Experimenting Again

I've had this oddly colored skein of very chunky chenille thrifted yarn for a while now, and I just didn't know what to make with it. It's super bulky, which is a type of yarn I never use. Honestly, it's not that attractive, either, or I would have worked it into that Valentine's Day wrap I made. So I tossed it in my test yarn box and took it out again last month to see if I could make a medium version of the handled basket I learned to crochet from that video tutorial.

It worked up much nicer-looking in the basket form. It was also easier to crochet the basket using one strand of yarn versus three. I just left off making the handles because I want the basket to be more like a bowl, and used up every inch of the skein, so there was nothing leftover.

I do save all the little bits of scrap yarn leftover from my projects, so the basket works nicely for that.

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Stuff

After finding this Caron one pound skein of lovely peach yarn in my thrifted lot I raided my stash for two cakes of Mandala in Pegasus, which matches it perfectly. For practice and hand therapy I'm going to make another Worth Street Afghan with this free pattern , but this time I'll use the yarn that was recommended for it plus the one pound skein. I'm not quite ready to do the vintage/recycled linen quilt I had planned (still a bit too nervous about the idea), so I'm going to use some color therapy and make a quilt from these thrifted green fat quarters. I considered doing another Yellow Brick road patchwork pattern, but I might go with a split rail fence like this one.

Better than Fried

I cut some chives from the kitchen garden to make garlic-chive baked fries for dinner. This is a great side dish for veggie burgers. Click here for the recipe from Taste of Home.com.

Make It Yourself

As we head into December, here are ten ideas for easy handmade gifts: Cookie Exchange: If you live close to your friends invite them over for a cookie exchange. Basically everyone bakes a set amount of their favorite cookies, and these are exchanged at the gathering by lottery, sharing a little from each batch with everyone, or however you want to do it. You can also exchange recipes, too. My neighbor did this once and it was wonderful. Favorite Recipe Cookbook : For my favorite person I found a copy of my favorite cookbook from a vintage bookseller (yes, I am that old) and went through it making notes on all the recipes I used, how I tweaked them, etc. Ornament: There are probably a million free tutorials on how to make your own holiday ornaments, so do some research online. I like to make hanging pomanders , which smell heavenly and are biodegradable after the holidays. Mug Rugs: If you sew, making up a set of mug rugs is simple and easy; I add these every year to my ...

Rayen

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