FUN in the SUN: Special Crochet Workshop & Meet-up in F-L-O-R-I-D-A!

Sunday, December 20th:
Pushmi~Pullyu Crochet Workshop @ The Local Needle, Macclenny, FL

This workshop is named after the Pushmi~Pullyu animal featured in the Doctor Dolittle novel written by Huge Lofting. A Pushmi~Pullyu is the beloved two-headed alpaca/antelope (depending upon which version of the story you know) that delights everyone.

Many crocheters look at their work in one direction, from left to right, or from right to left. Is it possible crochet can have more than one direction? And if so, what are the benefits?

In this popular 3-hour workshop taught at the National CGOA Conferences, Dee will have participants exploring the amazing possibilities of what happens when crochet is turned around! Not just by turning your work, but by watching what happens when stitches are created backwards! Crocheting in opposite directions has its rewards! Pattern to create Dee's award-winning scarf will be provided to participants.

Materials Needed: 2 skeins of smooth DK or worsted weight yarn, simple in texture and color. Crochet hook for yarn chosen. Optional: beaded trim.

Crochet Experience needed: participants should be comfortable with creating the foundation chain, single crochet stitches, keeping tension, counting stitches.

Class size is limited; contact Joan to register!



Monday, December 21st:
Crochet Meet-Up!
Wear your crochet finery, or bring your favorite crochet projects for some Show & Tell while enjoying great food and great crochet conversation! Bring a crocheted/knitted/purchased teddy bear to donate to Fire Station #25 located in Jacksonville, FL. Firefighters will then donate your teddy bear to children in distress when they are out on calls!

When: Monday, December 21 at 2:00 PM
Where: Harpoon Louie's (http://www.harpoonlouies.net/)
4070 Hershel St, #8
Jacksonville, FL
RSVP: to me by leaving a message here, on Ravelry, or send me an email. Headcount is needed so the restaurant will know if additonal staff is needed.

Crazy? Double Shells Save the Day

Normally it does not take me weeks and weeks and weeks to crochet a specialized baby shower gift. However, this set did!

The blanket is my design. I started with six chains, my jeweled "F" Graydog crochet hook, a skein of Plymouth Yarn's "Dream Baby dk" yarn in soft mint. Six chains Dee? Yes, six chains. I used what is known as "The Crazy Stitch," a series of "blocks" crocheted diagonally.

Once I reached the size I wanted the baby blanket to be I became stumped. What was I going to do for the border? I poured through books, gandered at seemingly thousands of other baby blankets looking for the perfect border solution to no avail. Was I being too picky? I don't think so. My problem was in not knowing if the baby would be a boy or a girl -- this made it a bit of a challenge in picking the perfect border for my project!

At my CGOA's Chapter meeting last month I brought the blanket with me. Time was starting to run out! As I doodled with my hook & yarn with possibilities, I decided to begin the border using shells. Shells? Yeah, I know what you're thinking: crochet shells are used so often! They're a staple of crochet! How could I possibly make the border "more original" when crocheting shells? I had a plan! The last row would be DOUBLED shells, something I don't recall seeing before!

How to create Doubled Shells as a Border (in a nut shell):
1. crochet shells in front loop of designated stitch, leaving back loop unworked.
2. anchor shell with traditional single crochet going through both loops.
3. continue this process around, join with slip stitch after going completely around.
4. crochet shells in back loop of designated stitch using extended dc stitches AND adding 2 more dc stitches to the count.
5. anchor shell to sc with a sl st.
6. continue this process around, join with a slip stitch. End off. Tuck ends in.
7. happy dance; it looks awesome!

Unfortunately I never made it to the baby shower because I had come down with the flu. This also meant I decided not to design my own little sweater for the baby. Instead, I turned to the Leisure Arts booklet called "Lullaby Layettes" (leaflet #2614), and used pattern # 4 called "blocks." This is another variation of the crochet crazy stitch, and when worked in the same yarn in white, it matched my blanket beautifully.

