Text Heute, Bilder Morgen.

Heute habe ich den Tagelang gearbeitet.

[Lately- spAEtestens?] lese ich Flylady.com, und in der letzen Woche ist das Haus auch sauberer und [neater - mehr ordentlich?] geworden. So also, frUEh Morgens putzte ich in der KUEche und im Bad, und dan hab' ich mein Computer-tisch [desk?] gut geordnet. Sollte zwei Minuten dauern (Flylady's "hot spot" exercise) aber in zwanzig Minuten war ich fast damit [through - durch? fertig?].

Heute habe ich auch angefangen mehr Wasser den tagedurch zu trinken. Das ist auch so ein Flylady Ding. Na, dan war ich mit dem [desk - Tisch] fertig und ging zu'm Haufen im Ofen-zimmer (wo der Holz-ofen ist, und auch meine NAEhmaschine) und hab den Haufen aufgehoben. Das meiste war [tools - schraubenzieher usw.] von, oder fUEr, meine Arbeit (Electriker). Die habe ich alle zur Garage genommen, und die werden den ein anderen Tag weiter weg-getan. Das war ein riesen-Haufen und hat UEberhaubt nicht lange gedauert. Danke, Flylady!

Na, dan war's Mittag, und ich machte aus Zeitschrift ein einfaches Muster fUEr eine... ... ...na so was! FrUEher kennte ich das Wort, was ist das den... was man trAEgt zur Hausarbeit. 'Ne Schirze! SchUErtze? Die habe ich ausgeschnitten und genAEht, sieht ganz vernUEmftig aus, aber wenn ich sie trage seh ich dick aus. Ist aber bestimmt nicht nur die SchUErze.

Taschen hat sie. Die Taschen war'n schOEn wenn ich die WAEsche spAEter reinbrachte, na, da hat' ich ein Korb, aber die [clothespins - Klammern? WAEsche-klammern?]die gingen mir in den Taschen. Heute war auch das erste mal dies Jahr das ich die Leine benutzte.

Dan machte ich Abendessen, was bei uns meistens mehr wie Mittag ist und dan Mittags haben wir Suppe oder 'ne Stulle oder Salat... wir hatten heute Abend so ungefAEhr Reste: von Sonnabend's Truthan (drippings - das Fett?) hab ich wieder Sahne (gravy?) gemacht, und dazu hatten wir Kartoffeln, Champignons, und [stuffing/dressing ?] Da is vielleicht noch eine Stulle-wert Fleisch und dan mach ich 'ne schOEne Suppe mit den KOErper. Wenichstens hoffe es wird schOEn.

Dann hat der Mann Rasen gemAEht und ich zog Unkraut. Aber nicht das alle Unkraut, sonst hAEtte ich kein Rasen! Der LOEwenzahn ist noch hUEbsch, da mach ich nur die ausgeblUEteten ab und lasste die schOEnen, dem "Purple Deadnettle" zog ich auch die langen BlUEten ab (wenn's zu lang wird, wird's gemAEht, und dan hab ich keine Wildblumen). Man, da sind eine menge Veilchen! SUEss sehen die aus. Ich fand auch ein Halbdutzent Sonnenblumen (ganz kleine) im Rasen, da legte ich Steine rum, das die hoffentlich nicht gemAEht werden.

In der NAEhe der Vogel-fUEtterer zog ich unkraut, das [ragweed] und [garlic mustard] und andere, und so 'nen kleinen Spatz hUEpfte mir ganz nah, so ein Meter weg. Der war UEberhaubt nicht nervOEs. Ganz jung war er bestimmt. Ich hoffe, er ist mit dem Katzen [more cautious - passt besser aus].

Na, Morgen mach ich Links und Bilder, aber nun mach ich Schluss. Ich habe noch nich mein email angesehen Heute, UEberhaubt nicht, und halb-zehn Nachts ist es hier!

