So many blogs and new ideas....

You guessed it - so little time!  Well if you haven't checked out http://www.pinterest.com/, I suggest you do.  It's addicting and oh so full of great ideas - both crochet and otherwise.  I could spend hours on end just browsing through some of the pins.  I've come across some really cool new blogs you might want to check out.

Julia Crossland

Flower Gurl Crafts

The Small Things

Cult of Crochet

I am really enjoying reading their posts and admiring their amazing creative talent!

Last night I was working on the snowman scarf for my Mom's neighbor.  It's taking a little longer because of the detail, but here is a pic of how it looks so far.  Not sure I would more of these on a regular basis as it's time consuming, but I think it's pretty cute.

Now, on a side note -- I am going through an emotional time.  My head and heart are bouncing off the walls.  Everything on the radio reminds me of something that just sets my heart racing and my head spinning.  It's almost too much to bare but I can't turn away for fear of a missed opportunity at something amazing.  I know in a round about way I am heading for heartache.  Talk about a lesson in life.  How do you guys cope with stuff like this??  I know the saying, "God doesn't give you anything you can't handle".  Does God test you?  Does he test your will or your faith? 

SONG OF THE BLOG:  "Break the Spell" by DAUGHTRY.  "Maybe you're the part of me that's keeping me alive."

Oh Blog...

This morning I woke up with the realization I am way too sensitive and over think everything.  Why do I do that????  Over analyzing gets me nowhere except in a really horrible emotional state.  It's such a double edged curse.  Without the emotions am I really experiencing life??  With the emotions I'm a mess.  Grrrr. 

Moving on....  I finished up the scarf for one of my Mom's little neighbors.  I like it a lot and have gotten some really good feedback on it.  I think I will make up another and post on Etsy.

Not sure why the second pic is out of focus, but you get the general idea.  The next one I'm working on is striped lengthwise and I am thinking I will add a snowman to it for the decoration. 

I can't believe it will be 2012...  2011 flew by for me.  It was quite a year of change.  Moving from CA to OH, new job, new house...  It's funny how things can change.

SONG OF THE BLOG:  "Same Old Lang Syne" by Dan Fogelberg.  Dang this song makes me tear up every single time, but I keep listening...

Crochet storm

I have been crocheting every chance I can, which sadly hasn't been as much as I'd like.  I'm hoping that this week and the weekend offers me an opportunity to crochet everything that's in my head.  I have so many ideas right now!!  I did write them down just in case...  

Here are a few pics.  I decided to use the mannequin my daughter obtained for us during her work in retail.  Even though I think it's funny it does help to show off the scarves.

This is the braided scarf.  It actually was super cute on my daughter.

Here is the other one I made her.  I had taken pics of it lying on the bed.  I think this pic shows the colors better.

This is the second pocket scarf I've made.  My daughter took this one with her she liked it so much.  I'm hoping to make a few more of these for Etsy.

This is one of the scarves I've made for my Mom's neighbors.  It's simple, but still really cute.

 

I hope the pics come out alright. 

With Every Season

This morning I am feeling a bit melancholy.  It's nothing in particular that has me feeling this way.  Could be the season.  Could be a lot of things.  I am thankful for everything and everyone in my life and I know I don't say that nearly enough - to God or even to myself.  Yesterday I saw a post on a site that said, "Imagine if you woke up this morning with only what you had thanked God for the night before."  That started me thinking about things.....  First off it was the material things but as the day wore on it started to really hit me.  The material things flew by the way side and I started to imagine not having the use of my hands to crochet or my eyes to see all the beauty of this world.  And my hearing -- a world without music?  Then last night I learned that a very good friend's wife is in Hospice now and how she was trying to hold on through Christmas for the sake of her little ones - all five of them.  I thought to myself, "What greater wish is there than that of life spent with loved ones?" 

I finished up the parts to my daughter's scarf whilst watching yet another Christmas movie.  I have no doubt those things (On Lifetime no doubt) also do wonders to make a person think and put life's priorities in order.  I'm excited to put the pieces together for her scarf.  Just hope she likes it! 

