Crochet Me Crazy

Here is the progress I've made on my panels so far:



I've had quite a little hiatis from crocheting because we've been too busy! NOT something that I normally can't fit in!

Alison had her dress rehearsal for dance on Friday. We were at the theatre from 3 pm until 10 pm that night. A long day for me but Alison had a ball....don't think the long amount of time bothered her one bit! We have another dress rehearsal on Tuesday and then the big performance is on Friday night and again on Saturday night. That's the end of her year of dance but she will be going to a week long dance camp. Got to get that on the calendar and then we can start scheduling our camping trips! I AM SO READY for a good ol' camping trip.

Jeff and Michael went on a deep sea fishing trip this past Saturday but the boat ended up having to turn around and come back because the swells were just too high. They weren't too upset because they were so sick! This was their 2nd deep sea fishing trip. Nobody got sick last time but they said it was really bad with the huge swells going on. Too bad...no fish! ;(
Jeff did take one picture of Michael in front of the boat.
Oh, and can you believe the boat captain told our neighbor not to book anymore fishing trips on his boat anymore because he is diabetic! This man has been deep sea fishing two times a year for at least 20 years and has been a diabetic all his life. They don't want to be responsible if something happens to him out at sea.

I HAD to take a picture of that...its such a rarity! Here is the continuation of our trip and I'm done....We went to Bureau of Printing and Engraving where we watched them make money.

We visited the Holocaust Museum which was very moving. I was a little shocked by the disrespect of mostly kids going through the Holocaust Museum. I was proud of my childrens interest and reverence during our visits. We went to two Smithsonian museums...the Natural History and the Air and Space Museum.



Unfortunately, the American History Smithsonian was closed for renovation until the Summer of 2008. We covered the National Zoo which was great! They have giant Panda's there which THRILLED my son to death. He is a Panda freak and has been for some time. He collects Panda's and can tell you just about anything about them. Michael took 37 pictures of the Panda's! LOL! Thank God for digital cameras! They have a Panda Gift Shop there which has nothing but "Panda" stuff in it so we had to make a trip there. I have never seen an elephant play before but they had an elephant actually playing with a huge ball in the water. She put on quite a little show! Oh, we also went to "The Spy Museum"...that was quite fun.

Saturday was our last day and we covered The Spy Museum, The Air and Space Museum and the Zoo!! I'm telling you, I had started to rub the covered from my gel insoles in 3 days of walking! By the end of this day, I was limping my feet were hurting me so bad. We started on our drive back to the hotel and we started smelling diesel. We pulled over at Taco Bell to get something to eat and our truck was smoking and spewing diesel all over the engine and dripping out onto the ground. I'm telling you people, I was praying....PLEASE GOD! Don't let me be stuck at Taco Bell at 10 oclock at night when I'm this tired! This is NOT good news....we are supposed to be driving home the next day. Since the next day is Sunday, we'll have to wait until Monday to even get someone to look at the truck...then not be able to leave until after its fixed on Tuesday at the soonest! Well, I'm hear to tell you we got back in the truck and decided to at least try to make it back to the hotel. We pulled over at the next rest stop to check it and let the engine cool so we didn't start on fire. Do you know it has stopped? We checked it the next morning before we left on our drive home and nothing was leaking....we drove home and haven't had a problem since! People this was no small leak so God really answered our prayers and helped us out quite a bit on that one! :)
We went to Mount Vernon on our way home and spent way too much time there but at the same time, not enough. They have added and changed it up a lot since I was there as a child. It was very enjoyable place to visit.


On a different note, I wish this would have happend BEFORE our trip but...my camera broke today. I went to turn it on to take a picture of the wardrobe prop my husband built for The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe performance my daughter is in next weekend and the screen was cracked! ACK! I have to have a camera next weekend for Alison's dance performance!! So we went to Best Buy today to get a new camera. It wasn't worth it to get it fixed. The camera's have come way down in price since we bought ours. We upgraded from a 3X optical zoom to a 10X optical zoom though. I was just saying on the trip that I wished my zoom was better. If I would have had my new camera on the trip, I would have been able to get a lot better pictures of the pandas. Oh well...so life goes!

