A blankie for a great nephew

 This blanket seems so small after the crib size blankets I've been making, but this one really is newborn size.

 I love these colors, and would even make an afghan for myself out of these colors and even this pattern.  I started with just thinking I would do the smaller granny squares, and then decided to add the larger square with both colors. I think that really added to this blanket.

You would think with brown being such a popular color with babies now (pink and brown, blue and brown, green and brown, etc) that you would see a bigger selection of browns in the baby line of yarns. A softer yarn would have been the only thing I would have liked better with this blanket.

Potato Harvest

 Frank had a great idea to plant the lower field in purple potatoes this spring. He planted a couple of rows along with some onions, and corn, with intentions of putting up a deer fence before it all started to grow.  The fence never happened and the deer loved the garden!

 They ate all the tops out of the potato plants, along with nibbles on the corn too.  They don't seem to like onions, so they were fine.

 I don't think we'll be hosting a "corn maze" at our place this fall! But the small little ears that had some kernels was sugar sweet.....

We did end up with enough potatoes for us and friends to eat, plus some to keep for planting next year, in the fenced in garden area.

The purple potato is really purple, all the way through.  I can't tell the difference in the taste, but they are supposed to be more nutritious then a white potato.

New Hat for "The Shop"

I got this hat done in time to enter in the fair, brought me a first place........not bad.  One thing about entering items in the fair is the constructive criticism you get when it's returned to you.  Sometimes you get so caught up in your projects you forget the little things that make it more better.  This hat was made with Lyons Brand Chunky Yarn, I think it's fairly new, and it's so soft and cushy.  

 There's no pattern to this hat. I just sat down with my new yarn and started crocheting, sometimes it's best just to let things flow.

I got this loaded into my Etsy Shop finally.  I've really been neglecting that shop since going back to work, moving my mom, getting ready for the fair, I could go on and on!  There's so many things I want to make and so little time!!!!

The Newest Grandbaby

 The newest grandbaby (boy) is due any day now, but his shower is tomorrow. I finished up his blanket just the other day. I don't know why, but I always think it's going to be too small and end up with a crib size, which is fine, it just takes longer to finish.......This is just double crochet, with the white as single crochet, then drop down into the previous white row with a double crochet.  Seems complicated, but it's really pretty simple.

 My daughter also wanted those little mittens for babies so they don't scratch their faces.  I had some organic cotton yarn on hand, so I used that. It's a little hard to figure out how big to make them when you don't have a baby handy to measure by.  With the leftover yarn I whipped up a little hat for the boy too.

She said something about some pictures she has of other items she would like me to make him too. I guess I'll just have to add them to my list of projects!

A Little Backwoods Boogie

Our friends had their 10th annual Backwoods Boogie last week-end. I can't believe this is the first year we've made it, but I'm glad we finally did. There was a lot of homemade instruments to go around if you didn't happen to bring your own.

 I think at one point there might have been more dogs then people!  It was great, all ages were there, even Tamara's 95 year old dad who played excellent on the accordion  He didn't stay after dark, but it was great listening to him when he was there. I think the music went on until 4 or 5am, I went to bed quit a few hours before that, but everytime I'd wake up I'd hear them still at it!

A quiet morning for sure!

Big Horn Sheep

A few weeks ago we made a trip down the Gorge. That is the strip of highway that goes between Oregon and Washington, from Portland to Boardman, along the Columbia river.  I grew up in Portland, and having Multomah Falls an easy drive, we made many trips to those falls with my family.  One of my favorite places is the Vista House on the old highway that overlooks the Gorge.  There is something to see, or stop and see on this whole stretch of highway.  If you are ever looking for a driving vacation, this is it.  It would take days to see everything. 

On our recent trip to Bend, my husband was determined to get some pictures of the Big Horn Sheep that have been transplanted from CA to the bluffs near Biggs, OR.  I think they were "planted" there about 20 years ago and now there are more then 1 herd, and if you watch you will see bunches of them spread out for miles.  This trip was no exception.  We spotted these between Biggs and Arlington, pretty close to the road:

So many people say there is nothing to see once they reach the dry part of the Gorge, but I believe there is always something to see, no matter where you are....................just look closer.

Just an Update

Remember those peas a few posts back, holy cow, have they grown. Once the warm weather took hold everything has gone out of control, faster then we can keep up.  Have you ever heard the saying "my eyes are too big for my stomach?", well, I guess that is what happened with us..............

We have to pick peas everyday to keep up, and now the raspberries have started, we never did get all the spinach picked before it went bad, just crazy!

Moms house is coming right along too, I can't believe the difference a porch makes!  Move in day is Labor Day week-end, I sure hope she settles in nice and likes her knew place.....

