Worcester Ice Storm 2008

Holy shit, that sucked. All I want for Christmas is my power to stay on! The picture to the left made it to the WBZ picture gallery.

Here is a link to the family photo album. It was cold. Our power was off from Thursday, midnight until Monday morning about 7am. I was so happy when it came back on, and I am so sad for those who are still out. A lot of people in the smaller towns are out because their electric comes from a municipal source. If I had a generator I would "rent" it out. We heated the house with the fireplace, if you want to call 50F in the living room and 40F elsewhere heated. But it got down to 15F outside Saturday night. I can not imagine how the pioneers made it, or how the homeless survive. We are all so lucky. Amazing how an act like this makes you stop and think.

Here are a few pics if your not up to looking at the 90+ in the link above. I still have a few aftermath pics to post. Like the Caddy that was on the front of the T&G over the weekend with a huge branch over it. I took one after they got the branch off.

This is the view to the left out my front window. We had a microburst in October of 2007 and it took out a lot of trees in this area. We lost maybe 15 trees in that storm. So it could have been twice as bad this time. We live on a privite street, so the city does not come down here to clean up at all. This is when I think I should be getting some kind of tax credit for cleaning it up myself. It took us two days to clean up, and it's still not right.


We took a walk up Clark Street the morning after and I got a couple cool pics after the sun came out.


The kids are out of school all week. They are going to be going to school until July! Poor things, they actually want to go. They are being pretty good. I am lucky they're a bit older, I would hate to go through this with real little ones. Kenzie was able to take her blue belt test tonight, and she passed :) She was scheduled to take it last Saturday. Today the Dojo opened back up. Master Alty (in Leominster) is still without power and they say it could be 5-6 days longer. I really hope everyone has power by Christmas!!

Ravelry Invite?

I have a handful of Ravelry invites. If you don't want to wait the few days it takes to get one let me know and I'll email you one.

If you don't know what Ravelry is, and you crochet and/or knit you really should go check it out....best thing invented since yarn!

www.ravelry.com

The History of Crochet

From the Crochet Guild, newsletter 10/1997:

You and I call it crochet, as do the French, Belgians, Italians and Spanish-speaking people. It is known as haken in Holland, haekling in Denmark, hekling in Norway, virkning in Sweden.

Other forms of handwork ­ knitting, embroidery and weaving ­ can be dated far back in time, thanks to archeological finds, written sources and pictorial representations of various kinds. But no one is quite sure when and where crochet got its start. The word comes from croc, or croche, the Middle French word for hook, and the Old Norse word for hook is krokr.

According to American crochet expert and world traveler Annie Potter, "The modern art of true crochet as we know it today was developed during the 16th century. It became known as 'crochet lace' in France and 'chain lace' in England." And, she tells us, in 1916 Walter Edmund Roth visited descendants of the Guiana Indians and found examples of true crochet.

Another writer/researcher, Lis Paludan of Denmark, who limited her search for the origins of crochet to Europe, puts forth three interesting theories. One: Crochet originated in Arabia, spread eastward to Tibe t and westward to Spain, from where it followed the Arab trade routes to other Mediterranean countries. Two: Earliest evidence of crochet came from South America, where a primitive tribe was said to have used crochet adornments in rites of puberty. Three: In China, early examples were known of three-dimensional dolls worked in crochet.

But, says Paludan, the bottom line is that there is "no convincing evidence as to how old the art of crochet might be or where it came from. It was impossible to find evidence of crochet in Europe before 1800. A great many sources state that crochet has been known as far back as the 1500s in Italy under the name of 'nun's work' or 'nun's lace,' where it was worked by nuns for church textiles," she says. Her research turned up examples of lace-making and a kind of lace tape, many of which have been preserved, but "all indications are that crochet was not known in Italy as far back as the 16th century" ­ under any name.

$$$

I need to make more money. We had to refinance over the summer and went with an fha loan. This is suppose to be a good thing. Well we had to roll our taxes and insurance into our payment. It went up $400. I thought we could do it. We can't. I've got back a lot, and yes there are still plenty of things to get rid of but seriously, wtf? Everyone is being very aware of shutting things off and not wasting. I quit smoking 9 months ago, this should be $100 back into the house a month. No more wine, no new clothes, yarn only when I have a coupons and I buy one at a time (one coupon per visit per "day").
Here is the list of things left to cut:

• internet $60/m
  
• house phone $30/m
• motorcycle $300/m
• karate $90/m

Internet and house phone I am so ready to let go of. Most of the time the laptop is picking up the connection next door because it is actually stronger than ours (I do not know why). The house phone, who calls? Bill collectors and telemarketers, anyone else can call on the cell phones. The motorcycle, thats hard, because we probably could not sell it for what we owe. It's Mike's thing and I really do not want to see him loose it. If we give it back it will kill our credit, or whats left of it. Of course we aren't buying anything and don't really need credit anyway. And karate, it's not really an option. Its only on the list because it is extra. But Kenzie loves it and really I think she needs it. It is beyond worth the $90 a month.

I don't want to live in the lap of luxary. I just want to pay the bills and have enough to take care of food, clothes and some basic extras. It's not going to get any better. Mike is looking at another hand surgery. I am going to really look into the First Pinnicle stuff from our camp friends. Not that the program is going to get me out of this mess, but I look at them and they see the light at the end of the tunnel and have a grip on thier finanices.

Since writting this the phone has rang twice, both credit cards looking for money. I had to put my tires on my credit card. Now I need to have them mounted, I can't afford it. We're going to call the Vocational school and see if they will mount and balance them for less if not free.

If anything the mortgage will get paid today, the 21st.....it's due again in a week.
Okay I am going to post this then come back and make another post about crochet. I want to get this out, but I don't want to look at it, lol. Sounds like the mail!

Manic Monday

My head hurts. My to do list at work and home is ridiculous. I tried to crochet for a bit, and honestly I am just not interested. My life is far from sucking, but I feel a bit whiny today. They say money does not buy happiness....I call bullshit. So today that is my "expensive desire". And here is why it would buy me "happiness".

• Bills would be paid, no mortgage, no car payment, no electric bill, no heat bill, no grocery bill, no tuition, no tv bills, no phone bills....and so on.
• I would not have to go to work.
• I could stay home and take care of my family......thanks for the woman's lib crap btw!
• Stress? What stress? Bills are paid, belly is full and all is well.

K....back to reality....and whatever about the woman's lib comment. Despite sometimes I really feel like I would be a bigger asset to my family by staying home and taking care of it all, I know that's hypocritical cuz there is no way I could stay home and do what the man says. So on that note.....get out there and VOTE tomorrow. No vote, no bitching! Gotta vote to gripe. Here is my take on what I will be voting on tomorrow:
Question #1, lets get rid of the income tax......sounds great! I don't want to pay taxes, shit I don't even want to get up and go to work. Can we vote to get rid of work too? Sounds just as logical. I'd love to take thier excess money away from them, but it does not add up. They will take it from somewhere, like my kids school or up my property taxes....and the eldery's property taxes....where are they gonna get it from? So I will have to vote no. I wish there was a way to make these bastards more accountable for the way they waste our money. That's what we need.
Question #2, give a fine for an ounce of weed or less....yup. I will admit to several years of my youth in a fog of smoke, but that's not why I am voting yes.....I wasn't stupid enough to get caught, so no skin off my teeth. I am voting yes because harmless pot heads are using up some of that wasted money in question number one. They do not need to be using up time, space and money in our jails or systems. We have way bigger issues that need to be jailed, like rapist, murders and such. Plus why should someone who took a hit or two not get a job because they were stupid enough to get caught while they were enjoying thier youth. They want to repeat stupidity or move on to the big time, then put them in jail.
Question #3, no more dog races? I hate this one. I love animals, a lot. And I am not to sure about the truth behind how bad they are treated. What about our failing economy and the jobs that will be lost. I am having a real hard time voting on something that will take someone's job right out from under them. Plus it won't ban it in NH or RI, CT? More MA money going over the border like to NH tax free purchaces or to CT Casinos or the complete nude (no panties!) strippers in RI? God I hope they are not abusing the dogs like the oposers say. Ugh.
And yes, I am voting for Obama. McCain almost had me until he picked Sarah....there's the real womans lib joke, ha, ha. What a joke. Obama is younger, more in touch and more likely to envoke the change we truely do need. McCain is more of the same stereo typical old white man. So borish at this point in the game really. Either way Bush is finally gone. I am still in utter awe that man got a second term anyhow. So I will not be suprised however the vote turns out.