This day we went to the National Aquarium. My advice on this is: Save your money. This is one of 3 things that we actually had to pay for. It wasn't really all that impressive...I think they have just as big of aquarium at Sea World.



We took a guided tour of the Library of Congress which was quite interesting. We learned that the first two libraries burned. In the second fire, 2/3 of Thomas Jefferson's personal book collection burned. He had sold them to the library for $23,000. They have 1/3 of Thomas Jefferson's book in the vault which are only on display a few times during the year.


We walked past the Capital Buiding on our way to the Library of Congress. There was some big deal going on there. There were about a million police officers from all over the country there. We found out later that they were having a ceremony memorial for the fallen officers. President Bush was speaking on the Capital lawn! We didn't find that out until later though but it was all going on when we walked by.

We had the honor of going to the National Archives where we were able to view the original Constitution and The Bill of Rights which our great nation was founded upon. Awesome experience! Flashes were not allowed so we weren't able to get any good pictures.
This is the front of the building:

Just a quick picture as we were passing the Navy Memorial:

This picture probably requires a little explaining....why are my kids standing in front of 1601 18th Street @ DuPont Circle? I remembered that address so well from when I was a child that I had to go see it. My father had worked in Washington DC lobbying for a flat rate income tax system when I was a kid....this was the building his condominium was in. I remember my father saying this address so many times when we got into a taxi cab that I was actually shocked that I had remembered the address correctly! Sure enough! There it is - Imperial House! I'm not sure if its still condo's now though...I saw there were some doctors and dentists in the building now. I took quite a few trips to Washington DC as a kid with my father. On those trips, he would take us to various congress and senator offices that he knew. I have pictures of me and two of my friends that I got to bring on a trip with me sitting at their desks and even a few with the senator's themselves.


This is just a picture of the DuPont Circle Subway Station:

Of course, this is the White House and the token picture in front of it you're supposed to take:

This is all we had time to do this day. This was our first day to figure out the best way to get into Washington DC from our hotel in Baltimore, MD. We ended up driving about 30 minutes to the closest Subyway station to park our truck. Then we rode the Subway into Washington. Those Subways are amazing! I remember them from our trips as a child but it seems different than I remember it. However, i swear I rode on a few of the same cars with bright orange seats that I rode on as a child! LOL...such an interesting mix of people in the Subways. I think its a law that you aren't supposed to smile, look-at anyone or talk to anyone on the Subway. That was a little on going joke we had going. We also learned not to be an "esca-left-er"...a person who stands on the left side of the escalator...if you do, you may become an "esca-lump" :) Most of the time the Subways weren't crowded when we rode them, but on one occassion, it was so packed that our family of four crammed into a space of 2 foot by 2 foot. I was smelling the girls hair standing in front of me...thankfully, her hair smelled nice! LOL...I have never been in such close proximity to so many strangers in my life.
Here a few pictures from the Subway:



Alison in particular really LOVED riding the Subway. By the time we left, I believe my kids could have made their way around on the Subway themselves. As a matter of fact, on the last day...it was Michael's job to do the Subway navigating for us...even switching trains, etc and he did a nice job. I don't think i could have done it at a child...I remember the Subway terrified me and worrying about getting off in the right place, etc. but it didn't seem to affect my kids that way at all.