Leftovers

Still OTN, whether 'N' is needles or nightstand:

On the Nightstand (books I've begun but not finished in 2008)

T C Boyle: Tooth and Claw (Dec 1 - )
Michael Connelly: Angels Flight (Dec 22 - )
Stephanie Pearl-McPhee: Knitting Rules (Dec 1-)
Mary Roach: Stiff (Oct 25-)
Cleveland Amory: The Cat and the Curmudgeon
David Baldacci: Saving Faith
Gail Sheehy: The Silent Passage


On the Needles (knitting)

2nd Henley tshirt in Alpaca (Oct 2 '8 - Jan 2)
My Seriously Ribbed sox (Dec 20 '8 - Jan 1)
2nd Trellis in Bernat Softee Baby (Nov 8 '8 - )
Log Cabin throw (2007 - )
bag to felt (2008 - )
sampler squares afghan (Dec 1 '8 - )
SKP2008 #5 (Oct 31 '8 - )
Scrappy sox (Sep 22 '8 - )
three-tone sox (2008 - )


On the Other Needles (knot nitting)

"Family" cross stitch (May 9 '8 - )
Latch-Hoook Kittens (June 21 '8 - )
wolf puppies cross stitch (2007 - )
sewing room cross stitch (2008 - )

Wolf Pups cross-stitch

 

Almost to the halfway point.


Mobile post sent by meowmom using Utterz.  Replies.

2007 FOs and 2008 WIPs (already!)

I'm beginning the year with the following still OTN:

* coral socklets
* the My So-Called Scarf
* green sox
* Aranmor
* Log Cabin comforter
* wolf puppies cross stitch
* sewing room cross stitch
* Rambling Leaves shawl

...but the pile of FOs for last year is much larger:

24 December 2007: house sox for th'Mr
24 December: Dave's fishing bear
23 December 2007: Cody's scarf
19 December 2007: Tom's scarf
17 December 2007: house sox for Dad
16 December 2007: fingerless gloves for Mom
7 December 2007: modular jacket #3
24 November 2007: basic garter stitch bib
11 November 2007: toboggan (or "watchcap") for th'Mr
3 November 2007: Celtic Cable Scarf, in Vanna acrylic
10 Oct 2007: blue flannel curtains for the apartment
7 Oct 2007: red & black socks for th'Mr
7 Oct 2007: illusion cloth
3 Sep 2007: EZ modular jacket for grandnephew Q's "black bear," in scrap acrylic
3 Sep 2007: blanket bunny buddy in mustard cotton
27 Aug 2007: socks for th'Mr in Paton's Kroy Whitecap, in the BBS pattern
19 Aug: mini blanket bunny buddy in black sock yarn
14 Aug 2007 "yarn harlot" scarf in k2-kb-p1 pattern, in weird old Mary Maxim acrylic
6 Aug 2007 a changepurse for grandniece C in Paton's merino denim - I mailed it unfelted
21 Jun 2007 "Amanda's Squatty Sidekick," in Paton's Merino red, denim, retro, for grandniece C
9 Jun 2007 five 8" squares (and five more from Larissa) mailed to Kansas
1 Jun 2007 Socks for Soldiers #1, mailed 7 Jun 2007
26 May 2007 Janlynn bears cross stitch pillow cover
20 May 2007 two more squares for Kansas
16 May 2007 two squares for Kansas in wool-ease
5 May 2007 wool-ease sox in tan for FIL
13 Apr 2007 twisted rib socks in Paton's Kroy Jacquard
14 Mar 2007 worsted weight wool-ease sox in green & wheat
11 Mar 2007 felted "project tote"
3 Mar 2007 worsted weight wool-ease socks in cranberry & wheat
1 Mar 2007 double diamond dc in greens
17 Feb 2007 ug rug (crochet)
12 Feb 2007 turtle (crochet)
6 Feb 2007 trivet in purples (crochet)
5 Feb 2007 tissue cover (crochet)
5 Feb 2007 trivet in green & white (crochet)
13 Jan 2007 at least nine butterflies (crochet)
13 Jan 2007 N's Pillsbury Doughguy (crochet)
7 Jan 2007 catnip mousie
7 Jan 2007 BiL D's red scarf
6 Jan 2007 niece C's glittery blue scarf
6 Jan 2007 BiL D's red hat
6 Jan 2007 T's niece's blue hat
6 Jan 2007 aunt J's UK Wildcats hat

