More Who? Why, Yes thank you.

Several posts ago I had written about my Doctor Who love.  A few months ago I used some of the beads and things I had gotten with the first necklace I created and made a lovely keyring and necklace.  The keyring has the sneaker for Doctor 10, David Tennant, the Tardis of course and the wolf for Rose Tyler who was... SPOILER... the Bad Wolf.  The  keyring is on my Etsy site.  I only have one of these currently but more could be made with what pendants I have remaining.  I also have a necklace similar to the first one but this necklace has the converse sneaker for #10 and the banana is for Doctor 9, Christopher Eccleston.  In episode 10, Season 1 Doctor 9 says "There's a banana grove there now. I like bananas. Bananas are good." and later tells Jack "Go now! Don't drop the banana!  Jack: Why not? The Doctor: Good source of potassium!" and in a later season Doctor 10 says "Always bring a banana to a party" Season 2, Episode 4.  The necklace is also on my @Home Ninja shop, Necklace v2.


Last, but not least, is a Doctor Who lantern.  This is not an actual Doctor Who product but fan art.  I found this corrugated metal lantern, primed and painted it in a color similar to Doctor Who blue (the image is a bit brighter than the actual finished product).  It also has glass on all 4 sides and I put in a battery powered candle.  Unsurprisingly, the lantern is on my Etsy shop and the price is negotiable if you message me.

And now for my Thankful For!
Nov 3 : You guys!  Every one of you that have been checking out my blog and my crafts.  Shop handmade.  If not with me, then with someone else.  I hope in the coming days to compile a list of people who hand craft items and share those with you.  The holidays are coming and you will love giving gifts that someone created with their own hands.  Promise. :)

Thankfuls for Nov 1st and 2nd

Crochet isn't the only thing we do around here.  The Hubs is super crafty as well.  Hell, he's great at everything he touches but he refuses to say he's talented.  He can't even take a compliment and say "Thank You, you know it is quite good". :)  He is a great musician, computer tech, web design, construction worker, construction biz behind the scenes guy and carpenter.  He's a superb husband and father too and my first Thankful For is for my Hubs.  I'm thankful to have someone who loves me and the boys and gives me the opportunity to stay home and take care of the homeplace and crochet.  That being said though, I love him more. :D

So, Nov 1st :  Yesterday we had a young woman and her grandfather come over to see a table Hubs made to sell.  It is a gorgeous table.  6 ft long and lightly stained in Oak.  Two of the 12 ft boards ended up much darker and the breadboards on the ends look like they didn't stain at all.  It is so pretty we wish we didn't have to sell it.  Truth be told we already have an 8 ft table so we'd need to take it out for a smaller table or try to make enough room for both, which simply couldn't happen.  ( Also anyone looking to buy it can email me or go to GoLSN between now and November 24th ).
Yesterday's thankful is that we had someone look at it that may want to buy it.  Not just that but it would go to someone who truly loves family.  She has two kids and her husband has three and while they don't have them all the time, when they do they want a table for all of them.  They do wish it had seat backs and that it was a high table, so they may not buy it.  Just the fact they responded and came a long way to look sure meant a lot.

Nov 2nd : Today I woke to our first hard frost.  It was such a great reminder that I am thankful for so very much.  I've had a terrible cough for two weeks now but I'm thankful I was able to sleep last night without a dose of nyquil.  I'm thankful I was able to get up and walk down the stairs with no knee pain ( I was playing with the dog and "slid into home" when I forgot I was wearing wet shoes, hit the just washed linoleum in the hall, slid and slammed my right knee into the air vent protector and sliced up my knee ... genius! ).  I am thankful that we finished digging and plowing up the garden extension before the frost.  I seriously can't take credit for that though, Hubs is a pretty awesome farmer too and has worked his butt off on the garden this year. 

