The Shtick I Do

Time to time I find myself in a flurry of activity and these past couple of weeks have been one of those times. I think I'm run down, tired, achy from the cold weather and an old mattress (we're fixing that last one soon though), getting up too early, checking messages in the middle of the night cause I'm Nana-on-Call , jumping headlong into a couple CAL 's, making orders , making hats , making dinner , fixing the vacuum cleaner (!?!?!) (do you know what dog hair does to a filter?) and a number of other things I can't even begin to remember. Wow, I'm tired just from reading all that! Phew! Time to sit back and relax. A cup of something hot and chocolaty. This Donald cup has to be 15 years old. I still love it for hot chocolate! Some good music on iTunes. Relaxing and invigorating at the same time. My fuzzy slippers and fat-pants. (oh please, we ALL have fat-pants) What? You thought you'd get a pic of ...

Well, I couldn't think of anything else so I just used this one for Thursday. =D  Why not? Right? This pattern is one of the the most popular posts on my blog. And I love it! I still have one hanging around in my Bible. This pattern is something my brain conjured up last year around Valentine's day. I was thinking and thinking and thinking . . . you know those days . . . when you want to do something new, or maybe something different, and you just can't think of anything?!?! That's when this pattern popped into my head one night. The next day I made a couple and posted them on the blog. And there you have it, the history of this pattern.  I bet you're so excited you can't stand it. * shifty eyes * Just kidding! Pattern: Heart to Heart Bookmark   Materials: Lily Sugar 'n Cream  Cotton Yarn in  Rose Pink  and  Yellow size I crochet hook (9 or 5.5mm) scissors embroidery needle for weaving in the ends a book ...

I'm on a roll this week!  Have you noticed? Matching the day with something? I started to call this one Hump-day Happenings but I'm really tired of hearing HUMP Daaaeeeeeyyyyyy! Anyway. What are you doing on this Wednesday? Besides making hats . . .  I'm working on headbands . . . and I'm trying out this cute little Valentine granny square from Petals to Picots . It's so adorable! I think I can get a lapghan finished by the 14th. Plus, I'm using up small bits of yarn for the heart centers so I'm busting out my stash of left overs. Nothing gets wasted when it comes to yarn! Peace and blessings, ~~ Karen ~~ Feel free to leave a comment! I love hearing from you and welcome your feedback. If you would like to contact me directly,  you can  email me at croch3t2002@gmail.com. Or by finding me at one of the following sites: Twitter!      Instagram! ...

Sometimes I think weird things.  Especially if I'm in a particular mood or mind-set. Which would be most of the time according to my husband. For example: words in the English language. Comb = Tomb. They both end in "-omb" but are pronounced completely differently. That is dumb. But, that's also just MY opinion. Another example in the English language, and one that I say frequently is: If Freeze is Froze, Squeeze should be Squ-oze. Ugh. Here's my weird thought for today: two's. How many things can I think of that come in pairs AND are related to yarn-y stuff? I didn't come up with many at all. Twins: As in the Double Stitch Twins , Erika and Monika Simmons. Designers and fashionistas by their own admission. They design with the team at Red Heart yarn and also have a couple of books . Image from Amazon.com How about the obvious things like socks, mittens, gloves?  Image from Google Image Search and the book 2Needle Mitten...

I came across this video for a headband while I was looking for, you guessed it, a headband pattern. My beautiful daughter, Maeghan, modeling one of the headbands. It's from Donna at Naztazia.com  and I love it! The pattern is easy to remember and it's pretty easy to follow along with the video. One note; she crochet's fast so you may need to pause it in order to catch up. There are also written instructions if you'd like to follow those instead. She goes over how to make the increases you might need for making a larger headband than what she makes in the video; they're simple and easy to remember. Her instructions are clear and concise the entire time even going so far as to put instructions up on the screen for you to read as well as watch. She has a BUNCH of free videos for you to follow along and/or grab the written instructions. I encourage you to browse and see what you can find that strikes your fancy. (I have my eyes on this one ) I do ...

There's snow on the ground and the roads are covered with cinders, salt, snow and ice. The temperature is expected to be no higher than 37. And that feels like a heat wave compared to the below freezing temps we've had this past week. We're all warm and snug in our home, fuzzy slippers on, long sleeves. Pajamas. Hot coffee, good food, warm showers and dozing on the couch while watching whatever boring movie happens to pop on the TV later today. But it won't be an entire day of lazing. I have orders to fill and heads to cover. A crocheter's work is never done, is it? 2 cancer caps and 3 "groupie" hats for an order. Stay safe. Peace and blessings, ~~ Karen ~~ Please feel free to leave a comment. I love hearing from you and welcome your feedback. If you would like to contact me directly,  you can  email me at croch3t2002@gmail.com. Or by finding me at one of the following sites: Twitter!      Instagram!   ...

Sooooooo . . .  This 31 Day Posting Challenge thing . . . I've been doing well since I decided I wanted to jump in with both feet. Posting everyday. Getting some things done. Thinking about business models and accounting avenues and maybe even teaching a class. Then Mother Nature reared her head. Today I am coming in just under the line for it to count as a post for Saturday. Want to know why? I'M A NANA!!!!! Kat from Kat Knap Crafts with her son (and my grandson) Daeus! Isn't he precious?!?!?!?!? Meet the newest addition to our family, Daeus. Born 12:03 PM on Friday, January 24, 2014. I literally, just got back from Kentucky about 20 minutes ago. The trip in itself is a story for another day - snowstorms - sheesh! I'll post more later. I promise. Right now I just want some sleep.

Let's talk about my craft area for a moment. Now let me say that this is just my crochet area. If I'm making jewelry or working with paper of any kind I use a table. The typical thing I do , at the moment,  is make hats. You know this by now. So why would my crafting area get so disarrayed? Because I can't leave well enough alone, that's why.  I hop from one thing to another. Make a hat . . . practice a new stitch. Make two hats . . . try every new pattern I've seen today. Make a hat . . . experiment with using a smaller hook than recommended just to see what the results would be. Like I said, I can't leave well enough alone. BUT after a lot of losing hooks and yarn needles I'd finally had my fill of the yarn that suddenly became bothersome. And this I did not like. I love yarn! It makes me happy, but not this day. This day it was fast becoming my enemy. Threatening to overtake my entire desk! Flooding over the keyboard in such a manner as to ob...