There isn’t much going on. It threatened to rain here all day, but didn’t until evening. Lee and I went to the Lowe’s and Target stores in Temple (the town, not a synagogue, even though it was Friday afternoon), where it did rain a bit.
Two crocheted items, my finished ruana and in-progress blanket, have me cozy.
Dodging raindrops got me chilly, though I was glad we got most of the bedding for the vacation rental so it can get going soon.
I got home in time for a dinner and gabfest with Anita (and the very nice server at the Central Avenue Bistro), where I got all caught up on Pickle the dog’s adventures.
I dressed up! Lipstick and green jewelry. Much better than the hay encrusted ensemble I had on five minutes earlier.
Nice normal day other than the rain that we humans welcome and the thunder the dogs hate.
I’m late to the party on this, but when I saw a friend’s scrappy and fun blanket made with this technique (also called c2c by the cool kids), I knew it had to be the one I’d use for the blanket I wanted to make for the tack room, for which I’d bought two sets of ten skeins in different colors of the same yarn (Brava Stripe), along with a LOT of charcoal heather for an accent. Hey, the yarn packet is on sale now!
Image from link above.
Here’s the beginning
Apparently, this technique, corner-to-corner crochet, is quite the rage among crocheters who talk to each other, a group of which I am not a member. So, I went to the internet and looked up how to do it. Here’s where I admit that I don’t learn very well with videos, so I looked and looked for written instructions. I finally found some, but of course it was on one of those extra irritating pages where you have to read through paragraph upon paragraph of blah blah blah interrupted by repetition of the same irrelevant advertisement before you finally arrive at what you went to the page for. The world wide web disappoints me these days. (Yes, this blog has ads, but I don’t hide the useful content, at least.)
The instructions I found are much less hard to read on the computer screen than on the phone, though, and this Sarah Maker page has fewer ads and more clear content than a couple of the other ones I looked at. So, if you wanna know how I did it, go there.
Close up that shows how each row has clusters going a different direction.
Anyway, off I went. Once I got the idea, the stripes went quickly, and I’ve really been enjoying this project. It’s easy to do while listening to lectures, riding in the car, watching television, and such.
It’s nice and warm while I’m working on it, too, which came in handy at the conference hotel over the weekend.
I’m though one repeat of the colors, and it’s as wide as I want it to be, so I stopped making a giant triangle, which is how this technique starts, and I’m now making one side wider and one side shorter, which creates a rectangle shape. When I’m finished with another repeat of all the colors, I’ll start decreasing on both sides, to close up the rectangle, and boom. I’ll have a blanket made of diagonal stripes.
It’s a bit wider than this, because the edge fell off the side of the chair. You can see here how it’s starting to be a rectangle.
It should be great for chilly days in the tack room and should be okay in there, because it’s 100% acrylic, which is not delicious to moths or mice. I hope. Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed this project preview!
Yesterday was lots of fun and I’ll share pictures tomorrow. Today I took it easy, other than cleaning, and got the border put on the heart afghan.
Not too bad. Needs blocking!
I was glad the squares matched up well. The border really sets off the heart and triangles. It needs one row of a border and it will be done.
It’s cheerful!
The center pattern is called Tune My Heart. It’s a bit weird, but I did it. I now know better ways to make the squares.
I’ll figure out something fun to do with the leftovers. I have black yarn that will look great with the pinks. There’s leftover cream that looks good with the purples. Maybe I’ll make something a little less “beginner” crochet or knitting.
I did my nails spooky, too. Best job application-wise in a long time. The webs work well for the Master Naturalist conference next week!
Why not? I was all tired after helping a lot of folks at work, but when I went out to see the horses, I felt so much better that I did my scheduled ride and enjoyed the nice afternoon.
I had to replace the chairs, but these match better anyway. And one works as a mounting block!
The bulldozer is still plowing away. I think that project will be done tomorrow. He’s made it wider and is building an excellent berm that will be fun for the horses and provide a bit of sound insulation for us (you know, ALL that traffic we get!). Lee says he keeps finding springs, which doesn’t surprise me. But even in this drought to see moist areas surprises me!
Sun sets on the dirt and silt pile.
And after yesterday’s rant, I’m embracing my quirky decorating style. It helps that Kathleen has made some really pretty fall and Halloween wreaths and gave me one. Doesn’t it look great?
Seasonal cheer!
To top it all off, my additional cream yarn showed up, so I can keep going on my afghan project. in the meantime I made part of a narrow border to put on at the end. This is gonna be a project, all right.
Second border in progress.
Glad to have some calm time in life every so often.
