Crochet Me Crazy

Almost finished with a watermelon hat and scarf. The water bottle cozy Alison uses to take her water to dance class is getting worn out so I started one making her a new one today as well. I'll probably finish both of those projects tomorrow because I will be working in the visitor's center and will have plenty of time to kill on my hands!

Well, our lives might be changing in a dramatic way shortly. We are still deciding on what to do but I think it we might be crazy not to at least try it. We have the opportunity to go live in a small house on some people's ranch and do daily caretaking. Without going into the details, it's part time and I'm afraid it's a big committment to take on, especially if Jeff gets the job we're hoping he gets BUT at the same time, I'm sure that it would be a great learning experience for all of us. We can put our RV there as well so the kids could have their own rooms in the RV and Jeff & I would have the bedroom in the house. They have a beautiful place...we would take care of the horses, llamas, chickens & cows (mainly feeding) and other jobs that need done. Alison is hoping so bad that we do it because she dreams of living with horses and longs for some space. Michael...well, he doesn't want to leave the park. It's hard not to get excited about such a big change!

Well, I've pretty much decided to give up on the particular afghan pattern I was working on. The pattern is extremely confusing. My edges are un-even.

I haven't had this problem since I first started crocheting! I'm going to take this all out and either go back to the drawing board or I'm going to start on the one from the Crochet World Mag.

Here is a picture of a potholder that I finished.

Well, I've really been enjoying our new campsite (except for the skunks)! Jeff is fighting off the skunks as I'm tyoing...and they don't scare away easily! The deer come every day.
Here are some Axis deer...

And here are a couple of the White Tail that visit every evening...

It took a picture of the canopy of trees over our RV...


Well, I have to brag on my son. He is so amazing...he told me he was making a quiver and he sat down and designed this and this was made when I got home from dance this evening...



I started on a potholder today. I made quite progress on it so I'll probably have time to finish it up tomorrow.

Well, we have an excellent job prospect for Jeff in the works right now. I do pray it works out. He took a test yesterday and hopefully we will hear something from them this week. It's in access control... the same industry his past jobs were in.
Another interesting part time job/living arrangement has come up as well. Not sure if we're going to do it or not. It sure sounds like a great arrangement but I'm holding out judgement for the time being. It involves horses again! Jeff has already talked to the people and we're meeting with them this week so me and the kids can meet the people. We'll see.....

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"Take your needle, my child, and work at your pattern —
it will come out a rose by and by.
Life is like that . . . one stitch
at a time, taken patiently."
— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Here is the picture of the afghan I was previously planning on making. (It's the white one on the right)

Now, I'm realizing I still don't have enough yarn for the new afghan choice either! The types of afghans are very textured so they use a lot of yarn. Should I go back to the search for a totally different pattern that I don't have to buy more yarn for or wait until I can get back to town to buy more yarn? So witch afghan do you like better? Here is what was my first choice again...

I'll admit I wasted too much time today searching for and downloading free patterns from Ravelry today! I don't go there very often and I don't utilize all the features it has to offer. Since I wait so long between visits, there is always so many free patterns I seemed to have missed! So many talented people on that site!! However, with no offense to any of my fair readers, I have to say that I just don't understand some of the attraction to some of the crochet trends these days....some of the patterns I just look at and wonder why would I want to make that? So I guess that's good news for me because that means I won't waste near as much time downloading those patterns! LOL

I worked on making transcripts for the kids over the past two days. I hadn't kept very good records for Michael so his was a bit harder but I have been keeping up with Alison's very well. At this rate, she will be able to graduate early and she has a perfect grade point average. Having her transcript as an ongoing project will also help me to keep her on track with her schooling. I was pretty proud of both transcripts when I was finished.

Well, here is the purse I finished. I used "I Love This Yarn" and I should have used a stiffer yarn on this.



I started on a Watermelon Hat and Scarf today. I'm not going to get far on it though. I realize I need black beads for the watermelon seeds. I'm going to have to pick those up next week.