That is all.....battery is just about dead and it is time to wake up hubby and put the kiddies to bed.

Rainy Day Thoughts.

What a yucky day! It is raw and rainy. I wish I was home finishing my Tiramisu Baby Blanket! The main part is almost done and tomorrow will be one week since I started it. It's not that I am loving working on this thing, it is that I just want it done!

I am suppose to go out to lunch with some people from work, but I am really hoping it gets canceled. Some people are whining about meetings and stuff already so it's looking good. I should be thankful for such a thing, but I am not feeling the love today. Oh well, bad me.

Does anyone need a Curtis Plow Frame for a '03-'08 Dodge Ram 1500? We have one, and it's for sale. Craigslist sucks, it brings out the cheapest people on the face of the earth. If I wanted to give something away I would post it on Freecycle! It is worth probably $600, we are asking $400...with some wiggle room. Why on earth would I concider $100 though? Seriously.

My next Jeep? Build my own online comes out to about $33k and it gets 15/19mpg.....not so effiecent, but damn it looks fun!

Here is my current Jeep.....and I LOVE it, but it is a lease and I will have to make a decision when the lease is up....granted that is not until March of 2010, but it takes me a LONG time to make car decisions.

She gets 27mpg, and is only $200/m. Wish it had the lifetime drive warranty. Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep is going to merging with GM from what I hear. I know I don't want to take that path. Maybe I will go back to the Toyota Matrix again? I kinda like the remodel.

I had this 2005:

Now it looks like this for 2009:

I don't care for it in this photo, it looks better in real life. Maybe it is that black piece on the front bottom? This built by me comes out to maybe $23k.....and still lots of fun!

I'll keep pondering. My head wants to save $$ and gas, my heart wants to be fun and zippy, my soul wants to drive over anything in my way, lol!

New Template?

Not sure about the blog template yet. I'm gonna leave it on for a few days/weeks and see if it grows on me. I loved the colors of the old one but the vines kinda got in the way of my words.

Todays to do list:

• Kenzie has a Halloween party at karate.
• Taylor has a homecoming football game....I'm not sure if we are all going, but I think so. Time lines cross of course.
• I should get a lot of crocheting done today while the kids do their thing.
• Laundry, vacuum, clean....blah, blah, blah.....right like any of that is going to happen today.

Eighty dollars for a crochet hook? Nope I'll pay the electric bill instead :)

ETA: Here is where I got the free blog template. She has some other nice ones too. I tried the Autumn one but something wasn't working in it so I picked this one. I think there are others there I like more.

Checking In.....

I am working on several projects at once again. I just finished a scarf for Veronica, a present from her mom. I started night before last a baby blanket for Liz at work, her baby shower is on 11/14. It is a very simple pattern but it creates a very pretty texture. After hitting it for a couple nights I have about 9 out 30" done. So a week of not getting distracted should do it. I have a 50% off coupon for AC Moore. so I will stop in tonight and get some ribbon for it. I also still have Taylor's entralac blanket and my lap ripple too.....oh and some floppy funky slippers for Kenzie. Too much at once.

Tonight Kenzie and I have to finish her Halloween mask. She has a party at karate tomorrow morning. Although I think her and I are sick, hopefully we will feel better over the weekend. Probably for the best Mike has to work tonight. We have to go get pumpkins this weekend, but it should be quite otherwise.

Otherwise, yay Friday! I am tired....so glad this week is over.

I am going to start posting random things I like but would never own because of practicality or finances. Sometimes the internet can make the world so much smaller and you can just find things you would have never seen before. Here is my random yummy today. If I was rich enough to buy rock pillows and owned enough space for them to look good I might look into purchacing some of these.

