Crochet Me Crazy

Well, I had plans to post my finished sock monkey hat tonight but today just got away from me! I never got the picture taken and now I'm sooo tired!

Well, how about a recipe instead? This is a recipe I found on Pinterest and I've made it several times now. It's a new favorite soup recipe! We all love it and I LOVE it because it's super easy to make!

Here's the original recipe link:
Mangio da Sola: Broccoli Cheddar Soup
I made a few changes and here is the recipe with my changes...
Broccoli Cheddar Soup

* 1/4 cup butter
* 1/2 chopped onion
* 1 clove garlic
* 1/4 cup flour
* 1 cup half-and-half
* 1 cup milk
* 2 cups chicken stock (I used bouillon cubes + boiling water)
* 16 oz bag frozen broccoli cuts
* 1/2 cup carrot, shredded and chopped (I didn't measure, I just added it for color)
* 1/4 tsp nutmeg
* 8 ounces grated sharp cheddar cheese
* 4 ounces Velveeta cheese
* Salt and pepper to taste


Sauté the onion (and garlic) in the butter over medium heat. Add in the flour, stirring constantly. Add in the half and half, milk, and chicken stock. Bring to almost a boil.
Add broccoli and carrots. Simmer on low heat for about 15 minutes or until the broccoli is done.

Season the soup with the salt, pepper, & nutmeg. Stir in the cheeses and simmer while stirring until the cheeses are melted!

If you want to see a more appealing picture, then go to the original recipe link above. This is how it looks in my kitchen, trying to get a quick picture before we gobble it up! Yum!



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We've been getting drizzly rain all day....Yay and Yuck! Mud boots are a necessity around here it seems! Kept all the dogs inside most of the day today because of it. The owner's came home tonight so our house is bigger tonight! LOL!

Well, I have a crochet sock monkey hat on my hook right now but it's not finished yet. I finished a crochet beard hat over the weekend and I talked my husband into modeling it for me because it's too big for Alison. He wasn't real thrilled....



Okay, so I think I got the bearded hats out of my system now -- lol! I might look ridiculous, but there could be a cold morning that I might be thankful for that!

What's on my hook now? A sock monkey hat! I am in a mood aren't I?

Since Jeff is off on Sunday's, I'm really enjoying a Sunday! It's doesn't feel quite as lonely when he's around here. We didn't go to church this morning since we didn't have the day off today. We had to stick around here to do the chores. Jeff put in some extra hours around here.

Alison and her friend had a wonderful weekend after being apart for 2 weeks! They went horseback riding on Saturday and Sunday. It's so great having such great horses that they can go out and do that. They are allowed to ride whenever they want as long as they stay on the property (over 200 acres). The dogs usually go running out with them. They took the camera and took some pictures while they were out....


Saturday, they packed a pic-nic in a saddle bag and rode up the mountain....they took some pictures of the view...


I took this picture of them when they were heading back to the barn...


What a life! :)

Well, hope everyone has a WONDERFUL week!

I finished an earflap hat this morning.

No pattern on this. I like to make hats like this...Just make a DC crown and then further down towards the brim add a row of FPDC, Then two rows of alternating FPDC, FPDC, then another row of FPDC. Makes a nice little texture in there.



I fiddled around with the earflaps quite a bit and undid them a bunch of times because I wasn't getting the shape I wanted. I finally just ended up going with this even though it isn't exactly what I was shooting for. I think I need to try taking my pictures during the day outside in natural light. I usually take them at night in the house and the lighting in our house is pretty dim. It seems like I can never get pictures to show the colors right.



I'm trying to decided whether I should add a beard to this or not. I've got the beard made but I haven't sewed it on. That's what I originally made it for. I think the beard hats are cute. I mean warm and novel at the same time!