The week in knitting

This week at work I knat on Q's EZ modular jacket. When I say "knitting at work" I mean primarily at break & lunch - rarely do I have the chance to knit other times (while at work). It's hard to carry knitting around on a construction site --not as if I'm carrying a purse (well, a toolbag some of the time, but it's way too subject to getting dirty or shredded in there), though that is what I had in mind when I got cargo pants-- instead I have a block of wood and sometimes whittle a little when I'm in the field and we're having slack time.

Shit, this post was supposed to be about knitting and here I am talking about work.

So, yesterday I finished the hood, kitchenered it together and picked up stitches for one of the sleeves. Expect I'll finish it next week. Pictures will be posted here.

Sis sent a pic of Q and Black Bear, but BB is getting severely hugged and it's hard to see the jacket he's wearing. I'll scan & post it anyway. Hopefully Q will feel the same way about his own jacket.

VJ at work, when I was working on the cuff of th'Mr's red & black sock, asked was I knitting a beer coozie? And suggested I should. Yesterday I told him I'd try that and said since he'd given me the idea the first one --the demo-- would be his. He requested orange & blue (some pro sport team - I forget which) and accordingly I stopped at ACMoore on the way home to pick up a skein of orange Wool Ease.

There's no orange in evidence. Maybe after Hallowe'en it'll be an easier color to find. Of course I browsed the three aisles of yarn at ACM and of course something yummy was on serious sale; I ended up buying all the Moda Dea wool/nylon blend in the color blue Sara F once told me was most flattering on me. No idea what I'm going to do with it or how much yarn the eventual project will take, but it was half price and all one dye lot, so with a vague notion of "hat & mittens? scarf?" I spent my fifteen bucks and now have 625 yards of it.

The ball band says 20 sts 26 rows to 4" on #8 so I'm swatching on #6 (because I knit tight? No, because #6 is what I grabbed on the way out the door to pick up a pizza) and two rows into the swatch it looks like I'm 17 sts to 4". Not sure if this means I should drop down a needle size or I should finish the swatch & wash it. Maybe it means I should google up the Moda Dea website.

Another suggestion I got from work, when I held up Q's jacket which is now, with the hood sewn up, actually looking like a jacket, is that I sew a "union made" and/or my name into everything I make. I think that means they like the jacket.

I also got the suggestion --again-- that if I sew I could make out selling the "do-rags" so many of them wear under their hard hats. Just the other day I saw the pattern & demo I got from CG when he was my foreman (his wife makes them), and now I'm going to make a serious effort this weekend to (1)find the pattern & demo and (2)figure out what I did wrong last time (and (3)try again).

It's getting cold and th'Mr says it's time to exchange our kitchen curtain/cat door for something heavier. Another project for this weekend: find suitable material, pin it into shape, take it to Charleston Wednesday and run it through the sewing machine. Do I need a second sewing machine? Hahahahaha.

Mom keeps asking me what I'm going to do when I get "too old" to do this kind of work. Maybe sewing/knitting is the way out. I think it's too late to do anything with "going to college in order to qualify for a 'better' job." Most college grads --BAs and MAs, I mean-- don't make as much as I do; I know that; Mom knows that. All I really want is to pay off the mortgage, pay off our biggest debts, and do the repairs necessary around the house, then we could live on a fraction of what I'm making now. That's what I want.

Chaffin

The "Chaffin thing," as we call it, was Saturday. After the lunch & award speech there's a book reading/signing/sale over at the bookstore and after that we followed the award recipient (initials E.R.) to his cabin in the next county and sat around talking, drinking, listening to music. It was a nice day. At first neither th'Mr nor I was sure I'd go to any of it, since my weekends are more precious when I'm working, but I did go (to all of it) and we had a good time. Not a wasted day (unless you count that in an alcohol-related way).

