current project {continued}

Well, I've been piecing the crocheted hexagons together for the last three days. There are 120 seven~inch hexagons, with no two the same. After I crocheted all the hexagons, I joined them together in rows of twelve, with the centers as the common focal point. And now I am joining the ten rows together.

I've done ten groups of twelve, with the centers forming the bases. So that each hexagon in each of the ten groups all share the same shade and color center, with twelve different colors forming the outside rounds on the hexagons. Each hexagon is two colors, the inside center of three rounds in one color and the outside two rounds in a different color.

I've used about fifteen colors in all, because some shades I ran out and had to substitute another slightly different shade. However, there is enough continuity in the shading that I think I am able to have an overall pattern that is appealing to the eye. What do you think?


I've only joined three rows thus far, and have seven more to go. But I wanted to get some pictures while the room was nice and bright with the wonderful afternoon sunlight. In the chair that my friend gave me {yes, I have TWO friends!} which matches a chair that is in a yet~to~be~cleaned room in My Jerry's house, is a stack of seven rows of twelve hexagons.

Those rows have yet to be joined to the entire afghan that you see the scant beginnings of here. I laid the strip of three completed and joined rows diagonally across my queen~sized bed for this series of pix. I think that the finished project will be large enough to either use on a queen~size with enough hang~over around it to be adequately comfortable or to cover the top of a king~sized bed with little hang~over.

I'll be sure to take pix of the entire completed project. I want to edge it with the same shade that I am using to join the rows. Since the pattern is based on a traditional quilt pattern called grandmother's country flower garden, I wanted to join the rows in a green to symbolize the vines, leaves, stalks, and stems you usually find supporting the flowers in the garden.

Here in the South, kudzu is fairly common. And I found a shade called Tea Leaf that I thought would nicely cohere all the other colors found in this flower bed. I can't wait to see the final project!

april's fools are multiduious, and unfortunately not confined to april

Yes, I realize that "multiduious" is not recognized by google, however, I am certain that most readers will understand exactly what I mean. It must be that I've been listening to My Jerry's Bowery Boy movies too much lately and it's beginning to affect my speech patterns in more than a few ways. Slip is always peppering his speech with words that are just slightly off what he means to say and some of them are absolutely heh~LARRY~us.

At any rate, I was writing to my friend {cuz I only have one, and dammit, she's MINE *stomp*} and I thought I'd share a snippet of the verbiage:

"This region of Mississippi is known as The Pines. And in a week or two, you will notice that there is an inch thick yellowish~green coating on everything. It's like gawd sneezed and we got slimed cuz doncha know, he's got the whole world in his hands? {I am sooOOOoooo going to hell. in a hand basket} Pollens are in the air a good four to six weeks before we actually see it. So that's why you are finding it extra challenging right now.

Most people say things like, "oh, thank~cod it's raining, that'll damper the pollens and help the allergies!" wrong. the same rain that leaves broken debris strewed across your lawn is the same rain that stirs up the pollens and sends them flying through the air. And have you seen the god~snot slick across puddles and such? it's like technocolored oil slicks!

{stop laughing, you know it's true}

Yes, I relate to the muckiness of land several days post~rain. Mississippi Mud is not just a dessert! {i had to google the spelling of that, cuz i get mixed up with deserts and desserts, no matter how many lil reminders i come up with...like desserts have an extra "s" for sweetening! or deserts are dry and have sucked that "s" away}."

*oh, and special thanks to sherwin~williams paint for the logo~lift. they have wonderful products and while i'm not sure the earth is to be covered in paint, this house mostly is! tho to be truthful, I think their Krud~Kutter is the best product they offer! I love this stuff! If possible, I'd launder all my clothes and shower in it. Except I'm thinking I'd like to keep my skin. However, it does a great job with heavy~duty accumulated~krud cleaning cuz it's the kkkkkrrrrrudddd~kutterrrrrrrrrr.

current project

There are about eighty hexagons here, with me working on more every day. I just started this project about ten days ago, I think. The general idea was that I'd probably do something like the more traditional grandmother's country flower garden quilt. But with crocheted pieces instead.