Anyway, I spent a while looking around on Etsy this morning. I saved a few patterns I like. I want to buy a few patterns after Jeff gets a paycheck. It's been so long since I've bought anything that wasn't a "need"...well, crochet patterns ARE a "need" for me, but you know what I mean. My husband is going to be paying me back my personal savings that we have spent on groceries and bills so I'm going to buy myself some patterns! I now have to go back through the patterns I saved and check and see which designers say you can't sell the finished items. I will be crossing those off my list. I don't buy patterns from designers that say you can't sell your finished items. It's one of my pet peaves -- I respect their effort that goes into designing; however, I'm not selling their pattern, I'm selling my "work" and that's worth something. Even though I rarely sell my crochet stuff, if I ever want to, I'm not going to go digging back through my patterns to see if I can sell it or not! Geez...to me it's ridiculous for someone to tell me I can't sell something that I have hours of work and the cost of materials in! Anyway, I do respect the ability of people to write patterns...myself, I'm much too lazy! However, if I ever did write them, certainly people would be free to sell their finished items!

Okay...so I'm stepping down off the soap box now....

I wasn't home much today. After Alison finished her school work we went into town and stopped in Mrs. Grain's shop (even though she's out of town). We stopped in to say HI to our neighbor that was working in there & Michael wanted to see how much she's selling his leather work for. We picked up Alison's friend, Phoebe, who lives 5 miles out of town. Then, we went 7 miles the other direction to the Stables for Alison to see Princess. (We do a lot of driving out here and it STILL takes us less time to get somewhere than it did to go across the street in Houston!) Anyway, we stayed there for several hours helping Mrs. Stable feed the horses. It's quite a production right now because she's feeding them grain since they don't have any Alfalfa hay. (They need protein) Anyway, they have to be brought in to eat separately (there's 34 horses)! It gets a bit dicey at times because they LOVE that grain and they ALL want in the barn really bad and they don't really want to leave when their done. Anyway, I feel bad that Mrs. Grain is having to do it all by herself when Mr. Grain is out of town so we stayed and helped with that. Then, we rushed home to take care of our animals out here.

Now I'm about ready to get ready for bed. Tomorrow's another day!

Welp, the bosses are out of town until Monday. That means we have a house full for the weekend --- 6 dogs!

Well, here's a hat I made from a ball of Lion Brand yarn from my thrift store find.

This picture doesn't do it justice. The color is all wrong and you can't even really see my flower. I WAS going to make a scarf to go with it but I ran out of yarn! Blah.... So I may just make a skinny scarf to go with it. Just start crocheting and see how long it will get and if how long it will get is long enough....or I could just make another hat with it? Hmmmm.....

What else....hmmmm...nothing really. How about a picture I took of our menagerie today....3 of the dogs, Grace, and the horses coming to say "Hello".

I ran to get the camera to get a video of Andrew (the colt) playing. He was running, jumping and kicking all over the place. Well, of course, he had stopped by the time I got back with my camera so I took this picture instead.

Well, the weekend is just about here. Um...what's a weekend? Oh, well at least Alison is happy because she'll be back on track with her Algebra by this weekend and she is getting to have her friend over. They have big plans to ride the horses up the big hill and have a picnic.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

I was so glad to see Grace was okay this morning when I got up. Last night, we had a big rain storm with strong winds blow through. Alison's dance teacher's front screen door was blown off!! Yesterday, we knew it was going to rain so we set up a place for cover for Grace in the yard using hay bales and tarps. The problem is that she really wouldn't go in there all day yesterday. She seemed scared of it. So last night was trying to get her to go in there before the storm hit. She seemed nervous with the winds. I went to bed and then I heard it start raining...so I got up and went outside. She wasn't in the shelter. I got in the shelter and she followed me in. I sat out there with her for at least 30 minutes while she sniffed around and investigated. I watched her and waited with her until I saw she was finally relaxing and she laid down beside me. Then, I went inside and went to bed. I was hoping she would stay in there. The big part of the storm hit sometime later in the night. It woke me up a few times. So this morning, I went out and was very glad to see her nibbling her food in her little shelter and she was dry! Well, good...today she seems to like it in there now and is laying down in there. I'm glad that we finally have a place of shelter established for her that she accepts. As you can see, I love that little deer!



So anyway, this day slipped by pretty quick on me. I made another hat out of some Lion Brand Homespun I got in my thrift store yarn. That's about all I know to use Homespun for...or maybe some slippers but I'm not in a slipper mood right now. Lion Brand Homespun is such a pretty yarn but I really hate crocheting with it. There will be another beard hat coming soon though....I found a free pattern online I'm going to try.

