My next hat is a tunisian in the round

 

I am using a double end "H" hook, a red colored yarn that is a normal 4 weight yarn and a black Yarn Bee yarn from Hobby Lobby that, as we all know is more like caron simply soft and not a "normal" 4 weight yarn.  It does, however, make a good yarn for a return stitch for tunisian crochet.

I am making this one with the thought of the boys shelter donation, so I made it 1 increase larger than the regular hats I make.  I started with 10 HDC and am using the extended simple stitch for this hat. 

Looking forward to finishing it!

A few more hats, but some with a twist

I put my addi away for a while and decided I was in the mood for simple old loom knitting. I used some recycled yarn from some hats from Mom that were too small and created these 2 hats.

sparkly red and forest green

green and a red/white/green Christmas colored yarn.

Then, finally taking the advice from a yarny friend, who hates seeing me frog the Mom hats, and says I should just add to them to make them bigger, I did just that.

For this first one I had actually had it started on the loom and decided I didn't want to make another loom hat  I frogged my loom progress and started using that yarn, with tunisian crochet, to build the body of the hat back.  It was actually big enough around.  Then I used part of a hat that was super skinny and pointy, kinda like a dunce cap, and added some more tunisian to the bottom of it. I do have another hat in the works using more of the yarn i added on the bottom.

The above one and the one below I used a hat I probably could have made longer, but I wasn't thinking.  These 2 were the first 2 I tried adding tunisian to the bottom of the hats.  

I finished off all 3 of these hats in just a few hours.  I think they all turned out pretty cool.  Took way less time to finish a hat since most of it was already done for me.  I will be making more hats like this for sure.  I don't know why I thought I had to totally re-do them.  One of my excuses was "I don't know what hook size or how mom is doing it". I tried but mine never looked as good.  I'm guessing it's partly because mom crochets looser than I do.

I am working on some hats to add to someone else's donation, to a local boys shelter.  I think the bottom 2 will be perfect for that donation.  I had hubby try them on and he said they fit pretty good, so I figured they would work great for a teenage boy head.  I am having to try very hard not to make all the hats for the donation.  I probably already have enough for all the boys. 😄  When the group mentioned a hat donation they were speaking my love language and I got into the mood. 

What have you been crocheting, knitting, cooking etc. lately?

 

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………..

What did we eat June 9th to 12th?

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We are now on week 7 of the "eating out" ban. We did good this week and resisted the urge to eat out 😂. 

I am posting after we have had our meals for the week instead of trying to “plan ahead”.  That doesn’t always work here lately because of prices being higher than expected or lack of inventory at the grocery store and having to replan on the fly, which is never good for me. 😂

Lunchs:

M: frozen burritos

T: bologna sandwichs and a sausage (for hubby)with chips

W: sausages and chips for hubby [homemade] beef n barley soup and carrots for me

TH: hubby: had the last of the sausages and leftover roast n taters. I had a bologna sandwich and chips

Suppers:

M: Roast and taters in crockpot (i also used the broth from the roast and taters and made myself some beef n barley soup for future meals)

T: (date night) fixed hubby a steak and we both had mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy

W: made quesadillas using leftover roast from Monday.

Thanks for stopping by.  Honestly this weekly menu post has helped me a little bit. 🥰 I must continue on. Let me know if it has helped you as well. 

Wednesday night church is over until school starts back up. Thursday supper through Sunday supper we will be eating at work.

I Have Been Working On Preemie Hats

 I've made 19 preemie hats so far.  I plan to donate them to a local Ronald McDonald House this month.  I do plan to make a few more.  I also have some that one of the ladies in a local crochet group made (not pictured here), and she also made a couple of the preemie octopus.  She plans to bring me a few more next week.

I'm both scared and excited to donate these hats.  I've never donated to RMH before so scared because I don't know what to expect, and excited for a new item I can make and have a place to donate them.  I hope the donation process goes smoothly.

I have been trying to make a variety of sizes, but my hats seem to mostly come out 5 pound and 6 pound preemie size.  I have managed a few smaller ones though.  Smaller hook size is the key I think.  

What We Ate June 2-6, 2025

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We are now on week 6 of the "eating out" ban, and we always seem to find a reason to eat out 😂. 

I am posting after we have had our meals for the week instead of trying to “plan ahead”.  That doesn’t always work here lately because of prices being higher than expected or lack of inventory at the grocery store and having to replan on the fly, which is never good for me. 😂

Lunchs:

M: frozen burritos 

T: me leftover burrito from last night. Pork sandwich for

Hubby

W: pork sandwich for hubby and i ate the last of the beans i cooked last week

TH: hubby: had the last pork sandwich and me: can of beef n barley soup that i added left over green beans from last night to

Suppers:

M: went to taco mayo cause we had our grandson til late. 

