Cafè au Lait T - Shirt

This top has been very popular and the pattern is written for sizes small to 3x. It's worked into 2 pieces and seamed at the sides and shoulders, and finished off with  a single crochet edging on the hem, sleeve and neck edge.

Cafe au Lait T-Shirt in Colorful Crochet Lace by Mary Jane Hall

I used a # 2 fingering yarn, Knit Picks Comfy Fingering. I love Knit Picks yarns because they have great prices and a wide variety of colors. This particular cotton yarn is very soft. 

See the top in other colors below by Coleen, whom I met on Ravelry. I love the colors she chose! Please, by all means post your pictures on Ravelry and link to me as the designer. I love seeing what you all have done. Sometimes I like yours better than my original!

Great Job  Colleen! Love the color and it looks great on you!

Love this color too Colleen!

There are some corrections to the pattern here on this blog and also here at the Interweave Press website.

Food Intolerance Symptoms

 I've written about my wheat and dairy food intolerance before, but just in case anyone is wondering if they have a food intolerance, I found a great article on the symptoms. It's amazing how many problems we had with our health is related to food we eat! I know, because I have experienced it and when I go off foods I'm intolerant of, I feel much better! 

This is a great article! By the way, many main stream doctors aren't taught these things. I've had to find out on my own for 40 years why I've experienced certain things! Let me know if you have any questions. In 1998 I finally went to a homeopathic Dr who have me a food intolerance test. They do it through your blood. The allergy tests you may have had before where they prick your skin, is not for food intolerances. That test is for allergies to dust, animals, etc, which is different. Please read this article! You'll be surprised!

Symptoms of Food Intolerances

https://www.rachaelroehmholdt.com/how-do-you-know-if-you-have-a-food-intolerance/

Favorite Broccoli Casserole

My family always requests that I make this Broccoli casserole for Thanksgiving or Christmas. A friend, Mary Osborne, gave me the recipe in the 80's and I've been fixing it for years. I always double this for a larger group and there is NEVER any left!

Broccoli Casserole 

Preheat oven to 350º 

Serves 6-8

2 -10 oz boxes frozen broccoli or 1 bunch fresh broccoli, steamed 

2 sticks butter (1 cup)

1 lb ORIGINAL Velveeta cheese, in small cubed (16 oz, which is ½ large box)

2 rolls Ritz or Town House crackers, crushed. You'll be putting half the cracker crumbs on the bottom of the casserole, as well as on top. I like Town House best!

 Thaw broccoli at room temperature or in the microwave (but do not cook!) and squeeze out the water. Melt 1 stick butter in soup pot on LOW heat. Add cubed cheese. After adding cheese keep it on very low heat and keep stirring, because if you don't, the cheese will burn on the bottom & the whole dish will be ruined. (even on on low heat).  

After cheese is melted add thawed broccoli (with water squeezed out). OR add fresh steamed broccoli if you're using that.  Stir to coat the broccoli with the cheese mixture. Remove from heat. Melt the other stick of butter and add to the crushed crackers. Stir to coat crackers. Spread half the crumbs on the bottom of a 13"x9" oven safe dish that is been sprayed with oil. Pour the broccoli/cheese mixture on top of the cracker crumbs and spread it all over. Then spread other half of cracker crumbs on top of the broccoli. 

Bake for 15 minutes at 350º. This is easy to cook too long, especially if you're using a glass pan. But you want to make sure it's heated all the way through. There have been times I didn't let the frozen broccoli thaw enough and it was still cold when I mixed it with the cheese. 

You can thaw the broccoli in the microwave for a couple of minutes, but you just dont want to cook it, because to me, there's nothing worse than overcooked broccoli! On the other hand, if you're using fresh broccoli, you don't want to mix it in the cheese raw, or it won't be done after baking in the oven. That's why I steam it first. When in the oven you're basically just heating it and toasting the crackers.

I hope you enjoy this! Let me know if you have any questions.