The letter for today is apparently H. I shall start with hearts, since it’s a cheerful topic and something to be proud of. After finishing the camo blanket, I went back to work on my heart afghan I was making for Kathleen. Today I finished the heart section.
It’ darned cheerful!
It’s way too small to be useful to keep one warm, so I am already a third of the way through with making a border of squares to go around the hearts. I have ten colors of yarn for the centers and need 30 squares. That’s pretty dang good how it worked out!
After that, I’m gonna do something else as another border, probably also from that book. I have a lot of yarn. Well, except for the cream. I may need another skein of that one. All the other colors I haven’t even finished the first skein on!
Hay
I decided that since hay had gotten so expensive due to the drought, I should “harvest” what was left when the front pasture was shredded. There was some long and very nice coastal Bermuda out there that got mowed.
That’s a good amount of hay!
It was fun to pick it up. I feel ranchy!
Horses
Sometimes the horses mystify me. Both Fiona and Drew had smears of blood on them this evening.
Just a schmear.
No horse had a cut. Maybe Apache had another nosebleed? His nose looked fine, though. A mystery.
I’m still thrilled Mabel looks so much better.
Mostly they make me smile. They see me coming and pick those heads up to see if perhaps there’s food.
We see you. Is it dinner time?
When it’s been a hard day, watching their antics and rubbing those soft necks can make everything better. Which I needed.
Drew’s relaxed enough to drop and roll around with me right in front of him. Probably trying to wipe off the blood.
Headaches
Have you ever had a day where you start off sorta irritated and then actually irritating things start happening? That was me at work today. Sometimes I wonder how people get hired. Or how they keep their jobs if they don’t understand what their job entails. It’s like signing up to be a carpenter but you insist on hammering the pointy sides of nails. That’s not how nails work!
But I’m way better at shutting up these days. I didn’t write the software I support nor their job descriptions. I’ll just do my job and let their bosses notice the quality of their work.
Still. I got a headache.
Occasionally this helps.
Plus I missed a meeting this evening. My calendaring skills are something my boss should have a chat with me about.
Just kidding. I can’t help that the Camo Blanket is practically invisible! It makes me invisible, too!
I’m not here
I think it came out the way we intended it to. Kathleen says the colors look better than she feared they would, and I was impressed that I used almost all the green. I guessed well on how many squares I could make.
Carlton is dubious.
I like how the zigzag join looks braided. It looks nice on the back, too. And I think the border adds a little interest. I didn’t want to do anything girly for the edging, since its recipient is a manly boy.
Border has an airy section. Nice join.
It’s pretty big but not too big I hope. It should be good for naps and sitting under on cold hunting trips and alligator killing expeditions! Or watching TV. Whatever the toddler wants to do.
A toddler blanket!
I sure hope the recipient doesn’t read Facebook or blogs yet! This is his Christmas present! I have enough of the brown to maybe make him a camouflage hat, too.
It makes a nice background for a finished manicure, too.
Now to finish off my other project. It’s nice to have a rest day. Tomorrow it should cool off and I’ll make the horses do fun stuff again.
I’m thinking a lot the past couple of days about old patterns. One I’m happy to keep around.
Granny square burritos
I’m still enjoying the granny squares. My 63 camo squares are now nine green burritos that are actually strips of seven squares. I just can’t stop until they are all joined!
The other old pattern is here.
Do you see it? Of course you don’t. You see a horse standing at a funny angle and an older woman in cowboy attire laughing at him. Here’s what I see.
I may have a body image problem
How many years of Brené Brown telling me I’m fine just as I am must I endure? How many affirming and empowering images of women of all sizes must I see? How many articles about why women tend to add belly fat after menopause must I read? Why do I still judge myself negatively when I see candid shots of myself?
Sigh.
It just goes to show that the patterns I got into as a child, where I was made fun of daily for being fatso, tub-o-lard, elephant, hippo, water buffalo, wart hog, fatty fatty two by four can’t get through the bathroom door…um, telling myself I’m fine just won’t erase. (Was that grammatical? Cut me some slack.)
Testing a lipstick on my lip wrinkles.
The gray hair? It’s fun. The wrinkles? They seem a small price to pay for wisdom. And my health is so good! But my first thought when I see my body is judgmental.
The good news is that just like how you can vary granny squares and do cool things with them, I’m able to take a second look at my body and give it permission to change. I have lots of fun with it, and not wasting time planning how to achieve some ideal pant size gives me time to enjoy my life.
Patterns that change subtly are more interesting, I think. Cheers to my charmingly imperfect mug and self!
Patterns are what they are because they are ingrained. They’re deeply grooved in your psyche and not easy to smooth out. But, progress is possible. I’m proof. I now wear shorts, sleeveless tops, and bathing suits in public. Five years ago that was not true. I’ve modified my pattern!
