A crocheter is born!

It's so exciting to watch a friend become a crocheter! Our neighbor, Stephanie, took my Annie's online class, Learn to Crochet, and now has made 6 projects including 3 afghans.

 

 I'm so proud. Here is the yarn she has chosen for her next project, a blanket for herself. Go Stephanie!

Random Cat Photo

Charlie, clean sheets, and a corner of an Erin Lane Bag.

Dog and Cat Sitting

 Pepper

 Oliver

and Sonny

Swatching

Random swatching

Working at the bar...

No, not that kind of bar.  (Although, truth be told, a great deal of business happens at the bar at TNNA...).

I'm wondering if I were to move the computer to our kitchen bar... if I would:

A. Use better posture
B. Stay on task
C. Be disgusted by the state of my kitchen and be more likely to clean it.
D. Be distracted by the fridge and eat more snacks.
E. Maybe I would drink more water because I would have less fear of Minnie drinking out of my cup.

Where is your best place to crochet productively?

Row Counter tool. You'll want this.

Look at this cool row counter that Susan Bates sent me.  You wear it on your finger (it's very comfortable) and you click the big button every time you complete a row. You push the small button to start over at zero.

I like it!  And it's under $5. Sometimes when I am running, I run laps around the park... and I get lost in thought and forget how many laps I have run.  I could wear this for running too!  I love it when my worlds collide.

How do you keep track of your rows when crocheting?

Random Chicken photo

This is Scuttle. She is adorable and little. She makes a funny little clucky synchronized with each step she waddles.

Chickens are getting more popular I think. Do you have chickens or know a neighbor who does?

Crochet in the Wild

I'm not sure how I feel about handmade crocheted items being sold at Target.  Chickee spotted these the other day. I like that there is a demand for crochet but I wonder who did the stitching and did they get adequate compensation. 

How do you feel about it?

Wild Strawberries

I'm not sure how these strawberries got to the middle of our yard, but there they are!

Are you into gardening? I'm not, but I have fond memories of having a raspberry bush in our back yard growing up. My dad and I tried to grow strawberries (on purpose) but the bunnies kept eating them.

Chief's orthodontist has massage chairs...

Oh my goodness.
At the orthodontist in the waiting room, they have massage chairs.  I had to resist the urge to sigh happily.

Do you think they will mind if I drop by even when Chief doesn't have an appointment?

National Donut Day (it was June 5)

I may have missed National Running Day, but I definitely did NOT miss National Donut Day.

There was a line out the door at the Bizy Bee Bakery.  Luckily the baker made a mistake and accidentally put chocolate frosting on the jelly donuts instead of vanilla.  (Oh darn!)  NOT!  Win-win for me! The best of both worlds. I bought 3. Chief ate 2.

Then I went and ran 4 miles.

Did you celebrate National Donut Day this year?  I love donuts... they're like portable fried cake.  Oh, wait...

National Running Day

Can you believe I missed it? It was Wednesday June 3rd, the first Wednesday in June. I knew it was happening but I just couldn't get out that day.

Did you run for national running day?

Maybe at least run an errand?

Maybe you ran a stocking?

Maybe you ran out of energy?

TNNA wrap up!

Swatching with KnitCircus yarn and a Tulip hook with an Erin Lane Bag.

 

Chocolate cake with Rebecca. Did I show you this already? it's worth seeing again.

I also got in a quick run while I was there. 

TNNA Dinner sponsor products

Mango Moon Chakra

Miss Babs samples

 



Mode Knit Yarn

 

Red Heart Soft

 



Red Heart Sparkle Soft

 



Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable

 

Susan Bates Knit Clips

Valley Yarns

 

Willow Yarns, daily.  (Yes, I started playing with this one already...)

 

 I should have spaced all these products out to just one a day! I would have been set for blog posts for a month!

TNNA more products!

TNNA More products

Erin Lane Bags!

 KnitCircus yarn

 

 

 Eucalan wash

 

Green Mountain Spinnery

Happy Fuzzy Yarn

TNNA the show, more, more, more

 Marly Bird was debuting her new book, Cold Weather Crochet, which is available for pre-order. The items you see are all hers.  Great job, Marly!

TNNA the show... more!

Susie Allen and I stopped at North Market for lunch on Saturday.

 

A few friends went to Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream for an afternoon snack. A little trivia... what flavor did I get? Take your guess in the comments. Are you ready? I'm about to name drop... hold on to your seats...  On the left in the purple, is the smart and sassy Lindsay Martin, owner of Erin Lane Bags, in black, Marly Bird, designer, teacher, author, podcaster and great friend. Behind Marly with the windswept hair is the fantastically calm and organized (and hilarious), Jolene. (Only one name is needed to know her!). Continuing clockwise across the table, is Mama Bear, one tough lady in a short little Texas package, Rebecca Velasquez, Wearing the Bruges Multi Shawl... her own design in Manos Del Uruguay Serena... Linda Dean! 

Short pictorial interruption here...

Bruges Multi shawl.  Awesome, huh? 

 

And last but not least, in the right front is rockin' Ron Miskin, owner of Buffalo Wool Company ...  I am now the proud owner of a hank of this luscious fiber and hope to tell you more about it at another time.

 

 

TNNA... the show

Here I am knitting a spell with my new friend, designer Susie Allen in the Colinette Yarns booth.  (So freaking fun!) Go to their website and see a fun video of two ladies making a blanket with these needles. They were heavy! Can you see the diameter of the yarn? It was like as thick as a bratwurst.

Ah, the lunch of champions. Dashing around from meeting to meeting I grabbed a quick pretzel and a strawberry/banana smoothie.  So tasty. I will not feel guilty, this meal got me through.  I also got to eat some awesome farfalle pasta with an alfredo tomato sauce for lunch the next day at the North Market.  Hello Garlic!

Dinner ended with the traditional Max & Erma's epic chocolate cake with my super pal, Rebecca Velasquez. Rebecca is the designer of the spectacular Clearwater tank on the cover of the current issue of Crochet! 

TNNA recap more, more!

 Here are some of the lovely products and great sponsors to Marly's Designer Dinner at TNNA this year. The purpose of the swag is so that we can try out the products and tell you about them! I haven't had time to play with many of them yet but they are worth listing!

The Boye Knit Loom (they have many different shapes and sizes). I'm going to see if Chief might enjoy this because he enjoyed a weaving project at school. He might like using a tool instead of just needles for knitting.

 Clover knitting needles. I was happy to receive these because I like the "grab" that bamboo needles give to the yarn so that it doesn't just slide right off.

 Brown Sheep, Lamb's Pride Superwash Sport.   All great features of yarn in one ball, made in the USA!

Chappy's knitting stitch markers. They sure are pretty!

 The Chic-a gadget tray.  I already have a few of their drawstring bags and find them to be very high quality.

Classic Elite offered a few yarns in a clever little bag. Inca Alpaca and Fresco.

More this week and next!