Two Projects for September

I've already made some project plans for this month. These are loose, if-I-can-manage-them project ideas, as I have two people having surgery I'll be looking after during their recovery for most of the month. Unfortunately this is what your family does to you when you're an ex-medical pro -- use you for free nursing. I'm trying to be a good sport about it.

If I have time I am going to try to turn this box of Premier Anti-Pilling Everyday DK into a baby blanket for a charity challenge. Some disclaimers: I'm very nervous about doing this, so I may chicken out. I don't have a pattern in mind yet. I've never worked with this kind of yarn. Still, I want to try.

Also, my favorite winter hat is starting to fall apart, so it's time to make another in the same pattern (a large men's beanie from a pattern book, which I tweak to fit my somewhat giant head) and same yarn brand -- Mandala Sparkle.

I've been saving this white, gray and pink cake for just the right project, as the color palette is my second favorite of all time. I think this is the perfect project for it as it will use almost the entire cake and I know it will turn out pretty.

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On the Beach

Last week my guy and I went to walk Daytona Beach, which was mostly (and eerily) deserted. This is what our beaches used to look like when I was a kid. It was a beautiful day, cold and breezy but calm. It feels like 2026 is getting off to the right start.

Eight Plus Numbers

When I was looking up the retail on the small lot of yarn plus a tapestry kit I got a lot of surprises. This Red Heart Roll with It Sparkle skein in "Diamonds" was actually a cake that sells $10.99 on Yarnspirations. The lot included two Red Heart Super Saver Jumbo skeins, which retail for $8.99 each, and stuck in the center of the buff color I found a 5.5 mm crochet hook. This is a skein of 100% Icelandic wool, which can be really expensive. It's marked with a price tag of $7.00, and I found it selling for $8.00 online. The needlepoint kit is the biggest surprise of all. It makes a pillow, and hails from the UK, where it sells for £45.00 ($60.76 US). Since it's flamingos I definitely have to finish it if I can. Altogether my eight plus lot retails for $125.04; I paid $21.30 total for the lot with the buy-it-now option and one penny shipping. I indeed got a very nice bargain.

Not So Cheerful

Since I finished the January crazy-quilted tote for my calendar project I jumped back on making the Iris throw, working this time with Bernat Giggles in Cheerful Blue. From the start this skein seemed determined to give me trouble, not anything cheerful, as I had to contend with a big knot of yarn I tugged out along with the center pull strand (I didn't take a pic of that.) This yarn is 90% acrylic and 10% nylon, and come in a 3.5 oz. skein. Not sure why they added nylon to the acrylic, perhaps to make it softer. The color is nice, and it's fairly smooth, but it also splits easily and wants to pucker, pop and untwist, especially when you tear out stitches. Naturally I had to tear out two and a half rows to correct two mistakes, which aggravated me because the yarn was untwisting when I went to crochet it again. To add icing to this terrible cake, I ran out of the yarn on the final row. To keep the symmetry with the other sections I had to pull a compatible color fro...

Thrifty Crochet

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