DOA's December

 

We made it! It's the last month of the year and we are all (mostly) still standing.  This post will be the 84th post for the Librariandoa blog.  I'll just need sixteen more posts to get to the ever desirable 100 posts :)

Though I posted every day in November, I don't plan to do that in December.  I will be keeping three themed post days active this month:

DOA On TV Sundays

Mary's Recipes Thursdays

Saturday Puzzles

 

Never fear, there won't be a content drought!

DOA In The Kitchen!

 

I recently purchased several great cookbooks I'll highlight.

I've four nice sized cookie jars, I think they're all from Walmart, but I plan to put one type of cookie in each, with a little label so a person can just dig in.  Date filled cookies, Sugar Cookies, Chocolate Sandwich Cookies and Spritz are this seasons selections.  Pictures and recipes used as I make them.

On the side, I'll make half recipes of Muddy Buddies, Rice Krispie Bars, and daringly caramels and divinity.  Good luck with those last two, you say.  This could be the year when I succeed.

Crafty DOA!

Time to soothe the inner beast by doing craft projects. Crafting can put you in a "meditative state", they say.  Unless you mess up.

I've recently started painting ceramic things again.  I've no artistic talent, but I see painting these fun objects as being much like working in a coloring book.  I've always liked using nice colors and I must stay inside the lines. Some of these are new, some I’ve had for years.

I recently purchased a book called 100 Crochet Tiles.  I saw it in a store and looked at the directions, and determined I can do the stitches required.  Bozo that I am, I didn't pay attention to the yarn used, which is Paintbox and Scheejpes, a European yarn.  You can get this on Amazon.  I picked a square to try and ordered the Paintbox Yarn for that square.  The skeins are 1.7 oz, perhaps just enough for one square?  Watch this space to see.  Another roadblock here is I can't make a "magic ring" to save myself, so I either finally learn it, or just have a hole in the middle, lol.

 

A Merry Murderous Christmas!

I have a pile of Christmas Murder Mysteries I plan to read and review this month.  Since two of the books are short story collections, I'm giving myself a goal of having read all of my Christmas Mysteries by December 31st.

I don't quite have all of my books yet, so I'll post that list when I have them.  

This plan is inspired by the Ho Ho Ho Readathon at the Caffeinated Reviewer Blog.  I would love to have signed up for this reading challenge, but just not this year.

https://caffeinatedbookreviewer.com/2025/11/ho-ho-ho-readathon-begins.html 

 

 

Have a very Merry December! 

Crafty DOA Version 2.0

 Here's the new Crafty DOA Logo.  I've changed a few of the elements.  There was this wierd thing going on with the previous post about the logo where (for me) droves of people were looking at the dang thing.  Since we all know nobody read this S*&^, if there's some older post picking up speed, something is amiss.

Hmmm the Crafty DOA is hard to see.  Will fix on the next version.

 I've been actively crafting!  I'm doing a pink blanket with the squares bordered in pastel. Pink is my favorite, plus I have, no lie, an entire closet of pink yarn.  I placed them on an old hairpin lace blanket I made years ago for added charm.

 

Also on the hook is more yarn I'm trying to use up, that features a few varieties of Caron Baby Cakes Yarn.  I've got them set so you see how the colors unspool as you go, and I'm using a sea green for the join and borders.

 

 

I've been itching to do some embroidery for awhile, and this is the project I chose to come back to.  I got frustrated because the thread kept getting knotted up and I couldn't work on it at all.  The material is very thin, which doesn't help.  I think they are supposed to be tea towels, but I can't imagine they would dry a thing.  Still, the stitches are simple and I have a love of Mason Jars.  I tried working the letters this morning (b and e) with a short length of thread, pulling carefully, and I think it will be fine.  At least it is a start on the craft.

Craft Room Bits

 

 

Parts of my craft room are interesting.  The goal is for the entire place to be fun and functional.  Getting there!

Crochet: I Can Do This

Figure A, B, C,D

My previous projects....

Crochet: WTF

I've been working away on my "scarf".  My "double crochet" moves are improving, yet my work as always looks NOTHING like the picture in the book.

Aaaahhhhhggggg.

Thought I'd get a picture before I rip it out again.

Crochet Fail: Half Double Crochet Bracelet

If I had a Crochet Blog, I would have to call it Crochet Fails.  Luckily I am sticking with my all things under the sun blog.

I decided to force myself to push through  making the Friendship Bracelet from my " I Can Crochet" book while watching Downton Abbey and Grantchester last night.

Once again I made my chainstitch row and my single crochet row like a boss.  A boss with a death grip on the hook and yarn...

Next we make a double crochet or two, draw a bead up the string, hook it in, it's all good.

Skip two chain spots and do a double crochet, pull up a bead, repeat 9 times.

Somewhere in here things went south.  I had trouble getting my needle in loops, my hook got stuck on the middle loop of every single half double crochet.  That middle bit of yarn was just pinned to the hook.  

I found I kept muttering "nightmare" as I struggled along.

Finally the beads are all woven in and I'm at step 12 in the pattern.  My "ends" don't remotely resemble the book and I just said "To Hades with this".  I ruthlessly made a chain and tied it to the other end of the piece, and done.

Here is how it is supposed to look:

The next project (yes, I'm soldiering on!!) is a scarf that is Double Crochet. I'm hoping that no beads and nice straight rows will be just the thing.

Why Crochet?

I used to think I preferred Crochet over Knitting because one hook seemed easier to coordinate than two, and there seemed to be less counting.  As I've been working on these projects, I dug out all of my books with crochet directions and found some old project flyers mom had purchased. 

Ah, doilies, tablecloths, table runners, place mats, bedspreads... now that is what we're talking.

Mom always had some project going using delicate thread with complex patterns incomprehensible to me.

I think my grandmother (paternal, aka The Harridan) taught mom some of her early needlework and perhaps the lessons she learned from her helped her teach herself anything she wanted henceforth (to avoid further sessions) and made it difficult for mom to patiently teach others.

Watching mom create these beautiful crochet objects over the years made me want to learn crochet, I'm sure.  Visions of me working handily on projects has always been in the background.

Now, just to grasp the basics and away I go to mom level glory.  Tis to dream.

Just Start Over

I think there's a technical term for yanking out your stitches and starting from scratch when things go south.  I should familiarize myself with this word.

I prepped for the Half Double by watching a couple of YouTube videos.  This one showed and explained it so I felt I could begin.

Librariandoa has twelve beads rather than the required ten.  I figured I could work in the two extras somehow.

Made my chain of 34, check.

Added a row of single crochet on top of my chain check.

Get to the half double stitch, make one, check.

Go to make a second and it all goes kablooie.  Tried to back up a couple of times and suddenly my tidy end of the row had unravelled and I had to start all over. 

Try try again later.

Crochet: Half Double and I'm in Trouble

The next project in my book is a Friendship Bracelet using Half Double Crochet (which I don't know).

It weaves in beads to make it extra tricky.   I'm temporarily stalled while I search my in the process of reorganization craft room for a Tapestry Needle.  My beading is ready to go.  

Wish me luck!

 

Crochet for Bozos: Scrunchie

The second project in my book uses single crochet to attach yarn chains to a common, previously boring Scrunchie.

It was good practice mostly as I tried to keep a looser tension on the yarn (somehow I like to keep it in a sort of stranglehold).  I also hold the hook differently than the recommended "pencil" or "pinch" methods and I'm trying to change that because I'm not very efficient in my moves.

 

 

It didn't come out too badly.  I can't see myself wearing it, but I did get a volunteer to try it on.