 

German Chocolate Microwave Cake

If you need a quick dessert and don't have a clue what to fix, then this is the dessert for you! I don't normally fix desserts unless I have someone over for dinner. You'll be surprised at how quick and easy this is. It only takes a couple of minutes to stir everything into the microwave container, then you cook it in the microwave for only 10 minutes! That's it!

German Chocolate Microwave 
Dump Cake

I learned how to make this microwaved dump cake when I was Supervisor for Gifts by House of Lloyd, which also included Christmas Around the World and Cookin', similar to Pampered Chef. It was pretty cool that I could offer all 3 parties to my hostesses. If a hostess choose to have a Cookin' party, I would always make something for her friends to eat while demonstrating the kitchen items we offered. We had a cookbook full of quick and delicious recipes and I would let the hostess choose whether she wanted me to make a main dish, such as a pizza, a Taco Ring, Chicken Broccoli Braid or one of our delicious decedent desserts. This cake was one of them they'd often choose.

At the time I was doing that (in the 1990's), we made this cake in our microwave Rice Cooker, but I no longer have that and was trying to find a bowl or other container to cook it in. Then I realized I have a microwave pop corn popper and it was perfect for making this cake. I hope you enjoy it!

German Chocolate Dump Cake

Ingredients:

1 box Super Moist German Chocolate Cake Mix

1 cup water

1 cup sour cream

3 eggs

1 can Coconut Pecan Frosting

1 cartoon Cook Whip or ice cream

Put dry cake mix, water, sour cream and eggs in rice cooker or any microwaveable glass or plastic bowl. (I used my microwave pop corn popper). Mix well with spoon or whisk. Put Coconut Pecan Frosting on top of uncooked cake.  Microwave without lid for 10-15 minutes. Check with toothpick for doneness.
Note: it cooked only in 10 minutes in my microwave, which is 1200 watts, I believe. Cake will keep cooking after you taker it out  so do NOT overcook. Let stand for 15 minutes. Invert on plate and serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
Note:
I checked the cake after 8 minutes just to see how it was doing, but it was still gooey on top.
As you can see by my pictures, I did not invert it into a plate. The icing goes to the bottom of the bowl while cooking, so when you invert it, the icing will be on top!

Another Tip: if you'd like to make the German Chocolate coconut frosting from scratch, (which is better of course) go here to find that recipe by Pampered Chef. Picture above, showing the icing on top,  belongs to the person at this link.

Bohemian Style Purse - Free Crochet Patten

Bohemian Style Purse
Free Crochet Pattern by
Mary Jane Hall

This Bohemian Style Shoulderbag (see pattern below) is another one of the patterns I created for Hobby Lobby a few years ago. These  were given as a free pattern to customers, hoping they would purchase the Hobby Lobby yarn I used to create the design. Really, you could use just about any yarn to make this purse, but keep in mind,  if you are a beginner, using a smaller weight yarn than this bulky yarn I used would make a smaller purse. Or if you want a larger bag than this, you could use extra bulky yarn or even work the pattern with 2 strands of yarn together.

This is a super easy beginner pattern, and the tassels make it fun! Actually it reminds me of the purses from the 70's. Or if you want to make it look more like a colorful "Hippie Bag", it would be cool to crochet each row (or round) in a different vibrant color!

I probably would not have chosen a fuzzy yarn for this, but I had to come up with designs using  yarns Hobby Lobby headquarters sent me. Most of the yarn they sent was furry or fuzzy. I figured they wanted to showcase yarns that weren't selling as well.

I did 7 designs for their tear sheets and at one time Hobby Lobby had all the free patterns online, but they no longer have those posted. So that's why I am adding the free pattern here. The bag is worked in the round, having less seams to sew. Hopefully you will
be able to print this pattern. 

This pattern is copyrighted, so please do not sell the pattern. You are welcome to sell your projects made from this pattern.

