The Shtick I Do

I had the greatest idea for a Christmas gift for one of my sisters! I was gonna crochet her a nylon backpack! She's forever going places (work, Jazzercise, the gym, parties) so I thought this would make the perfect thing for her to toss stuff in and not have to worry about ruining anything.  Have I made that bag? Hmm  . . . nope! What I have done is make a bible cover out of the nylon thread. When you look at the (unfinished) cover you'll see that I was making a granny square (sort of) and did have my thoughts on a bag. I had my bible lying beside me and put down the work for a minute to do something, I forget what it was now. But when I came back and saw it on the beat up cover of my bible I was inspired! Lo and behold a bible cover was born. Do I have any idea how to make a bible/book cover of any kind? Nope. Have I made a few mistakes along the way. Yes! But I love it anyway and I hope you do as well. Peace and love! Front Cover Back Cover

Last year, about this time, I got a bug that had me looking around for a charity. Some place where I could gift my crochet obsession with those that need it. I called around a few places and pretty much ran into a brick wall, it was padded with one of those gymnasium mats, but still a stopping block. Now don't get me wrong, it's not that local charity organizations were turning me away. I've made things for a couple of those places before so I know they have needs. But I was feeling an urge to reach out to someone, someplace, that isn't necessarily at the top of the charity food chain. So last year, I made 10 hat/scarf sets and gave them to the grade school just up the street from my house. The guidance counselor there was very happy. And here I am again, gearing up to gift my obsession with another group of people. This one has a personal meaning to me though. Tuesday I had a dream that I ran into a friend I worked with while shopping at a local grocery store. She ...

In past winters I kept telling myself that I was going to make myself some mittens/gloves. Did I ever do it? No. Why not? Hmm .... I'm not sure really. All the crochet mitten patterns I see look bulky and not very neat. Maybe I'm a snob and don't know it but they looked cheap. After much exploring and even playing around on my own I had come to the decision that crochet mittens were not for me.  Then I began seeing patterns were the finger part folds back, you know the ones. Those interested me BUT yet again I hesitated. Why this time? Well the thumb. The fingers would be free but the thumb would be covered. Or conversely not covered at all. (-.-) *sigh* Well, I'm determined to make a set for myself this year, so I break out this fantabulous bulky weight yarn that I picked up in Florida (from my Mother's of course). I get a great slouchy hat completed with it, make a matching scarf and set out to work on the mittens. Here's what I did! I'm happy with the...

So last week I mentioned I spent some time in Florida. While I was there, my loving and crafty mother gave me some yarn. My husband would argue that she gave me half a store's worth of yarn but what does he know about a crocheters' needs, right? Some of the yarn she gave me is Peaches & Creme cotton. She's been successful in making some rugs and showed me how, so I made my own. I just love the colors and how it turned out. Originally, I was going to have 2 different sets of small Granny's in the center and just do some single crochets around until it got the size I needed. As you can see from the picture, I just went with one set in the center of the rug and used the other set of Granny's as centers for matching pot holders. I still have enough Granny's to make 2 more pot holders . . . but . . . I may hold on to those for now. I can see another rug in my future here soon! 30"x20" Rug with 7" Pot Holders (before blocking) ...

So last week I didn't post anything because I was in Florida visiting with family, and yes, I had a great time! Catching up, laughing and enjoying one another is always a blessing to me. While there my mother and I decided to crochet some house shoes. This would be the first pair of slippers for both of us and we were a little bit excited about it to be honest. (Oh yes, this is a story comin!) We decided on a pair from a book she had and set about making them; following the directions like we were supposed to, consulting when one or the other of us had a question. Well, don't you know, those slippers kinda upset me. No, not " kinda " . . . did upset me. <insert angry face here> By my reckoning (and my mother's as well) we would have been wearing cloth envelopes on our feet. Really? And my mother gave good money for this book, too! My mother even put the "slipper" (and I use that term loosely) on her head and it reminded us both of the Air F...