Homeschool Mother's Journal

In my life this week…

This was our first week back to school after 2 weeks off for Christmas vacation.  I have been sick in varying degrees since Dec. 1.  I am currently recovering from pneumonia.  It is a long slow process making getting back into the swing of things very difficult.

In our homeschool this week…

We started Apologia's Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology for an upcoming review.  I am very excited about this curriculum.  I think we'll learn a lot and have a lot of fun too.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…

Plan AND follow through with your plans.  I get nowhere fast when I don't have plans.


My favorite thing this week was…

Playing with my little ones using the Flowering Baby curriculum that I will be reviewing here in a few weeks.


Things I’m working on…

I crocheted a baby sweater while I was sick.  I hadn't crocheted in quite some time (I've been knitting) and it was fun to pick it up again.  I am trying to find the time to sew it together and do the finish stitching.

blocking the sweater pieces

I’m cooking…

Hot Buttered Pretzels

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

Rebecca on her 20th birthday (Jan. 1) with Connor

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Crocheted Trivet

When I started this blog I originally planned to use it to share projects I was working on but over time it has mainly turned into a homeschool blog because I haven't been doing any projects.  Recently I have become addicted to Pinterest.  I have been pinning lots of things to do and finally decided to make something.  I am not that happy with this project but I am going to share it anyway.

I found this trivet.  In the original directions, it says to crochet over the plastic rings that hold soda cans together.  They really are not round and the first one I made didn't look very good as you can see here:

I spent some time trying to figure out what I could use instead that would be perfectly round and wouldn't cost anything. I finally decided to cut circles from a milk jug.

I made a pattern from the soda ring on cardboard.

I traced them onto the milk jug and cut them out.

One finished ring with the pattern.

See the difference?  The one of the left is with the milk jug circle and
 the one on the right is the soda ring.

My finished trivet.

I'm not sure exactly what I don't like about this.  I think that maybe the circles were a little bit too big.  It is fine for me to use but it isn't nice enough for a gift.  Maybe I would like it better with different colors?  Or if I added a fancy edge?  

The milk jug rings make nice little frisbees. :)

My plarn bag is finished!

It took quite a while and a lot of effort but I finally finished my plarn grocery bag. I used well over 100 bags to make this.

Finished Felted Granny Slippers

I finished the granny slippers today. I was nervous about felting them but it worked fine in my front loader. I think they might be a tiny bit big but they fit perfectly with socks on so it's probably better that way. I made these slippers using Sensations Natural Collection Felt-able PaCaBoo yarn that I got on sale for $1.99 a skein at Joann's. I got one of each skein. I used up almost every bit of the white and have quite a lot of the two brown shades left. I'll probably make some kind of little bag or something with it.

My Felted Granny Slippers

I finished crocheting and sewing together my felted granny slippers. I still have to felt them and I am a bit nervous having never done it before and also because I have a front loading washer. Maybe I'll try it tomorrow. The one on the left is the squares sewed together flat and the one on the right is all put together.

Tunisian Towel

I made this towel using the Tunisian simple stitch. I didn't have a pattern but made it up as I went along. It doesn't hang perfectly, but it's not bad. It has a button on the backside. I originally intended for it to hang with the other side showing but it curls this way and really either side looks OK. The Tunisian crochet makes a nice thick fabric. It's fun to do too! A long time ago I tried learning to do this but I am not very good at looking at diagrams to figure things out...youtube helps so much with that!!

Dish Sponges

I started crocheting some dish sponges after seeing this pattern. I made one but it was really too small for my liking. Then I saw this pattern for a dishcloth in Tunisian crochet and came up with these. I really like them and plan to make more. It's a nice project that I can keep in my pocketbook and work on when I have to wait somewhere. The ones pictured are a couple of different ones, the one on the left is doubled using Tunisian simple stitch and the other is made using the Tunisian knit stitch.

Slippers for Emma

My next project was a pair of slippers. I intended to make myself a pair of slippers but when I got started they were much smaller than I originally thought they would be. I am not sure why, although I do crochet tightly I don't think the gauge should have been that far off. Here is a picture of Emma wearing her new slippers.

Crocheted Hook Caddy

I made this hook caddy after finishing the stocking because I saw the pattern online and liked it.

Christmas stockings

Before I started making plarn, I got into crocheting again because I needed to make a Christmas stocking for my youngest daughter to match the stockings I had made for the other children. I had started it before she was born (November 2007) but never got around to finishing it. So, just after Christmas I got it out and decided that I better get it finished before we put the Christmas decorations away. I did finish it as you can see from the picture.

Learning to Make Plarn

Several weeks ago I became aware of something called plarn. ( I actually found video on youtube that was easier to understand.) It is "yarn" made from plastic bags. My original plarn project was this little pocketbook. Since taking this picture I added a button to it and a little fun fur as an edging. My 3 year old daughter loves it. Plarn making is pain staking and tedious. I have hundreds of bags and I doubt that I will ever use them all because it takes so much time to make plarn. I do have several other plarn projects on my to do list though.