I am so bothered by an incident on the very last leg of our trip home. I was sitting in the back seat watching The Fox and the Hound with Alison and Michael was up playing a game on the lap top. Jeff drove over a bridge...saw the speed limit sign of 65 and hit resume on his cruise control. We were pulled over by two officers who came to my back door and knocked on my window. I was a little suprised since I've never had them do that before so it startled me...I had just realized the reason Jeff had pulled over was because we were being stopped. He said we were going 61 in a 45, which Jeff told him he just saw a sign saying 65. He said right before the bridge it was 45...Okay, so we're not going to argue with him about but we knew that. The officer proceeded to ask if we had any weapons...then asked Jeff to get out of the car and took him back to stand behind the truck. (Something else we've never had them do) We couldn't find out updated insurance card and he asked me to look for it which I did. This officer acted so suspicious of us, it was alarming. He kept shining his light in our luggage in the back of our truck and then questioned us separately about where we had been, why we were there, when we left....on the last question he asked me of why we were in Washington DC, I had a questioning tone to my voice of why are you interrogating me? I told him to ticket us for not having the insurance card and we'll go to court....which we intend on doing anyway because we really don't think we were speading. Jeff was well aware of the speed limit when he hit resume on his cruise control. I was expecting the officer to ask to search our vehicle any minute. The officer even asked Jeff who was in the car with him. It was pretty obvious I would say that we were a family. Anyway, its not the ticket that bothers me about this stop, but the suspicious way we were treated and interrogated for no reason at all.
Anyway, its been bothering me today so i thought I'd post before I forget. I have lots to post about our trip. We got home around 10pm last night. That was the most exhausting vacation I've ever had! Been unpacking, washing clothes, and catching up on email today!
Oh, and I didn't crochet one lick the whole time we were gone! Didn't have any time at all!! :)

I promise this is the absolute first free moment I have even come close to having since we left on Friday to post here on my blog. The trip was long, long, long. I started the drive off on Friday (5/11) while Jeff slept and I only made it to Shreveport, LA before I was tired myself. Jeff drove until he was sleepy, then we took a off road nap. We passed through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Virginia...We had been on the road over 24 hours with only stopping for bathroom breaks, drive-thru meals and our little hour road-side nap when we decided we couldn't drive anymore. We pulled into a Days Inn at about 11:30 pm and got a room for the night. We drove the 2 hours straight into DC the next morning. Now we did make a detour this day in Virginia to Look-Out Mountain.

I know I'm definately not the first to note how beautiful Virginia is. However, I know we missed alot of the beauty in the dark the night before. We'll see the mountains we missed on our drive home. We headed straight into DC by accident which was a mistake! But the next thing we new, there we were! We fought our way out and went to pay our respects at the Arlington Cemetary where we began our foot torture.


We weren't going to our hotel first so we had our dog, Brindi, with us. That is one reason we decided to go to use this day at Arlington Cemetary. We were able to take her with us here. We saw the site to see at the cemetary and then walked across the Potomac River Bridge where we prompty learned to stay out of the folks on bicycles way. Us Texans are much more leisurely people than these DC folk - LOL! This day would have been much easier if we didn't have Brindi to contend with. We found out we *could* have taken her on the subway if I would have known to bring her bag...which I had but it was ALL the way back in the truck...so we decided to walk instead. (We should have gone back for the bag! :) LOL. We proceeded to walk our feet off around the Washington DC Mall where we saw all of the monuments...Jefferson, Lincoln, Washington Memorials and the various other sites on the mall.






After all of that walking, that bridge was even longer on the trek back to our truck which was back at the Arlington Cemetary!
We drove to Baltimore, MD where our LaQuinta was at. We got some bad information from someone about where to find some eating places which got us caught in construction traffic and led us to NO eating places that we were interested in. I learned that Baltimore doesn't have "feeder" roads, as we call them in Texas. It looks like you are driving through a forest so you have to know where things are to find them because you can't see anything but trees from the highway. We were unsuccessful in finding anything and ended up eating at a Bennigans which was across from the hotel. This is the end of our first day's adventures....
I am having my first afternoon of rest at the hotel today, I will write more later..i need to because I'm already forgetting what we did each day.
I plan on relaxing the rest of the evening and watching the debate tonight on TV. I'm glad I won't have to miss that tonight. Jeff is at work so if we get hungry, we may have to venture across the street on foot to the McDonalds. There is a Wal-Mart over there too. If we get out, I am DEFINATELY going to buy me some in-soles for my shoes! I have been wearing my tennies but I swear I think I wore a hole in my foot today! Tomorrow, I hope I'll be "gellin'" - if I'm not my eyes will be swellin'

We're leaving tomorrow to drive to Washington DC! Jeff has to make a trip Baltimore for his work so we've decided to make the long trek with him. Jeff doesn't have to go to work until the afternoons so we're going to spend our mornings site-seeing and stay a few extra nights on our own dime. We're very excited about this trip! So, I'm not sure if I'll be posting until we get back. I may have some time while Jeff as at work to post about our days and what we're up to. We haven't had much time to plan but I'm sure we'll have a great time regardless. Some ideas we're thinking are is to see all the monuments (at least from afar), national archives, zoo, Smithsonian, Library of Congress, Engraving Bureau, the capital....alot depends on the crowds I'm sure. I'd love to hear any tips for what to see and do while we're there!
Wish us luck! It's ONLY a 22 hour drive for us! LOL...but Jeff and I will tag team the drive there.

