Valerean

Since Halloween I've been trying to keep a good attitude about the hellidays holidays, and I think it's helping make the fall season a little better for me. Halloween was really fun this year because I got into it and even had a little party for me and my guy. It's hard to be upset when you're partying. Crocheting is helping, too. I've been so depressed over quilting, and my lack of any real progress in that department this year. On the other hand with my crochet I'm like a throw/hat/scarf factory. My hands have never felt better, and with the cold comes pain and stiffness, so I need as much crochet therapy as possible. All the things I'm making with crochet really help me feel not so useless and crippled. The quilt show really inspired me this year. I found a way to quilt next year's calendar project without taxing myself too much. I still have a wonderful job and remain employed, for which I am eternally grateful, especially now with so ...

This month I really need to decide on what sort of pattern I'm going to use for my 2026 calendar project, which is going to be a crocheted king size blanket in multiple colors. My main requirements for the year is an easy repeating pattern that doesn't work up too heavy, and that I can finish in 12 months. Since one row per day isn't a problem I'll have to swatch out whatever pattern I pick and let that tell me how many rows I need to crochet in a week to get the blanket done in a year. I've been looking at free printable patterns over at Yarnspirations and I really like this ripple pattern . I've never made a ripple stitched project before the granny ripple last month, and it would look nice in multicolored yarn. The problem is maintaining tension, especially on the down jags, but I think wearing one of my yarn tension rings will help with that. Another contender is this Easy Peasy pattern , which is basically straight repeating rows of granny ...

I don't often buy new yarn. A few times this year I have; skeins from Michaels on a bogo sale, some white and variegated yarn I wanted off Amazon, and this dollar store chenille to make a pumpkin costume for my stuffed pup. I prefer to thrift my yarn because frankly it's cheaper and I can get a lot more for my money. Also, I'm not a yarn snob. Any cheaply-priced yarn is fine with me. I did like working with the Premier Just Chenille yarn, which was soft, fluffy and pretty nice quality for $1.25 per skein, so I decided to try a different variety from Dollar Tree. I bought four skeins of the Premier Just Yarn worsted acrylic for $5.00 total. The soft gray is a color I really like (and wear a lot), and the softness of the yarn impressed me. Acrylic yarn is usually a bit stiff. Since I need some new winter hats, I decided to make one with the Just Yarn worsted gray. My first impression was that it works up smoothly and has a sturdy but comfortable hand to i...

Here are the results of my latest round of wannabuts, or items I want to thrift but only for the price I want to pay. This messy yarn lot will need a lot of TLC, which is why I only wanted it for my minimum bid of $9.00. Alas, I lost it in a brief bidding war to someone willing to pay $12.99 for it. This yarn and fabric lot intrigued me, but only for the right price -- and I won it with no challengers for $8.99! I've always wanted a DMC floss cabinet, but thrift auction buyers fight ferociously over them. New they retail starting at $50.00. This one seemed to be no different -- I was outbid by another buyer -- but I thought I'd try one more bid with the max I was willing to pay for it -- $14.00 -- and unbelievably, I won it. Now I have a thrifted cabinet that is a dream come true. Two out of three wannabuts is a very good round. :)

By the time this post publishes I will have attended the county quilt show (all the things in the pic were what I bought there in 2024.) Last year I had a lovely time at it with my guy and my favorite person, and invested in a few things for myself, but this year I will probably just go to take pics of the quilts and only buy a little fabric for a friend and finished quilted projects made by the guild members (my way of showing support.) I need to stop buying fabric for myself, as my ability to quilt things by hand is almost over, and I already have enough to last me ten lifetimes. It's a little sad, but it's also part of life. I've been hand-quilting for over thirty years with hands that have been partially crippled, and I knew the day would come when my fingers would no longer cooperate. I'm happy I was able to quilt as long as I have. It's tempting to wail over losing my dexterity, too, because honestly it does seem so unfair. Then I think of what my lif...

The 10 oz. jumbo variegated yarn I thrifted from a Goodwill in The Villages turned out to be a lot of fun. I used almost the entire skein to make this scarf, the pattern for which is free online. I found the pattern on the inside of the label for the self-striping yarn I used to make my previous scarf, and thought it would like nice in variegated. No problems with the pattern. After the foundation row there's a one row repeat of V-stitch and triple double crochet clusters, which kept it interesting even if it was a bit mindless.The odd thing about the yarn was the color variation shifted a bit in the middle of the scarf, but I liked the effect. Once it reached 72" as per the pattern I fastened it off. I had a small ball of yarn left over, so it was a decent one-skein project. Two 5 oz. skeins of worsted would make this if you don't have a jumbo skein.