I gave the set to the expectant parents on Thanksgiving Day; they were tickled. The parents-to-be loved the colors, how soft the blanket & sweater came out, the stitch pattern AND the double shelled border! ... any day now I'll find out if I have a grand-niece or grand-nephew. ... maybe this means I have time to whip up a little bonnet....or cap..... :)

Halloween 2009

For Halloween the McDee's dressed up and went trick or treating. Mini~Dee was Cleopatra and Dee Jr. was a gladiator. They used the same crocheted pails I had won at an HHCC auction back in 2002. Many people commented how well the pails have held up through the years, and the many pounds of candy loads. This just goes to show that crochet is not only beautiful and creative, it's also very durable! ;)

Part of our Halloween tradition is to visit with my sister-in-law. When we arrived we found my niece, Crista, busy making beautiful beaded designs. She invited me to sit with her and make some items too. Naturally I jumped at the chance as in my former life I was a jeweler. Crista asked, "Aunt Dee, you're great at crochet, and at making jewelry. Is there anything you don't know how to do?" We all got a chuckle out of that.


Visit Crista's Etsy shop at: ambertortoise.etsy.com and pick something out to match your latest crochet wear! I told her she should consider designing us crocheters (and knitters) stitch holders. What do you think? If you agree, drop her a line and let her know! :)

Checking In...

I'm sorry I haven't been around much. We had another death in the family; my 27 year old cousin who was recently diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. He was diagnosed in early September, started treatment ... they said he had 3-5 years. It's been a difficult time for my family. He did give one last gift to the world, the gift of sight. His beautiful blue eyes, which were not effected by chemo were donated. All my future blue chemo caps will be donated in his name.

I had planned on resuming blogging last week, but the kids came down with the flu. Guess who has it now?

For those inquiring, yes, I am planning to teach a special crochet workshop in FL and having a crochet hook-up. Details soon, I promise!

For now, I'm headed back to bed. I'll be bringing Lily Chin's new book: Crochet Tips & Tricks: Shortcuts and Techniques Every Crocheter Should Know with me.

Local Crochet Knit & Purl Class Offering

At yesterday's Coffee, Crochet & Chat session, held at our local Borders bookstore, we got to talking about my adventure into knitting last week. I told them my knit history: how I had tried learning how to knit from my Grandmother, from friends, and from some of the best knitting teachers in the business -- and how, unfortunately those lessons did not take. It didn't click* until I figured it out from a crocheter's perspective! After all, my brain is wired for crochet! (*ETA: hahaha, I did a knit pun: click)

Once I purchased a speciality crochet hook called The Amazing Needle it all started to sink in! This hook gave me the opportunity to crochet TRUE knit stitches -- not the imitation ones like the Tunisian crochet technique offers -- we're talking T-R-U-E knit (and purl) stitches! Gotta love that, right?!

In discussing this yesterday several of the attendees said they wanted me to teach them the Amazing Needle technique. Lucky for them, I have needles in stock. If you're in the Danbury, Connecticut area and want to partake, go here to reserve you seat; the class will be on Wednesday, October 28th from 10AM - Noon. If you're interested in learning how on your own, go here to order your speciality hook; tell her Dee sent you. :)

Rhinebeck: Freezing Fun, Burning Retina's and All!

Rhinebeck was a two-day event. Saturday, as I understand it, was ca-rowded. As in Seriously Crowded. Sunday was not. Why the difference in attendance? Weather! Saturday turned out to be a beautiful New England autumn day (abet a bit cold), and Sunday was raw: wet, cold, and a bit breezy. I was there on Sunday, complete with thermal underwear and a bag for toting my goodies. Mini~Dee was with me too, wearing one of my crocheted hats (Mini~Dee is at the "hair" age, meaning to to have her wear a hat that messes up her hair -- and!! -- to wear said hat all day, *is*a big deal. LOL She looked great wearing it, and got lots of compliments. Should I mention she wore the hat to school today? Completely her decision? LOL; it must be a tween/teen thing!) Joining us in the fun was Nancy. She was geared up for the raw weather and shopping too!