Hoping today is a short one at work.  We are all restless and not very productive.  With luck I'd like to be gone by 12!  We shall see!

SONG OF THE BLOG:  "Do You Hear What I Hear?" by Carrie Underwood.  She does an amazing job on this song.  Love it.

Big project and other assorted misc stuff

Greetings!  I haven't done much crocheting lately.  Seems like every day there are other things to do that don't involve yarn.  Go figure.  I attended a party at the barn where I board my horses on Sunday evening.  Well, it was at their house - not in the barn.  They live in a farmhouse built in 1895 and it is absolutely gorgeous.  I can't tell you much I enjoyed looking at everything.  They have antiques and have decorated it so lovely.  Old farmhouses have so much character.  However, there was one thing missing -- you guessed it - an afghan!!  So as I was driving home the idea was forming in my head to crochet them an afghan!  Now I am all excited about this project because I am going to make a granny square (seems fitting) and incorporate a few surprises into it as well.  I can't wait to get started. 

This work week is short since I'm off Friday.  But alas, there is no rest for the weary!  Our daughter flies in at 11:30 and since it's about a two hour drive to the airport....  No sleeping in.  Not that I can anyway, but it's nice to think about just lying there with no agenda.  She's only in town till the 26th and luckily I'm also off that day as well.  Even better -- my boss is off starting Thursday through Dec 30th.  I won't see him again until Jan 3rd.  I'm having a love/hate relationship with this guy.  I think he's amazing at what he does; just not so good delegating and/or explaining what he wants from others. 

The DH and I are getting very restless about getting the horses on our piece of dirt.  We are starting to create ideas of him building one from scratch.  For so many reasons we feel this is the way to go.  Most importantly is we simply cannot afford the barn we want - but we can afford him to build one we can live with!  Does that make sense? 

**I don't have OCD but I have to compartmentalize everything and so I will now refer to the farmhouse afghan as Project 1 and the barn as Project 2.**

SONG OF THE BLOG:  "Where Are You Christmas?" By Faith Hill

Everything Changes

Just when I think I can't take anymore, things change...  Wasn't it only Wednesday I was complaining about my job??  Today I had a meeting with my manager to go over the financials for three projects.  This can sometimes be a real painful meeting because at times it feels like I never have the data he wants.  Well today it went rather well and I could tell his plate was full.  I asked him about another assignment he'd given me to complete.  I need his input to finish it and he said, "I've not even started that yet.  And I have to complete this Charter..."  Now I perked up when he said "Charter" because I have a BA background so this was something I knew about.  I told him, "You know...I was a BA for years.  I could help you with that if you'd like...."  I don't think I had it out of my mouth when he launched the whole thing to my inbox.  LOL  I thought to myself -- "perhaps this isn't such a bad job after all..." 

As usual I have a hectic weekend planned.  Tomorrow I'm going to pick out the paint for the master bathroom and we are going to pull out the decorations for the tree.  The outside lights are up and look great!  Sunday is a very busy day.  I'm going to my Mom's to bake goodies for my son who's stationed in GA.  My Mom calls me daily to tell me what she has bought for our day of baking.  I think we will need to hire a personal plane to deliver the size box of goodies she has planned for her Grandson.  We are also going to attend the Christmas Party at the barn where I keep my horses.  The DH didn't want to go, so I asked Mom and she was quite happy about it.  So I am making my special Mac & Cheese for that and my Mom is making a pumpkin roll.  Because the party is closer to my Mom's afterwards I'm just going to spend the night with her Sunday and go into work from her house Monday.  Should be a fun time with her -- we always laugh. 

Okay....pictures....  I'm going to see if I can't upload them so they show up.  Here goes!

Let's hope that worked!! 

So we left CA because we were tired of the sunny weather 360 days a year.  So what do you think CA has been getting this past week?  Rain and hail!  Friends posted pics on FB showing the hail and it looked like snow!!  In the meantime we've had unseasonably warm temps for December in the low 60's.  Go figure!!