IRL I am looking at power conditioners. I found them at first at powersave.com. We had an energy fair at work yesterday and when I asked the rep from National Grid what he thought of them he got real defensive and snarky.....so they must work! Thanks asshole for the tude, now I will look into them further. I hate the electric company almost as much as I hate the cable company.....granted I use satellite for TV, but I still use cable for internet. Mr. Nationalgrid up his ass refused to believe how much my household has manged to cut their electricity usage. See if I was really rich I would be off the grid.

Ugg or Ugly?

I looked at these last season and thought, who would pay $200 for crocheted boots? I kinda like them, I kinda don't. But my daughter loves them. I'm thinking I could crochet over an actual pair of real ugly (cheap and warm) boots in whatever color she likes. Some questions I have wondering around my mind are, buttons or no? how will I sew the crochet to the boot? wonder if someone else has tried this yet? I can't find anything online, just some baby boots on Ravelry (which are super freaking cute!). What about that little patch of suede in the back? Ugh (ugg), I don't know. But it gives me something to think about. Not that I need to be wondering off towards any other crochet projects in the near future anyway. I am working on a ripple that was meant for a woman at work who is expecting, but I like it to much to give away to someone I don't work to close with. So I picked up some nice blue baby yarn that I will wip up some 12" blocks for an afghan for her. I have Taylor's enlectrac afghan going too....but that will be going on for a long time I am sure! Okay, that's it for today...amazing two post so close in time to each other....but I just wanted to document my thoughts on these boots for now. Carry on.

Forty Days & 40 Nights......I suck.

Blah, I suck at blogging. Hello, my name is JoAnne and I suck. It has literally been forty days and 40 nights since my last post. Not much has really gone on since. If you are on Ravelry you can see my updated projects in my notebook. If you're not on Ravelry, then you probably don't care about my crochet anyway! Here is something to keep all entertained:



I don't even really feel like writing now, but I am out of guilt.

Other things going on that may be noteworthy:

*Kenzie is doing great with Karate. She really likes it and I think it has given her a certain amount of self worth and pride over something that is hers alone. Which I think is pretty important in life.

*Taylor is adjusting to Worcester Tech, although she won't admit it. Her grades are great and I think she's handling life pretty well. She doesn't seem so interested in her Mom lately, but I think that's just due to her mom working now. Funny how a job sucks the fun out of everything.

*Mike is going back to work tonight after a couple months out due his diabetes, long story short, I think the break did him well, but he is ready to get back to it. It has been nice having him home though, I will miss it.

*His mom....back for now, not for long. My door is officially closed after this bout. I really don't care who comes knocking on my door for a bed and a meal anymore. I've got enough to take care of with my own.

*My work....how in the hell are yearly reviews due already! Can I submit my blog as part of my review? Nevermind, that won't do, I haven't posted here in over a month anyway. I guess it's time to search for last years and do some control C and control V.

In my last post I commented about Winter coming. We are getting ready. The pool is shut, although stuff needs to get put away. The new pellet stove is in and the proceeds from the old one (13 years old) bought the seasons pellet. I don't know why the yuppies can't find stoves or pellet? Whatever, more for us.

We will vote next month for the next president. What a joke either way, wow, what can I say. I watch these debates and I am in awe of all the BS. Palin, what was he thinking? McCain will probably win, this country is so misled. It makes me sad.

I will mention my final decision on an afghan pattern for Taylor's (adult) afghan. I am trying Entrelac crochet, and it is coming out very nice. Here is a crappy pic off the cell phone. I have several more rows done, but haven't taken a picture since these three rows. This pic does not show the colors very well either. I am using Vanna's Choice yarn in Eggplant, Sapphire and Magenta. It is going to take me FOREVER! But she really likes it and that is what is most important! Wish I had more time to work on it. It won't take long before I will only be able to work on it from home because it is going to be BIG and HEAVY! I'll try to be a good girl and update sooner than later on this one.

I'll be back eventually!

Winter Will Come

Soon enough Winter will be here. This is a clip of what it can be like getting up the hill to my road. Of course it takes a special someone to keep trying. I've long given up and know when to park it and walk. In the meantime the last camping trip of the season starts tomorrow. School is back in session and the girls are adapting quickly to life. Mike still isn't "himself" and I still think getting back to work would do him more good then not. Crochet is there, not as much as I wish it was though. I need to stop burning time up on Ravelry and actually crochet. I love the site, but what a time suck!

