It's Done!! Bridal Amulet Bag...

It's done, it's done!!  Hip hip Hooray!
Now, I know I'm all excited that the Bridal Amulet bag is done -- and I know it's no excuse for a lousy picture, but it will have to do until I can use a REAL camera and have more time to deal with lighting and props and such.  One thing you may note is that I've opted not to add the beaded leaves I mentioned in my earlier post.  I think I'll save those for the freeform money bag.

I mean, come on, I do take much better pictures than that.  Just look at the one-of-a-kind ivory colored bridal amulet bag I crocheted last year (and sold on eBay)   Now, on to start the pillow:  I figure the bottom of it can be a traditional granny square, with a slight twist ... beaded!!  

I do want to note, for those wanting to make these bags, that they are one-of-a-kind.  This means that they're designed as they're made, with no pattern.  So please, do not ask me for one.

If you are interested in crocheting an amulet bag for yourself, consider visiting this website for instructions/ideas: http://www.knitting-and.com/crochet/beaded-amulet-bags.htm

Do you hear what I hear?

Said the little lamb to the crocheter's boy,
Do you hear what I hear
Ringing through the night, crocheter's boy,
Do you hear what I hear
A wedding bell, high above the trees
If she doesn't get going, she'll be one late "CrochetWithDee" 

Have you ever gotten a tune stuck in your head, but the words changed?  This happens to me quite a bit.  I was driving to pick my daughter up from school today and for some apparently reason I started to sing Christmas tunes.  Not softly, as one who cannot sing should, but loud -- nearly from the tree tops.  I know people heard me, but I was in my "zone" enjoying thoughts of snow on this hot day.

But when the song changed to the words above, it got down-right frightful!  I stayed up late last night working on the Bridal Amulet bag.  It's nearly done.  I'm working on crocheting a rose with a blue & white cameo in the middle, and I will add two beaded leaves to it.  This will sit on the pull string for the bag and be the "center piece" for the project.  Then, it's just a matter of tucking in the ends.  Of course, since I'm working in thead, it takes longer to see "bigger results."

So the countdown for my nephew's & niece-to-be's wedding continues ... Father's Day is when I will see her again.  This gives me about 12 more days ...

I picked up a pillow form and pretty "rose" stamped satin, and white ribbon today.  I think I'll try to come up with my own pattern for the ring barrier's pillow -- I've got ideas already formulating and if I don't address them, then it's a night's sleep out the window.

I'll also use some of the fabric, since I purchased extra, to line the freeform money bag I'm also working on. 

Twelve days.

Said the crocheter's boy to the little lamb ,
Do you smell what I smell
Drifting towards the right, little lamb,
Do you smell what I smell
A scent of fear urging her to get in gear
or at their wedding, she'll be sitting in the rear.

Yeah, or she'll be sitting in,
sitting in the rearrrr!

The LEGEND's pattern...

Ok, so enough of you have asked on how I came up with the pattern for the baby's hat that has become Legend ...

So I'll share on how I did it.  (For those of you needing actual patterns to follow, such as exact stitch count, I cannot provide that as I did not write it down.  The following is a "reenactment" that hopefully you can draw enough from to create your own baby hat)...

First, since I was out in the wilderness ... no joke ... it was about 2 1/2 mile long, one lane, dirt road that we had to take just to get to the site!! ... and I had not anticipated crocheting any projects, so I didn't have my gear with me.  So as the vistors were being asked to leave (that was us), and the baby was staying, all I had to use for measurement was my hand.

I placed the palm of my hand on the back of the baby's head and noted the size, then I turned my hand and measured from the back of the baby's head to the forehead.