Well, Jeff and Michael did something today that I doubt many people have done....they buried a man. Jeff learned this morning of the death of an elderly man whom we know his dear wife. He's been sick in a nursing home for some time so it wasn't totally unexpected. We also knew about his wishes in his will. Jeff had already built the man's coffin last year. His wishes were to be buried with nothing...no service, no fancy burial, no mortician...just to be buried in a wooden box. So that is what they did today. They picked him up and went directly to the cemetary where just the 4 men buried him there where they had the hole dug. May he rest in peace and many prayers for his widowed wife. I know she must be hurting right now.

Well, on a brighter note - I admit I have had the opportunity to finish that purse over the past two days but I've been reading a book that I couldn't put down instead! I've actually read two books this week! First I read "Monster" by Frank Peretti and I just finished "House" which is also by Frank Peretti co-authored with Ted Dekker. We bought quite a few books at thrift stores while we were on our trip. Both books were quite the page turners.

I read this on the Red Heart Facebook page...I think this is true...

HEALTH BENEFITS: Knit and crochet projects are often considered family heirlooms, but there is a growing body of evidence that the repetitive nature of the activities are calming, relaxing. "The rhythmic, repetitive movements of a hobby like knitting are soothing and distracting," Katherine Applegate, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist for the Duke University health system told the Ladies Home Journal.

Hopefully, a purse picture tomorrow!

Well, I went to the stables today and spending some time up there with the horses made me feel better. I love soft horsey noses and pressing my nose up to their necks....God made them so special.

Well, we just got finished running around like chickens with our heads cut off getting ready for a big storm! Michael and I ran around the park warning all the campers of the storm that is heading our way...40-50 miles an hour winds, hail and heavy rain and lighting. I am praying God protects our RV from falling branches. We got everything in we don't want wet, put up in the awning and tried to put the cars somewhere safe from hail. Alison hates the thunder and lightning but I told her this rain is an answer to many, many prayers! I turned all the lights off and opened up the shades. I'm just sitting here watching the blackened sky light up. It really doesn't seem to be raining all that hard right now.

Well, I should have a completed crochet project to show in the next day or two. I'm just about finished with a purse I decided to make.

I'm seriously considering frogging my afghan I started and starting on a different one instead. I saw a pattern I like in the October 2011 Crochet World magazine I like that doesn't require as much yarn and since I didn't buy enough yarn to make the one I started on and I haven't been able to get back and get anymore, I'm thinking of making this one instead. I really haven't gotten very far on it yet anyway.
Here is a picture of the afghan I'm thinking of changing to:

Crochet World October 2011 Issue

We are home and we are settled into our new site in the state park. I love it right now because everything is always so neat and tidy when we first move into a site.

If we can just keep it that way! I love this site so much better than the last one. We have lots of room! The kids put up tents this time. Michael has one to store all his junk in and Alison is going to scrapbook in the other one. The best part is that I have internet! Yay! It's very slow internet but I'm not complaining since its free! I'm also a lot closer to the washing facilities and ice, etc. We actually got some RAIN yesterday and today! Thank God for that! It wasn't a whole lot but hopefully more is coming. So anyway, we're just settling back into the routine now. I worked in the visitor's center today and Alison and Jeff are working at the stables today. I'm not going to the stables today because I know it will be muddy and messy. I hate to pass up a chance to see the horses but there's always tomorrow.

Well, we are at the end of our trip visiting relatives. We managed to see a lot of relatives this past week! the first couple of nights we were at Jeff's parent's house. Jeff's little sister,her boyfriend, and their new baby came one day to see us. We haven't seen his sister in 4 years and we had never seen the baby sot that was nice.

Next, we drove to one of my sister's house on the lake. I have another sister that drove there to see us with her son. My son and her son talk on the phone all the time and hadn't seen each other in a while. The kids went through 4 dozen minnows that day fishing and caught over 40 fish!

We kept about 30 of them. Alison also learned to water ski and they kids got drug around the lake on a tube.

From there, we left to got see my other sister! (Yes, I have 3 sisters) They have a beautiful home and we visited with them. We went to their neighborhood pool. They have a media room in there house. The kids thought that was cool. Alison enjoyed taking a bath in their jacuzzi tub. The kids got a little rested at their house after not getting a lot of sleep at the lake. Yesterday, drove back to Jeff's parents house. I'm washing laundry and the kids are still sleeping. I'm ready to get on the road soon. It's a long drive home.

