A Throw for Another Friend

I made a throw for another friend out of a ginormous solid granny square. These are the colors of her favorite football team--the Vikings!

I have this post scheduled to go online a few days after writing it so that by the time you see this, she will have it!

Hope y'all are having a wonderful week.

Monday's Link to Free Crochet Pattern (04 February 2013)

I had set up today's post ahead of time and scheduled its posting for today because by the time you read this, I will either be in the air or in California visiting my friends. For the past 3 years, my friends have flown me to California from Kentucky to visit. They are very generous and fun friends to have. One of them I went to high school with back in the wild and crazy 1970s. We lost track of each other but reconnected about 11 years ago. Amazing with that many years passing, when we reconnected it was just like we had seen each other a couple weeks ago!

I got off topic here before I even got on topic! Here's the link for today's free pattern. It's a granny hexagon baby blanket. I love the "roundish" afghans and blankets and this one is very special because it has a granny-look to it too. I hope you enjoy it.

Hugs.....
Sharon

This is a pattern to use on a kindle:

More Granny Patterns

Going Visiting

Tomorrow morning, I'll be hopping on a jet plane to visit some dear friends in California. I'm so excited to go. I know many folks don't care for California, but I've lived there several times when I was in the US Navy and it's more like home to me than any place I've ever lived. I may be gone, but I have a few posts scheduled to appear here during the 2 weeks I'm gone. I may get a chance to do a posting or 2-- you never know. Y'all have a wonderful time and stay warm in this crazy weather we're having!

More John Denver

Homemade Fabreeze for Us Penny Pinchers

I've been hearing a lot of good stuff about making your own Fabreeze on Facebook and Pinterest. I'm going to give this a try. Here's the instructions if anyone else wants to give it a try. We all need to help each other out with the penny pinching. I need to dig up a spray bottle and give this a try!  If anyone has tried this let me know what you think.

Two on Tuesday (29 January 2013)

Now that I'm in my mid 50s, I love being able to get senior discounts. On Mondays, I like the discounts available at Burkes Outlet stores. You get 15% off on top of the other markdowns they have!  A couple weeks ago, I got a nice LEATHER purse. It had been marked down numerous times and then with my 15% senior discount I scored at $12! I'm so old, that I remember when most leather purses were about $20 full price. Ah, the agonies of getting old lol!

My friends. You can have many acquaintances but real, honest and true friends are few and we are lucky to be able to count them on one hand. I have a great friend who has sent me a plane ticket to fly from home in Kentucky to California to visit. This is the 3rd year in a row she has done this. I'll be in the air flying to our visit next Monday and I've been packing, unpacking and repacking for a month! I'm not excited about our visit at all you know.  We've been friends since high school and I graduated in 75 so it has been a long time. 

Wishing you a wonderful week!

Sharon M

Monday's Link to Free Crochet Pattern (28 January 2013)

Here is a link to a free pattern for a beautiful vest for the ladies. It has been designed by Kristin Omdahl.  It is very classy looking and would look nice with business casual clothing and jeans too.

Enjoy!


More Kristin Omdahl Patterns

I'm Sorry for Lying to You

Yesterday I told you that I wasn't going to buy any yarn unless I absolutely needed it to finish a project. I lied. Yesterday instead of going to Walmart to buy some white yarn, I went to Michaels. I had a 15% off coupon for entire purchase including sale items. Well, I found some Patons Classic Wool Yarn marked down from $5.99 to $2.99. I got 3 yellow (looks more gold than yellow) and 1 pumpkin color. I left 1 skein there and it was pink. I really need to stay away from yarn stores lol!

It's a Throw!

For those of you who were guessing about what this is--

It's a throw. Big enough for those days when you're feeling a little chilly but don't need a full size afghan to snuggle under.

Here's a couple more pictures--

A closer look at the edge--

For the main part, I used a solid granny square as my basis. A good pattern is found here. You can figure out your own color scheme. I used yarn that was in my stash. My goal is to primarily use stash yarns for projects this year and only buy yarn when I need it to go with what I already have. For example, I have 2 colors for my next project but need white so I'll be stopping off at Walmart today to buy some of that. 

This is what I did for the edge:  

• Go around the entire thing with 1 round of sc.
• 2nd round of edge: 

1. join yarn with sl st in corner.
2. ch 3, 2 dc, 2 ch, 3 dc
3. *skip 3 stitches
4. 3 dc, 2 ch, 3 dc in next stitch. *
5. Do rounds #3 and #4 all the way around.
6. After working last set of stitches, join in top stitch of starting ch3, finish off.

I used an I hook for most of this project. Even though all yarns were labeled as "worsted weight," the brown was somewhat thinner and the project started to pucker. I ended up sizing up to a J hook just for the brown yarn.

Thanks for stopping in and visiting. You are the best!

Monday's Link to Free Crochet Pattern (21 January 2013)

Here's a link to a free hat for a newborn. It is very pretty and looks like it would work for a quick "crochet fix."

Have a great week everyone.

Hugs, Sharon

Latest, Great WIP

Here's a look at what I'm working on. I can't tell you what it is or who it is for because it's a surprise!

