Happy First Day of December

Happy first day of December, and there's only 25 more days until Christmas! 😱🎅🎄YIKES!!!!

I still need to finish Melissa's hat, before I can mail their box. I still need to finish wrapping all their presents and finish stuffing their stockings, too. 😭  I still have more stuff I want to crochet for Christmas, too. 

~A potato, for my husband. (Long story.... Every time we go shopping he gets potatoes. If they're on sale, he will get another bag even though we have a bag at home. I said "What are you obsessed with potatoes?" And I started thinking....  I can get him a potato gag gift for Christmas. Oh! I can CROCHET him a potato!! He doesn't even know the name of my blog or read it, so... I'm going to put it in his stocking. This potato thing also was why we named the stray cat Spuds.

~A Red Truck Gift Card Holder, for Eon. Because he has a red truck...  I still need to finish his Red Truck Snow Globe candy jar, too. Which will not be easy, with him home all the time now in the winter. 

~Maybe some Golf Club Covers? Eon went golfing with friends a couple times this summer.

Plus the Penny's Santa hat, for myself.. 

I wasn't even going to knit or crochet anything for Christmas this year...  Now I am so stressed out. 😭And I have to mail their box. And we're supposed to get more snow tonight. 😭😭😭 Oh! Spuds came back! My husband moved the heated pad out of the cat house, and when he went outside Spuds was asleep on the pad, under the blanket tent my husband made on our bench on the porch. 🩷 I worry if he shows up, and I worry if he doesn't show up. But, I am glad he is laying on the heated pad! Until we can figure something else out...

HIP

HIP= Hats In Progress... This is my DIL's hat, so far. I am almost done with the "ribbing" part of it. Well, technically it's all ribbing. But ribbing and elongated ribbing. I should only be working on this so I can send their box out. Uggghhhhhhhh...

But, yesterday I wasted the whole day looking for the pattern for this, and the yarn. I looked in my "hats/scarves/etc" folder, and I "found" it. (Yay....) Not. It was just the first page. Ughhh... (I was not awake..) Then I looked through my whole pile of patterns on my book shelf (that I need to reorganize and put into their proper folders). I didn't see it...  Then I thought "What if it's in the "Holiday" folder?" Not in there. Then I looked through the whole pile of loose patterns on my book shelf again. I found the rest of t!! YAYYY!!! (I stapled it together, so I wouldn't lose it again.) I didn't have a working stapler for a long time..   What a pain. I also wasted more time looking for the one I crocheted a long time ago. I thought I had done on that was purple variegated. I couldn't find it on my blog, on Facebook... Then I thought "What about Instagram?" Yup. It's the Penny's Double Tail Santa Hat. (From the Big Bang Theory.) I had bought the pattern when I was still on Ravelry. It's not available on her Etsy store anymore, so I don't know if it's still available on Ravelry? The pattern I have is not the "revised" pattern. But I don't care. After all that, my back hurt.

This is the one I crocheted, in December of 2017.. I don't know where it is, though. Sighhhh....

I was trying to get some Christmas presents wrapped (bubble wrap, and wrapping paper) for our son and daughter in law... But my cats had other plans. I couldn't stop laughing.. Cosmo came and laid on a little piece of wrapping paper. And I covered him up in the blanket. Then, Eri came right over, too. And laid right next to him on the wrapping paper. So I covered her up, too. They just laid there like that. I should go see if they're still there. They are so funny. But, I didn't get much wrapping done. It is cold upstairs. 

Not as cold as it is outside, though. 😔🥶 Yesterday, I was in here and I went to go in the kitchen and Spuds was sitting on the railing, on the back porch! I said "How did you get back there?" (Our backyard is all fenced in-he must have jumped over the fence. Or got in under the back deck... Crazy kitty. He was meowing and had snow on him. He looked so cold!! Poor kitty! My husband went around to the back gate and had food and got him to come back to the front porch. We keep trying to get him to go in the heated cat house, but he won't stay in it. :(  We haven't seen him all day today. I don't know if that's a good thing, or a bad thing...   I did let him in the back door for a minute. But he went right back out.

Well I better work on my hat!

Hats, Snow, and Cats...

