crochet,

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Thank you to Flair for taking over blogging duties for a day. She is right when she says that posting a chore list was scraping the bottom of the barrel! You will be happy to hear I did manage to make it through most of that list, except for the car washing. I replaced that with a pool vaccuuming and drove the car to a car wash yesterday. Little Onslow was absolutely filthy and it was bringing me down just to be in the car. Yes, I am a head case – if things are in too much disarray or filth, I get emotionally unhinged.

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Here’s a look at both sides of my Larger than Life Bag. I copied Vicki and decided to do a border around all of the individual squares in addition to the outer border that the pattern calls for. I am now working on the panel that goes between the two sides. It is a pattern repeat of a row of single crochet, then a row of double crochet and then another single crochet. Since I am new to crochet, it is very challenging for me to ‘read’ the fabric — if I put it down, it takes awhile to figure out which row I have just completed and what needs to come next. I am enjoying it though – hope I can say the same once it’s time to sew the lining!

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pig of the day5_may_23_10
pug of the day

**and yes, I do see how dusty that pig pot is. OMG – I’ve got to get the dust rag!!!! argh!!!!!!

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Here is a picture of one wall in my kitchen. Please disregard all the crap on the kitchen table – that box with the lady’s face on it? a new cell phone for moi! I never even noticed that face until I took this picture and that box has been sitting there since last night. Anyway, the pig of the day pictures are moving off of the hutch.

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Today’s picture is of the brackets that hold up the shelf right above the hutch. There are four of these guys.

I spent most of yesterday morning/early afternoon giving Cara crochet lessons over the phone. If I do say so myself, I have a knack for teaching and this is not the first time I’ve used Ma Bell to spread the Gospel of Fiber. I even talked FA in PA through knitting socks on two circs and turning the heel over the phone! Although these phone consults usually require a prior fibery knowledge.

This morning I need to fire up that lawn mower and try to beat the predicted thunderstorms. I will be spending the remainder of my day seaming crochet blocks together and possibly moving onto crocheting the rest of the bag. Tonight is spinning guild! – spinning novelty yarns in on the agenda.

Granny

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WillowWillow_1

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Willow blocks for my Larger than Life Bag. I am suddenly hooked on crochet! Way back when in the mists of time, I learned how to knit before crochet. However, I actually crocheted projects first. It has been years since I crocheted anything – the last project was a granny square afghan when my Big Bro headed off to college (Lehigh, so I made him a chocolate brown and white blanket). Margene and Vicki re-ignited my love of all things Granny with their Larger than Life bags and I knew I had to make one. And I’ve already got my sights set on that Babette blanket……

I made a trip to Granny’s (another Granny I love!) on Friday and met up with Kathleen who patiently helped me make yarn and color decisions. After lots of dancing around the shop with armloads of yarn, I decided on Plymouth Encore – it’s economical, washable and offers lots of colors. I have been happily churning out squares since then. And in the highest of compliments both daughters said they would like granny square afghans for themselves.

speaking of daughters …. D#1 was dropped off at JFK last night. The flight was headed to Frankfurt with a layover and should be landing in Athens as I type this. Now that it has begun I am feeling much calmer – I think the anticipation was killing me more than the actual event.

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Cara gave me these piggy knitting needles. She found them on Etsy – aren’t they fabulous?

pom pom envy

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I will admit, the concert was good.

But not good enough to be worth missing The Office. Mr. Boar had set the machine up to burn the episode to a disc. He even went to Radio Shack to get a blank disc. For reason that remain yet a mystery – it didn’t work.

No problem – I’ll just get it from Itunes, right?

Wrong.

panic is now rising. why doesn’t Itunes have it? what is going on? maybe I checked too soon last night in the Itunes store? well it isn’t there this morning either. As a matter of fact, it doesn’t seem like they have every single episode. crap.

thank God for Cara — she burned a disc and will send it to me! YAY!!

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and now for a small, pictureless pom-pom tutorial…….

  • I think the key to a good pom-pom is wrapping the yarn many, many more times than you think you need.
  • Wrap the yarn around a dvd case. this also made a pom-pom that is way too big, so you may want to find a smaller item. Make sure whatever you find is stiff – the wrapping will make some things (like index cards) bend.
  • Wrap and Wrap.
  • Once it is all wrapped, slide the bulk down to the end of the dvd case, but not off.
  • A double length of yarn is used to secure the pom-pom together and also to secure it to your item. Make sure it is doubled and long.
  • Take the doubled length of yarn and using a tapestry needle thread the yarn behind the wraps on one side of the case, come over the edge of the case and go behind the wraps on the other side. In this way, you are tying it around the wraps on both sides of the case.
  • After it is securely lassoed slide the whole thing off of the case and really tighten that double length of yarn.
  • Then cut all the loops!
  • jump around the room like a cheerleader and wonder if you should have made it bigger.