White Friday

White Friday last year is such a blur. That week turned my life upside down, but in writing today's blog post in early November of 2024 (I traditionally have composed my White Friday blog posts a year in advance, as they happen, or right after), I realized my life wasn't the center of the universe last year. Lizard's life took the biggest hit he's ever faced, and we're still dealing with some of the repurcussions. What began on Thanksgiving 2023 may influence the rest of his life. It was not something we planned for or expected, and now it's something we are forced to deal with on an almost daily basis. But Thanksgiving is a time for giving thanks, not moaning and groaning about things that can't be changed.

I'll start with the White Friday soap. I thought I'd detailed our White Friday ordeal on my blog earlier this year, but a search turns up nothing except the aftermath. I hinted several times at what happened, but I never explained. It all started with White Friday soap. In a hotel room. During our Thanksgiving celebration with Lizard's family. Even that is foggy now. White foggy.

Back in about April or May, I thought I should probably write in more detail about what happened. Now that the annivesary is upon me, I'm not sure I can do it. It might take a bit more healing. A bit more gratitude. A bit more distance. If it doesn't appear weekly or monthly on my blog beginning next week, rest assured I kept a good journal. I will share the story at some point.

Lizard was up for only a very short drive on White Friday. Although we did get a few fog photos, I was mostly limited to White Friday photos I could take in the neighborhood and white thread crochet, which, I confess, I wasn't as motivated to do at that time, and white thread hand-quilting.

Higher elevations of the nearby canyon got a bit of snow Thanksgiving night. So a touch of white was just waiting to be photographed. At the time, I wished Lizard felt better so I could shoot more. Now, in retrospect, I'm so thankful he agreed to go out at all. We got snow White Friday night. The white Grand Junction temple made for perfect White Saturday photos.

The drive home was treacherous for the first three or so hours because road conditions did not improve without the blast of sun the canyons got later in the day, after we'd already nagivated our way through. It was too dangerous to pull over to take photos, so I got only a handful of photos before we got into the canyon shadows and only one snowy shot at an official rest stop.

The snow followed us home, and we had a White Monday while I worked from home.

I finished only one snowflake during the Thanksgiving holiday. It wasn't totally original. It was inspired by an old snowflake.

My White Friday hand-quilting still is not done yet. Still packaged from our 2023 Thanksgiving trip. I never took it out of the bag after we got home. Never had time. Now I'm two weeks and a day away from White Friday 2024. This project will be one of my goals for next year's White Friday blog post. And I'll try harder to snap more White Friday photos in 2024. But you won't see them until 2025. :)

Another 2023 White Friday goal was to finish the hand-stitching of my QAYG Hawaiian Punch, which I fully intended to gift to my 50-plus-year penpal in April 2024 for her birthday. I finished this part of my White Friday stitching in January of this year, so not totally White Friday. I was able to finish this portion of the project once Lizard's White Soap skin trauma abated. Working on this piece in peace for the first time in a couple of months reminded me of the true spirit of Thanksgiving and my very own White Friday tradition.

I just recently learned it's okay to pat myself on the back, quite literally, for making it through one of the darkest times in our lives, the six weeks there was no white and no light. Almost no hope. Just fear. Just panic. The resulting gratitude is something I hope I can incorporate into every day, not just Thanksgiving, and not just White Friday. I am thankful for Lizard, for faith, for prayer, for overcoming, for healing, for friends and family, for hobbies, for snow, and for being able to stay home and keep my wallet shut on the biggest shopping day of the year.

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Grateful Anyway

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Wordless Wednesday

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The Autumn of My Husband's Being

Not written by my Lizard, but heavily felt by him as well as the author, whose writing still shines with such radiant talent. Shared with permission.

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Snowflake Monday

The name for today's snowflake comes from my list of potential names. It's slang for Snow Selfie. I think it's just the cutest name! Sounds like a cute little cartoon character. Snow selfies are fun, too, and my goodness, this is the season!

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: 5.5 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

SPECIAL STITCHES:

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.

Snowfie Snowflake Instructions

Make magic ring.

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

Round 2: 1 sc between sl st just worked and next dc, [ch 3, sk next dc, 1 sc between next 2 dc] 5 times; ch 1, 1 dc in starting sc to form 6th ch 3 sp of Round.

Round 3: Pc over post of dc directly below, [ch 3, in next ch 3 sp work (pc, ch 3, pc)] 5 times; ch 3, pc in next ch 3 sp, ch 1, 1 dc in starting pc to form 12th ch 3 sp of Round.
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 5 (counts as 1 dc and ch 3), [1 dc in next ch 3 sp, ch 3] 11 times, omitting last 2 ch of final repeat; 1 dc in 2nd ch of starting ch 5 to form 12th ch 3 sp of Round.

Round 5: Ch 2 (counts as 1 dc), 2 dc over post of dc directly below, [5 dc in next ch 3 sp] 11 times; 2 dc in next ch 3 sp, sl st in 2nd ch of starting ch 2.

Round 6: Ch 2 (counts as 1 dc), 1 dc in next dc, [ch 3, sk next 3 dc, 1 sc in next (middle) dc, ch 3, sk next 3 dc, 1 dc in next dc, in next (middle) dc work (1 dc, ch 10, 1 sc in 9th ch from hook, ch 10, 1 sc in same ch, ch 8, 1 sc in same ch, ch 1, * 1 dc), 1 dc in next 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 Fantastic

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Oops

I guess my mom, the mother of seven kids, gets another snowflake. :) Perhaps I should send her a deformed octopus, too...