We made it to Jeff's parents house tonight safe and sound. Boy, I really am turning into a "hick" though...driving through the cities of Austin and San Antonio make my hair stand on end! The strangest things I notice now while we're here...all that water in the toilet when you flush and how the floors feel so sound and solid when you walk on them! It is literally such a strange sensation to me after walking around in an Rv for 1 1/2 years! It really is funny...boy the things you take for granted! I'm on the internet at their house right now. Boy, I was downloading a podcast that I listen to and my jaw dropped when I saw how fast it downloaded! I forget that internet this fast even existed! What normally takes me about 45 minutes to download only took about 7 minutes! Wow!

Well, after yesterday's slow day, we made up for it today! It has been really busy today all day and we were completely booked. I don't think it was as busy as last Labor Day but last Labor Day was just insane. I'm so tired. The wind has been blowing up a storm and there is little "twisters" of dust flying around everywhere. My face and my whole body is covered with dirt...no, I really mean I have visible dirt all over my face. I think I've done about 10 pony rides today...meaning a lot of walking for me! Glad for busy days though!

I definately have my crochet inspiration back. I've got myself a little stack of patterns picked out of stuff I want to make. Mostly little projects so that will get in the way of my progress on my fisherman afghan but that's okay. I figure it's really a little hot to be working on a afghan right now anyway. Once I get enough of it done, I'll post pictures of my progress on that.

We are about to be moving to another camp host site in the park in the next week or so. The people leaving the site keep changing their mind about what day they are leaving but whenever that turns out to be, we are moving into that site. Looking forward to that because my RV will be completely shaded and I will be able to access the public internet in the park from my RV! YAY! Thank God for little blessings!!

Well, I hope everyone is having a wonderful Labor Day Weekend!

Wow, last year on this day, we were so busy at the stables we could scarcely breathe. It was the busiest day we had had the whole year. Today, we have had 4 riders so far today. It's bordering on boring up here today. There are not a lot of campers in the park today either.

There is a big dark cloud hanging over the stables today.

Will it rain? We can only pray that it will but it won't surprise me if it passes right over us.

Well, my husband has applied for a tax appraiser job here. He is the only applicant so far and the board is having a meeting in about a week. Pray that if it is God's will, he will get the job! He might not be the most popular guy in town, and the pay isn't great, but at least it would be a secure job and we can get on with some kind of normal life.

Well, I started on my Fisherman Crochet afghan last week. Exactly what I was afraid would happen, happened. I got to my second series of pattern stitches and I could not figure out how to do the "knurl" stitch. I kept looking at the illustrations and it just didn't make sense. I sat there forever trying to figure it out, hoping I don't have to give up! Then I decided to seek help on the internet. I found out that a "knurl" stitch is simply a reverse single crochet! Well, why didn't they say so...and those illustrations make it look much more involved than it actually is...I mean it's really so simple! So, I've made it past that hurdle. I haven't made it much further though.

There have been days this week that have been unbelievably hot. One day it was 112 degrees on the thermometer at the stables.

Alison's first dance class of the year was on Monday.

She has been very sore this week from working all those muscles that haven't been worked all summer!

Tuesday, some kids asked Michael to take them on a hike. Alison went with them. Michael is so used to hiking ALL over this park in the heat of the day. It doesn't seem to phase him. Even park rangers talk about how Michael walks all over the park in the heat of the day. They offer him a ride and he turns them down. Well, anyway...Michael took those kids more of a hike than they could handle. Michael calls me to tell me to bring them water. By the time they got off the mountain, this poor little 16 year old girl was all scraped up and bruises from falling down so much and she was pretty heat exhausted. These two kids with them were so desperate for water, they were picking up water bottles along the trail and drinking whatever water was in them! I got them in the car with some water. I told Michael he should have called me sooner. We could have sent someone with water up to them. Anyway, my kids were fine but Alison had brought here hydropak with water. She had started sharing with the other kids until she ran out. My kids are pretty tough and they have been conditioned to the heat this summer I guess.

Today, we are working at the stables. Labor Day Weekend is the last tourist rush of the summer. The campers are streaming back into the park for the weekend and hopefully they will want to come horseback riding while they are here!

I have finished a little crochet bag. Just a little project to fill the time.




I also made these two little scrubbies this morning. Just a little quickie. I should put some little french knots in black on the red one and it would look like a watermelon!