Crochet Me Crazy

Ah....the horses, cows, and llamas are fed and I'm just sitting here on my porch with the sound of chewing all around me. It's a bit on the cold side here but not too bad if you are in the sunshine. The girls and I went to the thrift stores in town today and made some other stops to say hello to people. I bought me a couple of sheets to start cutting for a rag rug.

Yesterday, Alison and I went over to stables. I showed Mrs. Stables how to do some stuff on the computer and how to cut the material for her to crochet a rag rug. It motivated me to want to make one too! I called my sister to tell her I'm motivated so if they can start cutting up my mom's clothes, I can make the rugs I promised. My mom left behind a lot of clothes and the idea was to make a keepsake rug for the sisters from her clothes. You know how you remember what your mom wore. Alison is already grown attachments to my clothes. She has a night gown that I wanted to throw away because it was so thread bare.

Other random stuff going on....we've got a baby llama that we separated from it's mama a few days ago. We have the baby in a stall and the idea is to start taming it. Alison has been working on her and today her and Phoebe made some headway with it. They were able to get it to stop running away at times and pet it. The llama should do better and better the more we mess with her.

Also, we have two baby cows! The steers will be separated in the next week or so...so we don't have anymore babies! These were really unplanned babies that no one was expecting!

Um....let's see what else....Jeff is happy because today is his "Friday". He has tomorrow and Monday off! The first two days he's had off in 6 weeks! He'll have a day to work here at the ranch and a day to rest.

I've been working on making some hexagons to make this purse I found on this blog:
Almond Blossom Bag

The picture is really terrible on the colors. They also don't really look like hexagons...they sorta look like circles!



My scrap yarn ball box was filling up so I have also been working on adding that yarn to my scrap afghan.

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.

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!

It's is absolutely AMAZING how much things can change around here over night. After a rowdy weekend of campers...we even had a knock on our door at 2 am with someone reporting loud fighting which ended up resulting in the arrest of a woman Saturday night. By Sunday, they were ALL packing up to go home and we woke up Monday morning to not a soul as far as the eye could see. Our loop has had one camper in it this week. The nights are so different. The darkness is complete and silent....nothing but the sound of crickets and scurrying critters. At night, I look up and see the Milky Way streaming across the sky. It's been quite a nice week.

We haven't worked at the stables since Sunday since there is no tourists here to go on horse rides. Jeff started working on a another job finishing out a tack room. Today we drove to Kerrville to get some supplies for the job and we did a little shopping. I went to the craft store and decided to buy some Caron One Pounders in a cream color. I want to make an afghan for myself. I see pretty afghans in other people's houses and think how ridiculous it is that I don't have one myself when I crochet so much! I bought the one pounders since its the most economical they had and I wanted to make sure I had enough for whatever pattern I end up choosing. Now, I'll be trying to decide what pattern I want to use.

Today, Alison is working at the stables but not Jeff. They have one small ride of 3 people so its not worth it to pay two employees. I'm glad because she has been pining away to see Princess and the other horses. She can hardly stand to go a day without seeing them.

Well, I have not one but two completed crochet projects! One little quickie bag I made in a day this week.




Next, is the the completed Crocodile Stitch Bag.



I started on a hat but I hate the way its turning out and I'm going to frog it. I'll get something else started this week I'm sure since we're not real busy anymore.

Well, I made this little purse as a quickie until I figure out what I want to work on next. This is such a cute little pattern. I will definately be visiting this pattern again. It has such a nice shape. Next time, I believe I will leave off the handles and sew a zipper in it to make it a cosmetic bag.



This is a free pattern I found. Click HERE for the link to the free pattern

I think I want to make some snowflakes but I have to get some thead out of storage.

I finished my fish bag last night!



Now, what to do, what to do.....

Not a good day today. Jeff's truck broke down and he called me to come pick him up. I had borrowed a Surburban from a friend to tow him back but luckily, I didn't end up having to do it. Jeff got a friend to tow him back. Now, the truck is starting but we are going to have to get it fixed soon. I really hope this isn't too expensive.

This was a quick and easy project. I found several skeins of yarn at the thrift store last week and this is what I used to make this cute little purse. I'm thinking I could make a bigger version of this or you could do a smaller, taller one as a water bottle holder. I may experiment with that idea.



I found the free pattern for this cute little purse over at "Crochetville". Here is the Link

It's really fuzzy!

Yay! I'm ready to move onto other crochet projects. In the meantime, we need to get started making the pinata for Alison's party though. Nothing fancy this year. Last year, I made a heart shaped pinata. This year, we're just going to paper mache over a balloon and Alison can pick some cute things to print out and glue onto it for decoration.

Two more bags for the party finished! Six down...two more to go!

Three of the goody bags for Alison's birthday party are finished.





