So much to do, so little time to do it!

Greetings!
I made a commitment to myself to post to my blog at least once a week. Well, I learned a long time ago that if you want to make God laugh, make plans! As you can see, my plan has not worked.
I will just try to post as often as I can.
I am working on several projects at once (as usual) and I am very excited about all of them.
I am most excited to share with you the news of my latest windfall.
A local carpet company had a fire in 2012, they had 6 tons of wool that was not damaged in the fire, but for whatever reason, they were not allowed to use it to make a profit. Rather than see it go into a landfill somewhere, they decided to give the wool away to anyone who wanted it.
Thank God for good friends. The day they were letting people come in to get the wool, I was not able to go down to Bucks County. A very good friend of ours went and got me as much as he could. And WOW! he got a lot! I have 5 boxes full of wool wound on cardboard rolls. He sent me pictures of it when he still had it in laundry baskets that I will post on here later.
The only problem, it is very rough. I am in the process of trying different techniques to soften it up. I am using small amounts at a time, both crocheted patches and loose strands to see which way works best.
I am using a technique right now with a vinegar soak first, then a rinse in shampoo and a soak in hair conditioner. After I have tried several techniques, I will post the best option on here.

I am also working on developing a pattern for "Cranky Pants" or "Monster Butt Pants" for a toddler. The only crochet pattern for these pants that I have found is being sold for a ridiculous amount of money. She is asking $80 just for the pattern. I have found several patterns to knit the pants, but I do not knit. Once I have come up with something I am happy with, I will offer the pattern at a reasonable price.

I am working on the final stages of a  blanket that I am making for a friend. It is taking me longer than usual to make the blanket due to health issues. I have chronic pain. And recently my new doctor has made some drastic changes in my medications and I cannot sit and sew the squares together for very long. I am only able to do 5 or 6 squares before I have to stop for a while. The pain just get to be to much. Especially my back and legs.

Of course with Easter fast approaching I am also working on  a few Easter projects as well. I have an order for 4 "Peeps Pillows" that will need to be finished before the holiday gets here. I had one of them done and clutsy me accidentally spilled a full cup of coffee and it splashed all over the finished item. I wanted to scream. I was so mad at myself.

My grandson will be a year old in less than 2 weeks. How time flies!

Keep an eye out for those pictures I will get them on here as soon as I download them on to my computer.
Happy Hooking Y'all!

Wow, It's been entirely too long!!

Hello out there.
I realized that it has been entirely too long since I've posted to my blog. Almost 10 months! My little bubba will be a year old next month!
I've been taking a look at where I want Crochet by LadyDay to go. What goals do I have for my blog, my Etsy shop, my Facebook page and my twitter account. And, let's not forget Google+.

After talking to some people, and getting a little nudge from a new friend (Apollonia), I've decided not to give up on the blog. I will not be posting every day, I will post once or twice a week. This way I feel like I have something to say, something to catch everyone up on. I am also going to reorganize the format.

I will have blog pages (Obviously), a photo gallery, and I am going to try to post as many new patterns of my own design as possible. The patterns will be a separate section. Along with patterns, I will also post my work in progress. Whether it's my original design or another pattern that I am working on.

If anyone has any ideas on different sections for my blog, or any suggestions or criticisms (please be polite with critiques) I can handle negative reviews as long as they are given with tact.

Since my last post, many things have happened in my life. As I said, my grandson was born last March. He is almost 11 months old, and he is just about walking. I kind of have this feeling that my daughter hasn't told me that he's walking because I am going down to see them this weekend and she may surprise me. She sends me photos and videos almost everyday and I try to get down to see him at lease once a month for a few days. We live about 100 miles away from them. This is difficult because I want to spend as much time with him as possible, but I also love the laid back atmosphere of living in a small town in the mountains. It seems to work OK this way, at least I get to spend quality time with him when I go down.

My husband, who is 54 years old, had a heart attack with quadruple by-pass surgery in 2007. This year he has been having a lot of problems. He has been in the hospital several times for chest pain, extremely high blood pressure and other cardiac and respiratory issues. He gave me a few good scares. Unfortunately, this also means he misses a lot of work d that reflects in his pay check. It's already tight enough with me being on disability, but with him missing work, it is really getting tight.
We have both had issues with our backs, in particular, sciatica. I've had several intra muscular injections that held me over until I could get an epidural and that helped me tremendously. Now he has been in excruciating pain, some days he can barely walk and when he tries, the pain drops him to his knees. Of course, he is stubborn and I've been trying to get him to go to the emergency room to get the Intramuscular injection until his doctor figures out how she wants to handle it, but it's like leading a horse to water. You just can't make him drink! I'm, going to pull out the big guns and call his doctor myself today!

My youngest son just turned 16 on Feb. 5th. He is bugging the heck out of me to take him to get his learners permit. I am going to try to take him on Saturday, if not, then after school on Monday or Tuesday. If anyone lives in Northeaster Pennsylvania, you may want to pay extra attention on the roads for a while! lol. He is a good kid. He is a Boy Scout, and he will achieve the highest rank in Scouting by the spring. He will get his Eagle. He has worked really hard over the years to stay on top of advancing in rank and earning the necessary merit badges. He also completed an incredible Eagle project. For those of you who are not familiar, Scouts have to do a large project that will benefit the community as a whole. He did a large project that really helped the local reservoir and dam. I will post more about that in deatail another time.

