Thrifty Thursday

I'm thrilled to be joining Lady Cordelia this week in *Thrifty Thursday*.
I'm a thrift/antique store junky, and love nothing more than to stumble upon little hidden, often overlooked treasures.
While visiting my family, my Aunt and I stopped in "Habitat Thrift Shop" in Marysville, Kansas, where I found all sorts of goodies. My favorites though were these three giant balls of fabric, all sewn up and ready for a rag rug. 
Just shy of the size of a volleyball, and marked down from $4 a piece to only $1, these were an amazing deal. I was beyond excited to find out that they're made of vintage feedsack fabrics.
These take so long to stitch up, I can hardly believe that they were only a dollar!

I've been meaning to make a rag rug for a while now, I just can't decide between the crochet route, or the old toothbrush method that my Great Grandmother used to do. I've never done the toothbrush method, but I just might have to try my hand at it. It seems simple enough based on the many online tutorials.
And if that fails, I can always rip it out and start with the crocheted version, right? Or leave them balled up and sitting out on display, they're so pretty just like this!

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Whoopsie! I've been informed that Thrifty Thursday will now be hosted here, in case anyone else was interested in participating... Sorry for the confusion!

{Yarn Along}

Dad's poor scarf has been frogged, again. Let me explain...

First I was doing it in a garter stitch border and the rest in stockinette, but even with that gartered border, it was still curling horribly. It was also taking FOREVER.

did I mention that I'm a bit impatient?

So then I ripped it out, and began doing the entire thing in garter stitch, but it felt too mindless.

So I ripped it out one, self promised last time, doubled up the wool, and began a basket weave, which is working out fantastically. Not too boring, but not too tricky, and going much faster this time.

Lotte's little candy floss hat, finished up last week and it looks darling. I had to flip the edge up for it to fit her right now, but I figured I would. I made it large enough to fit a one year old because I wanted it to last a while.

Also, I think I've finally got the hang of double pointed needles, it's too early to say though if I prefer them to circular. It might just depend on which project I'm doing.
I've started on this, just as a little side project to keep working on with yarn scraps over time.

This is my first "hexipuff"-yup, I've got a loooong way to go.

I'm still not completely finished "Portrait of Van Gogh", but I'm near done.

I can't believe how much this poor artist went through to become what he did. He's often remembered as the artist who was "crazy" and the artist who "cut off his ear"...there's really so much more to his story than this.

He was eccentric, indeed.-However, he would tend to the homeless, weak, and the sick, giving them the clothes off of his own back, and it was more often than not, acts like these that earned him the reputation of being crazy.

Van Gogh was such a kind and generous person, living a chosen humble life, and looking out for his fellow man, which his paintings actually reflect.

Unlike other painters of his time who were painting the wealthy social scenes, Van Gogh was creating paintings like "the potato eaters" and scenes from low class pubs.

In the book are quotes from letters that he wrote to his brother, Theo, and this is one of my absolute favorites:

 "There may be a great fire in our soul, yet no one ever comes to warm himself at it, and the passers-by see only a wisp of smoke coming through the chimney."

                                                                                                                    -Letter to Theo, 1880



For more weekly yarn along stories, visit Ginny at Small Things!

{Yarn Along}

This was one of those weeks where I feel like I didn't get a single thing *finished*, not only in the knitting realm, but even in life in general.
There were multiple, albeit small, projects (baking, organizing, crafting, art, paperwork etc) that I wanted to complete but just couldn't find the time during the rush of this busy season. I decided to just let them go-there's always next year for the Christmas projects, and valentines day for baking treats.

I did manage to finish a quick little hat for Lotte to go with her legwarmers, the purple really makes her shiny blue peepers stand out.
I used a bulkier yarn and modified the pattern slightly. I think I could have made this a little taller, but it fits her nicely now. If she outgrows it too quickly, I may add some ear flaps to get a little more life out of it.

of course she wouldn't hold still for a picture of her pretty purple hat...

This was the first hat that I knit rather than crocheted, so it was a bit of a learning experience. I could see though how this could become really addictive-I LOVE knitting in the round...and to think, all this time, I've been so scared to try it!


I'm about a fifth finished -(yes, a fifth) on a scarf that I've been working on for my Dad-nothing fancy, just a boring ol' brown wool Dad scarf. Brown suits Dad though, so I think he'll actually wear it. And there's something so cozy and comforting about simple brown wool.

and don't you just love the cake plate under the scarf? My mom made this little bright & pedestalled wonder for me for Christmas!


My reading this last little while has been sporadic and un-eventful. I haven't had enough time for a novel for myself but I'm hoping to squeeze one in soon as I've had reading withdrawal. Any suggestions?I did check out a few books from the library this week on knitting, crochet and baby food.
one of these things is not like the other...