We arrived around 11:30 and went directly to the Authors booth. We met up with Mary Beth Temple and her daughter Little Loopy. Little Loopy and Mini~Dee are friends, having met a few years ago at one of the CGOA Conferences. With Little Loopy joining us for shopping bliss, we left Mary Beth behind so she could autograph her books.

Our first stop was a visit to The Rams Horn. I purchased the yarn basket earrings I mentioned in my last blog post. As earrings, they feel a bit heavy for what I normally wear. That's OK; I have another plan for them. (More on that in a future blog post.) Then we checked out all the other vendor goodies. One thing I noticed, thanks to Little Loopy tuning me into it, is that the 1980's are coming back. For those of us old enough to remember the 1980's that spells out a 4-letter word worthy of blinding our retinas. Yes, the word is NEON. (do your eyes hurt reading that? Yeah, mine too.)

There was NEON colored roving, hand spun hanks, and funky skeins of yarn EVERYWHERE! And on this dark, raw, rainy day, the NEON really showed up! ((and you all thought my yellow nail polish I wore a few weeks back was bright! Ha!)) I did not buy any of the NEON yarn goodies, but Little Loopy did. It will be interesting to see what she does with it. :)

One new vendor I found nearly freezing to death (they're from North Carolina and not used to our chippy weather here in the Northeast) was The Art of Conni Togel. This vendor had paintings & prints of wooly humor ... and I bought one small print. In fact, it was this one I had purchased, to hang in my future Yarn Studio; it made me laugh so hard! (No, they won't be at Stitches East next weekend, nor will many of the vendors there. It seems there is some sort of huge event going on in North Carolina next weekend, reportedly bigger than Stitches East. Unfortunately I don't recall the name of the event, but perhaps one of my readers from NC knows & will post the name of it here?)

We took a carriage/horse ride, ate yummy food & fudge, and hooked up with other crocheters: Leslie, Andrea, Diane, Barbara, Jennifer, and Lily Chin too! We were given some free mini~hanks of yarn from St. Denis; and they gave us a bunch of pins to hand out to our CGOA Chapter members. We also attended the Ravelry Lunchtime Meet-up. This was my first time meeting Mary-Heather, Casey & Jessica, but not the first time seeing them in person. The other times there were just too many people around, so saying a proper hello was just out of the question. Which reminds me, I need to get info to Casey & Jessica about the Big E ((wouldn't it be cool if they had a booth there next year on Massachusetts Day???)).

Soon, too soon if you ask me, the announcements came on officially ending this year's festival. Just before we left I managed to buy a hank -- the only yarn I purchased -- from Brooks Farm Yarn. It's a sweet mixture of wool, silk, and viscose; "blue jean," golden, and green in color. I'm not sure what it will be when it wants to grow up, but judging on how much Mr. Dee is admiring it, I'm guessing it might end up to be something for him. And yes, this is another vendor who will be attending the North Carolina thing-y next weekend.

We had a lot of fun, and even though it's a year away, we're looking forward to the next one already! :)

Weekend Plans

A busy weekend is ahead, for sure! One of the events I'll be attending is the annual New York Sheep & Wool Festival held in Rhinebeck, NY. It is one of the largest Sheep & Wool Festivals/Fairs in the 13 Colonies (Maryland's is the largest).

Mary Beth Temple, of the Getting Loopy Show, author of Hooked for Life: Adventures of a Crochet Zealot and Design It Yourself Afghans will be doing a book signing. Doris, Nancy and Leslie will be there too, roaming, shopping, having a great time ...

One of the vendors I always look forward to seeing is The Rams Horn. Why? Because they make beautiful pewter jewelry -- crochet jewelry!! They're the one's I buy my crochet hook pendants from (as can be seen on my key chain in the photo on the right). I love their crochet pin too. This year, I'm looking to add their yarn basket earrings to my collection. :)

I plan on going on Sunday, with Nancy. I'm not sure what the weather will be like (hey, yesterday it SNOWED!), but I do know a good time will be had by all! I can't wait! :)