Unfortunately, I don't have pattern links for any of these squares because they came from my pattern books!

Crochet Wrap Top = Cute!
Christina's Crochet Haven
ToHook.com � Wooly Britches
FreeSoakerPattern

I plan to make this square in a non-varigated yarn next time because you really can't tell much about the stitch using this yarn. Here is the link for this square pattern:
Crochet Crafts Virtual Afghan


This is a great square pattern! You can get such a variation of looks depending on the yarn colors you choose. Here is the pattern link:
Sunburst Granny Square



Here is the pattern link for the following square:
About.com: http://members.aol.com/gandal195/tictactoe.html



Sorry but I couldn't find where this square pattern is still available online anywhere. Another one of those I printed out as a free pattern a long time ago...

This was a special day for Alison. She had her grade 2 ballet exam today. They work very hard all year to get ready for this. Here are a few pictures:




After her exam, we went and strolled around Old Town Spring which is an old town with lots of shops. Here is Alison posing in a butterfly chair.



The rest of the month will be very busy with fittings, rehearsals, etc getting ready for the end of the year performance. Jeff will be making some of the props.

This is a king sized afghan that I made and I am making panels for my living room using the same method. I have had people ask me the pattern or how to make this afghan so here is my instructions. I do use patterns from books and the web to make the individual squares. This is my method.

I use 6" inch squares. You make any square of your choosing as long as it measures 6" when you are done. Hook size to make the squares depends on what your pattern calls for. I sometimes use patterns for 7" or 8" squares and just use a smaller hook size, leave off a round, or maybe do hdc in stead of dc on the final round....there is no right or wrong way...just keep a tape measure handy to measure it as you go along. You get really good at figuring out what stitch to do your last round in to get a 6" measurement. Once you have your 6" square, then I use Simply Soft Bone colored yarn and sc around each square. I want all my squares to have 24 sc on each side. I use a G Hook on my trim. You can come up with your own number...I just take a few of my completed 6 inch squares and count how many stitches are on each side of them. Pick a number that is close to or an average of what you already have. Then, I stick to this number for all my squares for the entire project. As I add my first row of trim, I will either increase or decrease to get, in my case, 24 sc on each side (3 sc in each corner). Once you have your row of sc around the entire square, you can quit counting. The 2nd row of trim, I hdc in each sc around the entire square...3 hdc in each corner stitch. Leave a 12" tail on last stitch to use for attaching squares together. I try to make a point to not have squares with the same colors in them beside each other. You can either sew them together as you get enough squares to make a row or do it all last. How many squares per row just depends on what you making....I just laid mine on my bed after I got a bunch of finished squares made to decide how many squares I needed per row. This project is so fun because you can pick out any color you like for your squares and use lots of different colors and yarns and patterns...it doesn't matter. Your tan trim ties it all together and makes it look sorta "quilty"! I make all my new squares at home but I keep a stack of un-trimmed squares for an easy on-the-go project to grab. I put several squares in a gallon zip lock back along with my tan yarn, a crochet hook and some small scissors. Now I'm ready, if when I'm out and waiting in a doctor's office or whatever...I have something to do!
Hope this made some kind of sense!!

This afghan is made using the same method except I used pink yarn for my trim. I prefer the tan, myself but I made this one for my girl.

Vote for the dog you think is the cutest! I had fun at this site today!

puppywar.com

Spent some time cleaning and organizing my craft closet today. Now I'm trying to help my son clean his "distaster area" room. You literally cannot walk through that place!! It's scary to think what we might come across in there! Yikes!!