I am also crazy thankful that around 11 ish (maybe 10, I dunno, time "fell back" today) that I gave in and took an Advil Cold and Sinus.  (With all the new laws in place to keep methheads from buying up cold pills for drugs, I have a hard time getting the only med that helps.  The pharmacist requests that I get a prescription for an over the counter medication, makes copies of my drivers license every time even though I have all that in their file and I only go 2-3 times a year for a box anyway but when I do have it I have to really treasure it, I mean when I'm sick I have to ask if it's sponge worthy!).  I took the med and continued to feel dizzy and sick for a while.  I did the dishes and went downstairs to see if I could help the Hubs on a new table he's building and started some laundry.  Sometime in all that I caught my first real wind of the day.  All in all I swept the entire basement and the outside concrete slab clean of all leaves (and saw our first baby bat sleeping under our back porch which was weird and cute), 3-4 loads of laundry, cleaned up boxes in the basement, swept the kitchen and dining room, moved things around and scrubbed all my counters.  Then I cleared off stuff in the dining room, scrubbed the table and on top of the china cabinet.  I even put away some of the laundry and cut the teenager's hair.  I was on FIRE!  And now Hubs and I are watching the Steelers kick some booty.

OH OH and I got word from my cousin that she got the Fox Hood for her little boy and he also LOVES it!  Such a blessing, really.  I love to crochet but just watching people get excited when they get it makes it worth while.  To see a little guy so flipping cute wear it and LOVE it that much... I'm so glad I am able to give that joy to others. :D  Little B here is a cutie patootie and I'm so glad he likes it.

I love November because every day we should remember what we are thankful for, not just Nov.  While Thanksgiving was never what we learned it was, it's all about being thankful and spending time with loved ones (and eating enough to be able to fit in the Manatee Grey clothes at Target and hibernate till spring...or at least Christmas).  Every day this month I hope to post things I am thankful for so stay tuned and comment your thankfuls!

I'm baack ... and so far behind!

Just when I thought I was going to have more time to blog, life showed me how little I know and set me back a bit.

I have returned...um ... again and hope to start updating about some projects I've done this year as well as sharing links to other awesome sites I love and you will too.
Since I'm back now I'll start with my two projects of this week.

Some weeks I have NO projects running. It's a bit of a downer but I know fall and winter are when things pick up. This week though I've had two custom orders completed and ready to send.

This was one that was requested a few weeks ago.  The problem I find with many of my projects is that I don't have many stores around my area that carry the yarns I would like to use.  All I have within 30 miles is Walmart.  It's great for some projects I can use Red Heart Yarn for but I wanted this one to be super chunky.  Lion Brand Wool-Ease would have been the greatest to use in Apricot or Pumpkin.  I figured I would wait until the next time I went out of town to grab it at Hobby Lobby.

Now, just to be clear, I do not approve of Hobby Lobby using their employees health insurance options to prove their religious beliefs mean something to them.  You're closed on Sunday because you love God, got it.  You don't believe you should pay for your employees birth control or for the morning after pill but you will pay for viagra and buy your products from third world countries that beat and demean woman so you can sell it for a profit, got it.  Now you won't hire anyone unless they sign a paper stating the unmarried employees will abstain from sex.  Hobby Lobby will continue to profit and push their "above the law" rules in the name of God.  I do not approve of this and hate even giving them my money. 

That said, I'm disgusted with myself that I love their I Love This Yarn brand.  If I could order it directly from Turkey and avoid Hobby Lobby, I would.  I have yet to find a yarn that is as soft, pliable, long lasting, easily washable, low frizz and inexpensive as this brand is.  I'm going to look though because I don't want to continue giving them money.

