Sorry I haven't been around for awhile, busy and lots of not so good things happening around my little world.  There have been some good things too and I will be back soon to post some of that and some pics of the scarf I finished and love!

Couldn't resist taking this pic of the baby purple finches out my window by the computer.  I love this time of year, lots of babies visiting the feeders and being fed by mama until they figure it out for themselves.  It is difficult to catch the mom's doing the feeding because they startle too easy while the babies don't understand the dangerous humans.  Notice the fluff on the one with his/her back to me.

Talk with you soon!  and more pics to share!!

What was I thinking??  

I was looking at stuff on Ebay and I noticed some yarn that looked very interesting.  And I had seen a necklace that my friend had made from ladder yarn, just a chain stitch but very pretty but no, I am drawn to something different because of the fall colors.  I even forget the name of this yarn but when I received it I had a feeling I was in trouble--somehow knew this was not going to be simple using a crochet hook with this yarn.  

I picked a large hook, N, and proceeded to make a "simple" scarf of treble stitches.  I have struggled and now have the easiest way to crochet each row without struggling to fit it in an actual stitch from the previous row and dropping stitches.  I had started with 15 in row and was down to 10 before I noticed.  Did I pull it out?  NO! No way I just increased in the next row to get back to 15.  I will never sell this scarf because there will be too much time devoted to it.  Here is a pic of it,  I'll try to remember to show you the finished project.  Don't expect that anytime soon!

My latest snowflake

To the left is a picture that I planned to tease you with but didn't get it on here before I finished the snowflake.  But notice how many points the snowflake has?  yup, 7, I did it again.  The worst is I didn't even notice when I took the first pic.  When I was working on finishing it I had some beads threaded to put in two rows and I had added several extras, well after the first round of beads was done and I noticed I didn't have an overabundance of beads left so when I looked closer noticed the 7 points!  Again, no way was I going to pull it all out and start again!  And it is just as pretty with 7 points as it will be with 6 points.  I plan to make several of these snowflakes because I love it!!  I found it at my fav place for snowflakes, Snowflake Monday @ Snow Catcher's blog.  She did several with colored yarn which I loved but I guess I am just more traditional because I did mine in all white.  Expect some colors in my next one.


The small one that somehow crept into the picture may end up as a necklace.  Sweet and simple!







Some more jewelry
These are some of my earlier attempts at jewelry.  Haven't decided what to do with them yet.  Probably list them on  at http://www.listia.


I have bought several items there but have not sold anything yet.






And one more thing before I close for the day, I'm wondering if anyone else has been bothered by the limited choice of font size here on Google's blogs?  If you don't have Google then let me show you.  Here are samples of the font sizes.  This is smallest.  This is small.  This is normal.  This is large.  And last this is largest.  What would it take to just do the regular way?

Just another rainy Monday

Getting myself psyched for the WalkMS event this Saturday!  Last year it was cold and rainy and I swore I wouldn't "walk" this year if it was raining.  The reason I put walk in parenthesis is because I only walk part of the 3 miles and scooter the rest.  I can't imagine not being out there with our team, the ShiaWalkers, tho whether it is rain or shine.  I am just really hoping for no rain and not too hot.

This is our team the first walk we did.  I had a computer crash a few months ago and just haven't taken the time  to put some of my pics on this computer and too lazy to find it on the disk right now.  This one is on my FB page so I just copied it from there.  :-)  Our numbers are dwindling each year but what we have lost in numbers we have gained in enthusiasm!  


I made a bracelet today.  I am quite happy with it and plan to make a necklace soon.  Today started out to be a necklace but I did the infamous mistake they always warn you about-I didn't put enough beads on my thread and I have never tried other ways of putting beads on except before you start crocheting.  Ah, well, it's a cute bracelet and I like the stitch.  I put it up on my Etsy, hoping to make a sale there one of these days.  I made it with one of my favorite color combinations.

  Seafoam green and light pink!  I guess this may be more of a mint green but still a great color combo.

Check it out on my Etsy here !












I need to get a couple more butterflies made for my Mom's Mother's Day gift.  I'll post pics of it when I am done.  My mom is like most mom's, doesn't matter what you get for her or make her she is happy that you remembered her.  We are having a family cook-out so that makes the day even more special.

NOW I REMEMBER WHY I CALLED THIS BLOG BRENDA'S BRIC-A-BRAC.

Not only for the the 3 B's but I could talk about anything!

I used to cross stitch and embroider both but seem to just be crocheting lately and saw this idea on Pinterest today.  I'm thinking it is a neat idea for some of the motifs I crochet.  Make an easy frame, sew motifs on fabric of my choice, frame the fabric and should be a cute picture for any room in the house or camper.  The tutorial for the original idea is here.  And I added  StoneWoodGrass to my favs.




And I reblocked my necklace and earrings from my previous post and I am happier with it but still not completely happy with the pics.  I put it on Etsy for what I feel is a  good price.  You can find it here.

 Another website I added to my read list is By Hook, By Hand after thinking about selling the doll above that I made several years ago.  I was going to sell it because I have 3 granddaughters and I could not pick which one to give it to.  But as I took her apart to take pics to put her on Etsy I remembered how much time I spent and know that I couldn't get anywhere near what I think she is worth.  So while looking around for other dolls to make I found this website.  I am sure I can find something for the other 2 granddaughters.
 Lots of dolls to crochet and clothes to fit them at By Hook, By Hand.

Just one of many dolls!

And another site I found was WikiHow.  Lots and lots of stuff there!  You'd probably be hard pressed to find any craft or DIY this site doesn't touch on and they send you to the original sites with the patterns.  

You need to check it out!

Memories are made!  And that is important in our lives!

 Last week I was able to spend the day with my granddaughter and my great-nephew.  I wondered how it would go, an 8 year old and a 2 1/2 year old,  I need not have worried, they got along great!  This is the beginning of the day and they stayed close the whole time.  Unfortunately, my MS raised its ugly head and totally exhausted me before the day was done.  We made it tho and memories were made!  Nana and Great-Aunt are important roles in my life.

And yesterday I got a chance to be a pattern tester, I love the pattern, I can't wait to show you the results, here is the beginning of it!  I will share it with you when it is done and the creator of the pattern releases it.  I love the colors I chose, the white and mint worked up very nicely, I next will add another color, sorry tho you have to wait to see the finished project for awhile.  I used Red Heart Yarn  for the project and I am more than happy with it.  I hate to be a tease but I need to blur it so it isn't being shown before the creator decides to show it on Ravelry.  I'll let you know when it is there.

I also made a necklace similar to one I saw on Pinterest.  I am not happy with the picture which doesn't do it justice but also not entirely thrilled with the necklace itself.  I'm going to do some tweaking and see what I come up with.  But here is the first peak at it along with a pair of earrings I whipped up to match it.  I feel I should blur this too but I'm hoping there is hope for it yet.

I need to buy me some new sandals this summer but the pair below is no longer on my shopping list!  Too tall of a wedge but I'm sure Naturalizers will have something for me.  I usually love the support their shoes give me which makes it easier to walk for any distance or stand for any length of time.