Guilty Update

A month has gone by and I have not posted, oh well....I broke the interwebz. That's okay, cuz the freak from Freecycle won it in a virtual argument with me anyway!

Lets see since vacation what's new?

• Mike is still feeling like crap since his potasium spike and other diabetic/kidney failure related shit. I think he's starting to feel somewhat better, seems like he has more energy....still not himself though.
• His mother moved out, or at least says she has. Her shit is still here, including her cat. Whatever.
• We finally epoxied the bedroom floor in the basement, came out mint....but had to paint the walls when we were done, just cuz I wasn't happy with the color anymore after the floor came out so nice.
• Got a dumpster and cleaned out 15 yards of stupid junk. We were able to give away a lot (no thanks to the king of the internet at Freecycle....another story that if I reference again I guess I should tell). Either way this should not only help out the household health, but should really help out on the mental baggage end of things too.
• Bought a new pellet stove to replace our 12 year old one. So funny watching the yuppies run around trying to scoop these things up. Good thing yuppies need pretty to make thier stoves burn hotter. We got a great deal on a plain jane power horse Breckwell at Robins Garden Center in Oxford....highly recommended to the non-yuppie. No BS, no pretty, thank you.
• Kids are going back to school tomorrow, already! So did some school shopping. They are ready to go back. Not an exciting Summer, but I think they did enjoy themselves. Taylor will be going to a new high school, back in the city....Worcester Tech. She is nervous, wish I could make it easier for her. Someday (I hope) she'll be glad about the choices we've made for her. Kenzie will be going into the fourth grade, same school, but more responsibilities. She wants to take the bus, shudder. People think we should put Taylor on the bus too. It's hard to let go I guess, we'll see as the year goes. With gas prices the way they are, we really should.
  
• Work is the same. I'm debating bidding on a night shift job here, to help Mike and his health out. My thoughts on this swing from one side to the other every other second.
• The last camping trip of the season is this coming weekend. We are on the group site and my brother in law and his clan will be sharing the site with us. It should be nice. We'll be at Otter River of course :-)
• I haven't crocheted to much in the past month. I made an ottoman cover out of random granny squares that I made at camp and waiting for Kenzie at karate (who is on the verge of testing for her next belt, purple....Yay her!). I am working on a square for a comfortghan for one of the girls in the SnB group that has been diagnosed with a rare form of liver cancer and I am working on a shawl for the Ravelympics that I am never going to finish before the end of the Olympics. No medels for me, lol. I have to take some pics and upload to update my Ravelry notebook. Which I am sure I will do after vacation.

I guess I kinda of haven't posted because I really like the picture below of White Lake and wanted it to stay on the top of my blog. Silly I know. I added this Meez avatar to the left, although she is knitting...something I kinda suck at....it is still for the love of fiber so I'm gonna let her hang for a while. I saw one on another blog somewhere and thought she was cool so I made one of my own. Another time suck, lol.

Fingers crossed for a good first day of school for the girls. I'll try to post before vacation again, but doubtful....probably after.

Camping at White Lake State Park

We spent over a week at White Lake State Park in Tamworth, NH. One of my favorite places to camp. We had the perfect site, thanks to Mike booking it in February when everyone else around here thought we'd always be buried in 20" of snow. We even got the "Best Campsite Eva" award, well that's what the bald guy walking by the site said ;0)

The picture to the left was our view every night. In some of the pics I took you can see the water bugs dancing across the water. The loons are hard to photograph, but we saw plenty of them and even saw their nest when we went fishing in the canoe.
We went out in the canoe a couple times. "Our spot" is clear across the lake. The lake was still clear as a bell, but it was noticeably muckier than 3 years prior when we were there last. I wonder how many trips are on this canoe. I was somewhere around the age of 6-8 when we bought this canoe for our dad, so this thing is pushing 30 years old. Sometime soon after we got it the seats snapped off and Dad duct taped the plywood on, to this day that is what we sit on. Good ol' duct tape, lol.