                                                       

I finished our son's hat. I actually knitted two inches too far and I had to undo two inches of knitting. 😟 Ugh.... But, it's done now and ends all weaved in. I was trying to find a good hat pattern to knit for our daughter in law, too. Went on Pinterest, googled.....  Finally, I thought "I'm just going to knit the woman's hat from the same pattern." There is three different versions (and sizes) you can do. The woman's hat is a "color block" version. I wanted to do the same colors in both hats, but I wanted to use a lighter blue that I have in hers, too. I already started it. I just haven't taken a picture of it yet. It literally looks the same as this one, so far. 😝 (You can see the "Color Block" hat in this post, it's the woman's hat in the middle picture on the front of the cover.) I got them both some gloves, too. I got the kind that are fingerless, but you can fold over the top for when you aren't using your phone or whatever; for our DIL. And I got "work gloves" for our son. 🙅

I also finished two dishcloths. 😖 I used some (I think) size 6 needles. But I don't like how small it is. Maybe I'll just keep that one. Then I knitted one on size 9 needles. Much better. This is also for our son. I'm trying to get his stuff all done first, because I have to mail their Christmas presents. 

And, I found some fake "snow"! At the dollar store, too! Bonus. I don't even want to step foot in Hobby Lobby right now, it will cost at least $30... At least! 

And, I did my husband's "snow globe" mason jar. I didn't take a picture of the jar yet. I had to get it upstairs and hide it before he got home from work. He likes snowmen. And when I showed him the one I made our DIL, he said "I want one"...  I want to do one more, for our youngest son. I have an idea for a "Red Truck" one...  (His truck is red, and when I was decorating the Christmas tree, he saw a red truck ornament and said "This is mine". LoL  

This was Thanksgiving morning. I said "I was not dreaming of a white Thanksgiving!" 😡 UGH!! We are supposed to get a snow storm today and tonight/tomorrow. We could possibly get 6-10 inches of snow.😟 Which brings me to the stray cat we have had hanging around our house...

I don't know if I ever posted a picture of him. This is one I took in June. I don't know if he was hanging around before that, or not. We had seen kitty paw prints in the snow on the porch during the winter, but very rarely saw a cat. Well, he has been hanging around more lately. And the past three nights in a row, he has been sleeping on our porch. (Or under it). I don't want to just let him in the house. (Well, I do, but...) He could have diseases or fleas. We have two cats and two dogs already...   I feel so bad for him! I posted on Facebook and on Nextdoor, to see if anyone owned him. (If they do, they don't take good care of him....) This is a loooooong story. Sigh. One woman said that's their barn cat, Jak. They try to keep him in but he "gets aggressive". I don't know if she's just crazy and trying to mess with someone online, or what. Because I said, "We put a flea collar on him. We thought he is a stray" and she said "Please don't put flea collars on strays, it's dangerous." I said, "You know what's more dangerous? Letting your cat run around loose so close to the highway!" Stupid idiot. 😡 (I said it "nicely", but...)  I just decided we will try to help him here until we can get him to a vet or something... We'll see. We went to Walmart and got two bins and made a shelter for him.

(sigh...) He would not go in it. It was just a basic plastic shelter (I was going to get some straw to put inside it..) But, he wouldn't have anything to do with it. Brat cat. (We spent a lot of money, with the bins and flea collars!)

Well, we spent even more yesterday. We got him a heated outdoor shelter. He will go halfway in it (if you put his food in there). But won't go all the way in. Ughhhhh....   That was not cheap. I keep trying to get him to go in it. Then, I realized, "He probably doesn't like the flap". There's a plastic flap in the doorway. I would hold it up so he could go in.. (my husband must have put it on after I took this picture). It has velcro and you can remove it. I took it off this morning, and put his food bowl in there. He was about like this when I went back inside. We are supposed to get all that snow, so I hope he will realize that house is warm and go in it.  Obviously he isn't being taken care of. If he is someone's cat. He's friendly and rubs on our legs and got on my husband's lap. But, he also is fiesty and will swat or try to scratch you sometimes. I just hope he doesn't tell all his friends about this new house... LoL. There was a grey tortie we saw a few times, too. We would see her in the yard and Spuds would be on the porch. He must have made our porch his territory. (Thank God he hasn't "marked" his territory...)  We named him Spuds. Because I said "He's a porch potato". Then I said "We could call him Spuds". My husband liked it. He said "That's his name". Now I call him Spuds the Snow Cat.  We've spent more on Spuds than we have our own cats, lately! Sheesh.

