Heart Strings

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No, not the book!!!

It feels like it's been forever since I began my crocheted heart amigurumi kick. I work on the hearts mostly while Lizard is sleeping. It's something I can do quietly.

I finished the blues back in June. Greens didn't take long because I didn't have that many. That's a hint I need to dye more... But not today.

Pinks took longer, not only because I had more shades of pink than green, but also because life just got in the way. Hallucinations are on the rise, changing seasons means garden cleanup, and there have been a few unwanted visitors in the basement. I might elaborate on that next Tuesday...

Finally finished the pinks this week, and I've had such fun photographing my collection of hearts!

When I create greeting cards (which I absolutely love doing) the most difficult part sometimes is trying to come up with something sweet on the inside, and we're, unfortunately, not talking chocolate. Darn it. Anyway, with all the heart amigurumi photos I shot late Tuesday night, it was time to challenge my brain and get back into the habit of trying to rhyme. (Sometimes...)

I'm about to start the purple hearts. I thought that would be my final batch. Because I do not have many hand-dyed shades of red, orange or yellow. (In part because true red is so difficult to achieve when dyeing.) I might go ahead and combine all three of those colors into yet one more batch of hearts, but that's not a project I look forward to because I don't get as much joy out of working with those colors. Which is why I don't have many of them! (I actually ought to dye more because I do love shades of autumn. Just in photography more than in crochet.)

With all the tomatoes I harvested out of my garden prior to our first freeze last week, I decided it was time to make another avocado salad, one of my favorite garden treats of all. I use my own homegrown tomatoes, onions, chiles (when I have them, farmers market when I don't), cilantro, chives and basil, then add in store-bought pink Himalayan salt, garlic, and Olathe sweet corn, plus black beans I soften and cook from scratch, and the pièce de résistance... store-bought avocados.

Which means... time to dye!!! Which free time I don't have a lot of. But with eight more pits and half a Mason jar full of torn skins, how could I not?!? Now I'm super excited to try to quickly finish my purple hearts so I can make a batch of tiny heart amigurumi with my shades of solar avocado dye!! (I just finished winding the first two new colors, and I can't wait to use them!!!)

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Wordless Wednesday

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I See Red

The Colorado Front Range experienced its latest first overnight freeze last week. I'm so thankful I got to hang onto my tomato plants an extra couple of weeks. I picked about 40 mostly yellowish green tomatoes about five or six hours before the mercury dropped way below freezing. I've had them in the living room window ever since. Some are not going to turn. But more than I expected have turned, and I've been enjoying fresh tomatoes every day!

Of course, the living room window is getting only about two to three hours of sun these days. So I've been sticking the tomatoes on the dash in my car in the afternoons, hoping the heat and magnified sun will coax them into color.

Some of the darker green ones are beginning to get a little mushy. But I managed to get almost enough red for one last batch of homegrown homemade spaghetti sauce for the year.

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Snowflake Monday

I could just die. I didn't see the mistake on one of my final Halloween flakes for my grands until I began pinning. The flake was saturated with glue and 3/4s of the way pinned. It was 11:17 p.m., and I was supposed to deliver the final batch in person the next morning. It was too late to fix it or make another flake. I did the best pinning coverup I could, but the booboo still glares at me. I hope the recipient never notices. Can you find my booboo???

OH, WAIT!!! I made an extra one with pink!!! One of the recipients is a girl! I decided to swap out the defective flake and give the girl the pink one!!! Saved by my final 2025 stab at Pinktober!!!

You may do whatever you'd like with snowflakes you make from this pattern, but you may not sell or republish the pattern. Thanks, and enjoy!

Finished Size: 4 inches from point to point
Materials: Size 10 crochet thread, size 7 crochet hook, empty pizza box, wax paper or plastic wrap, cellophane tape, water soluble school glue or desired stiffener, water, glitter, small container for glue/water mixture, paintbrush, stick pins that won't be used later for sewing, clear thread or fishing line

Triple Shot IX Snowflake Instructions

Make magic ring.