We took the 5 hour trip through the Notch out of N. Conway on the train, it was breathtaking. And because we went on a weekday it wasn't packed full of tourist. We seem to always have luck with this train anyway. I could take that trip every day of my life!

We also, of course, took a trip up Mt. Washington. It was also a perfect day. It was about 85F at the base and 55F at the Summit. I would love to be up there for a Nor'Easter! No matter how many times I travel that road it never fails to freak me out somewhat, lol! No sign of the new kitty Marty, but I signed the guestbook saying hi from all of us. It was funny watching people freezing in their tank tops and shorts. We had sweatshirts, and were still a bit cool. Funny how come this winter 55F will feel almost hot.

It was a great trip. Only one night of rain, which who cares....we were sleeping anyway. Since we've been home that area has had a lot of thunderstorms, not so fun while camping. I hope everyone who is still there does okay with the weather. We were oddly enough lucky seeing that was how the weather was the week before our trip too. Mike prays to Grandma Betty everytime we take a trip....I really believe it works.

Now I am back to work....so I really should go do the working thing. It's taken me most of the morning to go through and respond to emails. And a lot of people are on vacation still, it's that time of the year. But my boss has left me with a huge to do list, away for 3 weeks herself....I think she forgot I was going to be gone for 2+ weeks as well. One more planned trip this year, back to Otter River. Sometimes I think a camping trailer would do us well, but I'm glad to stay in the tents. Okay, I'm going to do some work now!

FO: Circles to Squares

Pics up to 71908 039
Originally uploaded by happyhooking

I think I finished it on July 6th, but my mind was already in the woods. I uploaded the pictures after the camping trip. Kenzie <3's it big time! I crocheted three rows, one in each color in dc for the border, that seemed to level it out a bit. I added an extra panel as well. Details are in my Ravelry notebook.

Thom with his Ravelry blanket!

Thom with his Ravelry blanket!
Originally uploaded by frecklegirl

I haven't had a chance to write since I have been on vacation, but during my catching up with Ravelry I came across the update on Thom's blanket.....and wow! I have two squares in there, I think I see one, follow Bobs nose to the crocheted square two or so up from him. Maybe? There aren't to many crocheted squares there. What a cool community thingy to do, the best thing is the group that formed to make this thing is going to continue on doing good onto others as needed, yay nice people!
More later on my own updated projects and my wonderful week + in NH.

Short Week!

Short weeks always sound like a good thing at first, but then once you get into it you realize real quickly that you still need to get the same number of things done, but now instead of having 5 days to do you only have 4! Honestly 5 wasn't enough anyway! I know I'm a good worker, especially compared to most....but lately I am just not feeling it. My boss is going away for a month (she goes back home to China to visit), so she has got a firecracker up her butt right now. She wants everything done, and everyone to have enough to do while she is gone. Understandable. But after Thursday I am out of here for almost 3 weeks myself! And this must be why I am not the boss of anyone....all I care about right now is going on vacation! Today is 3/4 done, three more to go.

Something odd and wonderful (knock on wood) is going on at home.....my children are getting along and enjoying their Summer vacation with each other. I call and IM to check up on them through out the day and each time I get happy children on the other end....maybe I have the wrong number? Nawww....they're pretty good anyway, at least I think so, but I am bias. What a stress reducer though, to know that I can count on them to be cool to each other. Don't get me wrong I still have to intervine and so on, but way less then ever. Maybe they are starting to get it? But I guess just like the vicious circle of bad karma, there is the same circle for good karma and it really helps. It's so much easier to treat them to goodies, they usually don't ask for much anyway.....a trip to the candy store, a movie, whatever....when they are good it's so much easier to give, they're happy to get it and then they are good again. It sounds so simple, why is so hard to impliment. Well we all got our groove going for now, I am going to enjoy it as much as possible.

Mike's on days this week, so we'll be a mess. It was hard to get us both out the door this morning, but he got to work on time and I made it inside my "window" too. I am still getting used to getting in here at the crack of dawn and ended up eating my sub for breakfast. We are all trying to cut down costs and our carbon footprint. Brown bagging lunch is a good start, just I am hungry at 9am, lol!

