Ghoulish Thoughts

                                             Whoo-ah-ah-ha-ha-ha!

Happy Fiberween, er, Halloween!  (lol)

How spooky is it that today is our longest day (25 hours) -- and this answers the question I posed earlier this month: Which is the longest month of the year?

October!  And it's because of this pesky daylight savings that has us turning our clocks back an hour to "save daylight."  (But I don't see how daylight is being saved when it's going to be dark at 4:00 PM leaving the children no daylight time to play outside.  If there's a petition going around looking for signatures to  end this daylight practice, then please point me to it!)

So, an extra hour today.  How will I spend it?  Well, to add more spook to the day, I know it won't start with a shower.  We've sprung a leak near the water tank and apparently it will be a while until it can be fixed.  Fortunately, I did have enough water in the tea kettle to spook out a small cup of coffee.  If I hadn't, then it would have been a real frightful moment!  (Whoo-ah-ah-ha-ha-ha!)

I've got two more scarves on the hook for the 30 Scarves in 30 Days Challenge.  One I take with me (like last night, when we went to Home Depot to get plumbing supplies and a carriage mishap smacking into the back of my foot sent me to the vehicle to "rest" -- man! did that hurt!), and the other scarf is for working on while I'm here in the house.  My guess, since I'm unable to shower for a while, is that I won't be going anywhere until the water is restored.  So working on the scarf will be on my agenda.

Pictured to the right is my (beheaded) ghouls, er kids-- check out their little crocheted Halloween pails.  One of the ladies in my crochet group made three and auctioned them off at one of our fund raisers.  The faces are painted on; isn't that a great idea?  Before you ask, I don't know where she got the pattern from.  But if you're serious about knowing, I could inquire.  :)  My goblins will be using the pails again this year and hopefully they won't notice when I raid their pails for the candy corns; my favorites!

Finally, I was surfing the Internet last night, looking for a poncho pattern to use my new recycled silk hanks that arrived a few days ago.  I found an interesting pattern and then my dsl connection failed.  Now, I'll have to go spooking around for it again.  (Whoo-ah-ah-ha-ha-ha!)

              Here's to hoping your Halloween is filled with tricks & treats!
                              Have a safe & happy one!

Enjoying Today

I have the day off ... yes, it's a fantastic day because for the first time in weeks, including weekends, I did not have to wake to an alarm clock.  The children have the day off from school and we are spending the day together.  I love days like this!

While I was enjoying my coffee this morning (and they had fun making beaded necklaces), I ordered the two books you see to the left, to surprise them with.  They loved going to the Sheep & Wool shows and watching the sheep being sheered and getting to ask questions, so the Farmer Brown book will be a great way to remind them of their experiences at the shows.  And I figure the Christmas Yarn book will be a great way to start the countdown to the upcoming holidays.

I also surfed on over to a new website (to me) called "Black Purl Magazine" and decided to subscribe to it's newsletter. I'm glad I did. The magazine is dedicated to not just various forms of fiber arts -- but to the soul that inspires it.  In the first newsletter I received (you'll need adobe reader if you opt to subscribe too), I found it inspiring to read all the articles, two of which are on crochet: Freeform beading, and Freeform Crochet.  They also mentioned the book, "Color Works: The Crafter's Guide to Color" that sounded so wonderful in their review that I added to my order today.  Of course this means I'm going to enjoy another "Santa day" soon, huh?  :)

Last night I decided to put off working on the Scarf Challenge and work on some Treasure Bags that will become gifts this Christmas season ... the intent is to fill them not with bogus credit cards as you see here, but with gift cards!  I added the buttons to the pull strings so the bags would be pretty to wear around the wrist.  They're even large enough to tuck a, oh, how do we say it delicately? ... hhmmmm, a "pad" for those needed times...yes, you can even tuck one of those in, along with a tube of lipstick or chapstick.

The yarn I used was Gedifra's "Distrato" which is a woven fiber that goes from smooth to slightly furry.  The color intensifies where the fur is. It's so silky to use; I just love it, and I love how the bags came out.  I've mentioned it here before, but if you missed it, you can get the pattern for the Treasure Bags by visiting my website at www.CrochetWithDee.com.

I want to note that the Treasure Bags pictured above are, at least on my PC, nearly true to size, and it was Rose who inspired me to make these bags with the Distrato. 
Thanks Rose! J Rose has made them to hold her cellphone, CDs and more!

catching some "Zs"

I crashed last night.  Never am I asleep by 8:30, but that's what happened. This means that I missed watching the Red Soxs win the World Series (not that I'm a baseball fan, but my husband was watching and it's always nice to cozy up and crochet something). So, I because I was catching some "Zs" instead of some 'yarn overs' I wasn't able to work on the scarf challenge last night.

I did manage to get the swatch done yesterday, and get it, along with my poncho, shipped off to the publisher yesterday. Wish me luck that they'll like the them. :)

I want to mention a big THANK YOU to Stephanie of New Fairfield for donating a scarf to the Challenge yesterday. She's a new crocheter -- only been crocheting for three weeks now --  and decided to donate her first scarf.  She's off and running with her new found passion and I can't be happier for her!!

