Currently Reading/Making:

I've been reading more. Ever since I got treatment for my sleep apnea, I can actually read again! I finished Nickel and Dimed, it was really good. Very insightful. It's shocking the way the poor are exploited and the way people are forced to cope with such low wage jobs.

After that I read:
A Thousand Splendid Suns - Loved it! Khaled Houssini is amazing. Some parts were difficult to read, but so powerful.
Knit Two by Kate Jacobs - The sequel to The Friday Night Knitting Club. It was a bit slow to get going but I actually liked it better than the first one by the end.
Marley & Me by John Grogan - Cute book, very funny.
A Christmas Carol - God I hate Dickens. Don't know why I tried. Love it when it's turned into a movie though, like most of his stories... I hate his writing style.
The Handmaid's Tale - Fascinating. I could barely put it down.

I'm kinda thrilled I read 6 books in 2 months! Before that I might have read 2 books in 6 months! Although I am turning into my mother and reading in the bathroom... is that tmi?

Latest book:
Dewey: The Small Town Library Cat who Touched the World by Vicki Myron - I enjoyed this book, possibly because I'm a librarian and a cat lover. It's not the best book ever, but it was a sweet and interesting story. It's not just about a cat. It's about a town. And a library. And the librarian that runs it. You'll get some background on the town and library, and learn how the author became a librarian. It follows the life of Dewey, and his library family and the town. It's really amazing how famous one cat can get!

What I'm Making: I turned the leftover pieces of the sandcastle into a coat for Sammy. I want to either trim it or make a second layer and sew together the top layer (which I did start making) with a single skein of Homespun I got in a swap that I think will look great on Sammy. It's browns and blues with a bit of red.

Currently Reading/Making:

I need to keep up with this more.

Books: Started Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America by Barbara Ehrenreich a couple of weeks ago, but wasn't really in the mood for it lately. I just started Wicked by Gregory Maguire and can't decide if I like it or not.

Hooks: I've made 4 ornaments, 3 of which will be going in my secret pal package, which should have been mailed already, but oh well. I've been working on a garland to go with it also, cause I felt the 3 ornies weren't enough. It's done in the basic "bookworm" pattern...3 dc in each chain so it twists around. I'm also attaching jingle bells to it, using the technique I learned in Drew Emborsky's class on the cruise. I have 2 other exchanges coming up, both due around the first week of Dec I think. Ornaments and a birthday fun exchange. Don't know if I'll make anything for the b-day one or just send yarn and patterns.

Currently Reading/Making:

Reading:
The Red Tent by Anita Diamont

Making:
Nothing! Just finished a Secret Pal project-It was supposed to be a sandcastle but my god it was taking foreverrrrr, even with the alterations I made to save time. So I scrapped it and made a water bottle holder instead. :o)

Now it's a question of what to start working (or reworking) on.

Long time no blog

Wow I haven't posted here in almost a year! I feel slightly bad about that. I have also been neglecting Ravelry, and haven't been taking pictures of the things I've crocheted. I've read a few books (well maybe more than a few) in the past year. A few of them are:

Beauty by Robin McKinley
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
Chicks with Sticks (And the sequel) by Elizabeth Lenhard
Re-read both HP6 and Angels and Demons before seeing the movies
The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs

I'm sure there were more but that goes back to October or so.

I do enjoy reading and crocheting...I must find time to do both. I need to spend less time on the computer!

Wicked Easy Produce Bag

Like the idea of making produce bags to reduce your plastic bag consumption, but are new to crochet? Don't enjoy or know how to crochet in the round? Well this bag couldn't be easier. Hence the name "Wicked Easy Produce Bag". It is just a rectangle folded in half and stitched together.

Here's mine -->

To make: I used size 10 thread and a size E hook. This makes the stitches loose, and therefore stretchy.

Crochet a chain about 16-17 inches long.
Row 1: Dc in 4th ch from hook. *Ch 1, sk next ch, dc in next ch* across. Ch 4 and turn.
Row 2 and beyond: Dc in first dc, *ch1, dc in next dc* across. Ch 4 and turn.

Repeat until rectangle measures about 10 inches high. On last row do not ch 4, but fold rectangle and sc the sides together, down the side and across the bottom, putting 2 sc in the spaces between stitches, 1 sc in the stitches and 5 sc in the corner. Fasten off, weave in the tail and you are almost done! Now cut a 20 inch piece of cotton or acrylic yarn and weave it through the dc at the top. Knot the ends for a drawstring. If you want a very strong drawstring you can make a chain or an i-cord of thread or yarn.

I'm working on another of these bags, this one is a slight variation. I'll post pics of it later.