This week is 4 months now that I have not been smoking. I thought having the MIL at home smoking (outside) would make it harder, but I think the awful smell has helped remind me how bad it is. Something about her body chemistry or about how quick she wolves a butt down, but she carries the worse smell after a cig. I can stand outside at work with the smoking peeps and be social, it does not bother me. She comes in after one and starts talking to me I have to cover my mouth and walk away. I think at this point she believes I hate her anyway. I don't, just the smell. Other tensions are there, but my own fault for not confronting her directly. Mike (the poor thing) addressed her this weekend about helping the house out. I don't think it was easy for him, but he knew he had to just get it over with.

We are so looking forward to our camping trip coming up. We will be at White Lake State Park in NH for over a week of my almost 3 week vacation. We camped there once a few years ago and it was so nice. We kind of blindly picked our site, we know it's close to the water, but we can not remember exactly what it was like. We'll find out. We are going after the holiday weekend, so it should be quite.

And last, but not least on my mind today is Kenzie's blanket. I made a couple squares over the weekend, not real nuts about rushing it. I have 4 small squares to make and the rest of a medium square. Some joining to do and the edging, which I will play by ear. It's easy to sit and crochet while I am waiting for Kenzie at karate. She has it this afternoon at 4:30. It's gonna be a bit rushed because both Mike and I are doing days. I'll post some pics on Ravelry later today or tomorrow too. I need to add a couple projects, like the karate felted bag.

Right now, I gotta get to it. I need to be working to keep the boss lady happy enough until vacation. It's really nice out, may 75F and real sunny. I hope the girls go swimming.

(PS. Click on the flag afghan above (it's not mine) it will bring you to the free pattern on the Lion Brand website. Not that anyone but a total freak would be able to finish that before the holiday weekend coming up, but I thought it was pretty cool looking for a flag afghan.)

I'd Wear That!

I want this shirt! There is a Threadless t-shirt thread going on at Ravelry (btw, all this fiber reference is killing me, lol!) and someone linked to this one. Go over there and click for a reprint, right now it is out of stock....but if enough of us bug them they'll put it back on the presses.

My Dream Job: Crochet at Home, 100K+/yr......Oh well, Happy Monday!

(shhhh.....I should be working, where is my freaking motivation!?)

But I have gotten something accomplished this morning.....

• Watched Drew's new podcast.
• Decided I am going to participate in a CAL mystery after reading about Bendy's new book Dying to Crochet by Bendy Carter on the Crochet Partners list and on Ravelry. There is a group on Ravelry called Hooked on Murder, apparently this kind of thing has been going on for quite some time, lol.

It's raining, guess it will be on and off for the next few days. Okay for me cuz I am at work, sucks for the kids though. They aren't used to being home on vacation yet so the rain makes them even more bored. I just want to be home with them :o( Chin up though, after next Thursday I am on vacation for over two weeks! I can not wait. Okay, I am going to force myself to get some work done. I promised the boss lady she would have her data today.

Has anyone tested the "washability" of Vanna's Choice yarn? Kenzie's circles to squares afghan is made with it, and I have scraps from other gift projects. Just wondering?

Kenzies Circles in Squares Afghan

Originally uploaded by happyhooking

Well this thing has been hibernating for at least a couple months now. I am adding an extra section to it, because the pattern (from Lion Brand Yarn, free online), is more like a throw than an afghan and I want Kenzie to get some use out of it. It may be long enough for her now at almost 9 years old, but not for long. She has a pink circle bed set from Target too, this will go nicely with it.

Speak of the devil, she keeps asking me to set up the tent in the living room. She had a sleep over last night and they slept in the backyard in our old tent. Guess she wants more. Right now we are having some strong winds and thundershowers, so I am really glad I didn't procrastinate getting the tent down.

I have one large square, 4 medium and 4 small to finish off the extra panel. I am trying to motivate. I should also get the last load of laundry in too. Sunday's can be pretty lumpy. Mike has to work tonight and I don't think he feels to good, he's been watching tv down in the bedroom....kinda detached. I hate to leave Kenzie by herself upstairs to go make him feel better downstairs. Blah. I guess pocking around the net isn't making either one feel better, so off I go.

