Mastering the Crocodile Stitch, and a couple of hasty reviews

I think I've gotten the hang of the crocodile stitch.  I remember trying months ago, maybe it was the pattern, maybe I was just not able to focus, but I was not able to figure it out.
Then, for a great-niece's birthday I wanted to make some adorable slippers that used this stitch, bought the pattern from Bonita Patterns and had no problem following her instructions.  I bought a few different patterns, I am hoping to do some winter accessories for myself before winter hits. 
If you do purchase, however, please note that I was automatically added to her mailing list, which is, btw, against Etsy's TOU's.  Instead of asking you to opt in, she considered buying the pattern as opting in.  It was easy enough to unsubscribe, but that is not the point.  Will this stop me from buying again?  Nope, but I will be sure to put something about this in my note to seller when checking out.
************
Forward about a half year, and a couple of friends tagged me in a post on FB.  Someone was looking for someone to crochet some owls that used this stitch, the owls were adorable, so I messaged her.  Never did hear back with a yes or a no thank you, but someone else in the same post commented that she would be interested.  I messaged that one, heard back right away, and wound up purchasing the pattern and completed these:

The pattern from CAROcreated(click on the picture to see the listing) is actually for an applique and calls for sport or fingering yarn for an owl app. 4" tall.  The customer wanted one a bit larger, for a wall, so I used worsted weight yarn and ended up with these, app. 7.5" tall.  The colour may be a bit off, the owl on the left is not purple, but grey.

Now, this pattern was fairly easy to follow, however, someone with less experience crocheting may have gotten confused:  I had to stop and reread at times because the pattern did not exactly follow standard format.  Instead of saying (example, this is *not* from the pattern) 2sc in 1st st, sc in 10, 2sc in last, it was 'increase, 10sc, increase'.  I did have some difficulty interpreting that and something like 'inc, 3sc, 1sc, 2sc', when I wasn't sure if the 2 were in one stitch.  Until I realized there were actually brackets:  'inc, (3sc) 1sc, 2sc' to show that the 3sc were all in one stitch.

Would I buy from this seller again?  Oh, yes! CAROcreated has some awesome looking parrots and some more appliques that I would love to work up!

Has it been *That* long??

I guess it has, last published Sept of 2014.   My how my poor blog has been neglected.
So, quick sum-up:
Still here.
Still crocheting (although not as much, sadly)
Working on a new pattern, though I have been working on it for months.  And I think I have misplaced my hand-written scribbles.
Finally going through some of my craft supplies, which was my New Year's Resolution.  Only took half a year...

I do have to be honest, though, I started out looking for a pattern that I am sure I still have, which I never did find.  Hey, if you happen to know which magazine (I am convinced it was one of the digest sized ones) or an online site where I can find it, feel free to comment:  it is a long potholder, crocheted using 2 or 3 strands of cotton held together.  One long piece, tapered at each end, with two short pieces, also tapered, that are joined at each end to form pockets for your hands to fit into.

Anyway, didn't find that, but did find some 'treasures' in a plastic bin I brought up to dig through.  Some baby dresses that I may work on at some point, some Hass Design patterns that I had forgotten about, and a few booklets that seem to be hard to find.  A couple of which are selling for considerably more than they did originally.  Finally, after seeing others discover such treasures, I have some myself. 
I started listing some on eBay, and some in my Etsy shop.
Crochet Ornament Toppers was one of the surprises, being unable to find many at all for sale, the one I did find is listed at almost $60 US.  Figured I'd try a bit lower on eBay and see if there are nibbles:

 

And one so far in my Etsy shop:

I have a week of "stay-cation", so am hoping to at least get through this bin.  It will be brutal, even after listing, that little voice in my head is whispering "Are you sure?  You might want to make these some day!"  I think you know how it is. 

September, Bring on Fall!

I can't complain too much about our summer.  Yes, some hot days, and yes, a slightly excessive amount of rain, which seemed more excessive due to a leaky roof.  Those days will soon be behind us, we've been approved for a short-term loan and are calling a roofer tomorrow.  Is it sad to be so excited about something as mundane as a roof? 

So far I'm not complaining too much about our late summer weather either (well, maybe the rain when it sneaks in and finds its way into my oldest's bedroom!), since it is cool without being too cool--although there was a morning or two when the heat was turned on just to take the chill off!

While outside enjoying the wonderful pre-autumn day, my mind wandered ahead to Hallowe'en and gorgeous full-fall weather.  Then it continued on to cooler weather in November, then December...and that S-word that shall not be mentioned here yet.  And I realized that the summer really did seem to fly by, that it hadn't seemed that long since we'd finally and with great relief were able to put the s*** shovels away, and the time spent with both my daughters home was over too soon when we drove our oldest back up to Ottawa.

With the fall weather, my creativity for some reason always seems to wake itself:  instead of wondering "what am I going to do????" I find myself wondering "what am I going to do first??"

Hopefully, I will have some time to create some new designs.  I have no idea how or why, but I've had many people join my facebook group where I've listed my free patterns.   It kinda puts the pressure on--in a GOOD way!--to thank them by coming up with more free patterns.