Yarn Along

Visit Ginny to see what everyone else is knitting/crocheting, and reading!

This is my project this week:  a sleeping mat for a homeless person.  It's crocheted from that  oh-so-scrunchable yarn:  plastic bags!

I'd seen little hints around the internets that folks were crocheting with plastic bags to make shopping bags (shopping bags out of shopping bags?  Seems silly.) or purses, so when I saw a woman working on such a project at a track meet, I had to ask her about it.  Turns out she was making one of these.  They're supposed to be so much better for sleeping on than cardboard.  It dries if it gets wet, and it really is kind of spongy and squishy.  I read about one homeless man who says it's much more comfortable to sleep on as it cushions his joints nicely.

This video is the best one I've seen for instructions.  It's simply a single crochet stitch, and the mat is supposed to be 3 feet wide by 6 ft. long.  I've heard that it takes 500-700 bags to make one, but then yesterday I saw something that said 120.  That's a big difference!  It can take a long time to crochet and cut the bags to make the plarn, but Meg and I are getting into a rhythm, working together.  

I'm using a size M crochet hook; I think she says N in the video.  I definitely wouldn't go smaller than that!  I tried and I was completely miserable.

It's a long, tedious project, but I enjoy it because I keep thinking about how it will make one person a little more comfortable.  I also think it's a great way to adapt the prayer shawl ministry that so many churches have.  I plan to be praying for the person who receives this mat while I make it, and, considering how long that may take, that will be a lot of prayers!

Our American Heritage Girls troop will be working on these at our July activity.  We'll get lots of plarn made if we have a small army of girls cutting bags and knotting them together!

Summer Daybook

Outside my window...

...A mackeral sky.  Does that mean more rain this afternoon?

I am thinking... 

...about how sore I am from yesterday's painting session. 

....about the most efficient way to paint the basement considering how much stuff is down there!

I am thankful for...

...friends who tell me my paint color is really as bad as I think, and that I should take it back.

...an employee who sees that the difference in color is just bad enough to make it wrong, and mixes me a new one.  And gets the manager to refund the first gallon.

...a big son coming home today who can help put the bookshelves together and move everything back where it belongs (and then empty the next room or hallway).

From the lesson plans...

What are those?  I hope to finish the basement this week and spend next week working on lesson plans.  And cleaning up from last year, which we never actually finished.  I think we'll just end up picking up where we left off.

From the kitchen...

...we had a wonderful blackberry crisp on Saturday and Sunday with wild blackberries we picked Saturday a.m.  They grow on one of the jogging paths around here. 

...anything easy that the kids can fix.  No time or energy to do anything but paint.  Last night, Pip made pancakes for us.  Yay!

I am wearing...

...Shorts and a paint splattered t-shirt.  Unfortunately, it's my special shirt with a print of Mom's painting on it, but I suppose it's appropriate since her clothes were often paint-splattered.

I am creating...

...a liveable space downstairs.  Clearing up the clutter as I repaint, little by little.

I am reading...

Born to Run, by a guy who asked the question "Why does my foot hurt?" and set out to find the answer.  Why can some people run effortlessly, even 100 mile races?  Very interesting, so far.  Not that I have any desire to be one of those people.

I am hoping...

...for the energy to get everything done that needs to be done!

I am hearing...

...Someone in the garage cleaning out a rabbit cage, and the tv on quietly.

Around the house...

...Did I mention the basement?

I am going...

...to paint the trim in the "exercise" room this morning, so it can be put back together.

...to take Tom to do some service hours this morning and some grocery shopping while he's there.

...to go pick up Pete who has been with his siblings in Athens for 4 days.

One of my favorite things...

...painting,  or at least being finished painting.  New, clean walls.

...lots of time to listen to podcasts

I am praying for...

...Gus, Eric, Mary Ann, the people in Joplin, our priests...

A few plans for the rest of the week...

...Writing a letter about my relationships with my siblings growing up.  A special request that I haven't yet found the time to do.  I wonder if that has anything to do with the turbulent nature of said relationships?

...AHG paperwork for summer camp

...swim meet

...making sure my boys have all they need for summer camp next week

...painting, painting, and more painting!

A photo thought...

So I made my Scots Bonnet last week.  Note that nice, folded, double brim, which is a neat trick to learn for a hat, but it seems kind of big...

It's a bit shapeless at first, and it's makin' me a wee bit nervous...

It's got lumps all over it from the increasing and decreasing, but I'm thinkin' they'll be disappearin' in the feltin' process...

Here 'tis after bein' felted in the washer.  I tried it by hand, but my hands were wearin' out with all the hot water and the rubbin'...

Like my wee model?  She's wearin' a wool plate on her heid.

 I put a plate inside it to help it keep it's shape while drying.  I can see that the brim is too big for the hat, and the hat is too small for the heid.  It should fit on a 12" plate, and this one is only 9".

All dry, with my Clan Crest pinned to it.  The felting is lovely---it's a great color and all those lumps are definitely gone!

But it's just no right.  The brim fits a child, but the crown (?) is not in proper proportion.  It should be much bigger and floppier.  That's what I was afraid would happen before I felted it; I thought the brim was not right for the rest of it.  It's a simple enough pattern that I can change the number of stitches for the brim and for the widest part of the hat to make it better.  

Maybe next week?

I'd love to hear your thoughts on felting, especially if you've tried it before!  I love the "fabric"---it looks so warm and waterproof (which I guess is the whole point)!