The Queen of the Quick and the Cheap

  What is more motivating at any level of proficiency than a successful completion of a project.  It has yet to be proven to me that 100 times the effort equals 100 times the satisfaction. Teaching has reinforced my love of easy and quick projects. A trip to A. C. Moore has reawakened my love of gimp. How could I put the two together? With a crocheted circle done with a large hook (here I used an "L"), that's how! Literally done in minutes I now have a pot scrubber workhorse worthy of keeping or gifting. The large sized hook makes for large sized holes that rinse clean of cling-ons, not to be confused with Klingons.
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Leslie

A Crocheted Jute Orchid Pouch

  I am Orchid challenged. I have three that were blooming  brilliantly, the state in which they were received,  then never more. All my reading and asking brought me to realize that they needed air for the roots and maybe food. I happily invested $ 4.99 for the food. Then took up my crochet hook and natural jute twine and made this pouch which now hangs in the window over the sink where it can drain.
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Leslie

A Soap Hammock

  This is the time in my life where I have made room to identify and delete the little things that bug me.
 You are washing your hands and drip water when picking the soap up from the dish and again when replacing it. In twenty minutes of crocheting I made this soap hammock that holds the soap out of the way INSIDE the sink where it can drip to it's heart 's content. Made out of jute, (If memory serves what that unmarked cone was.) it can be machine washed when necessary.
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Leslie

A Poem, "Aunt Martha's Afghan"

I am sitting in a doctors office waiting room. I am not happy to be there but that is not due to being nervous about being a patient. I am waiting for a friend who needed a ride. I see hours of my work day evaporating. I pick up the afghan that I had been making to go in my Aunt Martha's guest room. Busy fingers sooth the agitated mind. In front of me is a long koi pond that is as active as a small village. Rocks have been placed to form havens for the koi fry. It does not take long for me to feel peaceful as I crocheted in such a beautiful place. This poem percolated to the surface;

I made you this afghan
Call it a blanket or throw
There is so much more in it
I want you to know
Each stitch is a second
With you on my mind
Captured in wool
Frozen in time
In waiting rooms, meetings
Whenever I sat
Watching a movie on TV
Surrounded by cats
So wrap it around you
Feel it warm like a glove
Remember what warms you
Is really my love

Blog On!
Leslie

Aries the Great and the Color Red

Maureen's back. I confess to being one of those people who only believes in her horoscope when she agrees with it. So here's the important quote for Aries from today's Boston Globe:

"Get involved. It's time to give back. Help someone who
can't do for him or herself or volunteer for a cause you believe in."

Well, didn't I feel smug. Not only am I crocheting those Fun Fur hats for Children's Hospital, I just finished two identical scarves for the Red Scarf Project. This project sends as Valentine's Day presents red (or any unisex color) scarves to college students who were foster children and have aged out of the foster system. The project is sponsored by the Orphan Foundation of America for these kids who most likely have no one to send them care packages at school.

Not that I'm so totally noble; don't expect that from an Aries. I had been working with earth tones for a bunch of Christmas presents. The idea of working with a good red really appealed to me, it is the color for Aries, and it gave me a great excuse to buy more yarn. Machine washable yarn was recommended (these ARE college students), so I went with Lion Suede in the Scarlet color. I had tried in a previous project to crochet it using an N hook in double stitch. Not only did I lose that lush, suede look, it wormed out of its stitches, and I had to rip an entire shawl apart. For this scarf, I used a J hook in a seed stitch (hdc, sc). Judge for yourself how it looks. The scarves are to be mailed this month, so my scarves and my friend Katrina's scarf will be mailed on Monday. If you're a fast knitter or crocheter, there's still time.

PS Leslie is away this weekend, teaching another shawl pin workshop. This means that George Clooney could come visit tonight and Hugh Laurie tomorrow night, if they wanted to. Yeah, I'm shallow.

Good night and good luck,

Maureen