So I need to start to think about how I want to do the lay~out {no two pieces are the same} and how I want to join them {method and yarn}. Usually, I start a project with someone in mind. I think about them the entire time I make the piece and then when I give it to them, it is truly theirs because it was made with them in mind. But with this one, I have someone/s in mind, but I won't know for sure til I do finish it and see it. Mostly this is cuz I'm not sure if the finished quilt~ghan will come out as I'd like because I'm not sure how I'll do with all the joining and piecing. I've never made this sort before, so if it turns out wonderfully well, then I'll give it to a nice married couple I know. If it doesn't turn out just right, then I'll do something else for them!

i saw it on the radio

My mom came for a brief visit this week, arriving late Tuesday afternoon and leaving early this morning. That meant that we had two full days to visit with each other. So Wed, we went to Tupelo {a little over an hour away} and had a very good lunch and then went shoe shopping for mom. I'm waiting til after my appt with the orthopedic clinic in a couple weeks before I make any decisions about footwear. Both my mom and I hate shoe shopping. It's hard for me to find shoes that fit properly, as my instep/arch is very high and I don't sacrifice my health for fashion.

Mom hasn't been shoe shopping in quite some time. The major reason for that is because when she finds something that fits well, that's comfortable, and that she likes; then she buys a few extra pairs to keep in case she can't find them on the market when the pair she is wearing wears out. Well, she had found some clogs by Naturalizer a few years back that fit the bill and also were being discontinued. So she was able to buy six pairs from that region {the store's manager called around and had the extras sent in from the surrounding outlets}.

Eventually, the last of those extra pairs was contemplating running away from her rather than be slipped on to her dogs again and so mom thought it was time to buckle down and go shoe shopping. Fortunately, we were able to find acceptable replacements in fairly straight order and the whole venture was a pleasant day's outing.

We also stopped by Elvis Presley's birthplace in Tupelo. We didn't want to pay a rather inflated price for the short tour, so we walked about and read the plaques and saw some of the area that way. We were going to visit the Buffalo park, but that would have to wait for another day, as it was looking rather stormy and I didn't think the animals would be relaxed and wanting folks to be gawking at them.

Usually, when mom visits, we listen to a few audio~books while crafting or cleaning. Since we wanted this visit to not include any major chores and since the visit was going to be comparatively short, we opted not to even start listening to a book.

However, we did watch a few movies. One movie was Mel Brooks's "Silent Movie" with himself, Marty Feldman, and Dom DeLuise, Burt Reynolds, James Caan, Paul Newman, Liza Minnelli, Sid Ceasar, Bernadette Peters, Anne Bancroft, Marcel Marceau {the famous mime actually speaks the only word spoken in the entire movie}, and many others. It was released in 1976, decades since the era of Silent Films. So it was an oddity, to have a silent movie, that starred that many big~names and was that popular! But it was well worth a look~see and a read~thru if you have the chance to see if for yourself.

So I'd made the remark to mom that usually we listen to books, but this time we read a movie!

Thanks for a wonderful visit mom!

durtee~gurlll

I feel dirty.

But I'm happy, so that's good.

Good and dirty.

I have spent this afternoon in one of the spare rooms, unpacking all my books from out on the farm and arranging them on the custom~built cedar shelves I brought with me. Then I kept shuffling them around, cuz I kept finding stuff that I'd forgotten to leave room for on the shelves. I also went ahead and cleared up the office~supply stash that was in there and moved it all into our craftee~study and then set up my TV into the newly opened space on a shelf/drawer unit that Jerry had built years ago. I have to hook~up the TV, VHS player, etc. But that's for another day.

It's for sure not all the unpacking and cleaning, but it's a start. Some stuff, I'm not going to want to keep. I figure, if I've been living without using it for this past year, then how much do I really need it anyway?

It was like Christmas in a way. I unearthed my photo~album from when I was in high~school and college up in PA. And my Jerry came into the room, looked at a pic of me and said that I look about 14 in it. I was actually 23, graduating with my bachelor's.

I do have a few things to hang. One is a painting that was done for me, a still~life arrangement that the artist gave to me for posing for him. Then there are two pieces my grandfather did. One is of flowers, done in chalk, on a brown paper bag from the grocer's and the other is of butterflies and flowers done in colored pen.

And eventually, we need to hook~up the window AC unit. I'm sure that whichever guests stay in that room in the spring~summer~fall will appreciate that! But all in all, I did get a start on unpacking and clearing things up!

So yea for me!

sillee craftee mee

March is:

National Craft Month

and

National Crochet Month

{*gasp*}

Birthday partying

Today was My Jerry's mother's seventy~fifth birthday and we'd gotten her a small plant and took her to Applebee's where she had grilled shrimp {yum!}. Earlier in the day, the place she lives surprised her with a small party and a cake! When I went to pick her up, they had decorated her front door with a birthday card with balloons. Happy Birthday!