SONG OF THE BLOG:  "White Christmas" by Bing Crosby

Feeling better

Greetings Everyone!  I hope this post finds all of you doing well.  Today we woke up to wind and rain.  I love it!  The temperatures are really unreal - 60* - on the 15th of December??  Not sure what that is all about.  My winter clothes and jackets wait patiently in my closet...

The Dh and I finished up the computer room.  Now it's really the Marine Corps room.  We hung up our awards from 20 years of service and it's officially an "I Love Me" room.  It looks pretty good and I must admit the color I picked for the walls is really nice.  The next room to paint is the master bathroom.  I've decided to go with a muave/lavendar shade.  I can't recall the name of it, but it's soothing and relaxing.  I'll use that on the biggest part of the master bath - around the garden tub and shower area and then a little darker shade where the toilet and shelves are.  I can't wait to put a fresh coat of paint on the master bath.  The previous owners hadn't painted it in the 11 years they lived there.  How does one do that??  I just don't know.  Dingy doesn't quite describe how awful they look.  A bathroom is supposed to be "fresh" and feel "clean" - not dingy and dirty. 

The tree is in the house and amazingly our cat, Hooters, doesn't seem to be too interested in it.  She had fun smelling it and laying under it last night when we first brought it in, but since then she just walks right by it.  We were both sure she would climb it.  Tonight we will pull out the decorations and get them up.  Here is our lovely tree!  It smells amazing!


Here is a pic of the scarf I finished up for my daughter.  She works at The Dry Bar and their colors are gray, yellow and black.  Not sure if you can tell from this pic, but there are two shades of gray.  It's kind of funky but I think she of all people can do something with it.  She has to wear gray, yellow, white and black to work so I thought this might be a fun addition to her winter wardrobe.  If not - she can give it to a coworker. 



My cousin showed me how to make these frilly scarves during the craft show.  My Mom claimed this one right off to match her gray vest.  My neice saw it and now wants one in black & red - her school colors.  I'm having fun with them.


My next project is to crochet snowflakes in yellow and sew on to a gray scarf for my daughter.  All before Christmas!! 

SONG OF THE BLOG:  "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow" by JoDee Messina

Wet Wednesday

This morning we woke up to a light rain.  I would have given anything to have been able to stay home today.  Not because I don't like getting out in the rain, but because I would just rather be home than at work.  Right now I am struggling with work.  I'm a person that enjoys staying busy and feeling like I contribute.  In this job I don't get either.  I mostly sit in my little corner and do my own thing.  My boss will come around once in awhile or drop me an IM asking me to schedule a meeting or look into a financial matter.  When I do actually work it's nothing that can be measured.  Then people remind me how lucky I am to have this great job and I am thankful for what I get paid.  So I am sitting here today wishing I were home.

We are continuing to put things up on the freshly painted walls.  The house is coming together but I have to admit I feel very rushed by the DH.  He seems to not really care where things go - he just wants them up. 

I finished up my daughter's scarf last night save for the fringe.  I will hopefully start my neice's frilly scarf in red and black tonight. 

SONG OF THE BLOG:  "Rescue Me" by DAUGHTRY

This has been an interesting morning so far.  Okay, perhaps interesting isn't exactly the right word.  Last night as I was just getting into bed we lost power.  Our entire neighborhood was black.  Now we don't have any close neighbors, but we can see other houses and they were completely black so we knew it wasn't just our house.  Since I was going to bed anyway the loss of power wasn't a big deal to me, but the DH had planned on watching MNF and when he couldn't he decided he would join me in bed.  We ended up playing Scrabble and Words with Friends on my phone for about 45 minutes before we both decided it was "lights out".  Our house has propane heat, but the fan is electric so as the night progressed and still no power the temperature dropped.  We were warm and toasty under the blankets.  Our water heater is electric so I knew there was a chance that I would wake up this morning with still no power and therefore no hot water for a shower.  I woke up at my usual 0515 to discover still no power.  I laid there for a bit wondering what was my best move and at 0530 the power came back on.  I decided to allow the house some time to warm up and also give the hot water heater time to give me a hot shower!  By the time I rolled out of bed at 0615 everything was right in the world again -- except I was really dragging!!!  I am not sure there is enough coffee to keep me awake today!!