  

I love these colors; they're a bit reminiscent of the 70s. This yarn came out of my stash so I was a good girl and didn't go and buy more. I've stepped up my crocheting lately. Thought the rush was over after Christmas but I wanted to make things to take to my friends on a trip I'm taking next month.

The weather this winter is crazy, very mild for us so far but this week the temperatures are supposed to dip into the single digits at night. All I can say about that is I'll be keeping the coffee pot full and hot chocolate handy too.

Take care, and stay warm.

I Finished a Few Things--

Here are a few things I finished up yesterday. Links for patterns on the bottom of the post.
A pair of slippers for a man made out of camo and brown yarns:

Here's a dishcloth. It's in my gift drawer now so if you need one, you can come over, have a cuppa joe and receive this dishcloth just for visiting   :

Here's a scarf. I've used this pattern before. I used Lion Suede Yarn, and that is a thicker yarn than the pattern calls for but I like it for this scarf. This is not a free pattern but you should be able to purchase this pattern online from various vendors. This pattern may look complicated but it is very simple to do once you've finished the first pineapple. Here's a pic:

Patterns:

• Slippers
• Dishcloth
• Scarf

  

Giggle, Giggle...

With the winter dragging on I thought that we could use something to make us smile. Have a fun weekend.

A Quick Project

Made a few dishcloths for a friend of mine--I have another coordinating one to put with these.. I had forgotten my project in the garage and I just didn't want to face the cold and go get it. I know you've seen some of these dishcloths on my blog before--I just love them and can't help myself lol! Anyway, here they are--

• Pattern

   

What I'm Working on Now

I'm working on a pineapple scarf now. Here's a small look at the design. I'm using Lion Brand Suede yarn to make this.

It's almost done so stay tuned for the finished object. Take care everyone!


The following ads are for pineapple type crochet patterns for the kindle and are only 99 cents today! If you don't have a kindle, you can get a free kindle reading app at Amazon to read these on your computer or other device.

A Couple Hats for the Guys

You may remember, that I had mentioned a few posts ago that I was trying to decide what to make for my friend's grandsons. They're big boys so whatever I made for them had to be somewhat manly. I decided to make them each a hat. They have to walk to school so I thought that a slouch style hat might be a good choice. Here's what I ended up with:

I'm so excited about my trip that I have started packing already even though I'm not leaving until February 4th. The background of the pictures is my suitcase!

This was an easy pattern--it took me a few rows to get my rhythm going and then it was a piece of cake to make.

• pattern

Thanks for looking. Hope y'all are having a great week.

Sharing a Spam Comment

Received an inane spam comment today that made me chuckle over the writer's attempt to appear to not be posting spam. Here it is (with links removed):

 Hi, i read your blog from time to time and i own a similar one and i was just curious if you get a lot of spam comments? If so how do you stop it, any plugin or anything you can suggest? I get so much lately it's driving me insane so any support is very much appreciated.  

Feel free to surf to my page :: #$#$%%%^$$# 
Look at my site -(&%(&)*_^%$%

Thought this was pretty humorous. Like I was really going to post the original comment. The included links were for what seemed to be online money lenders; I'm not sure because I was being cautious by not visiting them.

I moderate comments on my blog. Once in a while, I'll have to weed out some spam but by not utilizing a captcha, it is much user friendly.

Well, this is it for today. Take care...

More Spam Cookbooks

Monday's Link to Free Crochet Pattern (14 January 2013)

Do you have or know of a small dog who gets cold in the winter? Here's a pattern for a sweater that is adjustable for small dogs who might be a little chubby. Check it out. This is going on my short list of things to make this year. Enjoy!

Beautiful Sculptures

A friend sent me this in an email and I think that you will appreciate it too. It is amazing to me that all these sculptures are made of paper. Here's the video for your enjoyment:

If You Use a Kindle--

You may like this site. It has loads of free books. Most of them seem to be written by new authors so if you like what you read then it is beneficial to them to write a nice review. If you don't care for them, then you may still write a review or just delete the book and no biggie because it was free anyway. I rarely buy books for my Kindle because there are so many good ones available for free. I think it is important to note, that many books are free for a short time so before you "check out" make sure that it is still free. I have accidentally paid for a couple books because I got click happy when checking out.  I always love a bargain and thought I'd share this one with you. If you don't have a Kindle, Amazon offers free software so that you can read their books on other devices.

• Link

Hugs...

WIP Wednesday--Almost a Hat

I was hoping to have a finished hat today to show you but I was so sleepy yesterday I took a nap and went to bed pretty early too. Anyway, I thought that I would show you what I have so far.

The pattern comes in 2 sizes--for men and women. I was confused for a bit when I first started crocheting this but then suddenly I had one of those struck by lightning moments and the pattern became clear to me.

• Pattern

The good news I received the other day was that my disability claim with the VA was approved. An adviser for veterans told me that I should have filed a claim earlier and my reply was that I could do without it and waited until I needed help from them. I did the same thing with my sons who were both eligible for SSI when they were in special classes at school--we didn't need it so we didn't apply for it.  He told me that unfortunately, that unless veterans with service connected disabilities go to the VA doctors FREQUENTLY then it is much harder to successfully process claims. Finally it has worked out for me and that's what matters.

Hope everyone's week is going ok.

More sunglasses