Thursday, December 22, 2016

Review: Giovanni Goes To Med School (The Med School Series 1) by Kathy Bryson

I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.


29604865Title: Giovanni Goes To Med School
Published:  March 23, 2016
Format: eBook
Buy the Book




Everyone knows zombies aren’t real, no matter how fun. You don’t have to be a med student to know the dead do not get up and walk around in real life. Anyone who’s buried a pet in the backyard knows the dead don’t walk. They don’t even lurch.
So Giovanni is stunned when his patient sits up in the morgue and starts scolding. The night-shift was supposed be a relief, a chance to study in quiet and off-set ridiculous student loans. Babysitting a huge dog and a dead voodoo mambo were not part of the plan. Now he’s got to convince an unbelieving medical community to take action, so he can get back to learning about the dead – not the undead!

Friday, December 9, 2016

FREE Crochet Pattern: Ponytail Hat




I'm sure you guys have seen the ponytail beanie making its rounds on Facebook. It looks like a simple DC beanie with a HDC brim. These are almost always worked from the brim up (to date I have only seen this done a different way but it seem more of a hassle than anything)

I am NOT a pattern writer. I usually fudge it until it comes out how I want it. A friend wanted this beanie so instead of paying for a pattern I thought I would wing it and share my results and pattern with you!

Trial and error LOL I edited this as I went along so this could change. I'll also be adding pictures for you. I only have a few right now but I'll add more as I go along.

Materials
Size 7 Hook (If you don't have that, go with an H)
1 skein of Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable
(or any worsted weight but this may change the size of the hat. In which case, go down a hook size)
Needle for weaving in ends

For the brim:

Chain 12
Row 1: HDC in the second chain from the hook and in each across. I like to put the stitches in the back hump of the chains. When you turn it over this is what you'll see. This makes it easier to stitch your brim together at the end.You'll see in the second image that there are "braids" on both the top and bottom of the stitches. You can do foundation crochet too but I don't like it. (Just a preference)

Row 2-56: Chain 2, turn, HDC through both loops (the red arrows) on ONLY the first and last stitch of each row. All the other stitches in between will be back loop only (the blue arrow). Repeat row 2 until you get 56 rows.
 This is what two rows of HDC should look like.

Your brim should measure about 16 1/2 inches long. If it's too long/short, you can adjust the hook size or add/subtract rows. I suggest the hook size so your math wont be messed up.



Stitch both ends together with slip stitches across. You'll insert your hook through all four loops, yarn over and pull through all 5 loops.
  Flip the brim so the stitching is on the inside of the hat.


For the hat, you'll be working in the top of each row of the brim.
Hat:
Row 1: Chain 1 and SC in the next stitch. Crochet 70 SC evenly across brim. I like to crochet 1 in the top of each row and add a SC increase every 4th stitch (two SC into the same stitch). Slip stitch into the first SC of the round. 


Row 2-8: CH 2, DC in the same stitch and in every stitch around. (70 DC) and SL ST into the top of the 1st DC. DO NOT TURN! This is worked like you would in the round but without the ugly seam. Repeat DC row to desired height (I made mine 8 rows high) 

Row 9: CH 2, DC in the same stitch and in the next 7 stitches. DC2tog over the 9th and 10th stitches. Repeat this around. You should have 63 DC for this row.

Row 10: CH 2, DC in the same stitch and in every stitch around. (63 DC) and SL ST into the top of the 1st DC. (You can repeat this row if you want it a bit higher)

Row 11: CH 1, SC in the same stitch and in every stitch around. (63 SC) SL ST into the top of the 1stSC.

Fasten off and weave in ends 

Please let me know if you have any questions. I'm more than happy to walk you through it! 

Leave a comment below and let me know how you did on your hat!






Thursday, December 1, 2016

Review: Heart on the Devil’s Sleeve (Miki Radicci Book 7/Tenebrous Chronicles) by: M.E. Purfield

I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

This book may be unsuitable for people under 17 years of age due to its use of sexual content, drug and alcohol use, and/or violence.

25674066
Title: Heart on the Devil’s Sleeve (Miki Radicci Book 7/Tenebrous Chronicles)
Pages: 142
Published: May 28, 2015
Format: ebook





In the seventh book of M.E. Purfield’s urban noir series, Miki Radicci tries to make sense of a string of murders while wading through the lies and myths of her crime-ridden family.
Just as teen psychic and art protégé Miki Radicci is able to get back to work on her art, Federal Marshals knock on her door. No, they are not there for her but for her uncle Tony who recently escaped from prison. Having no idea what is going on, she tries to contact her grandfather who’s been out of town helping a sick friend. But he’s not there. He was never there.

Miki does a little digging in her grandfather’s life and all she can find is a list of doctors deep in psychic research and half of which have been brutally murdered.

With help of her best friends Gray and Miranda, Miki tracks down her family and discovers that they are not what they seem and all the assumptions of her past are wrong.