So while on the topic of helping others, I thought you might enjoy this article: Knit together: Projet aims to keep community warm

Santa Arrives Early

It's like Christmas morning here, with packages arriving that are filled with goodies -- all for me! (lol)

I came home yesterday after having a fantastic time teaching at the Knit Together store in Stamford to find that my "Crochet Santa" delivered three very wonderful things:

First, Santa (aka the maillady) delivered my new Graydog Crochet Hook. I've been on the hunt for a size "P" Graydog hook for the past 18 months, so to finally have one in my hands is amazing!

If you haven't heard of "Graydog" then let me introduce you to them. They are hand turned (and sometimes jeweled) crochet hooks that are created by a husband and wife team, Bill & Jill, in California. They started selling their hooks on ebay in the late 1990s and have a huge fan base. I am their self-appointed biggest cheerleader.

They have a couple different crochet hook designs -- you'd have to look on ebay to see them to get an idea of what I'm referencing to -- but the concept is simple. They design the hooks with different crocheter needs in mind. They have a hook with a flat thumb spot now, the "Charley" hook, and then the one I love, the one that is purely rounded with the barrel or the midsection a bit larger. I like it this way as it works with the way I crochet quite well.

The second item Santa (aka the maillady again) delivered was the latest issue of Piecework Magazine. I love this magazine because it seems to embrace all the fiber arts, and this month they have a special article on "Preacher Lewis's Mission of Crochet." I'm halfway through the article and am enjoying it immensely! They also have some crochet patterns to try, along with exposure to other fiber arts, and they do this in such a way that you can't help but be inspired!

The third item Santa delivered (aka UPSman) is the recycled silk hanks I ordered through the www.Gearthatgives.com website that helps various organizations. I can't be more pleased! Six beautiful hanks all wanting to be worked up, in crochet, but of course!

But then, this morning, Santa delivered another treat via email. It was from Ang W. stating that she's helping with the 30 Scarves in 30 Days challenge! Yea!! She's donated a scarf to her local food bank in St. Stephens!

OK, so our current count then is:
   1 scarf and two hats from Cris of Danbury
   1 scarf as posted by Robin Anderson (scarf to go to YMCA homeless shelter)
   1 scarf from Lori of Greenwich
   1 scarf from Ang W (scarf went to homeless shelter in St. Stephens)
           (THANK YOU LADIES!!!!)
and I now have 10 done ....
that brings us to 14 of the 30 Scarves in 30 days Challenge.

If you'd like to participate, just crochet or knit up a scarf and let me know via email or posting here where you intend to donate it. Together, we can reach this goal and make a difference to someone in need! :)

...so I have this grin across my face this morning, much like that of a child that awakes to find Santa had left wonderful treasures.  I love when days are like this!

yeah, I can see that I'm going to be needing more coffee

I cling to my cup of coffee this morning as I type this entry ... it's my lifeline to the awake world (lol).  I was up late last night working on the costume, and technically I could call it nearly done.  But looking at it now with my eyes pinned open, it's apparent that I cannot sew in a straight line.  I can crochet in a straight line, but not sew.  And no, apparently dark blue thread sewn in a crooked line does not look good on the light blue material. (arg!) So you know I'll be ripping those stitches out and will give it another try.

And just how did those patternless rectangles come out?  Well ... the crochet trim looks good on them.  Lets concentrate on that thought instead of what shape my rectangles actually are, OK? (lol)

The trim was done with the Lame ... I ended up crocheting the variegated and the black together utilizing the single crochet stitch instead of the broomstick lace. This is because,

The pattern lied. It said 2 1/4 yards of trim were needed for the costume. Uh, yeah, more like 12-14 yards would have been needed if I added it the way they wanted it.

So this means I did not have enough fiber to crochet the true required trim. Instead of each "rectangle" receiving four rows of trim, along with the sleeves, and the bottom of the costume, I improvised! And, even if I do say so myself, the trim looks great! ... No trim for the sleeves, but for each "rectangle" and the bottom of the costume there's a beautiful stripe of this Lame single crochet trim. You gotta love that!

The third problem I had is that I ran out of the black Lame. With this in mind, I'd like to share a tip with you, my readers.  (But first let me get in a sip of coffee ... ahhh!).  Anytime you buy a dark colored fiber to crochet/knit with -- BUY EXTRA!! This is because most are sold by weight, not length. And to make a fiber dark, it requires more dye. And more dye means that fiber will weigh more and you'll get less than you would have compaired to it's lighter color cousin! Thankfully, I had an extra spool of the black Lame on hand!

So, while we're giggling about my sewing adventures, I'd like to switch gears and mention that I received a question from Deb yesterday. She had questions about a MAM afghan. (MAM stands for "mile a minute" where thin and long panels are created and later joined to create an afghan.) Apparently she was having difficulty with her tension. She reports that she's a tight crocheter, so I suggested she bump up her crochet hook size until she comes close to matching the needed gauge. And that brings us to one of my coffee breaks from yesterday. Yes, I was surfing the Internet, and apparently found that there's a music CD called "Loose Crochet." (Click here to hear a sample; you'll need Windows Media Player to hear it.) I don't know, they kind of sound like a local band with a grass roots/grunge sound. What do you think?