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Well, yesterday I fell down the stairs in our house! It's horrible -- that split second when you realize..."Oh my God, I'm falling and there's nothing I can do about it!" Stupid crochet slippers -- that's why I fell! I need to put a warning on those things! Actually, I usually do warn people when I give them away to be careful because they are slippery. I have been careful on those stairs, knowing in the back of my mind, that it was eventually going to happen. Well, yesterday I was in a bit too much of a hurry and wasn't thinking and wham....it hurt but thankfully nothing major except I'm very sore. I hit both arms, my finger is cut, but my right hip in the back took most of the fall. I'm sore and I feel it when I sit down. By last night I had a HUGE, really mean looking bruise. I'm afraid to look today because it was actually hurting where there was no bruise. I think that bruise will surface over the next few days. Okay, but that's not all! Later on in the day yesterday, I was talking on the phone and was going to step into Grace's pen and I lost my balance and fell down again! (I have to sorta climb over her fence onto a big rock to get in there) Yes, I hit the ground! I started thinking maybe I should stay home today!

Okay, well nothing else exciting to report. Just more of the same...Alison's been wanting me to go watch dance so I went last night and brought my crochet with me. I've got a couple of small projects going but this one finished first! I've been seeing pictures of these beard hats around and having been wanting to take a shot at this for awhile now!

What a great day today was....(the weather was simply gorgeous! We've had a couple of those beautiful days this week) I tried to sleep in a little bit since Sunday is our day off but that proved to be futile. So I got up and tended to the chickens anyway. I mucked stalls anyway. Jeff had his day off today. We went to church this morning. Jeff had a few chores to do around here today since he's been gone so much this week. He had to empty the poop spreader, haul hay to the feed room, patch a hole in the 4-wheeler tire. He also spent hours working on Algebra with Alison, helping her with the lessons she had problems with this past week.

Alison had a really nice riding session with Mrs. Grain today. She taught Alison a lot of stuff she can practice on Magic this week. She has a whole lot of riding expertise to share with Alison. She's learning how to really ride a horse with her body and not the reigns. She will eventually be able to get on Magic and ride him bridleless. Mrs. Grain was very impressed with Alison. She said she is a natural. She was doing stuff in minutes that takes a lot of practice to do. It's hard to believe that two years ago, we knew nothing about horses and now they are such a big part of our lives. I told Alison she is completely blessed to be here right now. People pay a lot of money to have people teach them what Alison is getting to learn here.

Only one day off....it's back to work for another 6 days for Jeff. He got home so late last night that I was already asleep. He worked about 55 hours this week and that does not include the driving which has often been an average of an additional 3-4 hours a day. We are thankful for the job for sure but we will be very glad when this training is over.

Well, here's a great blog I found with a lot of cute free patterns on it. You might want to check it out if you haven't visited this blog already! Crochet Creative Creations

Well, here's a picture of the hat I finished a couple of days ago....


That's about all I'm managed to output this week. It's been so busy!

I haven't forgotten that I still need to get a picture of my Prairie Star Afghan!...Time hasn't been on my side!

Have a great week!

Very uneventful day today.... I actually didn't have any problems getting up a 5 am this morning! I do, however, have to get up earlier than normal again tomorrow...Michael has a job drenching goats (hundreds of them) tomorrow and I have to drive him out there. It's WAY, WAY out there. Jeff used to do this job but he can't now that he's working so Michael is inheriting it. Not bad money but it's sure not EASY money. Pray my son doesn't get impaled by a goat tomorrow! So....anyway, I'm tired and going to bed so here's some pictures from our day today...

Goofy Magic...he's such a SMART horse! He's very good at opening gates. He uses his lips like hands!



Now, that Alison can ride bareback...she's taking full advantage of the ease of riding without having to take the time to saddle.



My sweet, sweet little baby girl....

Sometimes I am able to get pictures of it stuff but its not easy to do! He doesn't let me! Well, I snagged these pictures he had taken himself on my camera! HA! He's been busy with his leatherwork. He has some of his items in our boss's store in town. I believe he has sold at least one items and is having a lot of interest in the gauntlets he makes but he needs to make some bigger sizes. Why he doesn't do it, I don't know. He gave them this bag of stuff he's made today with these items in there. The flashlight cover Mr. Grain is buying before it ever hits the store and he wanted the two knife sheaths as well. Michael told him he would make him one that he can pick out the pattern he wants on it.











