Crochet Me Crazy

This hat is so easy you can make it in an hour or two! Here is the free pattern online: Granny Top Cap

To protect his identity, my son is incognito while modeling this hat for me. This is pretty easy too but I did find an error in the pattern on row 15. You won't have 21 stitches at the end of that row so I added an extra decrease right in the middle so I had 21 stitches.




Here's the free pattern: Crocheted Brimmed Hat

Certainly not keeping up with my blog!

One the crochet front I have been doing a lot of "stash busting". I have been working on getting rid of some of my novelty or specialty yarns or yarns I only have a small amount of. I printed out a bunch of hat patterns and I'm on a hat/scarf making spree it seems. We have been on the go most of the time doing Ron Paul events so hats make a great car project. I've got a bath mat on the hook that I keep in the truck. It will be a while before I finish that because I'm not working on it very often.
I finished some leg warmers for Alison:



I only had enough of this yarn to make a hat:



Very soft and fuzzy hat and scarf set. I still have more of this yarn though...not enough stash busting went on with this set.




I still have way to much of this yarn left:



Only had one skein of this Lion Brand Homespun so my scarf wasn't quite long enough:





We had a very interesting thing happen last night.



Yes, that is a raccoon in my house! Boy, he didn't want to leave either! We couldn't figure out just what his problem was. Michael heard something scratching in the attic. Jeff opened the attic door and the thing was looking down at him!



He went about trying to figure out how to get him out. In the meantime, he apparently fell out of the attic so there he was in the hall. We expected him to be aggressive being cornered like that but he was anything but! We thought maybe he broke a leg or something but he got up and walked around in the circles a bit, then would lay back down. He seemed very weak. We even tried to coax him with food but he wasn't interested.



It didn't bother him a bit if you touched him with a stick...Jeff even scratch his tummy with the stick and he seemed to like it! It was perplexing...we finally got him to go outside but he would rather has come back in! Well, little Ricky is out side now...don't know what happened to him.

What else have we been doing? We painted a house "Ron Paul" recently. A gal from our group had a Ron Paul house painting party. This was about the funnest thing in the world for my artist son! This would have to be one of the most off the wall things I've participated in so far! There is a huge amount of enthusiasm and energy in the Ron Paul grassroots efforts as you can see!






Here's a voter's guide for all candidates, both democratic and republican:

http://www.knowbeforeyouvote.com/

We've been very very busy. Seems like Christmas hit us like a train this year. Alison had a birthday party last weekend. She wanted a "Ron Paul" themed birthday party. We had a flat bed trailer and we took the kids to look at lights. It was a bit hectic but it was a great party.

You might have heard about Ron Paul raising $6 million on December 16. Well, there were parties all of ther world celebrating Ron Paul's money bomb. We went to a Tea-Party in Freeport, TX which is very near Ron's hometown. There was a huge crowd there. My 14 year old son and 10 year old daughter are just as big of Ron Paul supporters as we are. My son has been making necklaces where he writes "Ron Paul 2008" out of wire. He had a few with him so he decided to donate two of them to the auction they were having to raise funds for Dr. Paul. I was wondering if I should let him in case nobody bid on them, he would be crushed. Well, I decided it's just life and it would be okay. His necklaces were the last things to go and we weren't sure what to expect. We would have been happy with anything. It's a way that Michael can make his own contribution to Ron Paul's campaign on his own. We were so happy and delighted when the total raised for the two of Michael's necklaces was $1,375! Michael gave a necklace to noce of Carol Paul's daughters but she insisted on paying him the $10 that he was planning on selling them for. He also received an order for 6 more along with an offer to let him sell them on the auctioneer's wife's online auction shop for free. Such a kind offer.

I tell you, my kids have learned so much from our Ron Paul experience. I haven't been writing about it here but I'm going to have to write about our experience in Iowa some time.

Now, my 10 year old daughter, Alison, had a very exciting day as well. She has a special love for Carol Paul which started when we met the Paul's in Iowa. Carol Paul is such a personable person and has always been so very sweet to Alison. We first met her in San Antonio. Then, months later she remembered us when we saw her in Iowa! She just seems like your mother or your grandmother. I guess that is only natural since she is a mother to 5 and and has 17 grandchildren. Alison has been making her very own lovely Christmas cards and selling them this year. She brought them along with her because she wanted to show them to Carol Paul. Well, Mr. Paul loved Alison's cards and said she wanted show them to Dr. Paul. She proceed to lead Alison through the crowd to where Ron Paul was and Ron Paul told Alison how nice they were and said they should buy 20 of those. Alison was very embarrased and didn't want to "sell" them to the Paul's! She kept saying..."You don't have to buy them, you can have them" Carol Paul said Alison had worked hard on those and insisted that she pay for them. She got a $20 out of Ron Paul's wallet and bought all the cards that Alison had. Alison has that $20 bill that she says she will never spend because it was once in Ron Paul's wallet. Later, I was thinking we should have had them sign it but we forgot. We'll have to bring it along next time we are somewhere they will be.




So it was an exciting day for my kids. I was very proud of their accomplishments.
Michael also had made a beautiful "Ron Paul" snow globe and gave it to Carol Paul. Man, I really wish I would have taken a close up picture of that snow-globe before he gave it away!

