Me and Chief

Here is me and Chief at Totter-Otterville. His school had a fieldtrip. It's actually inside a toy store. This is him telling me that he's hungry and he can't wait for our turn to have lunch. So what do mom's do when the child is bored and grumpy? We go through our purse to find whatever will entertain. I found the camera, and it bought us 5 more minutes!

I've got some exciting projects coming down the pipeline my friends! I can't wait to tell you about them. There's a little Alpaca coming, a little linen, a little wool, a little corn fiber! Fun stuff!

What else is new? My elbow is giving me the twinges just a bit. I had been working with an "E" hook feverishly for days, so I took a break and went to a lovely, voluptuous "L" hook. Ahhh, my elbow said, what a nice change. My favorite hook is an "I" or maybe a "J", anything smaller than a "G" feels like a stretch.

Me Crocheting

Yep, it's me, crocheting. A typical afternoon in our household. The cat was reluctantly willing to sit next to me after pushing him off my lap several times.

This is that TLC Cotton Plus I showed you a photo of awhile back, so it's an in-process photo.

Sneak Peek

I can hear you yelling into your computer, "Go! Go! Go!" , so here's another sneak peek from the vault.

What was that? you said? Sneak Peek

What? You said you want more unsung sneak peeks from 2006 that still have not seen the light of day? Ok, here you are!

Still Waiting some more....

Really, these were designs that should have been published over a year ago. Here's another sneak peek of one of the 8 that are still on deck.

Congratulations to my pal, Robyn Chachula, who among other great things in her future, now has her first Book available for pre-order with Amazon. Published by Interweave Press, her book includes symbols for instructions and should be a real ground-breaking book in the crochet world. Check out her blog at Crochet by Faye for the press release and further information, or look on the right margin for My new 'Favorites' Book list, scroll through the pages, you'll find Robyn's book and other great crochet books.

Still Waiting....

Another sneak peek back from 2006.... Where are these designs? Are they sitting in storage somewhere gathering dust, unnoticed, unloved, unable to speak for themselves. They would say, "I'm here! I'm ready for my close up!" alas, I wish I still owned them so that I could show them to you.

Waiting...

I'm getting better about waiting...really. However, I sold several designs in 2006 that have never seen the light of day! I feel sad that they have not gotten the attention they deserve! yes, I've been paid, but no one has seen them, ever! What a waste! Probably, some of the yarns have been discontinued by now. Ugh. Why does this make me sad? Here is a sneak peek of one of them, maybe that will make me feel better.

Internet Radio Show

Author, crochet and knit designer Mary Beth Temple is hosting a new internet talk radio show on CROCHET!!! YaY! It's first episode is today, 4/22/8, click here for more information. I'm going to be listening in! She's got great guests lined up, Amy O'Neill Houck, Doris Chan, and Crocheting With Dee's Dee Stanziano are all scheduled.

Myra Wood's new book

Myra Wood has a gorgeous new book out, and here it is.

Creative Crochet Lace: A Freeform Look at Classic Crochet (Paperback)by Myra Wood (Author), Woodworks Editions (Editor). The photography is great, using a variety of beautifully sized models. I enjoyed her explanations of the different types of freeform crochet. I can totally see now, how some of these freeform projects are 'built'. It really opened my mind to construction possibilities. I also was happily surprised by the brief profiles of other freeform crochet artists in the back. Very cool. Great job Myra! It's a beautiful book.

Sneak peek

A teeny sneak peek at a teeny project. Good news and bad news, my friends. The Bad news is that I won't be able to go to the Chain Link in July in NH after all. The Good news is that the reason I can't go is because, I'm TOO BUSY with Crochet! Woohoo. More details to come.

Sneak Peek

Ok, this isn't really fair is it? It's a Sneaky Sneak Peek. yep, it's a "FreeForm" project! And you'll never guess how these scrumbles are going to come together. Want to learn more about FreeForm? On the right, under Great Sites to See, go visit Myra Wood and Margaret Hubert, or Google Prudence Mapstone. All three of them are also on Ravelry.

WOOOOAAAAHHHH, we just had an earthquake! Literally. Let's go see what damage that did to our cliff! First, the power went out at like 2:30am and was off until 4:00, the kids woke up, both upset without their night lights. Then we finally all get back to sleep and about 5:30am the house started shaking. My DH, the architect, gets up to feel the walls. It was about 180 miles from here. I don't think we have any damage, I'll go ask the construction workers who are fixing our road later.

quotes. I must be destined for greatness haha

Albert Schweitzer:
Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.

I must be destined for greatness, because I love, love, love crochet. When I first started designing professionally, one of our friends asked me, "Won't crocheting for a business kill your love for it?" and I said, "nope, I love everything about it, and I don't even mind most of the business tasks". And it's still true. I remember as a kid I would play "office" where I would make up forms, and staple stuff and file stuff... of course my Mom was a secretary. Anyway, all that practice has come in handy, because I do indeed make forms, and staple stuff and file stuff.

