Friday Funny

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Howling at the Hook

This is all I have to show for myself this week. And I didn't even finish it this week. Or last week. Now I have to make an axolotyl. !!!

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Wordless Wednesday

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Veteran's Day

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Snowflake Monday

I think I've been telling people I'm nearly at 1,000 snowflake designs. I thought I had to make a decision in just ten weeks. Do I keep going, or is 1,000 snowflakes enough???

I must have been in a time warp or something. Maybe Lizard's been watching too much Star Trek. :) Today's snowflake is Number 891. That means I have two years and six weeks before I have to make that big decision. What a relief!

November 2023 Snowflakes

Or is it??? That's 109 more snowflake patterns I have to write!!! Am I really up for that?!?

Fellowship of the Magic Crochet Ring Snowflakes

I think so. I like the challenge. I don't always like the time bandit. But I thrive on the challenge. It's something I can do quietly while Lizard sleeps. It can sometimes put me to sleep when I have trouble falling asleep. And it's something I do for me. I don't get to do very many me things these days, and it's kind of empowering to have that additional weight on my creative juice.

For now, I have no plans to stop. My mind may change in two years, but for now, there is great personal satisfaction in keeping on keeping on.

2024 Digital Snowflake Temperature Quilt Cheater Panel

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: 5.75 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

Endure Snowflake Instructions

Popcorn Stitch (pc)

Work 5 dc in designated st, take loop off hook, insert hook through top loop of 1st dc and replace loop on hook, pull loop through top of 1st dc.

Make magic ring.

Round 1: [1 pc in ring, ch 7, 1 dc in 6th ch from hook, ch 2] 5 times; 1 pc in ring, ch 1, 1 tr in starting pc to form 6th ch 4-ish sp of Round, ch 3, 1 dc in bottom of tr just worked to form 5th ch 5 tip of Round. Don't pull magic circle too tight.

Round 2: Ch 4 (counts as 1 sc and ch 3), 1 sc over post of dc directly below, ch 3 [in next ch 5 tip work ([1 sc, ch 3] 4 times] 5 times; 1 sc in next ch 5 tip, ch 3, 1 sc in same sp, ch 1, 1 dc in 1st ch of starting ch 4 to form 18th ch 3 tip of Round.
NOTE: Binding off here makes the cutest little flake. I almost like it better than the full-size flake. I made a second Mini Endure with ch 7 instead of ch 3 for the middle ch 3 tip of each point to see how it would look. I still like the first Mini Endure Snowflake better!

Round 3: Ch 2 (counts as 1 dc), in next ch 3 tip work (1 dc, ch 3, 1 dc), [sk next ch 3 sp, in each of next 3 ch 3 tips work (1 dc, ch 3, 1 dc)] 5 times; sk next ch 3 sp, in next ch 3 tip work (1 dc, ch 3, 1 dc), in next ch 3 tip (middle ch 3 tip), work 1 dc, ch 1, 1 dc in 2nd ch of starting ch 2 to form 18th ch 3 sp.
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: Ch 2 (counts as 1 dc), in next ch 3 sp work (1 dc, ch 3, 1 dc), [in next ch 3 sp work (1 dc, ch 3, 1 dc), in next ch 3 sp work (1 dc, ch 10 *, 1 dc), in next ch 3 sp work (1 dc, ch 3, 1 dc)] 6 times, ending * on 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 Fortius

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Heart Strings

(affiliate links to my designs)

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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