Saturday Yard Work

Saturday morning was beautiful. The sun was shining bright and spring was in the air. My husband set off for his daily five mile walk. I prefer to stay in and lounge on weekend mornings since I have to rush up and get dressed for work the other five days the week. While he walked I stayed inside and did some house cleaning. I enjoy the hour or so time alone.

When he returned from his walk, and my house work was finished.....Wait, is house work ever finished? Naw, but it was finished enough. My husband asked what I would like to do today. "Do you want to go walk around some stores or something?" I suggested we just stay at the house and do some yard work. After all, the grass could use a cutting and the ivy in the back yard was about to swallow my house. So while he cut grass, I tackled the Ivy Tree (aka Dogwood).


Its a beautiful dogwood tree that is over taken by Ivy. You can read about it HERE.


I cut and pulled and twisted and yanked until the hanging parts of the ivy were gone. There is no way to get rid of it all and it will probably be hanging to the ground again next week. I hope not. I worked hard on that mess. After that, I trimmed the dogwood tree as far as I could reach so we can once again walk under it instead of around it. Its a beautiful tree.


 I had a lot of help from these green fellas too.


Looking over, we noticed the neighbor struggling to remove a buried pole from her flower bed. I don't know, it was just a pole buried and cemented in the ground from a previous owner of the home. Probably a basket ball goal pole. Who knows. It took four of us to chop, beat, and pull until it was finally out of the ground. Then I noticed she was getting rid of her bushes in the yard. She didn't want them because she feared they attracted bees. ??? I asked if I could have the pink Azalea and she was more than happy to let me have it but I first had to help her dig it up.
 

That took the two of us and it weighed a good 80lbs at the most. We dragged it over to my yard and I planted it in a small natural area in the front yard. I think its so pretty. I hope it lives.

While digging a place for it, I dug up this bottle. After washing all the mud off of it, It appeared into this Cherrywine bottle. Not sure how old it is but it was heavy, green tinted and thick. Not like the bottles today.
 

After I took this shot, the label faded before my eyes and you can no longer see the word Cherrywine. Pretty cool huh. I wonder what other treasures are hidden in there.

With all that being done, needless to say, my body was not used to the torcher and stiffened up. I woke up this Sunday morning sore, hurting, aching with every breath. Even the ends of my toes hurt. It feels good though knowing I got a workout and the muscle pain will go away soon. So far I didn't agitate the pinched nerves in my back so that's good. My only worry is, "I sure hope that was only Ivy I pulled from the tree and not POISON ivy."


Crochet Change Purse *Free Pattern*

I've been doing a lot of blogging lately. But hey, It's been a while since I shared one my crochet projects with you. I have a lot of crafty, crochet and artsy blog friends out there and I don't want to leave you out.

Say hello to this little crocheted change purse.


Well, I'm so tickled over this one that I'm delighted to share my pattern with you.


That's right. MY pattern. I have been wanting to make one of these little purses for some time now but could never find a pattern that I understood or that was written in English. I could have easily purchased a pattern but I do not want to buy one then find out I don't understand the instructions and my money is wasted. Its happened before. I just fiddled and farted around with this one until It worked.


I use this one to hold my change most of the time. The clasp has a place to ad a dangle decoration or a ring for my keys but I think it will be to heavy....NO not heavy with change, just with the size itself. I never have change that is heavy. By then I turn it into dollars. I'm just that poor.

Ok hookers, grab your kissy clasp and hook and give this one a try.
Remember, you can sell what you make with my pattern but please do not try and sell the pattern itself.  I'm giving this to you for free and It would be awesome if you link what your make back to me here. Thank you.

Crochet Coin Purse.

Cotton yarn- I used Peaches and Cream brand.
Kiss clasp- Size 3.5inches (8.5cm)
F Hook
You will be crocheting in rounds so you may want to use a stitch marker.
  • Magic Circle (or chain 2 and sc in first ch)
  • R1- 6 sc in Circle (6)
  • R2- 2sc in each sc (12)
  • R3- *2sc in next, 1sc* in next ,cont around.(18)
  • R4- *2sc in next, 1sc in next 2*, cont (24)
  • R5- *2sc in next, 1sc in next 3* cont. (30)
  • R6- *2sc in next, 1sc in next 4* cont. (36)
  • R7-R15 (9rounds)- sc in each (36)
  • At the end of Round 15, slip stitch in next two stitches, tie off , weave ends. 
  • Attach clasp (some sew on and some glue on). 
Note: if you want to make one bigger, The key is to increase the rounds to fit the clasp when its wide open (crochet circle should be slightly smaller than open clasp) and make it as tall or short as you wish by adding more rounds. 


It was so easy to make. Well, until I got to the clasp part. Boy was that a chore! I broke thread, bent needles and may have even said a bad word. So, I'm leaving it here. You can figure out how to attach your clasp yourself. I'm just a crocheter.

If you can't crochet and wish to have one of these, head over to my shop where I may have a few listed. If I'm sold out, just send me a message and Ill whip one up for ya.