Then, I got a little distracted...Yesterday we lost all sanity and went to the mall!
I have no idea why since we have no money...I told the family I just wanted to get out and see what was going on in the world. I don't know...sometimes it just feels good to walk around all that "stuff" and not buy a single thing. Well, I did NEED to buy one thing and that was a winter coat for Alison. She has the same coat she has had for the past 3 years which was given to her by a friend and was real roomy on her when we got it. The zipper finally broke. Apparently, because of the cold snap everyone else had the same idea to buy a new coat too because there wasn't much to pick from and we didn't have much luck. Too bad we don't need a bathing suit...they had plenty of those! She decided she doesn't like the mall yesterday! Yay! She hates the styles and all the annoying, rude people. Everyone else in the family had already figured that out but she was the last one to come along so now its unanimous. Now we won't have to go to the mall until next Christmas! I asked my kids if they would like me to drop him off down there to go "hang out" like the rest of teens but they said "No Way!" Gee, they are such strange kids. So my kids are telling me...well, mom you wanted to see what was going on the world and we wasted our day. No we didn't....we learned that we don't need anything at the mall and sometimes I just need a reminder at what great and awesome kids I have! Then, just before we went home and were lamenting that its not looking too good for Alison to get a coat this year...Michael mentioned Burlington Coat Factory. Oh, was he sorry....we loved his great idea! Our family went into to Burlington Coat Factory for the first time that I remember. We found Alison a very reasonably priced, nice, very warm coat there that she liked. It's going to be much warmer than her last one.

Anyway.....another worthwhile thing about going out yesterday was that I saw some really pretty scarves in a department store selling for $18 each....no hats, just scarves. I loved the puff stitch so I cam home and made this hat. The scarf is on the hook now. I don't think I'm done with this pattern though. I want to make it again using vertical stripes of color. The solid colors with show off the pattern of the stich more.

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The pattern for the hat can be found here:
Puff Stitch Hat

This is a pretty big bag! It think it turned out really cute. I think I have the person in mind to give this to that will really appreciate it.

We decorated our Christmas tree tonight. I'm not putting all my decorations up this year. I had packed everything up in storage since I thought we were moving! Can't bring myself to haul all that stuff back home again.

It's supposed to SNOW here tomorrow! Too bad we already hauled our wood pile off in preparation for our move!

I have been thinking about how to have a very, very low cost birthday party for Alison's birthday that is coming up in a few weeks. I think I'm going to crochet little bags to use as the goody bags for the girls...about the size of a cell phone so they can use it for a case or whatever ever little trinkets they might want to use it for. I'll just put in a few pieces of candy and consider the bag itself the party favor. I guess I'll need to start making a pinata soon and Alison is going to make her own invitations. We will take the girls on a trailer ride to look at Christmas lights around a nearby neighborhood. I'll borrow my neighbor's heart shaped cake pan and make my cake. Alison wants me to make pink heart shaped rice crispy treats for the trailer ride.

This is a little gift bag. Not crazy about this pattern. The top of the bag is so narrow it was almost impossible to get his eyes and mouth sewed on. That's why he doesn't have a nose. It was just too much to try to embroider a nose on. A glued on felt nose may be in order here.

These are a great way to use up those tiny balls of leftover yarn you don't know what else to do with. I was going to share the link for the free pattern but I went to go search for it and apparently, it is no longer available online. This isn't the first time I am glad that I saved a free pattern onto my computer and not just the link. I can't really find any free patterns for anything similar either.





Alison has been having fun making cards and bookmarks.

Alison got a digital camera for her birthday and I made her this cozy for it so she won't lose track of it when she's carrying it around.




Have another hat/scarf set finished but I haven't gotten a chance to get a photo of it yet.

Here's a picture of a purse I crocheted awhile back and just realized I hadn't taken a picture of it yet. I had started making these squares to make a baby blanket. After making a stack of squares I decided I didn't want to make that blanket because there were too many color changed and ends to weave in so I turned the squares into this bag instead. I may let Alison use this as her dance bag. I sewed the handles on wrong so it looks like a top! I think you could make a little halter out of squares like this!


I'm happy to say that I have almost completely finished my Christmas shopping and I didn't buy ONE present at Wal-Mart! Yea!!!! The majority of our presents came from Sears and Academy and Radio Shack. The few things I have left to buy will be bought on-line.

I have a few purse handles I had found on clearance somewhere so I decided to try making a purse. I didn't use a pattern for this...I just sorta "winged" it. I think it turned out pretty good.

I realize I have terribly neglected this blog. I am still crocheting though. Just been really busy with my Ron Paul meet-up group. My mind is on other things right now. I am working on a really nice top for Alison right now. I think its going to "be one of my better works. Here are just a few small things I've completed recently.

Water Bottle Carrier. I've actually made two more of these but I have to round those up to take pictures. I made these on a trip where we were going to be outside carrying our water bottles.

Boot Slippers

Cabbage Patch Doll Outfit

Red Pebbles Hat, Scarf, Purse Set 


Haley wearing Patons Pebbles set 

Here is a set that I made using Patons Pebbles Yarn. They have this yarn in the Dollar Tree Stores here! The same yarn sells for $5.99 a ball at my Jo Ann's! I wouldn't pay that much for it because I'm guessing it took me at least 6 or 7 balls just to make this set. I do like this yarn though so I went back an picked up more of it. They have it in a blue and a tan shade as well but the red is my favorite. It is rather bulky so it worked up really quickly.