FO and WIP

I was reading Kelly's blog and found this little cosmetic bag pattern that she had made. She modified hers to use as a little tote for her crochet, but I'm going to use mine as a holder for all those things that sometimes float around on the bottom of my purse-mints, gum, lip balm, etc. This isn't a very good picture of it. It's actually much cuter in person.



I used Sugar and Cream in gum drop and a H hook. There's actually a mistake on the bag because for some reason I crocheted into the back loops of about four stitches. It's not noticable really to anyone except me. It just irritates the heck out of me for doing something so dumb.



I'm still trying to use up my stash. It seems as if I've been trying forever, and I'm getting pretty tired of it. It sounds as if I have a large amount of yarn, but that's not really true. I'm just slow as the seven year itch.

This is my first knitted sweater that I've been trying to seam together. I've managed to seam the shoulders and attach the sleeves to the body. Now if I can just get the sleeves and side seams done, it will be FINISHED. I used 3 1/2 skeins of Homespun in quartz and size 10 knitting needles. Let me tell you that this thing weights a ton! It was a good beginner's project, though. You can see the pattern here.


I had to edit this post quite a bit to get the link right. I hope Bloglines doesn't notify you every time I hit Publish Post. How embarrassing if it does!

What I've Been Up To

We didn't have Internet Wednesday night and most of the day yesterday. Last night we had a thunderstorm with lots of thunder and lightning, so I turned the computer off and unplugged everything. I don't have much faith in surge protectors since I lost a TV, a VCR, and the modem on my first computer. It's best just to shut everything down and wait it out.



I'm gradually adding pictures to Ravelry, but I'm taking it slow. I wish I had kept better notes on my projects like some of the others. It takes time to look that stuff up, but it will be a great record of projects once I get everything entered.



Yesterday I did sort through two totes of yarn and projects. I found a couple of WIPs that I had forgotten about. One of them is a child's cap that I started while Mom was in the nursing home. It uses sport weight yarn, so the ribbing is done on size 4 needles. I realize now why I stopped working on it. After a few rows my hands went numb, and I had to stop and give them a rest. I'm through with the ribbing now and was able to switch to the size 6 needles for the stockinette part. My hands don't seem to mind those, and I made quite a bit of progress on the cap today. I should be ready to start the decreases soon.



I'm still working on the rectangle grannies. I have 96 centers done, and I've added the second round of purple to about 75 of those. I'm weaving the ends as I go, and that become mind numbing after awhile. Why do I start projects like that anyway?



I sort of set the ruffled cardigan aside for awhile. I still haven't gotten up the nerve to sew the sleeves to the body. I get it out, stare at it awhile, and then put it back in the drawer. Part of the problem is that the Plush yarn is hard to sew with, so I know if I screw up it won't be easy to take it out.



We had a quiet Fourth of July here because of the weather. There's usually a celebration in the park across the street from the house, but it was cancelled because of the flooding. The past few years it's been so dry that you had to stand guard constantly to make sure none of the fireworks caught your yard or house on fire. (Yes, there's a city ordinance against setting off fireworks in the city limits, but there's no police to enforce it.) This year everything is so wet that I don't think you could start a fire with a flame thrower. Anyway, the neighbors were nice enough to set theirs off before 12:00 p.m., so all in all, I had a very pleasant Fourth.


I'll leave you with a picture of the youngest members of the family. Normally, they're outside cats now, but when it was flooding I let them stay inside. Clockwise, you see Tiny, Beavis, and Butt-Head. Butt-Head got his name first because of his actions. I guess a nice way to put it is that he's developmentally delayed. He reminds me of some guys I know. Nice to look at but not a lot going on upstairs.

Ravelry

I got my invitation to join Ravelry, and after giving it some thought I decided to go ahead and sign up. I hesitated because of the time involved in setting up my own notebook, but I just couldn't resist having access to the work of other crocheters and knitters. It really will be a great resource, and I wish those who came up with the idea a lot of luck.

I finally got a project listed in my notebook. It's embarrassing to even think about how long it took me to figure it out. Flickr and I got off to a rocky start. I did something stupid at the beginning of the relationship, and Flickr refused to tell me what I had done wrong so I could make amends. I finally became so furious that I completely broke off all contact and cancelled my account. But I continued to think about Flickr and how much I needed it, so last night about 12:30 a.m. I reintroduced myself under an altered screen name. It worked, and I was able to get a picture up. (I'm not normally such a sneak, but I was desperate.) I'll take the relationship slow for now and work my way up gradually.

The coolest feature I've discovered about Ravelry so far is that I can do a search for a yarn and see projects that others have done with the same stuff. That's great for someone like me who is trying to reduce her stash.

Same Song, Different Verse

There hasn't been a whole lot of crochet going on around here. I've finished some dishcloths for Christmas, and I've started on some magic square potholders to go with them. My mind just hasn't been on crochet because of other things that have been going on.

This was the view yesterday morning when I got up.

It was much higher this time, and people to the southwest of me had to be evacuated from their homes because of the high water. There was suppose to be an Old Settlers Day Reunion in the park across the street, but the rising waters flooded them out. They had difficulty getting some of the vendors out of the park, and some of the trucks and travel trailers had to be abandoned until the waters went down.

I moved my pickup to the street on the west side just in case the water got up to the house. Luckily, it never got closer than the driveway.

The electricity was off for seven hours which made waiting very difficult. We Oklahomans like to check our weather quite frequently, and not having TV made that impossible. (I've put a weather radio on my shopping list.)

We had a break overnight, but it suppose to rain again this afternoon and tomorrow.

The fences on the farm are gone again and will have to be repaired as soon as the water goes down.

The good news is that we thought we had lost a baby calf that was born during the flood, but Mama and baby showed up yesterday.

Flooding

These pictures were taken last Friday morning after the third straight morning of rain. We had a total of 6 inches in three days. This is the third time the fields have flooded this year. We even got another half inch over the weekend, and today we've had another two inches so far.



When the water went down enough on Saturday an electric fence had to be put up on the west and south side of the pasture because there just wasn't a fence anymore, and the cows were getting out.

If You Don't Have Anything Crocheted....

This picture was taken about 9 p.m. Tuesday night. I thought it was beautiful.

Early Wednesday morning about 2 a.m. it began to rain heavily.
By 9 a.m. Wednesday the area around the house looked like this. (That's Minnie Pearl, the neighbor's miniature horse. She was a little upset by the rising waters.)
There's a park across the street from the house. You can see the pavilion in the background. There's a creek that runs through the park that overflowed its banks.
This is the road that runs past the house.
This area has always flooded during heavy rains, and there doesn't seem to be anything that can be done about it. It's never gotten into this house, but the neighbors to the southwest haven't always been so lucky.

Vegetarian Chili

Pour the following into your slow cooker. Do not drain.
1 can of black beans
1 can of white beans
1 can of pinto beans
1 can of kidney beans
1 can of garbanzo beans
2 14 1/2-oz. cans of stewed tomatoes
1 pkg. of prepared chili seasoning

I also added salt and dried onion, but those are optional.

Cover. Cook on low for 4-8 hours.

I like mine with grated cheddar cheese (2%) and chopped green onions on a hot dog bun.

Even my nephew liked this, and he's one of the pickiest eaters that I've ever met.