The craft sale was fun -- only because I got to sit with my dear cousin Jules all day and crochet and chat.  It seemed promising early on when I sold the pocket scarf and a small bag I'd made almost 3 years ago.  But then it died.  I mean nothing else - not even a nibble.  My cousin sold one scarf.  It was disappointing to say the least.  Jules had some lovely scarf/hat combos as well as some trendy frilly scarves.  I had my basket of dishcloths/washcloths paired with some little soaps and my scarves all displayed nicely for all to see.  I also had about 8 of my bags.  Although several lookers picked up my items and seemed impressed - not a single one asked the price.  I decided this time not to price every article but to let them ask me.  This way I could see if there was interest.  One woman did ask me about my dishcloths and I told her 1 for $3 and 2 for $5.  She seemed alright with that price but walked away.  She later came back and asked if she could show her mother one of my cloths and I told her she could.  I could hear her mother in the background say, "Oh yes that's lovely but way too pretty to use to wash dishes."  What??  Isn't that the point? 

Needless to say I left the sale disheartened at my craft and wondering why in the world I even bother to try and sell anything.  I might as well just give everything away.  I will not ever stop crocheting -- that's just not going to happen.  So right now I am feeling a little ... disappointed.  Le sigh.

When it rains it does indeed pour.  We are still getting mail from our old address in CA and yesterday we got an envelope from the mailbox place with quite a few pieces of mail.  One of them was a letter from the IRS.  We are being audited for tax year 2009.  Of course we were!  And why not??  We make so much money!  LOL  Not 15 minutes after we opened that letter when the phone rings.  It's our renters in CA to tell us the roof in the house is leaking.  Of course it is!!  During one of SoCal's worst rainy stretches in a long time why wouldn't our house have a leak??  When it rains, it pours. 

So the DH and I have resigned ourselves that we will probably not have our barn up in 2012.  We still want the horses on our property before summer, so we are brainstorming about options.  Since he can build anything we have decided we can afford to purchase a run-in type of shelter and simply modify it for a barn for the two horses.  When we do get ready for a barn, this shelter can be turned into the hay barn and garage for the Gator.  It wasn't exactly our plan, but it's a plan nonetheless.  Adapt and overcome.  Go ahead Life, Bring it!

SONG OF THE BLOG:  "Winter Wonderland" by Garth Brooks.    I love this season and one of these days I hope my horse Dolly pulls a sleigh! 

TGIF

Today has been an interesting day.  I woke up and started getting ready for work.  My DH popped up in bed and said, "Why don't you spend the night with your Mom so you don't have to backtrack going to your craft sale tomorrow."  What a great idea.  So we packed up the car with all my inventory and I will be driving to Mom's for the night.  This is a good thing for a couple of reasons.  Tonight we'll have La Rosa's for dinner.  I'll get to drive up and see the horses tonight.  Win win. 



Forgot to mention that my older mare had to have her very first vet call yesterday.  The first one in 11 years.  She has a slight cloudiness in her right eye.  The vet said it's not much to worry about.  Just normal for a horse her age.  $150 later...  Well.  I can't complain.  It's her first vet call.  I hope her last. 


No idea what's up with my pictures loading/not loading.  I will try again...

It's almost time for the sale -- Dec 10th.  Yesterday I took a Mental Health Day and stayed home from
work.  I hadn't slept a wink the night before and I was really dragging.  I got up, got dressed and was ready to walk out the door when my DH suggested I stay home.  I hesitated because it meant me losing the Christmas bonus but he said did $200 really matter?  Besides it was our 21st anniversary of when we "hooked up" so we felt it was worth a holiday of sorts. 

