A Basket Full of Thanks

My youngest daughter checked for turkey designs on line and found one that inspired her to put this fellow together.  Both my daughters and grand girls sat around a table in my room one day and put together a little flock of these fellows that decorated the walls of our dining room on Thanksgiving Day.

A friend mentioned to me one day that her family had started keeping a "Blessing Box" at their house.  During the year they would jot down things they were grateful for on little slips of paper and slip the papers into the box.  At their Thanksgiving dinner they passed around the box and each person would take out a slip of paper and read it out loud until all the blessings had been shared.  Then they prayed thanking God for all the blessings.

This year we decided to do a variation on that activity.  Before we ate and while we were waiting for the turkey to be done, we passed out little slips of paper and pens to each person attending, asking him or her to list things that inspired personal gratitude.   Then we passed the basketful of papers around and took turns reading each item of gratitude, before we thanked God for those blessings as well as for our turkey dinner.

 

The Saturday before Thanksgiving, a friend who is looking for a job asked me if I would be interested in hostessing a table at a craft fair with her.  This is the picture of us setting up our table.  I brought items my daughters and I had knit and crocheted.  My friend and I had great fun and a wonderful visit with each other, but neither of us sold a thing!  We were in a small church in a neighborhood with little traffic so we paid attention to those who did sell a few things to learn how we might better serve shoppers' interests.  December 3rd we are going to try again at a nearby middle school where we hope we will have better traffic and meet the needs of many shoppers.

During November we have been having more rain and the creek at the front of our property is running higher and filling up our pond more, but I still have not been able to get any good pictures of our Ducks and Beavers to share with you.

Saturday, November 26, 2011 would have been the 40th wedding anniversary for my husband and me had he not died two years ago. While grateful for the 38 years we shared I was restless Saturday afternoon.   My oldest daughter and I decided to drive to Sandy, OR  to run some errands. We were stunned by fantastic views of Mt. Hood! We drove to our favorite overlook to snap some pictures. While we have been getting plenty of rain in the valley, Mt. Hood has been draped in a dramatic snow white cape.  I was pleasantly reminded that 40 years ago my husband and I followed a snow plow when we drove up into the Trinity Alps in northern CA for our honeymoon.

In the foreground to the left of the fence there is a bush that is commonly called a snowball bush, I think.  Do you know its proper name?  It really does look like it is decorated with tiny little snowballs. And the snow on Mt. Hood was amazing to view in the afternoon sunshine.  My daughter and I were fascinated to see the unusual clouds resting on the mountain...an example of past circumstances that led to the mountain's name, perhaps.

We could hear the Sandy River rushing by as we viewed snowy Mt. Hood and I remembered with chagrin asking someone a ridiculous question this past summer.  We were enjoying one of the beautiful sandy beaches along the Sandy River.  I was so amazed at the amount of sand, I asked, "Did the county have to truck in loads of sand to form the beach?"

The person gently answered, "No...I think the amount of sand we see is why the river earned its name."

Indeed!!!

On the way back to our car we snapped a picture of this lovely little fellow.  If he could predict what sort of winter we will have around Portland, OR this year, what do you suppose he would predict?  Will the spectacular snow resting on Mt. Hood be reflected in our valley near the end of the Oregon Trail?

White Salmon Scrapbook Retreat

The air definitely has enough snap in it to encourage us to bundle up a bit, as my oldest grand girl and her mom did last week ,before going out to rake leaves.

My oldest and youngest daughters enjoyed building crunchy piles of leaves in our back yard.