Although we haven't seen the grey tortie in a while, we decided her name is Gravy. I was trying to think of a name for her. Our son said "What about Skit", because she is skittish. Then he said "What about Gravy?" (Spuds/Gravy...) I said "Yeah, like Grey-vy"...   So that's her name. If she ever comes back, she can go in the heated cat house.

This is Gravy. Or Grey-vy. 😝 I've seen her twice this month. I was looking through pictures on my phone and there was two of her. My husband has said he'll be on the porch, and Spuds is up there, and Gravy was in the yard meowing. Like "I want some food too". I posted her picture on a cat lost and found website. There was only one cat that was grey on there and I can't see the tip of it's tail. 

Here our cats are, laying on the rug because the tile is cold. Poor spoiled indoor kitties.... LoL. 

More Christmas Crochet

Am I going to drive everyone crazy posting how many days until Christmas? I didn't think it was a big deal (thinking about all the Christmas things I wanted to crochet..) Then I googled how many days were left, yesterday...  🥴 And I "seized the day."

I finished cleaning in the morning, and I said "I'm going to crochet". I had an idea in my head. I was thinking, "What if you crocheted a toilet paper roll cover, but it looked like a Christmas candle?" 💡🕯🎄This is what I came up with. It fits over a small (what I call a "regular") roll of toilet paper. Measuring 4 inches across the top.  I think it's cute. I need to write all these things down. I want to do more in different color combinations, too. 

How Many Days Until Christmas?

I can't believe it, it's coming up fast... Only a month and a week-ish left??? 😕 How are you doing with your Christmas shopping? I used to have it all together. Okay maybe not. But I did start my shopping early in the year there for a while. The last few years (since we moved back here) I haven't; so much. I did get a snow globe for my daughter in law, early in October. So, technically I got started out okay. I have one thing for everyone so far (except my husband). I'm trying to get our middle son and his wife's gifts done first, because I have to mail them to them. So far I have:

The Stitch Snowglobe

I realized I don't have a picture of it. It's sooo cute.  I might even want one myself. 😝

~The Stitch Snowglobe

~Stitch socks

~Snow globe candy jar

~Stockings with their initials on them

That's what I have so far, for them. I need to get busy and fill their stockings and finish shopping for them. But... "Money"...  

And mostly what I have is all for my daughter in law. She is easy to shop for, because it's either "Stitch" or snow globes.  Our middle son has ALWAYS been hard to shop for. I asked him what he wants for Christmas, "I don't know". He doesn't like anything (except xbox/gaming-which I don't even know if he is into that still he's in his late 20's now). So I just get things he needs. I am knitting the hat for him. Oh yeah, I did get him a baseball hat too.   Okay I am rambling. 

I also have an idea of something to crochet for Christmas decorating. (Sigh...)  

Oh Christmas Tree

"Oh Christmas Tree You stand in splendid beauty.. Your branches green in summer's glow And evergreen in winter's snow Oh Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree You stand in splendid beauty" 𝅘𝅥𝅰🎵🎄🎅  I was trying to unpack more decorations and see what else I would need out of the box (so my husband can put it back in the garage)..  And I found the miniature ornaments for my crocheted Christmas tree. So I started decorating it. At 6:30 in the morning... (Well when your cat wakes you up at 4 every morning demanding food...)  I only have the little ornaments and the gold bead string. I'm going to look and see what I decorated it with before when I first made it. Then I remembered, 
"I just bought all those little ornaments from Hobby Lobby for the snow globes, maybe I could use a couple of those." I want to crochet a little yellow star for the top, too.  This is how I get sidetracked and never finish anything... Sigh... LoL Maybe I can find a star at the dollar store or something.   Anyway, I was humming this song when I was decorating my little tree. 

