CGOA Design Contest

I just went to the CGOA site and my design entry did not win anything this year. Go to Doris Chan's blog to see photos of the winning entries. They are fantastic!!  I am very happy for everyone who did win. Oh well, I am not out anything for trying.  I did however hear from an unnamed editor of an unnamed magazine who would like me to send her some photos and a proposal for the unnamed article.  How is that for telling you a whole lot of nothing.  I cannot share anything more about it now but if it does happen to get somewhere in the future you can say "Hey, I vaguely remember her not telling us about this!"  Hopefully more info to come......

Anyone else cold???

Fall is really here!  I knew it was coming and was not surprised the first time the radiators kicked on, I have also put the extra comforter on the bed, started wearing socks, put the sandals away for the season and pulled the AC out of the window.  I have also been looking at patterns for sweaters and feeling yarn, thinking could I wear this against my skin all day?  It is funny to me that when we as fiber people, I include knitters, weavers, crocheters, spinners,etc, feel cold we start to think about making a sweater or an afghan instead of getting one out of the closet.  I know you are thinking about this and now realize you have had the same thoughts.  Well, I have been designing quite a few vests lately and I never thought of myself as a vest person but that's what I have been doing.  If I really want to analyze it deeper I think it has to do with single sock syndrome! If it is not obvious, sleeves are like socks; there are two of them and they are exactly the same.  I get bored making them.  I just finished a new vest, (I actually followed a pattern) as I was doing it I was making changes in my head as to how I will do it differently.  New pattern on its way. I bought some Three Irish Girls yarn in a merino silk blend for it.  I am excited to get started.  It may or may not have sleeves, that is yet to be determined.

Where have I been

OK, I have been lax in my posting lately. Sorry, That is my apology, here is my reason, not excuse but reason. In the last 10 days I have worked at Yarn Harbor 5 days, had 22 clients, got my son ready to start a new job, written 2 patterns, finished 6 felted slippers (which are not right), rewritten a pattern twice (still not right), taught 5 classes, finished 4 projects, and I even cooked!  I know life is busy, no excuses. I have apologized and now we are moving on. new blog posts in the coming days!  Rant Complete!

Having some Crochet Blues right now!

I simply wanted to make myself a pair of crochet felted slippers.
           I bought a pattern and some yarn and went to work. Two days later I had a ginormous pair of slippers. I know how much bigger something needs to be before it felts, so I was not at all concerned with the look of them.  I went to the washer and threw in jeans, some rubber shoes and my slippers.  I set it at the hottest setting and let it go.  I came back an hour later to find the slippers had escaped from the zippered lingerie bag I had so carefully stuffed them into.  I knew it would take more then one try so I started it up again. I came back several hours later to find once again the slippers flying free in the washer.  I took them out and stretched them so they were the right length for my feet and set them to dry. Two days later I brought them to Yarn Harbor to show off, but I was still unhappy with how big and sloppy they were in the instep.  My "DH" looked at them when they came out the third time and said "Oh, moon boots are back?" To which I made a "momface" at him and he said "Opps I did not mean to say that out loud!"
          I went to my friend Ravelry for help and looked up the pattern.   There were many, many comments about the size and sloppiness of this design.  I decided to try again and modify the pattern a bit.  There are several problems when you are working with a felted item, First you have make the entire object and felt it before you know how exactly it will turn out.  Second, you cannot just rip it and start over once you have done this. My modified pattern did not work, (I only made 1 this time in stead of a pair) so I decided to rewrite the pattern completely, but using the basic shape. I Just took that one out of the 3rd wash, (I have totally given up on the zippered bag at this point!)  It is still not right.  I have actually been dreaming about this problem the last couple of nights. You may remember from past posts that my subconscious works through problems while I am sleeping, I woke up one night and was trying to remember my dream and was quite upset to realize I had been doing math all night!  So far I have bought 16 skeins of not cheap yarn, made 6 separate slippers, done 9 loads of washing, wasted 2 nights of good sleep on math, and still I do not have a workable slipper!! I am a little perplexed but I will soldier on because I live in Northern Wisconsin and the morning temps have already been in the 30s, and I have cold feet!  Today I am starting over from scratch, I am writing a new pattern trying the math I dreamed about. Don't laugh if you see me coming down the street with trails of yarn dragging behind me, I may decide to wrap my cold feet in the yarn and just forget the crocheting completely.

Past post addendum...