When I returned to my van and fished through my new supplies from Patternworks, I found 100% cotton (it had to be of a natural fiber to be allowed back on the camp site), I grabbed my Graydog H hook and started with the back of the hat ... it was something like 20 chains ... I measured it against the measurement of my hand, and set to making rows of half double crochets ... when it was about squared, not quite, but just about ... I started working single crochets from one edge, to the opposite (starting end) side, and to the other edge, I chained two and made a row of half-double crochets ... I continued crocheting on the three sides until they built up enough length that would cover the sides & top of the baby's head.  Then, I crocheted a long chain and slip stitched back, did some pretty shells (sc, hdc, dc, hdc, sc in one stitch, skip a st, anchor with a slip stitch, skip a stitch and repeat) across to the other side where I made another long chain and slip stitched back.  I ended off and with a tapestry needle, hid my tails.

I'm still hoping to post a picture of it sometime in the future ... so just as soon as I do, I'll post it.

In the meantime, I hope this helps.  :)

And so, a LEGEND is born...

Alright, you got me, a legend wasn't born, but apparently it is growing! 

I went to the Bridal Shower -- which took me an hour and a half to find (I actually ended up being "delivered by a DHL driver" because I was soooo lost!!!) -- and to make a long story short -- the bride said she loved the Garter Belt I crocheted (I gave $$ also as my gift to her).  Unfortunately, I did not finish the FF money bag, or the Amulet bag ... which is fine.  I spoke with the bride to tell her that these two items are still coming, but I wanted to know if she wanted me to add in the color black as I did for the garter (as the wedding party colors are black & white) ... so she thought about it and said she'd like them both to be done in white.  Now I'm wondering if I should also include a ring bearer's pillow too.  I have until Father's Day as that will be the next time I see her.

Getting to the legend, apparently in the hour and a half I took to tour the state of Connecticut looking for the location of the Bridal Shower, a discussion was going on about the hat I "whipped up" for my niece this past weekend.  When I arrived, many approached me and inquired about this "15-minute miracle" and said they thought it was amazing and resourceful to be able to do such a nice thing.  I must admit that I was flattered, and had to set the record straight.  It took 16 minutes.  LOL   No, really, it didn't.  It took longer than that.  Maybe close to 45 minutes.  But the best part of the story, as I worried if I had made the hat too big, is that apparently I made it just right!  It fit the baby perfectly  (YES!!!!)   ...and in fact, the baby had worn it to the Bridal Shower, so I got to see for the first time myself, how it fit.

BTW, what made me get so lost?  MapQuest.  MapQuest sent me left instead of right and that did me in.  Otherwise it would have only taken 15 minutes, or 9 miles, whichever comes first, to get there.  I was quite upset and about togive up, when thankfully a handsome DHL driver showed up and offered to assist me.  I followed his bright yellow & red truck to the location I should have already been at; and I even brought him in the reception room to have him say "Hi" and "prove" that next time I'm slapping a delivery sticker on my forehead and am having myself "shipped" to the next family function.  (LOL -- not really, but it's fun to think of such an option!)

Blending Music with Crochet

This afternoon, as I crocheted the trim on the shawl I mentioned in this morning's journal entry, I got to thinking about my DH's & my favorite song ... I like to listen to music as I crochet.  I find that the rhythm of the music sometimes matches that of the rythym of my crocheting and it seems as if the two art forms -- crochet and music -- blend as one.  If you're not a crocheter and you're reading this, then accept that when a stitch is made, as it comes off the hook, it has a "popping' sensation.  And sometime's that popping sensation (depending upon the stitch you're creating and the speed you're making them) matches that of the beat of the music you're listening to.  It's pretty cool when it does.  (Sorry about the blurry image ... I'm "testing" out a loaner cellphone that has a camera feature.  I just wanted to show the beaded trim I decided to add to the shawl.)

While I don't have a midi file of the tune I enjoy listening to with my husband, I do have the lyrics ... enjoy!