Today I'm off work for another doctor appointment this afternoon. Then there's one next Tuesday, then hopefully I'm done with that for a while.

My apartment - I moved in last Tuesday. Tuesday night I still had no hot water but Wednesday when I got in from work there was plenty. It's very small, but big enough. The carpet in the room-that-is-not-the-kitchen-or-bath (which I'm calling the Other Room) is brand new. Tuesday night I went grocery shopping (wine, potatoes, onions, eggs, juice, butter, shampoo) and Wednesday I browsed through JoAnn fabric till I found a light flannel on sale, that I bought four yards of to make curtains. Thursday I cut & pinned curtains. Tomorrow among other things I'll take my sewing machine back with me.

getting there

All right!
Got up and finished a book while having a tub soak, found the gloves, fixed the cucumber salad, gave the cats their liver, got in an hour of porch sitting split between cross stitching, brushing Winston and taking hummingbird pictures, started the pork roast, went to the bank & grocery while the pork cooked, dosed Grrrl and Nameless, and now I'm logging some bills at wheresgeorge.com.

Still have laundry & packing to do; I could still use a nap, and the closet light might wait another week, but I've cleaned out the fridge and have a plan for some sewing next weekend:

A couple weeks ago I bought two sets of high-thread-count sheets at a yard sale; one is queen and one is double, so both are the wrong size for our full-size bed, but if I cut a strip out of the fitted one that's too big and sew it into the one that's too small I may have two good sets of sheets when it's done. Or I'll be out seven bucks, but that's worth the lesson.

still sick

Yesterday in addition to the vitamins (calcium-magnesium-zinc, D-400, and E-400) I normally take, I had three garlic-parsley and three echinacea-167 every 2-3 hours. By afternoon I was feeling fine enough to spend an hour pulling weeds (and marveling that my back wasn't protesting - working for a living is good for the muscles and noticeable after just a couple of weeks) and a few minutes picking berries behind the barn. I also made a pot of chicken soup (good for the soul body) and spent a bit of time on the front porch watching the birds and working on the wolfpups cross stitch.

This morning I woke at three, congested and feeling like shit. Though not as shit as yesterday morning; I've been wavering about going to work or staying home and trying out the new (free) clinic. Don't have a fever, but I run hot & clammy to normal to cold & shivery. My nose runs (pun intended) from stopped up to drippy to sneezing repeatedly. The intense headache comes and goes. The bowels are loose (sorry if that's too much information).

Th'Mr suggested yesterday if I'm not better today I go to the ER, but if the 'clinic is open (surely they're staffed by volunteers, and how much can they do, anyway? X-rays? Prescriptions? Will I end up at the ER anyway?) I'll try them first. "My husband had pneumonia and when I first learned of hypochondria I thought to myself, 'I've got that!'"

In the meanwhile, it's just twenty after five; a good hour before I can call in to work (didn't call yesterday, but two days in a row - I'd better let them know what's going on) and surely at least a couple hours before any clinic, free or otherwise, opens. At 7:30 th'Mr plans to take Moby Dodge to the dealership from whence he came (how do ya like that, a "whence!" Whew!!) to get diagnosticized. The good news on MD is that the place that sold us the rebuilt motor is liable for the main seal leak, and for the labor to replace the motor.

MC & R are coming in for the weekend (they'll be camping, but will stop in to see us), so though I'm too sick for the interminable drive-walk-work-walk-drive I'm well enough to do some spot-cleaning on the house (that would be the same house that would benefit from much much more than mere "spot" cleaning).

two more hours

By two AM I'd decided this wasn't going to be enough sleep and "resigned" myself to the thought of a three-day weekend. We've seen what a 16-, a 40- and a 34-hour check looks like, now let's try a 32.

I did finally get a little nap in after noon; just woke up from that and still groggy.

