Monday's Link to Free Crochet Pattern (08 December 2014)

We still need some gifts for Christmas but what can we make at home and not have to go out and face the mobs? For those who have a stash of yarn, last minute homemade gifts are no problems or if you don't have a stash yarn is available by ordering it online in only a few days.

• For the women on your list, fingerless gloves seem to be a popular item.
• Men: ribbed scarf
• tic-tac-toe game for the kids
• Baby--hat in 3 sizes

These patterns may help you out with last minute gifts. Patterns look quick, probably only an evening or 2 to finish.

Hope you're not stressing out. This is the season of love, peace and joy.

Hugs to all,,,

Sharon

No time to make slippers? Amazon has huge selection.

Two Finished Projects

I just finished making the seafarer's cap.  Here's a look at how it turned out--

Pattern

I was a little concerned about how to join the ends together and I did some googling and found a great video on Youtube that shows how one lady did it, It was really simple and I was making a big deal out of nuthin. :)



Earlier this year I made a hat for myself and I just finally made a scarf to match. Here it is--

Pattern

It is a bit hard to see the colors here but it is a variegated brown color. I'm a bit limited with my photos lately since I forgot my camera in Kentucky and I didn't bring my styrofoam heads to put hats on.

Crochet Hooks

Working on Our Southern Nest...

We just about have our winter digs furnished with auction, yard sale and thrift store finds. The other day hubby brought home a cute Lane cedar chest. It had an upholstered top in horrible shape. The upholstery wasn't the original and looked as if the previous owners had used a bed sheet to cover it.

I forgot to take a photo before we ripped this off.

The original upholstery must have been beautiful but it was all stained and nasty.

I bought this upholstery fabric at Joann's and it is a pretty, spring-like green.

My work table is also a makeshift ironing board.

Hubby fired up the compressor and I was able to use the stapler that goes with it and it was a breeze attaching the upholstery.

And here's the finished project. Space is rather limited so this is about the best shot I could get of it.

Hubby has been working on his own project--redoing the main bathroom. Actually, he has just finished the demolition phase and is getting ready to start the redo.

That's it for now folks.

Hugs,

Sharon

Happy Girl

Makes me feel good when someone likes what I make for them.

Monday's Link to Free Crochet Pattern (01 December 2014)

Where has the time gone? It's December already and Christmas is only a little over 3 weeks away! Here are the last of the links I'm going to be posting for a few, last minute decorative items. The next few weeks I'll post some gift items that you can make in one evening or less. So, here's the last of the decorations:

• Ornament made from bottle caps
• Small ornament shaped like a wreath
• Crocheted stars

I hope you're about finished with your decorating. Time always flies so fast this time of the year. For those of us who live in states with 4 distinct seasons, it seems like yesterday we were cooking out on our grills and eating outdoors.

Take care my friends...

Sharon

Kindle for Christmas


Fire TV Stick

Rug/Mat for Nellie Belle

Used large amount of yarn left overs to make this. Nellie Belle now has a cozy spot on the linoleum floor. I spool knitted long length and then single crocheted this. I'm posting from my phone now and it's not a very friendly way to do a blog post So sorry if I've missed any "goofs". Tomorrow the Internet and cable will be hooked up!

Hugs,
Sharon

Monday's Link to Free Crochet Patterns (24 November 2014)

It's exactly 1 month until Christmas Eve and we hope to have our holiday decorating done long before then when we will have the last minute rush to wrap a few (hopefully only a few) presents. Item's made from today's patterns can be used as a special touch on wrapped gifts and your tree.

• Here are several patterns for mini Christmas stockings-- #1, #2, #3 and #4
• Pattern for a small angel written in English, German & Dutch.
• Garland of Christmas trees
• Christmas tree out of granny squares

Take care everyone.

Hugs,

Sharon

Outside Christmas Decorations

Slippers for Men in 2 Sizes

Two more pairs of slippers finished. The first pair I had to write a new pattern based on the slipper pattern I very frequently use.

Pattern

Pattern

It's a bit hectic here. We're trying to get out the door Monday and head down to Florida before there's another snowy blast from Mother Nature. See you later here in blog land.

Take care everyone...

Hugs,

Sharon

Black Friday Deals at Amazon

Scarf for a Man

Here is a scarf for a man I made. It was easy as pie to crochet. I used Red Heart Super Saver yarn in camouflage and Caron pounder in a khaki color (not sure of the exact name of this one). Here's what I did--

• You need 2 skeins of yarn and H hook
• Chain 226
• Row 1-26 sc in blo,225 stitches per row.
• Change colors every other row.
• Finish off 

This makes an easy-peasy scarf for a guy.

Hope everyone is on-track with their Christmas/holiday projects and staying warm too. We've only had 1 1/2 inches of snow but it has already melted. So far, we have delayed our trip down to Florida a couple times but we should hopefully be there in the near future.

