Thursday

New Crochet Bath Carpets.

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I went shopping thinking I'd find three new bath carpets, but I found that most carpets in the stores were not what I liked and they were limited in the sizes  to fit the spaces in my bathroom, so I made my own.
It's been 2 years now and the old ones I crochet were getting ready to fall apart. 
 

Besides, I changed the color of the bath and wanted blue.





The crochet pattern is something in my mind. I used just a simple double crochet and went back-and-forth.


I do love the colors of blue but then realized how much yellow was in the floor tiles. Oh Well, not too bad?


I painted the cabinets last year and had great intentions of changing the counter top and adding a second sink. Well, that never happened. I might just go ahead and paint the counter top. I did a post on how I painted the kitchen counters and after a year now it's still going strong without a scratch or peel. Very durable and great paint made especially for counter tops.
More on that another time.






The upstairs bath took on a whole new look with the darker blue coloring and it's nice to step on the soft carpets. I used 100% cotton yarn and doubled up and used two strands of yarn to give the carpets more texture.  These also can be put into the washer with no fear of shrinking or changing color. The ones I made 2 years ago are still in good shape but I needed a change.
Cool, cool, cotton!

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Saving the herb plants from the cold. . .




As I said in my previous post the weather turned very chilly here on the South Gulf Coast. 
The temps dipped into the 20's over night and I would surly have lost my potted herbs and tomatoes.  They all came inside for the past two days, lined up along the front hallway.
It was time to harvest some of the Sage, Basel and Parsley.


I love to cook with fresh herbs and dry mine all year.  I cut the stems and hang them upside down in the window mostly but there is not much space, so some get cut and placed in pie tins for a few days.  It really does not take long to dry when snipped with scissors into tiny pieces. I just leave them to air dry for a few days, then store in jars.




Sage


Basel

Once the potted plants were thinned they went back in the hallway and will stay until the temperatures rise above 50' during the night.


The aroma in the kitchen is wonderful.  I love the look of the drying herb plants also. Wish I had more room to hang them.  How about up in the rafters?  But then I don't have rafters and besides, they would get greasy from all the cooking, don't you think?


One day, I will have a green house!
"One day"

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Wednesday

Critters need to be warm too, but they gnawed through my....



All the cold weather from the Northern States came down to Florida this past two nights.  We went down to 27' and it was cold enough for me to put on the central heat in our house.
My sister and I thought this might be a good day to warm up in front of the slot machines at the Hard Rock Casino.


 We got in the car only to be greeted by the "Check Engine" light and I thought better of driving the hour to get to the casino and instead took my car to the mechanic.
 Well once I got there and they looked into my hood,  all the guys started  laughing and told me that a critter did some damage.
 Seems Squirrels needed some refuge from the cold we were having and they climbed under the hood of my car to get warm. They then began to gnaw the censer wires.  The wires were no longer connected and this caused the "Check Engine" light to come on.
 They then started gnawing on  anything they could get their little buck teeth on. 
Like my 'air filter'.
They then started gnawing the panel that is closing off the engine from the inside of the car cabin. The mechanic told me, they chewed into my glove box and started nesting.  He also found the feminine napkin that I kept stored in the box, chewed to bits inside the engine.
I was amazed at how much damage the little critters did in just a few hours during the night!
 
 I took the advice from my mechanic and went to the Home Depot and got a bottle of pest spray that will last 30 days against critters.  I sprayed the entire engine area and am sure I used much too much spray.  
They will not do that again!  
Now I'm a Squirrel lover and every day I toss peanuts out on the back deck for my many critters.  
If their little escapade did not cost me so much money, to repair the damage, it might have been funny!
What kind of problems has the first winter weather caused you all this past week?
'Stay Warm" 
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Alphabet Thursday




Monday

Making a Chochet Hook User Friendly. . . .


Now that the Holidays are behind us we will all be getting back to our daily lives.  Today all the outside Christmas lights came down and the storage boxes filled with ornaments went back into the store room.

My sister picked up her crochet again and has had enough of her teeny crochet hook that has been bothering her fingers.  The small sizes are really hard to hold when your not used to one. We both sat down and tried to find a way to make it more 
"User Friendly"
  In other words, thicker so holding it would be more comfortable.
We thought of wrapping something around it.  Tape would get sticky with time.  Something like a straw. long with a hole that we could slip the hook into?  The only Crochet Hook she brought with her,  is thicker and the wrong size. I told her to use it anyway. 
Ha, what do I know about Fillet Crochet?


We then went to the Home Depot thinking we could find something to enlarge the handle..  The guys at the store were no help really.  A woman coming in with a crochet hook really turned their minds to mush. It was rather funny really.
We did find a long pipe, tube of sorts, that one would use under a sink for the water to flow.  It was more like a straw and we thought if we filled it with glue.. no, that's not going to work? 
Then I went out in my store room and there is was.  A rather used bottle of "Round Up" a weed and grass killer.  The tube was perfect!
I cut a length and soaked it in Dawn and hot water. 


The water tube was much too large.


The plastic tube from the spray bottle fit perfectly.



All we needed to do was push it into place and there it was.  Just what was needed to make the Crochet Hook comfortable to hold.
No more sore fingers.


Using your imagination and searching around your home will always find the solution to a problem.

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I hope everyone is happy and recovering from all the hustle and bustle of the Holidays.
Time to get back to life as you know it or life as you would dream it to be.

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