Next....Alison got to ride bareback today for the first time! Something she's been itching to do but hasn't been able to do.




Mrs. Grain and the neighbor were riding today and Alison only had 20 minutes before she had to get ready for dance so Mrs. Grain said...Oh, just get a bridle and hop on him bareback then! Mrs. Grain showed her how to get Magic to pivot his front body and then to pivot his hind quarters. They might be trailering the horses and going for a longer ride on Sunday or Monday.

Oh mercy me! I have to get up at 5 am in the morning! I have to drive jeff so he can pick up his service van tomorrow --- I really hate getting up that early so I'm going to bed!!

Well, today was a bit more slower paced...mainly because we didn't have anywhere we had to go.

Have you ever just picked up whatever yarn you had sitting by you and whatever pattern you had sitting by you and just starting crocheting it without much thought? Well, I haven't...until today. Alison has to use my computer to do her Algebra lessons on. I came in ready to sit down for a minute and check my computer stuff. She had my computer and I couldn't just sit there! I just grabbed what was in my basket...looked at my pattern stack and started crocheting this: No thought went into it whatsover...I'll post that picture later when I'm finished with it. It's turning out more of a child size hat I think and my color choices could have been better but since I was too lazy to walk upstairs for yarn then this is what I'll get. Oh well, it kept my hands busy. I am not a person who can sit idle.

I was going to post a picture of two ear warmers but when I went to upload my pictures, I realized I had taken another picture of the cream colored one I had already posted! The new one I made is the same color but the flower is different. Guess that will be tomorrow's post! LOL

Here is a brown one....



Here's how I made it:

J Hook and worsted weight yarn.

Ch 13

Sc in 2nd chain from hook and each chain across (12 sc); turn

Ch 1, sc in back loop of first stitch and each ch across (12 sc)

Repeat row 3 until you have 62 rows.

(You can make it less or more until your piece fits your head, just make sure it ends with an even number.)

Joining row -- now you will ch2 and turn; now you fold it in half and you sl st in beginning row stitch and the back loop of row 62.
(Back loop makes it where your ribbing pattern doesn't get messed up in this join; however, if it does I wouldn't worry about it too much. Just sew your flower on there and no one will see it!)

Sew your flower on! You can get lots of free patterns for flowers online.

Sorta an improvision on techniques I've learned making flowers but here is how I made the flower on this brown ear warmer:

Ch 6, join with sl st to form ring

1) Sl sti in ring. Ch 3, 2 dc in ring, ch 3, sl st in 3rd ch from hook (picot made); * work 3 dc in ring;
repeat from * 4 more times. Join to top of beg ch3. (18 dc)

2) Sc in next dc; *ch 6, skip next dc, next picot, and next dc, sc in next dc; repate from * 5 more times; join
with sl st in beg sc (6 loops)

3) * In ch 6 loop: sc, hdc, dc, tr cr, picot, tr ct, dc, hdc, sc; sl st in next sc; repeat from * 5 times ending with the last
sl st as a join

I think the flower is much too big on this. ...I think you should use a smaller hook on the flower so it won't be so gargantuos but that's up to you!

Oh my! I was reading my email this morning and this was in my Crochet Lover's Daily email! Look familiar? I made my headband before I saw this and I did not use this pattern!

Trendy Headbands and Trims Pattern Pack

Literally! Ah, I cleaned all of Grace's poop out of the hay barn and then Michael and I cleaned the chicken house! Jeff usually cleans the chicken house but it really wasn't that bad. Just had to sweep all the crud out with a big broom and then Michael dumped new mulch in and we spread it out. Heck, those chicken deserve it (not that I think they care)...they gave me 12 eggs yesterday!