Later: I’m not begging to be told I’m cute or not fat or whatever. I know I’m slightly bigger than I’ve been most of my life and I’m fine with that. I know I’m fine the way I am! I’ve gotten so much better about not caring what others think, too. My point here was that the old patterns that must be in my limbic system kick in before my higher processing can react sensibly.
Hmm, I sure took a large bag with me on this evening’s drive. Cute bag, isn’t it? I got three or four of them to hold knitting stuff and am getting a lot of use out of them.
Happy rainbow sloths
I’ve been working on two projects at the same time, a blanket for a toddler and one for the niece Kathleen. I hit a milestone on the camouflage blanket today, since I’ve been riding in cars with Lee a lot this week. So, what’s in the bag are 63 granny squares.
Practically invisible camouflage squares.
Of course, now that the squares are done, I need to turn them into a 7X9 rectangle. 63 squares; I did math.
The first two. It will look better once the ends are covered.
I’m using the zigzag joining method because it lays nice and flat. I’ll make 9 strips of 7 squares, then crochet the strips together.
First strip, artistically draped.
When it’s all together, I’ll make a border out of the brown yarn. I’d like to do something interesting but I may not have enough of the yarn. I look forward to winging it! It will be loved, no matter what.
Bonus photo: ground beetle with purple side stripes seen at Anita’s house.
Lee’s Tahoe has been having issues and had to be towed to the dealership. It’s a good thing my plans for tomorrow don’t involve our trailer!
I’m too tired to write my planned post so hey, here’s a book that I just received and am already loving. Block by Block Crochet: Quilt-Inspired Patchwork Blocks to Mix and Match, by Leonie Morgan, came out in 2021. It’s a great reference book for anyone like me who likes to get creative with color and blocks.
Not my best photo
Every single pattern Morgan shares, from a simple solid square to more complex motifs, has given me ideas for using up my stash or making something special and new.
Sample page
Morgan did a great job of not over-complicating things with the patterns. She tells what techniques you’ll use, gives a sample of what multiple blocks will look like together, and gives the patterns both in words and charts. You’ll be glad for the charts if you’re American, because the instructions are in UK English. With crochet, that matters more than in knitting, because we call the stitches different things. (Our single crochet is double crochet in UK terms. It’s not hard to translate; you just have to remember.)
Since I’m having to rest my hand a bit each day, dreaming of what I can do with these crocheted “quilt” squares is a great break. I’m such a sloppy quilter that I hesitate to see things. But now I can play with yarn like I would fabric.
This looks fun.
Yep, this book was $18 well spent, plus it got me free shipping on the black yarn I want to use in the next project. Hmm. Maybe I’ll use it with one of these motifs!
My spouse and I do have a few things in common. Today I was reminded of some of them. That made me feel all warm and fuzzy, which I needed, since the dogs killed another animal friend and that made me sad.
Sorry, buddy. I wish I could pick up and rescue a snapping turtle that somehow got into the yard, but I need my limbs.
I’m happier thoughts, I got something fun in the mail that my friend Deana told me about. It’s the Yarn Tarot. It’s so cute. The illustrations cover knitting, crochet, spinning, and weaving.
Also note my avocado nails.
The main reason to get the deck would be the art, some of which is clever. The deck was designed by Katie ponder, who does seem to know about the crafts. The Fool cracked me up, setting out over the precipice to buy yarn.
And the dog has a sweater on.
The suits are: pentacles a woven star, cups drop spindles, swords knitting needles (duh), and wands crochet hooks. I have a feeling getting weaving to fit in with the pentacle symbolism was the hardest.
See, it’s on a loom.
The twee book is a standard tarot book and doesn’t refer to the art or archetypes, but it’s not a bad book. Just not exciting.
That’s the World card.
So, that’s one thing Lee the Hermit and I both like. Another is pens. We both own so many pens and each have strong preferences. I love to write in my journals, and he did, too, until he started making them on the computer.
Lots of pens.
I got more pens than I intended to today. I thought I’d canceled one set. On well, I will use them all in my horse journal! They are all subdued, muted colors, which will fit with the horses. One impressive surprise was the at one set of pens came with an entire set of refills! That’s a good idea. Some inexpensive sets don’t put much ink in the pens, so yay for that manufacturer. They make theme sets, so I might get more (ocean theme, etc.)
One more commonality.
The final thing we have in common is a love for cute li’l animals. I was really excited to see the storks replaced with two sets of twin calves and their mamas. I’m pretty sure one set are the ones I saw at Sara’s a couple of days ago. Double the cute.
Sweet.
I’m looking forward to tomorrow. I’m going to see where I work!