I checked out both "chicks with sticks" knitting and crochet. The crochet one didn't tell me anything that I didn't already know, so I'll be taking that one back soon, but the knitting one has come in really handy. I'm not sure that I'll do any of the actual projects, but the instructions themselves are well written and easy to follow.
It's inspiring me to even try the scary things...like button holes!


To hear more participants' weekly yarn along, visit Ginny's blog here.



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Yarn Along

Joining Ginny today in the weekly Yarn Along...

I've finally finished the little grey picot sweater for my niece.
I actually finished this up a couple of weeks ago, but didn't add the buttons until last night. I had to add something pink to it, so that she'll actually wear it! (She's rather choosy about her outfits, you see...) I also made a little hat to go with it. She won't be getting this until Christmas, but I'll be sure to take a picture of her in it when she finally gets it.



I've gotten a little further on the baby blanket-I love that this has such a simple pattern, so I can take it anywhere and pick it up where I left off without looking at the instructions-until I get to the border that is.

 I've been taking this blanket along with me everywhere to keep my hands busy.

To the midwife's office, the hospital when I visit my sweet itty bitty niece and nephew (who are doing fabulous, by the way, and are no longer so itty-bitty) and even to church.
I've mixed the pattern up a little, and I'm using two different shades of pink, just for kicks.

I finally found a book of my own to read.

Aside from the boys' homeschooling books that is. As fun as they are, I need a break from Daniel Boone, William Tell, and every other macho historical hero!

I'm a good chunk into "the Help" and have fallen in love with it. I adore the way that it's written from the different perspectives of each character, and that it's written in the way that they would actually speak.

Unfortunately though, having always struggled to fight my already "southern" accent, I find that after reading a chapter or two my accent starts to come back.
The boys pointed it out this afternoon, I hadn't really noticed. Zeke asked if I had been speaking with relatives back home on the phone. It comes out after those long phone calls sometimes, I just can't help it.

I'm loving the book so much that I'm afraid I'll now be disappointed with the movie!

DIY+Pregnant Brain



Without getting into too many details-the baby is going to be a little longer than we thought. We were afraid that she was going to be early, and now that she isn't, I sort of feel like I'm living life in limbo.
I don't know if it's just me, or women in general, who find the strangest tasks to pass time until a baby arrives.

Suddenly, the weirdest things pop on to our 'to do' lists, and become oddly important. And the tasks seem to grow weirder and weirder with each baby.

Right before I had Reuben, for some reason, I decided that my living room futon needed a new cover. Not great timing, but not so strange.

Before I had Zeke, I needed to get all my Christmas cards done early-not just written, that wasn't good enough. They had to be handmade as well. Oh, and I had to make a bunch of "snowflake" ornaments that I had seen in a Martha Stewart Kids magazine, out of pipe cleaners and borax. Yes, that's right, pipe cleaners.


My mom also contributes to this fun little routine-I think that she nests right along with us. When I was pregnant with Zeke, she decided that for some reason, I had too many kinds of salad dressing in my refrigerator and dumped them all together into one bottle-and then afterwards laughed about how that probably wasn't really helpful but it just seemed so important at the time.

That, and that's what her Mom always did to "help". Grandma even had a sick little motto about her own tendency to condense one's refrigerator contents..."Best kinds mixed!!"

I couldn't help but laugh last week, when the two of us sat in my living room, and we found ourselves performing the strangest tasks yet-all in the name of "getting ready for baby."

 Well, maybe not stranger than the salad dressing.

Mom had suddenly decided that it was time to pair my family's odd socks. I had quite a stash, several bags actually, and she got them all out and started playing go-fish. She actually found quite a few matches. Apparently I do not need to add socks to my Christmas list this year.

I, on the other hand, found myself cutting up toilet paper rolls, and actually using them for crafts, like I was a first grader all over again. 

After getting some raised eyebrows from Mark and my sister when they found my hidden stash of empty toilet paper and paper towel rolls-and I refused to tell them what they were for, I got down to business.

Cross legged on the couch, huffing and puffing through "false" labour (lemme tell ya, there ain't NOTHIN' false about contractions-whether they're doing anything productive or not) and gluing bits of cardboard into a floral pattern.

As absurd as it sounds, it didn't turn out half bad. I plan to take this carnival act one step further and bring spray paint into the game-something bright and shiny, and hang it on the wall over the little Miss's crib.

For the record, after he saw the finished product, even Mark admitted that my strange little creation was actually kinda cool.

...

If you'd like to make your own flower, all you need is toilet paper rolls (or paper towel rolls) and craft glue.
Flatten the rolls, cut into bands (a toilet paper roll should give you about four circles).
Pop them out a bit so that you have a flower petal shape, and glue together on a flat surface, in any pattern you desire!