money, time is short and family is important therefore I will visit and not feel that the money would be better in the poor box. Lets face it, if someone is sitting on their computer at home, paying for Internet service and crying about the poverty they live in then they are really not that poor. Sorry if I offended some. I'm just irked that some of the nasty, nasty comments I've seen recently on a normally cheery, upbeat blog I like to read. If you think I'm being cryptic about what blog it is, nope, it's Attic24 and I just don't feel like looking up the url.

Must be something in the air, after reading Pammy Sue's Blog and her rants yesterday it empowered me to let it out. If you're reading this, thanks Pammy Sue.

Told You My Hair Was Cut Too SHORT!

I really look tired here. Maybe I need to take a nap! Anyway, I'm not going back to the same place to have my hair cut again. I need to go plaster on the make-up so I'm not confused with a dude. Later...

So What's Up with Crocheting Lately?

Today, I'm making the last pair of slippers that I need. I did have a pair of ladies in the "gift" drawer so that was cool (or maybe it's "kewl" nowadays). This pair is out of Caron's black and RedHeart SS warm  brown and will turn out to be a plain ol' men's pair of slippers. I'm getting a little bit bored with making slippers and I'm in the mood for something new. I'm actually getting antsy about sewing squares together. Hmm, that's NOT normal. ;) I'm considering everyone's advice on what kind of project to take with me to work on while I'm gone a visitn' in Florida. Anyway, before I get too wordy, here's the picture of the slippers that I don't have much done on.

Click the button and see what other crafty people have been up to lately.

 Thanks for stopping in...

Question...

On Sunday, I am going to visit relatives out of state. I'm undecided about what sort of project I want to take with me. I was thinking of taking my small butterfly loom and trying to make some squares for a project, or do I just bring a bunch of cotton yarn and make dishcloths, or do I bring my knifty knitter loom and make some hats? I was thinking that I might get bored with any of those choices so maybe I can just not take anything with me and maybe when my uncle and I go to a couple flea markets I might find some yarn and patterns but then maybe I won't. Decisions, decisions. What have you take on a trip to work on?

Finally, 21st Century Phone Service Here in the Sticks

Our telephone company only had the old fashioned plans where you pay as you go for long distance service and did not offer unlimited long distance. Our cable company recently began offering the package deal for cable, telephone and Internet. So, we are now able to use our home phone to call our old friends and not get the surprise at the end of the month. This is great because with the exception of my sons, ALL my family is out of state. I had been using my cellphone to make long distance calls but at the end of the month I would need to keep checking my minutes to be sure I didn't go over. I did that once in all the years I've had a cellphone so that's not too bad but that one time emptied out the wallet pdq! Anyway, it is nice to know that even though I live in the sticks I now have 21st century phone service. :) Hope everyone is having a nice day...

Monday's Link to Free Crochet Pattern 21 February 2011

Here's a cute pattern for a bookmark that resembles an Easter Bunny. Great idea for someone you'd like to give a small gift too on Easter when candy might not be appropriate. Enjoy...