Pattern layout with my extra panel (the pieces with the sideways letters are my extras):

Crochet, Ravelry & Water Bottle Holder Pattern

Crochet 003
Originally uploaded by happyhooking

I wanted some water bottle holders for camp so I whipped up a few of these. I've since made multicolor ones too, have to upload those pictures sometime. I wrote down the pattern after making a few of them and have since uploaded it to Ravelry for $1. It is my first pattern that I am charging for, but I am going to send half of it to the National Parks. I also uploaded the pattern to Lulu. If you'd like a copy of it and you're not on Ravelry yet you can find it there. It is $2 there, but if you're reading my blog and find it you get it for $1 too, just leave me a message ;o)

I've been on Ravelry since last November now and I am still amazed every day. Recently I joined the Welcome Wagon group to help send messages to new members. Right now I have the letter H (all I can think of is Sesame St. when I say that), which I like because I start with the letter H too. (Yeah, it doesn't take much.) Ravelry is a time suck though. I go to work and log on, next thing I know it's 2 hours later and I haven't done a thing! It cuts into my crochet time too, but there is so much inspiration there I don't count that as a negative. I love Ravelry and can not believe no one thought of this kind of formatting sooner. This formatting could be used to make anything more manageable. Casey and Jess should copyright the formatting, lol, I said the c word.

Right now I am working on a bag that kinda matches the water bottle carrier, except it is colorful and striped. (Gotta update the pictures!) I made Kenzie (my youngest daughter) a cool felted backpack for Karate a few weeks ago (post pictures!), and I hand painted the Japanese characters for Karate on it. It came out really cool. So it has inspired me to do more bag work. I think the bag I'm working on now will be a backpack too. In the style of the sling backpack. I should be working on Mackenzie's blanket. I started it months ago. I hate when I start something and loose interest in it. I really want it done, I'm just not motivated. Grrrrr...it's like a monkey on my back.....speaking of which I think I have one of those in process too. I want to add those process bars some of the Ravelry girls made to this blog, maybe that'll help me keep track. I have my Ravelry notebook, but that doesn't seem to scream at me like a progress bar does.

I'm posting this from flickr, lets see if it works. I'll have to go back and do spell check over at blogger though. Maybe while I'm here I should update my pictures.....no....must.....go.....do.....work!

Later!

Bringing it Back

Once again I will attempt to keep up with a blog. I have started several over the years and commit to none. I'm spending more time on the interweb thanks to Ravelry, and there is incentive to see an up to date blog going on my notebook page. I'm not to thrilled about the template options here on blogger, so I found this viney one. I just need to take some time to tweak it out a bit.

For those of you popping in randomly my blog is about crochet hooking, not the other kind ;o) After a bit of googling I found another Jojo's Happy Hooking, hers was NOT about crochet, lol. Guess that's what I get. I keep a Google pages site kinda up to date here. I'm going to keep that site going (it needs an update), but it's just not a blog. It's more of a gallery I guess.

Topics I hope to post about:

• Life in general, bitching and moaning to the faceless internet is always therapeutic.
• Crochet, cuz that's what keeps me sane.
• My husband and kids. They may drive me nuts sometimes but they are my world.
• Camping, another sanity keeper. Sometimes I wish I could stay in the woods forever.
• Getting green(er). My inner hippie has always tried, now my inner yuppie thinks it's cool.
• My cats and the dog that thinks she is a cat.
• Stupid people, guess that goes to bullet #1, but there are so many of them they deserve their own space in line.
• And whatever, isn't that what a blog is for?

Changes I want to make to this blog:

• Add a Ravelry button, and other gadgets related to it if there are any.
• Get rid of the ads that came with the template.
• Find out if I can import pics from either Pisca or Flckr.
• Add my most favorite links, not all of them, no need for clutter.
• Tweak out the templates layout. Add some useful gadgets.

I am not a big fan of the myspace kind of site, not even a big fan of blogging. I'm kinda partial to my Google pages site format, but like I said no place to really "blog". I will babble here, think out loud, bitch, fight with myself, whine and carry on about somethings that really don't matter. I'm going for the blog is cheaper than therapy approach.

Okay off to mess around with the template, hopefully I don't fuck it up!