So, as you can see, there have been many things in my life, good and bad that I've had to deal with. I am going to separate my blog into sections and post in the appropriate section as I go.

It's good to be back. Please pass on the word about Crochet by LadyDay. I will do the same for you.

Happy Hooking!!
Laurie

Remnants, remnants and more remnants

This is just one plastic bin filled with yarn remnants! I have a 3 drawer organizer that has 2 drawers full as well as a basket. I have been trying to figure out what to do with all of it. I decided how I am going to use some of it at least.
I need a new tote bag. So I decided I will use my yarn to make a colorful, granny square tote. This will be the first project that I post my progress as I go. I've chosen a few bright colors, blue, yellow, mint green, rose and pink. I may end up throwing a few other colors in as I go, but that's it for now.
If anyone has any ideas for projects for my remnants, please post them.

Yesterday, the zipper on my crochet hook caddy broke,. I decided instead of buying a new one, I would just make one myself. I went through my remnant bin and pulled out a blue/brown variegated yarn and a bright blue that matches it. I used the 'afghan' stitch for the body and the pockets and a single crochet to make the border and button holes.

I made a pocket for my hooks (obviously), a pocket to put my scissors, measuring tape and pen. I also hung safety pins from this pocket. And a pocket for stitch markers, needle threaders and sewing needles. I put 2 buttons on the outside to hold it closed.
I ran into a problem that I need to resolve,. Because the sides are open, my hooks keep sliding out. I am going to go in and add cloth to the hook pocket and the sides to help keep everything inside. If that doesn't work, I am going to scrap the entire idea and break out the sewing machine and make a new one.
Creating something new is always trial and error

Monday

Well, Happy Monday! I have found that trying to get time on the computer over the weekend is close to impossible. My husband and my son usually tie up the laptop. So I have to be content with blogging during the week.
I am finally going to have a craft room, I have always wanted one. We cleared out the small bedroom that we were using just for storage. We went through the boxes we had stored in there and got rid of ALOT of crap. We managed to condense it down to about 5 boxes. We have to empty or restore these boxes before we can really finish up.
My husband replaced the window yesterday, no more draft! We put together our desk. We have a beautiful marble top office desk that we had set up in our old house. We haven't been using it since we got the laptop, but we found the need to have the desktop running as well. Bring us to the computer. Again, my husband, got out the old desk top computer and cleared the hard drive. We are now up and running on both the desk top and the laptop now.
My husband and I are going to share the room. He ties his own flies for fishing. We are setting up a table on one wall for him and another table along the other wall for me. We also have overhead lighting that we were going to put in our old house, but we decided to move before it was installed. We are going to put one fixture above each work area to give us plenty of light.
I am going shopping today to price storage boxes and organizers.
I am so excited to get this finished I can barely stand myself! It will make a great place for me to be creative and to get my business, "Crochet by LadyDay" off the ground.
Happy Hooking!

My high top sneaker adventure

I have been trying for some time now to find a pattern for  the crochet baby high top sneaker booties, the ones that look like converse sneakers. I have tried a few patterns, tried to follow a few tutorials on youtube, but they all came out weird looking.
Last night I went on an adventure. I sat down and using my knowledge of how stitches work, along with the techniques from the patterns I tried to follow, I finally came up with something that works for me. I also need to give some of the credit to my husband, who has been very helpful, he gave me some ideas on what needs to be larger, smaller, move this here, that there, and other suggestions.
I finally came up with a sneaker that I am happy with.
I don't have the time to type out the pattern right now, however I will sit down and post a pic and the pattern tomorrow.
I'm so pleased!
Happy Hooking

Ice skate ornament pattern

I want to share with you what is truly my 1st pattern. My mother and grandmother taught me how to crochet when I was very young. I remember we would do a lot of crafting, especially around the holidays.  I first made one of these when I was 10, I still have the 40 year old ornament hanging on my tree! It is a wonderful memory from my childhood. I hope you can pass this onto your children or just make a memory for yourself.

Materials: 4 weight yarn (2 colors), Size F hook, Large paperclips (2), sequins, fabric glue, tapestry needle

With primary color Ch 2
1) DC in 2nd ch from hook onto large loop of paperclip, DC 4 more times onto large loop, then DC 2 times onto smaller loop (7sts) ch 2, turn
2) DC in 1st DC, then DC in next 3 sts (4 sts), ch 1, turn
3) SC in 1st st, then SC in next 3 sts, at end ch 10 to 12 times, fasten off leaving a long tail for tying together
4) Sl st secondary color into 1st st from chain, holding a long tail of yarn across top of sts, SC in same st as joining sl st, then SC in next 3 sts (make sure you crochet tail under each st.
5) with both tails at front of skate, tie into a bow and adjust loops to desired size, trim off ends to desired length
6) with tapestry needle work beginning tail of yarn into piece and snip off.
7) with fabric glue, glue sequin to top of skate at the base of the long chain on both sides.
 or you can glue 3 sequins down the front of skate on both sides to represent laces. Use your imagination and decorate as you like!
Make 2 skates and tie the end of the 2 long chains into a bow making bow desired size, cut off excess tail yarn

These are great to keep a bunch in your purse to hand out as quick little "Merry Christmas" notions.

I hope you enjoy making these fun little ice skates.
Happy Hooking!