Hugs to all,

Sharon

Monday's Link for Free Crochet Pattern (17 November 2014)

Today's patterns are for items that can be used to decorate your Christmas tree with a homespun look or for a special touch on gifts.

• A heart
• Snowman
• and a gingerbread man

Merry hooking everyone!

Hugs,

Sharon

Artificial Christmas Trees

What to Do with Small Balls of Left-Over Yarn

I hate to throw away those little bits of yarn that seem to accumulate after working a few crochet projects. So, I have broken out my spool knitter--

and I am making long lengths of  cord, whatchacallit, or "fat yarn" (I have no idea of the correct name).

When the length of "fat yarn" becomes a bit unmanageable I take my S hook

and crochet things like this mat I'm making to put on the floor for Nellie Belle to nap on.

The long side of this mat is about 2 1/2 feet long. I'm planning to make it a square shape. If you do something like this, don't plan on it being a fast project just because you have lots of yarn scraps to use up. This takes a looooong time! I dismantled another rug thingie that I had previously made for my furry kids. I used too big of a hook and their nails kept getting caught in it so it had to go. Here's the blog post about the loose-weave mat --hard to believe it's been 5 years already.

There's my Nellie Belle and Opi. Sure do miss that little guy.

I frequently have CADD otherwise known as Crochet Attention Deficit Disorder so I go back and forth with this project, my current wip and scrappy grannies sometimes several times in an evening.

Sorry for the "ghosting" on some pictures. I don't know what does that.


Take care...
Sharon

Amazon has Christmas sweaters for your pets.

Pretty in Pink

I made some slippers out of partial skeins of yarn and knew that I didn't have enough to make another pair but I was able to squeeze out a hat with enough of the pink yarn left over to make a gumball size ball of yarn, WHEW, that was close! Here's the pics--

Hat Pattern

Flower on Hat Pattern

Pattern

Stay warm my friends!

Hugs,

Sharon

Bargain on DeWalt Tools

Yarn Storage Update

You may remember when I posted pictures of the new closet hubby built for my yarn storage. This bedroom didn't have a closet after a previous renovation project so technically this room wasn't considered a bedroom until the closet was added. Anyway, I have quite a bit of my yarn loaded up in the new closet and I still don't have enough room for my stash. Here's a look at my restowed stash.

Yarn stowed in new double-door closet.

No room in the closet for this. I also have more stash in the old craft room.

We are swapping the old guest room and the craft room around. The room you are seeing is will be the new craft room. Probably won't be able to finish this until next spring when we get back from our winter roost.

Presently, things are a bit chaotic. Boxes need to be loaded in the truck as well as a small table and chairs. Futon for the guest room will have to wait until next year because we still have to renovate the guest room in our snowbird nest. Here's some of the stuff to take down South that is crowding my new, soon-to-be craftroom.

Stay warm my friends.

Hugs,

Sharon

Closet Organizers at Amazon

Honoring Veterans and Finished Crochet Projects

Happy Veterans Day!!! There are a few of you who are veterans and I want to sincerely give you my thanks on this special day. For veterans, many restaurants are offering free meals or some free food items. Here is a link that has a big list.

Other stores have discounts for veterans and military family members. All you have to do is ask and show your military id or card from the V.A. as proof. The Home Depot and Lowes by our house always gives a 10% discount.

On to my crochet news.  I noticed that many younger people are wearing slouchy hats so I made one to give as a Christmas gift for a special young lady. I like the pattern of the scarf I made to go with it but I believe that I will modify the pattern the next time I make it and do it longer and slightly narrower. Another modification I might make is to use a larger hook to make the scarf less rigid and more flexible. I do like the opportunity to modify the "stripe" design in this one to use up odds and ends of left-over yarn. I used 3 colors to make the scarf and hat. My main color was a raspberry/burgundy-ish color. The other colors I used were a variegated that had hints of the maincolor and the 3rd color--purple. Here's the pics--

Close-up of scarf.

Pattern

Close up of hat

Pattern

With the left-over yarn from the hat and scarf, I made ANOTHER pair of slippers. 

Pattern

And last item for today, is Santa's hat #2 for this year.

Pattern

Son's church is fixing shoe boxes with small gifts to give to children in other countries. I filled a couple boxes and included some crocheted slippers and gave son a child's hat to put in his box. You get to choose the age and gender of the child you'd like to fix boxes for. I chose the older children because I figured it would be one of their last chances to receive one. So, if you have a surplus of small items in your gift drawer, maybe donating to a cause such as this will help spread the joy of the season and thin out your supply of gift items.

Have a great day and stay warm my friends.

Hugs,

Sharon

Leapfrog video game and accessories