We had a good day -- tried a new cafe in town that our vet raved about and we both found it to be quite good.  I had their tomato bisque soup with a caprese sandwich.  The soup was out of this world -- in fact it rivaled Panera's.  The sandwich was also quite good - it was mozarella, tomato and pesto on a grilled ciabatta roll. 

I snapped a couple pics of stuff for the sale...  Thought I'd share.  Sorry pics are uploading correctly....



I apologize for the crooked pics.  I cannot for the life of me figure out to rotate them once I copy them.  Grrrr.    One thing I'm at a loss on is how much to charge......  I suppose that's everyone's biggest worry when doing these types of sales.  You want to price them right.  Honestly I would be happy to just sell everything for a lower price than a few items for a higher one.  Most of the yarn I'm using these days has been part of my stash for a very long time.  Anything I could make off it would be welcome. 

SONG OF THE BLOG:  I wish I were able to stop myself from getting so wrapped up in music.  It takes me to a deeper emotional level sometimes than I'd like.  There's always those few songs that hit home with me and I'm caught up in the drama.  I know a lot of it has to do with letting go.  So today's song is ...
"You and I" by Lady Gaga.  I apologize for the commercial before the video, but hang around for her performance.  Amazing.

Terrible Tues-Day

My day started out at a run - or so it feels like.  That's one thing I do not like about this job....  It's never, ever busy enough and then all of a sudden I get a ton of work to be done.  I never feel like I am accomplishing much of anything - at least nothing substantial.  I've decided my perfect job (next to full time crocheter to the stars) would be to have a warehouse full of papers.  I mean, floor to ceiling/rafter stacks of documents.  My job?  Go in an organize it.  So, if you know anyone looking for someone to tackle such a job, please pass on my information.  Until then I suppose I will have to stick to my current ho-hum job.  But at least I have a job, right??

I didn't take a pic of the pocketed scarf last night.  It's so close to being finished that I decided to wait until it actually is finished before I snap a photo.  The DH actually commented on the colors saying it's really nice.  He never does that unless I ask so that was different. 

Craft sale is fast approaching.  DH is making my rack today - for the table top to display scarves.  I have all the sample soaps in to pair up with washcloths/dishcloths.  I think I'm set!!

Question for the day?  If you could be any animal which would you choose?  I'm undecided between a cat and a horse. 

SONG OF THE BLOG:  "Long Hard Times To Come" by Gangstagrass.  Check it out!  Warning - violence and sex

Meant to be

I'm pretty sure I was meant to live in a rainy climate.  Perhaps Seattle would have been a better retirement choice?  Everyone always complains about the rain.  It's dreary and depressing to them.  To me it's cleansing and I love the smell and feel of the rain.  Today I woke up to a glorious downpour and it continued all the way in on my hour long drive into work.  Sadly I don't have a desk next to a window (probably a good thing because I'd surely never get a thing done then).  But our roof is such that when it's coming down pretty good we can hear it.  I rejoice in the sound all the while my coworkers are mumbling about how wet and nasty things are. 

This was a good weekend for crochet in my house.  I managed to start and finish a very pretty pink scarf for the craft sale.  If it doesn't sell I think I shall give it to my Mom's neighbor (if she wants it that is).  It worked up so easy and I was so pleased with the colors. 


I started another scarf on Sunday.  I have had this picture in my head for quite awhile - a scarf with the pockets.  I used heather grey as my base and then just added stripes of colors.  Sorry, no picture of it just yet.  The night creeped up on me and I lost all my natural light for a good pic.  I'll try and take one this evening and post it tomorrow.

The craft show is fast approaching and I think I'm ready...  The DH is going to make me a stand for the table to display the scarves better.  He's itching to make me one and although he wants to go big I'm hoping to convince him to scale it down some.  I am not sure what to expect from this craft sale.  It's in a church and doesn't seem like we will have much in the way of customers, but one can never tell about these things. 