I have a few that the little gold part on the top just disintegrated when I tried to attach the hanging loop onto. Sigh...   I should just throw them away. Seriously....  🙄 "Noooo, I can make something with them..."  They are too big to put into the snow globe jars. 

I started on the elongated ribbing part of the hat for our son that I am knitting.  😁 It's weird because the one I knitted for our youngest son was in my memories today. "Tis the season to be knitting fa la la la la la la la la" I'm turning into my mother and turning everything into a song. 😳

Red Trucks

This is not the best picture. The "snow globe" looks scratched and dirty, and it isn't? I showed my husband the snow globe I made for our DIL, and he said "I want one". I thought "Hmmmm... I could do that!" There's still a bunch of the cute little miniatures left, AND a snowman is in there. He loves snowmen. Then, I was thinking "I could do a 'Red Truck' one, too!" Our youngest son, when I was decorating the Christmas tree, pulled a red truck ornament (I got it at the dollar store) out, and said "This is mine". I mean, he has a red truck. But, I didn't think he would be into the red truck things....  Now I have a new mission. Red trucks. I even created a new Pinterest board. LoL. I'm not sure if I will use this red truck in the snow globe, though. I might try and see if I can find any smaller ones. This one, the tree fell off of. What do you think? Should I just use it? I can't fit much else in there. Unless I find some super tiny miniatures I can buy...    I found a Red Truck Crochet Gift Card Holder, too. I am definitely going to make that. 

Snow Globe Christmas Craft

I have had an idea for a Christmas craft to make for one of my daughters in law. (My other daughter in law does not celebrate Christmas, so...)  She LOVES snow globes, and is obsessed with them. (Honestly, she has gotten me a little obsessed with them, too). I saw a Mason Jar Snow globe craft (well, I have seen a few of them). And I went to different stores to get the stuff to make one. (Sigh...) First, I went to Dollar General. I went there for something else, actually. But I thought I would see if they had anything I could use. They had some of the clear Christmas ornaments that you can take apart. I didn't get them. Don't ask me why. Because I had to go back later and buy them. Hobby Lobby didn't even have any that you can take apart, and the only ones they even had were in packs of ten and too much money. A two pack at Dollar General cost $1. So, you could make four snow globe jars for 25 cents. 

They had the exact thing I was looking for, though at Hobby Lobby. AND, it was half off. Bonus. I literally NEVER want to pay full price at Hobby Lobby. (But, I have before..)  

Then, I went to the dollar store...  They had these adorable mini Christmas trees. 

And, I was going to go to Hobby Lobby to find some "fake snow". But I found this at the dollar store and I thought, "That would work..."  

This is my finished snow globe jar. I broke it all down, how much I spent making this. I couldn't believe it- over $15? (With tax)...  But, it's a Christmas present. If you had a wide mouth mason jar laying around, and if you bought your candy at the dollar store, it wouldn't cost so much. I didn't spend $92 but... I showed my husband this, and he texted me back, "I want one". I was checked in the cupboard above the fridge (I know our son sent us a jar with candy in it for Christmas one year), and I found two big wide mouth mason jars. I have ideas for both of them. And, now I have all the stuff to make them (I *might* have to go get more glue gun sticks, though- I will have to see if I can find glue sticks at the dollar store).  Let me tell you, it is not as "easy" as it looks to make one. And I hate how the glue gets all glopped up around the edges.

Close up top view. I still think it is pretty dang cute!!! Even with the glue glop. 😝 This is the tutorial I used to make it.

I had an idea to crochet a "Snow Globe Picture Frame Ornament", too. I wrote it all down, but my notes are a MESS....  I think it's okay. 

I started another hat, too. This one is the same as others I've made in the past. It's for a Christmas present. I wasn't going to knit or crochet anything for Christmas this year. HAAA... You know how that goes. One I knitted for our son. Another one I knitted for a gift. I am using a big 16 oz skein (from my stash- I used some of it in other projects) of Caron One Pound (obviously), "Midnight Blue" 294010. The wrapper is about falling off and irritating me so I'm posting here what the yarn and color is.