T: (date night) we made a random trip out of town to get somethings for our restaurant. 

W: hubby had some of the pork fried in the skillet, i made some mac n cheese, green beans and some biscuits for both of us. 

Thanks for stopping by.  Honestly this weekly menu post has helped me a little bit. 🥰 I must continue on. Let me know if it has helped you as well. 

Wednesday night church is over until school starts back up. Thursday supper through Sunday supper we will be eating at work.

Finally Worked on Santa Alien a Bit More

 I have been dreading  crocheting the arms and legs on my Santa Alien project. They are so small.  I finally decided to take the plunge and attempt the arms.  It took me about an hour and a half to crochet both of them, but I got it done.  Boy oh boy did my hands and wrist hurt from working the small pieces. 

They are so small around that they fit on a pencil 😲.  Hopefully it won’t take me as long to gather the courage to make the legs.  

Menu For May 26 to May 29

We are now on week five of the "eating out" ban.  I think I will put up this post after we have had our meals for the week instead of trying to “plan ahead”.  That doesn’t always work here lately because of prices being higher than expected or lack of inventory at the grocery store and having to replan on the fly, which is never good for me. 😂

Lunchs:

M: Memorial Day cookout at sons house

T: Leftovers from last week

W: Alfredo over mashed potatoes 

TH: lunchmeat sandwiches and chips

Suppers:

M: grilled chicken sandwiches and sun chips 

T: (date night) Frozen pizza and orange crush cupcakes for dessert 

W: Grilled Chicken Sandwich and green beans that I cooked on the hot plate 

Thanks for stopping by.  Honestly this weekly menu post has helped me a little bit. 🥰 I must continue on. Let me know if itbhas helped you as well. 

Wednesday night church is over until school starts back up. Thursday supper through Sunday supper we will be eating at work.

Menu plan May 19 to May 22

We are now on week four of the "eating out" ban. While we did eat out last Monday, it was less than $20, and was included in my grocery budget.  Did we cheat?  I say no.  It was also a Mother’s Day treat.  This week we are taking sister, and going to see mom for a late Mother’s Day, and we will be taking her out to eat.  That will also come out of the grocery budget for hubby and my lunch.  Is that a cheat? No because we planned it in advance.  

Sorry this is a bit late this week. Its been a busy one for sure. 

I do want to add that the beef tips & gravy I made last week……definitely 👍👍.  I want to make it again some time.

Lunchs:

1. Taking mom out to eat

2. Leftovers from last week

3. Burritos 

4.burritos 

Suppers:

1. Ate out again cause we were gone all day

2.boxed chicken and mashed taters and gravy 

3. Hamburger helper

Thanks for stopping by.  Honestly this weekly menu post has helped me a little bit. 🥰 I must continue on. Let me know if itbhas helped you as well. 

Wednesday night church is over until school starts back up. Thursday supper through Sunday supper we will be eating at work.

Working on the Crumble Scarf 🧣

 Hey friends what’s up? I have been working on the knit scarf that I mentioned last weekend.  It’s been hit and miss on my gumption to do anything though. Monday and Tuesday I wasn’t able to do much as I was watching my grand baby.  🥰. Wednesday I did quite a bit on it and today, Thursday, I didn’t touch it at all. I was too busy watching YT videos and Twitch streams. 

It’s a free pattern from Smells Like Yarn. It’s called the Crumble Scarf.  It took me about 4 times of starting and frogging it before I got it. It’s a pretty simple 4 row repeat once I got the hang of it. I think the patterning of the colors is interesting  I can’t wait to see how the finished scarf looks……whenever that may be. 😂

I have been using my clips (that I bought at the Dollar Tree) to mark what row I am on. It’s been working out pretty good. I also use my clips to hold my knitting needles together when I put the project in my bag. 

Not sure I will get to work on this this weekend. It’s a thinking project for me, that I don’t want to be interrupted mid row on.  

I may just work on the knit washcloth (or I may make it a baby bib, not sure yet) or the cool dice bag I started awhile back.  I’ll keep you updated. 

Thanks for stopping by. I’ll see ya next time. 

Inside and Outside Addi Hats

 Good morning friends. I just wanted to hop in this morning and share a couple more Addi hats I made yesterday.  