This morning I picked up the wolf-pups cross stitch I'd laid down over a year ago and worked on it a while :)

June travel, prospects, & projects so far

Got back yesterday from house-/ dog-/ cat-sitting at C & S's place in Ohio. We drove up Thursday afternoon, got home yesterday afternoon after detouring through Charleston & Huntington WV, where I needed to sign the union books. Huntington says Kyger Creek is calling a few at a time and should go "time" two months (or so) from now, and "the Oilcan" in Ashland is due to begin a sixty-day outage Sept. 15th. There are about 110 ahead of me on the books. In Charleston, when I asked, "where's all the work?" they said, "right here, and Clarksburg." Sounds like I may get a call out in the nick of time. Wish me luck.

There's a woman in Kenova who is freecycling "a bag of misc sewing items" in which I'd expressed interest. Somehow we miscommunicated (both of us) and I didn't get the bag on either the trip to Ohio or the return trip, and now she's on a trip herself. I don't know what's in the bag and her sig file indicates our philosophies differ, but I'm having fun participating in our miscommunication, and am looking forward to (maybe, eventually) meeting her and picking up the bag.

While at C & S's, though we have internet access it's just not the same as being home on our own boxes, we spend less time on the computer and more wondering "what to do next." They have some sort of satellite TV and high-definition, and TIVO and a bunch of other stuff I don't know how to use, so we did manage to watch a few decent movies and even an episode of Dead Like Me that hadn't arrived in our netflix queue yet.



I finished the soldiersocks and printed out the band I'm supposed to wrap them in. I'm glad that's done; it took much much longer than I had planned, or expected, and I was heartily sick of the project several times before the end, but the socks are beautiful and I'm proud of them. And it was good practice knitting; I now have a standard sock pattern (my adaptation of the official SFS pattern) to use with fingering weight yarn, and a new favorite "cheap" sock yarn: knitpicks essential solids.

Got quite a bit done on the Oh's and X's cross stitch, and unless the backstitching really transforms what I see so far, I won't be buying any more of their patterns. th'Mr made a valid point:
he: "how much did that cost you?"
me: "not much, I got it out of the clearance bin at Michaels, I think."
he: "then why, if you don't enjoy it, are you finishing it?"
me: "uh..."



I'm finishing it because I'm curious just how much the backstitching will improve it. I'm finishing it because it'll fit with the "decor" or "theme" of what will eventually be my sewing room. I'm finishing it because I'm OCD and have a really hard time not finishing what I start... eventually. But most of all I was working on it over the weekend because after finishing the soldier socks I had no other project with me to work on, and there's nothing like a craft store to be found anywhere near Athens, Ohio.



Wednesday, I think it was, th'Mr & I were out riding around town after RJ's film screening, and finally found the quilting supply store that I'd seen "Grand Opening June 1" fliers for. It wasn't open yet, but the proprietor (proprietess?) invited me in anyway, and I came out the proud owner of a Fiskar's brand 3-piece quilting set - rotary cutter, mat, and transparent ruler.

On the way home from Ohio we stopped in Barboursville to get th'Mr's dad (hereafter to be known as th'Mr.Sr) a birthday present, a digital picture frame. I think it's a great idea and something he (1) doesn't already have (2) may have actually never heard of (3) will enjoy. This is a guy who's pretty hard to buy for.

Speaking of guys hard to buy for, Fathers' Day is coming up, what, this weekend? I'm going to get busy knitting ties of sock yarn. Wish me speed.



And with that, I'll close this blog entry (almost neglecting to mention that we finally had rain, both while we were away and last night, and my nasturtiums are blooming!) and go cast on a tie.

Oh, my. I was all prepared to <shriek> here, when I did my usual <arrow up, enter> in order to access wvdial to go online and post this, and instead of wvdial my previous command had apparently been HALT... so after rebooting I expected this whole post to be gone but NO, Firefox is absofuckinlutely amazing. Yes, it's still here. Now to add some pix...