Movie: Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
Artist: Wet Wet Wet
Song: Love Is All Around

I feel it in my fingers
I feel it in my toes
The love that's all around me
And so the feeling grows

It's written on the wind
It's everywhere I go
So if you really love me
Come on and let it show

You know I love you, I always will
My mind's made up by the way that I feel
There's no beginning, there'll be no end
'Cause on my love you can depend

I see your face before me
As I lay on my bed
I cannot get to thinking
Of all the things you said

You gave your promise to me and I gave mine to you
I need someone beside me in everything I do

You know I love you, I always will
My mind's made up by the way that I feel
There's no beginning, there'll be no end
'Cause on my love you can depend

I got to keep it moving

It's written in the wind
Oh everywhere I go
So if you really love me
Come on and let it show
Come on and let it,
Come on and let it
Come on and let it,
Come on and let it show

 

Crunching Time

Will there ever be enough time to finish all the projects I want?

Yesterday I finished a shawl I started on Tuesday with Fare Baruffa's "Naxos" ... it's a ribbon type of yarn, well, kinda ... lets try that again ... it's a bunch of threads woven together of various colors ... like jewels ... with black being dominant with splashes of gold, pink, jade and such throughout.  For the border, I'm using Trendsetters' "Aura Antique."  For this think Easter Basket Grass ... only with the jeweled color of gold, pink, jade... I want to jazz it up a bit more so I'll head to Michaels Arts & Crafts today after lunch.  The shawl needs to be done by tomorrow so I can wear it to my son's graduation.  (For those interested in checking out this yarn, I got it at the store where I teach ... Knit Together in Stamford, CT)

I still have the Freeform money bag to finish, the Bridal amulet bag to start (AND finish!) and the garter belt by Saturday.  Can I do it? 

Bring on the coffee, and wish me luck!!

In the meantime, I found three new-to-me types of crochet that I will need to investigate so I can add them to my webpage called Types & Techniques of Crochet ... I'm up to 70.  Wow!  Who knew there'd be so many??

Memorial (Fiber) Day, End.

Our Memorial Day (Fiber) Weekend ended yesterday with a long drive back home.  I tried to get some crocheting in, but got motion sickness -- so I tried to sleep as the kids played nicely together with my DH driving.  In times that I was awake, I let my mind drift to the question that was posed to me on Friday evening as I was doing volunteer time at my kids school.  One of the parents said that her child had asked what the difference was between Memorial Day and Veteran's Day.  She said she wasn't quite clear.  So I said that I think of it as on Memorial Day we remember those that had fallen serving our country to protect our Freedoms, and Veteran's Day is the day we thank those still with us for risking their lives to protect our Freedoms.  (But of course, why wait?  I think we should thank our Vets EVERYDAY!!)

Getting back to the topic of our return trip home ... we tried to visit a few yarn shops on the way, like the Elegant Ewe in Concord, but due to the holiday, they were closed.  Ben & Jerry's was out too ... it was over two hours out of our way, so we'll go there another day.

We did manage to stop at a Best Buy store on the way home (we don't have those stores local to us), and picked up more memory for my new PC.  Once it's installed, it should be sweet to use.  I'm already looking forward to updating my website and the HHCC's.

One thing I did do yesterday, was purchase one of those three-drawer plastic storage systems.  My plan is to keep it in the van and stock it with crochet supplies ... extra yarn, hooks, notions for those days when no amount of coffee will help me in the morning!  (If you battle every morning to try to get your kids ready for school on time, then you'll see this need to have an "Emergency Crochet Kit" in the vehicle at all times -- especially when this is your vocation!! LOL)

As sleepy-eyed as I was this morning due to the long drive home yesterday, today I received one of the nicest compliments from a student.  She was telling me about this list of "Celebrities to Meet" that she has, and it crossed over to crochet.  Apparently she was wanting to meet "Dee Stanziano" and when I told her that was me, she became quite happy!  She said she had wanted to meet me for a very long time and was wanting to learn crocheting for the past year.  We spent the morning on the basics, and I invited her to consider joining the Stamford CGOA Chapter that is in it's early stages of forming.  She also said, (and I am sooooo flattered!!) that I'm "...younger than [she] imagined [I'd] be."  Awesome!!!   :)