Last night I had a hat on the machine waiting on me to finish it and Wowzers 🤩 this yarn was definitely made for knitting ‼️. It looks so amazing I actually want to keep it for myself, but it will go in the donation bucket. I think if I love it so much I want to keep it that there’s a preschooler that will love it just as much. ❤️. Here’s the amazing hat. 

Don’t you agree it looks amazing? It is a bit thicker yarn that a regular size 4 yarn but it worked up just fine on addi. Bring a heavier yarn and being double thick it will be perfect for someone like me whose ears are sensitive to toe blowing wind. 

This morning I snuck into the craft room bright and early and whipped up another hat. I used size 3 yarn scraps this time. Addi preformed perfectly for the most part. There was a few slipped stitches but nothing dropped.  Here’s both sides of this morning’s hat. 

I used 5 different scrap balls on this one. I think it turned out pretty cute as well. 

If my calculations are correct, this puts me at 86 of 100 hats for preschool.  This is the first year I have been this close this early in the year. I’m glad my Mom is still making some hats that are useable. Had she made all of them useable I would be well over my 100.  The unusable hats I have been frogging and reworking them. 

I Kinda Fixed It

 If you remember a few days back I mentioned that my Addi was in timeout.  Well I decided to try fixing my dropped stitch. 

Actually looking at the “fix” it looks like a nasty scar and appears I purled it instead of knit it. Guess we find out soon lol

That’s the outside of the fix it’s not too bad however I discovered I actually dropped 2 stitches instead of 1.  I fixed the other dropped loop and actually tied it on the inside with an extra piece of yarn.

This hasn’t been my best hat but at least I tried to fix it instead of frogging it off the machine and tossing it in my crate of misfit half finished and needing frogged pieces.  😂

That’s the pretty side. The other side is pink on bottom black on top and it’s not pretty at all.  It has loose loops from changing colors and the mishap of me trying to fix my dropped stitches.  lol  while it’s not my best it definitely isn’t my worst hat I’ve made in my Addi. I will give it a 7/10 rating. 

On to the next Addi hat.  May it be as flawless as it can be with no dropped stitches or loose loops. 🥰

Menu plan May 12 to 15

We are now on week three of the "eating out" ban. We were invited out to eat by hubbys parents last week, so I still have the beef tips for this week. I also had the baked potatoes because we had leftovers the day after we went out with hubbys parents. The good thing is they paid. ❤️

Lunchs:

1. Loaded baked potato 

2. Meatball subs for hubby potato salad for me 

3. Same as above 

4. Hopefully some leftovers. If not I have some

Mac n cheese I can cook up. 

Suppers:

1. Hubby is taking me out for Mother’s Day. We will eat locally and I have included that “meal” into my grocery budget. 

2. Beef tips n gravy over mashed potatoes, salad

3. Steak & shrimp fajitas for hubby and bean burritos for me (lettuce, tomato, cheeses, guacamole, and sour cream on the side)

Here’s my grocery haul today. Darn Cash Saver wasn’t accurate with prices tonight. 😥 this is $49 in groceries. Eating out only cost us $20 and I have $1 left over.  I think I did pretty good. 

And here’s pictures of my fridge after putting groceries away. 

Thanks for stopping by.  Honestly this weekly menu post has helped me a little bit. 🥰 I must continue on. 

Wednesday night church is over until school starts back up. Thursday supper through Sunday supper we will be eating at work.

It’s been a rough yarn weekend 😥

 Happy Saturday yarny friends 🧶

I have had a rough weekend with my yarn projects. My first issue is with my Addi.  I have a hat on the machine.  It was going so well, or so I thought.  I pulled the hat to make sure things were all ok and lo and behold there was  peg that had missed a stitch.  😭  I put a stitch marker in the last loop that was knitted (it’s down about 6-8 rows) and told my Addi it was in time out until further  notice.  I plan to rewatch videos now to fix those issues and give it my best try next week.  I haven’t been successful in fixing those problems correctly in the past, however I’ve kinda sorta fixed them in the past.

My next yarn issue is with a crochet mini backpack I made.  Yes I made it but I sure can’t sell it.  I guess it’s because I was trying to hurry and wasn’t paying attention to where I was attaching the flap and straps, but it’s super wonky.  

No worries, it has a home. My sister loves it, so I will be giving it to her.  I’m glad she loves my misfit yarn creations. ❤️

So what did I do for something to work on this weekend so I’m not tempted to pointlessly scroll on my phone?  I grabbed my knitting needles, some cotton yarn, and printed off a scarf pattern that I am using the neon yarn that i msde the backpack with, and I started a washcloth with the cotton yarn.  Washcloth for times I don’t have time to really concentrate and scarf when I do have time to concentrate.