MrsDoF's Dear Ones

My crochet thread in Dark Pansy colors, newly ordered from the Peaches and Creme website arrived on the front porch in a terrible snowstorm.
It’s like a teaser for Spring, the colors.

The first things I made from it were bookmarks.
One with straight edges for the daughter of a friend, whose favorite colors are purple and gold.

The other, a crocheted cross to tuck into a sympathy card for the mother of a son passed away too young, just a few years older than my own.  I hadn’t seen the kid since he was in high school, and from reading his obituary, it looked like he was getting his life on track.

As is my custom, I got the bookmarks wet and stretched them out on a cardboard, with straight pins to hold them flat in place.  This makes them dry into a position ready to go into a book.

The cross stretched too far.

With closer inspection, I come to the conclusion that I wove in a tail of the thread, then clipped it too close, which nicked the actual crocheted stitch.  Getting it wet and tugging on it caused a whole bunch in the center to loosen.

That cross pattern is a real bear to follow and get it to looking good.  I didn’t have the fortitude to make another too quickly, so I decided to make another straight one from a pattern I carry in my head cuz I’ve worked it so often.

Anyway, I’m glad to have found a good website for cotton thread and yarn, and it’s all Made in the USA.

And for those folks who so often admire my work,
this is picture proof that I still do have goofs.

~~love and Huggs, Diane

these are going to the MYF Silent Auction on Saturday night

for other boring details about my week off sick…..

One day last week, I worked as a TA Sub in a classroom where 2 students, and as implied, the regular TA, were out sick.
Heard in passing, I came to understand that at least one of those had been given a ‘flu vaccination.
We then sent one student home with a fever, and were closely monitoring another whose temp hadn’t climbed quite high enough and whose parents are of the type who think that the kid must be half dead before they could be bothered at work.  I know the scene well.

Thursday evening, my own body began feeling fatigue and aches, so I figured the germs were upon me.  I hadn’t asked for a ‘flu shot, it’s been ages since I’ve caught it, and my gambling had lost.

I was glad the school district declared an inclement weather day for Friday because I would have had to say NO to everybody and I do like a chance for earning a paycheck.
Actually, the whole county was off last Friday.
10.1 inches of snow will do that to an area.

Saturday I moped around, doing the least little thing such as cooking ramen noodles on the stove, eating, and washing out the pan drained my energy so that I had to rest on the couch awhile.

I wrote an e-mail in sick for church on Sunday morning, and received some nice e-greetings and get well wishes through the afternoon.
My fever broke around Noon that day, and by evening I could tell I was walking the road for recovery.

When the computer SubFinder called, I punched the button telling it not to do it again for another day.

On Monday, I had a taste for some Vege Beef soup, so I figured with the weather getting warmer, I could clear off the cars and make the short trip over quiet streets to the new grocery store a mile away.
When I was talking to the clerk scanning my items, he mentioned that I sounded like I’m coming down with a cold.
Yep, hoarse and squeaky voice.

Some conversations on the phone corroborated my plight.  One lady mentioned that if I am still as sick as I sound, then I should not be planning to do any cooking in the church kitchen for Family Fun Nights.  Nobody is going to want me near their food.  With that being an extra day away, I thought I might be able to make it.

Tuesday morning, SubFinder calling woke us up.  I had to say No all over again.  When I got to the computer to view the actual schedule, there were 7 positions open, and I had to individually decline them all, saying I’m sick.
Tuesday when I went to vote, just giving a cough into a bounty towel and trying to say my name caused looks of alarm on all the Election Judges faces.  I must sound much worse than I am feeling right now.

Another phone conversation with the kitchen committee and I learned there is a willing replacement who can help with cooking Wednesday night, so I was told to keep my germs at home.

Now the problem with that is two other people live here.

Husband missed work Tuesday and Wednesday.  He mustered up some energy to go out into the rain and have me drive him to the polling place.  He washed his hands well, and used gloves while doing the activity.  The folks on the other side of the table must have really had a rough time fulfilling their duties with all the voters from all directions and backgrounds coming by.  No wonder there were places under quarantine back in the day.

