Doggie Car Seat on EBay

Much as I hate to sell it, I have to sell Biscuit's doggie car seat. This little pup has outgrown his seat. The seat is advertised to hold a 20 lb dog and Biscuit is only 12 lbs but he's a bit too long and hangs out of it, plus he thinks he can climb out of it so he's been relegated to the back seat of the SUV where he has a crate, a much safer solution for him and he gets the whole back end to move around in.

I've put the seat on EBay, Outward Hound Car Seat for Small Dogs - 140264771039

Its a nice seat, the only thing is, it has an inflatable pillow that zips into a compartment under the seat. The pillow never did keep air over 1 day so I put a sofa pillow in its place. The inflatable pillow is still included with the car seat. I don't think it has a hole in it, it never did keep its air from the day I bought it new.

Crochet and I are over

The blanket is finished and I am not thrilled. I haven't been thrilled since I finished the squares. They all came out different sizes, depending on the color I was using. Now that its finished, its hard like Red Heart, not soft like baby yarn although the yarn itself is soft. Probably if I had used a bigger crochet hook or maybe if I had just knitted it, it would be soft and drapey but crocheted....it will make a nice mat for the baby to lay on but nothing I'd want to wrap around my baby. Oh well, it kept me busy all summer.

The squares were so uneven that I couldn't do any of the joins I found on the internet so I sort of adapted the one I was going to do. I did a chain 3, slip into one side, chain 3, skip 3 sts and slip into the other side. When I saw I wasn't going to have enough stitches on a smaller one, I fudged it on the bigger one, not skipping 3. I don't think it shows. Then when I got the squares all together the whole edge was uneven so I did 2 rows of SC which didn't help at all. Then I went searching for a ruffle pattern and found an easy one (remember, I'm not a crocheter and probably this blanket proves it). The ruffle is simple, 2 triple crochets in each stitch around, on the corners, do 3 triple crochets in the stitch before the corner and 4 triple crochets in the center. That made a simple little ruffle that sort of hides the uneveness of the whole thing.

Boy, I'm glad I'm finished with it. I love the colors. I'm tempted to try a pinwheel circular blanket but have to get a sweater, hat and booties made (knitted of course).

Squares are Finished--well almost

I've finished 25 squares, mine measure 5" each and they're supposed to measure 6" each. The total blanket should measure around 31" when finished so apparently they didn't do anything around the squares to put them together, directions say, " Crochet Motifs tog as shown in Diagram" and the diagram shows the colors: A, B, C. Other than that, it says that you do an edging of 2 rows of sc all the way around. So that's where they get the extra 1". I've decided I'm going to attempt to do the Flat Braid join which will give the squares some width and then I'll finish with whatever I have to do to make it 31" because I do believe a 31" baby blanket is a nice size blanket, 26" isn't. I guess its possible when I block the squares I'll get a little more width and length too but probably not much because this is an acrylic and I don't want to kill the stuff. I did notice that Bernat Softee Baby yarn isn't all the same, the 2 blues are shiny and soft and I had to watch I didn't split the yarn as I worked with it and the white is more cotton-looking and feeling and there was no problem at all working with it. Oh well, nearly done, I'm anxious now to finish it.

Baby Blanket NOT Done

Doggone it, I had 3 more white squares to make and supposedly I'd be done but when I laid them out this morning my worst fear was confirmed. The squares aren't as big as they're supposed to be. How come? I swear I knitted them fairly loose, any looser and they'd be holey. The blanket is supposed to measure 31" square. Mine is 25" square. I realize when I crochet the squares together that's going to add some length and width but not enough. I'm going to knit one more set all the way around and then join them all. I hate teeny little baby blankets and refuse to finish this until I'm happy with it. Besides, I still have 1 1/2 more seasons of Gilmore Girls to watch and its too hot and humid to be outside anyway. (my excuse and I'm sticking to it).

I've tried to upload a picture of it but my computer is too slow or the network is giving me problems or something, I've had a devil of a time with files the last couple days so I'll wait and add the pix later.

In Memory

My husband was finally placed in his final resting place Friday. He was thrilled when he heard there was to be a new State Veterans Cemetery near his home town. Building was started before he passed away but the official opening wasn't until December, 2007.

He was placed in the columbarium which took another 6 months to complete but it is finally ready. When I drove up to the cemetery I noticed the flags were at half mast. The director told me that the flags are placed at half mast all day whenever someone will be buried there. That was a nice honor that I appreciated. After I got home and looked at my pictures I wondered what the 3rd flag was. The first of course was the US Flag and the second was the South Carolina Flag but what was the third? After investigating all over the internet this morning I finally figured it out, its the POW/MIA flag and under the picture it says

"You Are Not Forgotten" . Very appropriate.

The very first cemetery to honor the nations soldiers was planned in 1862 when Congress enacted legislation to build one. Now, more than 3 million Americans, including veterans of every war and conflict—from the Revolutionary War to the present war—are honored by burial in the national cemeteries. Approximately 17,000 acres of land from Hawaii to Maine, and from Alaska to Puerto Rico are devoted to the memorialization of those who served this nation. More than 300 recipients of the Medal of Honor are buried in VA's national cemeteries. Today, more than 24 million veterans and Reservists and National Guard members with 20 years qualifying service (who are entitled to retired pay or would be entitled, if at least 60 years of age), have earned the honor of burial in a national cemetery. Its an honor and I'm proud my husband wanted to be part of it.

Bernat Softee Baby Blanket

I know, you thought I was doing nothing but cutting trees, watching TV and otherwise wasting my time but NOT TRUE. I have a new great grandson due in October and I've been busy making a baby blanket. I don't normally crochet but I thought this was so cute I just had to try it. I show the original pattern picture on the left, its from Bernat's free patterns called "Double Diamond Crochet Blanket". So far I have 3 or 4 more blue marle squares to make and then the white squares, I should get it finished by Friday if I stick with it. I've got lots of blue marle and will have lots of white left but need some more of the darker blue and I'm picking that up today. The yarn is Bernat's Softee Baby.

I want to make EZs Baby Surprise Jacket on the LK 150 out of the blue and use the blue marle and white yarn for the stripes. I'm not going to try to do the cables this time because I'm not sure where to do them although I suspect its on the 2 edges but I need to get this finished because I want to make booties and a hat as well and if there's time of course I'll machine embroider something on the blanket and maybe the sweater as well.

Who knows, I may even make the little teddy bear before I'm finished (freebie on Bernat's web site as well). BUT my Grandaughter has a little girl and that little girl loves her doll so I think I should make her a sweater and hat for her doll as well. We'll see, I do have to keep the house clean for potential buyers and keep the yard up and all that rediculous stuff so we'll see how far I get.

PS If anyone knows how to join all these squares when I'm finished, please write me. The pattern says to make them all and then "join as shown" Unfortunately they have a graph for where to put the 3 colored squares but nothing to tell you how to join them. I don't think sewing them together would look so nice. PLEASE SOMEONE EMAIL ME...or put it in the comments so everyone who wants to try this will know the answer.

Limbless

Tree guys came today and I'm now limbless in the backyard. This is so great, there's actually a bit of sun shining through to the ground which will help keep the yard drier and now I won't have to worry about tree limbs hurting the gutter guards that actually cost about as much as the tree limb job. Puppy is having a ball, they chipped all the limbs back into the yard and he's running around sniffing and carrying bits of tree pieces around in his mouth. Here's what the roof line now looks like minus the tree limbs, soooo different without them. Wow, the picture makes it look like I live in town, I'll go get a picture from the porch to show you I really do live in the woods still.

pix show before, after and woods behind fence

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