First produce bag

I've been using reusable bags at the grocery store for some time now. I even have ones from both Walmart and Target now. But one thing that bothered me was that since I buy a lot of fresh produce, at least in the summer and fall, was that I was using several plastic bags each time I went grocery shopping. One for the apples. Another for some pears. Another for the onions. One more for peppers and yet still one more for green beans. I might use 4 or 5 plastic bags on a typical weekly grocery trip. That didn't sit well with me, so though I'd never used thread (My fellow crocheters may want to smite me for saying so, but I think doilies are pretty but pointless and I doubt I'd ever use one) I decided to try my hand at making a small drawstring bag that would be reusable and washable.

I used size 3 thread, which is good to start with if you haven't used thread before. It's not much smaller than baby weight yarn. I used a size F hook and Aunt Lydia's Fashion Crochet. I started off making a basic circle. Most crocheters know how to do this, especially if they've made hats! You make a small chain and join it to make a circle, then make dc inside the circle.

Ch 4, join to make ring.
Rd 1 - 12 dc in ring.
Rd 2: 2 dc in each dc around (24 dc).
Rd 3: 2 dc, 1 dc - Repeat 12 x. Total 36 dc.
Rd 4: 2 dc, 1 dc, 1 dc - Repeat 12 x. Total 48 dc.

You get the idea right? For each additional round, you add another dc, which increases it by 12 each time.

I did that until I had 5 solid rounds, and then made 2 more skipping some of the dc and putting ch in their places to make some holes. Starting with Rd 8, I started making the mesh. To make mesh is pretty easy. You just ch5 and then sc. On the first round of mesh, I sc'ed on every 5th space, aproximately. This made 21 loops of ch 5. Here is the trick: On the last (the 21st) "loop", instead of ch 5 and sc, ch 3 and then make a dc in the same space you started the first "loop". This puts you in the middle of the "loop". Continue making ch5 loops, sc in each loop around. Do the dc trick on each round. I made 25 rounds of mesh for this bag which makes it quite long--even the largest ears of corn or longest cucumbers fit in this bag! It stretches quite a lot.

Oh my!

Have I really not updated this since November? Yipes!

I certainly have been reading and crocheting during the past several months. In fact, probably more than I was before. I just keep forgetting to write about it!

I have been posting at least some of the things I've made on Ravelry, though even that doesn't show all the things I've done. I have a list and also several pics still in my digital camera that need to be posted. I'll try to get to it sometime this summer.

As for books, I've read some good ones. Lets see what have I read? A few childrens/YA books, including some of the new "Little House" books, Good in Bed, Skinny Dip, This Organic Life: Confessions of an Urban Homesteader, and I'm currently reading The Omnivore's Dilemma. I'm sure there were more than that, but I can't remember them!

I do want to post on my thoughts on The Omnivore's Dilemma however, so I will be posting more.

Tracy's Afghan

Tracys_Afghan
Originally uploaded by crochetgirl91

I finished this one a few years ago. It was supposed to go off to college with my little sis, Tracy. But she ended up staying at home because the school she wanted to go didn't give her enough financial aid. So it was her Christmas present instead.

This afghan came out just gorgeous! The pattern is from Quick and Cozy afghans, and it's called Understated Elegance. It's a mile a minute pattern, if you can't tell from the pic. I used red heart, and the variegated is Sage Mary, the solids are deep plum, medium sage and buff going outwards. I think this may have been the prettiest afghan I've made so far, but I can't take too much credit, I just followed the pattern! I did choose the colors though. The original was in mauve and taupe.

Books I'm Reading

Or more accurately, not reading. I haven't been hitting even remotely close to my one book a week goal that I set at the beginning of the year. I'm sure I've read more than I kept track of, and I never did finish Other Peoples Children, though I want to. I did devour Little House in the Big Woods, and hope to re-read the entire series, which was a favorite of mine as a child. I also want to read the new ones that have been written by Cynthia Rylant, there is one that fills in the time between two of the stories, though now I don't remember which two...I think Plum Creek and Silver Lake. And then there are the new ones about Rose, Laura's daughter, and also a new series about Laura's mother and her childhood. I hope the library has them.

Warming up to flickr

I've always perfered Photobucket over Flickr. However, when I found out Ravelry was in cahoots with Flickr, I uploaded at least my crochet pics, and will continue to do so. The last 3 entries I made here were so easy! I connected my Flickr account with my blog, so now after I upload a pic, I can just click onto it, and then hit "blog this" above the picture, and write my entry there. It even formats it for me. Woohoo. Hopefully now I can update this easier.....provided of course I remember to take pictures of the things I make! I already forgot to take a pic of the cute little fridgies I sent to Anne. I wonder if she'd snap a photo of them for me? LOL