Next project a blue and brown crocheted baby blanket for the upcoming grandbaby due in Sept. Time, all I need is time!

The Lacy Bolero

  I've had this done for weeks now, and all it needed was the trim, boy work sure gets in the way of my crochet time!                                                 

I really like it now that I look at the pictures, but the day I wore it, it just didn't seem like "me". On the original one the sleeves seemed a little too long and so did the ties.


 So the one I made for my Esty shop has a little bit shorter sleeves and the ties are shorter, actually, that's the one in the picture.  The first one I made I ended up giving to a friend, and she loves it.


Having the tie front, makes it easy to adjust sizes. And it's actually pretty warm even with the lacy pattern.

The Lizard Lounge

When I got home from work yesterday, the husband takes my hand and says "I want to show you something.....I'm calling it the Lizard Lounge," "you have to be quiet while we go there." So I am thinking, "we have lizards here?" 

He'd hung the hammock I'd bought a few weeks ago, once settled in it, it is quite cozy.  Once I was settled in, he pointed up into the plum tree......There was this owl and her baby, dad was over in another tree, they were watching us as close as we were watching them.  Frank thought they had to be Great Horned Owls, but I was thinking Barn Owls, and when he looked them up, we found out they are Screech  Owls............

  

The baby is all fuzzy, no real feathers yet.

The Old Misener Place

             Like my gardening hat?  Picked it up at the thrift store, and I finally had the opportunity to wear it last week-end.  I spent the whole week-end working in the yard, and that hat really worked at keeping the sun out of my face, blew off a couple of times, but what the hay!   I love these trees, huge maples that must have been planted over 100 years ago, they will keep our house cool all summer.  I can't help but wonder who planted these trees so long ago. 

When I'm out pulling weeds and trying to manage all of these beautiful flowers I think about the lady that planted them, and I hope she's not cringing as she's looking down from heaven at the terrible job I'm doing to maintain her flower garden.  When we tell people where we live, they say, "OH, the Old Misener Place"  I don't think they were the ones who planted the maples, but I hear Mrs. Misener's flower garden was spectacular in the day.  So, Thank You, Mrs. Misener, you sure do have a beautiful garden, and I'll try and do it justice.................

A Place for Mom

 I always said to my brother and sister I would take care of mom someday.  Well, that day is getting closer. Mom is doing great, she'll be 77 and is still driving and going to Curves!  But she just needs to be closer then the 8 hour drive it takes to get to her now, and I'm the closest child to her.  She hates being alone in the winter, and I know she loves the beach, and the thought of having to move is really hard on her. But we've been talking about it since we moved back from Alaska and she's warming up to it now. Sounds like she may be getting excited now that it's really happening.............Broke ground yesterday out behind our house.

Doesn't look like that big of a spot in the dirt, but she'll have a nice 3 bedroom modular in less then 2 months!  I'm so glad she's decided to sell her place and move here while she can, and not when she has too.  This way she'll have her own space and still be able to visit when all the grandkids, and great grandkids, plus other relatives come to visit.  When we ordered the modular I didn't even realize she picked the same color as this garage she'll be using too! How funny is that!




They left the big trucks out back...........I wonder if the keys are still in them......mmmmmmm

I'm so thankful I still have my mom and for the opportunity to have her near us at this time in her life.  If you have your parents still, call them and tell them you love them, or better yet, go see them!

The Talented Husband of Mine

 Our chickens were attacked by a dog, this is one that survived.  Dr. Byrd fixed his broken leg, yet another use for Duct Tape!  The leg doesn't want to heal straight, but I think he'll survive.  Now he can add broken chicken legs to his animal fixes, once I had to hold the cat so he could stitch up a wound she received jumping on the fence.

 His green house is bursting with green, just waiting to be planted, it's just amazing to me. Left to me it would all be brown.

And his pea trellis he just built. I love it, so do the
peas,it's only been a couple of days and they are
already crawling up it. Soon it will be covered and
you won't be able to see how cool it is......

Feedbags And More Feedbags

 I started making market bags out of our old chicken feed sacks, when my friends saw them they started saving all of their similar tough plastic feed bags for me too.  I think I'm almost done with the last 15 I received, and  I know there are more waiting for me........

 I think I've given all of my friends one, and now I have them listed on my Etsy shop.  I have chickens, dogs, cows, bunnies, birds, it's crazy, who knew there were so many different kinds of these plastic bags.  I find that I am shopping for chicken food by what's on the bag, and if I have it already!

