I'm Back!

I hve been gone from this blog and the crafting world for some time now, and I even have a good reason. This summer, I had to have hand surgery. I had a MRSA infection of the joints and tendons of my index finger. They had to make two incisions and drain/scrape out the infection. Pretty nasty stuff. I tried to stay upbeat about the whole thing, but they never really could tell me if my finger would return to normal or not.

This picture in pre-op. You can kind of see the finger at the bottom of the picture. At this time, it was really swollen and red and hurt. The doctors never did figure out how I got the infection. No obvious puncture or wound on my finger where it could enter. Scary, huh?

My hand was wrapped up and splinted for about a month, and after that I still had a lot of recovery to do. My finger is still not the same. It is swollen, and I can't straighten it out fully. The wounds had to stay open to allow the infection to fully drain out, so one of the scars is pretty nasty looking, but I am content because finally I can knit and crochet again :)

Here is my latest project: Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo from South Park

Crochet hook: F

Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver in coffee, Sugar and Cream in white, and red acrylic

Pattern: found here on Craftster
I made the Santa hat myself, and the eyes and mouth were cut out of felt, then hot glued on.
Made for: Hubby as a Christmas gift.

I really need to add teeth or a tongue to the mouth, so that it is more visible. It's hard to see against the dark yarn. I have also been working on some more projects that I will post soon. You would not believe the computer problems I have been having :)

Spring Break Hacky Sacks

New Project

I have started a new project that I have been thinking about for a while now. I will be trying at least one new recipe every week and blogging about the experience here. I may also end up sharing some of my favorite, tried-and -true recipes. I am a vegetarian, so all recipes will be vegetarian friendly. Check it out.

Tree Dishcloth

So, I've been wanting to knit a cloth for cleaning veggies, like potatoes and mushrooms. I thought a potato would end up looking like a blob on the cloth, so I decided to use a mushroom as the graphic. Unfortunately, I decided to try knitting without graphing the design.... and it ended up looking like a tree instead. Not very mushroomy at all :) Last time I knit without a graph. The cloth is knit with Red Heart yarn. It gets really nice and soft after some use as a dishcloth. Knit on size 8 needles.

Loving Frank by Nancy Horan

Yesterday I finished reading Loving Frank by Nancy Horan. My sister gave me the book as a Christmas gift a couple of Christmases ago. I am not sure why I hadn't read it yet. I think I thought it was going to be more of a biographical non fiction book and I thought it was going to be boring. Boy was I surprised! This book pulled me in immediately, and I found it hard to put down at times. The writing is so beautiful, and the story is compelling. The book is a work of fiction based on the real life of Frank Lloyd Wright and a woman with whom he had an affair. I will not give much away, but the ending was so emotional; I was very close to tears (and I am not a crier when it comes to books and movies). I highly recommend it.

Plarn Progress

I decided to try knitting the plarn with size 50 needles. One reason for the big needles is that the plarn is pretty bulky, even after spinning. Also, it is painter's plastic, so it is stiffer than plastic bag plarn. The larger needles make it easier to handle. I am knitting a market bag, so knitting with the larger needles will allow it to stretch nicely. I used up the bigger ball of plarn with the body of the bag and now plan to use the smaller balls to make the strap. Then I want to use a different color plarn to attach the strap to the body. So far I am pretty pleased with my progress :)

Cubs Golf Club Covers

My brother in law saw the Packers golf club covers that I knit for my mom and requested some Chicago Cubs golf club covers. I made them for him as a birthday gift. He has received them now, so I can finally post my pics. The covers are knit in a solid color and then the logo is added with duplicate stitch. This logo was a little more complex because it spelled out the whole word, but I was able to graph it and work it out. Here is a picture of the duplicate stitch in progress. You might notice that my knitting needle is a little bent. I don't know what happened, but somehow during this project, the needle bent :P

End that need to be woven in from the striping.

Finished golf club covers photographed with the envelope they were mailed in.

Close-up of the logo.

Aren't they pretty??