First Finished Crochet Project of 2026

Happy New Year 2026

2026 started off with a crochet challenge with a local yarn friend.  We have chosen 26 different quick easy crochet projects to make together this year.  I made a video about that.  Go check it out if you are interested in seeing what all we have chosen.

Our first project that was chosen, via drawing out of a bucket, was the  Granny Square Bucket Hat . It's a free Ravelry pattern.  There is also a paid pattern option, but keep scrolling on the Ravelry page and you will see it towards the bottom.  This particular pattern also has a video tutorial with it.  

Our rules for this challenge were:

1. Must be scrap yarn, meaning you can't use a brand new skein.  

2. We can share progress pictures with each other.

3. We have until January 18th to finish it.

This is my finished hat.  It is sparkly red, silver, and orchid yarn.  We both enjoyed this project and decided to put the slip of paper back in the bucket so we can make another one again sometime this year.   

This hat will go into the donation bucket for a future donation.

I Made Another Hat Donation

A couple weeks back I contacted one of my cousins who teaches preschool in a nearby town and asked her if she would like hats for her students.  My mom made almost all the hats for the local preschool that I donate to so have a stash of hats that I’ve made.  Hopefully I can stay ahead of them in case mom slows down on making hats.  Anyway, my cousin was super excited.  She should get her package of hats today. 

The blue velvety hat, middle row on the right, is for her. The teacher always needs a hat. 😊  I am looking forward to hearing from her when she gets the hats.  This donation is more exciting for me than my usual donation. 

Chicken Haul

 We bought a bulk box of chicken quarters. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I think we got our moneys worth. We didn’t know how they would be packed. Im glad they didn’t come prepackaged so i could package them up myself. There was a total of 25 leg/thigh quarters. I packaged then in zipper bags. I got 6 bags of 4 quarts and an extra quarter.

I put 1 bag in the refrigerator freezer and 5 bags in the big freezer.

The odd quarter I put in the crockpot . It will make some delicious homemade chicken noodle soup for next week.

First Time Making Bread in Forever

 So the other night I decided to make some homemade bread. It has been forever since I’ve made bread and longer forever since I have made a successful loaf of bread. I used to make homemade bread all the time when my boys were young, but thats been several years back.

I don’t like the idea of the time and energy involved is making bread completely by hand, so I got out my trusty bread machine. I don’t like bread baked in the bread machine, because I have a vertical loaf pan. I bought my current machine second hand about 5 years ago and it has just been sitting collecting dust. Anyway, I used my machine to make my dough. It does excellent mixing and rising it.

I found a bread recipe in an old bread cookbook that called for shortening instead of butter for oil. I was excited about that for sure. I did my best to half the recipe because I didn’t want 2 loaves.

I have had my yeast stored in the freezer for about as long as I have let my bread machine collect dust, so wasn’t sure if it was still good.

I think the yeast is just fine. 😊

I didn’t bother forming my loaf roll i just pulled the dough out of the machine and plopped it in my bread pan and into the oven. 40 minutes later and this was my results

Nice and soft and almost the perfect loaf of homemade bread. It needs a bit more salt and sweet and it would be perfect.

I’m looking forward to making bread again very soon. This loaf won’t last long that’s for sure.

100 Hats For Preschool 2025

 I delivered the hats for a local preschool last week.  93 were made by my mom and I added 7 to make the 100. Here’s the video showing all 100 that I donated. 

Monday Supper, Tuesday Supper, and Prep For Wednesday Supper

 

Oven baked chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy and a cheddar bay biscuit  all from scratch  

Chicken Alfredo 

Cheddar bacon ranch potatoes  cooked and cooling  just need to reheat it tomorrow night  

I Got Busy

 Once again I disappeared. Life got busy.  Menu planning has been sporadic but it has kinda been necessary, especially for lunches. I have had the privilege of watching my grandson every morning. It has been a bit since I had a baby to watch. I am getting better at it and I think we have things figured out.  Anyway I’m back, until I forget or get busy again. 

Today before we headed to church I put some chicken legs in the crockpot. Not for a meal but for Hubby to snack on.

On the way home from church I picked up some things i needed for Lunch today and tomorrow and supper tomorrow. 

Lunches are Johnsonville jalapeno and cheddar sausages on sandwich bread and sun chips.  I picked up some potatoes and some extra sharp cheddar cheese. 

I have some more chicken legs that i am going to make oven fried chicken with. I am going to serve that with mashed potatoes and gravy and homemade cheddar bay biscuits. 

My DIL brought us a couple big slices of chocolate cake. We will share one for dessert. 

To help the process go quicker tomorrow evening i am going to get my flour and spices mixed in a zipper bag so it is ready to go.  

Until next time………..