My biggest problem I've noticed is when I go upstairs in my craft room now that most of my stuff is stashed in one of these bags......I keep thinking this one is cute, I'll just keep it for me.......I think I best start using them for gift bags next.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

 I have the ultimate "brown thumbs", even my dad who had a fantastic green house quit giving me plants because I'd end up killing them.  We don't have any house plants, and I dread getting one as a gift, because I know it will be dead the next time that person comes to visit, and it will probably still be sitting where I put it all brown and dead the next time they come over. Fortunately for me my husband has 2 perfect green thumbs.....our new place has a huge fenced in garden area to keep the deer and other critters out. It has raised beds that were begging to be planted. It also came with a small green house that hadn't seen anything green in a long, long time.(Looks like I had been taking care of it)  My husband has been ordering and starting seeds, tilling and planting in the raised beds, and now we are starting to see results.....

 The starts in the green house are just about ready to get put into bigger pots or the garden itself.

 I don't go here, I'm afraid everything will turn brown if I step inside the fenced in area.....

 A neighbor gave us some rhubarb starts, I'm really hoping we'll be able to eat some of this, this year.

The raspberries I can handle, I cut out the old vines without managing to kill the new.......maybe there is hope for me yet.  I can't wait to pick!

Chick, Chick, Chick

I didn't think I liked chickens. The last time I was around them I was a teenager, they chased me, they are mean, and boy are they stupid.So, of course the husband had to have chickens on the mini farm. But, in his defense he has had chickens before, so he knows what they are all about, how to take care of them, and most of all he's not afraid of them. And he built a fenced in area for them and me. Our first batch of about 19 were so pretty, and not mean at all. It worked out great, we let them out to run amuck and at dusk they go into their pen to roost for the night, how easy is that. I did not realize though that I had to keep an eye on them when they were out. Within a couple of weeks of this routine, I was home alone, the chickens were out, and I was in the house minding my own business. Frank got home from work to find dead chickens all over our 2 acres, it was devastating. Some dog had come into our yard to chase and kill chickens. Some had escaped across the street to the neighbors house, one had gotten on a branch across the creek (Frank had to put his waiters on and go rescue her), but over half of our flock had been killed. And of course we had company coming for the week-end who showed up in the middle of all this commotion and aggravation. It was absolutely heart breaking.
Now I am older (by a month), and wiser, this will not happen on my watch again, plus I have a shotgun by the back door. Now we only let them "free range" for an hour in the evenings. We have bought more and have hatched 7 in one batch and 3 in our latest batch. And guess what? I am NOT afraid of chickens, we have a ton of fresh eggs, and they are absolutely hilarious to watch because they really aren't very smart, just entertaining. I have not passed the insanity on, so the grandkids love them too!

Wrap it up!

I've been wanting to try crocheting the pineapple pattern forever, it always seemed so daunting though. And it's true, once you get the hang of it, it's really not that hard. It was actually kind of fun, since every row is different until you complete a pineapple. Now, I'm addicted to pineapples!

Here are two of my latest "pineapples":

(Sorry, Janice, got your eyes closed...) This tank top was featured on Knit and Crochet today, and it was so fun to make, I've made 2 already. It's made with a cotton yarn, but it seems kind of thick, but a thinner thread almost seems to have no shape, but I think the finished top looks great.

I've been holding onto this gray cashmere yarn for a few years now, I was planning on making me a sweater with it, but since that never happened I used it for this shawl. I found this pattern in a book that was given to me for my birthday this year.

I love how this came out and the cashmere makes it feel so nice against your skin.
That's Kodiak sneaking in the bottom there.............Both pieces have both been listed on my Esty shop. OH! And I had my first sale yesterday!!

Where am I?

I couldn't decide if I wanted to keep this blog or not, pretty obvious huh?

Today I was looking for a pattern on my computer that I thought I had saved, and then remembered my blog, surely I had posted it on my blog.................not. But what I did find was a fun trip down memory lane, and a renewed since of blogging. So here I am, back to the blog world.

I've been busy, I've been bored, I've been fired (yes, FIRED!) from my job, very humbling, and so I've been crocheting and knitting, learning to garden and learning to not be afraid of chickens. I've been baking and gaining weight, applying for jobs, and I started an Etsy shop. Yes, I took the plunge and now I feel like I need to be crafting every second my hands are free.

My Estsy shop is: http://www.etsy.com/people/MargiesWorld?ref=si_pr And I'm probably supposed to have some kind of pretty little link there, but in time, I just need time. And now I will be going back to work in the real world once again, I start May 9th. What was I saying about time..........................................

My goal will be to post on my blog at least once a week, or you'll be able to see what I am up to at my Etsy shop, but I seem to be my worst critic, I'll finish a project and then feel it is not good enough for my shop, and so my shop does not have a lot for sale at this time. I'm thinking I need to create a place in my shop for the mis-shapens, the odd balls, a clearance room so to speak.........of course it probably wouldn't look to good to have more in my clearance room then in my shop!