Round 1: Ch 2 (counts as 1 dc), 11 dc in ring; sl st in 2nd ch of starting ch 2. Pull magic circle tight.

Round 2: Ch 2 (counts as 1 dc), 1 dc in same ch as sl st, 2 dc in each dc around for a total of 24 dc; sl st in 2nd ch of starting ch 2.

Optional Round 2: Ch 2 (counts as 1 dc), 1 dc in next dc, [1 fpdc around post of same Round 1 dc as previous dc, 2 dc in next dc, 1 dc in next dc] 5 times; 1 dc in same ch as final Round 1 sl st; sl st in 2nd ch of starting ch 2.

Round 3: Ch 2 (counts as 1 dc), [2 dc in next dc, 1 dc in next dc] 12 times, omitting last dc of final repeat; sl st in 2nd ch of starting ch 2. Bind off if making flake in more than one color. Weave in ends.
If you're not reading this pattern on Snowcatcher, you're not reading the designer's blog. Please go here to see the original.

Round 4: If using same color, ch 2 (counts as 1 dc), 2 dc in same ch as sl st, [sk next 2 dc, in next Round 2 dc below next Round 3 dc work 1 fptr, sk next 2 dc, in next dc work (3 dc, ch 3, 3 dc)] 6 times, omitting last 3 dc and last ch of final repeat; 1 dc in 2nd ch of starting ch 2 to form 6th ch 3 tip of Round. If using new color and Optional Round 2, 3 dc in any middle dc between 2 Round 2 fpdc, [sk next 2 dc, in next Round 2 dc below next Round 3 dc work 1 fptr, sk next 2 dc, in next dc work (3 dc, ch 3, 3 dc)] 6 times, omitting last 3 dc and last ch of final repeat; 1 dc in starting dc to form 6th ch 3 tip of Round. If not using Optional Round 2, begin Round 4 in any Round 3 dc.

Round 5: Ch 2 (counts as 1 dc), [in gap after next 3/dc shell work 3 dc, ch 3, in gap before next 3/dc shell work (1 dc, ch 5, 1 sc in 3rd ch from hook, ch 2, 1 dc)] 6 times, omitting last dc of final repeat; sl st in 2nd ch of starting ch 2; bind off. Weave in ends.

Finish: I've been stiffening my flakes with undiluted, full-strength water soluble school glue for quite a while now, and I've been squishing the glue onto and throughout each flake with my fingers (yucky mess!!!) instead of gingerly painting the flakes with glue. Yes, it's a mess. But it's faster. And stiffer.

Tape wax paper or plastic wrap to top of empty pizza box. Pin snowflake to box on top of wax paper or plastic wrap.

If using glue, mix a few drops of water with a teaspoon of glue in small washable container. Paint snowflake with glue mixture or desired stiffener. Sprinkle lightly with glitter. Wash paintbrush and container thoroughly. Allow snowflake to dry at least 24 hours. Remove pins. Gently peel snowflake from wax paper or plastic wrap. Attach 10-inch clear thread to one spoke, weaving in end. Wrap fishing line around tree branch (or tape to ceiling or any overhead surface) and watch snowflake twirl freely whenever you walk by! Snowflake also may be taped to window or tied to doorknob or cabinet handle.

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Friday Funny

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Wear-y Scary

Remember that sorta cute little bonus dress I finished back in June???

Yeah, that's the one. Wore it to church once.

Washed it. Once. Didn't notice while wearing it the second time, last weekend, when it was finally cool enough to wear layers (because I have to wear a shirt underneath), that many of the pieced block seams had unravelled. !!!

I wore a holey dress to church. Not a holy dress. A holey dress. Lizard had multiple challenges that morning, and in my efforts to help him so we could get to church on time, I never looked at myself to make sure I was presentable. Until I sat down in the chapel. And was horrified. Just in time for Halloween. What a way to celebrate!!! I still haven't had a chance to fix it yet. Perhaps it will be scarecrow fodder in the backyard after all. Sure could have used it while we were trying to prepare the garden before our first overnight freeze on Monday!!!

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Wordless Wednesday

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