Quick! Back to work, the Supervisor is watching!

Berroco

I thought that I wasn't a fan of Berroco yarns. I was wrong. I had always associated Berroco yarns with novelty yarns, of which I am not a huge fan. I, again, was wrong. I'm sorry Berroco. You have beautiful yarns and here's three of them to prove it. Love It Is a Cotton/Acrylic/Polyester Blend, very nice.

Berroco Pure Merino
Is also very nice with 100% Extra Fine Merino wool. The Cranberry colored sneak peek is the Pure Merino DK weight. but the actual finished item for publication is in a different yarn, this one is for ME! WooHoo!

Ravelry: browse patterns for knit and crochet

Ravelry: browse patterns for knit and crochet

Now what would happen if I published This?

Note, on the left, if it comes up, is the most active recent patterns on Ravelry, and what is on #5? Hmmm, the Tunisian Lace Ascot! yay!

Thanks for letting me experiment.

Alpaca!

Ooooh, all together now "Ahhh"... This yarn is fantastic. It is 100% Alpaca, it's called "Royal" from Blue Sky Alpacas. I admit, I left it in it's hanks and petted it lovingly for a couple weeks before I finally wound it into usable balls. Isn't it gorgeous? I wish your computer had "feel-o-vision" so you could feel how soft it is. I haven't made anything with it, it deserves just the right project. Maybe a scarf or a shawl, or a shrug, something that hugs the skin and is for pure luxury. It is put up in 100g/288yd hanks and it's small, 6-7 stitches per inch, so smaller than a sportweight. At $39.00 per hank (eeek) the right special project is a must. You can buy it online here at River Colors Yarn Studio I have never bought items from them before, but they have some great lines of yarn, so if you buy from them, drop me a line and tell me how your experience was.

quotes for success Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln:
Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing.

Of course, when you're a cat, and what you want more than anything is the sticky tab stuck to Ellen's crochet instructions, what's most important is, oh never mind, he lost interest.

See, this is what you get when I'm not quite ready to share more sneak peeks, you get cat photos. Never fear, more sneak peeks are on the way later this month.

cliff, no cliff...

Allow me to go off-topic today. We live on a cliff. Really, a cliff. We got record rain in March, leading to the edge of the road, guard rail, and trees to fall...down the cliff.... anyway, repair crews have arrived. Here is a view from my front porch

And here's what it looks like if you are standing next to one of those orange traffic barrels,

That muddy thing off in the distance is the Ohio River. Pretty wild, huh?

Crocheting on the Cliff

Another crochet get-together on the cliff! A few of my neighbors and I have been getting together once a month for a little cheese and crackers, a little crafting, a little show and tell! It's been so much fun! Kay (in the near white) already knows how to crochet and is making my Sunny Spread from Crochet Today Remember how I told you the day I met her she brought in that pattern saying it was the reason she bought the issue, and she had no idea that I lived in the area, designed the pattern and that we would meet mere days later? How cool is that?

On the couch is Dottie and Mo, both of whom are excellent sewers and crafters. I am teaching both of them to crochet (yay!). Dottie is also the senior trick water-skier of the United States at 70+. She is way cool. Mo is in accounting and uses her free time to volunteer with her Church. You all are so much fun!

Surprise Web site

Here's something you may not know, I visit the following website almost every single time I write a pattern. What could it be? Yarnstandards, yes, but not this time.

I go to Manuel's Web No, it's not scary, yes, your kids can view it, it won't get you in trouble at work.... it's a conversion site that helps me convert inches to cm! Exciting, huh? Maybe not, but very useful. Like I said, I have this site bookmarked and I refer to it every time I write a pattern when I am writing the sizing and gauge sections of my patterns.

Swatching for swimwear

First, here's a better photo of the Summertime Tote, published in Crochet Today May/June2008. It's their photo, way better than mine!

Swatching for swimwear is a little different than swatching for regular crocheted items. Here is how I do it:

1. I make a swatch

2. I trace it's size on graph paper in PENCIL (instead of measuring, it doesn't have to be perfect)

2. I weigh it on a cheap kitchen scale.

3. I make a note of it's "dry weight" on the graph paper.

4. I wash the swatch in cold water, delicate and leave it damp (don't dry it).

5. I weigh it wet and note it on the graph paper.

6. I trace it's size over the top of it's first tracing, this time I use pen or a different color pencil and note how much it shrunk or grew while wet.

7. I note if it seemed to lose any color.

8. I take an intuitive measure of "how heavy" it feels in my hand compared to it's size. (You know how fine China should feel light compared to how big it is...same goes)

9. Then I lay it flat on a towel to air dry.

10. After an hour, I go check to see how much it dried in an hour (imagine sitting on a beach, I'm wondering how long it would take to dry off. Too bad I can't factor in the sun!)

Then I make a decision, "Is this something I'd be willing to wear in public, in the water, or is this something that I would only sunbathe in?"

Hmm, anyone out there actually worn a crochet swim suit in the water? Tell me what happened!