Boy, I've been so busy this week. There's been no extra time...everything started back full force this week....Jeff's job, Alison started back to dance, school work, plus taking care of all the animals is keeping me busy! Jeff has been getting home late and then having to tutor Alison in her Algebra. She's been having some trouble. Thank God my hubby is a math whiz! They are in there doing Algebra right now and I'm in bed! It's after 10 pm. I don't know how Jeff does it. He's having to get up at 4:30-5:00 in morning to drive the 90 miles to work. This is only for training though. Once he's done with training, he won't be driving so far.

Tonight after Alison's dance, the kid's had youth service! They haven't been to youth in a long time because the youth they used to go to was just too far now that we moved out here. Then, lo and behold, the youth pastor from that youth group moved here to our town and is now leading youth at a church here! Very convenient! It's very small right now and I basically brought the entire youth group tonight. There was one kid already there when we got there and I dropped off the rest -- Alison, her friend Phoebe, another girl from dance, Michael, and Morgan (the stable owner's grandson). The church and youth group is new so it'll take some time for it to grow.

I plan on making some more head warmers until I can get time to figure out what else I should crochet. They are the perfect project for the time being while things are so busy. I don't need a project that required me to concentrate or worry about losing my place at the moment. I'm going to try to jot the pattern down on the next one. I'm going to make another cream colored one for myself or Alison but I'm changing the ribbing up a bit so it won't be exactly the same.

In the meantime, here's another square that I had set the pattern aside to make when I had a chance. I thought it was cute. I think I made last week. I call it my crooked bear square.



Obviously, it's not *supposed* to be crooked though. This pattern seemed to have some issues though. I almost quit it but decided to go on. I ended up having to make some adjustments and wing it a bit...I guess that's why my bear is crooked! LOL! Oh well...I made it and now it can go into the black hole of completed things I don't know what to do with! If you want to give it try, here's the pattern posted on Crochetville....
Teddy Bear Squared- an 8 inch square pattern

Well, today was a busy, busy day even though I was home all day. Since I had so little time, in my spare moments I just grabbed some yarn and started on another ear warmer. These are definately something I could make to sell simply because they are quick enough where you could make a decent profit. Maybe I should hit up some of the local shops around here.

This yarn is some yarn I got in my thrift store yarn find. I grabbed this yarn because there is only one ball. Tucked in the ball was the label....I was amazed to see that this is a Berrocco yarn and the price tag was $10 for this ball! Wow --- I have never paid that much for one ball of yarn! Thank God for thrift stores!

I made this ear warmer awhile back. I didn't use a pattern. I just did a rib stitch the length and width I needed. I figured the stretch of a rib stitch would be good for this. I made it to wear feeding the horses when its cold outside. I didn't finish it off and was wearing it with my ends hanging out! LOL! Thanks goodness I didn't finish it off because I decided it was too big so today I took some rows off and made it nice and snug. I finished it off and then added the flower today. Here it is being modeled by my sweet daughter:




I think I will need to make another one because she is going to steal it!

Tomorrow Jeff starts his job --- why am I nervous? I don't know...it's sorta strange but I am! He has to get up and leave really early in the morning to be in San Antonio by 8 am! Tomorrow will be our first day on our own around here. The kids have their chore lists ready to go.

Today we got some fence rolls from a friend and expanded Grace's yard. It's sorta funny because she still sorta hung out mostly in her normal area even though she could go further. Poor little girl...she's had such a hard time. Her leg hurts her to walk on it I think. Otherwise, she still seems healthy.

Finally had a day at home today. I had time to sort through my thrift store yarn find! That was fun! I got my yarn winder out and wound up some of the messy balls.
Gosh I miss my yarn organization I had when I had a house. I used to have yarn bins but when we moved, I packed my yarn in boxes and the kids used the bins in the camper for their clothes and stuff. When Jeff starts working, I'm going to get me some more yarn bins so I can find my yarn easily. I've got plenty of room upstairs in my room to put them.
I found 7 balls of Sirdar yarn in there. This alone would have probably cost more to buy new that I paid for the whole lot...

I also have a lot of this 100 percent wool. They are tiny little skeins of tapestry yarn. Not sure what to do with this. It is wool so I wonder if I could do some felting with this?

At last, I got all the little small balls of scraps together which reminded me of my scrap afghan! I have a box I keep all my scrap yarn in. I don't let it get too full before I add it to my scrap project. I've shown this on my blog before. I'm going to work on adding to this and getting my scrap box under control. This is made from a simple rectangle granny square.

