Posts

Posted on

Almost Easter

Wow, time flies, doesn’t it? Here we are in the last week of March. Hoping that snow disappears and doesn’t come back. Looking forward to Easter.

At the end of the week I fly to San Francisco to spend ten days with my kids in Santa Clara. I am so looking forward to the sunshine and warmth!

I’ve also been busy. Last year I made two little owls that I mailed to Mina for Easter.

coffee table mess
coffee table mess

This year I came across a very cute bag on the Red Heart website and just had to download the free pattern and make it. Here is my version (I opted to leave the wings off).

owl bag
Owl bag

Yarn used: from my stash – mostly Caron Simply Soft, in a blue/aqua/pink variegate, purple and pink. Crochet hook size 6mm for double-strand bag body and strap and 4mm for the rest.

As well, I came across a bunny pattern on the Drops Design website — I love making toy animals; I have a big box full of them yet from when Simon and Trina were little. I had to make this one too:

Easter Bunny
Easter Bunny

Yarn used: again, from my stash – Patons Grace (beige & purple), Schchenmayr Catania (pink & black), hook size 2mm.

These items will go in my suitcase to be given to the wee girl on Easter morning.

Posted on

A Shawl for Cheryl

My sister, Cheryl, asked if I would make a shawl for her. She wanted pure wool, Canadian sourced, so she ordered DK wool (Emerald, #s-13) online from Grand River Yarns. The downside of this order was that she was not given a shipping choice — the order was expedited, arriving just a couple days after ordering it. Cheryl would have been happy to wait a little longer to spend less on shipping.
I didn’t follow a pattern, I just started crocheting with a 4.5mm hook. The downside to this is that I finished the yarn with a shawl that was not long enough to wrap around my little sister. Cheryl's Shawl*sigh* I pulled it all out and am starting over. This time I am making it a bit more narrow and am using a 7mm hook so the shawl will be less dense and the yarn will go a bit farther.
begin again

Posted on

Recipes Collected

Another project that I’ve wanted to take on for a long time, and have just begun is taking my favourite recipes and putting them together in one place. At the moment they are often on various scraps of paper in a folder, or in certain cookbooks. But I usually have to sort through the whole folder or take a couple of my cookbooks to the couch, because I don’t know exactly which one it is in.

About a year ago Apple came out with a program called iBook Author – to help make it easy for people to write their own books. And so I have started my recipe collection. But it isn’t fast! I have three recipes written out so far. I have a long way to go.

Here is a sample page:

Thumprint cookies
A page from my “recipes collected” book.
Posted on

2013!

A new year already! How did that happen? I haven’t posted since September — the fall has been so full! But I will try to do some “backward” posts – updating my various projects.

Today’s project – making a coat for Q. Q (short for Quasar, my mother’s/brother’s Shitzu puppy) loves the snow! In fact, he has so much fun bounding in it he forget what he went outside to do until he is too cold to do his business. Jim was able to get two doggie coats from a friend, but they are too big for a 4 month old puppy. I decided to use the one that fit him best as a pattern.

A raincoat for a small dog
A raincoat for a small dog

I used scraps of purple fleece that have hung out in my cupboard for a lot of years. I made the coat in two layers of the same fleece. In the end, it fits not too badly. Q is likely to grow out of it pretty quickly, but it won’t be too hard to make it bigger.

Q in his new coat
Quasar in his new coat

Billy got a new coat this fall too. Again, I bought a raincoat for her that fit well then used it as a pattern. Her coat is a light blue fleece and the purple fleece for the lining. In between the two I put a layer of nylon, cut from an old coat no one had worn for years. This coat is easier to put on than are Billie’s sweaters.

 

Billie's coat
Billie’s fleece coat

Mina loved Q! Not so sure Q felt quite the same, but he was amazingly docile with her.

Posted on

a new lens

So I had my eye surgery today. The hard part was sitting around in the hospital for three hours before surgery. The actual surgery took 10 minutes. It was uncomfortable, but not painful. I could tell immediately that I am no longer seeing double. That is good!

my eyes
my eyes with a new lens on my right

When I took Billie outside this evening all the lights had incredible “petals” of light coming out in all directions around them. It was quite distracting!

Unfortunately my vein didn’t heal very well when the IV was removed. I removed the bandage in Dr Jellie’s office this afternoon and within an hour had a huge bubble of blood under my skin.Note to self: next time leave the bandage on for a few more hours!

my hand
my hand