While  soon after taking their pictures, I enjoyed driving east out of Portland, OR, on I-84, and crossing the mighty Columbia River to White Salmon, WA,

to a lovely cabin hidden in the woods,

along the rapidly running White Salmon River

to join a good group of friends to focus on our various scrapbook projects.  While it may look like we were suffering in some horrible kind of sweat shop, from this picture,  we in fact had a wonderful time putting together well over 100 pages amongst all of us in our albums over the weekend.  And we were comfortable most of the time...

but when we arrived at the cabin on Friday it was 43 degrees outside and inside the cabin.  The woodstove helped us get cosy after awhile and we all took breaks throughout the day to explore the land around us outside.  We were pretty excited to receive a dusting of snow on Saturday morning, and two of the gals actually braved the cold on Saturday night to enjoy soaking in the hot tub.

We headed home on Sunday, enjoying the autumn shades of color along the way, and now over a week later I took this picture of the man- made pond on our property, that is fed from the runoff of a creek.  During the summer the pond becomes a bog, but since we have had showers all week the water level is rising.  I startled a blue heron when I went out for the mail the other day and I have seen some ducks swimming on the far end of the pond, but no one showed up to have me take their picture today.  I think it is pretty funny that we have a politically correct environment that favors both of the mascots of the rival Oregon college football teams, the Ducks and the Beavers.  I will try to get pictures of both our ducks and beavers to share with you.

 What is happening in your neck of the woods?

Crochet Pattern for a Seafoam Bib

 My mother-in-law purchased this around 1975 at a church bazaar.  In the following nine years I used it with three different babies and found it was practical and decorative when the babies were going through their early  drooling stage.  Somehow I thought it helped them  look a little more tidy and helped keep whatever they were wearing underneath the bib a little drier around the neck.

As a novice in knit and crochet work I could not read the stitches of the original bib, but with the help of more experienced crafters I learned that the original bib was worked in single crochet, with a teeny tiny metal crochet hook.

How in the world I ever mustered the tenacity to fiddle around and try to duplicate the pattern, I'll never know, but I found/find the challenge fascinating.  The last one I made was done in purple cotton #10 thread, with a varigated golden cotton thread for the contrasting rows.

While in Sonoma, CA, a week ago, I delivered the purple and gold bib, and the purple little lamb washcloth  I  knit for my friends' new baby. 

If you want to try my version of  the bib pattern, the foundation row I start with is chain 27.

Single crochet in the back loop of each of 13 chain loops.

In the 14th chain loop make 3 single crochets, then make 13 single crochets in the following 13 chain loops.

Chain one, turn and single crochet in the back loop of each  single crochet stitch.

[Chain one, turn and single crochet in the back of each stitch until you reach the center; make three single crochets in the center stitch; single crochet in the back of each remaining stitch to the end of the row.

Chain one, turn and single crochet in the back of each stitch in the row.]

Repeat the pattern in the brackets until  the heart of the bib is as big as you want it to be.

On your last row,  single crochet up the side of the bib; when you reach the upper  corner of the bib begin chaining until the chain is long enough to form the side of the neck and a tie  for the bib.

Then  single crochet in each loop of the chain until you come to the top of the bib.

Single crochet across the top of the bib until you come to the edge.

Make a chain long enough to match  the other side of the bib.

Single crochet down the chain and continue around the bib  extending beyond the top of the bib to begin forming the side neck of the bib.

Chain one, turn and [begin single crocheting around the bib, putting 3 single crochets in the 3 point stitches of the bottom row of the bib.  At the top of the opposite side of the bib, chain one, turrn and complete single crochets in the back side of each stitch until you come to the next to the last stitch in the row.  Chain one, turn, repeat the pattern from the last bracket until you have made the size bib you want.]

[For the last row, chain three and single crochet in the first stitch then single crochet in the next few stitches] and repeat  the bracket until you have completed the row.  Cut the thread and weave in the end.

I almost did not give the purple bib away because I failed to decrease evenly on one side which skewed the whole bib...sigh; but then I figured that it was bright and cheery and would still be a soft drool catcher.  The pattern forms ridges in the fabric which may feel a bit rough to your fingers but if you rub the material on your face it is  lovely and soft.

Have you ever crocheted a bib like this?