Memorial Day Week

Yesterday RJ the Calif. filmmaker came in for a few days; he's doing a pre-screening of American Threnody at the library tonight. th'Mr barbecue'd ribs, and his cousin FB came over, and our other Calif. film maker friend CF drove down "just for the ribs," and drove back home afterwards. That's a five-six hour round trip... Tomorrow we're heading up to CF's to house/dogsit for him while he and wife go to Chattanooga for the weekend. I invited RJ to come over this morning and I'd "fix breakfast," and so I had to go to the store and get a pound of sausage this morning. That gave me an excuse to get out, since I'd also ordered a birthday cake & needed to pick it up. It's hidden in plain sight in the fridge, th'Mr will never see it.

Yesterday I started "landscaping" the pet sematery by putting some of the good horse pasture dirt on Boo's and Cuz' graves; what was left went on Amos' but I need to get another barrowful to finish up Amos and cover Tick & Wolf. A lot of the millionbells flowers have bloomed and dried. I don't know if the seed is encased in the dry flower petals or if it grows out of the green part the petals fall from; at any rate I picked off about a million of the dry ones and put them on Boo's grave. I laid them in a big square along the outside (on the inside, if that makes sense) of the dirt surface. I'm writing this here because if I don't, I'll forget what I planted and where. This way I'll be able to look it up. Also, alongside the garage in the north-side planter, in the section nearest the house, I put five plums along the front edge, and this morning I put grapes behind them. That's not a permanent place but rather a baby bed, just to see if that stuff will grow from fruit. The grapes are fat purple ones, the plums are dark blue-purple ones.

I finished one soldier sock and am in the gussett decreases in the other. I thought I'd unvented an easier way to kitchener, but it doesn't look as good as the conventional way so I'll pick that out and redo it. Yesterday I spent some time on the "mystery cross stitch" which I've lost the picture to. There's a sewing machine and quilting stuff innit; I can sort of see what the picture will look like. The pattern book is for two cross stitches; "Rocking Chair Quilt" and "Country Closet Quilt" from X's & Oh's. Two things that make me think I won't be buying any more of their designs is there's going to be a fuck of a lot of backstitching to finish these, and the designer seems incredibly fond of half-stitches, which irritate the hell out of me. But they'll be nice pieces --either as wall hangings or throw pillows-- for my sewing room, whenever I get around to transforming the stoveroom into that.

Oh, F'o!

I don't think th'Mr has found my blog yet, so I'm posting his completed birthday present here today. 60th birthday is this coming Thursday. So, Mr, if I'm wrong and you do read this blog, stop looking right now! I'll insert some spoiler spaces...

(spoiler spaces removed June 1)




It's my first time doing something --other than framing, and I always "farmed" that out-- with a completed cross stitch. The bear is his favorite animal; some say it's his "totem." The pillow is one they give to heart patients around here; you're supposed to hold it tightly against your chest when you cough; that makes coughing hurt less. Pillow is starting to look like it's had not just coughing but also coffee onnit, so I made the bears into a removable cover for it, a la About Quilting dot com.

plans

Maybe 2007 is my year to finish things. I've made good progress on the bear cross stitch today, and the soldier socks' legs are done. Last night I began both heel flaps. I've been working on the bear all day, taking time out only to make a leftovers (pork loin) casserole and do a couple loads of laundry.

I'm a little pissed at the weather, and circumstances. Tuesday when I intended to finish the mowing I'd begun the day before I --once again-- rolled right out of the left back tire. th'Mr took the wheel off & over to the neighbor's, and before he could get it pumped up again it started raining, so now I have long wet grass, no mower, and no intense sunshine to dry the grass. We're going to see th'Mr's family this weekend, so there is no way I can mow before Tuesday. I'll damn near need a bush hog by then. The pisser is, I really like riding the mower.

The neighbors on the other side have horses, and told me that if I'm planting flowers I need to come get some dirt out of the pasture, which I did. It's rich, black dirt (probably 2/3 formerly manure) and so far I've put three wheelbarrow loads full on the irises. I've cleaned the weeds out of about 3/4 of the iris beds and hope to have the rest of that done before the father-in-law visits next month. They were the mother-in-law's irises.

