Mike Row has now visited a toilet seat museum and a little cache called Quacker State. The toilet seat museum is located in San Antonio in the garage of a Octogenarian (possibly Nonagenarian) ex-plumber who displays over 1000 decorated toilet seats. Quacker State is a mystery cache full of ducks... and the mystery is it's exact location... so who knows... Both of these caches are an easy day trip from where I live... so now I have a few interesting places for weekend trips. I can't wait to see where geocaching will take Mike next.

Buckeye Necklace I made this necklace by simply collecting buckeye pods and removing the seeds. We don't have the Ohio Buckeyes around here... I believe the pods I used came from a Mexican Buckeye tree. These trees actually aren't related... but the seeds look similar when removed from the pod. In folklore buckeye seeds are used a magical amulets and good luck charms. All I did was drill a small hole through the seeds and string them onto crotchet thread. I then simply did the chain stitch until the spot where I wanted the first seed to be. (about 40-50 chains) Then I slipped the seed into place and did a chain stitch around the seed and securing it in place. I continued crocheting 15-10 stitches in between seeds and then securing them in place until I had used all the seeds I wanted to use. Then I crochet the other side of the necklace (another 40-50 chains) before fastening off. This is a very adaptable pattern... if you can call it a pattern. I used 5 seeds on this one.....

I just made a new travel bug to send out. His name is Little Red Creature and his mission is to travel from geocache to geocache making people smile. I will probably drop him off soon and send him on his way.... so here are a few photos before he goes. I also have my first photo of Mike Row on his adventure. As far as I know he is still in Texas right now but soon he will be traveling to the Burning Man Festival. In the above photo Mike appears to be bait in a trap designed to trap geocachers. Cheers, Jenn

Materials F hook worsted weight yarn (I used cotton) tapestry needle Stitches: Ch - Chain Sl st - slip stitch SC - Single Crochet Inc - Single crochet 2 stitches into one SC 2tog - Single crochet two stitches together Round 1: SC 6 stitches into a magic ring. Pull tight (6) Round 2: *SC, Inc* repeat 3 times to complete round (9) Round 3: *SC, SC, Inc* repeat 3 times to complete round (12) Round 4 and 5: SC in each stitch around (12) Round 6: *SC, SC 2 tog* repeat 4 times to complete round (8) Round 7: *SC into next stitch, ch 8, SC into second stitch from the hook and the remaining 6 stitches* repeat this 8 times to make the legs. Sl st into the first stitch of the first leg and fasten off. Weave in ends and sew two eyes.

Today we set up a geocache and released two travel bugs. What is a travel bug you ask? You may even be asking what is a geocache ... Well here is the story. A few months ago I attended a Texas Parks and Wildlife class about geocaching . I was at my second BOW retreat (becoming and outdoors woman) and it was one of the offered class. I had heard of geocaching , but when I walked into the classroom I had no idea what to expect... I had no idea that this would become a new obsession for me and my family. What I found out was that geocaching is outdoor treasure hunting using a GPS device. It is done on a very large scale. People from all over the world hide containers, small and large, all over the place and then log the coordinates online for other people to find. You probably walk right by geocaches every day and have no idea that they are there. A travel bug is an item, any item, that you attach a special tag to that allows you to track it's progress (using a trac...

This is simply a smaller version of my Spring Break Frisbee . I wanted to make something small that would fit into medium size geocache containers and yet still fly. This is what I came up with. You can use two strands of any worsted weight yarn. I made my sample projects with cotton, but feel free to experiment with other fibers. This cute little flyer fits into the palm of your hand and can still fly as far as it's big brother. It is a fast little project... and if your dog won't fetch it... it would make a fine beret for a smaller breed. You can make this in a single color by holding two strands of the same color together, but I prefer the look of two color. It is also an excellent way to remove the cob webs from those hard to reach corners... just aim and let it fly! For this project you'll need: Size K hook 2 worsted weight yarns. Tapestry needle for weaving in the ends Round 1: Holding 2 strands together and using the K hook use the magic ring method to SC 6 int...

For Makeover Monday I made a gift basket for a friend. I whipped up a couple of cool natural beauty aids in the kitchen: Oatmeal bath, lavender linen spray, lavender bath powder, and an herbal massage oil. I then designed this quick little pattern for a facial scrubbing pad based on a washcloth pattern that I'm fond of. I simple combined single crochet stitch with the triple to create a textured surface... Here is what I did. Use an F or G hook and worsted weight cotton yarn. Round 1-Make a magic ring and then crotchet 6 into the ring. Round 2-SC and TR into each stitch around for a total of 12 stitches (6 single and 6 triple). Round 3-( SC into next stitch, SC twice into next) repeat all the way around for 18 SC. Round 4- (SC into next, TR into next, SC and TR into the next) repeat all the way around for a total of 24 (12SC and 12 TR) Round 5- (SC into next 3 stitches, SC two stitches into the next) repeat all the way around for a total of 30 SC. Slip stitch into next two SC...