Lissa Dobbs's Blog: Shadow Walkers of Grevared - Posts Tagged "crochet"

Hello All!

I hope everyone is healthy and happy.

I'm not sure at this point just where this blog is going, so I'm hoping some of you will ask questions to get me started.

I've been crocheting for almost thirty years. (Wow! It just has dawned on me that it really has been that long.) I'll admit that I don't particularly enjoy making a lot of the same item, so I tend to create new things just to keep it interesting. I also tend to shy away from larger projects, not because I don't have the skills to do them but because I enjoy seeing progress fairly quickly.

Right now I don't have any major projects going, though I've been thinking about writing up some of the wash cloth patterns I have. I've also been giving some thought to a challenge given to me by my middle son. He bet me that I couldn't create a full size human doll. I'm pretty sure I've got the majority of the pattern in my head, but I haven't had the time yet to get the yarn and get started. I haven't decided yet how I will handle the hair, though, so I would welcome any suggestions. I'm also playing around with some tablecloth patterns, but these are large patterns with a lot of detail and intricacy, so I'm expecting them to take a long while to complete.

I'll try to remember to post progress reports now and again. Until then, be well.

Best wishes!

Hello All!

As the holidays near and the weather gets colder, many of us pull out our crochet hooks and yarn to make gifts for the holidays. For those of us who crochet all year long just for the simple joy of it, there's something comforting about that hook and yarn and seeing the finished product.

For years now, I've spent my evenings making things. Every member of my family and most of my friends have at least one of everything I make. So, what to do with the rest?

There are many charities, churches, nursing homes, and schools that can use our handmade items, and that's where most of my crochet items have gone over the years. It isn't much, and there are many years that I only have a few small things to donate. But you never know how much that washcloth that only took you fifteen minutes to make may mean to someone who's had a really tough year.

That said, I would like to encourage all those who make craft items to donate at least one thing this year to help brighten someone's day. Think of nursing homes where there may be those who are neglected by their families or churches where children will have a slim Christmas. Even your local thrift store is an option, as they can sell the items for their cause. No, it isn't much, and maybe that necklace you made won't put food on the table, but that grandmother who receives it will appreciate it and know that someone cares.

Best wishes!

Hope this finds everyone well!

Since we're coming into fall, I thought I'd share a recipe my family and I really love. We call it Poor Man's Coffee Cake because we created it on a night we all wanted something sweet, but no one wanted to have to go to the store. So we looked through the cabinets and what we had was pancake mix.

This recipe is easy to make and can be thrown together in less than five minutes; however, cook time on it is almost an hour. So, when that friend calls at the last minute and announces that she's coming over an hour later, you can toss this together and let it cook while you frantically clean the crayon off the walls and get a shower.

Ingredients:

pancake mix
vanilla
butter
brown sugar
cinnamon
OPTIONAL: anything else under the sun

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Pour about half a box of pancake mix into the bowl. Add 1/2 cup sugar, cinnamon, and a dash of vanilla. Add a little less than the recommended amount of water so the batter will resemble cake batter more than pancake batter.

Thoroughly grease either a loaf pan or, at the least, a 9x9 cake pan.

Pour half the batter into the pan. Cover with brown sugar and cinnamon. Add the rest of the batter. Top with brown sugar, cinnamon, and several pads of butter.

Cook at 350 for about an hour until a fork inserted in the center comes out clean.

Variations:

For chocolate coffee cake, add cocoa powder and omit the cinnamon. I up the sugar to at least 1 cup since the cocoa is unsweetened.

I've added fruits and nuts, mixed in muffin mix, used chocolate chips, chopped up candy - you name it, and we've made a cake with it. And all of them turned out wonderfully.

Storage:

Storage at my house really isn't much of an issue, but if the cake has fruit, I usually refrigerate it. If not, I just wrap it. It warms well in the microwave, and it works well as a breakfast cake, too.


Happy experimenting!

Best wishes!