The Country Cellar

So did we all survive Thanksgiving? We had an unusual one. The first time I have not had dinner with my family on The Day. For many reasons, we celebrated with my family on Saturday. Which was nice, just wierd not to have our routine. We spend the lunch meal with my inlaws and then supper at Debbie's. This year it was lunch then home for a huge rest! LOL Time well spent for sure. Then Saturday evening a wonderful meal at Deb's. She always outdoes herself. We pitch in some, but she does the brunt of it all. It is "her" holiday. LOL I like the fact that the tables go together and we all eat together. At my house, it is every man for themselves. Six at the table and the rest scattered. Course this also means that no one notices too much any trips for seconds and thirds....

Here is a photograph, well 2 actually I put together, of my felted tote bag.

Can you say WOW on how much it shrank? It started out 18" wide and ended up 12". I didnt measure the strap length. I love it! The texture came out just as I wanted it to. Nice and thick! There is a large pocket inside. The tote was done entirely in half double crochet with a H hook. One row of single crochet along the top edge. I like that the handles are felted into the bag. They will not come off! It becomes one piece of wool. Now I am working on a red bag. Well it was called firecracker, but is more rusty red. :o( I am hoping in the felting it will darken a bit. The blue tote is not as bright as it photographed. The felting process I used was simple. Hot wash/cold rinse, full cycle, 2 tablespoons of baking soda in wash water and added in a pair of jeans. Put it in the dryer until the squish was out of it. Laid it flat to complete drying. But another WOW on it stinking!! Like a nasty dirty ole wet dog. Well in this case, sheep. Until it was totallllllly dry, it smelt. I ended up leaving it outside a couple of days in the sun with dryer fabric sheets inside it. It was really bad! Now it is fine. Thank goodness!

This is a crazy week for us. Heather has her second hand surgery on Wednesday. Then the next 2 days of very intensive therapy. We will be staying in Indianapolis thru Friday evening. This is a very needful surgery to clean up scar tissue and release tendons and ligiments. But I hate for her to go through all this. Her incision they said will be about 8-9 inches long. Please pray for her. They have to start the therapy the next day to stop the scar tissue from reoccurring. It is going to be extremely painful for her. I know she is strong and can do it. She has proved that already. :o)