I realized I don't have a close up picture of my knitted Christmas bell. I took a picture of it to post on Facebook in a group I'm in..   I don't remember where I got the pattern from, but here is one very similar. I love knitting them in variegated Christmas yarn. I only have one for my tree, and since we got a bigger tree, we need more ornaments. I might have to dig that pattern out. *Don't get sidetracked*...  

Also, in other news... It snowed in the middle of the night. 😭😭😭   I know, it's November. But, I don't want winter to be here!!!! I HATE winter!!! It's so brutally cold. At least I don't have the cold sensitivity like I did last winter. I wasn't even supposed to "breathe" the cold air. 🥶🥶🥶 I will have to take a picture of the snow (it's just now getting light out) and upload it later.

I took a couple pictures...  😭 Not only is it snowing, but the sky is totally grey. Back porch.

Front porch. 

I saw a poem on a group I follow (and it was from Michigan):

"November skies are black and gray, Thanksgiving comes a happy day".

Merry Birthday Happy Christmas

I got my husbands' hat out to compare it to the one I just finished, so you can see what I was talking about in my last post. My husbands' hat, on the right; was done with one strand of worsted weight. I did the hat on the left with two strands held together, like the pattern says to. See how the top is all pointy? I do not like that. 

My husband got me a cake and some "sparkler" candles for my birthday. 😍 They were pretty cool. But you had to let them go out on their own (they wouldn't blow out-I tried), and it burned the top of the frosting in some parts. The cake is half chocolate and half vanilla. And, is almost gone! I only had one piece on my birthday, and I had a small piece today.  It's a lot of sugar, though; and it's too sweet for me, anyway.

One of the other things my husband got me was a new cup for my tea. 😊 I said a while ago, "I am going to need a winter cup to drink my tea out of". The one I was using all summer has strawberries on it. (First picture). This is the one he got me. I love it. 

I woke up the day before my birthday and thought "Happy Birthday to me, I can put up my tree"...  LoL  I always want to put the tree up early. My husband wants to wait until the day after Thanksgiving. Ughhh..   I sung my new birthday song to my husband and we (I should say, "he") put up the tree on my birthday. HA. He put it up, and put the angel on top and I decorated it. Cosmo went right to his spot under the tree. 😻  When I was trying to put some of the other Christmas decorations out (my crocheted tree), I was fixing the beaded rope on the tree, and I saw a purple thing sticking out of it. Why is there a crochet hook in the tree???????  Crazy. No it wasn't the one I lost that I just posted about. But obviously I did lose it at one time. I'll probably find the other one somewhere stupid like that. :P

Since I finished the hat, I was in the mood (rare for me, so I have to take advantage of it while it lasts) to finish more things. I got the dinosaur out which is all done being crocheted, but I had to sew all the parts on (which I hate). I started doing that yesterday. I got everything sewn on, then I had to crochet the spots still and sew them on. Which is almost done, too. I have one more spot to sew on. Now I have two more things I crocheted/knitted, that I don't know what to do with.....  (Sigh).  Both the reasons I started both projects I don't think are going to work out.  And now, since we put up the tree (I forgot to mention, it's a new Christmas tree! And, it's about a foot taller, and wider than our old tree)... I think we need more Christmas ornaments! I don't know. So maybe I will crochet some more, or knit a Christmas Bell.  I usually put candy canes on the tree, too. But, no one ever eats them any more and I actually just recently threw out some candy canes that were about (probably) four years old that were up in a cupboard.    If this mood to finish things lasts, maybe I can finish up some of the doll clothes.

~Until Next Time~ 

My Second Tychus Hat (20 years later....)

 

I got this out one day and I was knitting happily along on it. I put it down to get up for something. When I came back, I was looking at it and I thought "Something is not right here.." I had done a bunch of rows. UGGGHHHHH....  I was happy I was on the last wedge, almost done... 

This is what it's supposed to look like. I couldn't wrap my brain around what went wrong..  🙄So I just put it away for a few days.

