Friday, April 06, 2012


My grandma used to crochet or finger weave wired hangers. I loved it. Crocheted hangers help to keep wire hangers from leaving creases in your clothes...plus, they are pretty. I know that the alternative would be to buy plastic hangers rather than wire hangers. But, in my case, I married into them. For some reason, my husband had mostly wire hangers when we got married, I couldn't stand the thought of chucking them...but didn't want to use them either. So, I reclaimed them with some crocheting.

Conveniently, I also had some double strand yarn at that time that I was having a hard time working with. The crocheted hanger turned out to be the perfect solution.



To start the hanger, I tied the end of the yarn on the opposite side of the hanger from where I was going to be starting. I then used a single crochet around the hanger using an over-under with the loop and yarn so that the hanger would be encased.



I originally crocheted the entire hanger, including the hook. I used hot glue to anchor the end of the yarn at tip of the hook when I was done. I'd leave about a half inch of bare hanger at the end of the hook, ran a line of hot glue down that portion, and wrapped the loose yarn around the hook to finish it off.

Towards the end of my project, I started trying to conserve yarn. So, instead of crocheting the entire hanger, I covered only the body of the hanger and left the hook bare.



I've also experimented with spacing. The convenient thing about that is now I have some close-up photos of the single chain wrapped around the hanger.





With the hook left bare, the hot glue needs to be used at the joint of the hanger to finish of the hanger. I still used the hot glue...it works so well at securing the yarn and finishing the project...plus it makes me feel crafty!



I'm out of wire hangers, now...I feel torn about it. I'm glad to be rid of the wire hangers forever...but now I don't have a fall-back project. I'll have to move on to a new expression of my craftiness! :)


So, I realized that to validate my post on pintrest, I needed a blog post about it.

I fancy myself improvisational in the kitchen, and these venison and butternut squash meatballs are evidence of that.

We are in the process of preparing to move. So, a few weeks ago, I was trying to use up some of my frozen vegetable purees by doing some "Deceptively Delicious" baking. However, supper time came around, and I had promised my husband spaghetti and meatballs. I had used up all the eggs.

Vegetable purees are perfect for providing moisture and cohesion and butternut squash turned out to be the perfect compliment to the venison. I used about 1 and a half cups of butternut squash puree with 1 pound of venison. I added my usual dry oats, crackers, crushed red pepper, garlic salt, minced onion, and worcestershire sauce. Then, since I was going out on a limb anyway, I went big and added some rosemary.

It was awesome. These meatballs tasted moist and earthy...the red pepper gave it just a little zing and the rosemary made them a delicious complement in a variety of pasta dishes.

I loved them with the spaghetti and marinara, but with penne noodles and olive oil and herbs, delicious! Anyway, I'm afraid I don't have more specifics on the recipe...but I think the more important thing is have fun in the kitchen and don't be afraid to try something new. Yum!