UgRug is FO!

I really get a boost from F-ing an O, no matter it's just an excuse to get rid of some stash.

If I had it to do over again, I'd put the smaller amounts of color toward the middle of the pattern, then finish with the large amounts. What's in there, is 2 skeins of a variegated green, three skeins of green, one skein of a variegated orange, a partial skein of beige, two of a variegated black/beige - these are all red-heart or equivalent acrylic - then finishing off with my one (to date) e-bay purchase, three balls of an absolutely fugly yarn called Paradisio Cat's Meow.

I only gave 99 cents for the Paradisio, well worth the lesson learned (Lesson: do not buy anything you haven't already petted somewhere else).

Grrrl, our neurotic pit bull, approves of the ugrug. Should have put down a ruler of some sort, I guess, but for a gauge, Grrrl weighs 65 pounds (30 kilo).

ugly rug update

Please excuse the dirty carpet; we heat with wood and unless I vacuum every two hours it will look like this all winter. Therefore, it looks like this all winter.





The rug is about 4' across at this point.

------------

As usual, I'm striking out in all directions at once.

My ugly yarn rug is not done, because (1) I ran out of the really ugly stuff and have to sort through the sort of ugly yarn, to decide what to use on the last round and a half. (2) I think it would look much better if I ripped out every bit of it and started over, with the outside colors on the inside.

I don't think I'm going to rip it out. It is, after all, going to be ugly no matter what I do, meant as a gift for the dog, who won't care, and probably most important of all, I'm not sure what I'm going to use to make it lay flat - spray starch? and how well that will work.

Here's another pic, this time on the 70's linoleum in the hallway.






The point was to streamline my stash to make it more manageable, which in turn will help me get a handle on the UFOs and maybe even find the needles & WIPs that I know I have but can't find.

Case in point, I know I have two #1 circulars, I just don't know where.

FOs

a small victory: Last night I began and this morning I finished a crocheted turtle.

I mean I finished it, sewed it together, stuffed it, wove in loose yarn ends and gave it two eyes.

The pattern's here

Many thanks to the ladies in the AtMyHouse yahoo group for drawing my attention to this cutie!

ugly yarn update

I began the doily rug on size I/9 crochet hook, holding together two strands of ugly yarn: a green ombre and a solid green that matched.

Yes, green is my favorite color. Something about this shade, though, it's sort of olive, way too much yellow innit for me. And the ombre shades from slightly darker than the solid to lighter, then a mostly yellow green - think a houseplant dying from too much water - then white.

I'm near the end of round 12 of 18 total, and nearing the end of my 2nd pair of skeins of yarn. That'll be all for the ugly green ombre! Yea! Next is an even uglier black ombre.

I have some ugly yarn

I have some ugly yarn, but I'm frugal, or is it spendthrift, or is it OCD... anyway, I can't throw it away just because it's ugly, even though I have nothing invested in it.

See, when a cousin of th'Mr died early last year, her sister gave me bags and bags of yarn she left, mostly acrylic. Since then I've learned about cotton, and sock yarn, and wool blends, and I can only be grateful N wasn't fond of fun fur :)

And most of it's quite nice yarn; I've been finding uses for it - grandbaby clothes, toys, catnip mousies, lapghans, watchcaps, and a sweater or two for me.

But still, I have SOME ugly yarn, and until I use up a lot of what I already have, I feel just a little guilty every time I spend money on more yarn.

Been thinking about doilies & lace a lot lately. Looked at a couple doily patterns and thought, "enlarge that a bunch, and it'd make a cool throw rug!"

So that's what I'm doing today.

I'm crocheting an ugly-yarn throw-rug from a lace doily pattern.

So sue me. You're just jealous 'cause I'm doing it first.

more purple trivet

Here's the shades of purple one, at its most confusing. I was not going to have enough of the variegated yarn to finish row #4, so I carried the dark purple around with it, using it for the initial yo of every 2nd stitch and the variegated for the rest.

trivet in purples

Just to show what the first row completed looks like: