Big Red and other stuff ~ Crochet/Knit/Crafting neck lamp

Big Red has now been dubbed "Ole Unreliable" by Youngest.  Hubby worked over and the truck for some reason wouldn't start for her to go do volunteer work.  It worked fine for me early in the day.  Hubby believes it just needs a new battery.

A funny to share about Big Red (truck).  I had so many library books to return that the truck kept telling me my "passenger" didn't have a seat belt on.

We will be looking for a new, better, TV antenna.  The one we have doesn't always work depending on the weather.  While Hubby worked over, and I wanted to watch TV and crochet, I had a horrible time.  Three clothespins and maneuvering a curtain, I was able to get three more channels, ha ha!

Check this out!  I had been debating buying the crochet hooks that light up, or a neck lamp.  After talking to someone who had the hooks, I went with the lamp.  She said the hooks are light weight, but sometimes too bright and can cause headaches.

So far, I love it.  It's rechargeable, so no batteries needed.  I'm not an affiliate for this product, but I found it on Amazon.  Now I can work on dark colored yarn projects much easier.  Just thought I'd share.

In preparation for the big gathering with two combined birthdays, I started on one homemade gift....

. . .a kids scarf, Buffalo Bills colors.

I also started on a few more handmade gifts - photos to come soon.  Just a bit late on getting them started.

I've also collected patterns for new items for craft shows, but the main focus is cleaning up the house.

I've now created cow Christmas tree ornaments.  What's next?  I guess we'll see.  Hubby told me to create some (cows) a while back, and low and behold, someone asked if I had any at a recent craft show.  Now I do.

It's a warm 42° this morning.  Feels like a heat wave compared to the 20's.  

Lights are up . . .and one light went off

I sorted through the old outside lights, and found a few strings still working.  I managed to hang some on the front porch without climbing a ladder. So happy about that, and the other table is mostly cleaned off and ready to don a new Christmas table cover.

Never run out of batteries.  Sigh.  I do believe the reason Jesse has gotten us up so early, is that he refuses to do his business late the night prior, due to his collar light not working.   The battery died, but alas, we have replaced them, and will have flashlights on backup.  Now I find him sleeping soundly at 5:30am.  What a relief.  Getting us up at 2:30am was not fun.

We've been sipping hot herbal throat teas here lately.  Warding off whatever germs have come home from Hubby's work and Daughter's school.  

Speaking of Daughter, she is now the understudy for this school year's musical - Drowsy, in the Drowsy Chaperone.  She had hoped to land the main character, but landed the main character's understudy.  I told here she has one more year to try and get the star lead.  We are pretty proud of her.

We enjoyed some garden comfort food the other night - tuna and noodle with homemade condensed mushroom soup, garden sweet potatoes with "full throttle herb/spice mix" and green beans (sadly not from my garden but good).

New item for next Christmas - hat and scarf for dressing up a bottle of wine, herbal oil, etc.  This will be topping a bottle of wine for one gift this Christmas.  So cute too.  

Daughter came home from school, and announced they are doing a gift exchange in her cosmetology class.  She asked me to whip up a handmade gift (so proud she is all for handmade).   I was up for the challenge now that the craft shows are over for the year.  These will be added to craft show events soon.

I also had a customer ask me to crochet a different type of ornament.  Gulp.

It's getting packed up and shipped to her ("f" bomb).