Just Call me the Dame of Dish Cloths!

I have a few other projects on my needles, but right now, my main obsession seems to be the lowly dish cloth. So quick and colorful. The crocheted cloth above reminds me of a bright beach ball. You can get all the details here.

All the following dish cloths will be linked as well. If I do this correctly, the links should take you directly to my project pages on Ravelry. Even if you do not have a Ravelry account, you should be able to follow the links and view all the gory details: pattern used, yarn, hook, needles, etc. If there are problems or questions, please leave me a comment.

The Mosaic Dish Cloth is knit, and it takes considerably more time than the crocheted cloths. Purple and gold are the colors of our local university.



The next one I made is a pattern called Fire Blossom. Sorry the photo is a little faded looking. The red is more saturated than what shows here.



The Quick Dry Dish Cloth crochets up soooo fast! I made one on a Friday afternoon and then promptly gave it away to a friend who had us over for dinner that night. Then I crocheted another late that evening before retiring.





And here is my latest. I used yellow and white and call it my Daisy Dish Cloth.



These make great gifts! However, I have had another thought rolling around in my mind: Do you think I could sell them? Bear in mind that all the above finished cloths are just prototypes and have not been washed or blocked. In other words, they were new patterns to me and not as "polished" looking as they might be. What I would like to do if I sold them is to give all the proceeds to various missions projects. I personally know several people who are long-term missionaries as well as several young folk who are doing short-term mission work this summer. In addition to that, our AWANA group supports some AWANA programs in Nepal.

Whaddaya' think? And what do you think would be a fair price for hand-made cloths?


And now, a special non-dish cloth bonus feature!

For Saint Patrick's Day, I used green thread and crocheted a shamrock and a 4-leaf clover to wear as pins. By the way, I really am of Irish descent!


And, a few days ago, my daughter asked me to make a flower to go on her hat...the hat that SHE crocheted herself! (((proud mommy))) So, I whipped up this flower.


I think the button she picked out of my button box was a nice added touch.

Cursed Kitchen???

Ya' know, if I didn't know better, I would begin to think some nefarious force has placed a curse on my kitchen!

Last week my microwave (my less-than-4-month-old microwave) died! I mean dead. No lights, no nothing.


This made heating Easter dinner leftovers a royal pain. I am actually a little wary of microwaves and would be happy to not have one. I have lived without a microwave and it can be done. However, I have found that my kids will eat more leftovers when they don’t have to put them in a pot and stir, or wait for something to heat up a half hour in the oven. I hate to throw away food even more than I dislike microwaves. So, now I have to buy a new microwave. The Oster company is honoring our warranty and refunding our money, but that will probably get here months from now…you know how that goes! Not only that, but we got a great deal on that microwave, and it looks like a new one will cost us a good $50 more than what I originally paid.

Then, the blender attachment to my Bosch kitchen machine stopped working (again).


There is a design flaw in the part of the blender that attaches to the drive shaft and it gets stripped, thus making the blender not blend. Well, I am rather partial to smoothies, so I actually use my blender. I have already replaced this part 2-3 times! And I refuse to pay another $15 or so to get another little bit that is just going to break in a few months. So, I will have to buy a new blender.

Are you keeping count?? That's two appliances that need replacing.

Then yesterday, I was being domestic diva (baking bread, making homemade Lara bars, etc.) and the glass bowl to my vintage KitchenAid mixer slipped out of my hands into the sink and broke! Waaaaaah!


This was my grandmother’s mixer and has great sentimental value to me. It is a model 4C which was produced from the early 1960's through the 1970's. The company doesn't even make a glass bowl that fits this mixer anymore. I have looked online and found a metal replacement at the tune of about $50 plus shipping! :-0 To replace it with a glass bowl like the one that comes with it is hard to find and costs even more dough (pun intended.) Although my Bosch kitchen machine is great for kneading bread and mixing really large batches of stuff, we regularly used the KitchenAid for cookie dough, cakes, icing, etc.

And then to top it all off, while I was still trying to hold back the tears over the broken mixer bowl, my kitchen sink suddenly and mysteriously decided to refuse to drain!


It was working fine, and then all of a sudden it wasn’t. We have poured chemicals down it, boiling water, and tried a plunger. We even went to the hardware store and bought a plumber's snake. 15 feet of snake later, still no drainage. GAAAAAARRRRRGH!

Score:
Kitchen appliances to be replaced plus a plumber's bill -- 4
My bank account -- 0

Do you think the plumber could be bribed with homemade bread???

Not Trying to Tempt You But...

There is a big fabric sale going on over at Fresh Squeezed Fabrics.



20% off EVERYTHING.



Can you resist such cuteness???



There is LOTS to choose from.

Oh, and Fresh Squeezed Fabric is owned and operated by Randi, the blog author of "i have to say..." as well as the brains (and much of the brawn) behind "Sewing Seeds" and the Quilt Along which are both linked in my right hand sidebar. She is a lovely, christian, mom...the kind of person whose business I can whole heartedly recommend.