Various and a Sunday

Gotta love those lazy Sunday's. I know I do. At least I do when the dogs aren't getting me up at the crack of dawn to take them outside. This morning they did get me up, but afterwards I went back to bed. Too tired to stay up. I honestly tried, I just couldn't seem to keep awake so I conceded defeat and got a couple more hours of rest. I must have needed it because I don't remember a thing.

My crochet cohort and partner in craft booth adventuring was over the other night. She'd managed to pick up some barrette backs for crafting at a really good price and decided to make barrettes to add to our line-up of craft items. She's only just started working with crochet threads and had some but not many odds and ends and I have oodles so we rooted through and found the ones with just a bit of thread left on them for her to take to make the flowers and such for the barrette backs. I knew I had a lot of thread but sure didn't realize I had amassed so much of it! I sent her off with all the odd balls and partial balls of it I had in various colors and some size 20 and 30 threads that I had as well. I'm curious now to see what she comes up with in the way of decoratives for those backs.

I seem to be cursed with the doily project I've been working on. Each time I get that accursed row completed I end up having to frog the dratted thing because there's a mistake in it. I'm talking four times now, I've reworked the same row. I understand now why I put the thing down for two years. I have a plan for finishing it though which goes something like this. Each day when I start my crocheting I am going to pick that doily up and work on it first thing. I feel this will enable me to work on it when I'm fresh and can pay attention and am hoping this will allow me to finally complete the row properly, and hopefully complete the last three rows left on it after that. Yes that's right, I'm on row 24 of 28 rows on this doily. Have been stuck on row 24 since I put the thing down two years ago. Have frogged row 24 four times now. I know the poor thing is going to need a thorough washing once I do have it complete.


It's been almost enough to make me want to donate ALL my thread to my friend! Almost! I do have a project in that stack of PIGS that is thread and there are balls of it earmarked for the project. The very same balls that came with the project to begin with. You see, that particular PIG is a project started by my mother a long time back and one she never completed. I have a total of 53 squares in the bag and a bunch of the thread she originally bought for the project left. Unfortunately I don't have the pattern for the squares. I will either have to find something to turn those 53 squares into, or else go on a hunt for the pattern so I can make more of the squares. The thing with it is though, I don't know what she was intending to make with it so I am not sure I'll ever actually complete the intended aim of it. I do know I'm going to make something with them all. Don't know what yet, haven't given it more thought than to just count the squares and see how much of the thread is there, and there are a BUNCH of balls of it there so if I do end up making more squares I'll have all the thread I need. Luckily the project is white so there isn't going to be an issue of color fading (maybe an issue of yellowing due to the age of the thread). I am confident that I can always bleach the completed project back into conformity if I find that necessary. From this picture of one of the squares though, I don't think any bleaching will be necessary.

One final picture that I just couldn't resist posting is of my dog Honey. I caught her the other day sleeping in this position. She looked so comfy and I just couldn't figure out how the heck she could be. I snuck off to get my camera and by the time I had it ready to snap the photo she was aware I was there and watching me. She just couldn't move, sort of like that sleep state where you're aware of everything around you but you are paralyzed and unable to do anything about it. I just laughed and laughed. Gives new meaning to my nickname for her - Honeybutt!

Coffee Time!

I just love Saturday mornings. I'm loving them even more now that the dogs are waking me up at 7 a.m. because they hear people moving about outside. I have to look at it like this, I could hate it and gripe and complain but they'd still wake me up at 7 a.m. (or whenever they hear people outside) so I might as well make the best of it. So, get up, take them out, make coffee and sit, sipping coffee, catching up on email and various other readings (blogs, books, magazines, t.v. guide, last Sunday's paper). It makes the early morning more tolerable when I've been up way too late the night before and I actually love the early morning when I've had enough rest. When it warms up it'll be even nicer, sitting outside with my coffee while they run around.

Now, I'm sure many of you have dealt with interruptions from family and others when you're counting. I don't really have anyone speaking to me when I count so it's easier to get through those periods in my crochet. I do however have three muttleys who think they're my kids (who am I kidding, they are!) and they like to interrupt. They don't actually have a favorite time for it (like when I'm counting), they do it any time. Anytime they feel like I've not given them their fair share of attention, petting and cuddling that is. Honey, the beagle is only 22 lbs. Small for a beagle but a very vocal and spoiled brat is she. Now, when she's wanting attention and I'm not giving it to her, she just crawls over everything and into my lap. So often she's climbed up in the middle of my crochet project and trapped me. I can't move because she's pinning the project in my lap and if I move I'm going to be pulling out stitches. So, helpless, hanging on to that last stitch and the hook, I'm trying to fight her off my lap while she's trying to lean up and lick my face. It's a sight, an oh so frustrating, infuriating, hilarious sight!

I've wheedled the Skipping Stones afghan down to three rows. I was down to four but had to frog as my count was off, so I'd spent the second half of last week reworking to get back to where I was and then started on that fourth-from-the-last row. It worked around pretty nicely, then I began the third-from-the-last row and lo and behold, I ran out of yarn! AAARRrrgghhh! I feel so like Charlie Brown sometimes! You know, nothing ever goes right. So, I've had to lay the afghan aside until I can go back to the store and match up the yarn. Luckily I used R.H. so it should match up pretty easily. I hope! In the meantime, it's back to scrunchies and I think I'm going to work up some scarves. I may bring out the shrug and start that, but I just hate to start it when I haven't got that afghan out of the way yet. I'd set my mind that that's how I was going to work it. Finish one PIG before starting another and now, well. They say in life (and crochet) you should know nothing is ever written in stone and you should anticipate that and expect to have to make adjustments. I'm such a person of routine though that I hate getting things set inside my head, and started in that direction and then have to change it in the middle of things.

The thought though, of spending the weekend on just scarves and scrunchies isn't very appealing. I like having a larger project and those smaller ones to break up the routine of the larger. Ah well, life is unexpected and that should be part of the beauty of it that you can appreciate. Unexpectedness! Learn to go with the flow I suppose. Something I'm not very adept at doing, but learning none-the-less.