SONG OF THE BLOG:  "Songs About Rain" by Gary Allen

Bad

I'm going to admit it right now - I'm a bad girl.  I like bad boys.  I enjoy riding my Harley fast and drinking.  Not at the same time.  I like a good shot of Crown or JD.  I like men that are themselves and enjoy life.  I like the ones that slide into Heaven bruised and bloodied.  So why did I marry a good guy?  LOL

This morning I woke up at my usual time (5:30) and rather than getting out of bed I laid there and fell back to sleep.  Something I never do.  So as you can imagine that changed my entire morning routine and luckily I don't have a set time to be at work.  I came strolling in at 8:30 this morning (after a stop at Starbucks, of course).  It was nice that my co-workers were happy to see me.  I have this love/hate relationship with my current job.  I'm a contractor and honestly, I don't enjoy the job itself at all.  It's just not busy enough for me.  But the people I get to see on Monday, Thursday and Friday make it better somehow. 

I finished up the purple and gold scarf last night and as I was doing so I really sort of hit a wall.  For some reason I couldn't get the ends to look right.  Does anyone have a really good picture or instructions on how to tie off and weave in ends??  I'd appreciate it. 

It's chilly again this morning and there was frost on the ground making it look a little like snow.  I kept thinking how wonderful it will be when there is snow on the ground.  We are going to decorate the outside of the house this weekend.  We aren't getting our tree until the 12th.  The DH opened up a few more boxes and found some really cool stuff we had packed away in 2007.  It's so neat seeing these things we put away knowing one day in Ohio we'd open them again.  Now I just need to figure out where everything is going!!

I will start another scarf tonight in two shades of pink.  I'm thinking I'll use the V stitch as it looks feminine and gives the yarn texture.  If I finish that one I'll start another using purple and ???  Not sure what color I will add to the next one.  Perhaps another shade of purple...hmmmm.....

SONG OF THE DAY:  "Drink in my Hand" by Eric Church

Whimsical and deep in thought

"Every time I see your face, my heart takes off on a high speed chase"  That line gets me every time.  No matter how many times I have heard that song when I hear this line my mind is yanked from whatever else it's concentrating on and submerged into the danger zone.  It's truly a love/hate relationship and although it's often painful I cannot let go.  Not yet.  One day, maybe..  But I wouldn't place any bets on that happening. 

It's winter here in Ohio.  This morning the temperature driving in was 25*.  I actually did a double take when I saw it just to make sure I wasn't dreaming.  The crisp morning air felt amazing and I could have stayed out in it - happy as can be.  To be forced into the over heated building where I work is almost too much to bear.  Alas I am reminded (especially on days like today - payday) why I stay working and the goals we have set.  No, money isn't everything, but right now it's a means to an end.  That end can't happen unless I make it so. 

After work I had my two hour massage. The therapist was alright; a bit too chatty for me and she wasn't crazy about the idea of me simply lying on the table while she did the work.   She wanted me to participate in the massage by breathing at certain times.  "Deep breath in; hold, hold..."  That wasn't what I wanted but because of my demeanor I let it go.  Eventually I fell asleep on her - the one thing she didn't want. Oh well. She did, however, get out many tight spots and released some tension not only in my neck and shoulders, but also in my arms.  As a crocheter I often forget just how much muscles work when I crochet.  She found some very tender spots along the tops of my arm towards the elbow.  The massage was good and I do feel better after it, but next time I'm going to indicate I do not want to be part of the whole process other than it's my body they are working on. 

Last night I worked for a bit on the purple/gold scarf for the sale.  I finished up the base and now I need to tie off and weave in the ends and add the fringe.  I'm already thinking about my next scarf.  Pinks - for my Mom's neighbors.  They are a nice family and Mom and two girls are getting a scarf.  I'm also going to make one for the Dad.  I asked Mom to find out their favorite colors and one of the girls likes pink.  So I'm thinking shades of pink for her scarf.  The second girl likes purple with anything.  That leaves much in the way of possibilities.  I just need to find that right combo.  The one also likes pink, but I'm going to take it a bit further with hers....  Dad gets a black and blue scarf to match his black beanie. 

"Fallin In" by Lifehouse