I got it back out a couple days ago, and said "I'm just going to start ripping it back.." I undid all the stitches until I thought it was right. Then I realized what I did. Instead of knitting up until two stitches less than the rest of the row (36, 34, 32...); I had knitted all the way, and picked up the two green stitches on the end. As if I was finishing the second half of the wedge. Duhhh... Well now it's finished. I had started this with the infusion center in mind. To make some "team colors" hats for guys? But...   I don't know. It's really stiff. I remember the first hat I made for my husband was kind of stiff. Then I just used one strand, instead of two held together. And, it looked too small. But, it softened up, and it stretched out as time went on. And it fits him perfect now. I don't know. Sigh......   

Also, there's this. I pushed it all the way inside out and it has a pointy top. I don't like that. If it was for a girl, I could sew a pom-pom on the top to camouflage the pointy-ness. I don't like this team. So, now I don't know what to do with this hat. Maybe our son or my husband will want it, for work?...  🙍 I haven't sent a box to Pine Ridge in so long...   I don't know what to do.    I was thinking about doing another one, already though. In navy blue and off-white. For our middle son. 

Okay, I googled Tychus Hat, Images... And I don't feel so bad. There's a lot of them that are pointy. 💁 And I saw one girl who had a pom-pom on hers. 

Oh. And guess what I found this week? While I was trying to do something else (of course). The other bootie. (Now that I have two made-UGHHHH) I still haven't found that crochet hook, though. :P

Cactuses, Chicken, and Caches

I was watering my plants the other day, and I looked at my cactus to see if it has any buds yet, and IT DOES!! Yay!!!! This cactus had not gotten any flowers in a long time. It must like the window I put it in. 

There's a BUNCH. This is not a Christmas Cactus. It's a Thanksgiving Cactus. Here is a post about the different types of holiday cactuses. It seems like they put the wrong sticker on a lot of them. I have another one, but it is from a cutting from this one. It's in a different window and I don't think it has any buds... I should put it in the same window maybe it will get some. I would have to move one of the other plants, though...  Hmmmm.  I'm afraid to move one because the animals knock over the cactus there as it is.  ~Anyway~

In other breaking news, I got all the strawberry scented wax out of my wax melt and put some new pumpkin vanilla something wax in there. It smells good. 

We went to Frankenmuth this past weekend. We didn't really want to. But.... We made ourselves.  It was a pretty day, the sky was blue. This riverboat was blowing its horn right before I took this picture. I made a video of it, and it turned out perfect. I was making a video of the little river waterfall, then I went over to the riverboat and it blew its horn right as I got it in the video. Like I planned it. 

How cool is that?

This is the bridge. I forgot what it's called. The Holz Brucke (I don't know how to make the two little dots above the u). I didn't know that it is the largest covered bridge in Michigan. 😲

Here's a miniature version. This one might be the smallest covered bridge in Michigan. LoL 😄 It's cute.  

This is the "reason" we went to Frankenmuth. For a geocache...  I had been looking for a good place to "drop" a trackable one of my pen pals sent me. I wanted to put it by a castle. But... The closest castle near us only has a "virtual cache". It used to have a geocache (but, it was a micro, not anywhere I could put an actual swag into anything..) (Sigh...)  I was reading the description of this one; and it is covered, so the elements (snow, rain) won't get in it. And, the owner of this cache lives there and checks it regularly. My husband actually saw it, and I said "You found your first geocache. Now you're a geocacher."  

The whole time we were in Frankenmuth, we could smell the delicious chicken from Zehnder's and probably from the Bavarian Inn, too. They are right across the street from each other. I said "They probably blast the smell out of vents so people want to come in and eat there.."   It smells so good. We almost did go in but we didn't feel like waiting in line, and we just weren't in the mood for the whole experience (and all the people...)  I must have still been thinking about it the next day. When I woke up I thought "I should make some fried chicken for dinner tonight." I went to the store and got chicken legs and gravy (I didn't want to make gravy, too.) I did make mashed potatoes from scratch, though.

I "cheated" and bought dinner rolls, too. I didn't feel like cooking all day! I said "Well, it's not Zehnder's, but.."     We always went to Zehnder's, but a year or so ago we said "Let's try Bavarian Inn"... The Bavarian Inn is pretty awesome in my opinion. One time if we ever have all our kids here again, I want to reserve a room to ourselves at Zehnder's. I don't think the Bavarian Inn has special rooms... I will have to investigate...