Difference Between Crochet and Knitting

I have been wanting to do a post on this, but I found this article that is pretty good. I am not positive and am still researching, but I believe there are more crocheters now than there are knitters. I know how to knit, but I like crocheting so much better than knitting. It's just more fun and faster to me! I'm sure everyone is different though. I learned to crochet before I learned to knit when I was 18. One thing about it was I noticed it's much easier to find your stitch in crochet than knitting if you drop a stitch. And I like that! I love the look of knitting  but also love the look of crochet lace. It's so much fun and addicting!

While I'm still researching, in the meantime you might want to read this article at The Spruce Crafts. If you have anything to add you think might be helpful please let me know.

The Spruce Crafts:
https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/differences-between-knitting-and-crochet-4077447

Flower Motif Scarf and Hat - Free Crochet Pattern

Flower Motif  Scarf and Hat 
Free Crochet Pattern by 
Mary Jane Hall

This scarf and Hat set is one of the patterns I created for Hobby Lobby a few years ago after they contacted me about doing designs to appear on their "tear sheets" in all 900 of their stores.  This was such an honor! These  were given as a free pattern to customers, hoping they would purchase the Hobby Lobby yarn I used to create the design.

I was kind of limited as to my creativity, because they would pick out the yarn and send it to me, saying to use those yarns to design something. Most of the yarn they sent was furry or fuzzy. I figured they wanted to showcase yarns that weren't selling as well.

I did 7 designs for their tear sheets and at one time Hobby Lobby had all the free patterns online, but they no longer have those posted. So that's why I am adding the free pattern here.  It is basically 6-petal flowers, connected together to form a scarf or hat with an edging in a different color. Hopefully you will
be able to print it out. As soon as I can, I will try to post a better picture. I want to say thank you to Alyssa Denen for modeling this for me. 

This pattern is copyrighted, so please do not sell the pattern, but you are welcome to sell your projects made from this pattern.

Crochet Curlique Projects

My "Candy Colored Bracelet" - this Fun Pattern is in the Book, Positively Crochet! - A Book with 50 Crochet Patterns. What A Bargin! Available on Amazon and EBay

I think one of the most unique and fun crochet stitches ever is the crochet curlique. Some people call it a spiral. I have a curlique scarf pattern in 2 of my Kooler Design/Leisure Arts booklets. The first one is Crochet Young and Trendy, published in June 2005. An editor at Leisure Arts told me later that booklet "sailed across the charts that first year". Then in 2015 they did a 2nd printing of that same booklet and titled it Crochet Fashions, but with a different project on the front cover. (A red poncho). This stitch is especially fun for a beginner! I love the fun curlique bracelet with the crochet balls and beads shown above in that first picture. Scroll down to see more curlique projects.

Working The Curlique

The way to work the spiral is to make a chain about 4"- 5" long, adding an inch or two to the length, and when you turn to work the first row, put 2 sc in the second chain from hook, and in each remaining chain across. It will magically start to curl on its on. If you want it to be even curlier, put 3 sc in each stitch instead of 2. You can do the same using all hdc or working dc into the chain. But only work 1 row and then end it off. Your hook size will also determine how tight or loose the curlique will be. If you've never done this, you should try making a curlique now. I promise, you'll be hooked! And I'm sure you can come up with projects of your own. 

Curlique Hair Tie
by Mary Jane Hall

I made the curlique hair ornament with a round stretchy hair thingy. You know what they are! These are cute to wear with a ponytail. 

Another fun, quick project using the curlique would be to make it into a key chain. When a beginner is learning to crochet, I think it is imperative that they have an actual project to work on, rather than sending them home to make a long chain. They will get more excited to be making quick projects they can make for themselves or as a gift for others. This will keep them motivated.

Curlique Key Chain
By Mary Jane Hall

All Curls Scarf
By Mary Jane Hall
Pattern is in Crochet Young and Trendy and Crochet Fashions
(Available on eBay and Amazon)

All Curls Scarf
by Mary Jane Hall