Karen's Play-Doh Lotus

 

And a coloring page... this is what we call "Inskyfied" 

Dave fiction: "The Aliens"

My twelve-year-old's latest adventure! 

 

The Aliens

At 3:00 am, Dave woke up at the sound of zzzzzzzzt zzzzzzzzzt zzzzzzzt. As he walked out of the bed room, he saw that his roof was being sliced open by a laser then suddenly crashed on to the floor.

Then bright lights shined on to the floor.

Okay that's it! He ran up the stairs and got his shotgun. When he got back down the stairs there were two aliens in red and white space suits.

Dave aimed and shot. Boom-bang it didn't even make a dent!

Then the aliens turned and looked at Dave then aimed at him and...

part 1

Dave woke up to find himself in a small white room. He was lying on a flat bed like thing.

When he got up a man-like person walked up and said, "We've been watching you."

"You can speak English!" said Dave.

"Yes, we took you for a mission."

"What mission?"

"My enemies have almost killed all of us-- you are the only one you can save us!"

"How?" said Dave

"Their radars can't pick you up. I want you to go in their ship and put a chip in a computer and then get out as fast as you can. Can you do that?"

"I will try," said Dave.

part 2

Dave was in a space suit and had a black laser gun. His code name was Stringer.

The alien putting Dave in the suit said, "You will go in a 45x rocket pod, which is invisible to radar. The pod will take you a half a mile from their ship. From there you need to get in somehow."

Dave rocketed out of the ship an hour later in the pod. It landed three hours later. Dave got out and walked around then walked north for a hour.

There was a 50 yard high, 200 yard long, 50 yard wide space battleship. Dave saw a door the size of a car open up and a rover came out. Dave quickly ran over and snuck in as the door shut. Four aliens saw him and started shooting at him.

He quickly rolled over to a wall and shot back and killed one, then ran over to a shelf then shot out the side ziit, ziit, ziit, ziit and got them. Then a loud sound came out of what ever and an army came up behind Dave. Then he ran down a stairway and found the computer room. He looked for the red one and then put the chip in then ran for a big red button. He thought was the big door button. He pushed it then the door opened and he ran out for his pod. Then they stared shooting but he ran away.

Dave got in the pod and rocketed away then boooooooommm their ship exploded!!!!!

The End

Lattice Quilt Idea from Home Depot

A display for privacy lattice.  Look at the cool way they arranged the color samples!  
"That should be a quilt pattern" 

It probably is, I just don't know what it's called. 

I tricked Electric Quilt into cooperating with this by making the diagonal "block" two inches square and the plain fabric "sashing" four inches wide  :-) 

It should be pretty easy to make...

Crochet Rag Rug

I used fabric strips and a size Q crochet hook, for the "braided rug" look. 

I made one of these many years ago, but it didn't last long.  First time I put it through the washer it came undone in several places.  This time I used only large pieces of leftover fabric and cut them into huge spirals, to minimize joining, and whenever I had to join a new strip, I made sure to overlap by six or eight inches so that it was wound through two complete stitches.  (I'd meant to SEW all the strips together this time for security, but you know about good intentions.  I think this will stay together!!) 

Boy, it goes fast!  It's also hard work!  Wrestling a hook that large requires shoulders, not just fingers!  So I only worked on it a little here and there.  It was still done really fast. 

The pattern is just single crochet all around, with two sc in each of the six points. 

The Round Knit Dishcloth Explained for Non-Knitters Like Me

An expert knitter was making one of these and I expressed admiration, and she wrote down the pattern from memory for me. 

I tried.  I would make one section come out right, and end up with the number of stitches I was supposed to have, about 1/5th of the time.  No fun. 

The internet gave me a bunch of similar patterns, with varying sets of instructions, several of which... I tried. 

I'm obviously the lamest knitter on the planet, that or I just can't count. 

I finally figured out what I needed was a list of how many stitches I'm supposed to HAVE at a given moment (not how many I'm supposed to remove) on every single row. 

I wrote it out for myself in knitting-kindergartener language and crossed off each row with a pencil as I completed it, and voila!  Success! 

Here's my easy no-fail version for any other baby knitters out there  :-) 

* * *

The Cotton Knit Dishcloth (Written out with numbers)

From a pattern by Marion Torgerson, that I rewrote to make it easier to keep track

worsted weight cotton yarn, size 7 US needles

Cast on 15 stitches

row 1: knit across. (ends with 15 sts on needle)

row 2: k3, yo, k11, leaving 1 st, turn.

row 3: knit across. (ends with 16 sts on needle)

row 4: k3, yo, k11, leaving 2 sts, turn.

row 5: knit across. (ends with 17 sts on needle)

row 6: k3, yo, k11, leaving 3 sts, turn.

row 7: knit across. (ends with 18 sts on needle)

row 8: bind off 3 sts, k2, yo, k8, leaving 4 sts, turn.

row 9: knit across. (ends with 16 sts on needle)

row 10: k3, yo, k8, leaving 5 sts, turn.

row 11: knit across. (ends with 17 sts on needle)

row 12: k3, yo, k8, leaving 6 sts, turn.

row 13: knit across. (ends with 18 sts on needle)

row 14: bind off 3 sts, k2, yo, k5, leaving 7 sts, turn.

row 15: knit across. (ends with 16 sts on needle)

row 16: k3, yo, k5, leaving 8 sts, turn.

row 17: knit across. (ends with 17 sts on needle)

row 18: k3, yo, k5, leaving 9 sts, turn.

row 19: knit across. (ends with 18 sts on needle)

row 20: bind off 3 sts, k across row (ends with 15 sts on needle)

Repeat these 20 rows seven times, draw up the center and sew together.

Scraps from the Free Swap!

At the last free swap, I made a beeline for a lady I knew was a source of fabric.  She passed me the two bags of it that she had brought, and I took them away unopened. 

Score! 

There is nothing more fun than washing and ironing out a whole pile of new fabric. 

Several were a whole yard or two, best suited for sashing or future-grandbaby dresses.  But my favorite part of the deal actually isn't the large pieces.  I like the little scraps and strings the best!  They keep me calm for a long time, washing, sorting, ironing, and arranging in my string box. 

 

That one little chunk of quilt-shop quality butterfly fabric was easily the coolest piece in the two bags.  

See, I have a new ironing board cover!  Isn't it pretty?  Especially compared to the old one which was burned and stained, but still had its picture posted all over on the internet. 

There's my box of scraps, revitalized with fresh stock.