I went back and reread past posts.  I have a few follow ups for you. You may have to go back to the day and reread the blog post, (In say reread cuz I am assuming you have been playing right along with the home version) to make sense of my post today.
Aug. 24, Fall Changes:   The answer to my question was YES!

Aug. 26, Yarn Bombing:    Don't forget we are collecting knit and crocheted pieces until the PJ party on Oct. 14.  That is when the bombing starts.

Aug. 29,  Single Sock Syndrome:     Still looking for a spokesperson.  I tried to break the cycle and make a second sock and I seem to be punished for it.  I got all the way to the toe and I am running out of yarn.  We do not have any of the same colorway left at the store right now.

Aug. 30,   Haunted by New Design:      I forgot about this until I went back and reread this.  It is still just on the edge of grasp but now that I refreshed it maybe it will break through. Hmmm, I am thinking maybe I should nap today.

Sept. 6,    What is in that bag:     Ok I have a few hours between clients today, I think I will try to clean out the bag.  I pulled a muscle in my back this weekend, OWWEEEE  I am a little slow but still moving.  I think it would probably be best if I did not lug around a 14 pound bag.

Sept. 12,     Is this thing on:    Thank you for the comments!! I feel like Sally Fields... You do really like me..

Is this thing on??

I was talking yes actually talking, like in person, with a fellow blogger the other day and we discovered we have a common problem.  I thought quite a bit about it and decided to share it with you because I will bet that many others have the same thing happening.  We are not sure anyone is really out there!  I know I can see my page hits yadda, yadda, yadda keep going up, but no one ever makes a comment or even uses the very easy buttons at the bottom of the page.  See them? Right down there, at the bottom. I will wait while you scroll down and look, (Examining week old manicure that has started to chip and peel, Oh your back) See the buttons that say Like, Funny, Interesting, They are a very easy way for you to make an anonymous comment.  I know we have become a society of lurkers. Yes I said it! You are a lurker, it sounds kind of sinister when you say it out loud. (Go ahead do it now) What it means, is we drift through blogs and web pages at the speed of light and read most of it, if there are not too many words, but few respond and give any feedback.  Like I said I can see my page hits go up and Blogger is great about analyzing it for me, what countries are viewing, what time of day, what browser people use, but I would like just a bit more human contact.  I know it is not just my mother logging in to check up on me, actually she got her first laptop last week and has yet to figure out how to get to my blog, it will happen. I do know my DH reads it because after the first couple of weeks when I would quiz him on something I wrote he had an answer.  I really don't expect a great philosophical debate to take place here but just a bit of feedback from someone would be constructive to know I am not just putting things out there for my health.  OK my rant is over!  I will also try to do better at this myself, I am not one to leave many comments either. I will make this promise to you, I will attempt to do better if you do.  Even though we are mostly anonymous voyeurs (another word that can have a sinister wring to it), we can take 1.5 seconds out of our busy lives and hit the LIKE button. 

Perpetual Calendar Week 2

Perpetual Calendar Week 2.  Swatch A is April 16 Basic Background.  It combines 2 sc into the same space and skip the next.  It leaves a very nice texture. I did it in a medium worsted weight yarn with a size H hook. It came out pretty tight, I think to really show off the definition of the texture it would be better to do it in a larger hook.
Swatch B is March 3, Little "V's". I thought this would be a good compliment to last weeks simple "V" Stitch.  As I read through the directions for it I was a little confused, it seemed to be the exact stitch I did last week.  I grew concerned that 365 stitches did not really mean 365 "different" stitches, for the record it does not say "different" stitches anywhere on the calendar, I looked, so I guess it could be the same.  I did not want to disparage the authors of this fine book so I trudged on and did the sample. To my amazement, I learned that even though the actual stitches were the same as what I had done before, the edging was different.  Just changing the way the edge is done makes the uses for this stitch completely different than the other one.  The lesson I learned in this little experiment was not a a new stitch as I had assumed but to believe in the pattern and do as it says.  I have to admit there are time I will read ahead in a pattern and think "I KNOW" what they are trying to accomplish and I can do it better my own way.  Well, sometimes that works but most of the time you need to believe in the pattern and follow what you are told.  Easier for some than others......................

No photos of my squares today, apparently my camera has gone on strike.  It seems to have focusing issues, I think the holiday weekend did it in.  It never behaves right when we have a short work week.  next time.

Just another Wednesday.....

