Typical Days Around Here

With real live winter weather and temperatures here in Hartwood for the past few days, there hasn't been too much going on to talk about.  I wanted to work in the basement for a while, to get my workshop cleared out so I can work on projects a little easier, but it was 57 degrees down there ... too chilly to work comfortably.  I passed my time working on more exciting things, like laundry.  Woo hoo!  (insert sarcastic smirk)

To figure out how I spent my time, I turned to the photos on my iPad.  Let me share with you some examples of things that I photographed over the past few days.

1.  Here are Alice and Dorothy snuggling and sleeping beside me on the sofa, in a space that seemed to be much too small to be occupied by two cats.  

2.  Cold weather causes me to have an uncontrollable urge to simmer things on the stove.  The other day, I discovered a package of 15-bean soup beans in the pantry.  Using these as a starting point, and after I simmered the beans for a couple of hours, I added chicken broth, tomatoes, onions, carrots and celery, and some other stuff.  It was delicious as dinner, and I took some next door to the neighbors for their dinner.  The remainder joined the other frozen containers of various left-over soups that reside in the freezer.  (Ham and white bean, chili, chicken vegetable, black bean and pumpkin, etc.)

3.  The other day, I walked past the window in the family room ... like I have done a thousand times since we bought this place in 2002.  The sunlight perfectly illuminated the growth rings in the heartpine of the sill, and I was strangely drawn to count them.  124.  The tree that gave the wood that was used to make this sill was at least this old when our house was built in 1848.  Takes us back to 1724 or earlier, when that tree sprouted.  (I think about this stuff sometimes.)

4.  Our 2-year-old grandson stayed with us the other day.  It was a very active day, keeping a toddler entertained all day ... too cold to go outside, so we did things indoors.

Watching Dora with Granddad and Ruby.

Napping on the couch in the sunshine.

Dorothy says, "how about paying a little bit of attention to me?"

5.  I stopped working on my crocheted looper rug for now, because I have another project to finish.  The cats are helping.

Alice keeps my lap warm, while sleeping in her Super Kitty position.

Maggie, you shouldn't be laying on that!  

Today is the second of two rainy, icky days.  There's no staying at home today, though.  The Husband and I will soon be hitting the road for a two-hour drive to Maryland, for an annual luncheon for hordes of horticulture and nursery people at our friends Jim and Dan's house.    

I expect this to be a fabulous Sunday.  I hope yours is, too.

What To Do With an Impulse Purchase?

Sometimes I can get out-of-control crafty.  Here is a recent example:  A few weeks ago, when I received the monthly edition of the email newsletter from 'Crazy as a Loom', I ordered a  box of twelve pounds of loopers ... completely on impulse, without any concept of how many loopers are actually IN a twelve-pound box.  What are loopers, you ask?  

Loopers are slices of socks that some of us are most familiar with as the raw material for potholders woven on a small square loom.

I made this potholder on the evening that the box of loopers arrived in the mail.

Twelve pounds of loopers are WAY too many for one person to use to make only potholders, so I had to come up with another use for them.  (Hilary, at Crazy as a Loom, chains loopers together and weaves them into rugs.)  I don't have a loom, nor do I know how to use one.  One day last week, I had a brainstorm ... I could probably chain the loopers together and use them to CROCHET a rug!  

I am using a random mix of light and dark colors as I chain the loopers together.

You won't be surprised when I tell you that I have had a LOT of help while I chain the loopers together and crochet the rug.

Alice likes to sift through the loopers in the box, or sit in my lap as I chain them together while we sit on the floor.  (I do this on the floor because the loopers shed and it's easier to vacuum a spot on the rug than it would be to clean the fluff off the sofa.)

See the colorful bits of fluff on Alice's back?

Dorothy is not so helpful ... she steals the loopers, one by one, and carries them off to play with them ... eventually either stuffing them under the edge of a rug or abandoning them in random places throughout the house.

Maggie hangs out on the rug when I'm not working on it.

I estimate that I have used about half of the box of loopers so far, and the rug is about two-and-a-half feet wide and four feet long.  My plan (if you can call it that) is to keep chaining loops and crocheting until the box is empty.  I don't know how big the rug will be when I'm finished, nor do I know where I will use it ... this depends on its ultimate size, I guess.

I'm not using a published pattern to do this.  I am working single crochet in the back loops of the previous row, using a large crochet hook (size P) spiraling around and around, increasing stitches on the curved parts of each round as necessary to keep the rug flat.  (This will make sense to you if you crochet.  If you don't, I probably just confused the crap out of you.)  The green plastic clips you see on the rug are to mark the places where I want to work my increases ... it's either eight or ten stitches per round, and I evaluate the rug after every round or two to make adjustments as I go.  The spot with two clips marks the beginning of the round.

I am so happy with how this rug is turning out so far.  The random mix of bright colors makes me smile just looking at it!  If you are interested in doing something like this yourself, I will answer any questions and help you however I can.  (Anyone with basic crochet skills can do this!)

Crazy as a Loom is the name of Hilary Cooper-Kenny's blog and her weaving studio in northeastern New York.  She uses antique looms to weave beautiful rugs and other objects.  I have followed her blog for years, and I have come to think of her as one of the family.  (Click HERE for her blog, and HERE for her online store.)

Crocheted Dog Sweater for the Greyhounds Rock Silent Auction

I have been crocheting my fingers to the bone for the past few weeks, finishing the dog sweater that I'm donating to the Silent Auction for our Greyhounds Rock fundraiser this weekend.  The sweater itself has been finished for a while, all I had left to do were the last little finishing touches (like snaps).

I marched Daniel outside a little while ago to take this picture ... he is always really good at posing.  All I have to do is tell him "Wait", and he'll stand in that spot for days.

The pattern for this sweater is available from Aerie Designs.  I modified it a little bit from the original directions, and I added the turtleneck to my version ... instead of crocheting a separate snood.

I had a bunch of yarn left over when the sweater was finished.  After fiddling with it for a while, I designed a matching hat ... so dog and owner can go strolling in style.

I learned to crochet when I was 10 years old ... which was a L.O.N.G time ago.  The bobbles and cables and ribbing are a little bit challenging ... but if you just follow the instructions word-for-word, the pattern will soon become apparent, and it will all make sense.

I thought you'd like to see this, before I package it up and put it with the rest of the items that have been donated to our auction.  Perhaps I'll tell you about some more of our donations tomorrow.  We have a lot of really cool stuff!

Greyhounds Rock is a 501(c)(3) charity.  All donations are tax deductible.  Visit our web site for more information. 

www.GreyhoundsRock.org