Crochet Wallet

Many of you needleworkers and crafters can completely understand what I am saying.

• Although I could probably fill a small room from wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling with the items I have made, very few of them now belong to me. Aside from some clothing I have made myself and a couple other items, the rest has been for my children, or to give as gifts, or to sell.

• For years (and years), I have wanted to make a case to keep my crochet hooks in. I have lost, misplaced, or my daughters have walked off with so many of my hooks that I have lost track. So often I would finally buy another and THEN find the original hook later. I needed a central place to keep them, a place where I would know if one were missing. But I just never got around to making myself a case, because I just wasn't sure what I wanted exactly. That is until I saw a crochet wallet similar to the one below.

I was so excited while I was sewing this. With just a tweak or two, I knew this was exactly what I needed.

It is a trifold, closes with a snap, has a handy little wrist strap to free my hands for all the other things I am dragging along with me (crocheting, or knitting is a very portable craft item -- much better than trying to drag a sewing machine with you). Wink, wink. The crochet flower with the covered button is just there for looks. Since it is a Crochet Wallet, it seemed fitting that something on it was crocheted, right?

This is the inside. Lots of room for hooks as well as a see-through pocket to hold such things as gauges, measuring tape, little rings to mark stiches. . . just anything my little ol' heart desires. The half-moon shape at the top is a padded pin cushion to keep a needle and a few pins "nearby and handy."

I thought you might like to see what it looks like empty.

The original wallet that I saw did not have the pocket in the back. I added it for more storage. I keep a notepad and pencil there to record any projects I am working on. I write down what size hook the project requires and return the hook to the clutch even though the project isn't complete. Yeah! No more lost hooks!

The really great thing about all of this is that I only spent fifty-cents to buy 2 zippers at a local surplus store. The rest was all made from left-over scraps that I had hangin' around from previous projects.

So, this one is a keeper -- just for ME!

Foto Friday (Saturday?) Challenge - Sky/Clouds

May is always a rough month for us here at Brambleberry Cottage. The end of the official homeschool year is in sight, but pressure to tie up last minute details like putting finishing touches on state required portfolios, meeting with evaluators, making sure that all medical requirements (eye exams, dentist exams, physicals, etc.) have been completed, and wondering over and over again if I have forgotten anything just drains me. In addition, I have several projects I am working on to give as gifts and several of them are already belated. Visions of half-completed projects and projects that need to be completed (though as of yet unstarted) haunt me as I close my eyes at night. I DO NOT handle deadlines well.

All that said, you can understand why a dreary sky overhead all week made it easy for me to decide NOT to try to participate in Foto Friday this week. That was until this evening.

It had been a hot, muggy day all day today. At times the sun peeked through the clouds today. At other times it was raining. It was that way all day long. Then this evening after supper, things began to get really interesting. The wind really kicked up, and the first thing we knew it was hailing. Not little pitter-pattery hail (which is the only kind I have ever seen), but good-sized goobers the size of acorns and walnuts.

When it was all over, we went out to survey the damage. What was amazing was the sky! And believe me, these pictures are a very poor representation of what we saw.

Every section of the sky was different and would change so quickly it was like looking at time-lapse photography. Clouds were moving at different speeds at different altitudes. The higher clouds were speeding by, while the lower ones were almost standing still. It really gave an eerie 3-D effect to the sky.

All these pictures of the sky were snapped within a four or five minute span. While I'll be the first to admit that there is nothing particularly artistic about the photos, there was truly something beautifully artistic about the "real thing"! I just had to marvel at our Creator God.

After we stood and watched the sky for sometime, the little spring went off in this steel-trap mind of mine, and I realized I ought to get some pictures to record the hailstones before they completely melted in the heat. (I wish now I had put a familiar object to compare the size of the hailstones in the shot?) Afterthoughts, you know.

The wind had driven these up against our steps in a pile, so they didn't melt quite as quickly.

This is what the grass looked like about forty-five minutes after it had stopped hailing.

A shot of the debris that was plastered to the side of the house. I guess I know what I'll be doing in the morning. (SIGH, SHOULDERS DROOP)

I have definitely stayed up farrrrrrrr to late to post this. (There's got to be something wrong with my mind -- what was I thinking?) Now it's off to bed for me and visions of unfinished check lists dancing in my head.

Just click the Foto Friday button to see how others interpretted this week's subject, which btw was "Sky/Clouds".