Because of Family Fun Nights, I had SubFinder marked that I would be Unavailable, so no phone calls this morning.  The computer schedule has 8 positions open, but I did not have to do anything there.

And so, here I sit, nearly Noon and still in my bathrobe.
Around 10:30 this morning, the rain turned to snow, even though the weather page says it is currently 33^oF.  There’s almost an inch on the window sill already.
A school district in the next county is dismissing at 1^pm, and several church services for Ash Wednesday are cancelled for tonight.

But I have nowhere to go and nothing to do.

Except hope that the youngest son doesn’t get sick.  The kid is way too busy to take time out for recuperation.  He’s got college classes, guitar ensemble, choir, two jobs.

Here’s hoping you and yours are in a good place.

~~love and Huggs, Diane

As I was bouncing around the ‘Net the other morning, I noticed that an update on my own blog is seriously tardy in putting in an appearance.
Looking at the calendar, two weeks is a long, long time to be missing out on all the news.
So I walked over to the big calendar held by magnets on the door of the freezer, and looked over all the little notes about my happenings.
Boring stuff, really, about how my crochet hook was missing for 4 days, during which I was thinking about how would I ever finish my nephew’s aphgan without it, and trying desperately to compensate by working up a flurry of other small items.  Those little things have stories of their own, but many people already have heard and seen results, such as the orange hat and the magenta bookmark, so I won’t muster up the energy to type about them.
And I found my crochet hook by getting crying mad and just dumping my whole carry-all bag out all over the couch on Tuesday evening.

Perhaps the most famous news about me is my picture was in the ISU Daily Vidette newspaper.  Husband has snatched the article and put in into PDF format, just in case the paper’s files go away.

I dunno anything about how the young reporter came to be interested in the Activity Center, but the Assistant Director brought him back to the Craft Room and asked if it would be alright if he took some pictures for the article.

There were 5 of us there (I suppose the cold weather kept some buddies away) with yarn and hooks or knitting needles in our hands.
He had a big black camera, a Nikon D100, I think it was.  He said he began doing pictures when he was a little kid in the darkroom with his dad, but this one is a “good digital”.

Although he tried to hang back a little, the camera was intimidating to some of our group.  It might have been easier if the camera were smaller, even though he used available light without flash.
I’m familiar with having Husband snapping away, so I tended to ignore the newbie and wanted to go on with the lesson on double crochet stitch.
He took pictures of everybody who was there, so it seemed random who might be featured.

When he mentioned the article would run in the Friday Vidette, my friends asked how to go about getting the newspaper.  There are usually piles of them in the library and coffee shops, so I said I would look and see who made the paper.
As soon as I got it from the stand in the entry of the public library, I called our Group Leader and told her I had a bunch and how the picture was of Dorothy and me.
Husband says that someone in an office brought a paper by and showed him the picture of the Missus.  This led him to bring up my blog and go to the Crochet category and show her some pictures of previous work.

Nephew’s aphgan needs 8 more stripes plus the border, and I am 4 days behind.  Once a project is begun with a certain hook, it is best to see it all the way completed with that same hook.  My size I Hero made in Germany must have just missed the edge of the hook pouch, so it slipped to the bottom of the tote bag.
When I dumped the whole kaboodle out, there was the green metal hook, twisted in with the yarn bits and balls.
This was a good excuse to clean and organize the bag, so all’s well that ends well.

Another story I want to mention is about some potholders I gave to a teacher.  They are red-white-green colors and meant to be a Christmas gift.  When I worked as a TA Sub in that classroom one morning last week, there were those potholders still in the far corner of the table.  I said they could go home to use in her kitchen.  She said she would leave them there because one of the boys with autism decided they feel nice and he uses them as a sensory tool.

Well, cotton cloth with ribbing does feel nice to my fingers, so I can really relate to the youngun taking a liking to them.
I think I’ll work with some now.

~~love and Huggs, Diane