{this is about half the afghan pictured, you can see the center square in maroon with the next round being a light pink, like the yarn at the top of the last round}

Tomorrow is My Jerry's granddaughter's sixth birthday party. Yea! So to the left, you'll see some pix of a small afghan that I finished this evening for her. A couple weeks back, I posted a pic of a maroon and pink critter hat. We're wrapping both the hat and the afghan together to give her along with a couple other presents.



The afghan is a single granny~square. I used clusters of three double crochet stitches. It's a simple, basic stitch and pattern that most crocheters have down~pat and use for charity, gifts, and for their own families to cuddle and snuggle and keep warm with.

{This shows the afghan folded so that a quarter of it is shown. I did it in a round of one in maroon and then one in pink, then two in maroon and two in shades of pinks, then three rounds in the base of maroon, and so on til I reached six rounds in maroon, because she's six years old!}



It's odd, that as much crochet'ing as I do, that I really don't have much of the finished product myself. Usually, I am making something for some one in particular. I am thinking of them while I make the item and so it's truly for that particular person. I keep thinking, eventually, I crochet a quilt~ghan for keeps. But usually I have a few projects in mind for others, whom I want to make happy and pleasantly surprise. And as I long as I have fun with it all, that makes me happy to see them happy.

{This last pic is a close~up to show detail. The last round is with double the number of double crochet stitches in each cluster so that the edge has a slight ruffle to it. The top is the same girly~pink as the center, with the other three sides being a dustier rose pink to set off the maroon nicely.}

I hope this afghan makes this lil girly~girl happy, too!

why, yes, I can

It just may be that going to the barber shop today had lasting side~effects besides the best haircut I've had for fifteen bucks in ...well...ever.

Across the street from our local public library is a barber shop with an honest~to~gawdah pole that's been there since back in the 60s. It's quite spacious and really is like taking a step back in time, several really large steps back in time. The equipment is amazing, great condition, but I haven't seen chairs and sinks like that since watching Mayberry's Floyd cut Andy's hair. I've seen that barber shop downtown hundreds of times and finally thought to stop in. And I am really Really REALLY glad I did! It's definitely a Man's World in there and a damn good thing that I comfortable in my womanhood enough not to be threatened by the lack of feminine feel. Awesome, and I'd recommend Tim to any person who wants a quick, effecient, great cut!

So then later in the day, I decided to give hooking up My Jerry's mother's entertainment set a shot. Setting it all up turned out to be more complicated than I thought because it actually was easier than I was trying to make it. In fact, My Jerry and I had the DirecTV, the DVD/VHS comb unit, and the TV all connected correctly but for one thing. We didn't have one of the four the co~ax ends screwed in tightly. Once we fixed that, it worked great!

The fact that the TV won't change to the channel that will allow you to view the DVD/VHS is mystifying and frustrating. My Jerry was feeling a tad hungry and light~headed and I was feeling overheated, so we called it quits for the evening and will worry about it tomorrow. She can watch the DirecTV and all the shows she TiVos. But we'd hoped we would be able to get everything running right so that she could see some of the DVD westerns. After all, tomorrow is her 75th birthday and how sweet would that have been?

So then I was finishing up a small afghan I'm making for the other birthday girl, My Jerry's granddaughter who is now six. I was on the last round before trimming it, when My Jerry came out into the living room to tell me that he thinks the clock in broke because the alarm switch was stuck mid~way between On and Off. This was frustrating as he was tired and all ready for bed and not feeling too perky. So he went off to dig up another alarm clock cuz he gets up really early for work.

This stand~in alarm clock makes me giggle, as it is one with superheros on it, and looks like an old windup with a hammer between two bells on top. Wonder woman is posing mid~throw with her magic lasso. It makes me imagine him as a lil boy, enthralled with comics.

I took the old LED clock with its weirdly stuck switch apart and fixed it. The board was not level inside that the toggle switch slides against to send electronic signals to complete circuits for either BUZZZZZZ or no buzz. I don't know if the board will hold the correct position or if we ought to retire this particular clock.

As the day draws to a close, I'm feeling particularly handy. And a lil satisfied that I was able to be Miss Fix~it. Or would that be Missus Fix~it?

Now if only I could figure out how to switch the TV to the non~existent channel.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

bundled up

I'm such a whine~babee.

I know.

But thirty degrees in Mississippi?

In March?