I love scrap blankets. They are so....Usable. I used them without guilt. I have another one I made that I keep in the truck. I used it just this week to set down on the cold bleachers at the stock show to keep my fanny warm.

Well, the week is drawing to a close! Next week everything "starts" again! Alison goes back to dance classes and Jeff starts his new job. Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

We were procrastinating the trip to the grocery store so Jeff & Alison went on a horse back ride this morning before we went.




Alison was bugging daddy to go with her. This is actually the first time he has ridden a horse out here.

Well, a friend asked me to make a "monokini"...what the heck is a monokini? Well, apparently some star wore one and now they are the rage. OKAY. Well, that sent me on a quest to find a pattern. I found one on Etsy but her ad seemed...well...wrong to me. My instincts were right and come to find out she's selling a pattern that is not actually hers. A little investigation and discussion with some crochet friends discovered it is a pattern from a Russian magazine of sorts. So Anyway, it did lead me to these patterns, so if you're wondering what a "monokini" is check these out:

Dcrochet | Heart swimsuit

Dcrochet | Black swimsuit

I also found this pattern here:
Dcrochet | Vintage pineapple fantasy bodysuit / bathing suit This is the one I was going to make. I wouldn't wear something like this myself but I actually started on it but decided against it. It's a waste of time unless I purchase the right type of yarn for this project. So, I ripped it out....just not in the mood.

Still haven't had a change to rummage through my new yarn find. I need to rummage around in my pattern too and see what I want to make next. I actually wished I would have had a scarf yesterday at the stock show! I have a lot of scarves made but its soft fuzzy yarns mostly. Those are not conducive for my lifestyle. I need easy wash but I guess there isn't a scarf I could make that "hay" wouldn't stick to.

Well, here is a fish square I made a few nights ago....why? I don't know...I just felt like it.

Long day at the stock show today and IT WAS COLD!!! I'll spare you the details of that today. We went and watched as long as we could though before we had to leave and come feed our horses. I took care of Grace who missed me. I cooked dinner and we got dinner eaten and then the power went out. You don't know dark until the power goes out in the middle of the country! HA! I used the light of my computer screen as long as I could before it was running out of battery. We did have our flash lights. The kids walked down to the the Grain's house to see if they had any extra candles or something we could us. Mrs. Grain gave us a bunch of these cool little fake flickering candles that run on batteries and he gave us this big old antique lantern that works great! I used to be all prepared for this type of stuff when we lived in our house. I had a lot of oil lamps I could light. Anyway, by the time we got all settled, the lights came back on! They were off for about an hour or so. Anyway, it's all good now and I'm going to bed. We have to go to town for groceries tomorrow...we are sooooo out of food!

Have a good weekend!

I climbed into bed to lay down on my brand new mattress! We went to town today to take back the mattress we had bought when we moved in here. It was just too soft for me. Hopefully, my back will thank me. I can tell a big difference....we'll see how I feel in the morning!

I'm happy because now we will be able to pay my daughter back for the mattress and furniture Alison paid for when we moved in here! Jeff starts his new job on Monday!

Again.... Oooooh....Aaaah!.....

Looky what I got!!


I'm a very happy camper tonight! We walked into the Salvation Army thrift store today while we were in town and I spotted these. Of course, I made a bee line over to investigate. They were all taped up so I dug as best I could to see what was in them exactly and if they were worth it. I decided they were worth the risk and quickly grabbed them and put them on the counter. I have only been able to look through them briefly since I got them home and decided I definately got a a deal! There is yarn in there I've never owned before. I'm happy because there is 6 balls of Sidar DK weight yarn in there. I always see patterns calling for DK and I don't own any. There's lots of Simply Soft, some I Love This Yarn and some other stuff. I will be really sorting through it when I have time to lay it out somewhere! I'll share what I find with you!

Well, stock show is tomorrow! Another busy day. Alison won't be getting to participate this year but we're going to watch. We're heading to the stables in the morning where Alison is going to be moral support for their granddaughter. She's showing a horse for the first time and is nervous about it. Alison and everyone is pretty disappointed that Alison is getting to show Princess this year.