Back on subject.  So I went to Hobby Lobby in the next town when I had business up there and searched for 20 minutes to find they had Lion brand and they had Wool-Ease but NO pumpkin or apricot colors.  In fact they had no chunky colors in any orange at all.  I thought it was bad when my local Walmart store didn't care any of our school color yarns (which is basic maroon and light grey, seriously who doesn't have light grey yarn...this gal) but it's October and you're a major chain that sells a lot of yarn for fall projects and you didn't even have a section in the Lion Brand area for the one color that's popular this time of year.  sigh.  The only color close in a brand soft enough for a small child was...you guessed it, I Love This Yarn.  Which was also the only light grey I can find without special ordering. (BTW I would order my yarns but I need $50 worth to order from Walmart and Red Heart for free shipping and $35 for Amazon plus a long wait and I'm usually impatient :p )

SO Extremely long story short (too late) and I brought home Desert Glaze, I Love This Yarn and jumped on this project.  I do not have a pattern to work with and recently have just learned the cross cable crochet stitch so I got started.  I hope to work up a pattern later for this but it was super simple really.  The little guy who is receiving this hat is almost a preschooler.  I don't have exact measurements.  The fox hood was requested without a cowl or scarf but some sort of tie.  Because this tie is weaved in and out and has pom poms on the end it won't be able to be removed without cutting the tie off or taking off the pom poms.  The ends are rolled up like the cowl hoods you see online.  I really hope they enjoy it. :)  It's not super chunky but it will still be soft and warm.

A friend said she knew someone wanting a snowman hat but for a girl.  I've done one with Bernat Wedgewood Ombre colors for boys.  Two actually.  One with black dots for eyes and mouth and one sleeping.  This one I have used Lion Brand Purple Haze of the Homespun style.  I must admit that I love how soft Homespun is but I hate crocheting with it.  It, to me, defeats the purpose of learning to crochet.  I know that sounds bonkers but you simply can not see where to put your crochet hook to make even numbered rows!  If you can't learn to wing it, don't use this yarn style. I find it hard to use because I'm sooooo borderline OCD and if I can't make sure everything is even and match I twitch a little in my mind so using Homspun is like a twitch fest.  I had to seriously force myself to relax!  How crazy, right?! :p  I made the braids extra long on this hat in case it's for photos.  Long braids are just adorable and we all know you don't actually tie them anyway. :p  I also gave her little eye lashes and a bow.  The bow is White Sparkle and the grape band is Purple Neon, sigh, of I Love This Yarn. I know, I know, it's like an I Love This Yarn addiction I have.  It's harder to quit using it than it is to quit eating chocolate!  I have found there is a Hancock Fabric store in my neighboring town that may have the yarns so I'm going to check them out the next time I'm there or convince myself to suck up the $5-7 per skein shipping charges with most yarn suppliers online. EEK! ;)

I hope to have more posts coming and maybe some new patterns to share. :D

Ooo la la Swiffer Sweepers

A few years ago I bought a Swiffer Wet Jet Cleaner.  I got some use out of it but I didn't much care for the fact you can only get one unit cleaning solution.  It's $6-7 for a new bottle.  I'm cheap.  I love to refill things.  Plus the cleaning pads are another $6!

I crochet, darnit, certainly I could figure something out to use that thing again.  I've had it hanging around the house, moved it for 5 year or more.  Certainly I can use that for something.

Then I found it.  A free crochet pattern for the cleaning pads to fit a swiffer.  Oh sure I've seen it online before but this time, this time I was going to make it!  I'm even going to point out the pattern I used so you can use it as well.  Linda Permann wrote up a pattern and it is on makezine.

Ah but then it leaves me buying that stupid solution.  Oh wait, but it doesn't!  How to remove the cap on a Swiffer Wet Jet Cleaner!?!?  YES! There it was, the answer!  hee hee!

So tonight I spent my time making the cleaning pad and taking the top from the cleaner to wash and refill it with hot water and white vinegar.  I did a quick clean on the roughly 550 sq ft of kitchen, dining room and hall.  Tomorrow I will do the bathrooms and anything else I can think of.  Maybe I'll redo the kitchen. LOL  I'm excited!  Is that lame? :p  It was great though and I've even thought about making a dusting glove.  Yeah.  I'm lame. LOL