Alright, my coffee cup is empty and this means my break is over. Got to go finish that costume and get ready to do lunch duty this afternoon while gettting to work on the sample for the publisher and prepare for tomorrow's classes and get the plans in motion for my son's upcoming birthday and tend to that dryer that keeps buzzing and .... yeah, I can see that I'm going to be needing more coffee. J

BTW: If you're signed up for receiving alerts for my journal entries, you may on occasion receive quite a few.  I don't know why, but there are times that the journal entry just does not digest html coding well, and that means I have to go back in and fix it so that what you read is relatively clear thoughts instead of a bunch of jumbomumbo.

I'm a crocheter, not a sewer

Yesterday, while on a coffee break from working on meeting my deadlines, I did a little surfing on the Internet.  Now this is not necessarily a bad idea, after all, as of today, Christmas is only 61 days away, and I'm the type of person who likes to be ready for it before the end of November.

So doing a little surfing now, I reason, helps me rein in those "cursed" creative juices to find/create the right gift for each person on my list. And this brings me to the HSN website. For those of you with cable TV, you know what those initials stand for. For those who don't, like myself, HSN stands for Home Shopping Network.

Every time I visit a website that offers various goods, the first search I do is with the word "Crochet." I can't help it. It's an addiction. It's a quirk. And I like it.  :) So this is what I did at the HSN website yesterday --  and the search brought me to an item that I had to question the description of.  A "crocheted bracelet." See it there on the right? Does it look crocheted to you? (you can click onto it to get more details.) I don't think so. 

So this means that
     A. they don't know what crochet looks like, because the bracelet looks more like knit, or  
     B. they used the term "crochet" loosely which can mean "the interlocking of looped stitches," which it does appear to be.

It is pretty, but I think the description would be better if they said, "knit." I do want to note that they have a great little page in their crafting section on learning how to knit and crochet ... which is pretty cool for a company that prides itself for selling various items on TV, including the "Yarn Around" layette set (see image on left; you can click onto it for more info). 

So, 61 days, and counting down.  And what did I come up with for ideas? Well, while my husband was setting up my sewing machine for me (I still have a weight lifting restriction on my back), I decided to work up the Himalaya yarn I had received as a treat in my goodie bag from the CGOA Conference that took place this past summer. I crocheted a Treasure Bag using a "H" hook, and it will become a great little change purse -- for myself!  (Won't that be a surprise when I unwrap it?  LOL  Maybe I can persuade my dear husband to stuff it with that pretty "knitted" bracelet!)

I also got another scarf for the challenge nearly done ... needs about 10" worth of rows before it's finished -- and yep, during the first game of the World Series, I took over the house! This means that I was making the cording for the costume, and thanks to Margaret Hubert, I knew how to do it! I took three balls of thread (white & silver, silver, and gold & metallic gold) and matched it with a iridescent thread I had from the 2003 CGOA Conference goodie bag, and twisted and twisted and twisted until I had a beautiful looking cord several yards long. I had this thread stretched out over three rooms, so you know it sure made things interesting!  LOL  When I was done, I made another, but replaced the irridesent thread with a metallic blue and made a shorter cord. Then this morning, just before this break, I started crocheting the trim that I will ultimately (later today perhaps?) be sewing onto this costume.

My biggest problem with this costume is that they want me to cut some rectangles to make the head piece, but they provided no pattern for it.  OK, for those of you who are experienced with sewing, perhaps cutting a rectangle is not a difficult task. But they're asking me to cut in a straight line. Four times. On fabric. I'm a crocheter, not a sewer!  Oh, this is going to be interesting!

Introducing: Casey's Crochet

.                  

I'd like to introduce a brand new website called Casey's Crochet, and if I do say so myself, it's about time there was a website like this!  (www.CaseysCrochet.com)

What does the website have to offer?
     It's a website offered by a child (hmmm, I wonder who's, lol) that offers a place for other children to safely go to to get encouragement to crochet, knit, or do some other type of fiber art.

     It's a place to go to find links to other sites offering instruction, to learn why crochet is fun, and to see images of the child offering the inspiration.

     As far as we know, there is no other crochet theme website out there that was created specifically for children.   -- and as time goes by, there will be patterns offered, and yes, they will be by her.

Have I peeked your curiosity yet?  Yeah, you know you want to -- go ahead and visit it and feel free to post your comments here.   We're looking for feedback to make it a fun & safe website for children to be able to visit.

.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Scarf Count Update: 
     1 scarf and two hats from Cris of Danbury
     1 scarf as posted by Robin Anderson (scarf to go to YMCA homeless shelter)
     1 scarf from Lori of Greenwich
                    (THANK YOU LADIES!!!!)
    and I now have 8 done ....
that brings us to 11 of the 30 Scarves in 30 days Challenge.

If you'd like to participate, just crochet or knit up a scarf and let me know via email or posting here where you intend to donate it.  Together, we can reach this goal and make a difference to someone in need!  :)