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Wordless Wednesday

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Pretty as a Pumpkin

I've long said the pumpkin spice I make at home is so much better than any pumpkin spice item I buy at the store. But I buy fresh pumpkins only around Halloween. And I've yet to successfully grow a pumpkin.

On Halloween Day, we found half-price pumpkins at the home improvement store we had to visit for light bulbs. I bought the three ugliest pumpkins, and I put them on our porch in time for trick-or-treaters. I'm not sure anyone noticed, but I liked having them.

Now the pink one has been sliced, baked, blended and spiced. I even added mango habanero spice to the third batch. YUM!

I forgot to snap a photo of the pink pumpkin, which actually wasn't so ugly. I did snap the blue one, and it will be the next pumpkin in my oven!

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Car Cozy Monday

How do you turn a crocheted steering wheel cover into something wintery or Christmasy? Make it in holiday colors, Photoshop the photos, or, just wrap the completed project up and give it as a Christmas present. :) Snowflakes will be back next week. I just needed a new steering wheel cover, and I had a blast working up this pattern.

Back in 2021, Lizard's mom bought us an automatic (used) car, hoping it might allow Lizard to drive just a bit longer. (The stick shift and clutch in our 4Runner became too difficult for Lizard to operate a couple years into his Parkinson's diagnosis.) Mission accomplished. Lizard can't drive now, but he did get a few more months of driving before he had to turn all driving over to me. The new car came with a steering wheel that gets VERY hot in the sun, even though we keep a sun shade in the windshield when the car is parked. I ordered a steering wheel cover that first summer, and it worked really well until the last couple of months. Perhaps our unprecedented summer heat melted the elastic inside the purchased steering wheel cover. For several weeks now, my steering wheel has become a strip tease dancer. I cannot get it to keep its clothes on!

I'd seen a couple of really cute crocheted steering wheel covers, and I'd thought for years I might one day make one from the luscious colors in my sock yarn stash. When it came right down to it, I opted for acrylic yarn instead because I think it will last longer (if next year's heat doesn't melt it to the steering wheel, right???) and worsted-weight because larger stitches would work up faster. As in, two days... I'm on a new WIP diet. I'm not allowed to start new time-hog projects until I finish a few that have been waiting in the wings for years or even decades.

I opted to crochet the steering wheel cover base, then rib knit the edges to make the cover cling to my steering wheel. When I've shared bicraftual patterns in the past, I've received complaints from some of my readers who don't know how to knit. Feel free to crochet the steering wheel cover with perhaps 11 rounds instead of the 5 rounds I've shared here, then weave either yarn or perhaps some of those mask elastic leftovers through the edges to create that magic steering wheel cling.

It had been quite a while since I'd knit anything at all. I have (earplug-shaped) knitting needle stoppers somewhere. Probably preventing WIP stitches from sliding off the needles of the plethora of projects hiding in every nook and cranny of my house. I couldn't find a single one. I looked up how to make DIY needle stoppers, and I don't have anything on hand that might suffice other than tightly wound balls of crochet thread. I've now ordered new knitting needle stoppers (and they should be here Wednesday!), but I struggled through the knitting portion of this project with my stabbed project remnants. Not a highly recommended substitute. my little balls of thread frequently pretended to be kitty cat toys. Rolling across the floor after making a run for it and causing many stitches to drop off my needles in the process. Little boogers!

I love the lime green of my new steering wheel cover, but that lovely color actually wasn't my first choice. The eye-popping neon was the top skein in the first bin I opened when searching for a big enough ball of leftovers to cover a steering wheel. After I finish a few more projects, I may make a new steering wheel cover, and I'd just love to make it with a gradient or as close to the color of denim as I can get. I have an idea for a new stitch pattern, and I'm hoping my second idea doesn't have to percolate too long.

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

Finished Size: 14.5 inches across
Materials: Size G crochet hook, size 7 double-pointed knitting needles or circular knitting needles, 1 skein worsted weight yarn (I think this project used up less than half of the 4-ounce skein.)

November Skein Steering Wheel Cover Instructions

Ch 160. (In retrospect, I wish I had worked this cover with 150 stitches to make a bit tigher on my steering wheel. I suggest measuring your steering wheel, then subtracting two to three inches when working up your initial chain. For this pattern, you need a multiple of 2 stitches.) Taking care not to twist work, sl st in starting ch. Round 1: Ch 2 (counts as 1 dc), 1 dc in each ch around for a total of 160 dc; sl st in 2nd ch of starting ch 2. Ch 2; turn, OR...

OR... (this is my favorite method), work a chainless dc as described by my good friend Mrs. Micawber.

Round 2: Work standing or chainless dc OR ch 3 (counts as 1 dc and ch 1), [sk next dc, 1 dc in next dc] to end of Round; ch 1, sl st in standing/chainless dc OR in 2nd ch of starting ch 3; ch 2, turn, OR, work standing or chainless dc.

Round 3: 1 dc in each stitch around; sl st in starting dc.
If you're not reading this pattern on Snowcatcher, you're not reading the designer's blog. Please go here to see the original.

Rounds 4-5: Repeat Rounds 2 and 3; sl st in starting dc at the end of Round 5.

Round 6: With double-pointed or circular knitting needles, draw up one loop through each stitch around.

Rounds 7-11: K 1, P 1 around; bind off. Weave in ends.

Round 12: On bottom of steering wheel cover, draw up loop through each dc around.

Rounds 13-17: K 1, P1 around; bind off. Weave in ends.

NOTE: Upon finishing this project, I put a dab of Elmer's Glue-All over each of my knots and massaged it in to make sure nothing unravels through what I hope will be heavy use before the sun fades the yarn color too much.

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