Today I was thinking of rambling on about life and how quickly it passes, blah blah, blah. I have 8 massage clients scheduled today and maybe I will be able to get a bit of work done on the current sock I am doing.  I will not have much time to do anything else.  Just a typical Wednesday, oh and it's my birthday.

What is in that bag?????

I have this bag, as we all do, that I bring with me everywhere.  The current one, they change often, is a quilted bag I made at a quilt retreat a few years ago.  It is a nice big size with big pockets. Lots of big pockets are great to keep "stuff" in.  The problem is you lose "stuff" in them.  I bring my bag everywhere, even to the grocery store. You never know when you are going to get stuck behind a lady counting coupons, that is prime crocheting time!
Are you feeling adventurous?  Lets take a look into the bag, shall we?  On top we find one finished sock and a second, started in the same pattern but a different yarn. I am making class samples for Yarn Harbor. (That is my excuse this week for Single Sock Syndrome)  The new list of classes will be out this week and I have to have all my samples up on the wall.  I also made samples swatches for the Intro to Crochet class. I have a piece I started playing with. I do not know what it will become. Right now it is a circle motif with no finish.  Hmmm I will have to put some more thought into it.
           Digging deeper we find a project I need to finish for a baby shower next week.  I can't say what it is cuz, she says she reads my blog and, well I want it to be a surprise.  Oh wow I found a skein of yarn I have been carrying around for several weeks from an abandoned project, I guess that one can come out.  A Sock book and two sock patterns. Well maybe I should make the second sock one of these days.  Yarn for the second socks.
              Two books of post it notes. Why can't I ever find them when I am looking for them?  OWWWWWWW! X$#%#%^&%$%#$^&   OK, so I found that wayward needle I dropped in the bag a week or so ago.  Don't let anyone tell you that a blunt tip needle can't draw blood! I can prove them wrong.  Hey, I forgot I bought a mini pack of highlighters. Cool!  They were in with all the back to school stuff and just so danged cute I could not pass.  I am a sucker for that kind of stuff. Drop me off at an Office Max or a Staples and I could spend days just wondering the post it and pens section.  Yeah I'm kinda geeky that way I know.
     I have no less than 12 balls of yarn in my bag right now, I am using 3 of them. I guess some of them can come out, besides they have sort of become tangled around each other and now look like a fiber monster with several heads.  The bag to my rain poncho?  That must be left over from Bayfront Blues Festival.  My notebook that I keep meticulous notes on my projects, (I am of course laughing as I write that!)  Example of one of my notes: chain 64 Turn  Single every 4  No Idea what it was. I seemed to stop part way through and never labeled what I was making, what yarn I used or even which size hook. But, by god I have the notebook with me if I do decide to keep notes.  I also have every size hook I own, and not just one of each size!!  I may some day decide to crochet with my feet at the same time and need another size hook.
    No wonder my bag weighs 14 pounds and my shoulder droops lower then the other one.  I think I need a good massage!!  Oh well no time to clean up everything I just pulled out I will just throw it back in the bag and the next time I am looking for that needle I will know it is in there somewhere.  Jeeze I did not even get to the pockets.... tomorrow is another day.

Perpetual Calendar Week 1

One of the books I won while I was at the CGOA conference was; 365 Crochet Stitches a Year Perpetual Calendar by Jean Leinhauser and Rita Weiss.  It is a great book with so many stitches to learn.  I know that my life will not realistically allow me to do a different stitch everyday.  I am going to try to commit to doing 2 different ones a week.  I have decided to make Thursdays my designated Perpetual Calendar day.  I am not one to follow the rules so of course I will not start at the begining and work my way through from cover to cover, I will instead jump around and do differnt types of stitches.  I will show a photo of the stitches for that week and I will let you know my thoughts on it. Maybe in two years or so when I have completed every stitch I will put them all together and make an afghan.

Week 1 Swatch A
January 1 "V-Stitch"
OK, so i did decide to start at the beginning but I wanted to get my feet wet before I just dove in.  This is a simple V-Stitch, it went quite quickly and makes a very nice pattern.

Week 1 Swatch A

Swatch 1 close-up of stitches

Week 1 Swatch B

                    Week 1 Swatch B                                                            

                      January 15 Simple Stitch
                      This is a row of sc followed by a row of dc repeated. 

 It also makes a nice simple pattern.  I use this sometimes in my designs when I want the movement of double crochet but just a touch of the firmness that single crochet provides.

Swatch B close-up of stitches