Hot pads ~ Free pattern

This is one of my favorite free patterns of the year. It’s a quick and easy make as the pattern is repetitive and easy enough for beginners. It’s great for using up little bits of yarn you may not have enough to use for other projects. I’ve made a handful of them and love them. There are a few ways you can finish them too. On the right, I slip stitched the closing and on the left I used the suggested method of a zigzagging stitch. There are many similar patterns out there, but the explanation and pattern on the link I’m about to share is the easiest and most recommended. Besides, who doesn’t like free stuff. 😉

7 Alive – all living in a double wide

Woo Hoo! COLOR

What do you think it could be?

I mentioned yesterday of wanting to add some color here but I didn’t really mean the yarn. My husband is very supportive of my creative attempts at making money for the family. He picked up some yarn for me yesterday, and today, but the yarn he brought back yesterday was colorful. There are three different colors and all are very vivid. We looked at them and tried to come up with something to make with them that people may like enough to want. I haven’t had many sales yet, so I don’t know if I’m so great at this part, but I had an idea and got started. The lighting isn’t great, so I had to adjust the contrast and stuff to help, but if you want to look it up it’s called Mexicana by Red Heart Yarn.

A little crooked

Yes, I am. Aren’t you? No, this post isn’t about how crazy I am, but about another gift being made. This one was a request so I can share it with you. A local lady has had me make hats and blankets for her family members and a cover for an ottoman she has near her bathroom. She’s an elderly lady and uses it to sit on and help ready herself for the tub but the ottoman is from the 1970s and leather. It’s coming apart on top and she’s asked me a to make covers for it so that the cracks won’t show and the decor would match better. (It’s one of those old mustard colored round ottoman’s that you can’t find any more. I’ve looked.) Any how… During my last visit she gave me a star shaped crochet item she has been using lately and wants me to duplicate it in white.

Curling in on a corner I made a mistake on. Can you see it?

No problem. It’s not that hard to figure out. I sat down after my previous project was done and started on it. I started going cross eyed trying to figure out the center of the pattern but thinking I finally got it, got to work immediately. Then I stopped paying attention to what I was doing and ended up with the following image. I messed up on a row and continued the mistake on the next 5 or 6 rows. So I’ve frogged back to fix it and now so far into it realize, it’s not supposed to be a star. It’s a hexagon, not a pentagon. Now I have to frog the whole thing and start over. Hmmm, and here I thought it was just a little crooked.

Just goes to show that getting a new perspective doesn’t just work for art, but for crochet and life as well. 😉

 

SkADaMo and the next gift

The next holiday gift started. Royal blue though the pic looks purplish.

My girls love Animal Crossing on Wii.

The trouble gift has finally been completed. I think I may go back and alter the pattern for that one, or try another similar to it sometime. It gave me enough trouble that I’m sure there is an easier way to accomplish the idea behind the pattern. I just have to find out how to do it.
Tonight’s Sketch A Day Month drawing is inspired by Animal Crossing on the Wii, or as my 5 year old calls it, “Animal Cross”. My girls love this game and will fight to play it for as long as they can, so I’ve had to start limiting them to half an hour each. My needle/hook crafts would go faster if my little one wouldn’t keep stopping me to read the screen to her. It’s a very interactive game and she struggles with learning to read. Tomorrow I may share some of her attempts at her alphabet.

Till then, much love to ewe.

A novel, a portrait, and gifts galore!

A sneak peek at the final attempt of gift 3.

I don’t even recall getting a chance to open my novel today. I may end up having to play catch up on the writing next month and just focus on gift making and Sketch A Day this month. It’s harder than I thought it would be taking care of my family as well as taking on these challenges. The large portrait has been asked to be delivered tomorrow so my last chance to work on it is tonight and it’s a bit past 11:30 PM already. With my wee ones waking with the sun, I’ve not much time to finish this gift, and the portrait before heading to bed. I’ll see what I can do with the novel and keep you posted. I’m eager to finish it this year, whether this month or next.

In the meantime, as promised, a snippet of the novel in question:

The air stood still. It was as if the world had stopped and she was the only one moving. She edged closer to the shed and could feel her heart beating against her chest as though it wanted to burst out. She was scared. Everything seemed to freeze suddenly. Ruth could see her breath as she tried to keep her breathing slow and steady in order to calm her racing pulse.
Ruth ’s heart was racing. What was she going to say? What would she do? Who could possibly be in her shed? She paused outside the door and edged around to peer inside through the crack in the door. A black mass passed just in front of the door and she jumped back. She was so scared she wasn’t sure she’d be able to find her voice. Then she glanced over her shoulder to see TJ looking through the curtains on the back door.

“Suck it up,” Ruth told herself, “or you may just lose two more babies like you did the last one.” She clicked on the flashlight. “Hey, who ever’s in there, you don’t belong! I have a gun and I’ve called the cops! They’re on their way!”

Whoever was in the shed shifted and knocked something over. There was a loud clatter as objects hit the floor. Her heart skipped a beat and she jumped again and had to try to catch her breath. She held the flashlight towards the door with both hands to simulate holding a flashlight as well as a gun in case whoever it was stepped out to face her, not knowing otherwise. As her heart regained its racing pace she stepped in front of the shed still holding the flashlight up in front of her. There was silence. It was almost deafening it was so quiet. Nothing moved. There wasn’t even the sound of insects in the trees and grass.

Taking a deep breath and realizing she could still hear, she hollered out again. “I said I have a gun and the cops have been notified! You can stay in there and wait for them to arrive or you can leave now!”

The door creaked open slowly pouring light out onto the path where Ruth stood and the garden beyond. Taking a step back, she shielded her eyes from the light and then realizing her mistake thrust her hands back together at the flashlight. A large shadow blocked out the light and stretched out across the garden.

“RUTH ANN O’NEIL,” a deep voice growled out her name sending a shiver up her spine.

“Wh-who’s there?” she asked unsteady now and taking another step back. She thought she recognized that voice.

“RUTH ANN O’NEIL,” it growled again. The sound was deep, throaty, like that of a dog but human enough to speak. The silhouette standing in the door was of a human shape so it obviously wasn’t a dog. Was she hearing things?

To read more, stay tuned. Much love to ewe!