Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Cute Chemo Caps

If you've ever spent any time hanging out with chemo patients, you know that they come up with a wide variety of head-covering options as they lose their hair and go bald. (As men have known for eons now, a bald head is a cold head in cool weather.) Lots of caps, but they all seem to scream 'winter hat being used to cover bald lady's head'! And scarves, they don't stay on bald heads too well. None of these options particularly thrilled me for my bff Margaret when her chemo treatments took out her hair!

Soooo, I set out on a mission to come up with some stylish hats that I could crochet for her. And the website www.ravelry.com was a perfect place to search. Many of their patterns are free. If you haven't been there and you love to knit or crochet, pop on over there when you get a chance.

First up were some wintery hats -  a Queen of Sheba Turban in tan, and a black cap, both with added flower embellishments at Margaret's request.




 
And then winter turned into spring, so I took a cloche pattern and turned it into a really cute white hat for warmer weather. No plain chemo caps here. No no no no no.... We rocked that chemo room with some really stylin' hats!
 


And as you can see, my dogs love their Margaret!

 
 
 

Friday, July 19, 2013

What To Do With All Those Fabulous Wine Bottles and Beer Bottles

It's been a while folks, hasn't it? I'm still digesting the fact that my Mom is gone, at least physically, but I'm coping now. I've done a lot of crocheting in the interim, but that is a post (or three or four) for another time.

Right now I want to tell you what I do with all those wine bottles with beautiful artistic labels, that I can't seem to throw out. Have you really looked at the artwork that goes into the labels of some wines? Some are clean and sophisticated, others have come from original drawings and paintings. And recently, even beer bottles have made it into my collection!

I do a variety of things with these labels, but today I'm gonna talk about home decor. For real! Smaller wine bottles make really nice bud vases for a single stemmed rose. Especially those sweet dessert wines. They usually come in small bottles with really nicely-done artistic labels. Perfect for a bud vase.



And the first beer bottle in my collection is right in the middle of two little wine bottles. And I think that beer bottle matches the clock pretty darn well! And as it happens, it was brewed right down I-5 in Eugene. Overcast Espresso Stout by Oakshire Brewing. YUM! Who says you can't mix wine and beer?

And now my nod to the USA's July 4th holiday. Red, white and blue, huh? How am I gonna pull that off? With cats and flags! For real!


Originally these cool cats held reisling. And they actually have a 4th litter mate, a black dude that comes out for Chinese New Year. I drank my way through all 4 bottles just to make sure I had the complete set! And then I added little flags with some sort of sticky putty stuff and some bows at the neckline, and they're ready for the dining room table, or anywhere else you want to catch people's eye.

Stay tuned to my blog for more frequent articles on a wider variety of crafty issues!