I've not posted much about our grass roots campaigning for Ron Paul here since this is my "crochet" blog but I've decided that has to stop. It's just too big of a part of our lives for me not to post. I was thinking about it and since I really started this blog for myself and a sort of record keeping journal and to keep a record of my crochet projects, I'm gipping myself if I don't write about the experiences we've had during our involvement with the Ron Paul grass roots movement. So, if you want to stop reading, here's your warning....

First, I'm going to post a letter written by a friend from our Ron Paul meet-up group. I want to save this letter because its about our experience we had on December 5th when we all met with Ron Paul at the airport one night to escort him home. We broke down but her letter was so good I want to memorialize it in my pages.

Driving Ron Home, Dec.5, 2007 by Carrie Snuske

I got the call around 7:20 PM from my friend Jeff Ritz from the Spring/Klein/Tomball
Ron Paul Meet-Up Group.

"I just found out ten minutes ago that Ron Paul is coming into Bush airport around
10:00 PM. We’re trying to get a convoy together to run him home to Lake Jackson, would you like to be a part of it?"

You bet I would! Jeff had recently helped me install an ‘A-frame’ he had made, in the bed of my pick up truck to display two huge Ron Paul for President signs. Now I am able to shout my support all the time, wherever I go, and I wasn’t about to miss an opportunity to be in a convoy with Ron Paul! I loved the idea that our escort would be our way of showing him that we are ‘right behind him’.

I met up with three other vehicles Jeff, Lisa, their two kids, Nanette, as well as Mark Holmes. We all wanted our candidate to be able to rest, and recharge his batteries from the campaign trail, so we didn’t go inside the airport to greet him. Instead we stayed with our vehicles in the third row and waited for him to appear.. , [ AIRPORT ANNOUNCEMENT : "The third row is reserved for Ron Paul supporters. For security reasons, please stay with your vehicles."]

We met up with Ron Paul’s personal driver Bruce and waited with him. Our plan was to stay back and leave him alone so Dr. Paul could just come home and relax
As we are standing there Nanette says, "Who has some Slim Jims? We need to work this crowd." I reach into my satchel and pull out a handful of Slim Jims with calling cards stapled to them. Nanette walks up and down the rows of cars handing out information and talking with folks about Ron Paul.

We see a security guard through the window in the upper level of the airport motioning with his hands and arms. Ron Paul is coming. About 10 minutes later we are wondering where he is. There were other supporters inside holding a welcome home banner for Ron Paul and he was sure to make time to chat with them.

As the great man came out of the terminal I stayed back and took pictures from a distance, even as Ron Paul moved toward the front vehicle of our group and started chatting with them. As driver of the tail vehicle I cooperated with airport security and stayed with my truck, busying myself taking pictures. When Bruce led the candidate off to his car, we all put on our four-way flashers and followed along behind. That’s when I realized I had missed my chance to meet Ron Paul. I could have kicked myself!

When we got to Pearland I was surprised and heartened at the out pouring of support for Ron Paul. We passed a line of ten or fifteen vehicles of supporters parked along the side of the road like ducks in a row, their flashers on, beeping their horns as we passed, ready to fall in line with the rest of the convoy. I called my friend from Pearland, Robert Mayer, and found out that he had indeed joined in the convoy.

At every curve in the road I peeked into my mirror at the impressive line of vehicles with their flashers on, and teared up a bit.

Just before we got into lake Jackson, Jeff, in the lead ‘A’ frame pulled off the road, so we all started pulling off the road, but were waived on. Mark called me a few minutes later to tell me that Jeff had broken down, and that I and the huge line behind me needed to catch up.
The plan was to get Dr. Paul close to his home, and to break off and head on back home, so that we wouldn’t keep him from this rare opportunity for rest. Before we know it, however, we were at his house! I stayed with my truck even as other supporters started assembling at Dr. Paul's street corner, talking about Jeff’s breakdown.

Ron Paul comes out and chats with the crowd, and before I know it he starts heading my way! Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, he is coming my way! He comes up to me as I am standing next to my truck. He looks tired, but strong. He sticks out his hand and says, ‘How are you? Thanks for coming’. Star-struck, the first thing I say is ‘I am working so hard for you’, at the same time I am thinking to myself ‘Carrie, you are so stupid, everyone is working hard, especially him!’ The next thing out of my mouth is "I love your message. Thank you so much ... Did you see all of those people waiting for you in Pearland?" ... " Do you know that the message is that 'we are right behind you' ? Dr. Paul thoughtfully said yes he was aware of that.

It's midnight. I am standing on Ron Paul's street chatting with him. He peers into the darkness behind me and says, ‘Is there anyone else? Have I missed anyone?’ The compassion of that statement, from Dr. Paul, to be so concerned that someone might be left out, impressed me.

Robert stepped out of the shadows. I said ‘Here’s another friend, this is Robert Mayer, Robert, this is Ron.’ That’s when I took the photo of Robert and Ron, which is posted along with Robert's story' The Ron Paul Convoy', December 6, 2007, @ LewRockwell.com, and Robert took this picture of Dr. Paul and me.

One of us said to Dr. Paul, 'Well you probably need to get some rest so you can get more energy.' With a widespread gesture of his hand Ron said,"This is what gives me the energy!"


Carrie Snuske
Dec. 17,2007