I'll be making a list, checking it twice -- running around, making sure I don't forget something tomorrow, because that wouldn't be nice! I need to finish my daughter's veil (sew on one more ribbon) ... so this means I'll need to drag out my travel ott light as my floor lamp's bulb blew. (I did order a replacement through Joanns.com; they offered free priorty shipping and the bulbs were on sale.) Plus I want to sew the label onto my bag ... that shouldn't take much time; I'll call that my "reward" if I get all my work done today.
I want to thank everyone for emailing and letting me know where I can find teddy bear tights. I mentioned yesterday that I
was going to be on the lookout for matching tights and said I'd go into it further at a later time. But, with so many thinking that I want to put tights onto the bear, I think I should explain this now. The reason I'm looking for tights that match the fiber I'm using to crochet up the bears is for when it comes time to stuff them. I want to cut the tights up and use them as liners between the chinchilla and the stuffing fiber which is normally white (sometimes you can find it in black).
Doing this will help "color" the white stuffing in case any wants to show through, and it will also help keep the stuffing from squishing out from excessive hugging and washing. So I'm on the lookout for teal and fushia colored tights for this purpose.
Now, the title of today's entry is just a tiny bit about what I have to do today, but it's more so about this ebay auction for an 1800s crocheted bedspread. I don't know what the time limit is that ebay lets auctions be viewed (even after they're over), so be sure to check it out as soon as you can. I can't see myself ever bidding/auctioning off such an item with such a scary history, but then again, perhaps some of you, my readers, would. Let me know your thoughts.
Thirteen years is equivalent to 113,880 hours. I crochet, on average 55 double crochet stitches every three minutes, so let's see ... (punching & crunching some numbers here...) that would mean that I will do some two million stitches during my couch time! Awesome! (2,087,800) 
Whatever the reason, I can still vividly recall "hearing" in my sleep Rod Stewart singing, "If you want my body and you think I'm sexy come on sugar let me know. If you really need me just reach out and touch me..." But what made the dream odd was that his backup singers were skeins of yarn, the band was twisted hanks of yarn (the drummer was banging on the drum with crochet hooks) ... and they were shooting a video for MTV to go with the song! The video was all on how to make textured crochet stitches and petting the various types of yarn. Weird, weird, weird; I know!! (Odder yet, I don't have cable, so watching music videos is not something I'm used to!)
Last night I spent a little time visiting other journals. At one, the line from the story book Little Red Riding Hood came to mind, "My, what big eyes you have!" ... but it would be more like the character, Mike, from the movie Monsters, Inc. ... "My, what a big eye you have!" that would be more fitting for this particular blog I intend to encourage you to visit -- so, no matter which line you like best, it's still worth going over and checking out. Go ahead, 
Let's look at my freeform handbag pictured here. Through all the motifs of random colors and stitches, you'll see three flowers and leaves. I used the traditional Irish Clones Knot, normally used to fill in the spaces between motifs, to create my flowers. The leaves are also a traditional Irish motif; I just made them "fluffy" by adding mohair to my gold yarn I was using at the time. 
Now lets look at the image to the right. Again, I used natural lighting. The chair was placed under a window with natural light streaming in. I knelt on the floor and took the shot because here it's a baby blanket, on a child's chair, and I thought to myself, "If I were a child walking into the room, what would the blanket look like?" 
I'm really enjoying having the use of my father's digital camera, and I'm delighted to finally be able to answer the question that I've seen on other journals/blogs: "How do you store your crochet hooks?"
Another aspect of using flat fibers, ribbon, material, whatever you have in mind really, is to mix the mediums up. Pictured here is a class sample I worked up ... a "small" scarf in rows of double crochet. This was worked up with an "F" hook and Berroco's pink suede. (The suede is a thin, flat fiber with a hint of nappy texture.) After the initial crocheting was done, I cut wider, silkier ribbon into long strips and wove it through the stitches with a tapestry needle. I understand that Berroco has a pattern out for this style scarf, so you might want to check with them if you're interested. Otherwise, just wing it like I did and try creating it on your own. It's quite a lot of fun.
I turned in the beaded bikini top to the 
Look at what I had fun crocheting yesterday during our heavy rain storm ... a bikini top!! The pattern is from the book, "
